any thing that we doe here vpon earth but by messēgers And who so should say that this doctrine is hereticall must say also that the Canones and Popes be heretickes which as I take it the Romish Catholickes will be loth to confes This Canon is also confirmed by the holy scripture which beareth witnesse to vs that there is none but god onely that knoweth the secrets of mens hartes and so consequently that it is he onely that can vnderstand our prayers which come rather from the hart than from the mouth The protestantes say furthermore that there are so greate numbers of Sayntes regestred in the Letany of whose Canonysing men doe doubte for as sayth a good auncient Doctor the bodies of diuers are honoured on earth whose soules are buried in hel that in reason we ought to refuse the number of intercessors and contente our selues only with Iesus christ which is the true and pure doctrine that we ought to hold and the Catholicks cānot iustly accuse it of herisy according to our third maxime And hereupon I adde this more that as the protestantes doe hold opinion that we ought not to attribute the title nor the office of mediator to any other thā to Iesus christ no more ought we to do in his other titles and offices as of his priesthood his mediatorship his spirituall reigning his chiefe shepheardship For these be the titles of honor which belong vnto Iesus Christ and are not to be cōmunicated to others how great or excellēt personages so euer they be And truely herein all the world must needs cōfesse that the protestants do shew thē selues to bee best Christians in that they attribute onely to our Lord Iesus Christ the titles of honor that are his and will not communicate them to any other creators what so euer they bee for if they would dispence with their consciences in this behalfe they know right well they might soone be at a poynt with the Romishe Catholicks and shunne many miseries and persecutions which they now indure For there wanteth no more but that they would allow the Sayntes to be partners of the title of mediator the maspriestes to be parteners of the tytle of Sacrificers the doers of good workes of Supererogation to bee parteners of the title of a propitiator And the Pope himself to be partaker of the title of Spyrytuall Kinge and soueraigne Sheaheard And then by and by there would be a peace cōcluded determined and established betwixt the protestants and the romysh Cacholicks But the protestants will by no meanes nor for any cause diminish any part of the titles of honor which belong vnto the sonne of God nor attribute them to any other creatures Whereby it appeareth euidently that men do them great wrong in defaming their doctrine to the King as though his permitting of them to excercise the same were a mean to disposses him of the title of moste Chrystian king For in asmuch as the name of christian commeth of Christ out of doubt they be worthiest of that name which yeld Christ his due honor and glory ¶ Of fayth and good workes The third chapter THe doctrine of the Romishe Catholickes concerning faythe and good workes differeth greatly from that of the Protestantes For the Catholicks hold opinion that only faith without good workes doth not iustifie a man but that it is needful the faith be ayded by good works Contrarywise the Protestants hold that onely faith doth iustify a man without good workes That is to say the faith is the onelye instrumēt wherby Iesus Christ who is the true and efficient cause of our iustification applieth his righteousnes vnto vs and maketh vs to be accounted iust before God his Father through his owne merit without the helpe of our good works Neuerthelesse they confesse that good workes are acceptable vnto God but yet they affirme that good workes are not of such power as to iustify vs before the face of god or to make vs capeable either in part or in al of euerlasting life And they say also that they be not all good works which the catholicks do take for good works For as touching the firste poynte you must consider that the doctrine of the protestants doth tend to attribute the honor of our saluation all wholly vnto our Lord Iesus Christ as vnto him who is the true and onely cause thereof For although we haue neede of fayth whereby to receiue the benefit of Christ who imputeth and applieth his owne righteousnes to all such as beleue in him yet neuertheles he doth remain the onely and altogether true cause of our saluation forasmuch as it is he himselfe which doth also geue vs fayth So as he doth not onely geue vs the drinke of immortallity that is to say his owne righteousnes which he alloweth vs but also the cup to receyue it in yea and he geueth vs both of thē freely and for nothing but onely of his owne liberalitye and grace with out asking or receiuing of vs any recompence for the same And truely if we would goe about to recompence so great and excellent a benefit as is euerlasting life thorowe our good workes it were as much as if a man would purchase a great and rich inheritaunce with a smale summe of bace mony such as in reason should rather be cried downe than allowed For our good workes of themselues bee so vnpure and vnperfect mingled with Ipocrisy and other ill affections that they are not worthy to be presented before the face of God who doth not esteeme such vntoward payments in recōpence of eternall life Notwithstanding when they be done through fayth hee doth accept them in fauour and for good will to his sonne our Lord Iesus Christ vpon whose only desertes our fayth resteth because in that respect they proceeded from the good tree which is Iesus Christ who worketh all our good workes in vs. So as the workes of fayth be good and acceptable vnto god for that they proceed from Christ as from the efficient cause which worketh them in vs but they are full of vncleanes worthy to be reiected in respect that they proceed from vs who serue but as instruments howbeit yet vncleane instrumentes to do them And therfore are they alwayes defyled spotted in some sort for Iesus Christ who worketh them in vs doth make thē good and pleasing to God his Father but yet they doe gather somwhat of the filthy and naturall infection of vs who are the vessels wherin they be made Neuertheles God is so good and gratious that he not only admitteth them as done by Iesus Christ his sonne but also for his sake doth wipe away the spots and vncleanes which are in them and crowneth them with many blessinges as with prosperitie of children temporall wellfare help of frēds in aduersitie moderation in prosperitie discretion happy succes in affairs with many other his benefits wherin he doth more and more shew his great bounty gratious
goodnes by heaping vpon vs his blessings as it were in recompence of the good works which he himself hath wrought in vs and in making vs to reap the fruit of his own labor and to receyue the reward which he himself hath deserued But touching the great and incōprehensible benefit of the gifte of eternall life and of knitting vs vnto him selfe in euerlasting happines he doth not geue it vs in any other respect or consideration thā only for the loue of his welbeloued sōne Iesus Christ That was the cause why he wold haue him to come down into this base world and to take our nature vpon him and to fulfill the law for vs and to beare our iniquities and greefes and at a word to be our Mediator our redeemer our high priest our Shepheard and our spirituall king All which titles he hath taken vpon him to saue vs and to be the onely cause of our euerlasting felicitie and to knit and incorporate vs vnto himselfe and to make vs partners for euer of his heauenly glory Yet may we not hereupon conclude that we should not doe good workes as though they stoode vs in no stead to saluatiō for they be fruits of faith and whosoeuer hath the true faith doth incontinently shew it by the good fruites and effectes which it bringeth forth in him And he that doth no good workes cannot saye that hee hath true fayth Besides that we also are sufficiently led to doe good workes by the great number of other benefites and blessinges wherwith God crowneth thē as we haue sayd before This is the sūme of the doctrine which the Protestants do hold concerning faith and good workes Whereby they yelde wholly vnto God and to our Sauiour Iesus Christ the honour which belongeth to hym as to the true onely cause of our saluatiō of all the good things which we haue and receiue aswell Spirituall as Temporal whatsoeuer they be It followeth then acording to our first Maxime that this doctrine is better thā the doctrine of the Romish catholicks who affirme that by theyr good works they deserue Paradise all the other good things which God geueth them that these good works do partly proceed of themselues and of their owne free will and partlye of Gods grace as if God alone coulde not saue them if they helped not the matter by their owne good workes which they hold to be part of the cause of their saluation which doctrine all men may easely perceiue to be repugnant to the nature of god For seing that he is altogether and perfectlye mercifull it must needes follow that those that be saued be saued wholly and not in part by his onely mercy which should not be perfect if the effect thereof were not perfecte and entyre Notwithstanding the Catholickes holde opinion still that their good workes are part of the cause of theyr saluation and that they be not saued by the onely mercy of God. Yea there are monkes which take themselues to haue such aboundance of good workes in store that they not onelye haue ynow wherewith to merite their owne saluation but also a great masse of ouerplus which they cal works of supererogation to purchase the saluation of other men but chiefly of such as do them good and geue them liberally of their temporall goods which doctrine in very truth all such as loue the name of God ought to reiect For it is an vtter defacing of the benefit of our lord Iesus Christ an attributing of the honor of our saluation to the vncleane works of sinners whereas in deed we ought to attribute the same to the death and passiō of the son of god who is without sinne Also it is to be discerned by Gods word which of the two doctrines is the truest and most auncient For the Scripture doth playnelye teache vs that we be iustified by fayth without the workes of the law so consequently by fayth onely when it sayth Wherfore no flesh shall be iustified before him by the workes of the law And it sayeth in an other place for you are saued by grace through fayth and not of your selues it is the gifte of God Not for workes leaste any man should boast of himselfe And in an other place it is sayd He hath saued vs not by the works of righteousnes which wee our selues haue done but of his owne mercy And Saynt Paule sayeth in an other place I esteme all things as doong so I may gain Christ and be found in him not hauing mine owne righteousnesse which is of the law but the righteousnes which cōmeth by beliefe in Christ Now as there is no comparison betwixt the desertes of Iesus Christ our sauiour and the desert of mens good workes no more than is betwixt the brightnes of the Sun a litle sparke of fire so must we needes confesse that our consciences do finde without all comparison far greater and excellenter quietnesse in the righteousnesse of fayth thā in the righteousnes of good workes And in that respect doth S Paule say Beeing then iustified by fayth we haue peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ By whom we haue also accesse through fayth to this grace wherin we stand and reioyce vnder the hope of the glory of God. But yet this fayth which doth iustifye vs may not be void of good workes for then it were like the fayth of deuils who beleue that God hath commaunded the contentes of the tenne commaundementes but doe quite contrary For such a faith wyll not iustify vs as S. Iames doth teache vs And wheras the Catholicks hold opinion that we are iustified by the grace of Christ and our good workes both together S. Paule doth answere them thus If it be of grace then is it no more of workes for then grace were no more grace And if it be of workes It is no more of grace for thē were works no more workes And whereas the Monkes beare men in hād that by their good works of Supererogation they deserue Paradise for themselues and for theyr benefactors Iesus Christ doth aunswere them himselfe and vtterly cast down their pride and ouerwéening in that he sayth when you haue done all the things that are commaunded you say vnto your selues we are vnprofitable seruauntes we haue done no more than we ought to do Neither may we say that Iesus Christ doth commaūd vs to say so to make shew of humility for he who is the truth it selfe doth not cōmaūd vs to lye for any intent good or euil And therfore it followeth that seing he commaundeth vs to say that though we haue done al the cōmaundements which neuer any man did but onely Iesus Christ yet were we but vnprofitable seruauntes and god were nothing in our dette for it because we haue done nothing but that whereunto our duety bindeth vs I say it followeth that the same is certayne and true Dauid also doth
witnes that no mā liuing can be iustified before god And therefore it may bee rightly sayd to these iolly doers of works of super erogation as Christ sayd to the Pharisies It is you that iustify your selues before men but God knoweth your hartes For that which is highly esteemed amonge men is abhominable before God. I knowe right well there are many textes in the holy Scripture to proue that who so will enter into euerlasting life must keep the cōmandements of god and that those which haue kepte the commaundementes shal possesse the kingdome of heauen and that those which haue not kept them shall goe into euerlasting damnation But it is not to be inferred vpō these textes that a man may be instified by his good workes for no man at any tyme doth performe Gods commandements to the full But euen the best of all doe breake them euery day many times For what man is so arrogant as to challenge to himself such sincerity of life that he loueth and hath alwayes loued God with all his hart and his neighbour as himselfe or hath not wished somewhat that was an other mans To be short there needeth no great disputation vpon this poynt for our conscience doth here accuse vs and of it selfe condemne vs. Now then if no man can fulfill the commaundements It followeth that no man can haue euerlasting life by his owne workes but must seek some other iustification than by workes if hee will be iustified before the face of god And in seeking an other iustification he commeth to the righteousnes of fayth which is by imputation through the free bestowed benefite of Christ For like as if a poore detter that were vnable to pay were kept in prisō for a det of ten thousād crowns and his creditor should tell him that if he paid the debt he would set him at liberty or els he should rot in prison he had no redier remedy than to get such a surety as would be so fauourable and frendly to him as to pay the det for him without trusting to his own substance which is vtterly vnable to discharge such a dette In like sort man knowing on the one side that without performing the Law throughout he is in danger of damnation and on the other side that he is not able to perform it hath no other shifte but to repaire to Iesus Christ to take holde of his righteousnesse by faith to the end that the same may be imputed vnto him and that by this meanes his sinnes may be wyped out and himselfe made capable of eternall life And as it may truely be sayd that that detter hath well payd his dette when his surety hath payd it for him euen so may a Christian say that he hath kept and fulfilled the commaundements of God when he doth assure himselfe through faith that Christ hath fulfilled them for him Thus should be vnderstoode those textes of Scripture which inioyne vs to obserue the commaundements to haue therby euerlasting life And after that sort we should make them to agree with the textes before alleadged which say that we cannot be iustified but by faith only By which saying euery man of sound iudgement may easely know that the doctrine of the Protestants is builded vpon the pure word of God and consequently that according to our secōd Maxime it is the most true and auncient and not to bee called new but of such as do not vnderstād it Neither may the Catholicks call this doctrine hereticall according to our third Maxime because it is ratified euen by their owne Canons For thus sayth one of the Canons Ciprian did call vnto him the Byshoppe Satyrus and did thinke that there was not any true grace sauing that which commeth by fayth c. And an other Canon sayth thus Looke where is no fayth there can be no righteousnes for the righteous liueth by faith c. There is another taken out of S. Augustine which speaketh yet more plainly saying thus The Lord purposing to declare playnly that mens sinnes are forgeuen by the holy Spirite which he hath geuen to the faithful and not by their own merites sayth thus in a certayne place Receiue the holy Ghost And immediatly he addeth whose sins ye remit their sinnes shall be forgeuen As if he should say it is the holy Ghost that forgeueth sinne and not you Which Canon doth shew playnly that the merites of good workes do no whit iustify vs and so consequētly that it is fayth onely without works which is that instrumentall cause of our iustification the very efficient cause therof is Iesus Christ working by the holy ghost And if the Romish catholicks themselues did wel vnderstand what they ment when they say cōfes that they be saued by the grace of our redeemer they would neuer depend any more vpon their good workes merits For as sayth an other Cannon Grace is not grace if it be not freely geuen and receiued And hereunto accordeth the saying of Saynt Basile A man sayth he doth then glory whollye and throughlye in God when hee doth not vaunt of hys owne righteousnesse but acknowledgeth himselfe destitute of the true righteousnesse and that hee is iustified thorough his onely fayth in Christ After the same manner speaketh Saynt Ambrose saying Dauid calleth them right happy whome God hath determined to iustify by fayth onely without any paynes taking or without their keeping of the law And in an other place in expounding these words of the Apostle freely iustified by his grace he sayth thus They be iustified freely because that hauing not done any thing nor requited like for like they be iustifyed by faith onely which is the gift of God. I coulde to this purpose alleadge many other canōs aūcient doctors but these may suffice For my purpose is not to build the doctrine of our reformed Religion neither vpon Doctors nor vpon Canons but onelye to rehearce and alleadge some of them to shew vnto the Romish catholicks that in condemning the same so boldly of heresy by the same meanes they vnaduisedly condemne their own canons and doctors And because they doe so greatly brag that they hold the fayth of the Romish Church I mean to proue that they do not so euen by their owne Canons Harken now what a Canon sayth in an Epistle written by Pope Marcell to the bishop of Antioch We beseech you deere beloued brethren sayth he that you neither teach nor allow any other doctrine than that which you haue receiued of S. Peter and of the other Apostles and Fathers For hee is the head of the whole Church to whom the Lord sayd Thou art Peter and vpon this stone will I build my church the seate whereof was first established in your Countrey and afterward remoued to Rome by the commaundement of the lord c. Hereby it appeareth that the fayth of the Romish Church ought to bee grounded vpon the pure and onely doctrine of
ceremonies for the Catholicks beleue that if a childe dye before he be baptised he cannot be saued and that in case of necessity women may Baptise And they woulde haue Baptisme ministred with coniured water such as had bene kept all the yere in a vessell which they call a font within the Churche affirming that the euil sprites be coniured to go out of the bodies of the little Infants which are baptised And that they muste be held all naked ouer the fonte in the tyme of the christning and that both salte and spittle should be put into the mouthes of the babes Al which things the Protestaunts do vtterly disallow because as touching the infāts which die vnchristened if they belong to Gods election which goeth both before their natiuitye also before theyr conception they be with him and are partakers of his saluation although they die vnbaptised For Gods election cannot be disapoynted Besides this it is not their fault if they be not baptised but the negligence of their Parentes or by chaunce of soden death And as concerning women their sect and nature doth exclude them frō publick charges which onely belong vnto men And therfore are they altogether vnmeete either to preache in Churches or to Minister the Sacramentes And touching the children of Infidels it is not reasonable to receaue them into the church to be members of christ vntil they acknowledge him to bee their heade and make cnofession of their faythe and consequently be of conuenient yeares because that being borne of vnbeleuing Parents they haue no warraunt or witnes that they belong to the couenant of god Neither doe the protestantes allow the forementioned ceremonies And their reasō is for that they beleue that god is the only cause whereof and whereby we receiue the benefite of generation and the remission of originall sinne in baptim without the ayd of hallowed water or of any of the other Ceremonies Nay which more is they take it to be a defiling of the holy baptisme to adde thereunto any other ceremonies then the institution of God that it ought to be ministred purely and simply according to his ordinaunce For wee ought to doe this honour vnto God namely to beleue that whatsoeuer hee hath ordeined is perfect and that thereto there ought nothing to be added nor aught taken away And therefore it doth appeare that in this poynte of Baptisme the Doctrine of the protestantes doth much better yeelde God his due honor then doth the doctryne of the Catholickes For the Protestantes mind not to restrayne the election of God to those onely which are Baptised but doe extend it to the children of the faythfull forasmuch as it is a thing very reasonable to be beleued that if the fathers and moothers bee of the household of God their children are so likewise But the Romish Catholicks do hold on the contrary that the children whiche die before they be baptised be not of the household of God although theyr Fathers and moothers were Agayne whereas the Catholickes enable women to baptise which they call christening in doing wherof they committe vnto them one of the chiefe charges in gods house to wit the ministring of the sacrament wherby we be graffed into the bodye of Christes church and made the members of his bodye and meyny of his householde The Protestantes will not graunt to admit women into any of the publick charges in Gods household specially seeing that euen by the ciuill lawes which in that poynt agree with the law of nature women be disabled to take vpon them the executing of anye publick office euen in the houses or dominions of earthly princes Moreouer wheras the catholickes as much as in them lieth not onely receyue such into the churche by baptisme as are faythles and haue no knowledge of Christ neither they nor their Parentes but also bestow baptisme vpon bels after such a maner as they thē selues haue inuented for it The Protestantes cannot finde in their hartes to defile Gods house so much as to receiue infidels into it or to avowe those to be the mēbers of Christ who haue no fayth in them neither themselues nor their Parentes for asmuch as it were to vnseemely a thing to avow such a one for a member of a body as acknowledgeth not the heade there of Finally the Protestantes yeeld this honor vnto holy Baptisme instituted by God that they will in no wise adde any thing to it besids gods ordinaunce nor defile it with spittle oyle salt coniured water and such other Ceremonies As the Romishe Catholickes doe Besides this the word of God doth teach vs that Christ receiued little Children whiche were not Baptised and that he pronoūced of them that the kingdome of heauen doth belong vnto them and that God doth promise his blessinges vnto all the faythfull and to their children yea euen vnto the thousandth generation So as those infantes shall neuertheles be saued though they dye vnchristened seeing they be comprysed in the couenaunt of God. The same word doth also teach vs that Christ gaue commission of baptising and preaching not to the holy virgin his mother nor to any other of the women that resorted to his Sermons but to his Disciples and Apostles And therfore women ought not to take vpon them to baptise seeing that as saith the Apostle None ought to vsurpe any charge or degree of honor without lawfull calling therunto And the same word doth declare further vnto vs that those which doe not beleeue in Christ nor come of beleuing parents ought not to receaue Baptisme forasmuch as baptism is no other thing but the zeale of faith And lastly the same word of God doth teach vs that in the tyme of the Apostles Baptisme was alwayes ministred with common water That is to say without any charme or particular blessing For the Apostles and disciples of Christ did baptise men on the banckes of Riuers or in the first water that they found fit for the purpose Also it doth teach vs that God is the God of the faythful and of their Children So as little Infantes begotten and brought forth of beleuing or faythfull Parentes doe belong to God to hys couenaunt euen from their moothers womb And so by consequence their bodyes as is aforesayd cannat be possessed with ill spirites And therefore it is needles to dryue them out by coniurations as the priests of the Catholicks do Likewise the Protestantes say also that to hold the tender babes all naked ouer the font specially in winter is often time a cause of their death and that those which do practise that Ceremony be oftē guilty of murder which is forbidden by the commaundementes of god Likewise they disalow the salte the oyle the spittle and the other ceremonies aswell for that they cannot but be hurtful to the little childrē as also because they be filthy and fōde ceremonis and haue no groūd in the word of God. Also
taken out of S. Ambrose S. Peter and S. Paule haue preheminence aboue all other Apostles by speciall prerogatiue But yet is it vncertayne whether of them two were preferred before the other For I think that they were both equall in deserts likewise in their deathes and passions and also that they liued in like deuotion of faith and finally came Both together to the glory of martirdome And I beleue that it hapned not with out some cause that they both suffered martirdome in one day in one place and vnder one persecuter for they suffered in one day that they might goe together in company to Christ and in one place to the end that Rome should not want either of them both vnder one persecuter that both of them might be partakers of one cruelty The day therefore was ordayned for their desert the place for their glory and the persecuter for their vertue And they both suffered martirdome at Rome the soueraign Lady and head of all nations to the end that where the head of superstition was there should rest the head of holines where the princes of the Gentils dwelt there should remayn the Princes of the Church By which Canon it may easely be iudged that S. Peter was in nothing to be preferred before S. Paule that both were equal in all respects which sheweth plainly that S. Peter was neuer head of the Church neither in respect of nature nor in respect of ministration For if he had been thē should as much haue been sayd of S. Paul according to the Canon And so by consequence we should say that the Church had then two heads like a monster a thing that were to absurde strange I know wel that such as imagine the gouernment of the Church to be like the gouernment of a kingdome doe thinke it meete that there should be one supreme head and gouerner and that the same should haue Cardinals as great Princes of his court Archbishops somewhat in lower degree than the Cardinals and Bishops as inferiors to the Archbishops and so consequently Abbots Priors Channons and Curats ech in degree vnder other And in good sooth this order of holy gouernment hath a fayre outward shew but there is one thing that marreth all which is that it hath no foundation in the word of God which doth not teach that there is any inequalitie amongest the Shepheards but that they ought to gouern their Churches with one common consent by Gods word making assemblies or meetings which are cōmonly called Sinodes or Councels for the same purpose if need require And moreouer that they ought to submit themselues to the Ciuill Magistrate And the very Canons themselues doe agree herewith specially one Canon which is taken out of S. Iherom seeing that in the time of the primitiue Church there was no difference betwixt a priest or an elder and a bishop and that the Church was then gouerned by the common councell of the elders Let vs heare the very words of the Canon In olde time an Elder and a Bishop were all one thing till scismes and parttakings crept into Religion by the deuils inspiration and that folke began to say I hold of Paule and I of Apollo and I of Cephas Vntill this time the Churches were gouerned by common aduice of the Elders But after that euery man began to brag of his own disciples whom he had baptised and not of Christ then it was ordayned that in euery Church one of the Elders should haue authoritie ouer the rest to take away the seede of scizme Wherefore like as the Priests know that by the custome of the Church they be put in subiection to the party that is set in authoritie ouer them So let the bishops know also that wheras they themselues are of more authoritie than the Priest it is not by the ordynance of God but by custome and that they ought to gouerne the Church by common aduise Which Canon in very truth is very notable specially for that it doth euidently shew that all the degrees and dignities which are infinite at this day in the Church of Rome are not grounded vpon the expresse ordinance of God but only vpon the positiue law of custome for looke what the Canon speaketh of Bishops is much more by all reason to be spoken of Cardinals Patriarches Archbishops and other dignities seeing that the office of a Bishop wherof the holy Scripture maketh mention was instituted long time before the dignities of the Cardinals and the others And hereupon it followeth that men should not make so great reckning of any of these great and pompous dignities which are founded but onely vpon custome which ought not to be of any or at least wise of very litle authoritie in the Church of God as shal be declared more at large in the last chapter of this booke As touching the residue if it be alleaged that the Bishop of Rome had in olde time and still ought to haue cheefe authoritie and preheminence at the least wise in the assemblies of coūcels and Sinodes the answere is that he hath nothing to doe with the matter for the Ecclesiastical histories and the acts of the auncient councels as that of Nice holden in the time of Constantine the Emperor doe witnesse vnto vs that the Bishoppe of Rome was so far of from ouerruling the coūcels that he tooke his place in sitting but as fourth in degree which is a good way offe from the first and cheef place as he did at the generall councell of Nice But forasmuch as in this point of the Popes Supremacie the Romish Catholicks chiefly the Canonists doe maintaine the authoritie of the Pope by meanes of a donation and of certaine prerogatiues which they affirme to haue been graunted vnto the Pope by the Emperor Constantine the great I will here a litle examine the truth of the matter I say therfore that this donation and graunt of prerogatiues inregistred by Gratian in his decrees is a thing inuented of pleasure and altogether false and that it neither is like nor possible that the Emperor Constantine did at any time make such a pretended gifte or graūt of prerogatiues as may easely be perceiued by the histories of his time And for proofe of this matter ye must first vnderstand that in their sayd surmised donation they make the Emperor Constantine to say within foure dayes after he was baptised that he wold haue all the Bishops and Priestes of the Romayn Empire to acknowledge and hold the Bishop of Rome for their head in like sort as the iudges of a Realme doe holde their king and that he should haue greater authoritie than the Emperor himselfe Geuing vnto Siluester the vniuersall Pope and to his successors his Imperiall Pallace of Lateran which is at Rome and the Citie of Rome it selfe with al the Prouinces Places and Cities of Italy and all the west part of the Empire together with