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
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
forsoth he could he saide finde no roume for him there and therefore of his charitie 〈◊〉 that if any good fellow emongest his audieâ—ce wer weâ—rie of his roume he might be placed the re as verilie â— both thinck and knowe there wer manie that wished bothe them selues away and him in Bedlem emongest his compagnions neuer to come more in pulpit especiallie in that place to dishonor the vniuersitie his mother from whence he cam by such vnreasonable not reasoning but rayling although he I say could finde there no place for the pope he might yet haue wyth his yong sight founde at the least that which Iohn Caluin could before with his old and dimme eies espie out that is that the chiefest place of gouernement in Christes churche belonged to the apostles and so to the bishops and priestes their successors Except his braine would serue him to say that Christes churche died with his apostles But if a man should aske this great clercke that hath so narowely scanned the texte what roome he found there for Kinges I maruâ—ll what his wisdome would answer There is but one word in all the texte that should seeme to make place for any temporaâ—l magistrate and that hath Caluin watred with such a glose that it can in no wise serue his purpose The worde is gubernationes gouernements placed beside so far from the chiefest and first place if it wer to be vnderstand of temporal magistrates that it occupieth the seuenth But Caluin saieth it may not so be vnderstand but that the apostle ment by that word such spirituall men as wer ioined to the preachers for the better ordre in spirituall gouernement And he addeth a reason why it may not be vnderstande of ciuile magistrates because saith he there wer at that time none of them christians By which wordes this mery man maie see that if he will nedes daunce after his maister Caluin his pipe he muste saie that there is not not onelie no roume in this place for ciuile magistrates but that he is excluded alâ—o from the hope of finding for them anie I meane in the gouernement in ecclesiasticall causes in any other place of the newe testament But not in this place onely was S. Paule of that minde that priestes should gouern the churche of christ but in that notable sermon of his also that he made to the priestes of Ephesus at his departure from thence where he giueth them this exhortation Attendite vobis vniuerso gregi in quo vos spiritus sanctus posuit episcopos regere ecclesiam dei Looke saith he to your selues and to your flock in the which the holie ghost hath placed yow to rule and gouern the church of god Can there be any plainer euidence then is this Let them therefore eyther rule as S. Paule saith they ar appointed thereto and that by the holie ghost or if princes must let vs deny sainct Paule his auctoritie and say that the spirite failed him for surelie bothe maie not And thus for the scriptures good readers ye see to whom of right that parte of ecclesiasticall gouernement which standeth in the alowing and condemning of doctrine dothe apperteine For that doe the auctorites by me out of the old testament alleaged expressely proue as also doe those brought out of the newe by a necessarie consequence in that they giue to them the whole gouernement and chief souereintie of which this is as is before saide a parte The nexte membre of spirituall gouernement is thepower as Christ him self calleth it of binding and loosing Which power to excomunicate and to absolue our sauiour gaue to his apostles when he saied to them what so euer yow binde in earth shalbe bound in heaueÌ„ and what so euer yow loose on the earthe shall be loosed in heauen Wherein and in the last which is to preache and ministre the sacramentes because thiese peuish proctours pretend not as yet any greate title for princes but seeme rather to ground their action in the first I will leauing them bothe as either by the scriptures in all mennes iudgements sufficiently defended or by our aduersaries them selues not assaulted examine of what minde touching this controuersie the holy doctours of Christes churche from time to time haue byn Not as though maÌ„nes word should haue with vs more auctoritie then goddes or that it nedeth to be boulstred vp there with but for this causeonelie that if it happen theÌ„ to wrangle as their manner is about the true interpretacion thereof all men may perceiue that we giue no other then the fathers of christes churche before vs haue giuen And here to begin with Ignatius that holy martir who for the faithe of Christ was with the teethe of wild beastes torn and as he writeth him selfe sawe our sauiour in fleshe coÌ„sidre I beseche yow in the prescribing of such ordre for obedience in Christes churche as wherebie vnitie might be preserued what place of preeminence he giueth to Emperours who ar of the laietie the greatest estates and what to bishops his wordes ar thiese Principes obedite Caesari milites principibus diaconi praesbiteris sacrorum prefectis praesbiteri diaconi reliquus clerus vnâ cum omni populo militibus principibus Caesa re episcopo episcopus Christo sicut Christus patri vt ita vnitas per omnia seruetur Princes saith he obey your emperour souldiors your princes deacons the priestes which haue the charge of religion priestes deacons all the rest of the cleargie with the people what so euer they ar souldiors princes yea the emperor him self be yow obedient to your bishop the bishop to Christ as Christ is obedient to his father that so vnitie maie in all poinctes be obserued Here may we see good readers that euen in the daies of this holie martir Ignatiâ—s it was then thought necessary and expedient that for the better obseruing of vnitie the emperour him self should obey the bishop well I wot our aduersaries will not restreine this obeâ—ience to temporall gouernement and therefore it must nedes be vnderstand of spirituall and in causes ecclesiasticall But if th'obseruing of this obedience be the way to conserue vnitie what shall we alas thinck of them that laboure to violat and breake the same as doe all they that trauail to make princes in matters of religion to rule and bishoppes to obeye The same worthy bishop and constant martâ— Ignatius writing in an other place ad Smirnenses biddeth he them not to honor first god next the bishop as bering his image and then after the king Policarpus disciple to saincte Iohn theuangelist of priestes and deacons writeth thus Subiecti estote praesbiteris diaconis sicut deo Christo. Be ye subiect to the priestes and deacons as to god and Christ. Is this any other to say then as thapostle said before him Obedite ijs qui vigilant pro animabus vestris Obey yow them which kepe the watche
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
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