of thiese wordes must nedes be atteined by the conference of one place of scripture with an other and to that ende doe they not fondly alleage S. Paule callyng Chryst a rocke yea Chryst calling hym selfe a vine when he was in dede neither the one nor the other but by a fimilitude As though because th' apostle or Chryst hymself vseth a fygure in one place we must thincke that in all other he neuer spake other wise By which abhominable doctrine what letteth if a man would be so wicked to affirme that Chryst the sonne of god and second parson in trinitie wer not the true and naturall sonne of god but by adoption onelye and for that wycked heresy to bring this texte dedit eis potestatem filios dei fieri he gaue them power to be made the sonnes of god Which wordes we knowe being spoken by vs men must be vnderstand by grace and adoption and frowardly to mainteyne that all the places whych any good man can bryng for the defence of the contrary should be drawen to thys texte alleaged by them and expownded and vnderstand thereby The Anabaptystes who deny the baptesme of infants leane they not thyncke yow to thys grounde of yours yea truely and good reason it is that being all heretykes as you ar although in some poyntes dissentyng yet all ioining and agreing in one cancred hatred against the churche you should all vse the same rules and principles For that I may here passe ouer that reason of the Anabaptistes which belongeth to an other place that therefore infants must not be baptized because it is not expressed in scripture a principle also of your religion but deliuered vnto vs by tradition saye they not also that they haue the scripture playne for them ageinst vs where yt hath Qui erediderit baptizatus fueriâ— saluus erit he that beleueth and is baptized shalbe saued and again in an other place vna fides vnum baptisma one faythe one baptesme By whych places say they it appeareth that say the must goe before and baptisme folowe after And when the catholykes to represse and vtterly ouerthrowe this bruâ—ysh and beastely opinion answer that for infants thus baptized the faithe of the churche is sufficient and accounted for theirs crie they not as yowe doe that in this controuersâ—e one place of scripture must expound an other and that therefore where as the scripture requireth in him that is baptized faith that theie must haue it of their owne according to th'apostles saieng fides ex auditu faithe commeth by hearing which infants can not haue and according to the saieng of the prophete Iustus ex fide sua victurus est the iust man shall liue by his owne faithe I am sory that in answering to this fond reason I haue bin compelled to make anie mencion of such horrible heresies as thiese ar which I had much rather wer with their first authors buried in hel from whence theie cam where neither they nor their name might euer hereafter offend the conscience of any good christian man But as I haue necessarily laied before your eyes thiese that by a part yow may iudge of the whole so haue I willingly staied my self from rehercing whole swarmes of such opinions as being of all men taken for confessed heresies onely depend apon this one false ground that we nede here in earthe no other iudge to decide and determine doubtes arising upon the sâ—ripture then the scripture it self whych being they saye laied and conferred to gether one text with an other will not faile to bring vs to the right vnderstanding thereof If your hartes good readers be moued with thiese heresies in the reading as truely god I take to witnesse mine was in the writing abhorre those that teache them shonne and auoide such principles and groundes as haue byn the foundacion not of thiese onelie but of all that now reigne in the worlde and may be of any other hereafter that any desperate heretyke lysteth to inuent Stick to those by which all heretykes haue byn and thiese shalbe to their vtter confusion vanquished Shrincke not rashelie from that fundacioÌ„ whereon your elders and forfathers fastening them selues haue passed ouer so many hundred yeares in the true confession of one god one faith one truthe to them that hauing yet scarse fourty on ther backes haue notwithstanding emoÌ„gest theÌ„ creaping all out of the filthy neast of one Martin Luther so manie faythes and yet no faith so many truthes and yet no truthe neuer a one agreing with the other as there be mad frantick heads emongest them Giue no eare to that subtil generation walcking in the darck like blinde battes without a head without a iudge and all to thend ther iuggeling might not be espied Tell them that yow haue sene them thriue so euel apon that presumption of theirs so many heresies so many schismes and lewd opinions brought in thereby that yow ar at a poinct with your selues to leaue them and take that way that S. Hierom in the like case hath doen before yow who although his knowledge in the tongues wer such as by the report of most men it passed anie others in his time yet would not he take apon him in the discussing of doutes to leane to that rule of theirs to lay and confer to gether one texte with an other but referring him self to the see of Rome he alwaies protested that by that seate and faithe praised by th'apostles owne mouth would he be counceled and ruled Beatitudini tuae id est cathedrae Petri communione consocior To your holines saith he writing to Damasus then the bishop of Rome that is to say to Peters chaire am I ioined in communion and he addeth a cause whie Super illam Petram aedificatam ecclesiam scio I knowe that on that rock Peters chaire the churche is builded Say vnto them as S. Hierom said vnto the the heretikes Vitalis and Miletus because they ar aduersaries to this seate that yow knowe them not that they scatter and ar schismatikes alltogether out of the churche that gather not with Peters successor Tell them boldelie with S. Austen that yow will owe neither sute nor seruice to their chaire of pestilence nor be a membre of that bodie that either lacketh a head and is a dead tronck or hath many and is a liue monstre Aske of them with what face they could so many yeares to gether call king Henrie the eight supreame head of the churche of England immediatlie vnder god and nowe our gracious souereigne lady his daughter supreame gouernor in all ecclesiasticall thinges and causes ouer the same which how so euer they please them selues with fine fetches and coloured deuises is with th'other title in effect all one if this reason of theirs wer good Christ is head of the churche therefore there is no other head thereof vnder him And how was king Henrie then if they say that
emperour yet hath he not thereby gotten auctoritie to depose bishoppes and ordeine newe â–ª which onely bishoppes must doe So strange a thing semed it then good readers in Christes churche which nowe we see so commonly done Long after thiese emperours start vp Leo Isaurus emperour of Constantinople he that made war with images Ageinst him god raised vp also his Azarias one to warn him of his duetie and that was that notable learned man Iohn Damascenus Giue saith he the apostle Paule crieth to euery one his due honor feare pension tribute to eche one that which they ought to haue The charge that kinges haue is to see well to their common weales the ordering of the churches apperteineth to the pastours and teachers This manner of inuading other mennes offices I can terme it no better my brethern then robbery and plaine violence And a little after he hath thiese wordes Tibi ô rex in ijs quae pertinent ad presentis vitae negocia c. As for those thinges ô king which concern onely this presâ—nt life in those we willingly obey the. In ordering thâ— state of the churche we haue shepherdes which haue spoken to vs the worde of god that is to saie taught it vs and haue left vs rites and ordres therefore And in the same place he addeth Non recipio regeÌ„ qui per tyrannidem sibi sacerdotiuÌ„ vsurpat I acknowledge him for no king that vsurpeth by tirany the priestes office And last of all to knit vp the knot in plaine wordes he saith Non assentior vt regum legibus gubernetur ecclesia sed patrum potius traditionibus siue scriptae hae sint siue non scriptae I consent not saith he that the churche of god shalbe gouerned by the lawes of kinges but by the traditions rather of oure fathers be they written or vnwritten And thus much hetherto good readers haue I thought good to reherce that yow may the better vnderstand how the auncient fathers of Christes churche haue not ceased continually from time to time to resist the vnlaufull attempt of such princes as being heretikes or enueigled theretoe by heretikes for of other perdy it was neuer gone about nor of all them neither would contrary to the expresse worde of god the custome of Christes churche from the beginning continued the alowed exaÌ„ples of all ages of all common weales Christian and heathen hetherto practised mingle heauen and earth holie and prophane together by vnlawfull vsurping to them selues the supreme and chief gouernement in causes ecclesiasticall To come nearer home to our owne time and daies if in it any prince haue attempted the like there hath not lacked also stoare of diuerse meÌ„ singuler bothe for their vertuous life and exquisite learning which haue rather chosen to withstand the same with the expence of their bloud and losse of this present life then to the vtter destructioÌ„ of both body and soule and losse of that which must continue for euer to consent thereto But if thiese examples please not the deinty tast of the aduersaries as being ouer stale I shall set before them their owne deare derling the piller while he liued of their religion the very head of their churche if they be not all together headlesse their Idol and their god in earthe whose doctrine and opinions at other times and in other thinges they haue so rauenouslie deuoured Iohn Caluin him self For if kinges and temporall gouernours as our aduersaries affirme ought euerie one of them in their realmes signories and dominions to gouerne in causes ecclesiasticall and matters of religion whie did then that monsterous beaste in his comentaries apon the prophetes Osâ—e and Amos rayl apoÌ„ our late souereigne lorde king Henrie the eight calling him homo belluinus a beastelie maÌ„ and comparing him with Iehû whome he termeth wicked and nought Why termed he theÌ„ blasphemers that first buzzed into his eares that vaine desire to be called chief head of the churche of England for of other yow wot well he neuer attempted to be nor euer was called vnder Christe here in earth If Caluin haue taught the truthe then haue his scholers taught vs and yeat doe feede vs with lies If they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie chief head of the churche of England vnder Christ which is to saie in effect nothing elles but to be chief gouernour in all causes belonging to the same who was yet a man although laie and thereto also of great wisdome and learning in what degree of blasphemie shall we place them that giue this title not to laie men onelie but to women also and children with out respect If Caluin who touching the giuing of this vnlaufull title to our late lord and maister was vtterly innocent coÌ„plained yet that euen his conscience was wounded not a little there withall how much more daungerousely wounded ought they to thinck them selues who of so many horrible and bloudly woundes whereby for the refusall to folow this example in christes churche neuer hard of before so many godly learned and innocent men in this realme haue died some by heading some by hanging some by quartering and tearing peace meale one membre from an other haue by ther false and vntrue suggestions byn the chief and onelie occasion who yet like cruell bloudsuckers and bloudy bourreâ—aus cary about in their murdering aud malicious mouthes the naked knife which wer it laufull for them they would sheathe in the throates of euerie one of vs that thinck not as they doe But if now on the contrarie part their maister Caluin wer deceauid if they be in the right and he in the wrong why steppeth none of them furth to defend and vindicate from perpetuall infamy that prince of famouse memory which by his railing writinges this wretched caytiff goeth about to bring him into why haue they left him so long vndefended who did no other thing then whereof them selues wer the authors and first beginners Or why at the least purge theie not them selues of the horrible crime of blasphemie laied by him to their charges and all such as theie ar for if they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie head of the churche of Englande what priuilege haâ—e thiese that calling not onelie him but his sonne and daughter by the same title in effect they should not incurre the same crime Where is now their spirit of vnitie that they ar wont so much to bragge of which dissent not here in any small poinct or from any meane man but euen from the chiefest caterpiller whyle he liued of their congregatioÌ„ who not onely in thiese places before by me alleaged kepeth as it wer with their proceadings a combat but elles where in his InstitutioÌ„s doeth merueilousâ—y discredit the same And in steede of manie places which might be brought here out of his worckes I shall onely for this time be coÌ„tented to alleage one in such sort as I finde it in the frenche because at the writing hereof
kept that the praiers in the night wer vtterly ceassed To that holy father it seemed a great outerage that the churches wer shut vppe what would he thinck we then say wer he aliue in these dayes when of our churches he should see some made the dwelling houses of priuat men other some turned into barnes or stables other cleane ouer throwen and made euen wyth the grounde and those that remain whole so moch worse then if they had byn alltogether shut vp left open for heretikes to pollute with schismaticall seruice and diuelysh doctrine It grieued S. Basil that th' altars should lack the spirituall seruâ—ce whych was not nether for any mislike that men had therein but because in that grieuouse persecution of the Christians theie could not be founde that durst doe it And could he haue taken it well to haue seene theÌ„ broken defaced and quite ouer throwen yea whiche is a crime so horrible that to write it I tremble in those places in which the altars stood whereon was wont in that spirituall sacrifice to be offered vp the most pretious body and bloud of Christ Oxen and beastes more vncleane to befedde He lamented that learned men wer not estemed that they wer not prouided of lyuings and would he not much more lament to see them depriued of those whych they had and shoemakers weuers tinckers coweherdes broome men Russians forfelonies burned in the haÌ„ds to be put in ther places Then was no holsom doctrine taught nowe is ther nothing elles taught but poisoned and vnholsom Then wer there no holidaies kepte nor hymnes vsed in the night Nowe ar they accompted to be superstition Nowe as we felt none of all thiese miseries besides a thousand moe so long as we kept our selues wythin the vnite of one heade so is euery man able to beare me witnesse that as soone as the diuel the author of all heresies had once obteined and brought about the banishmeÌ„t in our countrye of that one bishop wyth the whych as you haue hard out of S. Cyprian before he vseth alwayes to begin all these russhed in apon vs as the dore that should haue kept them out being set wide open And as this is confessed by the most auncient fathers that haue wrytten sence Christes tyme that by this meanes we first reuolt from the churche by contemning and not acknowleging the head so muâ—t our return thyther again be by the contrary that is by reuerencing him by acknowleging him by humble submission of our self to him So did those that after ther fall with Nouatus S. Cyprian receiued into the churche again apon ther submission testified in these wordes Nos Cornelium episcopum sanctissmum Catholicae Ecclesiae erectum à deo omnipotente Christo D. nostro scimus Nos errorem nostrum confitemur Circumuenti sumus perfidiae loquacitate factiosa amentes videbamur qua si quandam communicationem cum homine schismatico habuisse Syncera tamen mens nostra in ecclesia semper fuit Nec ignoramus vnum deum esse vnum Christum esse dominum quem confessi â—umus vnum spiritum S vnum Episcopum in ecclesia catholica esse debere We say they acknowledge Cornelius to be erected by god almighty and Christe our lorde to be the holie bishop of the catholike churche We confesse our error we haue byn circumuented ronning madde by the factious babbling of treachery we semed to haue communicated as it wer with that schismaticall man Nouatus yet was our sincere minde alwaies in the churche Nor we ar not ignorant that there is one onlie god and one Christ our lorde and that in the catholike churche there must be one holie ghost and one bishop So did Vrsatius and Valens forsaking the heresy of Arrius offer vp ther recantation to Iulius then bishop of Rome By thys meanes good Christian readers returned they to the churche by this must you return that haue straied what so euer you be if you will be saued Seing now as I haue declared the going out of the churche is by the contempt of the head thereof and the return home again by th' acknowleging and reuerencing of the same persuade your selfe that it hath not byn for nothing that good men in all ages haue byn and at this time ar no lesse busyed in defence thereof then heretikes myssecreantâ— and enemies to our faithe ar readie wyth all ther power to assault the same The consideration whereof hath caused also me in this enterprise of mine to begin first wyth the fortifieng of that whereunto our enemies as the very fundacion of all true religion the comfort and stay of the catholikes the terror and vtter vndoing of all heretikes doe most direct ther battery In the handling where of I purpose god willing to take this ordre First before I comme to the principall poinct thatlieth in question betwene vs which is of the bishop of Romes supremacie to proue to you by most plaine and euident reasons that the churche of Christ here militant in earth must of necessitie for diuerse and sondrie vrgent causes haue one chief head and ruler vnder Christ to rule and gouerne the same Secondarily that that one head must nedes be a priest Thirdly and so last of all that of all priests the bishop of Rome is he whych must supply that place and that for so that is head and ruler of the church he hath byn of th' auncient councels and old fathers wyth in the first six hundred yeares after Christes de parture taken THAT CHRISTES CHVRCH HERE IN EARTH MVST OF NECESSITIE HAVE ONE CHIEF HEAD AND GOVERNER VNDER CHRIST TO RVLE THE SAME THe truthe of thys proposition good Christian readers is not onely by the whole ordre and forme of the estate of gods people in th' olde lawe whych was also the true churche of god long before the comming of our sauiour in to this world but by the dailie experience also of ciuile and polytike gouuernenement most manifestly confirmed For who is there so blynde that he seeth not that in the whole frame of this worlde there is no kingdom so mighty no realm so puysant no cytie so populous no towne so welthy yea on the coÌ„trary part also no village so littell no family so small finally no societe of men no not of those that haue wrapped them selues in league to robbe and spoile that can anie while continue wythout a head to gouern them If therefore to lyue vnder the gouuernement of a head be a matter of such importance as wythout the whych neyther great nor little riche nor pooer good nor bad can stande how much more necessary shall we thinck it in Christes churche here militant in earthe where the diuell in hys membres is continually occupied in raysing of schismes in stirring vp discord to vex and molest the people of god to haue thys wholesom prouision for th' appeasing thereof and the restoring of the same being troubled to quietnes
again And because good Christian readers you shall well perceaue that this is no nowe deuise or fantasie imagined by mâ— I will here lay before your eyes the iudgement of certein notable men whom god gaue to his churche to serue for a wall for the same ageinst the incursions of the wicked Phylistins his enemyes In whom you shal most plainely perceiue this ordre in Christes churche to be so necessarie that the onely breache or lack thâ—râ—of hath byn by them taken to be the highe way and very path that leadeth to all heresies And first to begyn wyth that blessed martyr of god S. Cyprian hath he not coÌ„cerning this matter in an epistle by hym written to Corâ—elius then bishop of Rome thiese wordes Neque enim aliunde obortae sunt haereses aut natâ—â— sunt schismata quà m indé quâ—â—d sacerdoti dei non obtemperatur necvnus in ecclesia ad tempus sacerdos et ad tempus iudex vice Christicogitatur that is neyther yet truely doe heresies aryse or schismes growe of any other cause then thereof that men obey not the priest of god neyther doe thinck that there is in the churche in the steed and place of Christ one prieste and one iudge for the time Hetherto S. Cyprian By the whych wordes good christian readers it is so euident that there must be one priest in the churche whom all other must obey that the same must be taken of vs for iudge here in earthe in the stede of Christe that you see I nothing doubt great cause to condeÌ„ne the grosse ignorance of our late apologie Wher in the authors contrary to thys doctrine of S. Cyprian most impudently pronounce that in hys church Christ our lord vseth not the help of any one man alone to gouern the same in his absence as he that standeth in neede of no such help and that if he did no mortall man could be found hable alone to doe the same and finally wyth the same S. Cyprian who dyed a holy martir and is no dout a saincte in heauen to whome the belief of both these two articles seemed not onely not impossible but also very necessary to lyue and dye in th' obedience of this priest and vnder such a iudge then wyth a sort of lewd losels in whose churche being a certein secret scattred congregation vnknowen to all the world beside and to their own fellowes toe is nother head ordre obedience neyther yet certein rules or groundes where on to stay to runne hedlong ye wot no more then your guides whither But S. Cyprian was he trow yow of this minde alone No verilie for S. Hierom is of the same as by thiese his wordes it is most euident Ecclesiae salus in summi sacerdotis pendet dignitate cui si non exors ab omnibus eminens detur poteâ—tas tot in ecclesâ—a efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes The health sayth he and welfare of the churche dependeth apoÌ„ the estimatioÌ„ of the chief priest who if he haue not auctoritie pearelesâ—e and aboue all other ye shall haue in the churche so many schismes as there be priestes And again in an other place speaking of the apostles he writeth thus Quòd vnus poâ—teà electus est qui caeteris praeponere tur in schismatis remedium factum est ne vnusquisque ad se trabens ecclesiane rumperet that is That one was afterward chosen to rule the rest that was donne for a remedy ageynst schismes least while euery man would chalenge to hym self the churche by such halyng and pullyng they might brâ—ake the same Leo of whom the whole councell of Calcedon as one of the greatest for nombre so of all men accoÌ„pted emongest the fower general for auctoritie reported so honorably that they did not onely wyth one voice all openly professe them selues to beleue as he did but called him also by the name of Sanctissimus beatissimus that is most holy and blessed of all other speaking of the mysticall body of Christes church writeth after this sort Haec conâ—exio totius quidem corporis vnanimitatem requirit c. This combination and ioining together he speaketh of the body of Christes church requireth an vnitie of the whole body but especîally of the priestes emongest whom although there be one dignitie common to them all yet is there not one generall ordre emongest them all For euen emongest the blessed apostles in that similitude of honor was there yet a differeÌ„ce of power and whereas in ther election they wer all lyke yet was yt giuen to one to be aboue all the rest Out of whych forme is taken our difference of bishops and by merueylouse ordre and disposition ys yt prouided that euery one should not chalenge to him self euery thing but that in euery prouince there should be one whose iudgement emongest the rest of his brethern should be chief and of most auctoritie And agein certein appoincted in greater cityes whose care should be greater by whome to the onely seate of Peter the charge of the vniuersal churche might haue recourse that nothing might at any time dissent from the head Hetherto haue yowe hard good readers beside th' experience that we haue of ciuile policy and worldly gouernement the opinions also of S. Cyprian S. Hierom and holy Leo all three agreiâ—g in one that there must nedes be one iudge in Christes churche in his steede that the health of the churche dependeth apon the auctoritie of the chief priest that if his auctoritie be not aboue all the rest there will so many schismes breake in apon vs as there be priestes that for th' auoyding of that mischief there was one chosen euen emongest th' apostles to gouern the rest Last of all that that vsage in christes churche to haue one head is no newe inuention as some men falsely report but taken from th' example of th' apostles them selues I can not heare stay to examyne curiously euery word in these auncient fathers but leauing that good readers to your discretion and not douting but that in these graue witnesses in a matter of such weight and importance as whereapon dependeth the health of the whole churche you wilbe no lesse diligent then you would be in examining the depositions of your owne witnesses or your aduersaries in a triall of landes or other temporall commoditie I shall procede to the coÌ„sideration of the second reason which before I touched of the people of Israel if I fyrst warne you to considre but this by the way that ye may trust those auncient fathers by ther word the better an other time how many schismes be burst in apoÌ„ vs in our country of England for one common receiued truthe in the dayes of our fathers when we remained in the obedience of one chief priest and iudge which shake now so myserably the same howe quietly in one loue in one truthe in one
hereafter In the meane season that theie will haue of Christes church here in earthe no other head but Christ him self therein they fare me thincketh not much vnlike to a certein â—elon of whome I haue harde that being areigued 〈◊〉 â—he bar for a felonie when he had pleadid to the 〈◊〉 not guilty and was after the manner demaunded how he would be tried he would suspecting his own case and knowing that if he satisfied the law in putting him self apon the tryall of the country there wer no moe waies with him but one make thereto no other answer but onely that he would put him self apon god the righteous iudge of all who although he saide truely that god was the chief iudge of all as the protestants doe in calling Christ the head of the churche yet was there in his case an other iudge here in this worlde vnder god by whom he must haue byn tried as there is in theirs an other head here in the churche to ordre them and kepe them vnder and in whom Christ the chief head of all vseth in all necessary knowledge to giue answer And as the felon knewe well that there was an other iudge beside god and appealed not to him as though before him he should haue ben acquitted and proued not guilty but onelie to gaine a longer time of life and libertie so doe I dout not our aduersaries the protestants And trulie to both thiese kynde of men being bothe theeues th'one sort doing violence to the body the other to the soule if such pleas might be allowed howe so euer they be coloured with the name of Christ betwene them both they would freelie robbe the body and murther the soule But let vs now examine this reason of theirs whereof they ar wont so much to triumphe Christ is head of the church Ergo the pope is not Ergo it câ—a haue no other head That Christ is the head of the church we graunted before and none of our syde did euer yet deny yt But as it is most manifest that Christ him self is the worcker of all his sacraments for he baptizeth he forgiueth sinnes he consecrateth his blessed body and bloud he ioineth together in matrimony the man and his wife and yet forasmuch as he should nedes departe out of this worlde and could not alwaies dwell with vs after a corporall manner he hath chosen ministres to dispense those his giftes by And we saye and no fault found therewith that the priest his ministre baptizeth that he forgiueth sinnes that he consecrateâ—h his most preâ—ious body and bloud So after the same manner and for the same cause that is to say because he could not be alwayes present with vs in such sort as we might see him and speake with him face to face to be resolued at his mouth of such doubtes and questions as should arâ—se emongest vs he left vs also one that in that his absence should gouern and rule his whole churche He remaineth neuerthelesse head thereof he ruleth he reigneth he exerciseth his power and authorite in the same but yet by man his ministre whome for that cause most aptly the Scholasticall writers haue termed caâ—â—â— minâ—â—â—eriale that is to saye a head but yeat by the reason of his seruice and ministerie vnder an other that is Christ â—ho is onelie absolutely simply and without all relation to any other the head thereof Not as though he wer not hable to rule the same without any such help or instrument which he could haue doen also in the olde lawe where his pleasure was that the people should resort to the chief priest to be resolued in all doutes arising apon the lawe and had no more nede of help then then he hath now but for that this waye it hath pleased hym to 〈◊〉 his exâ—eding great loue towards mankind 〈…〉 of emongest men such as he will execute 〈…〉 worlde 〈◊〉 as he will vse as his mouth to 〈◊〉 the secretes of his holâ—e pleasure to vs and fâ—â—ally such as should represent to vs his owne parson Because Châ—â—stâ—s king of all kinges and lord of all lordâ—â— because if it so pleased him he could rule all this worlde much better then it is ruled without the help of any other whereof he hath his absolute power considered no nedeâ— shall we therefore say that there be not nor nede to be any kynges here in â—â—â—the When S. Paule called the man the head of the woman denied he therefore Christ to be her head Kinge Saul when he was called by the prophet Samuel caput in tribubus Israël the head of the tribues of Israel was god thinck you excluded that he should not be their head To vse examples more familier th'archebishop of Cauntorbury is the head of the bishoprick and diocesse of London as he is of all the bishoprickes within his prouince and yet can not a man infer apon this that therefore the B. of London is not the head of that his diocesse But Christ hath no suche nede our aduersaries crye still to haue any man to be in his stede to succede him in the whole enheritance Nam Christum semper adesse eccle siae suae vicario homine qui ex asse in integrum â—uccedat non â—gere these be their very wordes in their apologie Here would I like a frinde aduertise them that for ther pooer honesties sake they harp not to much on this string left by their so doing they comme as nere to the heresie of Suenkfeldius as he whom in their apologie they falselie sclaunder therewith is far bothe from that and all other For Suenkfeldius emongest other his abhominable heresies hath also this in my opinioÌ„ the chiefest that we ought to banish vtterly from emongest vs all scripture and as Hosius writeth of him thys heresie of hys to derogate from the scriptures all auctoritie he went also about to proue bi scripture But howe I praie you good readers By what reason thinck you would he haue proued this diuelish and most absurde doctrine Beleue me or rather your owne iudgements seing and perceiuing most plainely that I lie not by the self same reasons that our aduersareis doe vse to proue that Christes churche here in earth can haue vnder him no head or chief gouernour to gouern the same Thow must not be parfect in the scriptures saith this stincking heretike Swenckfield But whie because forsooth we must be taught at gods mouth because his worde teacheth truly the scripture is not his worde but dead lettres and no more accompte to be made of them then of other creatures emongest the which they ar to be reconed We must loke to be taught froÌ„ heauen not out of bookes The holie ghost vseth to coÌ„me froÌ„ aboue without the help of meanes as hearing preaching or reading the scriptures Thieâ—e be that wicked heretike his folish and vnsauery persuasions And what other thing is it I praie you good readers
to them thiese perniciouse persuasioÌ„s that they be here in earth by almighty god placed in his churche to be the heads thereof and not membres to be fathers and not children to rule in causes of religion and not to be ruled that to them it belongeth in the right of their crowune to approue doctrine or to condemne it to alter at their pleasure the state of religion by actes of parliament without the consent of their cleargie to depose bishops and put other in their places in their stiles and titles boldely to write them selues gouernours in their realmes in all things and causes aswell ecclesiasticall as temporall and yet no ordre all this while broken because forsoth theie be such as theie beare them in hand they ar that is to say the heades the rulers the shepherdes the fathers maisters and guides in religion Thiese be theie therefore good readers that as the prophete saith call bonum malum malum bonum tenebras lucem lucem â—enebras good euel and euel good darckenes light and light darckenes Thiese be they that as their Idol of Geneua in this poinct trulie giueth answer goe about to make princes iustle with god Finally thiese ar those lowsy brokers that leading as it wer by the hand their good and vertuous princes after this sweete poysoned bait from the most pleasaunt and fertile valeis of humilitie to the toppe of the highe barren and craggy mountaines of pryde and arrogaÌ„cie showing them when they haue them there the riches and ornaments of the churche the landes and reuenues thereof by good and vertuous princes their predecessors and auncestors long time before for this entent especially thereto giuen that the ministres of Christes most holy word and blessed sacraments being by hauing of their owne deliuered from that comberouse care of prouisioÌ„ for them selues that afterward the holy ghost who was the procuror of such almoise and stirred from time to time the deuocion of good men thereto forsaw thorough the decay of pietie and coldenes of charitie towardes the latter ende of the world they wer likelie to fall into might thereby the more quietlie folow their vocation promise of all the same to make them the lordes and maisters if they will doe them homage and fall down and worship them that is to say harckeÌ„ to their doctrine submit them selues thereto and graunt to it within their realmes and dominions fauorable entreteinement And that this is true good readers that they haue thus shamefully abused and deceiued their princes and not surmised or imagined by me to bring them in to hatred whome god I take to recorde I pity much and hate nothing I hope by his assistaÌ„ce who is the giuer of all good thinges â—o plainely to proue that yow your selues shall at the eye see it and they if there remain yet in them anie sparcle of grace shall not be hable to denie it The which that I may the better perform I shall truly bring furth as it wer into the face of the open courte all such euidence of importance as either parte hath to alleage for them selfe so truely Itrust that the councel of th'other side shall haue no cause to complaine that either I haue suppressed and coÌ„cealed their necessary proofes one waie or obscured their beauty in the bringing of theÌ„ furth on th' other But because an indifferent and vpright iudge must alwaies haue an earnest eye to the issue which is betwene vs who should gouerne in ecclesiasticall causes the prince or the priest it shall not be amisse because to be chief gouernour in thinges and causes ecclesiasticall is nothing elles but to haue the supreme iurisdiction thereto belonging to examine first in what poinctes that consisteth that so by conferring our euidence wyth the same whether it agre with euery parte with none with some and with which we maie at the length by good scanning comme to the knowledge of euery mans owne Iurisdiction therefore ecclesiasticall consisteth especially in thre poinctes in auctoritie to iudge ouer doctrine whych is sound and which is other in the power of the keyes that is to say as our sauiour him self hath expounded it in loosing and binding excommunicating and absoluing in making rules and lawes for the gouernement of the church and in the ministery of the word and the sacraments To the first of thiese three what title Kinges and princes haue it shall if theie haue anie be seene hereafter But for priestes yow shall see to begin withall an auncient commission out of the scriptures where almighty god speking to Aaron vsed thiese wordes Praeceptum sempiternum eâ—t in gener ationes vestra vt habeatis scientiam discernendi inter sanctum prophanum inter pollutum mundum docâ—atisqué filios Israel omnia â—egitima mea that is to say it is a precept that shall euer endure thorough all your generations to haue the knowledge to discern and put difference betwene holy thinges and prophane betwene cleane and polluted and that yow teache the children of Israel all my commaundements To whome gaue almightie god here the power to iudge of doctrine whome commaunded he to teache anie other then Aaron and his race which wer priestes In the booke of DeuteroÌ„ saieth he not also that if there arise any hard or doutefull question the priest must be consulted that he that of pride will spurn ageinst his ordinance shall suffer death therefore and agein in the same booke in an other place that apon the priestes word all causes shall hang. Ezechiel the prophete doeth he not witnesse the same â–ª and when there is anie controuersy sayth he they shall stay in my iudgements and giue iudgement Aggeus and Malachias prophetes bothe bid they vs enquier for the law of god at the priestes handes or at the kinges No assuredlie they send vs not to kinges which had they bene the chiefe gouernours in those matters without faile they would haue doen but to the priestes whose lippes they promise shall not misse to kepe the true knowledge because theie ar our lordes angels Haue we any such warrant of worldely princes No trulie And wer it not more theÌ„ necessary that we should if princes should rule them in matters of religion of whom thiese wordes be spoken But to procede is this auctoritie giue to them onely in the olde testamentâ—ar they not put trow yow in as greate trust in the newe Or ar they thinck yow excluded and kinges admitted theâ—eâ—â—â— If it had bene so neuer would S. Paule tâ—at blesâ—ed aposâ—le haue made his accopte that god had placed in his churche first apostles next to them prophetes then doctours and so furth Emongest all the which although that frantick foole that preaching not many yeaâ—eâ— sence at Powles crosse went about with his rayling Rhetoricke to make his audience as foolish as he was maâ—de in beleâ—ing that this place should make ageinst the auctoritie of the pope because
for your soules Here considre I beseche yow that S. Paules placing of th'apostels and in them the bishops and priestes their successors in the first and chiefest place in Christes churche his calling of them the rulers thereof and appoincted so to be not by man but by the holie gost was not to deceiue vs. Remembre that if in matters of religioÌ„ the â—ishoppes and priestes should haue solowed the ciuile magistrates ordinaunces it had byn in vaine that Ignatius and Policarpus bad the people emperours and Kinges none excepted to be obedient and subiect to them For wherein should they be subiect or in what thing should they obey if not in religion and matters thereunto apperteining Reade ouer the auncient histories aswell of the Griekes as of the Latines peruse the doinges of Iues and Gentiles paganes heathen or what so euer people or nation yow list and yow shall neuer finde any to haue byn so barbarouse or far out of ordre that first they had not their religion and next their bishoppes and priestes to whome they wholie referred th'ordre and disposition thereof But to procede Chrisostom calleth the priestes the hart and stomack of the churche his reason is quia in rebus Spiritualibus per eos totus popâ—lus gubernatur because in spirituall gouernement all the people is gouerned by them Lo good readers here may yow see that in Chrisostomes time in that pure state of the primitiue churche all the people was in matters spirituall gouerned by not the kinges or other ciuile magistrates but the bisshoppes and priestes Then wer the priestes in those matters iudges and emperours them selues subiectes Then had emperours and kinges this persuasion that they could garnish their stile with none more excellent title or name more honorable then to be called the children of the churche Thus thought Constantinus the greate the first empâ—rour that is reported to haue openly professed Christ. who as Ruffinus witnesseth of him being present at the first generall councel of Nice which was assembled aboue twelue hundred yeares agoe had there deliuered vnto him certein libelles and billes of complaintes that the bishoppes had one of them put vp ageinst an other The which all as he receiued and put vp into his bosom so after that he had refused to be iudge in their causes affirming that it becaÌ„ not him to iudge them to whome god had giuen power to iudge him and that therefore their querels what so euer they wer they should referre to the iudgement of almighty god as hauing no other iudge emongest men he caused without once opening them to see the contentes to be throwen into the fier that the brawle and discord he said of priestes might neuer goe farder into the knowledge of men But here our aduersaries as blame theÌ„ I can not seing they will nedes be patrones to desperat causes if theie be glad to catche holde of a little will perhappes â—ay that I haue vndiscretely behaued my self in alleaging this auctoritie which fardereth me not so much one waie as it hindreth me an other in that by the historie it apâ—eareth that th'emperour sat in the councell with the bishoppes Well of th' alleaging of this place who is like to get shame and who honestie who to winne and who to lose therebie for our aduersaries also I am not ignorant thereof ar wont to bring this example for them the triall thereof I leaue till such time as it shalbe laied more whotly to my charge which shalbe hereafter in bringing to light such simple store as they haue gathered together for the confirmation of their parte from th' examples of such emperours as sence christes time haue reigned Yeat this may I be bould to say in the meane season that as Constantinus sat in the councell with the bishoppes there was neuer yet emperour nor kinge for bidden I dare well say to sitte nor neuer I trowe shall And ouer this that in there being it is not very likely that he encroched any thing apon the spirituall iurisdiction bothe by that which yow haue hard before and also for this that being on a time as S. Austen reporteth of him required by the Donatistes to take apon him the hearing of the cause which depended betwene them and Cecilian th'archebishop of Carthage he refused to meddle there with all because saith he non est ausus de causaeepiscopi iudicare because he durst not be iudge in a bisshops cause But leauing this for the while let vs examine the doings of other good and catholike emperours Valentinianus th'emperour was from that desire of gouerning in churche matters and ecclesiasticall causes so far that as Sozomenus writeth of him being required on the behalf of the bishoppes that inhabited the partes of Hellespontus and Bithinia that he would vouchesauf to be present with them to entreat of certein pointes in religion to be refourmed he made them this asnwer To me being one of the people it is not laufull to search out such thinges But the priestes to whome the charge thereof belongeth let them assemble them selues where they list This is the same ValentiniaÌ„ who willing the bishoppes to chose a meete man to the see of Millain being by the deathe of Auxentius then voide vsed to theâ— thiese wordes Talem in pontificali constituite sede cui nos qui guberâ—amus imperium sincerâ— nostra capita submittamus cuius â—onita dum tanquam homines deliquerimus necessariò velut curantis medicamenta suscipiamus that is to say Choose yow such a bishop as to whome eueÌ„ we which gouerne the empire may syncerely submit our selues and whose monicions while like men we fall as pacients doe the phisicions receiptes we may necessarily receiue This to be short is he which would not so much as be present wheÌ„ Sixtus the B. of Rome was charged with certein accusations but rising from the councel left him to be iudged of him self His sonne also Valentinian succeding his father in th'empire proclaymed he him self chief gouernor in causes ecclesiasticall True it is that being yet a childe and seduced by his wicked mother Iustina to fauour the horrible heresie of the Arrians he began to affect that title But after S. Ambrose like a true bishop and faithefull councelor had tolde him that it apperteigned not to him to pretend any auctoritâ—e or right to meddle with the ouersight of gods matters that to him belonged his palaces and to the priestes the churches that he should not auaunce him self but be subiect to god and giue to hiÌ„ that wich was his reseruing to Cesar that which was Cesars after that he had proposed to him the example of his father who not onelie in wordes saide that it was not his parte to iudge emongest the bishoppes but established also a lawe that in causes of faithe and religion yea in th'examination of the maners of bishoppes and priestes onelie â—ishoppes
ecclesiasticall synode assembled far from his palace where neither the emperour shalbe present neither his lieuetenant intrude him self nor iudge threaten Thus was the emperour answered by that greate good olde man and true confessor Hosius the bishop of Corduba in Spayn to whom as Theodoretus writeth Athanasius was wont to say that no man came sicke and wounded that went not away hole and cured This notable and auncient father this true confessor of Christes faithe for so did also Athanasius call him when he sawe that the emperour Constantius would nedes take apō him the gouernement of the churche which belonged not to him first he proposed to him th' example of his brother Constans who liuing like a vertuouse prince within his boundes neuer attempted the like and after he writeth thus Ne te misceas ecclesiasticis nequè nobis in hoc genere praecipe sed potius à nobis ea disce Tibi deus imperium commisit nobis quae sunt ecclesiae concredidit Et quemadmodum qui tuum imperium malignis oculis carpit contradicit ordinationi diuina ita tucaue ne quae sunt ecclesiae ad te retrahens magno crimini fias obnoxius Date scriptum est quae sunt Caesaris Caesari quae Dei deo that is to say Entremedle not your self o emperour in ecclesiasticall causes nor take not apon yow to commaund vs in those matters but the thinges that belong thereto learne yow them rather of vs. To yow hath god commited th' empire and to vs the busines and affaires of the churche And euen as he that will with comptrolling eye checke your gouernement resisteth the ordinaunce of god so take yow also good hede lest in drawing to yow those thinges which apperteine to the churche yow incurre a greate and a heynouse faulte Giue it is written to Cesar that which is his dutie and to god that which is gods Athanasius speaking to this purpose sayeth Siistud est iudicium episcoporum c. If this iudgement belong to bisshops what hath th' emperour to doe therewith or if on the contrary part these matters be wrought by the threateninges of Cesar what nede is there of any men beside to beare the bare title of bishops when from the beginning of the world hath it byn hard of that the iudgement of the churche hath taken auctoritie of the emperour Or when hath this byn agnised for any iudgemēt Many synodes haue there byn before this time many councels hath the churche holden but the time is yet to comme that euer either the fathers went about to persuade the prince any such matter or that the prince showed him self to be curiouse in matters of the churche But nowe haue we a spectacle neuer seene before brought in by Arrius heresie And towardes the ende of the same epistle of Constantius attempting to meddle in causes ecclesiasticall he writeth thus Quid igitur hic quod Antichristi est omistt aut quid ille vbi venerit plus committere poterit aut quomodo ille in aduentu suo non repererit sibi expeditam uiam ad dolos abisto praeparatam Siquidemiam denuò in locum ecclesiasticae cognitionis palatium tribunal earum causarum constituit sesequè earum litium summū principem authorem facit What is therefore sayth he to be doen by Antichrist that Constantius hath omitted or what can Antichrist doe more at his commyng then he hath doen allready Or how can it be that he shall not find the way ready made by hym when he commeth for all his disceytfull wyles For euen nowe again in the place of the ecclesiaticall iurisdiction he hath placed and appointed his owne palace to be the cōsistory of those causes that should haue byn determined thereby and he maketh him self the chief iudge and arbitre thereof And a little after he addeth Quis enim videns eum in decernendo principe se facere episcoporū praesidere iudicijs ecclesiasticis non meritò eam ipsam abominationem de solationis dicat esse que a Daniele praedicta est for who seeing him in iudgement make him self the chief of the bishoppes and rule in causes ecclesiasticall may not worthely say that he is that abhomination of desolation that Daniel prophecied of Thus haue yowe hard good Readers how thiese auncient fathers Liberius Hosius and Athanasius reproued the doings of Constantius th' emperour the first that we read of and yet him self an Arrian and prouoked thereto by that wicked broode that tooke apō him to meddle in ecclesiasticall iurisdiction Next after him succeded in the empire Iulian of the historiographers called apostata for that that being once a professed Christian he afterward renied his faithe and became a wicked infidell He robbed churches he plucked priestes from the aultars and sent them to the warres he did sacrifice and called him self as Sozomenus writeth of him by the name of bishop and finally by cōtempt termed the Christians Galilei and was to them a more cruell scourge then any that went before him Of him it is likely that Gregorius Nazianzenus who liued in his time would saie no lesse then of Valens the emperour plaieng not much vnlike parte he did whome in the middest of that ruffle which he made in the churche he told to his face that his power was subiect to his consistory and him self a shepe of his flocke I can not here passe ouer in silence the answer I wot not whether I may call it more pleasant more wittie or more godlie that Theodoretus in his ecclesiasticall historie writeth to be made by one Eulogius a man for his vertues emongest his neighbours highly estemed the historie calleth him primarium inter suos the chief of the place where he dwelled to an officier of Valens th' emperour touching this matter This Valēs fauoring the heresie of Arrius encroched so far apon cclesiasticall iurisdiction that he fell to the depriuing of bishoppes and the placing of other in their roomes besides many other sondry enormites and outrages It happened so that coming on a time to a certein towne in Mesopotamia called Edessa where this Eulogius was then gouernour and thincking to doe there as elles where he had that was to place there a chaplain of his to be bishop he was by this good man and certeine other withstand The officer that had to doe vnder the emperour trauailed earnestly to get his consent and emongest other persuasions that he vsed to induce him thereto it chaunced him to cast out thiese wordes Coniungere cum imperatore Be contented man to ioyne with the emperour Set your harte at rest he will haue it so Tumille faithe the history placidè festiuê Numquid vnà cum imperio etiam ille pontificatum est consecutus whie answered he coldely and pleasantly was he made a bishop that daie that he was crowned emperour as who would saie what although he be
of England I could not me thought either for their part which I coueâ— to make as strong as the naughtines of the cause will suffer doe better or for mine owne assurance worcke more warily then to take and cull out such proufes as for the maintenaunce of their opinion they haue there heaped to gether For them because there I persuade my selfe the reader may finde the verie force and strength of all that they haue for theÌ„ selues in this matter to saie as the place where bothe of good reason they should and for their craftie conueiance I nothing doubte but they would bring furth of their groundes the very best if they haue any better then other For my parte or rather for Christ and his churches whose quarell although farre vnworthy at this time I susteine it shall thus stande in steede that if it fortune in your iudgementes good Readers their said groundes and reasons to seeme such as any good man yea happely with some of them some of them selues may mislike they caÌ„ not yeat flee to their olde starting hole that it is but one doctours minde as they vse being sore pressed customably to doe whereas the booke bothe by the manner of the publishing thereof appeareth and sence hath byn acknowleged to be no priuat mannes acte The first argument therefore of theirs to proue that lay men in that they be kinges may take on them the ordering of matters in religion that to them belongeth the auctoritie and ouersight thereof is taken froÌ„ the example of Moyses who being a ciuile magistrat receiued neuerthelesse at the handes of almighty god bothe the charge and ordre of all the religion and ceremonies deliuered the same to the people and when Aaron being a bishop had contaminat the true religion by making the golden calf he failed not sharpely to rebuke and reprehend him therefore To this argument good Readers which out of this example they frame that therefore by good consequence it foloweth that the kinges emperours and other ciuile magistrates of our time may doe the like thus doe we answer that that auctoritie which Moyses had ouer the priestes was not because he was a prince but in that he was a priest as appeareth most euidentlie in the psalme where he is so called But ageinst this answere laboureth as they say with toothe and naile the author of that booke which walketh abrode in manie mennes handes vnder the name of a harborough for faithefull subiectes whose replie is this that in that psalme how euer the olde interpretors haue giuen vs the word the hebrue text hath Cohanim a word indifferent to signify priestes or princes aud that therefore such as doe best vnderstand the tongue giue it thus Moyses Aaron inter ministros eius Moyses and Aaron emongest his ministres And to proue that it may well so be the scripture he saieth calleth Dauid his sonnes Cohanim that is to saie ministres for well he woteth that no man wilbe so fond to saie that a kinges sonnes wer priestes yea he addeth that the best emongest the Hebrues interpreting thiese wordes giue it in Chorei Shemo Moyses AaroÌ„ inter eos qui inuocaÌ„t nomen eius Moyses and Aaron emongest them that call apon his name Thiese in effect be the reasons that moued the man to thinke that Moyses was no priest To be short Whome he taketh for the best or whome he accoÌ„pteth for the worst in the hebrue toÌ„gue or what his habilitie to iudge thereof is I confesse in good fayth I knowe not But of this I am well assured that S. HieroÌ„ Pagninus and whose translatioÌ„ for his religion he nede not to suspect Sebastianus Munsterus emongest all men taken for singulerly learned in that tongue inrerpret the worde to signify priestes And if all this satisfy him not the 70. interpretours traÌ„slate it so For thiese ar theire wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Moyses and Aaron in the nombre of his priestes And for so vndoubted a truthe was it taken with S. Hierom that he in the exposition of this psalme vsed thiese wordes Vterqué Moyses scilicet Aaron domini aduentum sacerdotali praeconio nunciauit Bothe of them that is to say Moyses and Aaron did with their priestly voyce denounce before hand the comming of our lorde Now touching the indifferency of the worde Cohanim to signify a minister or a priest we graunte it to be true but that because in some one place it so signifieth it ought therefore so to be expouÌ„ded in this that we vtterly denie And for proofe hereof we bring Abrahamus Esdras emongest the olde Rabbini called Sapientissimus He expownding this place of the psalme calleth Moyses and Aaron by the name of priestes And because no man should cauill about the ambiguitie of the worde Cohanim he graunteth it to be a worde doubtfull But to take away all such ambiguitie and to make vs assuredly vnderstaÌ„d when it signifieth this or that he giueth this rule that being ioined and applied to the name of god or any thing to him belonging as here it is it signifieth allwaies a priest but otherwise referred to prophane thinges a minister as maie be answered of Dauids children in the second booke of kings the .8 chapiter And surely so long as he standeth apon his bare vauntes of the best without naming at all any I se no cause but that we may well rest in that interpretacion which thiese â—ower for their knowledge in that tongue of the learned sort accompted most excellent beside the nombre of the .70 interpretours haue deliuered vnto vs especially seing that interpretacion which the very best emongest the Hebrues he saith haue giuen apon that place that is Moyses and Aaron emongest them that call apon his name I thinke to him that considereth well the wordes that followe Et Samuel inter eos qui inuocant nomen eius will seme and proue to be euen the very wurst But because yow shall well perceiue that Moyses was in dede a priest beside the testimonies allready brought furth I shall here alleage certein other to proue the same First S. Austen writing apon the same psalme where bothe he and Aaron ar called priestes maketh as it wer ageinst the priestehood of Moyses a certein obiection and afterward concludeth that Moyses was not withstanding a priest His wordes ar thiese Ibi quidem non videtur sacerdos essenisi Aaron Aperâ—è enim in illis literis Aaron nominatur sacerdos dei De Moyse noÌ„ ibi dicitur quòd sacerdos erat Sed si hoc non erat quid erat Nunquid maior sacerdote esse poterat Expropriat psalmus iste quia ipse sacerdos erat Moyses Aaron in sacerdotibus eius Ergo erant illi domini sacerdotes that is to say there it semeth that there was no other priest but Aaron for in that place is he plainelie named a priest but of Moyses there is no such word
He made psalmes and wrote himnes to the glory and praise of god And who is there I praie yow that at this day forbiddeth anie prince or king to doe the like He appoincted and established to serue the temple for euer some to sing some to plaie on the organes some and a greate some the scripture hath fower thousande to kepe the dores And what conclude they hereof if Dauid had appointed plaiers and singing men as he did not but willed the chief of the Leuites to appoint some of their brethern thereto that therefore he was chief gouernour in all causes ecclesiasticall O what newe logick is sodenly sprong vp with their newe diuinitie How manie notable Kinges hath our littell countrie had which in their daies haue established for the like purposes like fundations by our aduersaries at this daie almost all ouerthrowen of whom no one euer by this meanes thought him selfe anie thing the more auctorised to gouerne in matters of religion the cleargie of his countrie But for this example that which I haue allreadie saide maie suffise bothe because I thincke they leane not much theretoe for that theie can showe no greate store of Kinges yea I maie be bould to say none at all by them persuaded to builde anie churches or to establish anie fundacions of such as shoulde there continually serue god and also for that the place it selfe howe euer in the apologie the conclusion conteine more then the premisses semeth not to be brought in directly to proue any such thinge For our apologie which alleageth it hath onely quodammodo praefuit sacerdotibus that is and in a māner or after a sort he was aboue the priestes And therefore will I procede to their other examples Salomon they say builded and dedicated to god a churche made to the people an oration concerning religion and worshiping of god deposed Abiathar the bishop placing Sadoc in his roome Ezechias purged the temple commaunded the lightes to be kindled encense to be doen and sacrifice offred after the old accustomed manner finally the brasen serpēt which was then worshipped by the people to be vtterlie taken awaie and broken all to fitters Iosaphat toke awaie the hilles and wooddes whereby the people was hindred from the common temple of Ierusalem Iosias warned the priestes and bishops of their duties Ioas restreined their riot and insolency and last of all Iehu put the wicked prophetes to deathe These be th'examples good readers which the aduersaries to the truthe bring for the maintenaunce of the contrarie out of the old Testament Which manner of reasoning from examples in that age vsed if it might be at these daies in all poinctes laufull to folow what and how houge a nombre of inconueniences might by iust consequence thereapon be easelie grounded and brought in I nede not here to reherse anie man but meanelie exercised in the holie scriptures may with him self easely conceiue If the miracles examples significatiue and singuler priuileages doē practised and graunted in that age might without any daunger aswell be to the present esta te of the churche which now is drawen applied and accomodate as the morall preceptes of that lawe maie and ar whie haue not then the Kinges now a daies as many wiues as had King Dauid then why should it not be as laufull for the cleargie I will not onely say to admonishe and reprehend to put Kinges doing amisse at this tyme to death as it was at that for Samuel to cut in pieces with his owne hādes the body of Agag king of Amalech why not for thē to depose kinges aswell as kinges to depriue them For if they bring to vs th'example of Salomon who deposed Abiathar the priest and placed Sadoc in his roume they shall heare of vs again that Samuel by gods own cōmaundemēt pronoūced Saul depriued of his king dome and settled Dauid in the same Phinees being a priest killed with his dagger the Israelite and the Madianite as they filthely abused thēselues and haue priestes therefore at this day thinck we like iurisdiction Or woulde god is it likely praise him for the doing that would nowe doe the like as he then did him No no good readers they treade not vprightely that so interprete the scriptures And thus yow see howe generally all these examples and auctorities being euen after this sort answered make no more for kinges to rule in matters of religion then other places doe for the cleargy to depose kinges or to kill them or other doing amisse But to descend nowe more particulerly to the seuerall examination of these examples I would gladly aske this question of some of these our newe Rabbines that being graunted to them by the way of reasoning which theie presuppose that is that king Dauid entremedled in th' affaires of religion how this argument holdeth not withstanding Dauid being bothe a king and a prophete had the rule of religion Therefore the kinges of our tyme must haue the like And in deede thus must they reason if they will reason trulie For so was king Dauid they can not all deny it And as well am I able to proue that if he had any such power it was because he was a prophe te and not in respect of his kingedome as they shall euer be to proue the contrary So that to make this reason of theirs haue yea seeme to haue some apparence of truthe of two thinges must they nedes doe one that is either proue our kinges nowe a daies prophetes also or Dauid in his daies to haue bene but a king simply In Salomon also is the case trowe ye all so cleare as they make it For touching the depriuation of Abiathar the priest to that I answer that as in breaking the wicked packe of Adonias Abiathar and other their complices who had conspired to haue put Salomon beside his kingdom he vsed the councell of Sadoc and Nathan to defeat them so vsed he their auctoritie and ministery to punishe them Nor it forceth not that the scripture saieth Eiecit ergo Salomon Abiathar vt non esset sacerdos domini therefore cast Salomon Abiathar out that he should no lenger be our lordes priest as though that therefore it wer his own deede and could be doen by no other seing that that is a phrase of speche common not in the scriptures onelie but in common talck also as if for example a man should say that Quene Mary whose soule god assoile depriued Thomas Cranmer of the archebishoprick of Cantorburie whose treason also ageinst her was no lesse then that of Abiathar ageinst Salomon he should not say a misse And yet was not she god wot the chief doer thereof but an instrument ioining with the pope in the execution of his determination touching the rooting out of that wicked membre So saie we in like manner that the prince hath made such a man bishop when in very dede he onely commended him by his
lettres or worde leauing the free election notwithstanding to them to whome of right it apperteineth as this placing of Sadoc in Abiathars office may welbe vnderstande To th'example of Ezechias I answer with the scripture that of all those thinges here rehersed and what so euer elles may be he was onelie the executor the councell and ordering thereof comming alwaies from Esaias the prophete Who as the mouth commaunded the arme that is the prince to doe and put in execution this or that In like māner I answer to the example of Iehu who killed the wicked prophetes but by thaduertisement and sentence as it wer first giuen ageinst them by Haelizeus the prophete sent to Iehu as king by him to be put in execution How Iosias warned the priestes of their office and duety it appeareth in the fourth booke of the kinges where he required the priestes to demaund at goddes handes councell what he and his people should doe so that what so euer he did also he cā be counted no otherwise to haue doen but as a ministre apon the aduertisement and relation of the priestes Nowe as for Iosaphat and Ioas if th'one ouerthrewe the wooddes and hilles where the people lurcked from the temple the other warned the priestes to see better to the reparation of the same what greate matter is this I praie yow or how doeth this proue that kinges ought to haue the chief rule ouer the churche If princes that haue byn in times past had so well looked in this point to their duetie as of right they ought and all good men wishe they had if they had scoured your luskes corners and ouerthrowen the wooddes the blinde cellers and rotten barnes in which yow first vttred your poisoned doctrine neither had that made thē rulers of the church but faithefull and trusty ministers nor yow byn here nowe to trouble the churche of god as yow doe As if on thother side they had also folowed th'example of Ioas in calling apon the reparation of goddes house neither would any good man haue found faulte therewith all nor any wise man haue thought that this should haue made thē the chief gouernours in religion nor finally so many churches lien at this day flat on the ground so many monasteries in which god was serued and the pooer relieued made stables for horses housen for shepe or sties for swine And thus may yow see good readers that all thiese examples alleaged by our aduersaries ar to no purpose as of the which some as of king Dauid who was not a king onely but a prophete also conteine a manifeste fallacie other as that of Iosue that he should receiue especiall commaundemēt of almightie god to meddle with religion an impudent lie some as of Salomon Ezechias and Iehu a figure or phrase of speche as by the scriptures I haue proued and as of Iosias may be also truely answered who enterprised nothing before he had caused the priestes first to goe and consult what he should doe and other some such as of Iosaphat and Ioas as no man euer denied to kinges yea many wishe that in the practising thereof they had in times past and at this daie also would showe them selues much more forward then they haue or doe And last of all yow may see that all wer it so that euery example had plainely concluded their intention that yet it is no good reason to say that therefore our kinges nowe a daies must haue the like auctoritie no more then this that if Moyses had byn no priest it should folow that other temporall gouernours might consecrate bishoppes because he did being none consecrate his brother Aaron or that because Dauid had many wiues therefore our kinges also maie or the cleargie put to death kinges because Samuel did or priestes kille adulterers after th'example of Phinees or one spoile an other I meane of them that be of contrarie opinions in religion because the children of Israel spoiled the Egiptians And here there cōmeth to my remēbraunce an other cause why that reason of theirs should be naught which is this that the priestehod of the Iewes was altogether carnall and fleshelie and might therefore the rather be subiect to the kinges whereas the priesthod of the newe testament is so much more excellent then that as by how much the matter and obiect about which it is occupied the head author and chiefe priest thereof which is no other then Christ him self the eternall priest according to the ordre of Melchisedech doeth far surmount either the matter the priest or priestehod of theirs Which thing S. Petre did not obscurely signify by these wordes vos estis regale sacerdotium yo we ar a kingelie priestehoode as who should say the priestehood before was not kingly for that that kinges ruled ouer priestes but nowe is the priestehod kingly for that to it be subiect euē kinges them selues Which neither is any such greate absurditie if we indifferentlie wey the matter as some men would haue it seme to be considering that Ignatius disciple to S. Iohn the euangelist that all the auncient fathers doe most plainely affirme the same neither yet anie greate reason why thiese wordes should be to any man cause of offence seing that when all is counted this honor of gouernement resteth not in the priestes but goeth farder to god him self whose ministres they ar as contrarywise the dishonor the contumelies and reproches doen vnto them ar doen also to Christ as him selfe witnesseth Qui vos spernit me spernit he that dispiseth yow dispiseth me The which thing I would to god our aduersaries which glory so much of the name of Christians vaunt them selues of the knowledge of the gospell would not thinck scorne to learne by the exāple of a pagane and infidell I meane Alexander the greate Who although he wer by religion an ethnike by nature intollerably proude so that not contentid as Quintus Curtius writeth of him to be born of the race of mortall men he cōueighed his petigrue frō the goddes not suffering but commaunding also that apon peine of his indignation all men should call him the sonne of Iupiter and to encrease the more that naughty humor of his and to poure as the prouerbe is oile in to the fier by fortune so happy that the whole worlde was in a manner by the dent of his sword conquered and brought vnder that at his name the proudest tirants trembled and barbarouse nations stooped he yet all this not withstanding being such and so mighty a Monarche when on a time he should entre in to the citie of Ierusalem as sone as he once perceiued Iaddus the highe priest comming towardes him fell downe and reuerenced him Whereat whē Parmenio one of his trusty friendes marueiling not a little had demaunded of him why he whom all other men worshiped and had in reuerence did worship the prince of the Iewish priestes his answer was
occupation and so maie not I who I thanck god therefore am none of the company will take the paines to stoope and doe it for them It foloweth in Theodoretus after he had mentioned the oration which Constantin had in the councell Haec his similia tanquaÌ„ fiâ—â—us amator pacis sacerdotibus veluti patribus offerâ—bat These wordes and such like as a sonne that loued peace he offred vp to the priestes as to his fathers Lo good readers was not here trow yow a greate president for our Emperours and kinges to meddle with the ordre of religion Well he was as the histories beare witnes the first christian emperour that openly professed the faithe and name of Christ for of Phillip the histories make no greate accompt and before that time the church was gouerned either by infidleles and tirantes as Nero Domitianus and such other or by priestes or by none And this was the very cause that they would so faine haue wonne to their parte the first Christian emperour The next example that they bring is of Theodosius th'emperour that he not onely sat emongest the bishoppes but was also the verie chief of the conference betwene the Catholykes and the Arrians That Theodosius did in this matter nothing of him self but all by the councell of Nectarius the B. of Constantinople had not our aduersaries as they did before in th'example of Constantine mangled the historie any man might easely haue perceuid For reade the beginning of the chapiter where this matter is mencioned and yow shall finde that Theodosius called to him Nectarius then B. of Constantinople asked of him his aduice what ordre wer best to be taken for thappeasing of that schisme which then so miserably troubled the churche and finallie embrased him self and commaunded all other to receiue the same doctrine not which him self had determined to be true but which Nectarius and the other catholyke bishoppes had deliuered and commendid to him And truly maruell had it byn if he had otherwise doen in matters of religion any thing to the preiudice of that auctoritie which bishoppes and priestes of right ought to haue in those matters who at other times had so often declared his minde persuaded to the contrary and namelie in that councell that he caused to be assembled at Aquileia where in the sommons of that Sinode he openlie protested that controuersies arising apon matters of doctrine can not be better tried then by being referred to the bishoppes that they quoth he from whome the very groundes and principles of doctrine haue proceded may if there fall out anie doubtes dissolue the same For the which wordes being afterward rehersed in the councell it appeareth how greately S. Ambrose praised him when he saide openlie Behold what ordre the christian emperour hathe taken he will not doe anie iniurie to the priestes he referreth to the bishoppes the interpretation of all doubtes If Theodosius had taken apoÌ„ him to iudge in matters of faithe being a lay man coulde S. Ambrose thincke yow that florished vnder him haue byn ignorant thereof If he could not would he haue praised him for that he did not would he haue asked of Valentinianus the yonger beginning in his youthe although he after repeÌ„tid to encroche apoÌ„ the spirituall limites and iurisdiction Quando audisti clementissime imperator in causa fidei Laicos de Episcopo iudicasse when did yow euer heare most gentle emperour that in matters of faith lay men haue iudged of the bishoppes doinges Might he not haue answered if it had bene as our aduersaries say I haue not hard onelie but knoweÌ„ also by experience that mine owne felowe in the empire Theodosius hath doen so So that hereapon we may be bould probably to conclude S. Ambrose vertue wisdome lerning long experience and greate practise in Christes churche well coÌ„sidered that Theodosius atteÌ„pted no such matter nor did anie thing in religion without the councell of such bishoppes as being catholike enstructed him what he should doe for thaduauncement and setting forwarde of Christes catholyke faithe It foloweth in the apologie In the couÌ„cel of CalcedoÌ„ the ciuile magistrate condeÌ„ned for heretikes by his senteÌ„ce Dioscorus Iuuenalis Thalassius being all bishoppes and iudged them vvorthy to be degraded Here would I faine knowe in what place or where they finde this historie written If they saie in the. 5. booke and tenth chap. of Socrates historie as the place is in the margent coated I must nedes tell them that the place hauing byn there sought for can not be found And as littell hope is there of finding the same elles where if a man maie beleue vehemeÌ„t presumptions For if in that couÌ„cell Iuuenalis and Thalassius had bene at all condeÌ„ned by any magistrat either ecclesiasticall or ciuile as well should it of all likelihood haue byn mencioned in the actes and recordes of the couÌ„cell of Calcedon as was the condemnatioÌ„ of Dioscorus they being all accused and partakers of one crime True it is although in the place by theÌ„ alleaged there be no such thing that in the actes yet of the councell we finde a record where the ciuile magistrates consented that Dioscorus had well deserued to be of his bishoprick depriued and of all priestely dignitie degraded But how I beseche yow diligently to considre if to the bishoppes to whome god had committed the charge to giue that sentence it should so seme good And thiese ar not my wordes but his that was sent from the whole councell to Dioscorus who then after the manner of all heretikes fled from the face of the councell and lurcked I wot not where Ioannes the bishop of Germanicia who after he had told him in what termes he stoode that was condemned by the whole councell he added this clause Si hoc placuisset sanctissimis episcopis quibus hanc inferre a domino deo creditum est if it so semed good to the holy bishoppes to whome god had committed the power to giue that sentence This sentence afterwarde the said Dioscorus continuing in his obstinacie was by the whole councell alowed and by the legates of the bishop of Rome in his name pronounced no mans name subscribed or consent asked thereto besides the onelie bishoppes And thus much for Dioscorus for of Iuuenalis and Thalassius till they show where and when they wer condemned for heretikes and worthy to be degraded I can saie nothing Although this in the meane season I may boldelie say that if they the ciuile magistrates I meane gaue anie such sentence it is verie likely that they would qualifie it as yow hard before that they did in Dioscorus with this adiection if the bishoppes thinck good to whom that matter belongeth Which if they did what haue they then gotten by th'alleaging of such a sentence I praie yow The next proufe that they bring is out of the third councell of Constantinople where Constantinus they say did not onelie sit emongest the bishoppes
of emperours and kinges ouer bishoppes and priestes Trulie that Iustinian did this it is but barelie affirmed nor any place in th'apologie is there coated where a maÌ„ that doubted might see it proued And therefore with the same auctoritie might it be denied with the which it is proposed to be beleued True it is that Theodora th'empresse as some write being alltogether giuen to the heresie of Eutiches after she had long trauailed first with Siluerius and after Vigilius bothe bishops of Rome to haue Menna the catholike archebishop of Constantinople depriued of his bishoprick and the heretike Anthimius remoued by Agapetus before restored again and could not obteine at their handes her wicked purpose did apon displeasure conceiued by this repulse â— procure by the meanes of Belisarius Iustinians chief â—apitaine the banishement first of th'one and after of th'other Who so euer deposed them or who so euer banâ—shed them true is it that this was the cause thereof and no other Which being as in dede it is most true let vs nowe graunte to our aduersaries that it was not the empresse but the emperour him self that deposed them and let vs see how they be hable to proue thereby that emperours and kinges may degrade priestes and depose bishoppes If they will deale vprightely they must to proue it â—eason thus Iustinian otherwise a Christian emperour but in this point a cruell heretike tirannously deposed two popes Siluerius and Vigilius onely because they would not doe wrong that is depriue him of his bishoprick to a catholike bishop and restore an heretike laufully before depriued Ergo th'emperour is aboue the pope Ergo kinges be aboue bishoppes Is not this a propre kinde of reasoning trowe yow Might they not haue reasoned after this sort that Nero deposed S. Petre that Traian put downe Clement with a nombre of such like examples For to saie that Iustinian was a christian whereas thiese wer infidelles is but a mist cast in to th'obiection to desell our eyes For who seeth not if he be not allreadie blinde that this deede if it should haue bene Iustinians to mainteine and defend an open heretike ageinst a faithefull and true catholyke had bene the act of a tyrant and infidell not of a Christian and good prince and that it is no better reason to say and conclude that he deposed them and therefore iustlie then it should be to say that he defended the heretike Anthimius and therefore rightefullie But seing this example will not serue our aduersaries turn let vs assaie to make it serue ours And first let vs examine what should be the cause why Iustinian should be so earnest with these two bishoppes of Rome to depose the B. of Constantinople and to restore the heretike that stoode depriued was he not emperour of all the worlde had he not by the meanes thereof as our newe doctours beare vs in hande the chief gouernement ouer all matters spirituall and temporall was on the other side the auctoritie of the bishoppes of Rome at that time such that it extended I will not saie out of their owne diocesse to any other bishoppes in the Latine churche but to Constantinople the chief of the Grieke Here ar they taken how so euer they answer For first if th'emperour had bene of that auctoritie that they saie the laie magistrates arre why did he not then by his owne mere and absolute power displace the one and place the other Might he not as well haue deposed one bisshop at Constantinople as two at Rome But if on the contrarie parte they answer that the pope was he that must necessarilie place and displace euen at that time and in the Grieke churche and not the emperour whie then should it be laufull at this time for emperours or kinges to doe that which was not laufull to be done then Or why should it not now be laufull for the B. of Rome which at those daies was not vnlaufull Thus may yowe see good Readers howe this history wholly and truly alleaged maketh not onely not against vs but also much with vs if it had bene true that th'apologie saieth that Iustinian had deposed those two popes Yea but say they yowe can not denie that the emperour made lawes of matters of religion that he absteined not euen in matters of the churche froÌ„ thiese termes Sancimus iubemus we ordeine we commaunde with such like Trulie this can I not denie and if I would there be whole constitutions of his ready to be brought againste me as that where he commaundeth that none be made bisshop that hath a wife and of them that haue had such as haue had oneâ—ie one the same no widowe neither deuorced from her husband neither forbidden by the holie canons and also that where he commaundeth that of priestes no other be receiued to that ordre but such as vel coelibem vitam agunt vel vxorem habuerunt aut habent legitimam eam vnam primam nequé viduam nequé diuortio separatam à viro aut alioquiî legibus aut sacris interdictam canonibus that is to saie as either leade a single life or haue had a laufull wife or presently haue and that one and the first no widowe none diuorsed from her husband or otherwise by the lawes or holie canons forbidden and that of deacons also where he giueth coÌ„maundement that if he that should be deacon haue no wife presently he be not otherwise promoted except being first asked of him which giueth the ordres whether he caÌ„ from thence furth liue without a wife he answer yea In somuch that th'emperour plainely pronounceth that he that ministreth to him the ordres can not dispence with him to mary after and that if he should so doe the bishop which suffred it should be deposed But although this be true that th'emperour Iustinian not onelie in thiese matters which touched the cleargie but in manie other also hath entremedled yet hath he alwaies so tempered the matter as he hath showed him selfe to be a folower not a leader a ministre to execute not a gouerner to prescribe The which thing his owne wordes in all such places where he entreateth of such matters placed as it wer for the nones to take awaie all such sinistre suspicioÌ„ doe manifestlie declare For either he hath these wordes Sequentes ea quae sacris definita sunt canonibus folowing the definition of the holy canons or thiese Sacras per omnia sequentes regulas in all poinctes folowing the holie rules or such like wherebi he would haue testified to the worlde that he meaneth by his penall lawes seuerelie to execute the canons of the churche and nothing lesse then to make newe him selfe In this sense vsed he the worde Sancimus we ordeine Where speaking of the first fower generall councels and the B. of Rome he hath thiese wordes Sancimus vt secundum eorum definitiones sanctissimus veteris Romae papa primus omniâ—m
by Ado who beareth witnesse that he was bishop there 25. yeares vntil the last yeare of Nero his reigne by Tertullian who in teaching vs howe to trie out heretikes which he saieth is if they be not able to deriue their doctrine from some churche where the apostles haue planted first the faithe either from Rome where Peter was or Smirna where S. Ihon the euangelist taught doeth most manifestly giue vs to vnderstand that they wer both bishoppes in those places What shall I here remembre S. Ciprian who had called Rome in vaine S. Peters chaire if he had neuer bene bishop there Or S. Hierom who in one place reconeth howe manie yeares he possessed the bishoprike there and in diuerse other calleth Damasus the B. of Rome successor in Peters faith and seate Or Optatus B. of Miliuetum in Africa who told Parmenian the Donatist that he could not alleage ignorance knowing right well that the bishoppes chaire was first giuen to Peter in the citie of Rome in the which he sate being head of all the apostles And to conclude woulde trowâ— we in skirmishing with the Donatistes S. Austen haue bidden them viewe the bishoppes of Rome sence S. Peters time if he had neuer bene bishop there This therefore standing as manifestlie true it remaineth that I proue the second parte which is that S. Peter being bishop of Rome was called head of the churche The which thing is easie to be proued by the testimony of diuers auncient writers and first of S. Austen Who in a certeine sermon of his entreating of Peters deniall of Christe hath thiese wordes Totius corporis morbum in ipso capite curat ecclesiae inipso vertice componit membroruÌ„ omnium sanitatem that is to saie In the head of the churche it selfe he meaneth of S. Peter hath he cured the disease of the whole bodie and in the chief parte thereof the very top doeth he set in ordre the health of all the membres Leo the B. of Rome the first of that name whome although Caluin because he sawe in his doinges so manie tokens and signes of chief gouernement ouer the churche as by no meanes he coulde auoide but that he so was calleth proude and orgulouse the substance yet of the world for learning and vertue gathered together at Calcedon honored with the name of ter beatus thrise happie or blessed whome Martianus the emperour called Sanctissimus most holie he I saie nameth Peter to be not onelie bishop of the see of Rome but primate also and chief of all other bishoppes Chrisostome a doctour of the grieke churche affirmeth the same in moste plaine and euident wordes saing Petrus futurae ecclesiae pastor constituitur ac caput piscator homo Hunc vniuerso terrarum orbi Christus praeposuit Peter a fissher man is appoincted to be the shepherd and head of Christes churche that he will builde Him hath Christ made ruler ouer all the worlde And in an other place he saieth Christus Petro ecclesiae primatum gubernationemque per vniuersum â—â—undum tradidit Christ deliuered vnto Peter the primacie of the churche and rule thereof thorough out all the worlde Last of all note I beseche yowe to this purpose out of Chrisostome thiese wordes Quanam item de causa Christus sanguinem effudit suum Certé vt pecudes eas acquireret quarum curam tuÌ„ Petro tuÌ„ Petri successoribus committebat Which is in english to saie thus much For what cause I praie yow did Christ shed bis bloud Truelie to redeme those shepe whose charge he committed to Peter and to Peters successors Here would I aske of yow M. Iuel this question whether yow thincke that Christ died for all his churche or for some parte thereof onelie Chrisostome in answering to this question for whome he shed his bloude answereth as hath bene saide for them whome he committed to Peters charge and his successors If the whole churche be not committed to Peter and his successors but onelie one parte thereof then foloweth it that either Chrisostome thought he died for no other or elles did he euel solute his owne question But for so vndoubted a truthe was it taken with Chrisostome and in his time with all other that S. Peter and the popes after him had the vniuersall charge of Christes churche that he was not a fearde by suche a periphrasis or circumlocution to vtter his minde as euery man he wyst as sone as he hard would easelie vnderstande Yow haue here harde M. Iuell for the confirmation of the minor of mine argument or second proposition not one but three substantiall witnesses that haue called S. Peter heade of the churche bishop not of Rome onelie but of all other bishops the chief that haue affirmed that to him was committed by Christ the gouernement and superioritie ouer the churche thorough out all the worlde that he and his successors haue the charge of those shepe for whome Christ died So that apon the coÌ„clusioÌ„ which necessarilie foloweth Ergo the bishoppe of Rome was of one auncient doctour in the firste sixe hundred yeares after christ called head of the churche I might M. Iuell if I wouâ—d eueÌ„ out of hande if yow haue allready yealded to none other chalenge yowe for my prisonier your importune request being as yowe see sufficientlie satisfied For yowe caÌ„ not say pardy that although yowe graunte with the auncieÌ„t fathers that S. Peter was heade of the churche that the bishoppes yeat of Rome his successors wer not First because that wer as much in effect to saie as that Christ would that there should be a heade of his churche and no heade a head while Peter liued and after none And if that be your answer I praie yowe tell vs a cause whie and showe vs some scripture where our Sauiour Christ so taught or his apostles deliuered or the auncient councels and holie fathers haue so affirmed Secondarily yow ar barred of this plea because the verie nature of succession is such that excepte he or some other hauing auctoritie into whose place an other succedeth expresselie prouide for the contrary which yet remaineth to be proued that euer Christ or S. Peter did he coÌ„meth directly in to all the righte and interest what so euer it be that his author had before him Last of all yowe can not vse this friuolouse exception that this title of heade of the churche began and ended alltogether with Peter as most foolishely Iohn Caluin doeth who graunting that Peter was in dede the heade and chief of the apostles because he saieth the verie ordre of nature requireth that in all companies there be one to gouerne the rest denieth yet that the B. of Rome succeding in Peters office should be heade of the churche nowe as S. Peter was of the apostles which represented the same then and that for so the because that which had place emongest a
aunâ—ieÌ„t fathers ar good groundes to builde apon Irinaeus S. Ambrose S. Austen and Theodoritus affirme that the churche of Rome is the chief of all other churches Ergo the B. and heade of that churche is chief and heade ouer all other bishoppes and heades of all other churches And thus much by the occasion offred Stephan to return from whence we haue digressed the archebishop of Carthage with three councels of Africa called the B. of Rome pater patrum summus omnium praesulum pontifex that is to saie father of fathers and chief B. of all bishoppes Constantinus the emperour in one place calleth him summus pontifex the chief bishop and in an other vniuersalis papa vniuersall pope In which place he also commaunded that the churche of Rome should be called the heade of all other in the worlde and for so reputed and taken Hetherto haue I proued vnto yow that the B. of Rome hath bene of the auncient fathers of Christes churche within the firste sixe hundred yeares after Christes departure hence called heade of the churche ruler of the churche chief prieste chief of all other bishoppes bishop of the vniuersall churche and vniuersall bishop Nowe will I showe that the doctours and fathers in the primitiue churche haue not onelie in wordes which yet proceding from the mouthes of such men as they wer might to anie honest man seme sufficient so termed him but by seuerall actes also of theirs well witnessed to the worlde that in their consciences for so theie tooke him And euen as in the lawe to proue the possession of a lordshippe or manor it is a sufficient proufe to bring in euideÌ„ce that he who is disturbed therein hath quietlie without interruption or contradiction maâ—ured and tylled the grounde reaped and receauid the fruites or in a controuersie of iurisdiction to proue the doing of such actes as properlie belong thereunto euen so in this case if I proue vnto yow that the auncient fathers of Christes churche the same whome I named to yowe before haue some of them from the fardest parte of the Easte churche complained to the B. oâ— Rome of wronges don to them some of them required him to confirme their actes and ratifie their doinges other some sente to him their worckes by him to be examined and iudged I nothing doubte but yow will easelie graunte that these ar to induce and proue his iurisdiction ouer the whole churche argumentes moste strong and inuincible To performâ— this the better call to your remembrance I beseche yowe that which a littell before I alleaged to yow out of S Chrisostome where he witnessed that Peter and his successors had the charge of those shepe for whome Christ shed his bloud and then iudge I praie yowe whether of likelihood he thought not as he saide when being chased from his folde and flocke at Constantinople where he was archebishop and vniustlie driuen into banishement he wrote vnto Innocentius then being pope and the chief shepherd for helpe after this manner Obsecro scribas quôd haec tam iniquâ— facta absentibus nobis non declinantibus iudicium non habeant robur sicut neque sua natura habent illi autem qui iniquè egerunt poenaeecclesiâ—sticarum legum subiaceant that is to saie I praie yow saith this holie father to the pope addresse furth your lettres to signifie that those thinges which haue so vniustly bene decreed ageinst me in my absence not proceding of contumacy maie be of no force as of their owne nature theie ar not and that they which haue giuen this vniust sentence maie suffer the smart of the ecclesiasticall lawes Beholde here good readers a moste manifest place to proue in those daies the vniuersall auctoritie of the pope Two thinges there ar here to be noted which Chrisostome desireth the pope to doe first to declare that all that was doen ageinst him should be of no force nexte that he would write that they might be punished which had thus misused him Nowe if the pope had had nothing to doe out of his owne churche then had wote yow well Chrisostome bene a mad man to make labour to him to sende his commaundementes to the Grieke churche to entremeddle in the affaires thereof who might easely haue receiued of the doers of those iniuries which wer membres thereof as Chrisostome was this short answer to meddle with his owne matters and to let theÌ„ alone with theirs Or if he had had nothing to doe in that cause which was concerning the archebishoprike of Constantinople woulde he is it like haue excommunicate Arcadius th'emperour with Eudoxia th'empresse for not permitting Chrisostom quietly to enioye his said bishoprike as Nicephorus reporteth of him that he did by thiese wordes Itaquè ego minimus indignus peccator cui thronus magni apostoli Petri creditus est segrego reijcio te illam à perceptione immaculatorum mysteriorum Christi Dei nostri Episcopum etiam omnem aâ—t clericum ordinis sanctae dei ecclesiae qui administrare aut exhibere ea vobis ausus fuerit ab ea hora qua praesentes vinculi mei legeritis literas dignitate sua excidisse dâ—cerno That is to say I therefore Innocentius the pope of all other the leaste and an vnworthy sinner to whome the throne of the greate apostle Peter is committed doe sequestre and reiect both the and her the Empresse he meaneth from the receauing of the immaculate misteries of Christ our god The bishop or clerck within the ordre of the holye churche of god which shall presume what so euer he be from the time that these letters conteining the band of our â—xcommunication shall come to your knowledge to ministre the sacrameÌ„tes vnto yow him pronounce I depriued of his dignitie Nowe if he had then auctoritie ouer Constantinople in the Grieke churche whie doe yowe at thiese dayes M. Iuell thrust him out of Englande in the Latine churche S. Hierom as yow harde before called the B. of Rome chief prieste and successor to Peter If he had not thought as he saide would he euer haue penned his faithe and sent it to him to be allowed with thiese wordes Haec est fides beatissime papa quaÌ„ in ecclesia Catholica didicimus quamque semper tenuimus tenemus In qua si minus perité aut paruÌ„ cauté aliquid forté posituÌ„ est â–ª emendari a te cupimus qui Petri fideÌ„ fedeÌ„ tenes c. This is that faithe most blessed pope which I haue learned in the catholike churche and which I haue euer hetherto mainteined and still doe In to the which if anie thing by me be either not cunningly or without due circumspection infarsed or put in that desire I by yow to be corrected who possesse bothe the faithe and seate of Peter And if this confession of my faithe be by the iudgement of your apostleship alowed who so euer he be
bishoppes in nombre 318. roborate or confirmed non deberi absque R. pontificis sententia celebrari concilia nec Episcopos damnari that without the auctoritie of the B. of Rome neither councelles should be kepte nor bishops condemned So that herebie we may gather that it was before taken for a truthe but then by reason of some busie braines that began to call it in to question by the iudgement of the councell confirmed and put out of all doubte Who but he excommunicated all the churches of Asia and prouinces bordering apon it no man finding fault with the doing thereof for lacke of iurisdiction which would no doubte where partes be taken as at that time there wer aboute the keping of the Easter daye of all other things first haue bene espied and reprehended if it had bene doen with out auctoritie although some complained of ouer much rigour and would haue wisshed a little more discretion in Victor then pope which did it But to goe forwarde in thexamples of thauncient councels To whome did the second generall councell gathered at Constantinople declare that the honour of being chief ouer all other bishops did apperteigne To anie other then to the bishop of Rome In whose place was Cirillus president of the thirde generall councell holden at Ephesus but in the B. of Rome his Whome called the fowerth generall councell of Calcedon vniuersae ecclesiae episcopum bishop or ouersear of the vniuersall churche but him Who commaunded the bodie of the same councell that theie should in no wise suffer Dioscorus the bishoppe of Alexandria to sit emongest them but the pope by his legates Whie was Lucentius one of the popes legates forbidden at the same time to accuse Dioscorus but because the fathers tould him that the parsons of the iudge and th'accuser must be distincte â–ª and that the iudge might in no wise take on him the others name or office And howe was Lucentius emongest them a iudge because he represented the popes parson And whie was the pope his maister iudge because he was the chief iudge and heade in earthe of the churche Can yow tell anie other cause M. Iuell And for this cause Lucentius gaue ouer and Eusebius an other bishop accused him Finallie to make an ende with this councell of Calcedon knowe ye that after manie reasons on bothe sides and long debating toe and fro in the same touching the B. of Rome his prerogatiue the fathers at the length concluded the matter and knit vp the knot in this wise Ex his quae gesta sunt vel ab vnoquoque deposita perpendimus omnem quidem primatum honorem praecipiâ—um secundum canones antiquae Romae Deo amantissimo archiepiscopo confirmari That is to saie By those thinges which haue passed emongest vs or haue bene by euerie one of vs alleaged we perceiue according to the canons all souerentie and chief â—onour to be confirmed to the welbelouid of god tharchebishop of olde Rome Note here I beseche yowe good indifferent readers which a littell before I noted to you out of Athanasius alleaging for the B â–ª of Rome his sâ—â—erioritie the first councell of Nice that the councell of Calcedon determined here no newe thing of the popes auctoritie but confessed them selues by boulting out the truthe to haue founde that the canons and rules of the churche in times past had giuen him that chief honour aboue all other and that therefore theie perceiued that by them it ought to be confirmed What can we here thincke of the councell of Calcedon referring it selfe to the canons but that it meÌ„t of the councell of Constantinople and Nice going before And of the councel of Nice what can we iudge but that their confirmation had relation to the verie institution of Christe him selfe The fathers assembled in the two councels of Carthage and Mileuite of whome S. AusteÌ„ was one wrote vnto Innocentius then pope of Rome to confirme their doings ageinst the two heretikes Pelagius and Celestius The who le councell of Carthage writing to the pope did so theie saide vt statutis suae mediocritatis etiaÌ„ apostolicae sedis adhiâ—eatur authoritas to the entent that to their ordonaÌ„ces which wer but of meane auctoritie the weight and maiestie of th'apostolicall seate might adde the more The fathers in the councell Mileuitan of their writing for the confirmation of their decrees alleaged this to be the cause Quia te Dominus gratiae suae praecipuo munere in sede apostolica collocauit that is because our lorde hath placed yow by the gift of his especiall grace in the apostolicall seate To the first of these two councels Innocentius the pope making answer how doeth he praise and extoll the fathers for that that theie not leaning to their owne iudgementes had obseruing th' examples of auncient traditions and being mindefull of the ecclesiasticall discipline not contemning the ordinaunces of the fathers in times past who decreed not by the sentence of man but of god him selfe that the determination of all doubtes should be reserued to the See of Rome from whence all other churches should receaue the same none otherwise then as all waters procede from the heade spring referred the whole processe of their doinges to his iudgement To the other councell he made answer that theie had behaued theÌ„ selues bothe diligentlie and decentlie in regarding th' apostles honour his honour quoth he I saie who beside the care of externall thinges hath also to prouide for all churches in asking what was to be folowed in doutefull matters wherein he saide theie had folowed the forme of the auncient rule He added also that as ofteÌ„ as there was anie doubte of matters of faithe his brothers and fellow bishoppes should referre the same to no other but to Peter in which doing theie should refer theÌ„ to the giuer bothe of that name and the honour belonging theretoe with manie oâ—her wordes to this ende And last of all in the same letters he excommunicated bothe Pelagius and Celestius commaunding that his sentence remained inuiolable that they entred not in to the churches that theie shoulde haue no pastorall charge but yet that if theie repented pardon should not be denied them Here perhappes some one will aske of me why passing ouer the notable testimonies touching this matter of Anacletus Clemens Euaristus Alexander Xistus Telesphours of whome the last liued within seuen score yeres after Christe I rather allege Innocentius who although he be also auncieÌ„t as liâ—ing well neare eleuen hundred yeres agoe and proue right well â—he point for the which he is brought in might yet either for the one respect or the other haue giuen place to any of them To whome I make this answer that as I haue willingly and wittingly suffered my selfe to lacke such necessarie defence for the proufe of this controuersie as out of the writinges of such graue fathers and holie martirs
apon D. Coles wor des in the margeÌ„t of your boke that no B. of Rome before S. Gregories time would euer be called vniuersall biâ—shop finallie then would yowe not so ignorantlie haue confounded together these termes vniuersall bishop and heade of the churche as though theie had in that place signified all one thing The which that theie doe not no maÌ„ doeth more plainelie expresse then S. Gregorie him selfe who writeth of S. Peter after this maÌ„ner The charge saith he and supremacie of all the whole churche was committed to him and yeat was he not called vniuersall apostle Lo M. Iâ—ell if you had taken the paines to haue scanned the place of S. Gregorie alleaged by yow by this and such other would yow euer haue brought in to the lighte this deade mouse this false argument and vntrue consequent There was neuer anie B. of Rome called or that would be called by the name of vniuersall bishop therefore â–ª theie be not or ought not to be heades of the churche Seing that S. Peter as saithe S. Gregorie had the charge of the whole churche although he wer neuer called by the name of vniuersall apostle If S. Peter might be heade of the churche and without anie absurditie haue the charge thereof as S. Gregorie thought although he wer not called vniuersall apostle whie should yow thicke it now anie more impossible for the pope to be called head of the churche although he be not called vniuersall bishoppe And so haue yowe by the waie an answer to your wise demaunde also that is if no B. of Rome would euer take apon him to be called th'vniuersall bishoppe or heade of the whole churche for the space of six hundred yeares after Christe where then was the heade of the vniuersall churche all that while or howe it coulde then continue without a heade more theÌ„ nowe For we saie vnto yow that that is moste false and vntrue which yowe lay for a grounded truthe that is that no B. of Rome woulde euer be called by the name of heade of the churche within the first six hundred yeares after Christe as hath bene sufficientlie proued before and that also as we haue declared yowe abuse your selfe in the framing of your saide questioÌ„ in taking for all one the heade of the churche and the vniuersall bishoppe And thus haue yow one cause whie this place of S. Gregorie maketh nothing ageinst the supremacie of the B. of Rome And other cause is for that that Iohn the B. of Constantinople by this name or title of vniuersall bishoppe vnderstoode him selfe onelie to be a bishoppe and none elles Which meaning neither in the first six hundred yeares nor at anie time sence anie B. of Rome that I could yeat heare of euer had And that this is the true meaning of S. Gregorie and not forced by me the verie wordes of the same man written to Iohn archebishop of Constantinople doe well witnesse with me Qui enim indignum te esse fatebaris vt episcopus dici debuisses ad hoc quandoque perductusâ— es â–ª vt despectis fratribus episcopus appetas solus vocari that is to saie for thow Iohn B. of Constantinople which once grauntedst thy selfe to be vnworthie the name of a bishoppe art nowe at the length comme to that passe that thowe labourest to be called a bishop alone And a little after Thow goest about saieth he to take awaie that honour from all other which by singularitie thow desirest vnlaufullie to vsurpe to thy selfe Thus maie yowe see M. Iuell howe this place being by th'author him selfe expounded fardereth yow nothing at all and also by suche auctorities and reasons as haue for our parâ—e bene before alleaged vnderstand howe vnaduisedlie it was saide of yowe that the catholikes as sure as god is god if theie would haue vouchesaufed to folowe either the scriptures either the auncieÌ„t Doctours and couÌ„cels would neuer haue restored again the supremacie of the B. of Rome after it was once abolished Doe yow not hereby giue occasioÌ„ to meÌ„ to thinke that your lacke of faithe and mistrust in goddes omnipotency in other thinges groweth euen thereof that yow thincke god is not god For towching the supremacie hauing in the scriptures nothing in the councels as little in the fathers writinges onelie thiese fewe wordes that might se me to impugne the same and yet doe not howe will yow be able to discharge so manie auctorities of the fathers such consent of councels such conformitie of examples and force of reasons as haue bene and maie be brought ageinst yow howe will you satisfie your owne conscience which telleth yowe that so manie ceremonies so manie ordonances so manie decrees of bishoppes of Rome as Thomas Beacon otherwise called Theodore Basile or by what name so euer he be elles termed hath heaped together deliuered by them to the worlde some of them as emongest a nombre that which of all other yowe make lest account of holie water within little more then a hundred yeares after Christe and the most parte in the pure state of the primitiue churche would neuer haue bene by such common and generall confent without contradiction of anie receiued by the whole worlde vsed and frequented in all the churches scattred and dispersed thorough out the same onlesse the authors thereof had had vniuersall auctoritie to establishe that which hath bene vniuersallie receiued Thus hauing hetherto touching the supremacie saide so much as maie presently serue for your chalenge leauing the rest for a whole booke either by me when god shall sende better laisure or some other better able when he shall thincke best to be thereof made I shall nowe passe to the nexte article in question THAT THE PEOPLE VVAS TAVGHT VVITHIN THE FIRST SIX HVNDRED YEARES AFTER CHRISTE TO BELEVE that in the Sacrament of the altar for so dothe S. Austen terme it is conteined Christes bodie reallie substantiallie corporalie and carnallie TErtullian an auncient writer of Christes churche reporteth of heresie that the nature thereof is either when it is pressed with the auctoritie of scripture to denie it platlie to be scripture or if she receiue it with additions and detractions to the framing of her purpose to peruert it or finally with false gloses and vntrue expositions in such sorte to water it that it maie seme to haue a far other sense then had euer the holie ghost the author thereof This lesson and manner of olde heretikes was neuer I trowe more diligently put in execution or earnestlie practised theÌ„ in this our most miserable and wretched time nor in anie controuersie more perspicuouse and easie euen at the eye to be perceiued then in this of the moste blessed sacrament of Christes owne bodie and bloude For when our aduersaries demaunde of vs scripture for the confirmation of our parte and we bring them the wordes not of Peter not of Paule not of anie of thother apostles but of Christe him selfe that
one other so verie a dizzard as him selfe that will saie the nature of the parchement of his lettres patentes to be chaÌ„ged in to earthe grasse wood waters worthe by the yeare a thousand pounde If there had bene no other change in this breade but that it is nowe as he saithe made of common and prophane holie and consecrate neuer woulde Chrisostom haue exhorted vs to worshippe that bodie on the altar which the wise men worshipped in the mangier neuer woulde S. Austen haue saide that theie sinne which worshippe it not By this maie it appeare that your friende is he M. Iuell that hath plaide the lourdeine with his maister and therefore well worthie the whip For where he had prouided for his geastes a moste preciouse and costlie feaste this honest companion stealeth all awaie and leaueth them in stede thereof a bare piece of bred And thus much to satisfie your chalenge in this pointe Now to the next article which is of the vse of the Sacrament vnder one kinde THAT VVITHIN THE FIRST SIX HVNDRED YEARES AFTER CHRIST THE COMMVnion was ministred vnder one kinde EVen as in the controuersie of the popes supremacy yow denie M. Iuell that there ought to be any other heade ouer the churche here militant in earthe then Christ him selfe which is the chief not as though yow knewe not right well that gouernement for the appeasing of schismes and repressing of heresies to be the best or as though if your god Iohn Caluin had had that auctoritie ouer all the worlde wer it twise as large againe as it is you would haue founde any faulte therewithall and not haue thought him able to rule the same well ynough but onely of a cancred hatred that you beare to the Catholike churche sometimes your mother a vaine pleasure that yow take to thwart her in her doinges and last of all because that gouernement serueth not your turn as yow finde faulte with priuate masses not as though yow alowed any but onely to banishe froÌ„ the fathers sight if it might be the laufull enheritor and to set vp the misbegotten bastard to abolishe and vtterly extinguishe the sacrifice of the newe testament which that crafty wily serpent forsawe so long before if he wer once able to quenche that burning charitie and earnest desire of often receauing the blessed body and bloud of Christ which then was so commonly emongest christian men in vse and he alas hath nowe obteined he should in time to come by his wicked membres be with the more ease able to bring to passe euen so in this present controuersy fareth it with your doinges When all the worlde maie see that you which charge vs so hotely with no lesse then that greate and heinouse crime of sacrilege as of robbing the laie people of Christes bloud in the communion which is notwithstanding an impudent lie robbe not onely them but the cleargy also except yow had rather call it by an honester name of exchaunge bothe of Christes body and bloud toe The which thing leauing to the indifferent reader by him at his laisure more earnestly to be weighed I shal nowe proue vnto yow that within the first six hundred yeares after Christe the sacrament of the altar was ministred vnder one kinde But here I must warne yowe of this one thing before hande that I meane in this article and the nexte to giue yow but onely a taste of oure proufes not a full bytte as in the two first I haue Which I praye you not to impute to want either of matter or good will but onely to this that when I was thus far entred in this simple treatise it was giuen me by a frinde to vnderstande that aswell in this point as in all the reast by yow chalenged yow haue of late by a notable learned man bene so applied with stoare of wholesome viandes that the wiser â—orte take yow to be rather in such termes as yow care more how to digest that which yow haue allready receiued then that yow once thincke of crauing any more Beare with me therefore if I beare with your weake stomacke Nowe to the matter Yow saye that to ministre the communion to the laitie vnder one kinde is an acte vnlaufull coÌ„trary to Christes ordinaunce and a thing in the primitiue churche neuer vsed or harde of But for proufe of the coÌ„trarie I reason thus Christ our sauiour ministred this sacrament vnder the onely kinde of breade his apostles practised the vse thereof after the same maÌ„ner The churche receuing it from them hath continued the same vsage Therefore it is laufull which we defende and blamed of our aduersaries without cause That Christ first ministred this sacrament vnder one kynde it appeareth by the historie of the ghospel where is mencioned howe that oure sauiour in the waye betwene Hierusalem and Emaus happening apon two of his disciples entred with them in to a certeine house where he ministred to them the sacrament vnder that one kinde of breade That this was the sacrament and not common breade these wordes of the euangelist Benedixit ac fregit porrigebat illis he blessed it he brake it and he deliuered it to them doe well proue Seing that those wordes he blessed and brake it ar in no place of the scripture to be founde applied by Christ or his apostles to prophane or common breade nexte for that the effect wrought by that breade that was the opening of their eyes doeth giue vs also to vnderstande that it was his blessed body and no other thing To these reasons I maye here adde the auctoritie of S. Austen Chrisostome Beda and Theophilactus all fower agreing that this was the blessed sacrament and not as the aduersaries woulde haue it common or prophane breade S. Austens wordes ar these Non autem incongruenâ—er accipimus hoc impedimentuÌ„ in oculis eoruÌ„ a Satana fuisse factum c. that is to saye We doe not verilie take it amisse to thincke that this miste was cast before their eyes by Sathan that they should not knowe Iesus but yeat euen suffred by Christ so to doe vntill they had receiued the sacrament of breade that being thereby made partakers of the vnitie of his body the lette or impediment of the enemie the diuell being remoued and taken awaye they might knowe Christ. Hetherto S. Austen with whome speaking incidently of this breade the vertue and holinesse thereof agreeth that learned bishop Chrisostom in an homely that he writeth apon the .7 chapitre of S. Mathewe in this wise Si auÌ„t tale esset quod de manu sacerdotis accipitur quale est quod in mensa manducatur c. If it wer such which is receiued at the priestes handes as the breade which is eaten at the table euery man would receiue it from the table and no man at the priestes handes Therefore oure lorde by the waye did not onely blesse the breade but he gaue it also from his
would coÌ„municate with the prieste some Secondarilie they teache that this sacrameÌ„t ministred in the masse was chiefelie instituted to be a sacrifice to be offred vp to god by the prieste for his owne sinnes and the sinnes of the people and nexte to be a spirituall foode for all Christian people and nexte to be a spirituall foode for all Christian people to feede apoÌ„ and that as the first vse of anie thing maie not depend apon the second but contrarie wise this apoÌ„ that so in this sacrament the oblation which is the chiefest vse thereof and whereunto the prieste is bounde maie not so depend on the peoples coÌ„municating which is the seconde and whereunto touching so often receiuing theie ar not bounde but stand at libertie that without their deuotion serue them to receiue it he maie not doe his dutie that is to offer it Thirdlie that although for lacke of company the prieste doe receiue alone the sacrifice is yeat neuer the more priuate or lesse coÌ„mon For as no man is so madde to saie that a greate riche man keping a common table for his pooer neighbours hath left his olde accustomed wont and maketh nowe his table priuate if the gates of his house standing wide open as theie wer wont to be his tables furnished with plentie of meates and all thinges in a readinesse his geastes forbeare to come euen so it fareth in this case where the table is laide the gates be open the goodman of the house the prieste supplieng the place of Christe abideth loking for his geastes who onelie refraine to come Is this table priuate is he a niggard or shall he not eate that woulde because theie will not that shoulde Is a conduict builded in the middest of the open market place of a towne the lesse publike or common if the inhabitantes for whose ease it was made refuse to fetche water thereat Last of all we saie that hethertoe yow haue not discharged your promise which was to proue that within the first six hundred yeares after Christe there was neuer Masse saide nor might be without a nombre to receiue with the priest So that now we may saye vnto yow Vbi est illa seuitia vbi est ille fremitus Leonis Nonne sagittae infantum factae sunt plagae eorum Where arre now become youre cruell wordes ageinst the Catholikes to what ende is your Lions roring O Gregory O Augustine O Hierome O Chrisostome O Leo O Dionise O Anacletus O Xistus O Paule O Christ. If we be deceiued yow haue deceiued vs to what ende I saie is it brought Nonne sagittae infantum factâ—e sunt plagae eorum Ar not the woundes that yow haue giuen vs such as childrens cockeshootelles ar wont to make Well these be the pointes that the catholike doctrine standeth apon in this article To the which if youre stomacke serue yow to replie and that yow haue digested that which yow haue allready receiued I moste hartely praie yow to kepe yow without straieng from the matter or alleaging proufes impertinent as close as yow can So shall yow doe bothe to youre selfe in writing and to me in answering a very greate pleasure while I am suer your euidence is so much that six lines I speake with the moste will receiue with ease all that yow shall haue to write THE CONCLVSION CONTEINING 12. CAVSES HABLE AS THE AVTHOR IVDGETH either to stay the wauorer in matters of religion or to calle back the wanderer in thiese perilouse times HEtherto haue yow hard M. Iuell for the confirmation of fower articles the chiefest in a manner of all the rest that arre at this daie in controuersie betwene yowe and vs the scriptures the councels the Doctours and examples of the primitiue churche not their bare names as apoticaries set furth their empty painted boxes but full euen to the toppe of moste wholesom triacle and pretiouse preseruatiues ageinst the venime and contagion of your poisoned and pestilent hereticall doctrine So that now there remaineth no more but that euen as of late yow haue bene warned allready so now by me yow be put in remembrance once againe according to your promise to returne froÌ„ your heresies to your mother the Catholike church The which to perswade yow the rather and with the better will to doe I haue thought good here to communicate with yow such causes and reasons as by parte whereof I haue by experience founde my self against oure coÌ„mon ennemie the craftie serpents assaultes at such times as he hath laboured to drawe me to youre parte not a little strengthened and confirmed in Christes true religion and his catholike faithe FIRST I beseche yow considre and weigh well with your self whether Christ at his departure from vs men left behinde him here in earthe a churche or none Whether he promised to aide the same and to be present with it to the ende of the worlde to defend it in such sorte as if hell gates wer set wide open and all the diuels there sent abroade to vexe it they should not yet all of theÌ„ be able to preuaile When all this shalbe well considered and founde to be true then marche yet one step farder I praie yow and aske as it were of youre self how this churche prospered afterwarde whether as if according to his promise he haue bene continually present therewith all it needes must it multiplied and encreased or by his absence therefro decreased and went backeward Here wote you well you must needes saie either th' one or the other If yow saie that it hath alwaies hetherto either encreased or byn at the least so mainteined that no enemie no heretike no diuell him self no not all the diuels with all the power of the worlde ioining together could euer yet preuaile ageinst it then must you also graunte that at all times sence Christes departure from hence there hath bin a churche visible such as of all men might bothe be seene and knowen for such a one left Christ behinde him to vs his xij apostles besides the nombre of disciples to be a pillar for them to leane vnto that thorough infidelitie should be in daunger of falling and a house to harbour and succour them that otherwise should be like in the tempestes and stormes of heresies to lie without the doores If yow saie thus and that he hath neuer forsaken his churche but allwaies noorished it at all times in such sorte defended it that neuer was there time yet in which for feare of all the tiraunts in the world for dread of burning hanging hedding or other torments what â—oeuer it could be forced to hide it self to seeke meanes to lurcke in cloudes or walâ—k inuisible but hath allwaies to the coÌ„trary well declared it self to be that tabernacle placed in the cleare shining sonne that citie builded on the top of the mountain that caÌ„dell which giueth light to all that arre in the house theÌ„ demaunde I hartely praie you
of your owne coÌ„science where fifty yeares a goe that schismaticall churche which yow call the true churche and boaste your self to be of was in the coÌ„passe of all the wide worlde to be seene or hard of where your bishoppes had their consistories where your pastours and doctours were resident where youre religion was preached and SacrameÌ„tes ministred in such sorte as yow preache and ministre theÌ„ S. HieroÌ„ saieth where is no priest there is no churche S. Paule teacheth vs that in Christes churche be placed apostles prophetes EuaÌ„gelistes pastours and doctours Bring furth your priestes shewe where were your doctours and preachers If yow can not as in deede by the confessioÌ„ of youre apologie where yow confesse that forty yeares a goe the truthe which yow teache began first to spring that theÌ„ it was by Martin Luther and Hulderick Zuinglius first as neuer before hard of for yow call it inauditam veritateÌ„ brought to the knowledge of men yow ar not able confesse then at the length that yow had at all no churche ioine youre self to them which can of all times and of all ages bring furth good testimonies and euideÌ„t proufes where the religion which they professe the doctrine which they preache hath byn preached and taught and the sacramentes which they ministre ministred in such sort and manner as by them they presently arre Thus much if you graunte to vs that Christes churche according to his promise hath prospered hath preuayled ageinst all enemies and backe frindes hath alwaies sence his departure hence byn visible and to be seene of all men But if now on the coÌ„trary parte you saye not thus but for the citie that should staÌ„d on the toppe of the mountaine to be sene of all meÌ„ you will leade vs to a ragged cotage standing in some darcke hole and obscure caue able to be sene of no man or very fewe if for the tabernacle placed in the bright sonne you point vs to a doghole in some cloudy cellar or rotten barne and tell vs that there youre church hath lurcked and all this long while lien hidden for feare of persecution then must we tell yow in plaine Englishe that although yow were able to finde out some such luskes coâ—ner where youre coÌ„uenticles had bene assembled as if a man should aske yow but of the yeare before Luthers time you can not yet this would in no wise serue youre turne as being the strange voice of those false prophetes of whome in the gospell our sauiour gaue vs a watche worde to beware and take heede For Christ and so by a consequeÌ„t the body which must folow the head the chuâ—che I meane is not in partes here or there and therefore yow deserue no credit when yow so saye He dwelleth not in the desert of singularitie but in that well peopled citie cuius participatio eius in idipsum which is at vnitie with it self and whither the multitude ascendith not by one and one alone but by whole tribues and companies together And therefore when yowe tell vs that his abiding is in deserto in the desert or wildrenes we maye not goe out of that populouse citie nor step oute of the common beaten way there to seeke him no more then we maye beleue yow when yow crye in penetralibus that he is in the secrete and priuey places of the house Thus tolde S. Austen then whome the churche had neuer yeat a champion more exercised or better practised and acquainted with the manners and fasshions of heretikes Petilian that heretike his wordes ar thiese Sed haec interim sepono tu ostende ecclesiam I am vox illa mihi sonabit quam in pseudoprophetis Dominus vitandam praemonuit ostendentibuâ— partes ab vniuer so alienare conantibus Ecce hic est Câ—ristus Ecceillic Sed vsque adeò putas veras oues Christi cor non habere quibus dictum est nolite credere vt lupum audiant dicentem hic est Christus pastorem non audiant dicentem per omnes gentes incipientibus ab Hierusalem That is to saye But thiese thinges I lay all a syde and slip ouer showe me the churche Here will that voice sounde in my eares which our lorde warned vs to beware of in false prophetes showing vs partes and going about to drawe vs from the whole saing Lo here is Christ and there is Christ. But thinckest thow PetiliaÌ„ that the true sheepe of Christ to whome it is saide beleue them not ar so hartelesse that they will harckeÌ„ to the wolfe howling that here is Christ and will giue no eare to the shepherd sayeng thorough out all nations beginning at Hierusalem Thus taught he vs in an other place to discerne true preachers from false Si quis tibi Christum praedicat attende considera qualem praedicet vbi praedicet Christus enim veritas est per scriptur as sanctas praedicatur non in angulis non occultè sed palam publicè In sole posuit tabernaculum suum hoc est in manifesto collocauit ecclesiam suam If any man that is to saie preache vnto the Christ marcke and considre what maÌ„ner of Christ he preacheth and where he preacheth him For Christ is truthe he is preached by the holy scriptures not in corners not in hocker mocker but openly and publikely He hath pitched his tabernacle in the sonne that is to saye he hath placed his churche in the open sight of all men The same S. Austen told Seuerinus a kinsman of his that the churche was ciuitas supra montem posita a citie buylt on the top of a hill and that therefore it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greke because it was diffunded thorough out the whole world and finally that for that cause according to the worde of god it could not be hidden To this that hath byn alleaged maye be added that if euer Christes church should haue bene brought to such extremitie at any time after the fundation thereof once layed that a man might haue sought for it and not haue founde it that no one duâ—sâ— put furth his head to kepe the possession and right thereof that then it had byn vtterly ouerthroweÌ„ that hell gates had preuailed ageinst it And how had then Dauids prophecy bene true spokeÌ„ before hand of the churche Dominabitur a mari vsâ—ue ad ma re à flumine vsâ—ue ad terminos terrae It shall rule from sea to sea and from the floud to the ende of the world How had the churche ruled and gouerned that shoulde haue byn so brought vnder and vanquished Or how could Daniel haue called it the greate stone that grew and becam a houge mountayne and filled the whole worlde Yea how had Christ acquitâ—ed him self of his promise to be alwaies present with his churche if it had euer byn brought to thiese termes Greate persecutions the churche we confesse of Christ hath suffred but
vultibus omnium iracundiam ac ferociam miram prae se ferentibus Sic opinor discedunt milites à concione ducis ad praelium exhortati Quis vnquam vidit in eorum concionibus quenquam fundentem lachrimas tundentem pectus aut ingemiscentem I neuer was that is to saye in any of their churches but some times I haue sene them coÌ„ming from the sermons as possessed of some euell spirite the countenaunces of them all declaring a certeine angre and cruelty So I wene vse the souldiours to departe from the oration of their capitaine when they haue bene exhorted to the battell whe euer sawe in any of their sermons any of them weeping knocking his breaste or yet sighing Thus much hath Erasmus touching youre newe gospell I passe ouer here in silence the infamouse companie of common minstrelles and entrelude plaiers who be all brothers of youre fraternitie membres of youre corporation and in so good credite emongest yow that they haue their charge of dispensing the worde as well as yow So farre furth that in youre filthy and dirty donghill of stincking martyrs yow call players one of the engines set vp by god ageinst the triple crowne of the pope to bring him downe Let the ciuile lawes note such marchantes with infamie Yeat emongest yow they maie goe for honest men Let the canons forbidde them to accuse euen them that be faultie Yeat youre churche admitteth them to blaspheme Christes sacramentes to sclaundre and speake euell of his ministres I meane not here bishoppes onely and priestes but princes also and other magistrates to whome vnder god the charge of the common wealthe hath bene committed Finally let S. Cyprian saie as long as he list that it is neither agreable to the maiestie of god nor discipline of his gospell that such be admitted to the holye communion whereby the honour of the churche should by their filthy and infamouse coÌ„tagion be defiled yeat is not youre communion so pure but that that honest kinde of men maye beâ—re yow company and sitte with yow euen at one messe nor youre churche so honorable or doctrine â—o parfecte that yow nede to feare the blemishing thereof in to whose handes or mouthes so euer it shall happen to come But all this I saye I passe ouer and shall goe forwarde in prosecuting of other causes that make me to abhorre youre doctrine THE nexte cause hathe bene apon the consideration of the parson of him that yow boaste to haue bene the author and founder of youre religion Was not he a lewde lecherouse frier an apostata Maried he not if by so honest a name I maie call so filthie a deede a nonne an acte besides the commaundementes of the scriptures so vnderstanden by the churche by the ciuile lawes also by Iouinian the emperour twelue hundred yeares agoe lacking three vnder the paine of deathe moste seuerelie forbidden Was he not one that passed all other in pride Deserued he not trowe yow for these qualitees that fauor and good grace at his fathers handes of the obteining whereof in diuerse passages of his worckes he reioiseth so much as of the conference that he saithe he had with his saide father the diuell when by force of his reasons he was constreined to write againste the Masse of the familiaritie that he showed him when it pleased him to kepe him so manie yeares companie as betwene them manie busshels of salt were eaten The which time we maie not thinke neither to hane bene idellie speÌ„t betweâ—ne them but as first in the Masse that so afterwarde he enstructed him sufficientlie in the rest Emongest which enstructions was it not trowe yow a lesson meete for such a scholemaister Si vxor nolit aut non possit ancilla venito If the wife will not yealde to her husbande the due debte of mariage or be not able let the maiden come And againe for the husband on the other side that if he be in that case that he can not reÌ„dre to his wife the same that she shall first aske leaue of him to repaire to his brother or some other of his bloude for such carnall companie and that finally if she can not obteine it she shall get her a waie and marie clam Is not this trowe yow proufe good ynough that youre doctrine commeth from the diuell while youre selues graunte to haue receiued it froÌ„ Luther and he bothe by wordes and deedes that he had it from him Boaste now of him as long as yow list call him the man of god claime him for youre patrone and founder terme him prestantissimus vir ad illustr andum orbem terrarum a deo datus the moste excellent man and sent euen from god to lighten the darckenesse of the worlde as in youre Apologie you doe For as we enuie not youre fortune so persuade we oure selues that had all the worlde till his comming bene as yow woulde beare vs in hande it was ouerwhelmed with errours god woulde yeat haue chosen an other manner of piece to bring it in frame againe then he either in his life or doctrine showed himself to be and that he which shoulde haue done such an entreprise ought to haue conferred with the holie spirite of god not with the cursed and wicked spirite of Sathan THE roote of this youre doctrine was it not auarice mixed with enuiouâ—e hatred whilest Luther the author thereof partlie for that the office of publishing certeine indulgences graunted by Leo then pope was taken from the order of the Augustine friers of the which he was one and committed to the friers preachers of the ordre of S. Dominicke wherewitheall no small gaine went also awaiâ— together from them partelie of enuie that theie of that religion shoulde be thought meter for the execution thereof then he or his And of such rootes shall we loke for good fruite Cast youre eye apon other countries where youre religion is now embrased Considre diligently by what meanes it founde first there entreteinement in some apon desier of reuengement in other by couetousnes by lechery and such like vices and in none by charitie and youre selfe I trust will saye with me that I had good reason to be moued by this consideration AN other cause why I haue abhorred youre doctrine and yeat doe is for that I finde by the auncient histories and alowed recordes of the fathers writinges that in many pointes of the same and in youre manners beside yow agree with the olde heretikes that haue heretofore troubled the churche of god with the Iues with the Ethnikes and paganes with tyrauntes and infidelles with Antichrist yea with Sathan him selfe If yow demaunde of euery one of these seuerall examples beholde here they follow Simon Magus To beginne first with Simon whome for his knowledge in Magike the histories haue called Magus for as much as of all heretikes he maye be rightly called the father as he that liuing in
square all youre doinges by the auncieÌ„t tradition and doctrine of the fathers yet when yowe haue all doen yowe will be taken for an heretike as theie were and in calling them youre fathers that neuer coulde abide the sighte of that malignant churche the strompet youre mother and â—n refusing them which in deede begot yowe as before in the eighte cause it appeareth to haue proued youre selfe an impudent lier on the one side and an vnnaturall childe on the other FINIS Quoniam Liber iste a Thoma Dormanno Anglo sacre theologiae Baccalaureo compositus a viris doctis probis Anglica linguae peritis apud me fide dignissimis diligenter est examinatus probatus vtilis iudicatus qui euulgetur libenter eâ—rum sententiae subscribendum esse iudico Cunnerus Petri pastor Sancti Petri Louanij 9. Iulij anno 1564. Faultes committed in the Printing The leafe The side The lyne 2 Country self reade countrye it self 2 5 7 VVordly VVorldly 2 28 8 Interpretatyon interpretation 2 16 8 Hereaster hereafter 2 22 15 Leâ—t lefte 1 8 22 asnvver ansvvere 1 25 24 Ecclesiaflica ecclesiastica 2 24 24 Them those 2 30 29 Cuhrche churche 2 24 31 inrerpret interprete 2 31 32 Intetpretation interpretation 1 30 43 Infidleles infidelles 1 9 45 Might not be might be 1 3 54 strog strong 2 7 55 Immedatly immediatly 1 4 65 thicke thincke 2 26 66 And. An. 1 15 90 Paiers praiers 1 17 101 Tarito tarye to 1 30 134 acerbissimem dolorum acerbissimum dolorem 2 3 136 Subsistentiam Substantiam 2 8 1. Cor. 9. vvho plaÌ„â—â—th a vyn â—ard an â— tastith not of the fâ—uâ—ctes thereof Lib. 〈◊〉 3 episâ— 11. Lib. 4. epist. 9. Epistola 61. ad Episcopos per ItaliaÌ„ Galliani Lib. 6. cap 30. The baâ—ishment of scholers from th' vniuer sites for re fusing to svveare ageinstthe Pope Epistola 70. A comparison betvâ—ene the complaynt vvhich S. Basile ma de of his time and that vvhich vve may make of ourâ—â— The vvay to return to the vni tâ— of the church Epistola ad CornElium papam lib. 3. This Cornelius vvas B. of Rome One god One Christ One holy ghost One Bishop 1. 2. 3. Lib. 1. Episto 3. The high vvay to heresyes to thynck that there is not one iudge in earth in the steed of Christ. The Apologâ—e of the Englysh churche reproued by S. Cyprian The definitioÌ„ of the protestants Church Contrâ— Lâ—â—iferianâ—s One chief prieâ—t to auoide scâ—ismâ—â— Ad 〈◊〉 Episâ—ola ad Anastasiâ—Ì„ Episcopâ—Ì„ Thessâ—l Bishops Arâ—hebishops Pope Ciprian Hieron Lco. Cap. 17 Lib. 3. de Theologia 〈◊〉 10. 1. Cor. 9. 〈◊〉 25 â—polog Eccles. Aâ—glic sol â— The common reason of the protestants ageinst the Supremacy of the Popâ— Hovv Christ is head of the churche and hovv the Pope Deâ—ter 17 Apocâ—â—ip Cap. 17. 1. Cor. 11. 1. Reg. 15. Hosiuâ— the Cardinal sclaundre by the heretikes Lib. de Hae resib nostri temporis Hosius Cardinalis Numer 1â— The protestants reason as Chore Dathan and Abyron did Numer 16. The scripture not hable to determine all the controuersies that maie rise apon the meaning of the lettre Deuter. 17 â—â—â—an 17. â— Cor. 10. Iâ—â—an 15. Iâ—â—an 1. Marc. 16. Rom. 10. Abacue 2. S. HieroÌ„ in doutes referred him self to Peters Seate Tom. 2. epist. ad Damasum The churche builded on S. Peters chair ibid. In quaest veteris noui testameÌ„t q. 110 The heretikes churche a dead troÌ„ck or a lyue monstre In oratione de modestia in disceptat tenenda a ad virg lapsam Cap. 5. b in orat de virginitate c in cap. 7 1. Cor. d lib. 1. contra IouiniaÌ„ e lib. de bono vid. cap 10. f epist. ad Theododor lapsum Caluinus bro. 4. instit capit 20. The cause of endovvinge the churche vvith landes Eccleâ—iastical iuri diction â—â—here in it conâ—isteth Matth. 16. Leuitici Cap. 10. Cap. 17. cap. 21. Cap. 44. Aggeus 2. Malacâ— 2. â— Cor. 12. Lib. 4. Iâ—â— sti cap. 3. sect 4. That ciuile magistrates should gouern in the church it can not be proued by the nevv testament by CaluiÌ„s â—eason Actuum 10. Matth. 19. Ignatius Epist. ad Philadelpheâ— Epist. ad Smyrnens Epist. ad Philippens â— Cor. 12. Actor 20 Homel 38 in ca. Mat. 21. The prieâ— tes chief gouernors in spirituall matters â—oâ—stantiâ—â—s Lib. 10. â—ap 2. â—ccles â—ist Conâ—tanâ—ine the emperour refused to be iudge in the bishops causes Onelie god the iudge of bishops causes Epist. 166 Valentinianus Tripart histor lib. 7. cap. 12. Valentinian his ansvver being required to entre meddle in matters of religioÌ„ â–ª Tâ—eodorit lib. 7. hist. eccl cap. 8. Nicolâ—us papa in epistola ad Faustuâ—â— To. 1. coÌ„cil de expurg Sixti ValeÌ„tiniaÌ„ the sonne Lib. 5. episâ—ol 33. Lib. 5. epiâ—tâ—l 32. Our couâ—trefeit biâ—sâ—ops proused true flatteres by S. Ambrose Epist. 34. lib. 5. Act. ca. 18. In. 4. sâ—nod Rom. sub Simacho papa In churcâ— matters vvhat the prince hath to doe Aurelianus Eusebius lib. eccle hist. 7. cap. 26. Psalm 2. ConstaÌ„â—ius Lib. 2. cap. 41. a. paralip cap. 26. Liberius Atâ—anas in epist. ad solitariam vitam ageÌ„â—es Hosius Histor. eccles lib. 5. cap. 16. Athanas. in epist. ad solitariam vitam ageÌ„tes A necessary admonitioÌ„ for princes that entre meddle in matters of the churche Athanasius In epist. ad solitar viâ—aÌ„ agentes A questioÌ„ to be ansvvered by the Huguenotes Arrius he resie first brought in that priÌ„ces should medle in matters of the churche A poinctâ— of Antichrist for a lay man to entremeddle in spiritual iurisdiction Daniel capit 9. Iulianus Lib. â— histor eccles cap. 50. Oration ad subdit â—iâ—ore perculs Imper irascâ—Ì„â—em Lib. 4. ca. 18. A pleasant vvitty and godlie an svvere to stop their mouthes vvithall vvho in matters of religioÌ„ obiect alvvaies the priÌ„ces auctoritie Sermon 1. in Oseâ—â— cap. 1. Amos. 7. Lib. 4. cap. 11. sect 4. Deuter. 17. Ezech. cap. 44 â—ggeus 2 1. Cer. 12. Actor 20 Igâ—â—tius Epistol ad Philadelphens Liberius Hosius Athanasius Gregorius NaziaÌ„zenus Ambrose Chrisostom Homilia 5 â–ª de verbis Esaiae Heb. 7. Libr. 3. de sacerdotio Damascenus The first argument of the protestants Moyses The ansvvere Psalm 9 4 The Reply The solutioÌ„ prouing that Moyses vvas a priest Hieron in Psalm 9 8 Psalm 9 8 Exod. 28. Exod. 28. In quaestiâ— Sup. Leuit. Lib. 3. cap 23. By the bisshoppes appareâ—lâ— vnderstaÌ„d the executioÌ„ of the things beâ—longing 〈◊〉 Exod. 4. Hovv Moyses vvas chief and hovv Aaron In oratione quaÌ„ habuit in praesent Gegor fratris Basilij de Moyse Aaron Leuit. capite 8. Lib. Instit. 4. cap. 11. Sect. 8. Caluins ansvver to the obiection of Moyses The secoÌ„de example Iosue The .3 example 1. Paralip cap. 13. â— Paralip cap. 15. The bringing home the arck vvithout the priestes acknovvleged by Dauid to be an vnlauful act 3. Paralip â—â—p 15. Salomon 3. Reg. Cap. 8. Ezechias 4. Reg. cap. 18. Iosaphat Iosiat Ioas. Iehu
SacrameÌ„t vver not such blood as yssueth from vaines or-such fleshe as is of the Substance of maÌ„ such I meane in substance not in maner of being Substantially Corporally Carnally Lib. â— Paschal Manicheus taught that Christ had no true but a fantastical body Homil. 5. de paschate Homil in Encenijs The misteries he calleth the bread and vvine In Ioâ—â— lib. 10. cap. 13. Lib. 11. cap. 27. A reasonable request to M. Iuell and his fellovves Exod. 7. Exod. 22. Psalm 81. The scripture belied by the heretike Philipp Cap. 2. lib. 5. contra MarcioÌ„ cap. penult Epist. 47. Colloss 1. Hebre. 1. Hovv the sacramenâ— is called a figure of Christeâ— bodâ—e Homil. 24 in 1. Cor. 10. Christes body vvorshipped in earthe not in heauen onely M. Iuell In psalm â—8 Christ ministred the sacrament vnder one kinde Luc. 24. Lib. 3. de consens Euangelist Cap. 25. Homil. 17. Act. â— Act. 20. Laica communio Lib. 4. epist. â— Caâ— 2. Can. 50. Lib. 9. Confess Epist. 180 Theophil Alexandr alleageâ— by M. Iuell In His sermon folio 35. Cap. 32. Lib. 8. Euel Sprites and heretikes hate the Masse alike Lib. 9. Cap. 12. Hoâ—il 3. in epist. 〈◊〉 Ephes. The true meaning of Chrisostomes place â— Corin. 11. Homil. 83. In Math. M. Iuelles proufes against Priuate Masse examined Iuell M. Iuell coÌ„fesseth the doctours to be good groundes to builde apon In the second ansvvere to d. Coles letters Iuell Iuell a epist. ad Burdegal b in Luca cap. pr. c de ciuitate dei li. 10 cap. 20. et lib. 17. cap. 20. d in epist. ad hebreos in cap. â—0 Homil. 17. e Hieron cap. 1. in Tit. Amb. epist. 33. f Chrisost. 1. Cor. 10. â—omil 17. The. 10. canon of the apostles brought against priuate Masse The ansvvere The yeare of our lorde 274. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Iuelles allegatioÌ„s be not to the issue Anacletus l. inciâ—ile ff de legib The true vnderstanding of the place of Anacletus The place of Anacletus brought by M. Iuell turned against him selfe Hovv the auncient vvriters at to be vnderstaÌ„d forbidding all to be present at the Masse saue those that vvil receaue vvith the priest A fimilitude Canon 47 18. Sermo 251 De â—eÌ„por Actâ— 5. No Scripture forbiddeth the priest to receaue alone or the alie man to be present thereat vvhen he communicateth not In his Sermon fol. 34. Math. vlâ— Marci 16. Lucae 22. 1. Cor. 10. Lib. 2. epist. 3. Lib. 3. de ciuitat dei lib â— contraduersl â—eg proph cap. 20 Serm. 6. de Paschâ—t Vbi supra Epist. ad Ianuar. 118. Math. vlâ— Ast 8. 10. Lib. contra FaustuÌ„ 32. cap. 14. Confess lib. 3. cap. 7. In quaest ex nou testam q. 75. In psaâ—m 36. coâ— c. 3. The churche hath her times of grovving The catholike doctrine touching priuate Masse Tvvo speciall vses of the Sacrament M. Iuell hath not brought so much as one proufe against priuate Masse In the Sermon fol. 43. Psalm 63. The first cause 1. Timoth. 3. Psalâ— 18. Math. 5. Contra Luciferianos Ephes. 4. Fol. 26. of that booke vvhich being last printed hath no place named vvhere The protestants confessioÌ„ concerning the antiquitie of their religion Math. 24. Christes churche vniuersal Psalm 122 Coutra literas Petil. lib. 2. cap. 16. Lucae 24. Libro de cantico noâ—o cap. 5. S. Austens rule to knovv the true preacher from the false Epist. 170. Psalm 71. Daniel â— Lib. 4. Instit. cap. 1. The churche is visible It erreth not De â—iuitat Dei lib. 20. cap. 8 It is vniuersall Contr. epistol Parmeniâ—ni lib. 3. cap. 5. â—ib de praescript aduersus haeâ—es The yeare of oure lorde 182 â–ª M. Haddons confession of the continuance of the Gospel in England The .2 Contra epist quam vocant fundamentum cap. 4 â–ª The .3 De â—inod aduâ—rsus Arrianoâ— The. 4. Caluin lib. 3. Instit cap. 23. Caluin in 1. Osee. â— 7. Amos. Apologie The late Apology reasoneth against vâ—itie Cap. 4. 1. Cor. 14. Ioan. 13. The. 5. Ast. 13. 14. The testimonie of Erasmus concerniâ—â— the nevve ghospellers In Epist. in Pseudoeuangelic Ministrelles and players chief ministres in publishiÌ„g the nevve ghospell Fol. 750. â—l quod ait praetor § ait praetor ff De his qui not infam Concil Caâ—thag 7. Cap. 1. Lib. 1. epist 10. ad EucratiuÌ„ The. 6. The first author of the nevve ghospell L. Si quis non dicam C. de episcop cleric Libr. de Missa angulari Luther persuaâ—ed by the diuell to haâ—e Masse In a sermon of matrimonie printed at vvitem berge first Anno 1522. after vvard An no. 1553. Tom. 6. German fol. 177. The. 7. The. 8. Iâ—inaeus lib. 1. cap. 20. That goâ—d vvorckes be not meritoriouse an hereâ—y of Simon Magus a Histor. trip lib. 8. cap. 9. b Nicephor lib. 6. cap. 30. The pope renouÌ„ced c Hieron in proaem dialog adâ—ers Pelag. August de haeresib cap. 45. Free vvill Fasting dayes d Epist. 86. ad Casulanum praesbit e Epiph. lib. 3. â—aeres 75. Sacrifice and praiers for the deade f August de haeresib cap. 82. AbstineÌ„ce froÌ„ meates No difference of sinnes Virginitie and mariage August lib. 2. Retract cap. 22. De peccat merit lib. 3 cap. 7. Heres 82. Hieroâ— contra Vigiâ—aâ—iuÌ„ ad Exuperium Epist. 75. Lib. 6. Cap. 33. Lib. 7. cap. â—6 Lib. 6. conâ—ra Donatist Altars ouerthrovven Optatus Lib. 2. contâ—a Donatist i August lib. 3. â—cap 4. 5. contra Crescon Gramat k August Epist. 15â— l Augustâ— Bonifacio comiti epist 50. m In demonstrat aduers. Gentil quod Christ Sit deus Macedoniâ—9 Histor. tripart lib. 5. cap. 34. Epist. 152 Anno. 1. Reginae Eâ— lizabethae 〈◊〉 8. The cruelty of the Caluinistes in Fraunce Theodorit lib. 3. cap. 6. Horrible crueltie n Victor De perseâ—ut Vandaâ—c lib. â— cap. 3. o L. â— C. dÌ„e off praefect praetor p Victor lib. 3. Orat. ad Heron. Philosophum q Theodoritus lib. 3 Cap. 6 r lib. 6. â—â—Ì„tra luâ—iâ—n The crosse s Lib. 10. coÌ„tra IuliaÌ„ t Sozomen lib. â— cap. 12. v Theâ—doâ—â— lib. 3. Cap. 6. Homil. De peâ—tâ—coste Michael Fabritius contra Bâ—â—am x lib. 5. cap. 21. y lib. de pass imag Christi Petr. Crinit lib. 4. de honest discipl Hovv the heretikes occupie their igno rant and vnlearned brethern He liued in the yeare of oure orde 220. In Orat. quam hab contra Iul. Lib. 3. cap. 3. Lib. 10. coÌ„â—ra Iulian. Sozomenus lib. 5. cap. 21. The image of Christ placed by the Christians in the churche 1200. yeares ago Sup. Math. â—omil 54. Epist. 186. The. 9. Lib. de Spâ—ritu sancto Cap 27. CoÌ„tra Cresâ— con Gram. lib. 1. cap. 33. The. 10. M. Haddon Vâ—ler Max. lib. â— cap. 7. Math. 18. Musculus Socrates lib. 2. cap. 17. 〈◊〉 Gardiner B. of vvin toÌ„ misreported by M. Iuell â—ol 71. The councell of Carthage mangled by M. Iuâ—ll cap. 47. Anacletus guâ—lefully alleaged Epist. 81. ad Dâ—oscor Leo falsified by M. Iuell Theophil Alexandr August de bono viduit cap. 10. The. 11. Theodorus Beza The. 12. In CoÌ„men in epist. ad Ro. prioris aedit Lib. 3. cap. 23. Sect. 4. Genes 4. Genes 4. Iacob 2. Philip. 2. De visitâ—â— infirm lib. 2. cap. 4. In Leuitic homil 2. De ciuit dei lib. 10. cap. 20. Homil. 24. 1. Cor. 10 Deciâ—itat De lib. 10 cap. 20. East â—ib 1. Apologetic aduers. Eunom
I had not nor could getanie other copie The place is thus Pour tant ceulx qui despouillenâ— l' Eglise de ceste puisance pour exalter be magistrate ou la iustice terriene non seulemeÌ„t corroÌ„pent le sens des paroles de Christe par faulse interpretation mais aussi accusent d' une grande vice les sainctz euesques qui ont estè en grand nombre depuis be temps des Apostres comme â—iilz eussent vsurpè la dignitè office du magistrate subz fauls se couerture That is to saie in englishe Those therefore which to exalt the magistrat or earthely iustice doe spoile the churche of this power he meaneth and speakith of the ordre touching churche matters doe corrupt not onelie the sense of Christes owne wordes by false interpretation but doe also accuse of a heynouse faulte the holie bishops whereof the nombre is not small which haue bin sence the apostles time as though they had vsurped by false colouring the matter the office and dignitie of the magistrate Nowe choose good readers whether ye had rather beleue Caluin mainteining the auctoritie and iurisdiction of the churche or our clawebackes and parasites which impugne the same The one hath scripture to defende it The other hath nothing to assaulte it The scripture saeith that in doutefull questions we should resort to the priestes that at their word should all matters be decided that they should iudge that at their handes we should demaunde knowlege that their lippes be the kepers thereof because they ar our lordes angells Nowe coÌ„meth the heretike the peruerter of scripture he telleth vs that we must seke it at the princes handes that he is goddes chiefest ministre in thinges and causes aswel ecclesiasticall as temporall The scripture reaconeth in the first place in Christes churche apostles that is to say priestes for we maie not thinck that in that place the apostle described a forme of the churche to endure but for that onelie age The heretike will haue princes placed aboue and priestes benethe The holie ghost appointed bishoppes and priestes to gouern the flock of Christ that is the churche The diuell in his meÌ„bres appointeth ciuile magistrates to rule and priestes to obey So that herebie we maie most euidentlie see how manifestly they peruert and corrupt the true sense and meaning of gods worde As for the other poinct which Caluin also laieth to their charge of accusing of a most heynouse and grieuouse fault the auncient bishoppes that haue bin sence th'apostles time as though they had by vnlaufull meanes vsurped to them selues the office and dignitie of the Magistrate it is also if their doctrine wer true most plaine and euident eueÌ„ at the eye For first if kinges must be the chiefe gouernours in matters of religion and bishoppes their vnderlinges who seeth not then how far Ignatius that holy martyr abused bothe him self and vs to bid all men without exception euen th'emperor him self by name to the obedient to the bishop to tell vs that after him next the king is to be honored If this be true which they teache who is he that can excuse Liberius that holie father who for the determining of matters coÌ„cerning the cuhrche would haue a sinode kept where the emperour should not so much as be present Or that reuerend father Hosius who willed th'emperour not to entremedle in ecclesiasticall causes nor to comptroll or commaunde the bishoppes therein but to learne of the in those thinges to whose charge they wer committed not to his Or Athanasius that strong piller of Christes churche who when he saw that wicked emperour Constantius doe that which the heretikes of this our time perswade the Kinges and Emperours that now arre to doe as the Arrians did those of their age that is to take apon him the determination of matters ecclesiasticall to make him selfe chief iudge bothe of the bishoppes and causes belonging to the churche called him that abhomination of desolatioÌ„ spoken of by Daniel the prophet and pronounced that for his so doing his impietie was such as Antichrist when he should comme him self should not be able to goe beyond termed it a newe deuise brought in by the Arrians and finally demaunded but one example ab oeuo condito from the beginning of the world where by it might appeare that the doinges of the churche should take their auctoritie from th'emperour till Arrius his time Or Gregorius Nazianzenus who told th'emperour that by the lawe of Christ his power was subiect to his consistory and that although he wer an emperour yeat was he not withstanding a shepe of his flock Or S. Ambrose that bad the emperour set his hart at rest and not to thinke that he had by the right of his crowne any auctoritie in those matters that concerned religion that his palaice belonged to him and the churche to the priestes Or Chrisostom who comparing the power of a King with the auctoritie of a priest calleth the one a prince aswell as the other and greater theÌ„ he toe by so much as heauen is greater then the earth and addeth that god him self to witnesse the same hath brought vnder the handes of the priest the head of the prince For that saith he that is lesser is blessed of the greater Who in an other place saieth that the power which is geuen to priestes is such as the like thereto was neuer giuen to Angels or Archangels seing that to none of them it was euer said what so euer yow binde in earthe shalbe bound in heauen or what so euer yow loose in earthe shalbe loosed in heauen Or how wer it possible if this doctrine of our aduersaries wer true to excuse Damascenus for reprehending Leo Isaurus as yow haue hard before the emperour and many a one more of the holie fathers which for breuities sake I am here constreined to passe ouer in silence Leauing therefore our aduersaries thus at square both with the old fathers and their newe doctours it is high time good readers that I remembre to discharge my self of my promise which was to laie before your eyes such euidence as in this matter ether part had to bring for theÌ„ selfe Which as I haue for the catholikes according to my simple wit and pooer knowledge allreadie done so shall I by goddes grace on the contrary parte for the protestaÌ„tes and Huguenotes faithefully endeuor to doe the like And because for that aswell of all the poisoned reasons touching either this matter or almost any other at this day in question the late apologie of the churche of EnglaÌ„d for so is it by th' authors termed may well be called as it wer the some or abridgemeÌ„t as also for that there is as it should seme and sence hath byn coÌ„fessed in it comoÌ„ consent of all the fantasticall congregation I meane of them that trouble Christes churche in our countrie