coÌ„mission of God to doe all thesâ— things The Suprem gouernour may practise any thing properly belonging to his gouernmeÌ„t It is not possible for a man 〈◊〉 haue the supreame gouernment in 〈◊〉 Ecclesiastical causes by lawful power aâ—â— right but that he should thereby haâ—â— also power and right to execute any 〈◊〉 those things which belong to such Ecclesiastical causes as are vnder his gâ—uernment Marck the point I say not he is bound to executâ— euery such matter as falleth vnder hâ—â— gouernment or that it is decent for hiâ— to doe it but that he may doe it anâ— hath right and power to doe it if he bâ— rightly the supream gouernour in thâ— behalf An exaÌ„ple in ciuil Matters For example the King who 〈◊〉 supream gouernour in the ciuil and teÌ„poral causes hath vnder him Iudges shriues maiors Capitains and constables If his maiesty will plaie the iudgâ— in Westminster hal or the shriue in any sessions or the Capitain in warre he surelie may doe it concerning the right â—f his Kingdome Yea he lacketh no â—ight nor lawfull power to play the Solâ—iour the Tailour the Mason Carâ—enter or Tanner albeit he perhappes doe lacke the cunning or experience â—o exercise or practise those Artes so as they ought to be practised Likewise an Archbisshoppe or Priuate who hath Bisshoppes An exaÌ„ple in Ecclesiastical matters Archedeacons Officials Priests and Clerks vnder him may by right of his Suâ—eriorie baptize anie childe blesse or geue benediction burie the dead approue their last wils by his own fact helpe a Priest to Masse cary the crosse in procession digge the graue and to be shorte he maie doe anie thing which anie man may doe who is vnder his iurisdiction If then the king haue the right and power of Supreme gouernement in al Ecclesiastical causes The applying of the rule to our purpose seing it belongeth to the right and power of Ecclesiastical causes that a man may preache baptize blesse or geue benedictioÌ„ to the people and administer the sacrament of Christes body and blood and binde or loose synnes it must needes be that the King euen by that his supreamicy should also haue power and right to preache to baptise to geue benediction to administer the sacrament of Christes supper and to binde or loose synnes A farther declaration I say not that he by his supremacie hath cunning either to preache or to baptize or to geue benediction or to administer the sacrament of Christes supper or to play the tailer or the mason but that no law right and power doth or can forbid him to doe these things if in these things he be the supreme gouernour so that if he otherwise had cunning he might with praise no lesse preache and baptise and geue benediction or administer the sacrament of Christes supper then he might build a howse with his own haÌ„ds or cutte a garment yf he were cuÌ„ning â—herein But now if all the world confesse 2. Para. 20 non est tui officij ô Rex sed sacerdotuÌ„ domini â—hat à King by his kinglie office doth â—ot only lack knowlege but also hath no â—ight or power at al to preache to bapâ—â—ze to geue benediction or to conseâ—rate the sacrament of Christes supper 〈◊〉 a although otherwise he be most cunâ—ing and excellently lerned except â—e haue the office of a priest also geuen â—im and be lawfullie sent and authoriâ—d by the imposition of the hand of â—riesthood doutlesse it ought to be conâ—essed 1. Tim. 4. that a King by his kinglie office â—ath no right or supreme power at all in â—cclesiastical causes vnlesse it be comâ—itted to him from the bisshop And â—hat as wel because he of him self can â—ot practise those causes though he wold as euen our aduersaries coÌ„fesse â—s also because his power be it neuer 〈◊〉 roial reacheth not so high as the â—ower of spiritual gouernmeÌ„t appointed by Christ doth And surely no man by the commission which he onely hath to rest or to prison men maie also hang them or burn them For the lesser authority doth not coÌ„prehend the greater Say now M. Horn whether to celebrate our Lords supper and to preache Gods word and to absolue or bind sins it be a lesser or a greater ministery theÌ„ the Kings authoritie If it be lesser you haue reason on your side For then a greater power may comprehend it being the lesser But if it be incomparablie greater to minister vnto men the heauenly Sacraments then to minister iustice in temporal things if that be a higher power which toucheth the soule then that which only toucheth the body then by what meanes extend you the commission of a King which hath to do with lesse maters not only to the commission of a Priest In the booke agâ—inst M. Feenâ—Ì„ but also aboue it You bring many examples euil applied to make an apparance of somewhat But they al concerne matters of fact which are for many circumstances subiect to much wrangling But either it was no good Prince who medled of his own authority with disposing holy matters Or if he were otherwise good that deed was not good Or if he did it wel he did it by coÌ„mission from a Prophet or froÌ„ a high Priest Or he was deceiued by flatterers Or els being forced by necessity which is vnder no law he only sought the publike peace in that his deed and not to set himself ordinarily aboue the spiritual gouernmeÌ„t For howsoeuer the deeds of men be vncertaine deceitful aÌ„d vnknowen in al their particular circuÌ„stances the word of God can not fail which saith to Peter and to other Bishops after him Feed my sheep Ioan. 21. Here I aske whether the King or Emperour who is christened be Peters sheep or no If he be not he is not only not aboue the Church but he is not at all of the Churche If he be his sheepe then I say boldly that as it is against the law of nature which neuer can be wholie changed for a shepe to rule his shepheard in anie manner of such sort wherein he is the shepheard euen so it is vtterly impossible for anie King or Prince to be in anie respect of Ecclesiastical gouernment aboue his own pastour who soeuer he be for the time And yet farther to make this matter more plaine be it that a Christian King doth take vpoÌ„ him the supreame gouernment in Ecclesiastical matters What if a bishop being called before him Epist 32. sequeÌ„t say boldlie as S. Ambrose in a like case did may it please your maiestie to coÌ„maund my goods my laÌ„ds my body my life it shal be at your coÌ„mandemeÌ„t But as for the ordering and gouerning of my bishoprike I will not yeld it to you because Christ and not your maiestie committed the same to me what could that Christian King doe to that bishop more theÌ„ Nero or Traian might haue done Could he excommunicate him by his roial power M.
Apostoke Priesthood or Bisshoplie power is made greater by the chiefe Castell or Fortresse of Religion then by the Throne of Imperiall power In anuiuersa assumpt serm 2. Leo the Greate hauing saied that in Saint Peters Seat his own power liueth his authoritie excelleth in an other place sheweth himselfe to haue bene the successour of S. Peter and therefore to be the president of the Churche For thus he writeth to Iulianus the Bisshop epist 30. Memor sum me sub illius nomine Ecclesiae praesidere cuius à Domino Iesu Christo est glorificata confessio cuius fides omnes haereses destruit I am mindfull that I am Praesident of the Churche vnder his name Matth. 16 whose confession was made gloriouse of our Lorde Iesus Christe in epist 82. 87. and whose faith destroieth al heresies It were infinite to bring all that Leo saith in this behalfe Eulogius the Patriarche of Alexandria wrote to S. Gregorie after this sense Lib. 6. ep 37. as S. Gregory himself doth report it Suauissima mihi sanctitas vestra multa in epistolis suis de sancti Petri Apostolorum principis Cathedra locuta est dicens quòd ipse in ea nunc vsque in suis successoribus sedeat Your most swete Holinesse hath said manie things in his letters concerning the chair of S. Peter the prince of the Apostles saying that S. Peter himself sitteth it it euen til this present tyme in his successours And S. Gregory with great humility acknowlegeth it to be true affirming in an other place that Lib. 11. Ep. 54. the Apostolike See is head of all Churches For the honour of our country I wil not omit the testimony of S. Bede who in a sermon made vpon the Feast of a certain Abbate of England named Benedictus In Natali Benedicti inter homilias hyemales de Sanctis affirmeth him to haue gon to Rome vt ibi potius perfectā viuendi formam sumeret vbi per summos Christi Apostolos totius Ecclesiae caput eminet eximium That he might there rather take the perfit example of liuing where the excellēt head of the whole Churche doth appere aboue the reast through the highest Apostles of Christ Whereas much more may be alleaged yet these few testimonies may suffise to proue that the bishop of Rome is the Successour of S. Peter in his most principal and chiefe pastoral office And surely if we may be deceaued in any point of the faith which is so wel groūded in Gods word so vniformly cōfessed by the holy Fathers and so notoriously practised in the Catholike Churche as the Supremacy of S. Peter and of his successours in the See of Rome is I can not deuise when a man may be sure of any article of his faith But if there be a meane whereby a man may be sure of his belefe surely that meane whatsoeuer it be shall wel appeare to be found in the prouf of the supremacy of S. Peter and of his successours That the good Christian Emperours and Princes did neuer thinke them selues to be the Suprem Heads of the Churh in Spiritual causes but gaue that honour to Bisshops and Priests and most speciallie to the See of Rome for S. Peters sake as wel before as after the time of Phocas The XVI chap. An D. 246 PHilippus who was the first Christian Emperour did so litle think him selfe to haue bene the Heade of the Bisshoppes in Spirituall causes throughout his Dominion that wheras on Easter daie he would haue bene at the Vigils and holy watches and would haue communicated of the holy Mysteries the Bisshope of the place would not lette him doe it Nisi consiteretur peccata sua except he hadde first confessed his sinnes and stood amōg them that did penance and so by penance had washed awaie the faults which were reported of him Ferunt igitur libenter eum saith Eusebius quod à sacerdote imperatum fuerat suscepisse eccles histor lib. 6. c. 25. apud Ruffinum diuinum sibi inesse metum fidem religionis plenissimam rebus atque operibus comprobando They saie therefore that he toke gladly that whiche was inioyned to him of the Priest Imperatū making faith by the things and workes that the feare of God and most full persuasion of Religion was in him Is he chief in al causes who in some must obey the Priest the priest vvas aboue the Emperor in Ecclesiastical causes Or can he that is supreme gouernour in all things and causes Ecclesiastical haue an other aboue him in puttng him back from the mysteries and in enioyning him publik penaunce and in constreining him to confesse his sinnes Or is the comming to the Mysteries no cause Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Or is not the Bisshoppe or Priest who in this cause gouerneth the Emperour the Superiour and gouernour of the Emperour in the same cause Or is it not a kind of gouerning to command him to stand back to threaten him if he repine to punish him if he be stubborne Yea how to punish him to come to him in a rod as S. Paule speaketh that is to say 1. Cor. 4. in power and authoritie to beate or to correct And is not he a gouernour who may iustly beate the child If then in prescribing confessiō satisfaction and abstinence from communion the priest be the gouernour of the king I ask whether al other Ecclesiastical causes be greater or lesse then these are Note an infallible argument against your Antichristian supremacy The one parte of the Dilēma M. Nowel If other Ecclesiasticall causes be greater then these were surely the Emperour or king who is gouerned by a priest in the lesser Ecclesiasticall causes and therefore can not be supreme head in them is much more to be gouerned by a priest in the greater causes of the same kind And therefore he is much lesse supreme head in them For if when one thing standeth aboue an other I am to low to reache the lower much more I am to low to reache a higher then the other was But if other Ecclesiastical causes be lesser then the suspending from communion the other part or the inioyning of publike penance then the bishop or priest who is the gouernour of the Emperour or King in the greatest Ecclesiastical causes is much more his gouernour in the lesser Ecclesiasticall causes Because the lesser are of the same order kind and kinred whereof the greater are As therefore he that is supreme head in the greatest temporall causes as in iudging ouer life and death A similitude is much more supreme head in the lesser temporall causes as in iudging ouer lands or goods and as he that is not of sufficient authority to be supreme ruler in sitting iudge vppon mens lands or goods can much lesse sitte iudge ouer their liues by anie his former authoritie euen so neither the King who can gouern in the lesser causes
can by his Kingly power iudge in the greater nor the priest who is the Kings superiour in the lesser can possibly but much more be his superiour in the greater The remouing of the obiection Or haue we diuerse Kinds of Ecclesiastical and of spiritual causes Be there neuer so manie the Act of parliament geueth the highest and the supreme gouernment of them all In al causes vnto the King And yet the King lacketh not onelie practise experience or cunning but also he lacketh spirituall and Ecclesiasticall power to heare confessions to absolue men from their synnes to inioyne penance to consecrate the Sacrament of the altar to Ordre bishops and priestes by the Imposition of hādes or to excommunicate open synners Here Master Iewel wolde say that he neuer meant the prince should be supreme gouernour either in administring or in frequenting or in directing others to frequent the holy mysteries or in any like sacramental functions Why then doth he and his fellowes sweare men The othe of the supremacy generally to acknowledge the secular Christian prince Supreme gouernour in all things and causes Why doth he not rather declame and speake with all his force against that most impiouse and blasphemouse othe Yea so impiouse that those Protestants who most earnestly pressed the setting foorth therof dare not now iustifie the foorm of it Shall men in a Christian realme be sworen vpon the holy Euangelistes to keepe beleue or acknowledge that which noman at all no not they who procured it dare mainteine See good Countrie men see the discretiō of your parlaments in matters of Religion A men aliue abhorre from that act which the Laity made and enacted as a form so warely drawen wherevnto men might commit their euerlasting saluation or damnation Mark I say that M. Nowel M. Horn M. Iewel dare not warrant the King to be suprem gouernour in al Ecclesiastical causes But rather they confesse that a Bisshop or Priest may and ought to gouerne the King concerning his comming to the Mysteries and in such like matters This much being said cōcerning Philippus the first Christian Emperour who obeyed but gouerned not the Bisshop in Ecclesiastical matters let vs now goe forward An. Dom. 324. Constantinus the Great perceiuing the Bisshops which came to the Synod at Nice to haue many quarels and sutes among them selues appoynted a day wherein euery man should offer his complaint in writing and when he had takē al their libels without disclosing the contents of them Ruffinus lib. 10. Eccles histor cap. 2. he said vnto the bishops Deus vos constituit Sacerdotes potestatē vobis dedit de nobis quoque iudicandi ideo nos a vobis rectè iudicamur vos autē nō potestis ab hominibus iudicari propter quod Dei solius inter vos expectate iudicium God hath made you priests or Sacrificers and hath geuen you power to iudge of vs also And therefore we are rightly iudged of you But yee can not be iudged of men For which cause expect yee or tary for the iudgemēt of God alone among you This discourse of Constantine conteineth three thinges worthie to be noted First he saith the bishoppes are Sacerdotes Priestes or men that haue publik authority to make externall sacrifice vnto God for the whole Heb. 5. peples synnes Secondly he saieth that they haue power to iudge euen of the Emperour himself And this their power of iudging dependeth of their power of priesthod For the highest power may iudge the lower But no power can be higher then the power of a priest because he is the minister of God in that office which most directly toucheth Gods honour and seruice Malac. 1. Wherupon S. Augustin hauing said what was Moyses if he were not a priest In Psal 98 geueth this reason of his words Nūquid maior Sacerdote esse poterat Whether could he be greater then a priest as who should say seing Moyses was the greatest officer amōg the Israelits and yet he could not be greater then a priest it must nedes be that he was a priest The priestes then of God being the greatest officers in earth haue power to iudge euen of an Emperour if any be in their parishes or Dioceses Thirdly of these former points Cōstātine deduceth an other conclusion that priestes can not be iudged of mē How then can they be iudged of the Emperour Neither doth it skill that Constantine seemeth to haue iudged certaine priests or Ecclesiastical causes when the Donatists appealed vnto hī for he did it as S. Augustine saieth à sanctis antistitibus postea veniam petiturus In epistol 162. as one that would afterward aske leaue or pardon of the holy bisshops Who asketh leaue or pardon for that which he may doe by his owne power He did it then through the importunat sute of heretickes for the peace of the Church otherwise detesting them that demaunded his iudgement after that the bishoppes had iudged Optat. li 2 August in epist 162. and finding great fault therewith himself as Optatus and S. Augustine also doe witnesse But take away importunity of heretikes and the commission leaue or pardon of the right bishoppes who may for diuerse respectes either committe certain Ecclesiasticall causes to lay mē or winck for a tyme at such iudgemēts take away I say heresie and permission and ordinarily it is against the law of God that any secular Prince who needeth the office of a priest for his reconciliation vnto God should sitte iudge vpon him in causes of the Churche 2. Cor. 5. at whose handes he must receaue the Sacramentes of the Churche and by whose ministery his soule must be purged Now if one priest doe iudge an other that is Gods iudgement Deut. 17. Num. 3 and not the iudgement of men For God hath sette one priest ouer an other as the high priestes was aboue the Leuites in Moyses lawe and as the Apostles wereof a higher degree then the seuenty Disciples or then the seuen Deacons These woordes then of Constantine vos non potestis ab hominibus iudicari Ruffin li. 1. cap. 2. yee ô priestes of God can not be iudged of men are thus meant the order of priesthood is such as is not subiect to anie secular or earthly iurisdiction And seing all the power of iudgement which euen Christian Emperours or Kinges haue by their own state is earthly and secular it wil follow that no King or Emperour can by his owne power iudge a priest in priestlie causes and in Ecclesiasticall matters That all the power of Emperours though they be Christians is secular Constantine himself pronounceth saying to the Donatists as Optatus recordeth Petitis á me in seculo iudicium De schism Donatist lib. 1. cùm ego ipse Christi iudiciū expectem Yee aske of me iudgement in the world whereas I my self looke for Christes iudgement There are then two iudgements one in the world an other
praescript It hath ben alwaies the fashion of all heretikes as Tertullian saith to destroye other mens buildings as to vndoe that which other men doe Ipsum opus eorum non de suo proprio aedificio venit sed de veritatis destructione nostra suffodiuÌ„t vt sua aedificent Their very worck riseth not of their own building but from the destroying of the truthe They vndermine our things that they may build vp their owne And Hippolytus thinketh the seale of Antichrist to be nego In Homi. de consum mat sec I deny For as saith he the deuil did exhort the Martyrs to deny their God who was crucified so at the last day the seale of Antichrist and of his members shal be Nego creatorem coeli terrae nego baptisma nego adorationem à me Deo praestarisoliatam I deny the maker of heauen and of earth I denie baptisme I deny the adoration which I was wont to doe vnto God Thus in the old tyme whereas the Apostles preached Christ to be true God and man VVHat the old hereticke deny Arrius denied his true Godhead Marcion and Valentinus and Manicheus denied his true manhood Apollinaris is denied his true sowle the Monothelits denied his doble will the Donatists the Continuance of the vniuersality of his Church the Pelagians the necessity of Gods grace and the like may be said of all other heretiks whose opinions alwaies detracted some perfection from Christ or from his Church Now I will shew that the Protestants doe the like in our tyme. For whereas the vniuersal Church as wel by the preaching of the Apostles as by the witnesse of Gods writen word was in possession of a publike sacrifice of priesthood of seuen Sacramentes as of most vndoubted instrumentes of grace and of diuerse other godly and diuine orders and Canons haue they any other Gospell any other Churche or any other doctrine then that which consisteth in deniyng Hovv many things the Protestants take avvay froÌ„ the Churche Ioan. 1. and in taking away that which was before The holy scriptures and Churche tawght that a man being iustified is both really deliuered from his synnes and really receaueth faith hoape and charity Thei deny our synnes to be taken away by the lamb of God who came for that purpose saying they tary still but onely that they are not imputed They teache also that no iustice is at all made in vs by spreading charity in our harts Rom. 5. whereas S. Paul saith iusti coÌ„stituentur multi many shal be made iust But they only say iustice is imputed to vs. Again they fiue Sacraments of the seuen They deny that baptism remitteth our synnes or that baptisme is necessarie to children which are born of Ghristian parents Augustin epist 106. Which was the heresie of the Pelagians They deny the vse of holy oyle and of chrism They deny the reall presence of Christes body the adoration and reseruation thereof the transubstantiation of the bread into his body the vnblody sacrifice of Christes supper the communion of one kinde to be sufficient and consequently they deny that whole Christ in vnder eche kinde and the mingling of water with the wine And that one may receaue alone that Aultars are lawfull that there are Priestes of the newe Testament that Bishops are of any higher degree then Priestes that there is any one bisshoppe chief of all other that Priests can forgeue synnes but onelie may preache that they are forgeuen that it is lawfull to appoint certaine daies of fasting or the abstinence from certain meates for obedience although God both willed Adam to absteine from a certain frute Genes 2. and the Iewes to absteine from certain meates They deny that it is lawfull to pray to the Saints in heaueÌ„ or to pray for the faithful which died in Christ wherein they deny any communioÌ„ of praier betwene the faithful which are aliue and their brethern who liue out of this worlde with Christ They deny the infallible authority of generall CouÌ„cels the visible succession of bishoppes the place of purgation after this life the remaining of paine after the synne is forgeuen the chaÌ„ging or pardoming of the said paine by the high bisshop the vse and moderate honour of Images the signe of the healthfull crosse the making of a vowe to liue chaste or to renounce all propriety of goods or to liue in obedience the reuerence don the reliques of the blessed Martyrs the vse of praier in the holy tungs the vniuersall tradition of vnwriten verities and to be short theiÌ„ deny the bookes of the old Bible such as are not in the Canon of the Iewes These things and many other like whiles they deny what other thing do thei theÌ„ pul down the religioÌ„ of Christ which hath ben a building these fiften hundred yeeres And therein they prepare a way to Antichrist who in the end must deny all that they as yet leaue vndenied For if they should openly deny euery whit 2 Thes â— then the mystery of iniquity should not be a working and many simple men should not haue bene deceaued by them who now are deceaued because they pretend to refoorme and not to take away Christes religion But when the tyme is ripe then the iniquity which is now begun must be fulfilled and so is the whole religioÌ„ destroied I would this were not true And yet it is possible that euery Protestant knoweth not so much because Satan the great capitaine of their army keepeth his Counsel to himselfe knowing that how much the closer he worketh the more hurt he is like to doe But God through mercy detecteth his snares aÌ„d warneth them Genes 1â— 6. who wil be saued to flee into the hil with Loth and to the ship of the Churche with Noe there to prouide for their eternal saluatioÌ„ which our Lord graunt through his bitter passion Amen Finis Librum istum de primatu Romani Pontificis Petra Ecclesiae vniuersalis legerunt viri sacrae Theologiae Auglici idiomatis peritissimi quibus iudico meritò tutò credendum esse vt fine periculo imo summa cum vtilitate euul gari possit Cunerus Petri P.S. Petri Louanij 25. Februa Anno. 1566. A BRIEF SOME OF THE chief points of this treatise THE preface conteineth the marks of the true Church The difference betwen a dominion and a primacy 17. The Apostles strife coÌ„cerning superiority is declared 25. 26. 27. That there was one greater among the Apostles 20. vsque 37. To be a ruler and as a minister do not repugne 46. 47. The preeminence of priests aboue Kings 51. 52. caet A King can not be supreme gouernor in all ecclesiasticall causes because by right and Law he can not practise al ecclesiastical causes 61. 64. 67. The highe priest is preferred before the King by Gods lawe 72. 74. 76. The euil life of a bishop taketh not away his authority 78. 79. The differences betweÌ„ the bisshop of Rome and temporal princes 80. vsque 88. That Moises was a priest 83. 84. 85. The literal sense of holy scripture 96. The promise to be called Peter was the first cause why the church was built vpon him 110. The Protestants can not tell which is the first literal sense of these words vpon this rock I will build my Churche 135. How Peter beareth the person of the Church 165. The obiections against S. Peters supremacy are answered 219. vsque 230. How Christ loued Peter aboue others 237. The Church neuer lacked a visible rock 270. 271. The whole gouernment of the Church tendeth to vnity 299. Why S. Peter died at Rome 313. 313. S. Augustins minde touching the supremacy of the Pope of Rome 348. vsque 372. A priest aboue the Emperour in Eeclesiasticall causes 378. The oth of the roial supremacy is intolerable 383. CoÌ„staÌ„tine baptized at Rome 391 Phocas did not first make the See of Rome head of al Churches 405. vsque 410. Why Antichrist is permitted to come 423. Hereticks depart from the Catholik Church 469. Hereticks being once departed out of the Churche haue newe names 471. Why amoÌ„g the Catholiks some are called Franciscans Dominicans caet 477. Heretiks can neuer agree 479. The short reigne of heretickes 489 caet Hereticks preache without coÌ„mission 496. Heretiks doe prefer the temporal reign or sword before the spiritual 499. They are the members of Antichrist who withstand the external and publike sacrifice of Christes Church 518. Hereticks depriue Christ of his glorious inheritaunce in many nations together 517. The intolerable pride of heretikes in making themselues onely iudges of the right sense of Gods word 530. The ProtestaÌ„ts teache the same doctrine which the old hereticks did 553. The Protestantes are the right meÌ„bers of Antichrist in that they spoile Gods Church of very many gifts and graces and articles of the faith 560. FINIS Faultes escaped in the printing Page Line Faultes Corrections 10. 10. shephead shepheard 23. 22. them because them but because 98. 22. resurrection by resurrection by 103. 24. confession Being confession being 106. 13. stedfastnes of stedfastnes or of â—16 9. and promised aÌ„d being promised 145. 8. and in that and that 177. 21. the thing the man 186. 6. rocke of rock or 195. 14. sbme some 208. 23. vvhen Augustine vvhen Augustine 209. 11. hy me by me 214. 1. to true to be true 2â—9 17. in omnibus in ouibus 26â— 1. to the the 273. 15. vvas vvere vvas vvhere 281. 6. the pordinary the ordinary 382. 7. can gouern can not gouern 426. 14. CoÌ„essours Confessours 430. 13. teache teache 432. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 408. 1. out the out of the 496. 2. rom from 516. â— hauen heauen 539. 22. S. Saule S. Paul 553. 21. bishops bishop I F RESPâ—â—ITE VOLATILIA COELI ET PVLLOS CORVORVM
Horn will not say so What is it theÌ„ which he could doe might he putte him in prison so might Nero and also the great Turk By this meane it appeareth that the King be he neuer so much christened hath yet no power ouer the Bisshops soule And yet al spiritual and ecclesiastical power towcheth the sowle Therefore the King hath no spiritual power ouer the bishop at all Epist 32. Si vel scripturarum seriem diuinarum vel vetera tempora retractemus quis est qui abnuat in causa in causa inquam fidei Episcopos solere de Imperatoribus non Imperatores de Episcopis iudicare If we call to mind either the processe of holy scriptures or the auncient tymes who can denie but that in a cause of faith in a cause I say of faith bishops are woÌ„t to iudge of Christian Emperours and not Emperours of Bisshops If then the King haue no Spirituall power ouer the Bisshop how shal he corect or depose the Bisshop according to any spiritual or ecclesiastical processe of iudgement Shall he cause a Synod of Bisshops to be gathered that therin he may depose the said disobedieÌ„t Bishop Put case the Synod find him not worthy to be deposed or els wil not depose the said Bisshop How caÌ„ the King come to exercise yet any spiritual power vpoÌ„ the Bisshop You wil say he shal constrain the Synod to depose him Wherewith I pray you By the spiritual sword or by the temporal Not by the spiritual for it was neuer committed to the king that whose sinnes he should retaine they should be retained If then he shal obteine his purpose by the temporal sword who seeth not that the last resolution of the kings power is vpon his temporal and secular iurisdictioÌ„ which he should haue had though he had not ben a Christian Therefore S. Augustine finding many â—imes great fault with the Donatists Homil. de pastor in Psalm cont part Donatist â—ecause they appealed froÌ„ the iudgement of Bishops to the Emperor â—alleth euen Constantin who was then 〈◊〉 christian Prince terraenuÌ„ regem an earthly king In epist 48 Datos sibi Episcopos â—udices apud terrenuÌ„ regeÌ„ accusaueruÌ„t They accused the Bisshops who were assigned to be their iudges before an earthly King For albeit he was a Christian yet his Kinglie power was earthlie in respect of that heauenly power which Christ brought with him and gaue to his Disciples What doe I stande about the woordes of menne A most plaine demonstration of the dignity of high priests aboue the dignitie of faithful princes euen in the sight of God is to be sene in the olde Testament Where God who is no parcial Iudge assigneth a sacrifice for the syn of euerie degree of men according to their dignitie euen at his own altar And first he beginneth with the highe priest Leuitici 4 Sacerdos saying Si Sacerdos qui vnctus est peccauerit delinquere faciens populum offeret pro peccato suo vitulum If the priest which is anoynted shall synne causing the people to synne he shall offer a calf for his synne The second degree is not the prince Turba oiÌ„s but the whole people Quôd si omnis turba filiorum Israel ignorauerint offeret pro peccato suo vitulum Yf the multitude of the childern of Israel do amisse by ignorance it shal offer a calf for his synne After these two degrees cometh in the Princes place Princeps Leuitic 4 si peccauerit princeps offeret hostiam coram Domino hircum etc. If the prince shall synne he shal offer a hee gote in sacrifice before the Lord. Behold the prince is not only in the third place both behind the highe priest and behinde the whole multitude but also his sacrifice is of lesse valew and of a baser conditioÌ„ theÌ„ theirs For a hee gote was not so honourable a sacrifice as a yong oxe or a calfe The fourth degree is Anima that if one of the common people synne he shal offer a shee gote Of this matter Philo writeth thus Decebat principem priuato homini praeferri vel in sacrificio De victimis sicut principi populuÌ„ quandoquidem totum est sua parte maius Pontificem verò aequiparari populo in expiatione impetrandáque peccatoruÌ„ venia Habetur tnÌ„ is honor pontifici non propter ipsum sed quia minister est populi publicè vota faciens soluenda totius gentis nomine It became the prince to be preferred before a priuate man euen in the sacrifice as also the people to be preferred before the prince because the whole is greater then the part But it became the bishop to be made equal with the people in purging and in obteyning pardon of his synnes Howbeit that honor is geueÌ„ to the bishop not for his own sake but because he is the minister of the people making his praiers or vowes publikely to be performed in the name of the whole nation Marke the comparison the prince is a minister of the people as wel as the bishop But because the bishop is a minister in holy matters he is preferred before the prince In Leuit. quaest 1. Theodoretus also writeth thereof Docet quanta fit sacerdotij dignitas quam vniuerso populo parem facit Principem autem qui praetergressus fuerit legem aliquam non vitulum sed hircum aut capruÌ„ anniculum offerre iubet tam procul abest à sacerdotali dignitate is cui corporeuÌ„ imperiuÌ„ coÌ„missum est God doth teach how great the dignity of priesthod is which dignity he made equal with the whole people But he coÌ„maundeth the prince that shall transgresse any lawe not to offer a calf but a he gote of one yeres age so farre is he to whom corporal power is committed behind the priestly dignitie If then the whole people be aboue the Prince as who are hable to chose and to make a Prince when one lacketh and yet the bishop be equal with the whole people and also be set before it in the order of the law as being made by God himself and not hable to be made by the people because they can not consecrate a bishop or geue him spiritual power what impudency is this to teache that a prince by his own right and power maie visit iudge correct and depose a bishop who is now well sene to be farre greater in the sight of God then the King himself Let this much suffise to shew that the Bishoplie or pastor all authoritie of the Church is not only distincted froÌ„ the tyrannical kingdome of the vnfaithful natioÌ„s but also from the moderate reigne of what so euer Kings though they be christened One thing now is brieflie to be touched that notwithstanding many Bishops be euil and vse not their Office wel yet they loose it not thereby but stil we are bound by Christes coÌ„maundemeÌ„t to do the things Math. 23 not which they doe but which they say
Christ committed anie particular companie of the faithfull men who then liued to any one apostle or disciple who might be resideÌ„t with theÌ„ alone as their only Pastor The partes and meÌ„bers of Christes whol militaÌ„t flock which are now made here aÌ„d there were instituted by th'Apostolike and Ecclesiastical authoritie not surely without the special prouidence and inspiration of the holy Ghost Tit. 1. Act. 14. Leo. ep 87 but yet not immediately by Christ but through his wil by mans authoritie And therefore the bounds of any parrissh or diocese may for probable causes be changed againe by an other man Greg. li. 2 ep 31. who hath such like authoritie to change the bounds of parisshes as they had who first made them Particular flocks then are voluntarie and likewise particular pastours But one flock and one pastour is of absolute necessitie in the earth aÌ„d so doth S. Cyprian witnesse Deus vnus est Christus vnus L. ep 8. vna Ecclesia Cathedra vna super PetruÌ„ Domini voce fundata There is one God and one Christ and one Church aÌ„d one chaire fouÌ„ded vpoÌ„ Peter by our Lords voice Behold One Chaire this one chair which is fouÌ„ded vpon Peter must nedes be ment of the one pastoral preeminence which Christ him self did institute in the militant Church This mater standing so shal we say that the Church of Christ continueth in the earth or no If it doe continue shal Christes owne absolute institution continue aboue the vertuouse but yet voluntarie institution of men or shal the good and voluntarie institution of maÌ„ preuail more theÌ„ the most perfit institutioÌ„ of Christ Men made many particular flocks according as they thought most conuenient for this or that place and they did set ouer them many particular pastours somwhere a Priest and somewhere a Bishop Christe made in al but one militant flock which should consist both of Iewes and Gentils and did set ouer it Saint Peter one general shepheard And there was made euen in earth after Christes ascension one sheepcote Ioan. 21. Ioan 10. and one shepheard Shall now these many flocks and manie shepheards which men appointed coÌ„tinue stil aÌ„d shal not the one flock and the one shepherd which Christ assigned much more continue Forasmuch as a flock of sheep is one by the force of one pastor if the pastor in earth be not one the flock in earth is not one Credo vnam Ecclesiam But al meÌ„ beleue one militaÌ„t church which is the flock of Christ in earth therfore al men ought to coÌ„fesse one militaÌ„t shepheard of the same flock in earth also For although the Churche be one moe wayes then by one shepherd yet if Christ had not meant that his Churche should be one flock not only for hauing one faith one baptisme Ephes 4. or one spirit but also for hauing one shepheard he would neuer haue said There shal be made one sheepcote and one shepheard Ioan. 10. But now seing he faith I haue other sheepe which are not of this fold to wit of the Iewes synagog and I must bring those and they shal heare my voice and there shal be made one fold or flocke and one shepheard it is euident that as the Iewes and the Gentils beside the vnitie to come in heauen are one fold and one flock in this world euen so that they haue one temporal shepheard in this world beside Christe the euerlasting shepheard Which thing sith it is so is it possible that any Protestant wil be so iniuriouse to Christ as to preferre the good institution of S. Paule who planted one Church at Corinth Rom. 16. Act. 14. an other at Ephesus and the third at Athens before the absolute and perelesse institution of Christ who in the whole earth plaÌ„ted one great Church wherof he made one great shepheard vnder himself the vniuersal shepheard I see that the Protestantes talke much of Gods word but the word they speak of is writen in no Gospel They will haue many flockes and many shepheards to continue stil neither doe we denie it because it was so instituted by the Apostles but the Catholikes wil much more haue all these flocks to be only one church in earth because thei are al to be reduced vnto the obedience of one chiefe shepheard in earth which was the institution of Christ Either let the text be named where Christe did institute many parishes aÌ„d many dioceses or seing there is none such and on the other side seing we bring a plain text where it is said to one pastour Ioan. 21. feed my sheep let not the order vertuouslie taken afterward by the Apostles be so mainteined that the former appointment of the Sonne of God be thereby made voide Either let both orders take place as with the Catholikes they doe or if one of the two shal needs be disapointed let vs rather haue in al but one chiefe shepheard as Christ immediatly left the mater then to haue many and not to haue one Moreuer to what other thing doth al the whole order of the Church tend in earth but only to an vnity The vvhol gouernmeÌ„t of the militant Churche teÌ„deth to vnitie Why is one Curate in a parish set ouer many families and houses Why is one Bishop in a diocese set ouer many parishes Why is one Primate or Metropolitane in a prouince set ouer many Bishops Why are al the primates of one quarter of the world reduced vnder one Patriarch but only euermore to shew that the gouernmeÌ„t of the Church teÌ„deth by many midle vnities Ep 82. ad AnastasiuÌ„ Thessal to one supream pastoral vnity in this life WhervpoÌ„ Leo saith Magna dispositione ê“uisuÌ„ est vt esseÌ„t in singulis prouincijs singuli quoruÌ„ inter fratres haberetur prima senteÌ„tia rursus quidaÌ„ in maâ—oribus vrbibus coÌ„stituti sollicitudineÌ„ suscipereÌ„t amplioreÌ„ per quos ad vnaÌ„ Petri sedeÌ„ vniuersalis Ecclesiae cura conflueret nihil vnquam a suo capite dissideret It was ordeined with great prouidence that there should be in euery prouince one whose iudgemeÌ„t or senteÌ„ce might be chief among the brethern And again that certain being apoiÌ„ted in the greater Cities See M. Ievvel vvho hath the cure of the vniuersal Church should take greater charge by whom the cure of the vniuersal Churche might flow togeather to the one seat of Peter and that nothing might at any time dissent froÌ„ his head Lo by may primates the cure of the whole cometh to him who sitteth in S. Peters See which is at Rome Again seing al Ecclesiastical inâ—â—itutioÌ„ and gouernmeÌ„t of the Church came from Christ one way or other it must needs be Cyp. lâ—b 1. epist 3. that euery bishop hath the portioÌ„ of the flock which he gouerneth assigned to him by some order or other takeÌ„ by Christ himself But Christ by his own expres worâ— assigned not that S.
of Christ That is worldly or secular Secular iudgemēt this is heauenly or spiritual Constantine had none other iudgement but secular because his sentence could binde no farther then in this life But Christes iudgement which he excerciseth as wel presently by his Priestes and Ministers Ioan. 20. as at the later day in his own person is spirituall Spirital iudgemēt Matth. 16. In Coelis and rather apperteineth to heauen and to the life to come then to this world Againe that Constantines iudgement was earthlye S. Augustine in diuers places declareth saing of the very same Donatists In ep 162. Terrenum Regem suae causae iudicem esse voluerunt They would an earthly King to be the iudge of their cause He meaneth there Constantine the Christian Emperour by the name of an earthly King Hitherto I haue shewed that Constantine beleued and professed that Bishops or Priestes are not ordinarilie and where aequitie or conscience maie take place to be iudged by secular Princes Now it onely remaineth to consider specially the great honour which he gaue to the See of S. Peter and to his Successour the Bisshop of Rome First I take it for moste certaine that Constantinus the Great Constātin baptized at Rome was instructed and baptized of Syluester the Pope of Rome as not onely most auncient witnesses but euē the very stones ād pillers of marble doe witnesse which being erected in the Emperors owne house named Constantiniana beare the name of his baptisterie to witte of the verie place wherein Constantinus was baptised 1 in vita Syluestri in Pontificali 2 De sex aetatibus 3 in Chrō 4 lib. 2. Histor Whiche thing also Pope Damasus who liued not long after and consequēt lie 2. S. Bede 3. Ado and Marianus Scotus affirme the same Yea 4 Gregorius Turonensis who liued long before alludeth to the same storie in describing the baptism of King Chlodoueus Neither only the Latines haue thus auouched the truth 5 In vita Cōstant 6. Lib. 7. c. 35. 7 In Anna libus but the Greciās also as 5 Zonaras 6 Nicephorus 7 Cedrenus not esteming what Eusebius and some other moued by him reporte in that behalfe as whom for his affection to the Arrian heresie they had suspected Constantine then being baptized at Rome and thereby instructed that S. Peter had died there to whome he built a faire Church in the hil named Vaticane and that he had left a successour in that See Damasus in Pontif. who beside his Bisshoprike of Rome should haue the chiefe pastoral cure ouer al the faithfull gaue such reuerence to the saied Chaire and See of S. Peter that he thought it not conuenient for him to keep his ordinarie courte and Residence anie more in that Citie where the chiefe causes of all Christendome should be daily examined In so muche that he did not onely protest his faith in Christ and the honour due to S. Peter in expresse words which are before the first Nicene Coūcel some of whiche wordes are likewise alleged at the second general Coūcel kept at Nice but also he in deede went out of the Citie of Rome with this intent in Praefat. Concilij Niceni to keep no more his Imperiall residence in the same Which thīg is farther proued in that he gaue away his owne Palaice dedicating it a Temple vnto our Sauiour which temple standeth till this daie wherein also the Pope had aftetward a dwelling place And who doth not perceiue that he departeth with the mind to returne no more who at his going geueth his own house away Adde herevnto In vitae Constantini that Constantine went to seeke a newe dwelling place as Zonaras reporteth and at the last reasted in Bizance calling it of his owne name Constantinople or new Rome Why should Constantine thus aduisedly deparete from the head Citie of al the world the glorie of his Empire and the chiefe roialtie of his inheritance except he had bene fullie perswaded that S. Peter and his successours the Bisshops of Rome had bene placed at Rome by the wil of God Serm 1. de Natiuit Pet. Pauli thēce to publish the faith of Christ into al Countries as Pope Leo saieth wherevnto he would that his Imperial court should be no hinderance For otherwise if he had yelded to a simple Bisshop there was a Bisshop in Constātinople also as in euery other great Citie But it was not euery Bisshoppe to whome Constantine yealded but the chiefe Bissbop of all and the heade of the whole Militāt Church Which Exāple of his al good Emperours following neuer kept afterward their courte and ordinarie residence in Rome Zonaras in vita Constantis Nepotis Heraclij al be it Constance perceiuing more honour to be geuen to the Mother which was Rome then to the daughter whiche was Constantinople woulde haue returned to Rome but as Zonaras declareth without successe Which thing who so thinketh to haue chanced with out the singular prouidence of God may seme to think that the world is gouerned by chance To this fact of the Emperors in their absteining to keepe their residence in Rome let vs ioyn the expresse wordes also of diuers good successours of Constantine the Greate For if anie euil came betwene it is no marueil if thei did hate so good a thing as the Primacie of the Church was Concerning Constantius the heretike who was the sonne of great Constantine Athanasius complaineth An. D. 360 that he and his adherents the Arrians had no reuerence toward the Bisshop of Rome In Epist ad Solitar vitam agentes not consideringe vel quòd sedes illa apostolica esset vel quôd Roma Metropolis esset ditionis Romanae either that it was the Apostolike See or els that Rome was the Mother citie of the Roman circuit So that we may see euen from the beginning that as the most faithful Emperours did alwaies honour the Apostolike See of Rome euen so the heretikes and worste men did alwaies hate it and despise it For on the other side in the midst of the Arrian heresie the noble and vertuouse Emperors Gratianus Valentinianus and Theodosius doubted not to sette foorth a Lawe in these woordes An. D. 386 leg 1 Cod. de summa Trinitat Cunctos populos quos Clementiae nostrae regit imperium in tali volumus religione versari quam D. Petrum Apostolū tradidisse Romanis religio vsque ad huc ab ipso insinuata declarat quà mque Pontificē Damasū sequi claret Petrū Alexādriae Episcopū virum Apostolicae sanctitatis We wil al nations which are gouerned by our Clemēcy to liue in such a religiō as the religiō which is vsed from S. Peter til this day doth declare him to haue deliuered to the Romans ād which religiō it is euidēt that Pope Damasus ād Peter the Bishop of Alexandria a mā of an Apostolik holines doe follow By this Law it is witnessed first that S. Peter
deliuered a certain religioÌ„ to the Romans as wel concerning the Trinitie as other things Secondly that the said religion coÌ„ming from S. Peter was kept stil in the Church of Rome Thirdly that it was kept speciallie by the perpetual succession of Bishops For which cause Damasus the Bisshop of Rome is named in the Law After Damasus a blessed Bisshop of Alexandria called Peter is also named not with the intent to shewe also that the Bisshops of Alexandria kept alwayes the true faith for at that momeÌ„t Lucius a raging wolf occupied the seat in Alexandria but because this Peter of Alexandria who is now named was in deede the true bishop of Alexandria albeit he was now kept out of his Church by violence Nicep lib. 11. cap. 26 Whereas then there were two bisshops of Alexandria one who agreed with the bishop of Rome an other who disagreed â–ª because the said Peter did agree with Damasus and fled out of prison to him he is named with Damasus and therby the other bishop is insinuated to be an vsurper So that the whole force of the Decree resteth vpon the tradition and succession of S. Peter at Rome and of those who agree with him If Peter of Alexandria had not followed that succession of S. Peter he had no more ben esteemed then Lucius Georgius Gregorius or Dioscorus An. Do. 4â—4 Tom. 1. CoÌ„cil distinct 97. who being bishops of Alexandria wree al heretiks Pope Bonifacius the first wrote to the Christian Emperour Honorius in this wise Mihi Deus noster meuÌ„ Sacerdotium vobis res humanas regentibus deputauit Our God hath appointed mie priesthood to me wheras you doe gouern woordlie matters And in the same epistle he requireth the Emperours help not I warrant you for the disposing of his own priesthod but for the conseruation of the peace of the Churche To whome the Emperour promiseth his help confessing that he receaued the writings of his blessednes with dew gratulation of reuerence Apostolatus tuus desiring his Apostoleshippe to pray for the safegard of his Empire Honorius faith then was that the Emperours were heads of the ciuill gouernment for the defense of Ecclesiastical peace and not supreme heads in all Ecclesiasticall things and causes to defend I say the lawes of the Churche made by bishops and not to make new Ecclesiastical lawes wheruÌ„to to bishoppes should be subiect against their wils An. Dom. 450. Let vs adde hereunto that which an Empresse also writeth of the same matter for we may wel beleue that she wrote according to the faith of Church in her tyme. In epistol Gallae Placidiae ante synodum Chalcedonens Thus then Galla Placidia saith concerning the Churche of Rome In Apostolica sede primus ille ê“ coelestes claues dignus fuit accipere principatum Episcopatus ordinauit He that was worthy to receaue first the heauenly keyes that is S. Peter hath ordeined the primacy of the Bishoply office in the Apostolik See If this be so Peter was not only first and prince himself but he also ordeined the bishop of Rome to be the first and chief of bishops after him Ad synoduÌ„ Chalcedo Domino meo Theodosio c. When I say Peter ordeined it I meane that Christ by Peter ordeined it Valentinian is of the same belefe and iudgement saying Fidem à nostris maioribus traditam debemus cum omni competenti deuotione defendere dignitatem propriae venerationis B. Apostolo Petro intemeratam in nostris temporibus conseruare quatenus beatissimê° Romanae ciuitatis episcopus cui principatum Sacerdotij super omnes antiquitas contulit locum habeat ac facultatem de fide sacerdotibus iudicare We ought to defend with all competent deuotion the faith deliuered from our elders And to conserue and keepe in our tymes to the blessed Apostle S. Peter the dignity of his proper and owne worship vncontrolled so that the most blessed bishop of the City of Rome to whome â—ntiquity hath geuen aboue al me the cheefty of priesthood may haue place and power to iudge of faith and of priests Lo the honour that is geuen to the bishop of Rome is geuen to Saint Peter verily because the bishop of Rome sitteth in his chaire And when the bishop of Rome is despised the worship of S. Peter is stained If the old tyme gaue the primacy of priestod vnto the bishop of Rome for S. Peters sake and that super omnes ouer al men if eleuen hundred yeres agoe it was true to say that Antiquity gaue the chiefty of priestly power to the bishop of Rome are not they new teachers who after fiften hundred yeres goe about to pluck the primacy of priesthod from the bishop of Rome An. Dom. 4.57 Act. 3. In Concil Chalceâ—o Autoritate Ro. Episcopi Martianus likewise with Valentinian confesseth of the General Councel which came togeather at Chalcedon in â—â—â—â—wise Quae Synodus dum fidem diligenter inquirit authoritate beatissimi Leonis Episcopi aeternae vrbis Romae religionis fundamenta constituit sanctae ciuitati Flauiano palmam mortis tribuit gloriosae The which councel whiles it maketh diligent inquisition concerning the faith it both appointed the foundations of religion to the holy city the Church by the authoritie of most blessed Leo bishop of the euerlasting City of Rome By the authority of Pope Leo. and also gaue to Flauianus the crown of a gloriouse death Al this was done by the autority of the bishop of Rome And why by his autority the same Martianus gaue the cause therof before in an oratioÌ„ which he made in the fourth general councel Act. 1. Fol. 740. where he said of Leo the Pope qui ApostolicuÌ„ gubernat thronuÌ„ who gouerneth the See Apostolike And it is well knowen he ment only the Apostolike see of S. Peter An. D. 534 In Codicadâ— summa Trinit For the honour of that See IustiniaÌ„ writeth thus to Iohn the secoÌ„d pope of Rome Nos reddeÌ„tes honoreÌ„ Apostolicae sedi vestrae sanctitati qdsemê‘ nobis in voto fuit est vt decet patreÌ„ honoraÌ„tes vestraÌ„ beati tudineÌ„ oiÌ„a quae ad ecclesiaruÌ„ statuÌ„ pertineÌ„t festinauimus ad notitiam deferre vestrae sanctitatis We rendering honour to the See Apostolike and to your Holines the whiche thing euer was and is our desire and we honouring your blessednes as it becommeth vs to honour our Father haue hastened to bring to the knowledge of your Holines all things which doe appertein to the state of Churches If the Pope be as a Father to the Emperour and be so to be honoured it is vtterly impossible for the Emperour who is as it were a Sonne to be the supreme head or gouernour in spiritual causes of his spiritual Father Againe he saith Nec enim patimur quicquaÌ„ quod ad EcclesiaruÌ„ statuÌ„ pertinet quamuis manifestuÌ„ indubitatum sit quod mouetur vt noÌ„
not of that King who is also a bishop is greater then a bishoppes power which is spiriritual and heauenly What is this to say but onlie that the bodie is aboue the sowle the ciuill pollicy aboue the Church of Christ and the temporal reigne aboue the Kingdom of heauen This is a vehement marck to betraie our new brethern by For we speake not now of workes or maners that is to say whether a man loue the world more then God or whether a pope be more gredy of his temporal iurisdistion then of his spirituall dutie We speake not I say of these abuses lette him that hath them yea though he be a pope looke well to himself in that behalf but we speake of doctrine at this tyme. The Pope teacheth that euery spiritual pastour is of a higher dignity theÌ„ any temporal officer whatsoeuer he be And that because he is instituted of Christ for to help vs toward life euerlasting The Protestantes teache Ephes 4. that a Christian Emperour or Kinge is aboue all spiritual pastours in his own realm and may depose them by his own power which is the very doctrine of Antichrist For the Emperours and Kinges though they be Christians may not yet in spiritual matters rule the bishoppes and pastours of Gods people VVhat povver the ChristiaÌ„ pricÌ„e hath but onely they may with their teÌ„poral lawes and power defend the lawes and ordinances which the bisshops haue already made as Theodosius and al other good Emperours vsed to doe But if they wil vse their princelie power to change the old lawes of the Church or to make new lawes in spiritual matters which were not before made by the priests or to depose the auÌ„cient bishops who haue cure of their sowles then they are the members of Antichrist as great Athanasius hath at large declared in describing the heinouse factes of the Arrians in his tyme In epist ad Solitar vi tam agentes who reporteth that when Constantius the Emperour called Paulinus the Bishop of Treuers Lucifer the bishop of Sardinia Eusebius the bishop of Marcels and Dionysius the bishop of Millan before him willing them to subscribe against Athanasius because it was his pleasure and his procedings those blessed bishoppes exhorted him ne ecclesiastica corrumperet neue Romanum imperium ecclesiasticis constitutionibus immisceret that he should not corrupt Church matters and that he should not mingle the Roman Empire with the Ecclesiastical ordinances Here you see that the RomaÌ„ empire is discharged froÌ„ meddling with Church matters It is not onely saied Arrians or heretiks but it is said the Roman Empire ought not to mingle it selfe with Ecclesiasticall causes Euen a Bishoppe being an heretike is remoued from Churche matters but an Emperour is not onelie remoued from them if he be an hereticke but also because he is an Emperour onelie and not a Bisshop Onely this hath bene alwaies the custom that Emperors shuld be careful to maintaine the former coÌ„stitutions of Bisshoppes and the ciuil peace of the Church For they being Christians ought to vse the sword whiche they beare by Gods appointment for the Churche But the outward and ciuil peace aÌ„d the Ecclesiastical constitutions which towche the belefe and the inward direction of the sowle are two things much different Apud Athan. ibidem in so much that Pope Liberiê° said to the messinger of the same Emperour Constantius as Athanasius also doth witnesse after this sort If the Emperour will needes interpose his care for the Ecclesiasticall peace Ecclesiastical peace lette an Ecclesiasticall synode be made longè à palatio vbi nec Imperator praesto est nec Comes se ingerit nec iudex minatur Ecclesiastical synod caet Let the Ecclesiasticall meeting be made a great way of from the palaice where neither an Emperour is at hand nor a County thrusteth in himself nor a iudge threateneth but where the only feare of God and the institution of the Apostles is sufficient Thus he said not that an Emperour might in no case be at a Councel of bishops but because he might not be there to vse his Emperial authority in iudging the bishops or in prescribing what the Church shall decree or beleue but onely in maynteining that which the bishops according to the Apostolike institution either haue or shall agree vpon That Reuerend Father Hosius who after that he had suffered persecution for Christes faith vnder Maximian liued threescore yeres in the Churche being tempted by the same Constantius to subscribe againste Athanasius In epi ad Solitar vit ageÌ„t asketh first of him by letters whether his brother Constans the good and Catholik Emperour did vse to banish bishops or no and then whether ConstaÌ„s his brother aliquando iudicijs Ecclesiasticis intersuit was at any tyme a medler with the Ecclesiasticall iudgements Ibidem Last of all he saith to him Ne te misceas Ecclesiasticis neque nobis in hoc genere praecipe sed potius ea à nobis disce Tibi Deus imperiuÌ„ commisit nobis quae sunt Ecclesiae coÌ„credidit quemad modum qui tuum etiam imperium malignis oculis carpit contradicit ordinationi diuinae ita tu caue ne quae sunt Ecclesiae ad te trahens magno crimini obnoxius fias Date scriptum est quae sunt Caesaris Caesari quae Dei Deo neque igitur fas est nobis in terris imperiuÌ„ tenere neque tu thymiamatum sacroruÌ„ potestateÌ„ habes Imperator Doe thou not intermedle with Ecclesiastical matters neither do thou coÌ„mauÌ„d what we shal doe in this kind of matters but rather lern theÌ„ of vs. God hath committed the Empire vnto thee aÌ„d he hath put vs in trust with â—hose things which concern the Church and like as he that malignly â—arpeth thy Empire doth gainesay the â—rdinaunce of God so doe thow take â—hede lest in takiÌ„g vnto thee those things which beloÌ„g to the Church thow be made gilty of a great crime It is writen Math. 22. geue vnto Caesar those things which are Cesars and vnto God those things that are Gods Therfore it is neither lauful for vs to haue the rule of the Empire in earth neither hast thou ô Emperour any power ouer the holy incense and sacrifices Mark that it is rehersed for a praise in the Catholike Emperour Constans not to haue medled with Ecclesiastical iudgements Also Athanasius himself saith thus for his own part In epist vt antè Si istud est iudicium Episcoporum quid commune cum eo habet Imperator caet quando iudicium Ecclesiae authoritatem suam ab Imperatore cepit caet Paulus Apostolus habebat amicos in Caesaris familia per eos in literis salutabat Philippenses Philip. 4. non tamen eos in iudidicio socios assumpsit If this be the iudgemeÌ„t of bishops what hath the Emperor to doe with it aÌ„d coÌ„trarywise if these iudgements are gathered by the
threatenings of the Emperour what neede is there of men who haue the title of bishoppes When hath it bene heard of since the beginning of the world Note when did the iudgement of the church take his autority frō the Emperor or whē at any time was this acknouleged for a iudgemēt There haue ben very many synods hertofore many iudgements of the Church haue ben kept But neither the Fathers went about to persuade these things to the prince nor the Prince did shew himselfe curiouse in the matters of the Churche Paule the Apostle hadde frinds in Cesars howse and did salute the Philippians in their name in his letters yet did he not take them as his fellowes in iudgement By this ye may perceaue that no Emperours at al were they neuer so good no County Palatines or secular Lords be they neuer so much faithful as Constās was ād those of th' Emperors house of whome S. Paule speaketh haue yet any right or power Philip. 4. to sitte presidents in Ecclesiastical matters otherwise then to kepe ciuil order and peace but onlie those to whom God hath committed the cure of sowles In so much that Athanasius douteth not by name to call Constantius the foreruner of Antichrist because he being a secular prīce intermedled with the spiritual gouernment of the Churche Quid igitur Constantius quod Antichristi non sit In epist vbi antè omisit aut quomodo ille in aduentu suo non repererit sibi expeditam viam ad dolos ab isto praeparatam Siquidem in locum ecclesiasticae cognitionis suum palatium tribunal earum caufarum constituit séque earum litium summum principem authorem facit What hath Constantius then omitted that doth not appertain to Antichrist Or how shal not Antichrist when he cometh finde a fitte way for him to all deceits prepared by this mā ▪ For in steede of the Ecclesiasticall iudgement The part of Antichrist he appointeth his palace to be the place of iudgement for their causes and maketh himselfe the chiefest prince and bearer out of those controuersies Ibidē vbi antè And againe Grauia sunt ista plusquam grauia sed tamen istiusmodi quae congruant in eum qui Antichristi imaginem induerit Quis enim videns eum in decernendo principem se facere Episcoporū praesidere iudicijs Ecclesiasticis non meritò dicat illū eam ipsam abominationem desolationis esse quae à Daniele praedicta est nam cùm circumamictus sit Christianismo caet These things are greuous and more then greuous but yet they are such as doe well agree to him who hath put on the the Image of Antichrist For who seing him in making a decree to take vpon him to be prince of the bishops and to be president in Ecclesiastical iudgemēts may not worthely say that he is the abomination of the desolation which was foretold by Daniel The property of antichrist For when he being clothed with Christianitie doth both enter into the holie places and also being there doth spoile Churches abrogate the Canons vsing force to make men obserue and keepe his commaundements who will at anie tyme dare say that this is a quiet tyme to the Christians and not rather a persecution and such a persecution as neither hath ben before nor perchance no man will at any tyme make again but that sonne of iniquity which is Antichrist Thus haue we the determinate sentence of Athanasius of Athanasius I say the most notable bishop that euer was for vertue and lerning since the Apostles time And his sentence is that the Christiā Emperor and the like is of any Christian Prince who taketh vpō him to be prince of the bishops in making a decree and to be president in Ecclesiasticall iudgements is a mēber of that abominable desolatiō wherof Daniel prophecied Can any plainer sentence be wished for to conclude my present purpose Neither was this doctrine only meant of an heretical Emperour for the Catholike Emperour Constans is praised for not medling with Church matters Philip. 4. Yea S. Paule is alleaged not to haue communicated the Church matters with those good Christians of Cesars howse I know with what wranglers I haue to doe They wil bring examples to shew that some Emperours haue sitten in general Coūcels as Constantine the great Martianus ād some others But I answere that they satte to kepe good order and to preserue peace and quietnes among the bishops speciallie because the Archeheretikes were commonly themselues great Prelates as being the patriarches of Antioche or of Alexandria or of Constantinople Who yf the Emperour were not present would vse force in the stede of holy scriptures as Dioscorus did In the schismatical Ephesine Coūcel and Eusebius of Nicomedia in the tyme of the Arrians For the preseruing thē of ciuil and ecclesiastical peace the Emperour was present ād not as supreme iudge in Ecclesiasticall causes S. Ambrose noteth and thincketh that euen an heretical Emperour comming to yeres of discreatiō wil be hable to consider In epi. 32. VVhat maner of bishop M. Horn i◠qualis ille Episcopus sit qui Laicis ius Sacerdotale substernit what manner of bishop he is who layeth the priestly right vnder the laye mens seete And yet by geuing of the most proud and most intolerable title of supreame Head or gouernor in al ecclesiastical causes to lay princes al the religiō vsed now in England wholy standeth What bishoppes then are those of England who making the secular prince their head putte the priestly right vnder his feete S. Augustine being fully persuaded that nothing could be greater then a priest in the house of God therevpon concludeth that Moyses must nedes haue ben a priest for saieth he nunquid maior sacerdote esse poterat August in Psalm 98. Could he be greater then a priest Yea Marie saith M. Horn he might haue ben a King or a secular Prince But S. Augustine knew no such diuinity And yet the worlde toward the comming of Antichrist is growne so wise that these men haue found now that euery Emperor King Prince or Duke who hath any temporall state of his owne is greater euen in Ecclesiasticall causes then the lawfull successour of S. Peter This I say is the diuinity of England For therein our countrie maketh a peculiar Secte of his owne wherein they disagree euen from their fellow Caluinistes But lette them loke to it as well as they will they shal finde it a badge of Antichrist as Athanasius hath plainlie affirmed And when the daie of triall commeth it shall euidentlie appeere that those are most faithfull subiects to the prince who geue him his due place of honour in Gods Churche without derogation to that heauēly power of bishops which Christ himself came down from hauen to plant and whom he hath set euen ouer the Kings themselues Ioan. 21. as being the sheepe of their foldes Theod. lib.