that thou alwayes be mindfull of vs. August epist â—â— Likewise Ierome writing to Augustine saith Domino vere sancto et beatissimo Papae Augustino Hierenimus in Domino salutem To the right holie and most blessed Pope Augustine Ierome wisheth health in the Lord. The very same words also are vsed vnto Augustine in his epistle 21. And so likewise in the rest Neither doe I speake these things to condemne those excellent auncient Fathers who otherwise many yeares were singular instruments profited greatly the Church of God but to shew how great a buses crept in duringe the most pure times like as hath been before said even in the time of the Apostles themselues and after more more vnto the full setting up of Antichrist the Pope that great Papa the Bishop of Rome who alone gat this naÌ„e Papa Pope at the last to be peculiar proper to himselfe Thus growing vp by little and litle from the first beginnyng of the petie Papa vntill he and all his cleargie with him came vp vnto their full perfection and papisticall dignitie Which time when it drew neere errours and most enormous and shamefull abuses crept not in by litle and litle but were throwne in by shouelles full and cart loads And further I noted it to set forth the wonderfull providence of God without which nothing is done in heaveÌ„ earth or hell To set such manifest charecters and markes vpon the first beginnings of mischeife which although it could hardlie be discerned in the beginnings thereof yet in the event and full high estate wherevnto they grew a very child might vnderstand perceaue and see it So that at the lenght when the new light of the gospell should shine even the old and first originall errors might therby the better be corrected For in Prophecies mysteries it must alwayes be obserued which that most auncient Father Ireneus saith in his 4. booke 43. chapter Omnis enim prophetia priusquam habet efficaciaÌ„ c. All prophecies saith he before they haue the effect be as it were riddles ambiguities vnto men but when the time is come and that is come to passe which is prophesied then the prophesies haue a cleare and vndoubted exposition So we see in this mysterie of Papa or Pope when it first began it was such an aenigma as was almost vnpossible to vnderstand wherevnto the old Serpent ment to bring it But now the event thereof being come and the Angell betweene heaven and earth preaching the everlastinge Gospell and setting up the new light thereof in many Nations and Churches every man that wincketh not may see it Now therefore to proceede as Augustine saith in his 18. booke and Second chapter of the Cittie of God That it may the better appeare how Babilon the first Rome keepeth her course with the Citie of God whom shee maketh a pilgrime or stranger in this world When the name of Pope had thus possessed the Bishops whereof many were both godly and learned yet they never drempt of the mischeif that followed nor of the great Papa the Pope that man of sinne even the sonne of perdition that exalteth himselfe against all that is called God and sitteth in the temple of God sheewing himselfe that he is God The mystery of which iniquity began to worke even in the Apostle Pauls time How be it the godly Fathers as I said little suspecting any such matter laboured tooth and nayle to keepe under the Pompe pride and ambition of the Bishops Pastors of the Church which they saw now began to grow both in riches and regiment and which after their time grew in few yeares beyond all measure But because I shall haue occasion to use the examples and doctrine of the auntient learned and godly Fathers against the poÌ„pe pride and lordly estate of Bishops A sufficient maiÌ„tenance is due to the ministery And what it may be least I should seeme to be injurous and prejudiciall to the sufficiencie of honor living and maintenance which both by the word of God and by the iudgment of the auncient Fathers doth of right belong vnto all Pastors Bishops or ministers of the word and which the authority of all christian Magistrats Princes ought to provide for theÌ„ I will adventure to set downe a proportion of such estate and living as I am fully perswaded doth of right and by the law of God appertaine vnto them and ought by Princes and Magistrats to be appoynted and provided for them Wherein I cannot but obserue the most excellent and honorable advice and charge which the Kings Majestie in his owne booke giveth vnto his Sonne our Noble Prince As first in his preface he saith I exhort my Sonne to be benificiall vnto the ministrie Basilicon doâ—oÌ„ praysing God that there is presently a sufficient number of good men of them in this kingdome of Scotland and yet are they all knowne to be against the forme of the English Church And in his second booke his Majestie chargeth him that he should see all the Churches within his Dominions planted with good Pastors the Scholes the Seminarie of the Church maintained the doctrine and Discipline preserved in puritie according to Gods word and sufficient provision for their sustentation It perteineth therefore to the duety of Princes to see that there be a sufficient provision for the sustentation and maintenance of their Pastors and suerly Gods law doth expresly requier it And as the law of God doth evidently forbid them a Lordly estate so it doth vtterly condemne the beggerly and miserable estate of the Pastors and preachers of his word Wherefore the law saith Beware that thou forsake not the Levite all the time that thou shalt be vpon the earth Vpon which place M. Calvine saith Deut 12 Moses addeth That the people should beware in any wise that they defrauded them not of their right And not without cause For as I haue told you before saith M. Calvine God had appoynted them of purpose to serue him Calvin and the greater parte of them also to teach his people that his law might be knowne Seeing it was so it was good reason that they should haue wherewith to finde and maintaine them For in very deede aparte of the inheritaunce belonged to them because they were descended of the linage of Abraham But God put them from it to the end they should not be troubled neither with tilling of the ground nor with any other businesses but onely giue them selues wholly to the doeing of their office And it is not without cause that Moses plainly exhorteth the people to doe their duety in this behalfe for wee see the vnthankfulnes of the world They Idolaters can finde in their hearts to mainteine their Preists and they spare for no cost but as for them that serue God purely there is commonly no account made of them as hath been seene in all times And further he saith And if it were in the worlds
A DISCOVRSE OF THE ABVSES NOVV IN QVESTION IN THE CHVRCHES OF CHRIST OF THEIR CREEPING IN GROwing vp and flowrishing in the Babilonish Church of Rome how they are spoken against not only by the scriptures but also by the ancient Fathers as long as there remayned any face of a true Church maintained by publique authority And likewise by the lights of the Gospell and blessed Martyrs of late in the middest of the Antichristian darknes By Thomas Whetenhall Esquier Pro. 24.24.25 He that saith to the wicked thou art righteous him shall the the people curse and the multitude shall abhorre him But to thē that rebuke him shal be pleasure and vpon them shall come the blessing of goodnes Imprinted 1606. THE PRINTER TO THE CHRISTIAN READER CHristian Reader it is well knowne to all men how odiously the adversaries of the Churches reformation in England do accuse and defame the seekers of the said reformation with Noueltie Singularity Schisme Error and with many other such like most foull crimes The iniquity and vntruth whereof will through Gods blessing well appeare to euery one that shall read and pervse this present most profitable Discourse following Wherein two maine and principall matters to witt The Inventions and Traditions of men in Church affayres and the overreaching Clergy beyond the condition of ordinay Pastors wherevnto all the particulars now in controuersie are easily reduced are observed in all ages and times since the Apostles to haue ben held by some godly persons and faithfull Witnesses of the truth to haue ben hainous transgressiōs against the ordinances of Christ in his New Testament So that heerby men may see that it is noe new thing that the servants of Christ and the louers of his ordinances should striue now against these Corruptions For if this be Schismaticall now I say to striue against these Corruptions then surely all the holy Martyrs and pillars of the Gospell in all ages past but chifly since the discovery of Antichrist were Schismatiks For they then travayled laboured as by this Discourse we may see in one and the same cause wherin now the true seruants of Christ doe also labor But if in former times those were faithfull men the true louers of the Gospell of Christ who hated all mens Additions in matters of the Church then doubtles soe are these now and it will be manifest to all good men that they are wrongefully traduced and accused in such wise as is before mentioned To which end and purpose this ancient Christian Gentlman hath worthily observed gathered and giuen out to the world as his last service to God to his people these testimonies of sundry old and new writers The which comming vnto my hands I could not in loue to thee good Reader but communicate the same vnto thee The rather considering how many thinges dayly are spoken written to the contrary by the adversaryes to dazell the eyes of Gods people in these causes The Lord Iesus inlighten the minds of all his true Children in all his wayes who only is the way the truth and the life and grant us his peace Amen A TABLE OF THE PRINCIPALL MATter 's contained in this Discourse False Accusations against the seekers of Reformation 166 The Apparel of Ministers did not differ from the apparell of other men pag 70 129 130 164 Neither ought it to differ 163 164 170 171 175 176 Audianus was no Herjtike though his successors were pag 6 B The ordinary name of Bishop is common to all Ministers in the New Testament pag 13. 14. 15 16 Bishops chosen in and proceeding from the Court are the cause of al corruption pag 123. Ordinatiō made by a Lord Bishop is void pag 127 128 131 132 The like Excommunication is no better pag 77. 78 C The Ceremonies in question are vnlawfull for vs pag 85. 86. 87. 98 113. 114. 149. 150. 172. 173 When how Ceremonies of mans invention were first brought into Gods worship pag 33 Civill rule in pastors is vnlawfull and contrary to Gods word in the New Testament pag 58 90 91 92. 95. 96. 97. 98 107. 108. 110. 122. 125. 126. 136. 137 143 151 152. 159. 161. 174. 175. 180. Corruption in the Churches tooke place immediately after the Apostles pag 4 The time of the highest Ecclesiasticall corruption tyranny p. 56. 57 What a visible Church is pag 76. 77. 140. 141. 142. Churches are all equall in power jurisdiction spirituall rights pag 2. 3. One Pastor cannot be but to one Church See Pluralities Church government belongeth wholly and only to each Church By no meāes to any one man either within or without the same pag 70 89 124 The Churches government ought to depend only on Gods word pag 69 99 108 109. The signe of the Crosse pag 130. Custom without Gods word is pernicious pag 106. D Discipline in our Churches is necessarie to be restored p. 108. 109 The folly of them who now think orherwise pag 80. 81 87 88. 90. It is necessarie to salvation ibidē E False Ecclesiastikes pag 92. An Eldership pag 94 95 97. 118. 124 130 131. Election of Ministers ought to be by that Churches free consent to which they belong pag 71. 72 73. 74. 75. 98. 107 108 109 118. 123. 127 128 131 132 138 173. Election of Ministers by the free liking of every Church is a thing easy and no way inconuenient in a civill Monarchie p. 74. 94. 100. Excommunication is in each Churches power in none other touching any member therein pa. 77 78 89 90 94 128 130. 150 151 Church Government see before in Church and Discipline I Questions to the Infants in their Baptizing are vaine pa 101 102 130. K Kneeling in receaving the Communion ought to be reformed pag 149 150. M Maintenance ought to be reasonable and liberall for a Minister Yet not superfluous 21 c. 42 54 59 117 121 122 133 135 143 178. VVhat a reasonable Maintenance may be pag 21 132 135 Ministers of mans Institution are unlawfull pag 61 62 94 98 99. Mingling of mens inventions in Gods worship is very pernitious pag 103. 104 105 106 111 113 114 120 124 125 129 147 148 150 167 168 175 184 187 188. 189. N Non residents very wicked pag 146. 152 160. 168. 169. 172. 174. O The Oath ex Officio vnjust and tyrannous pag 138 139. 140. P The name Papa Pope was aunciently common to all Bishops pag 17 18. 19. Pastors are all equall pag 109 112. see Superioritie in Pastors Churches are all equall Ignorant Pastors and bare Substitutes a deadly evill pa. 92. 93. 118 138 145 152 169. 170. Paulus Samosatenus a stately Prelat like those of our times pa. 7. 8 The first beginning of true reformation ought to be in reforming the Prelats pag 83 137 152. No amendment to be expected from the Prelats pag 82 Pluralities damnable pa 123. 129. 138 152. 156 157 160. 168. 169 172. Pompe and riches in the
with you And touching the election of Bishops and Ministers this bright starre fixed in the right hand of Christ sayth Decad 5 sermon 4 Titus 1. 1 Tim. 5. They which think that all power of ordayning Ministers is in the Bishops Diocesans or Archbishops hands doe use these places of the scripture For this cause I left thee in Creta sayth Paule to Titus that thou shouldest ordaine Elders in every Citie And agayne Lay hands soddainly on no man But we say that the Apostles did not exercise tyranny in the Churches and that they themselues a lone did not execute all things about election or ordination other men in the Church beyng excluded For the Apostles of Christ ordeyned Bishops or Elders in the Church but not without communicating their Counsell with the Churches yea and not without having the consent and approbation of the people And a litle after he saith So undoubtedly Titus though it were sayd unto him Ordayne Elders in every Citie yet he understod that hereby nothing was permitted to him which he might doe privatly as he thought good not having the advise and consent of the Churches Wherefore they sinne not at all that shaking of the yoke and tyrannie of the Bishops of Rome for good and reasonable causes to recover that auncient right graunted by Christ to the Churches And as for Archdeacons he coupleth them with the filthy vermine of Monks Decad 5 sermon 3 saying And when wealth increased there were Archdeacons also created that is to say overseers of all the goods of the Church They as yet were not mingled with the order of Ministers or Bishops and of those that taught but they remayned as stewards or factors of the goods of the Church As neither the Monks at the begining executed the office of a Priest or Minister in the church For they were counted as lay men not as Clearks and were under the charge of the Pastors But these unfortunat birds never left soaring untill in these last times they haue climed into the top of the Temple Archdeacōs and haue set themselues upon Bishops and Pastors heads And touching the Leviticall apparell and the Lordly estate of Ministers he precisely cōcludeth thus The misticall attire and garments of the Priesthood he neyther did commend to his Apostles nor leaue to his Church Decad 3 sermon 18 but tooke them away with all the Ceremonyes that are called the middle wall betwixt the Iewes and the Gentiles The Lord himselfe and his Apostle Paul will haue the Pastors of his people clad with righteousnes and honestie and doe precisely remoue the Ministers of the Church from superioritie and secular affaires Now if the Lord himselfe and his Apostle do precisely remoue the Ministers of the Church from superioritie and secular affaires I wish it might also be remembred precisely followed which the Kings Majestie saith in his first booke to his Sonne our Noble Prince for saith our gratious King Basilic dorō 1 part In any thing that is expresly commanded or prohibited in the booke of God you cannot be over precise Decad 5 sermon 4 And for a full conclusion in this matter M. Bullinger saith That order or function instituted by Christ in the Church sufficeth even at this day to gather governe and preserue the Church on earth yea without these orders which in these last ages new inventions hath instituted For that doth the thing it selfe witnes and the absolute perfection of the Primitiue Church a voucheth it And therefore at the last he useth this exclamation Oh happie had we been Sermon 3. if this order of Pastors had not been changed but that auncient simplicitie of Ministers that faith humility and dilligence had remained uncorrupted But in processe of time all things of auncient soundnes humilitie and simplicitie vanished away whilest some things are turned upside downe some things either of their owne accord were out of use or else are taken away by deceit some things are added to c. The authors desire Whereunto I will ad the exclamation of myne owne soule saying Oh happy should we bee if it might please his gratious Majestie to restore unto his poore subjects of England the auncient orders of the Ecclesiasticall Ministers set downe by Christ and his Apostles without any other orders which mans invention hath instituted for that order and function sufficeth even at this day to gather governe and preserue the Churches of God upon earth without any of these orders and such like which mans invention hath brought in namly Archbishops Diocesan Lords Archdeacons Deanes Commissaries Officialls which are brought in by mans invention not once mentioned in the scripture And so I will proceed to M. Musculus set up also as an excellent light of God among the golden Candlesticks Musculus of Tigurie and the Swicers I haue already shewed out of Musculus that in playne wordes he sayth That the device of men pag 14.15 that Bishops should be greater then other Ministers was such a mischeife to the Church that we may thank the custome thereof for all the wealth pride and tirannie of our Princely and riding Bishops and for the corruptions of all Churches which if the aūcient Fathers did now see The Devils invention they would no doubt acknowledg it not to be the device of the holy Ghost as it was pretended But of the Devill himselfe to take away the true Ministery of the Church of God set downe by Christ and his Apostles Now further in his booke of Common places Tit. Of the Ministery of the word of God he saith It is not meete that a Bishop do convert the power of his Ministery to other Churches but to Minister faithfully in the same wherein he is elected and confirmed like as it was not convenient for the Apostle to convert his Apostleship to a Bishopricke and to be restrained to one Church onely As also it is unto Iames. The like is to be said of Titus Tim. Mark Evāgelists Chry. Tit. 1. which is falsly attributed unto the Apostle Peter Wherefore let the Bishops looke to themselues which wheras they doe not lawfully Minister in one Church yet they do extend their power not to a few Churches but unto whole Provinces also Let them read Chrysostome upon the Epistle to Titus the first chapter By Cities he sayth Indeed he would not haue a whol Iland committed unto one man but every man to haue his charge and care alone And a non after he saith Yea the impudencie and state of Bishops is become so great that a nomber of Bishoppricks be swallowed up in the gurmandise of som one Metropolitan Bishop such as there be many now a dayes And the Bishop of Rome even like the Devill paynted with his wide mouth devoureth up all the Bishopricks and Churches of the world And a litle before he saith They that boast themselues to be the successors of the Apostles ought not to extoll themselues
Bishop Because so the order prescribed by Gods word in the ordination of such persons is omitted and violated as it may most plainly appeare Even because all the right and voyce giving both of the Ecclesiasticall Senat and of the christian people is most wretchedly taken away from them by this meanes in this kind of Ecclesiasticall callings and with great tyrannie and abuse translated to one certayne man the Bishop The Lord God of his great mercy amend these corruptions which are yet and are defended in his Churches which surely will at length draw 〈…〉 great ruine of Gods Church and will make the holy Ministery of Gods words either mercenary or altogether contemned and base Which God turne away D. 〈◊〉 Answer to the Count. Laval quest 3. After him we will ad D. Tilenus his iudgment unto the Earle of Lavall in France Who demanding whether the calling to the Ministery be necessary and from whom Calvin had his calling Tilenus answeren First that it is necessary And then that Calvin had his calling from the Church of Geneva and from Farell his predecessor who had also his from the people of Geneva who had right and authoritie to institute and depose Ministers For so declareth S. Cyprian saying that the people obeying to the commandements of God should seperat themselues from a wicked guid Câ—pr epist 〈…〉 and not to meddle with the sacrifices of any Sacrilegious Priest considering that the sayd people haue chiefe authoritie to make choyse of worthy persons and to reiect the vnworthy This was so practised by the people of Geneva and in divers other parts of Evrope where in these latter times they did forsake those sacrilegious Priests and sacrifices of the Pope for to establish faithfull Ministers and proclamers of the Gospell To be short the Reformed Churches had their calling and sending partly from God and partly from the people and partly froÌ„ the Church of Rome From God as the chiefe cause from the people as by lawfull instruments from the Church of Rome as by a corrupt instrument God gaue the essence and the forme interior to this sending the reformed Church gaue testimonies and approbations and the exterior forme the Church of Rome hath added thereto abuses and corruptions which our suceeeding Ministers haue renounced There resteth now for further proofe of these matters before spoken of to rehearse the judgment and words of divers of our owne English writers and blessed Martirs which agree with those Fathers and lights of the Gospell in other Countries before cited And first having sufficiently spoken alreadie of Wicklife that first light of the gospell set up with us in the middest of the Antichristian darknes L. Cobham Fox pa 669 edit 1570 I will begin with the noble Martir the Lord Cobham who in defence of the sayd Wickliffe saith As for that vertuous man Wickliffe whose iugdments ye so highly disdayne I shall say heere for my part both before God and man that before I knew that despised doctrin of his I never abstained from sinne But since I learned therein to feare my Lord God it hath otherwise I trust been with me somuch grace could I never find in all your instructions And what the doctrine of Wickliffe was and how like a Lordly Prelat he lived I referre the reader to that which hath been before spoken of him pag 57. But the Lord Cobham beyng charged with the decrees of holie Church answerd I know none holier then Christ and his Apostles And as for that determination I wote it is none of theirs for it standeth not with the scriptures but manifestly against theÌ„ If it be the Churches as you say it is It hath been hers onely since she receaved the great poyson of worldly possessions not afore And a non after agayne he saith For since the venime of Iudas was shed into the Church ye never followed Christ neither haue ye stand in the perfection of Gods law Then the Archbishop asked him what he meÌ„t by that venime The Lord Cobham said your possessions and Lordships For then cried an Angell in the aire as your owne chronicles mention woe woe woe this day is venime shed into the Church of God Heere you see plainely by this noble Martirs iudgment that the Lordship of Bishops and their possessions was the very curse of God vpon the Church and the very poyson that turned her froÌ„ And in his Practise of Popish Prelats Prelats appoynted to preach Christ Pract. of prelats pa 342 may not leaue Gods word and Minister temporall offices but ought to teach the lay people the right way and to let them alone with all temporall busines And aftherward he saith They that haue the oversight of Christs flocke may be no Emperours Kings Duks Lords Knights temporall Iudges or any temporall officer or under false names haue any such dominion And a none after he saith Mathew the 20. Christ called his Disciples unto him and said Ye know that the Lords of the heathen people haue dominion over them and they that be great doe exercise power over them howbeit it shall not be so among you But whosoever wil be great among you shall be your Minister and he that will be chiefe shall be your servant even as the Sonne of man came not that meÌ„ should Minister unto him but for to Minister giue his life for the redemption of many Wherefore the officers in Christs kingdom may haue no temporall dominion or iurisdiction nor execute any temporall authoritie or law of violence nor haue any like manner among them And in his booke of Obedience he saith Let Kings take their dutie of their subiects and that necessary unto the defence of the Realme Obed. of achr pa 124. let them rule the realmes themselues with the heelp of lay men that are sage wise learned and expert Is it not a shame aboue all shames and a monstrous thing that no man should be found able to governe in a worldly kingdom saue Bishops and Prelats that haue forsaken the world and are taked out of the world and appoynted to preach the kingdome of God Christ saith that his kingdom is not of this world Ioh. 18. Lvke 12. Vnto the young man that desired him to bid his brother to giue him part of the inheritance he answered who made me a judge a devider among you No man that layeth his hand to the plough and looketh backe is apt for the kingdom of heaven Luke 9. No man can serue two Masters but he must despise the one Mat 6. To Preach Gods word is to much for halfe a man And to Minister a temporall kingdome is to much for halfe a man also Either other requyreth an whole man One therefore cannot do both well And after in the same booke he saith An other sort of the Prelats are of the Kings secret Counsell 16 pag 152. Woe unto the Realmes where they are of the Counsell as profitable are