his frends who hee hopeth wil not examine that he writeth whether it haue weight or not but will take all for gold that hee giueth if it looke yelow Thus against all truth to affirme Eliachim to be hie priest is too bad And to offer by such proofe as could not but be vncertain euen to himselfe to proue so waighty a matter whereupon so great controuersie in religion hangeth doth not onely proclaime that all may heare it the weaknesse of his cause but also that his indeuour is to keepe vnder the truth that it appeare not And thus much to lay open his falshood in his first reason Now let vs see the weakenesse of his second To binde and loose saieth hee is to commaunde and to punish and to dispence and to remitte But Peter coulde binde and loose What nowe will Maister Bellarmine conclude Therefore saith hee hee is iudge and prince of all that are in the church we will not much stand with him in his maior although it might haue beene vttered in plainer termes For this authoritie of binding and loosing is so committed vnto the church that the power to do it is tied not to the man but to the ministerie not to the materiall church but to the word And therefore wee cannot simply say that to bind and loose is to commaund or punish but to commaund according to the word and to punish according to the direction of it For wee must not imagine that God must be the executioner of our owne decrees or tyed to allowe of our iudgements but that wee are the proclaimers of his iudgements and must pronounce what God in his reueiled word hath already set downe And also the word of dispensing though it may perchaunce haue a good vnderstanding as if thereby we meane the meane the ordering and bestowing of the word in respect whereof the ministers are called stewards or disposers of the secrets of God so must we take heede that thereby we giue not to any man saint Peter or any other libertie to dispense at their pleasure and to order as they will the people of God For as magistrates if they do not gouerne according to law abuse their authoritie and doe degenerate into tyrants so ministers of the word if they swarue from the word are but seducers The maior I say beeing rightly vnderstood wee doe yeld vnto and the minor is also true that Peter could binde and loose But master Bellarmines conclusion doth not agree with these propositions neither can it folow if they be graunted It hangeth no better together then Daniels image of sundrie mettalles that could not long hold together But this must be master Bellarmines conclusion to bind and loose is to commannd punish dispense and remit in such sort as I haue alreadie shewed but saint Peter could binde and loose therefore saint Peter might commaund punish dispense and remit as hath beene shewed This must be master Bellarmines conclusion but this will not serue master Bellarmines turne For euery minister should so doe and not Peter onely And all this is doone by the ministery of the word in euery pastours seuerall charge if the minister be faithfull in his office Seeing his second argument concludeth nothing against vs what doth his third and last argument He promiseth by the fathers to proue that these keis are a soueraigne and chiefe authoritie ouer the whole church What will he bring vs a catholike erposition receaued by all or most of the godly learned at all times in all places agreed vpon with one consent For otherwise it is not catholike No. But hee telleth vs of two of the fathers onely And the one of them being himselfe a pope and in such times as that before his dayes this superioritie ouer all had bin sundrie wayes sought for by the Bishop of Rome his credit is in this point not much worth against vs. As for Chrisostom who is the other witnes that must prooue that by the keies Christ meaneth this vinuersal iurisdiction First he reasoneth in that very place where these words are against the Arrians or some such heretikes as made Christ not equall to the father aud insulteth against them by occasion of this place The father saith hee gaue vnto Peter the reuelation of the sonne But the sonne gaue vnto him partly that hee might sowe through the whole earth this reuelation both of the father and of the sonne partly that he being a mortall man should be indued with heauenly power and haue the keis of the kingdome of heauen And it foloweth there in Chrisostom how then is he lesse that wrought this in Peter So then to proue Christ to be equall vnto the father in power he sheweth that he wrought if not more mightely yet as powerfull in Peter as the father did And vpon this occasion he thus amplifieth this excellency of Peter as also he doth a litle before in respect of that vniuersall church that Christ committed to him which charge the rest also had For all the apostles were generall Preachers wheresoeuer God called them And therefore Chrisostom doth say of them all not of Peter only that they were the teachers of the world And in another place that there were two paires of the apostles that held this headship And yet Peter might better then any of the rest be called the pastour or head of the church that were of the twelue because the charge of the Iewes wheresoeuer they were in any place were cōmitted to him without any limitation of nation or countrie wherein they liued Seeing therefore his proofes whereby he indeuoureth to proue these keis to signifie that vniuersall and soueraigne authoritie ouer the whole church are either so false or faultie that they are not worth alleaging as are his two reasons taken out of scripture or so feeble that they can haue no strength as this out of Chrisostome I see no reason why we should yeld either to scripturs so falsly or foolishly applyed or much lesse to the sayings of men so hardly construed For as before I haue admonished it is one thing to haue an excellency or superioritie among others in some respects of other mens yeldings another thing to haue iurisdiction of his owne right and interest ouer all other The first we confesse was in Peter but that wil nothing at all helpe the Pope or the iurisdiction of the church of Rome Against the interpretation of the popish church thus I reason If these keis belong to all them that haue ovtained that grace of God to be called to the function of a bishop I speake not of the hononr but of the office then is no chiefe authoritie signifieth thereby for where many are equall there is no man chiefe But these keies belong vnto all such as Theaphilact doth testifie therefore no such chiefe authoritie is signified thereby For my minor proposition that euery bishop or pastour hath such authoritie or such
Constantinople obtained to be next in account to Rome which before y t time was no patriarchal church And it is plaine by stories that at Constantinople ther was either no church at all or else very secret vntill about the latter end of Constantines time For that very yeare that he was baptised many of Constantinople were baptised in somuch as Nicephorus maketh mention of aboue twelue thousand men besides women and children that were baptised there at once And Constantine himselfe doth much reioyce in a letter that he writeth to Eusebius that in that citie which himselfe did build and did beare his name a very great mumber were become christians and for that cause hee taketh care that they might haue churches built for them So that as yet wee see they had not their churches much lesse can wee imagine that then they had any Bishops that would looke for so high a place among others And therefore euen hereby appeareth the falshood and folly of this forged donation There are also in the same donation some things that sauor of the pride that afterwardes appeareth in the bishop of Rome but was not then in them For that donation falsely attributed to Constantine doth giue vnto the bishop of Rome greater principality of power then this kingly or roial maiesty had and an Imperiall authority Nowe howe manifestly false this is wee may very easily marke if we doe consider either the stile that the Bishoppes of Rome that then were did vse when they wrote vnto their bretheren or their maner of behauionr when they came amongst them or the authoritie which the Nicen council that was in the time of Constantine gaue vnto them but equall with the patriarches of Alexandria and Antioch and euery one of them to looke to their owne charge among whome if there were any inequalitie the priuiledges of the bishop of Rome had not so large a compasse by far as the other patriarches or the soueraignty which Constantine the emperour did still keepe and exerccise in and ouer not Rome onely but the whole church not in ciuil matters onely but in calling of councils commanding the bishops comforting the godly reprouing the hereticks and in directing how and after what maner they would debate and determine matters in the council To be short if we remember how some of the councils of which I haue often spoken alreadie did stifly denie to the bishop of Rome for lesse superioritie then by this graunt they might challenge it will easily appeare that they knewe not then of any such priuiledges that Constantine had graunted vnto that seat For if then any such superioritie or supremacie had beene due vnto them the fatheres of those times who often stoode in neede of their helpe would neuer so flatly haue withstoode their indeuours And themselues also would haue beene as readie by themselues or their legats to haue pleaded the donation of Constantine if then it had beene thought vpon as they were to coine new canons of the Nicen council They pride therefore that in this grant appeareth doth proclaime to the world that it sauoureth not of that christian modestie that was for the most part in the bishops of those times but it is some bastard of a later breede And of that spirit of ambition doth that also sauour that is said that the pope should be prince of al priests and aboue al churches in the world But this is confuted in that which before hath vin spoken For long after this the bishop of Rome yea and that by vnlawful meanes sometime did seeke for that preheminence but it would not be graunted vnto them how beit one thing in this donation I cannot but remember you of because it sheweth in my iudgement that this forgery was committed but of late yeares in comparison euen after that they had brought the emperours vnder their subiection and did beare all the sway in the citie of Rome And that is this that they bring in the emperour yelding the imperiall citie into the popes hands and that as though it were not fitt or seemely that the earthly emperour should dwell there where the heauenly emperour saith he hath placed the head of christian religion Can there be any greater disgrace to worldly princes then to make them vnworthie to be neighbours to that proud priest of Rome Can they lift vp themselues by any meanes hier in pride against man then so to aduaunce and esteeme of themselues aboue the greatest monarches in the world Did Constantine vse to speake or write so Did he thinke himselfe vnworthie to be neere them They that are but indifferently acquainted with the stories of Constantine doe know that he loued ful wel to be not only neere to bishops but euen among them also But they that forged this fable would haue the world to thinke that either they are more holy then euer were the leuiticall priests or else that that good emperour his scepter sworde and crowne were more vnholy and prophane then those ensignes of gouernment that belonged to the kings ouer the Iewes And what else doe all those imperiall ornaments crownes scepters miter coller clocke cote banners and such like signifie which there they say are giuen to them but that this forgerie was committed after that the proud popes did so ouercrow the emperours that they became but as it were their seruants For it was far from Constantines minde to make him selfe their seruant as afterwards the emperours were And the popes that then were had other matters to doe and other thoughts possessed their hearts then that they could be caried away to such vaine deuises They were scarsly out of one persecution being freed from it by Constantine but that they fell into another that troubled the church maruelously namely the Arrian heresie against which the good bishops did then oppose themselues with might and maine And as these things doe sauour of the pride of latter times so some things also sauour of superstition more then as yet was crept into the church For Constantine in this his donation which they impudently ascribe vnto him doth giue for the maintenance of lights in the church of saint Peter and Paul his possessions in the east west north and south and by name he reckoneth vp many countries where he had giuen his possessions for the maintenaunce of those lights But in deed it appeareth that he did bestow his reuenues vpon more necessary things as in the building of churches whereunto christians might resorte to serue God and in calling the Nicen council for the determining of some questions in religion As for lights if then they vsed any yet such large deuotion in such toies and trifles is a plaine fruit of latter daies of ignorance Thus there is almost no kinde of thing granted vnto them in that dotation but is a good argument to conuince their falshoode The apish imitation of the emperours court for officers and attendants that is there graunted
of Rome But howe will they excuse the slauish seruitude wherunto they brought the greatest princes Saint Iohn offered to fall downe before the Angell but the angell would not suffer him to worship him I am saith he thy fellow seruant worship God But these vile wretches will suffer kings and emperours to kisse their feete Constantine the pope was the first that euer accepted of this honour done to him by Iustinian the emperour And then Stephan the second whose feete Pipin the french king did kisse But afterwards this grew to be so ordinarie a matter that the kissing of an old fooles foule feete is the greatest honour that can be done to the greatest prince at Rome And Pope Steuen hauing gotten into his handes the exarchie of Rauenna whereby he became great in Italy and al by the meanes of the said Pipin whom he also rewarded by making him king of Fraunce thrusting Childrick the true lawfull king into a monastery and intruding Pipin in his roome he now in triumphing manner is carried vpon mens shoulders And he is the first that I knew of any of the popes that thought the earth too good to beare so wicked a lumpe as himselfe was For I trust hee thought it not too base to touch his sacred feet Well the reason of his doings is not for vs to search but he was first carried of mens shoulders Neither will I here inquire of the cause of deposing the right king of Fraunce whether it were iust or not although no cause could make it a iust fact in him that had nothing to doe with it Onely this will I say that where master Bellar. would make the insufficiencie of the French kings to be the cause why either Zachary or Steuen that was next after him did depose the French king from his rightfull crowne yet Platina whose words I rather beleeue then master Bellarmine confesseth that Pipin being greedie of a kingdome sent his embassadours to the pope that he would by his authoritie confirme vnto him the kingdome of Fraunce Whereunto the pope agreed in respect of such former good turnes as hee had receiued of that house And so by the popes authoritie the kingdome of Fraunce is adiudged to Pipin the yeare of our Lord seuen hundred fiftie and three Thus much Platina Whereby it appeareth that the ambition of Pipin and wrong dealing of the bishop of Rome was a cause that Childerick was deposed But to returne to my matter againe we see what pope it was that was first so proude that he could not let his owne legs carrie him But it was set downe afterwards for a lawe vnto which the emperour must be also obedient if he will not be rebellious to the decrees of the church And it is decreed that the emperour himselfe if he be by must helpe to carry that loytring lubber For thus I reade it cited out of their owne booke of ceremonies Although the emperour or any other be he neuer so great a personage be by hee shall carry vpon his shoulders a litle while the chaire and the pope And againe it is decreed in the same place that the most noble lay man shall carry the end or traine of the pluuiall that the pope weareth be it the emperour or any king What a slauerie is this that he by his vngodly and wicked ordinances doth tie princes vnto as though they were his very staues Why should he looke that emperours should be his hacknie horses to cadge him vp and downe Or what reason hath he what warrant out of the scripture What example in Gods booke or of any good man so to disgâ—ace and deface the anointed of the Lord whom he as well as others should seeke by all meanes to honour and reuerence Yet let vs see what more reuerence these proud prelats can suffer to be done vnto them Pipin the new made Frence king did teach the pope a very euill vse For he slattering the pope that hee might make him more frendly to him in assuring him of his kingdome meeting him three miles from his lodging alighteth from his horse and leadeth the popes horse all the way not leauing him vntill he had brought the pope to his lodging It is also recorded that another time the king of England on the one side and the French king on the other performed him that seruice But what neede I seeke for the particular examples This is also a booke case It is alreadie ordered That the emperour shall leade his horse and kings shall goe before him as performing their seruice to this earthly God or God on earth But yet we haue not seene his fullnesse in pride For the emperour if he be by when the pope alighteth must hold his stirop So did Frederick Barbarossa the emperour vnto the pope Adrian the fourth although he had no great thankes for his labour For hee chanced to hold the the wrong stirop the pope was so offended thereat that when the bishop of Bamberg in the name of the emperour had by a pithy oration signified his ioy for the popes presence the pope replied that he heard indeede words of gladnesse but he could not by deedes perceaue any such thing And his reason was because the emperour held not his right stirrop The emperour although angry yet smiling answered that he vsed not to hold any bodies stirrop and that made him the lesse skilfull For he was the first whose stirrop he held And for that time they parted neither of them being well pleased But the next day the emperour made amends for his former offence holding the right stirrop And the same emperour Frederick did afterwards also hold the stirrop to pope Alexander the third a cruel and shamelesse enemie to the said emperour as appeareth by a letter which master Fox in his Actes and Monuments aleadgeth out of Roger Houeden and William of Gisborough In which Letter it doeth most plainely appeare not onely that the Emperour did holde his stirrop for the pope confesseth so much in writing vnto the Archebishoppe of Yorke and to the Bishop of Durham and would haue them to reioyce for the good successe of the church for the church is much increased when the popes stirrop is holden by such but also he cause they said to Moses and Aaron that they tooke too much on them seeing all the people were holy howe great then shall their iudgement be that abuse all euen the mightiest Monarchees at their pleasure Doest thou see O Peter thy successour and thou O sauing Christ behold thy vicar Marke well howe farr the pride of the seruant of thy seruants is gone vp saith an Abbat long since and therefore I trust no Lutheran no Caluenist no Hugonot but a flat papist and yet speaketh this in detestation of the pride of popes and namely of pope Boniface the eight who the second day of his Iubilie apparelled like an
powder But howsoeuer it pleaseth master Bellarmine to bragge of the might and maiesty of the church of Rome we see that the hath lost many kingdomes that sometime serued her And where her power is greatest we see that many fall â—ayly from her and that such as doe so haue no cause to repent it but that God aideth them with his wonderfull and mercifull hand and prosecuteth them with many blessings But to returne vnto master Bellarmines argument againe Vpon this rocke I will build my church The foundation of a house hath two respects First it holdeth vp the whole building which being coupled together in it groweth to be an house as before I haue shewed out of saint Paules epistle to the Ephesians and thus Christ onely is the foundation of his church as hee is also the head whereof all the bodie furnished and knit together with ioints and bands increaseth with the increasing of God This foundation or head none can be but Christ Secondly the fonndation is as it were a direction and rule for the building of the rest of the house For it must be made according to the length and breadth of the foundation In which respect the Apostles are called foundations in the reuelation foundations I say in this church of God And so doth the apostle say that the church is built vpon the fonndation of the Apostles and prophets Iesus Christ himselfe beeing the chiefe corner stone And whether they be called foundations in respect of their doctrine as Saint Ambrose thinketh or because they were first layed in the building as Theophilact seemeth to affirme yet are they not such foundations as can hold vp this building but such onely as by their doctrine and fayth must be a patterne and platforme for all other builders to builde by that they goe not out of that rule and square which is most fit for Gods house And thus we confesse that Saint Peter is a foundation as also all the Apostles are And that which Chrysostome writeth vpon this place is in my iudgement a strong argument against this secondarie foundation which they say Peter is because he will haue the building so coupled witâ— tâ—e foundation as that there shalbe nothing between them But most plainely in his commentaries vpon the epistle to the Corinthians he will haue nothing betweene vs and Christ no distance betweene the head and the bodie As he proueth by examples of the head and the bodie the branch and the tree the building and the foundation For if the head be from the body but the thicknesse of a sword it dieth If the branch be cut from the tree neuer so litle it withereth If the house be not ioyned vpon the foundation it falleth Howe then can we haue any secondary foundation in the church of God without the ruine of the whole church The Apostles therefore may well bee foundations as I haue before saide either because that they are as it were the first stones that are layed vpon Christ in this building or because of their doctrine whereupon our faith is grounded but otherwise we can not admitte them all or any one of them whether Peter or any other to be a foundation in this building So that al the paines that master Bellarmine taketh to proue that this rocke must needs signifie Peter himselfe is more than needeth for we wil confesse that he and the rest of the Apostles are foundations in the church But if after some more peculiar sort he wil haue him a foundation neither hath he prooued it by that which he vrgeth out these words vpon this rocke neither yet by that vniuersall consent of the church that he braggeth of For the fathers do in sundry sorts expound these words som by this rocke vnderstand Peter as he was an apostle and teacher of the word of God And so may the fathers be vnderstoode that are in this chapter alleaged by master Bellarmine For he can not reason thus He is called a foundation therefore he is a foundation after some other manner than the other Apostles Some by this rocke vnderstand Christ whom Peter confessed So doth saint Augustine vpon this rocke which thou hast confessed saith he I will build my church now the rocke that hee confessed was Christ There are also sundry that by this rocke vnderstand the confession that Peter made as Hillarie Ambrose Chrysostome and Cyril But none of these interpretations can please our Romish rabbies but that only that makes Peter the foundation in Christs place which can not out of any of these expositions be gathered S. Augustine master Bellarmine saith was deceiued because he knew not the Hebrew tongue but yet saint Augustines words teach vs that in his time this place was not by consent of the godly so expounded as now the Papists expound it but only that there were sundry expositions of sundry men and that saint Augustine liked this of his best How happeneth it then that maister Bellarmine with a great cracke saieth hee hath the consent of the whole church Where is their catholike doctrine euen in this point that which now the church of Rome teacheth was not in saint Augustines dayes catholike But to to proue this doctrine to be catholike he saith The whole Councell of Chalcedon wherein were 630. fathers call Peter the Rocke and Bancke of the church so also saith Melchior Canus But both of them by shamelesse lies do seeke to abuse the simplicity of the ignorant Paschasinus or Paschasius he only said so who was Legat there for Leo bishop of Rome and sought by all meanes possible to aduance that seat aboue all others as may appeare in that place especially in the sixteenth action of that council and yet these men doe not shame to say that the whole council said so As for that other sence of those words receiued by Hillary Ambrose Chrysostome and Ciril which take Peters confession to be that rocke master Bellarmine would shift that off with this answere that they only speak of that faith that Peter as a pastor of the church had not of the faith without respect of Peters person And yet Hillary saith not vpon the rocke of this pastours confession but Vpon this rocke of confession And also not this mans faith but This faith is the foundation of the Church by reason of this faith the gates of hell can do nothing against it this faith hath the keies of the kingdome of heauen Saint Ambrose in the words alleadged by master Bellarmine speaketh also of faith absolutely without hauing respect to Peter as also he doth in sundry other places of that booke Yea he telleth vs there that whosoeuer ouercommeth the flesh is a foundation in the church and speaking of this rocke he would that euerie one should haue within himselfe this rocke which cannot be vnderstood of this confession as it hath respect to Peter The like also may bee said for
And out of Sozomen that the emperour made a lawe that heretickes shoulde neither haue churches neither be permitted to preach of the faith a good lawe to be earnestly thought vpon and practised in these our dayes nor ordaine bishops or others All these things being set downe in the Bookes of Councils by them deliuered vnto vs who can thinke that Master Bellarmine who alleadgeth this Councill for strength of his cause and that falsely also wherein all things are so direct against him would see the truth if it were neuer so plaine before him The third councill is that which was assembled at Ephesus that also M. Bellar. belike by some wonderful attractiue vertue wil draw to his side The third Councill saith he as Euagrius doth witnesse saith that it deposeth Nestorius by the commaundement of Caelestine bishop of Rome How now master Bellarmine haue you quite fallen out with truth and made a league with falshood haue you purposed still to abuse your reader by most shamelesse affirming that which is not true The counsell said we by the necessitie aswel of the canons as also of the epistle of the most holy father our felow minister Celestine bishop of Rome compelled c. Where is this that master Bellarmine affirmeth Celestine bishop of Rome wrote perchance to shew his detestation of the heresie of Nestorius and they willing to doe him that honour that they would seeme much to esteeme of his zeale in faith that beeing so farre distant in place he would be vnited as it were to them in their iudgement against Nestorius they shew that they were mooued much by his letters and incouraged to proceede against Nestorius But here is no word of any commaundement that he gaue them but rather the contrarie For they call him their felow minister and so acknowledge not him to be a commaunder ouer them Yea and in a mandate to Philip priest vicar or vicegerent to Celestine then bishop of Rome and others sent to Constantinople they tell the popes vicar plainly and his felowes thus Wee will your holinesse to vnderstand that if you despise any of these things neither this holy synode will ratifie it neither shall you be permitted to be pertaker of our communion Yea and before that council directeth euen the popes legate and the rest that if the emperour sent for them they must in any wise be obedient to his commaundement and must not refuse to goe which doctrine were heresie in our dayes but they should not agree with Iohn of Antioch and the rest but vpon such conditions as not the pope the council did set them downe vpon the paine aforesaid And that this Councill was assembled by the Emperours is in many places declared as out of Euagrius that it was at the appointment of Theodosius the younger and after by the commaundement of the most religious Emperours The like is also testified in the superscription of the former mandate that I haue spoken of And it is also worth noting that the councill writing to the Emperours for the credite of their councill doeth not vrge that the pope is head there but indeede they craue that Cirill and Memnon not Cirill onely whom they say the pope Celestine deputed for him be restored to them again that their councill be not without a head but they say that Celestine Archbishop of Rome doth sit ioyned with them there he doth assidere sit I say with them not praesidet he ruleth not he coutroleth not the councill and so it is also said of Aphrica and Illyricum that they assident sit with the councill And out of this that hath beene spoken as also by such other thinges as in that councill are recorded we may gather what truth is in that also that maister Bellarmine alleadgeth of an Epistle sent by the councill to Celestine reseruing the cause of Iohn of Antioch as more doubtfull to be decided by the bishoppe of Rome But as I finde not any such Epistle in that councill so this is plainely written in the report that the councill maketh of their doings to the Emperours that they excommunicated Iohn of Antioch the president of the Apostatas councill and them that were with him and depriued them of all priestly ministery and reuoked all their vnlawfull doings If this be to referre his cause to the pope let the world iudge Then he commeth to the council of Chalcedon and that maketh for him too if we wil trust him but in examining it we shal finde it much like the rest directly against the supremacy of the bishop of Rome For first in the beginning of that councill it is declared that it is gathered by the decree of the most godly and faithfull Emperours Valentinian and Martian who also professeth that he desired to be there to confirme the faith wherein were iudges appointed to moderate their doings and sayings and to conclude their articles not the pope or his legates for they as it appeareth in this councill were at the commaundement of these iudges as well as others but lay men officers vnder the Emperour It will be hard then for maister Bellarmine in respect of some fewe excellent names that may be giuen to Leo bishop of Rome whereof also it may be he was worthy in respect of some good parts that were in him it will I say bee harde by such names to proue his supremacie by this councell which hath almost done what it can in preiudice of any such prerogatiue that he might claime For if it belong not to him to call councils neither to rule in them when they are called he hath but little supremacie ouer others And we see in this councell both these things are done by others and not by him But what doth Maister Bellarmine finde in this councill for the popes supremacy That in that the pope Leo is called the bishop of the vniuersall church This tale hee hath tolde but a little before perchance that maketh him more perfect in it saying that three letters are sent from the East church to Leo bishop of Rome and in them all he is called the pope of the vniuersall church there are indeede foure such letters euen togither to the bishop of Rome and the councill of Chalcedon and in none of them is he called the pope of the vniuersall church but only the vniuersall archbishop or patriarch But there is a great difference betweene a vniuersall bishop and a bishop of the vniuersall church But such misses are smal faults with master Bellarmine Indeede Paschasinus the popes owne legat doth call him pope of the vniuersall church who did also seeke afterwardes by falsifyiug the coppies of the councill of Nice to procure the supremacie vnto his maister and therfore we must not ground our faith vpon his wordes But for that name of vniuersall bishop which is often giuen to the bishop of Rome it is not yet a name peculiar to him as
a great friende of theirs and at this day in great account among them doth tell them namely Caesar Baronius in his history For out of him they may learne that Eleutherius a pope himselfe in a decretall epistle of his written to the bishops of France calleth them vniuersall bishops as Ignatius calleth the bishop of Philadelphia the bishop of the common church and so Gregory Nazianzen speaketh of Athanasius bishop of Alexandria Which Baronius seemeth thus to vnderstand that they ought to haue a care as indeed euery man should haue of the good of the whole church And these names of head of the church vniuersall bishop and such like were doubtlesse at the first graunted to such as were most worthy men in the church in respect of their learning and skill that they had or their trauell and diligence that they vsed to benefit the vniuersall Church And by this meanes was it more commonly giuen to the bishops of Rome then to others because they in regard of the place or city wherein they were had moe occasions of doing good offered vnto them and moe opportunities by reason of his neerenesse to the Emperour to solicite such matters And in this sorte is it giuen for a rewarde of well deseruing and to incourage them that were able to doe their vttermost indeuour to benefit the church But now it is a name tied to one chaire in which for the most part doe sit of the vnworthiest men that are in the church So that if a man consider howe little good they doe in the church and how much hurt wee shall thinke that a ring of gold will better become a sowes snowt then they beseeme that honourable title or it them And as for that which the councill doth write vnto Leo saying that he is appointed of our Sauiour to keepe his vine they speake it not in respect of his being bishop of Rome but in consideration of his excellent giftes of learning and other good graces wherewith God hath indued him And that this is their meaning it doth plainely appeare by those things that afterwardes in that councill they did For if they had meant by those wordes that he as bishoppe of Rome had supremacy ouer the whole church then woulde they not haue giuen vnto the bishop of Constantinople equall priuiledges with Rome and so haue taken from Rome that which Christ gaue as they pretend to the bishop thereof Thus to be short in this one councill we see this supremacy had three notable checkes It was called by the Emperours and moderated by lay Iudges and the bishop of Constantinople made equall to him of Rome The fift councill that is heere alleadged is the fifth Constantinople councill But this can bring litle credite to their cause seeing it may iustly be doubted whether euer there were any such or not For besides that mistrust which the very title of that councill which is in the second tombe of Councils doth worke in them that reade it because it cannot be set downe when or in what popes dayes it was celebrated but that it was about the time of Agapetus Siluerius and Vigilius I say besides the vncertainety of it that there appeareth Functius one skilfull in histories hath noted that this is not once spoken of in the Constantinople histories And therefore it is not likely that any such councell was kept there Neither yet can the rest of the councels alleadged by maister Bellarmine stande him in any steede For we will not deny but after that once the pope had gotten into that proud chaire almost all did yeeld vnto him honour and reuerence some for feare some for flattery vntill they had made him little inferiour to God himslfe And therefore wee iustly reiect the councels that were gathered since his power was so greate and his pride so vntollerable that by some meanes or other hee would be honoured as himselfe thought good And therefore the second councell of Nice which was about the yeare seuen hundred eighty nine the lateran about the yeare one thousand two hundred and fifteene That of Lions about the yeare one thousand two hundred seuenty and foure and that of Florence about the yeare one thousand foure hundred thirty nine are no fit witnesses against vs who doe not deny but that the Pope sometime by faire meanes sometime by foule sometime by flattery sometime by threatning sometime by force sometime by craft and alwaies by euill dealing hath gotten to bee in sorte as yee see supreame head of the Church But we say that he is not so by the word of God which hee claimeth to be and maister Bellarmine promised to proue but he cannot doe it Neither was he accounted in the purer times of the Church to haue that supremacy by Gods word as before I haue spoken Neither would they in any wise permit such power vnto him although he sought it earnestly and shamefullie in the councell of Chalcedon After the councels maister Bellarmin will bring in popes to beare witnesse on his side But honester men then many of them were are not to be heard in their owne cause Yea and although many of them were good men and were profitable members in Christes church yet because they were men they might haue such infirmities as doe follow the nature of man and might especially not seeing the inconuenience and ruine of the church which the pride of that seate hath brought forth ascribe more vnto their owne seate then either in truth they could claime or in christian humility they could take vpon them And for the first popes which all they that write of this matter recken vp in great numbers I trust we shal not hereafter bee troubled with their names because maister Bellarmine hath giuen them a reasonable good discharge For he confesseth that in their writings there are some errours neither dare he affirme that they may not be doubted of and as for the rest of them because wee haue seene euen almost from the beginning of any credite that they had some sparkes of their pride now and then to glitter and burst forth in their importunate seeking or too ready accepting of that that belonged not to them as in equity we are not bound so neither in discretion should we when the cause concerneth not vs but Gods truth heare what they can say for themselues against the same Neither are their writings for the most part any such as that by them wee may iudge throughlie what they did thinke For epistles or letters such are those writings altogither almost which are alleadged against vs are vpon sundry particular occasions written whereby the writers might happely be forced to say more for the credite of that seate then themselues would haue said if that occasion had not beene offered But this I am sure of they for the most part speake far otherwise and more plainely in that point then doe the other
ancient writers of their time and that maketh me thinke that they did speake for themselues and were somewhat pricked forward with a purpose to aduance their seat Therefore letting them passe as partiall in this cause let vs come to this next proofe which is out of the greeke fathers And first commeth in Ignatius who writeth to the church that ruleth for I will admit the worst that Maister Bellarmine or any other can alleadge ont of this place in the Romane region But will Maister Bellarmines logicke conclude that therefore the church of Rome hath supremacy ouer the whole church He must first bring the vniuersall church within the place of the Roman region before that can be Out of Ireny he hath these words For vnto this church for the more mighty principality speaking of the church of Rome it is necessary that the whole church doe come that is the faithful from al places in which alwaies of them that are from all places is kept that tradition which is from the Apostles The wordes as you may see are somewhat hard by reason that he who translated Ireny out of greeke did here as in many other places translate him very darkely But I haue englished them word for word His meaning is that they that come from other places of the world be it neuer so farre off yet doe not alter the tradition that the apostles left vnto them and yet many must needes come thither because that in respect that Rome is the Imperiall citty the church also hath the more mighty principality and so in deciding of causes hath the more reuerence and authority And thus doth he proue that to be true that in the beginning of that chapter he said that it is an easie matter for him that will to see the tradition of the apostles manifested through the whole world because that from whence soeuer they do come yet still they keepe one tradition By this argument doth Ireny confute the heretikes because the tradition of the apostles being kept in all places not only in the church of Rome although because it was best known or most famous he bringeth that for example yet no such doctrine as the heretikes speake of is taught among them But nowe maister Bellarmines vnseasonable collection out of this place is very farre from Irenies meaning That it is necessary saith he that all churches should hang of the church of Rome He proueth first by that which goeth before because principality is giuen to this church secondly of that which followeth because hitherto al in that church haue kept the faith that is in being vnited and cleaning to that church as the head and mother These are maister Bellarmines words But first he saith wrong of Ireny that he should indeuour to proue such necessity in comming to the church of Rome especiall taking as here he doth for a bounden duty For it is maister Bellarmines meaning to make the church of Rome the onely church that must heare all great matters decide all doubtfull questions and commande all other churches But Ireny his meaning is that all other men had occasion to seeke rather of that church then of any other for helpe and direction because that in respect of the greatnes of the citty the church there was in some greater accompt as before I haue shewed but he neuer saide that all were bound to submit themselues to that church as maister Bellarmine and his partakers would haue him be thought to speake Secondly he must speake more plainely what he meaneth by this that principality is giuen to the church of Rome For if he meane that men yeeld great reuerence to the church of Rome we yeelde that in the primitiue church they did so that iustly because the true faith was there sincerely kept but this principality will not please maister Bellarmine or proue his intent And if Ireny had meant that this principality had beene giuen by Christ a man of meane vnderstanding will easily thinke that he would haue spoken it in more plaine tearmes But what neede I to vse many words the place it selfe is plaine For the more mighty principality saith Ireny if he had thought of the supremacy of the bishop of Rome he would haue said most mighty principality For more mighty principality doth but make him better then others in some respect not aboue all others which he claimeth to be So that to proue his intent he must haue better proofe For this will not warrant that soueraigne authority of the bishop of Rome Thirdly that which maister Bellarmine would tell vs out of this place that all churches must be vnited and cleaue to this church of Rome as their head mother hath at all no ground of Irenies words And thus we see howe he doth racke and rent the wordes out of their plaine sence to serue for his purpose which being wel weied of make rather against them and their supremacy Epiphanius is his third witnes who reporteth that Vrsarius and Valens two Arrian bishops being conuerted did go to Iulius bishop of Rome to giue an accompt of their errour and fault But if that proue the supremacy of the bishop of Rome then must Athanasius also haue that supremacy as well as he for it followeth immediatly after that they vsed the selfe same proofes that they repented of their errour vnto Athanasius So that the intent and cause of their going to pope Iulius or pope Athanasius for he is there so called was not to acknowledge his supremacy but as it was known that they had erred so woulde they haue it well knowen that they reuoked their heresie Neither did they craue pardon of their offence of Iulius bishop of Rome which out of Athanasius he endeuoured to proue because he had authority ouer all persons but because they knew their offence to haue beene against the whole church they were desirous that the bishop of Rome for his parte as a principall member of the church but not a head aboue all should not impute that fault vnto them And this is the part of euery christian man or woman hauing made a generall fault whereby many godly are offeuded to make also a publike satisfaction for the same And cannot this be done to pope Iulius but we must make him head of the church Athanasius also his letter to pope Felix is alleadged wherein Athanasius being much distressed of the Arrians and wrongfully dealt withall and not hauing any hope that the greeke Church coulde helpe him the Emperour himselfe being an Arrian the rather to mooue the bishoppe of Rome to pity his case saith thus For this cause God hath placed you and your predecessours Apostolicke prelates in the towre of height and hath charged you to haue care of all churches that you should helpe vs. That God by meanes of Constantine and other good Emperours aduanced high the Bishop of Rome we deny not And we also knowe
to bring some plaine proofe and not so to stand vpon strange coniectures Againe Sozimus bishop of Rome willed hini to go to a councill at Cesarea and hee therefore saide that hee must needes goe If Sozimus did commaund and Augustine would not stand vpon his right in such a matter where perchance his going might be profitable to Gods church yet that would not make Sozimus head of the church No at that time they did not gather any such hard conclusions For although they would not refuse to do good euen being more imperiously commaunded then reason would yet supremacie as I haue shewed they would not acknowledge in the Bishop of Rome but rather were content to bee at great charges to conuince the popes falshoode In the last two places saint Augustine commendeth the bishop of Rome in that being so high as he was yet he would be friendly to them that were humble or lowe and then confesseth euery Bishoppe to be high yet him to be higher A man may be friend to them that are lower then he is and one Bishop may be higher than others and yet not haue iurisdiction ouer them Higher I say in gifts credite place or many other waies In England we see differences of bishoprickes where yet the one hath not iurisdiction ouer the other Now for Prosper it were hard if his poeticall amplifications should be able to carry away the weight of so great a cause But for his words if he say that Rome is Peters seat in respect of the doctrine that there was taught and maintained as before Optatus and Augustine of whome he was a great follower haue done wee yeelde vnto him Otherwise I leaue the godly Reader to the arguments before alleadged to consider what he should think concerning this point whether Peter was Bishop there or not And where he saith that Rome is made vnto the world the head of pastorall honour wee yeelde vnto that also that at that time there was no church that either more sincerely did keepe that which the apostles taught or had more credit and authoritie amongst other churches then Rome had in respect that she was able and willing to do good vnto many other But where he saith that what by armes shee could not by religion shee hath subdued is not simply true For there are manie that neuer were nor will be by likely hood subdued to Romish religion But in some respect we also confesse that to be so in that religion subdueth the heart and winneth the affection of men to bee subiect whereas that outward force can onely preuaile against the outward man Now for Victor Vticensis who calleth the church of Rome head of all other churches I haue often shewed that it may truly so be called in respect of the authoritie which by many occasions it had goten not in respect of any inrisdiction that Christ gaue vnto it more then to other The next is Vyncentius Lirinensis who alluding vnto the name or indeede rather giuing vnto Rome that name that was commonly giuen vnto it saith that the head of the world gaue testimonie vnto it meaning the council of Ephesus You see saith master Bellarmine that the bishop of Rome is called head of the world Nay you see howe our popes catholiks incroch more and more for that vnsatiable gulfe of the church of Rome which will neuer haue honour and authoritie enough Who euer before master Bellarmine hath called the pope the head of the world He hath wont to be but head of the church But I feare that if his kingdome continue a while Acharonta mouebit hee will keepe a stir in hell also But Vincensius giueth no such name to Iulius bishop of Rome He would not be so iniurious to the ciuil authoritie he had learned better then so to giue to Caesar that that belongeth to Caeser and to God that that is Gods although the church of Rome might quite blotte out of their bookes that lesson for any regarde that they haue to keepe it As for Vincentius his meaning is plaine enough to them that will see the trueth For hauing spoken of sundry places from whence learned men came to that councill of Ephesus first out of the East then also out of the West churches he nameth Iulius bishop of the citty of Rome which citty he calleth the head of the worlde as immediately after he calleth Carthage one of the South and Millaine one of the North the sides of the world But if he had made so very great accompt of the church of Rome as in these daies men would haue vs to doe he would haue had perchance some more regard in placing that church in some other order then to make it almost the last that he mentioneth Out of Cassiodor a senatour and a great officer in Rome maister Bellarmine alleadgeth somewhat You saieth he to Iohn Bishop of Rome sit as watchmen ouer christian people as you are called father you loue all I see nothing heere that can helpe maister Bellarmine or his cause For who euer did thinke otherwise then that the Bishoppe of Rome was a watchman ouer christian people Or who will say that the Pope hath not or at the least shoulde haue a fatherly affection towardes all Well it followeth It is our part to looke to somewhat you looke to all Cassiodor liuing vnder the popes nose is content either by this praising of him to teach him what care he indeede should haue not onely to doe good to the people of Rome where he was Bishop but also as occasions should be offered to helpe others also Or els it may be that hee giueth him greater praise then he deserueth But what is this for the popes supremacy Must not the building needes fall that standeth vpon such weake propes Much like is that which followeth that the seat which is pope Iohns peculiar place is giuen generally to the whole worlde that is as I take it to doe good to all If a Romane magistrate to the bishop of Rome doe extoll more then in truth he may the power of that citty or els tell how farre their benefits doe extende must this be so strained and wrung to prooue supremacie The last testimony alleadged by maister Bellarmine doth so little helpe his cause that if he had done wisely he should neuer haue spoken of it For by that Epistle and others that are set before that councill of Chalcedon it may easily appeare that Leo Bishop of Rome did then bestirre him vsing the discention of the East church as a meane to increase his owne authoritie For it is most plaine and cannot be denied that afterwardes in that councill by his legates he sought the supremacy very earnestly and in sundry of his Epistles disanulleth that the councill did against it And in these Epistles he maketh mone to many to procure Theodosius the Emperour to stand his friend Anâ— in this Epistle
might get the true copies of that Nicen council from those places making no doubt but if those copies did agree which came from thence they must be most true as they all acknowledge writing to pope Boniface When the copies came they could finde no such thing Is it not then very plaine that the Bishop of Rome his legate vsed false writings for proofe of a bad cause But maister Bellarmine telleth vs that Saint Augustine and all they of they council mistooke the matter being deceaued by ignorance because they knew not what the council of Sardis did set downe concerning that point The question is whether the council of Nice did giue superiority ouer all other to the bishop of Rome as his legates did affirme And it is most plaine that it did not And therefore that which is in the councill of Sardis which if we shall beleeue the booke of councils set forth by Peter Crab a frier and a papist was at the least fortie yeares after the councill of Nice it maketh nothing to iustifie them and excuse their falsehoode that for the decrees of the Nicen council doe alleadge that which was ordained in that council of Sardis And of that council of Sardis it may truly be said as in the Lateran council or at the least in the Tripartit worke added vnto it complaint is made that now adaies it is harde to finde either olde or newe councils insomuch as the authour doth there maruell that the church of Rome hath beene so negligent in that pointe as not to take order for the better keeping of them Augustine writeth of that council of Sardis that is was an Arrian council holden against Athanasius The time also when it was kept is very vncertaine Yea almost al the circumstances argue great doubtfulnes of that council They that write the story of that council doe write thereof so diuersly both for the number of bishops assembled there and also concerning the Arrians being there which some affirme some deny that therby we may learn how little credit is to be giuen to it for to ground any vncertain or doubtful doctrine vpon y â— it might haue credit But that which maister Bel. doth afterwards say is yet more absurd For hauing affirmed that he is indeed perswaded that these canons which the church of Rome alleadgeth for her supremacy are not in the Nicen couecil but onely in that of Sardis yet he thinketh that Zozimus and Boniface two bishops of Rome did therefore name them the decrees of the Nicen council because they were both written together in a booke at Rome the ignoraunce whereof did much trouble the fathers as he saith Can master Bellarmine suppose that those fathers whose earnest indeuour was at that time to keepe the decrees of the councill of Nicen were ignorant what was to be accounted of that council or what articles belonged to the same Or is it likely that the copies of the councill of Nice shoulde bee more perfect at Rome so many hundreds of miles distant from Nice then at Constantinople which is hard by it or at Antioch or Alexandria not so far distant from it Or doth he thinke it reason that one Romish and another vnknowen copie writen perchance with that councill of Nice by some that sought thereby to increase the dignitie of the church of Rome of set purpose to bring it to that credit that it should be accounted as parcel of the council of Nice can he I say thinke it reason that those two copies should correct and control so many of better credit by a great deale then they are No these are but shifts to blind mens eies and indeede but bables for fooles to play withall Master Bellarmine doth also labour in this place very earnestly to prooue that the council had many decrees moe then those that are in the first tome of councils set forth by Peter Crab or spoken of by Ruffâ—nus To what end is all this Forsooth to excuse his holy fathers that they should not be thought to giue counters for gold or lead for siluer But how can hee excuse them for that they added to the begining of the sixt canon that the church of Rome hath alwaies had the supremacie in which false tricke Paschasinus Legate vnto the Bishop of Rome was taken in the council of Chalcedon For it is not the translation out of Greeke of Dionyse an Abbat almost three hundred yeares after that council was kept that Alan Cope speaketh of and master Bellarmine before hath aleaged for his defence that can haue credit against so many authenticall copyes so diligently sought and sent for so carefully examined by so many hundreds of learned men and so faithfully deliuered for discussing euen of this controuersie for Paschasinus hauing alleadged in that councill of Chalcedon for his maister the Bishoppe of Rome the wordes before mentioned was by those copies disprooued And whereas maister Bellarmine doth set downe this as the intent of the Bishop of Rome in the Councill of Carthage that he meant to shew that not onely all men might appeale to him but also that it were expedient for the church that so they should do Marke how directly the councill of Carthage doeth oppose it selfe against the Pope therein in their epistle which hath this title The Epistle of the Affrican Council to pope Celestine bishop of the citie of Rome For whereas master Bellarmine did confesse that the causes of inferiour ministers might be heard at home but Bishops must be heard at Rome this councill in this epistle saith directly contrary vsing it as an argument from the lesse to the greater If say they the causes of inferior clarks by the councill of Nice are prouided for how much more is it ordered then that bishops if they be excommunicate in their prouince shall not of your Holinesse be hastily or rashly or against order thought to be restored to the communion Thy will him to banish from him such as seeke such wicked refuges because say they the Nicene decrees haue plainely committed not inferiour clarkes onely but also the Bishops to their metropolitanes They assure themselues that no prouince shall want the grace of Gods spirit to order these things And that euerie man may if he mislike of the iudgement of them that haue heard his cause appeale to a councill either prouinciall or generall no wordes of appealing to the pope Unlesse a man will imagine say they that God will grant his spirite of triall of matters to euery one and deny it to all assembled in a Councill And further they alleadge that the trueth of matters examined farre from home can hardly be found out by reason that witnesses can not well be carried so farre For as for the legates à latere that should come from the popes side for examination of such matters they vtterly mislike as a thing not to be found in any of the synods of the
that it is dangerous to speake the truth of him But his meaning is that our weaknes and wants will not let vs so speake of him as we should And the popes feare is that if we speake truth of him we must speake otherwise then he would haue vs or were for his honesty Nowe bishops hauing their tongues and pens thus bridled who durst venture to finde any fault If for them to speak the truth be periury what should it be thought in others And thus because he saw that to haue the truth of popes doings known it would be a burning shame he full wisely laieth this blocke in that way and thus maketh vp that gappe And after commeth in to serue their turne that fulnesse of authority and power of the keies which they would so seeme to haue from Christ as that none but they should rule that sterne none but they should haue that iurisdiction So that if they curse none can blesse if they excommunicate none may absolue if they binde no man may loose Wherein they challenge so great priuiledge that they can worke thereby against the law of God the lawe of nature the law of nations They can if you will that they will tell you release the subiectes from the bond of obedience which they owe to their magistrates and the children they can cause to rebell against their parents A perilons practise is this for all princes estates thus to lead the people on the blind side as to make them beleeue that to rebel is to obey and to dishonour their superiours is an acceptable sacrifice to God By these their powerfull keies they also open the dore of immunities and priuiledges of the clergy whereby they are exempt from all corrections and punishmentes vnlesse forsooth it please his holines to deliuer them to the secular power to make them his hangmen But of their owne authority they may not touch him because they are say they the Lordes annointed By which meanes they grew to great sawcines and the state was not a little indangered thereby in many places They had also another practise to maintaine their pride and hold them in their high seate That is auricular confession or that which we call shrift For vnder colour of being ghostly fathers the Popes subtill and sworne friendes had accesse to princes had conference with their counsellours had knowledge of their secrets had opportunity to practise with their false and faithlesse subiectes and they might and did take al occasions by terrifying the consciences of princes in respect of their sinnes which they made knowne to them as if there were no hope of mercy at the hands of God if first they were not reconciled to the Holy Father the Pope and the holy mother the Church of Rome And thus were they euery way distressed their consciences being intangled and their estates indangered But one of their most subtill shiftes was the taking away of knowledge from the people Whereby they became as men that walked in the darke in an vnknowne way They neuer knewe whether they did right or wrong They knew not their own duty They were taught to beleeue as the church beleeued Now although they heard much of the church of Rome yet for the most parte they were not acquainted with it So that the church that must be their direction must be their parson or vicar or perchance their bishop Who if he would leade them out of the way they must needs go wrong Because their light of knowledge was quite put out The Scriptures were either quite taken from them and mens dreames and deuises deliuered to the lay people insteede of them or els they were so corrupted with foolish gloses and so mingled with mens traditions that the true sence and meaning of them was stil vnder a bushell so that it gaue no light at all to them Nowe they not knowing their duty which God had commaunded them to performe to magistrates howe easily might they be drawen aside from the same Yea they through ignorance not beeing able to put a difference betweene trueth and falsehoode howe readily might they be moued to thinke it to be true that they doe say vnto them who were onely reputed and taken for holy Church that the Pope is Christes Vicar that he is so much more excellent then any worldly potentate as the soule is better then the body that there is no lesse difference betweene the glory of the Emperour and the pope then is betweene the brightnesse of the Sunne and of the Moone The pope being like the Sunne and the Emperour compared to the. Moone which hath her light from the Sunne These and other such like blasphemies against the maiesty whome God hath placed vpon earth were accompted good doctrine and strong proofes through want of knowledge And this very effect that ignorance did worke whereby the very brokers for the church of Rome did see themselues and their masters esteemed halfe as Gods and their messages receiued more readily and more constantly kept and more willingly obeied then gods word by a great deale made them to proclaime so lowde and so stiffly to maintaine that ignorance is the mother of deuotion And why should they not when they see that princes are readye by reason of their ignoraunce in Gods trueth to be led and guided by such blind guides euen to the hazarding of their kingdoms And the people therby are withdrawen from al duty so that they may leade both prince and people as Elisha led the Syrians euen into their enemies hands And as this ignorance hath beene a great cause that the pope hath mightily preuailed and aduaunced his seate farre higher than became one of his coate and yet his pride was neuer spied of many euen so at this day for want of knowledge the people are most easily drawen to worship euen the very name of Holy Father and to sucke the breasts of the holy mother the Romish church Whose doctrines if they could examine whose spirites if they coulde trie whose horrible blasphemies against Gods trueth and vnnaturall cruelties against Gods saints if they could with indifferent iudgement consider of if I say the Lord in mercy would vouchsafe them that knowledge they would euen hate the name of a Romish catholike and feare to be of that company and crew that so plainely and stubburnely reiecteth Gods commaundement despiseth Gods magistrates deceiueth Gods people and leadeth them in the waies of death and damnation There are also some other meanes and practises whereby the popes drawe the people into great admiration of them Namely their pardons and indulgences their agnus Dei and such other trash and trumpery whereby they perswade the simple ones that they can effectually and really pardon their sinnes which is Gods office onely take away their iniquities deliuer them from damnation and shield them from all euill And who would not giue all that he hath if he
from him forceably some of his castels and possessions whom when the emperour had subdued they fled to the pope who intertained those traiters against their lord and master Whereof because as he had great cause hee complained it seemeth that hereupon he did excommunicate him But Gregorie the ninth that came next after him was far more cruel then he against the emperour continuing the sentence of excommunication against him which Honorius had pronounced vpon pretence that al his commaundement hee did not goe to the holy land Neither could any reasonable excuse serue to mitigate the mad moode of that Luciferian pope against the emperour For by the emperours letters the contents whereof are to be seene in Abbas Vrspergensis and in Mathew of Paris it appeareth that the emperour was sick in somuch as hauing vndertaken the iorney by reason of his sicknesse hee was forced to returne againe But it is plaine enough to them that marke the sequel that the pope did but picke a quarrel against the emperour that he might inuade his possessions The emperour seeing this saucie pope so cruely and couetously bent against him consulted with some of the Romans with such I say as were of principall account among them how he might bind the people of Rome to acknowledge themselues to be his subiects which he brought to pas Then the pope sent forth against the emperor another thundercracke of excommunication For which his insolent fact the pope by the people was forced to flee out of Rome And durst not returne in two yeares Now the emperour to please the pope went to the holy land as they call it But the pope doth now shew himselfe to haue had no other meaning in sending him to fight for the holy land then Dauid had when hee commaunded Ioab to place Vriah in the strength of the enemies battel and that he and his people should flee leauing Vriah to be slaine of the enemie So the pope commaunded the emperour the sawcie seruant his lord master to fight against y e Turke But to what end Had he any true zeale against Gods enemies Had he a sincere heart and vnfained affection to increase the kingdome of Christ no no. It seemeth he much more desired the destruction of the emperour and intruding himselfe into his dominions then the recouering of the holy land For the emperour being at Acon hauing passed according to the popes pleasure into that land to fight against the Turke the pope by all meanes possible did stay his soldiers and such as were to passe ouer to aide the emperour and fight in that quarrel not suffering them to goe And nowe the emperour being where the pope would haue him he the pope I meane bestoweth huge masses of mony in hiring of soldiers to inuade the emperours dominion stirring vp the traitours before mentioned Mathew and Thomas against him and so subdueth to himselfe that which belonged to the emperour What a godles and shameles parte was this by excommunications to force the emperour vnder pretence of holy warre to leaue his dominions and then most wrongfully to inuade the same And when the emperour being there had made an honorable peace betweene the Christians and the Soldan hauing gotten restitution of certain things that the Soldan had woon he of his good nature wrote vnto the pope to certifie him of these newes which he thought would haue bin ioyfull to al christians But that proud priest as he had before contemptuously refused to heare or admit into his presence the emperours embassadours so did hee nowe reiect his letters and cast them from him he also caused it to be published abroad that the emperour was dead thinking thereby the rather to discourage the emperours faithfull subiectes and to make them yeelde vnto him And to the end that this lying report should not be crossed the pope caused the messengers that brought the letters to be killed Thus we see how Gods vicar beyond all shame and without all shew of reason doth whollie oppose himselfe against Gods ordinance namely the emperor These things are largely set downe by Abbas Vrsp before named but especially by Mathew of Paris who in a letter written to Richard earle of Cornewall by Fredericke the emperor of the report of all the popes dealing with the saide emperour sheweth the principall cause of all this malice that the pope had against him was because he refused to permit the pope to set downe order concerning Lumbrardy for the pope desired to haue that matter compromitted to him simply without any exception or reseruation of any right to himselfe Which if the emperor would haue yeelded vnto and so haue lost Lumbardy as there the emperour doth testifie he might haue wonne the Popes fauour For hee promised him faithfully if the faith of a Pope be any thing worth that hee woulde not onely doe nothing against him but he would also giue vnto him towards he maintenance of his warres the tenth of all christendome The pope also woulde faine haue bestowed a neece of his vppon the emperours sonne Henry which because the emperour would not hearken vnto for his nobles tooke scorne that the pope shoulde make that offer for this and the other cause before alleadged the pope misliking the emperour did picke all quarrels against him and did thrice excommunicate him and as Iohn Bale out of this Mat. Paris allegeth did promise eternall life to al them that would fight against the emperour As if so cursed a creature had it to bestow at his pleasure or as if rebellion against Gods ordinance might looke for so good and great a recompence I might enter into a large and wide fielde of the notorious oâ—stinacie and vnlawful dealing which sundry of the popes haue vsed against their lords emperors But I haue staid somwhat long in this example because it appeareth by the stories that as their dealing against him was lewd and cruel so the cause was their owne priuate matters which caried them with an vndrideled affection to do whatsoeuer they could mischieuously deuise if they had power to put it in execution not regarding what impietie they coÌ„mitted against God or what wrong against man or what disgrace the brought to themselues an their place so they might worke their wil. What should I here speake of the great troubles that Gregorie the 7 Victor the 3 Vrban the 3 and Paschal the 2 wrought against Henry the 4 the emperor excommunicating him discharging his subiects of their obedience they ought to him yea stirring vp vnnaturally his owne natural sonne against him How rude and sauage crueltie was that which Gregorie the seuenth that vnmanerly fellow shewed vnto the emperour at the towne called Canusium when hee made the emperour that was willing to submit himselfe being by extremitie forced therto to wait at his gates three daies continually in the extremitie of a sharpe winter barefoote and bare legged without meate or
drinke and would not admitte that great monarch to his speech The fourth day with much adoe by the intreaty of a gentlewoman who could do somwhat with the pope and at the suite of some others his holinesse forsooth was content he should be admitted vnto his presence And though this y e emperor his submissiō was such as was thought too lowly and abiect by the nobles of Italy insomuch as they purposed to depose Henry the fourth from the empire as bringing a staine to the same by his ouer humble yeelding vnto the popes excessiue pride yet could it not satisfie the pope For he notwithstanding all that the emperour had doone purposed to bestow the empire vpon Rafe ◠of Sweueland And therefore sent to him the crown emperial with this verse written about it The Rocke to Peter this crowne gaue And Peter bids that Rafe it haue This Henry that was most villainously abused by that prowde beast and his successors is he of whome Paulus Langius bringeth the testimonie of Otho Frisingensis that he was the first emperor of Rome that he could find although he marked diligently in reading that euer was excommunicated or depriued of his kingdome by the bishop of Rome For as Sigebertus saieth this onely new doctrine I wil not call it hereste saith he was not yet bred that the priestes shoulde teach the people that vnto wicked kings they owe no subiection Yea though they haue sworne fidelitie to them yet they owe them no fidelitie neither that they are not to bet called periured that stand against the king but whosoeuer obeyeth the king is to be accounted an excommunicate person but he that is against himlis absolued from all fault and periurie If Sigebert had liued in our times what would he haue said when hee should see this new heresie not onely stiffely and stubbornly yet slenderly and verie vnlearnedly maintained for catholike doctrine by that vnnaturall traitor Allen and his fellowes and a new practise also agreeable thereunto put in bre and highly commended to poison shoote or by any meanes to kill such as the popes will say are heretikes as all are that wil not stoupe vnder his yoke Wel about 500. yeres since it was new heresie for it is verie neare so long since Sigebert did write And therefore it is not that poore proofe of Tho◠of Aquine a man that liued in the dayes of corruption or of Francis of Toledo some seditious papist of our time or of that late Councill of Lateran not much aboue 300. yeares since that can make it a Catholike doctrine But to end this storie of Henrie the fourth Paschalis who was not long after Gregorie did not only prosecute the matter with all extremitie against he said Emperour whilest hee was aliue as did Gregorie before him but euen after he was dead they who for good will and that common dutie that we owe to them that are departed did burie him could neuer haue peace or fauour of pope Paschalis the second vntill they had taken vp his bodie and cast it into the fields Is not this popelike charitie Is not this diuelish enuie a most sure demonstration that they are not led by the spirit of God But to bee short this one thing I dare affirme and I proclaime it to the shame of all them that loue poperie that if you search all stories and peruse all Chronicles and call to remembrance all things that you haue read heard or seene you shall neuer find any that professe the name of Christ be they neuer so rude or sauage not any Turke Iew or infidell wil attempt things so vnnaturall so contrarie to the law of God so far beyond the compasse of humanitie as papists doe and wil do yea and many of the popes themselues haue don and thought they might doe Our late daies giue vs so many examples to proue this to be true that wee need not looke vnto these former stories You see how vnereuerently they haue dealt with these most honourable princes And did not pope Alexander the third as intollerably hehaue himselfe as any man could do when hee making the Emperour lie downe at his feete did treade vppon the necke of the Lords annointed which was woorse then to cut off the lap or a peece of his garment for doing whereof Dauid accused himselfe to haue done wrong But this pope I say treading vpon the necke of Fredericke the first of that name emperour did most prophanely and blasphemously abuse these words of the Psalme Thou shalt walke vpon the lion and aspe the yong lion and the dragon shalt thou tread vnder foot Thereby proclaiming that he he neither had any feare of God or reuerence of the supreme maiestie in earth I omit of purpose to speake of Gelasius the second and Calixtus the second against Henrie the fift the vnnaturall sonne of Henrie the fourth Nether do I rehearse the vngodly dealings of these and some other against manie kings and princes Yea I passe ouer also with silence that villainous treason that Alexander the third wrought and practised with the Turke against this Fredericke the first which had beene the finall destruction of the emperour if the Turke had not beene more mercifull then the pope was faithfull For the pope desiring the death of the emperor moued the Turke to dispatch him as he loued his owne quietnes and withall sent him a liuely counterfet or picture of the emperor wherby he might know him if he came into his hands by which also the emperor being taken of the Turks was knowne when he came before the great Turke For hee brought forth the said picture which y e pope had sent him therby prouing him to be Frederick and withall he shewed the popes letter mouing him to destroy the emperor and therby did it appeare to all that heard thereof that the pope was a traitor to Gods cause the emperors person But I am weary of raking in these chanels And this which is already said is I trust sufficient to point vnto the vnreuerent vnhonest vnchristian proceedings which these godles and prophane vgly monsters vsed after y ◠once they came to their height of honor abusing the colour and pretence of religion and holines to hide their violent and bilanous practises And makng that seuere censure and sharpe chasticement which is onely to be vsed in Gods causes and that vpon the greatest occasions as a very fooles bable wherewith they strike euery one that doth not folowe their vnbridled wilfullnesse But their intollerable and impotent pride doth yet more appeare if we consider their dooings nearer home For you see howe after they had gotten that authoritie which long they sought euen as a man that aimeth at his marke so did they practise and deuise what they could against the soueraine maiestie vpon earth as if all their care were bent to bring him lower as indeede they did spoyling him by litle
and litle of his dominions and so lessening his power and at the last despising his authoritie and wringing it out of his hands as hath beene shewed And as hee could not abide any to be his better or superior so far of so likewise he could not suffer any to haue any gouernment exempt from him neere him in the citie of Rome and therefore were they also sundrie times repining and striuing against those magistrats which in Rome had the gouernment of the citie For hauing brought the emperour to hold of him for the emperour say the Canonists now holdeth his empier of the pope and therefore he is bound to swere homage and fealty to the pope as the vassal is vouÌ„d to his lord hauing I say so subiected the greatest he taketh scorne that any should sit vnder his nose and not be vnder him And therefore pope Leo the third sending certaine presents vnto Charles the great made vnto him suite and obtained it that the people of Rome should be sworne to be subiect vnto him And so from that time which was about the yeare 796. vntil the time of Innocent the second about the yeare 1139 they continued in subiection to the bishop of Rome being gouerned at his appointment 343 yeares But being warie belike of his Tyranicall gouernment they made vnto themselues a pretor senators to rule them concerning their ciuile gouernment as in times past they had wont to haue For indeed this Innocent was a wonderful proud pope of whom it is writen in a booke called Burtum Fulmen and alleaged out of two histories that in the Lateran church at Rome he painted Lotharius the emperour prostrate at his feete and his vassal or seruant receauing of him the imperiall crowne And by this picture were verses written wherein the emperour is made his seruant and it is said that the pope giueth him the crowne as though he could not haue it but by his gift His pride being so immoderate against the emperour it is not like he could keepe any measure with such as were inferiors and so did they shake of his intolerable yoke Nowe the pope not knowing presently how for to amend himselfe or to hinder their purpose yet thought he would so bridle them as that his clergie should be free from their rule He gathereth therefore a council in Lateran where he caused it to be decreed that whosoeuer should lay violent hands vpon a clergieman though he be but a psalmist saith glosse there whom the Dist 23 calleth a singer cap. Psalmista and the Dist 21. cap. Cleros maketh next the dog driuer and doorekeeper should so be accursed that vnlesse it were in time of death he might not be absolued of any but the pope onely For this cause also Onuphrius writeth that the people of Rome were excommunicated and put for euer from chusing the popes and by that meanes that the election of the pope came to the cardinals But Platina as I haue before noted saith that Gelasius the second was chosen by the cardinalles who was before this Inocent Well Lucius the second pope of that name although he had great cause to haue though of other matters for at that time there was a maruelous great plague whereof of his predecessor Celestine the second died as also himselfe was taken away by it yet his proude stomacke not being able to beare the gouernment that then was in Rome by a pretor and senators sought to alter it The pretor or Alderman maior whose name was Iordan told the pope that al the â—egalities belonging to the citie as well without as within the walles belonged to him being pretor by reson of his office that y e pope had hitherto occupied the same by meanes of Charles the great But he demaunded his owne right willing the pope to content himselfe as his ancetours had done with first â—ruites tithes and offerings But his holinesse being as vnwilling to learne a good lesson of Iorden the pretor or Alderman of Rome as were the Pharises to be taught of him whom Christ made to see Thou arte say they altogether borne in sinne and teachest thou vs Deuised more mischiefe against the Romans then did the Pharises against that man that durst teach them for they did but cast him out of their synagogue that is they did perchance excommunicate him But this holy pope who should be to others an example of patience and forgiuing our enemies had this deuise that watching a time when they were all gathered together in council the Pretor Senators and all the chiefe of the citie the pope gathered his soldiers and set vpon the capitoll the place where they were assembled thinking either to haue destroyed them all or else to haue driuen them out of the citie But the Romanes hearing of this pope-like enterprise armed themselues vpon a sodaine and running to the capitoll did so pelt with stones the pope himselfe that within a few dayes after he died Whether of the plague as before out of Stella I aleaged or of these bates it maketh no great matter For they were rid as it seemeth of a furious foole and saued the liues of their chiefe men and for a time retained their libertie This doth Robert Barnes reporte out of Naucler Sum. Anton. and Iacob Colum. Now this question betweene the Romans and the bishop of Rome continued in doubtfull case as appeareth by frier Rioch and others for a season namely whilest Eugenius the third Anaslasius the fourth and Adrian the fourth liued the Romans seeking to haue their liberties of choosing their magistrates confirmed vnto them by the popes the popes on the other side repining against that which the Romans did Yet in the time of Alexander the third they came to this agreement that the magistrates chosen by the Romans should not meddle with their office vntill they had beene sworne to be faithfull to the church of Rome and the pope And thus this controuersie that was betweene the citie of Rome and the pope for fiftie yeares was agreed But Lucius the third being perchance proude then Alexander his predecessor whose pride yet was intollerable not content to suffer so much as the name of Consuls in Rome went aboue to abolish the same and had gotten to him some of the Romans But the citizens rose against him expelled him out of the citie and put out the eies of certaine that fauoured his attempt Thus we see how the bishops of Rome to the end that their authoritie might the more smoothly proceede without controlment did seeke to take these rubs out of their waie Hitherto we haue in part seene in what sort the bishops of Rome being come to their hieght haue deale with their betters and how roughly they haue handled them But perchance their friends wil excuse them because that by doing as they haue done they haue defended will they say the rights and priuileges of the church
Emperour with a sword carried before him cried aloude Beholde two swordes as the same Abbat reporteth Who when Albert Duke of Austria came to him to be confirmed in the Empire whereunto he was chosen tooke the Crowne and set it vpon his owne heade and tying the sworde to his owne side sayd I am the Emperour Or as Frier Rioche a friend to popes writeth I onelie am Emperour who boastingly woulde call him selfe key-carryer of heauen And therefore hee is worthilie called a famous pope and a magnificall tyrant of priests Nowe if wee search and trie from whence hee hath anie warrant for this his Luciferian behauiour against God and man what can hee answere Hee hath no commaundement nor any proofe or approbation of it in Gods worde no example of the godlie Christ and his Apostles shewed all dutifull obedience to magistrates and exhorted also others to doe the like Cesar must haue his due whether in obedience or tribute or feare or honour or anie thing else if wee will obey the commaundement of Christ and his Apostles or followe their example or beleeue their saying when hee telleth vs that the Apostles shoulde not haue such dominion or exercise such authoritie as the Lordes of the Gentiles did exercise ouer them He commendeth loue and pronounceth the â—eacemakers blessed and would haue vs to learne of him to bee meeke and lowly in heart But the pope finding nothing in all these that serueth or fitteth his humour taketh his patterne of Diotrephes who loued to haue the preheminence Or of the Scribes and Pharises who loued the chiefe place in feastes and to haue the chiefe seate in the assemblies and greetings in the market and to be called of men Rabbi Rabbi Yea Christ and his Apostles tooke great paines in preaching spared not for labour feared not for daunger preaching in season and out of season suffered all things indured all things seeking Gods glorie and not their owne Whereas on the contrarie the popes cannot or will not vse to preach They haue inough to doe to deuise howe they may subdue Emperours bring vnder their yoke the neckes of Kings set vp their chaire of pestilence aboue all the thrones in the earth This is their care their studie their whole endeour And therefore Paschalis the second although he would not be pope vnlesse the people would first giue some rare testimonie of his diuine election for they must cite three times Saint Peter hath chosen to bee pope Rainer for that was his name before an excellent good man O fond hypocrite yet when he had taken it vpon him it was done with many ceremonies to make him seeme more glorious For hauing gotten this double conquest first in that he got to be pope secondly that hee made the people giue such a testimonie of him that he was so worthie a man he thus addresseth himselfe to his triumph First he putteth on him a crimson robe an ornament vpon his head and so waited on by the people and cleargie vpon a white horse he rideth to the south gate of the pallace of Laterane and entering into the pallace hee putteth about him a girdle at which were hanging seuen keies and seuen seales and holdeth his scepter in his hand But Paul the secondthought not this brauerie sufficient to set forth his glorie and therefore he much increased the costlines of these ornaments especially for the miter which hee wore vpon his head buying the most precious stones that he could heare of to adorne and decke the same And least his withered face should not be somewhat sutable he would also as some report for so Platina telleth vs paint it And he also saith that hee had a great delight to shewe himselfe to straungers and woulde keepe them manie times in the Citie that they might beholde and wonder at him And indeede they had iust cause to wonder at him that he who by his calling shoulde haue beene an example of modestie a light to shine vnto other and salt to season them that were vnsauerie and by his age should haue beene past those toyes and childish vaine conceits should so farre forget himselfe that he would not only decke his body with more precious attire then was seemely for him who should haue beene to other a patterne of all christian humilitie but also paint his face more like a wanton Iesabell than a sober bishop And thus I trust it appeareth how insolently and stately the bishops of Rome haue behaued themselues hauing by very vniust meanes gotten to that greatnes wherein they are I might by infinite examples haue shewed this to be true For all stories are full of their insolent doings But my indeuour is only to shew that as they claime by an vniust title so they do in many respects abuse their greatnesse Which hitherto I haue proued because so sawâ—ily they match themselues with God spurn against the highest authoritie magnifie themselues in al their behauiour The stories also do point out vnto vs their incredible auarice and more then greedy couetousnesse which is so insatiable that no summes of money can satisfie no kingdomes can stanch the same It is a world to consider what large and ample dominions they haue gotten into their hands what landes and territories Whereinto they hauing intruded themselues by setting princes together by the eares or such other subtile practises and yet would seeme somtime to hold the same by the gift of Constantine sometime from Charles the great sometime from his son Lewes But from whom they should claime to holde their possessions they are not yet fully resolued as it seemeth But how great soeuer their possessions are or howe they holde them I am not purposed to examine My purpose is rather to shew how little contented they are with all that they haue and how still they haue new deuises and other practises to get money into their coffers Henry the second or as some reckon the third had built a church in Bamberg and was desirous to haue it made a bishops sea hee requested the pope to do so much at his request Now this pope rested wholy of the good will of the emperour Henry And yet would he not at his request do so much but that also he would benefit himselfe and so was content to do it vpon couenant that that church should giue him yeerely a hundred markes and a white horse with his But what should we enter into any particulars in this point What bishop could get his alowance or confirmation to any bishopricke without great summes of money Then the archbishops haue their palles not without infinite charges Wonderfull sums of money haue in the time of vacation of bishoprickes and other spirituall promotions beene carried to Rome from Germany Fraunce this our country and other places as the manifold complaints and greeuances do manifestly declare And besides
these summes which they got by ecclesiasticall liuings they had many other wayes to picke mens purses Purgatorie was a gainfull deuise the fire therof did much good to the popes kitchin Pardons were good to no vse but to make them rich that gaue them or carried them Especially those pardons which Leo the the tenth sent abroad They which caried them made the world beleeue that whosoeuer would giue tenne shillings for a pardon should for the same deliuer what soule soeuer he would out of purgatorie Vnder pretence also of fighting against the Turke and recouering the holy land they gathered great summes What should I speake of licenses qualifications dispensations and such like meanes to get money If I should but out of our English histories paint out the greedie worme of that church of Rome you would thinke it were a gulf vnsatiable both the horsleaches daughters in one that alwayes crieth giue giue and can neuer haue enough It is a bitter and grieuous complaint that Frederick the second emperour of that name maketh against the church of Rome shewing how the fire of her auarice is so kindled that the goods of the clargie not being able to suffice they feare not to disinherit and make to pay tribute to them emperours kings and princes Whose words hee saith are sweete as hony and as soft as oyle but they are insatiable bloudsuckers He doth put our countrimen in rememberance of that which Innocent the third a pope had done swalowing after the Romish fashion with an vntoward gaping whatsoeuer was fattest And with many such words hee setteth forth the miserable estate of England which was saith he the prince of all prouinces He speaketh of the time of king Iohn as himselfe sheweth of the which dayes also did the nobles of England complaine bitterly because he did subiect himselfe to the pope and so brought their land into a miserable slauerie And as it were speaking vnto the pope they charge him that he beareth with king Iohn to the ende that all things might be swallowed vp of the gulfe of the Romish auarice Neither is the pope Honorius the third ashamed to confesse this fault by his Otho For in his letters hee confesseth that there can be no dispatch in the court of Rome without great expences and gifts and acknowledgeth that this is an old staine to that church And for to take away this slaunder he his cardinals had deuised a good way as he thought which is that he might haue in euery cathedrall church two prebends and such like of abbeis And this is an other way that the pope hath to inrich himselfe by And very often did the bishoppes of Rome seeke by such means to prouide for their friends or such as would buy their letters So did Innocent the fourth write to the abbat of S. Albans for a kinsman of his for a benefice in Lincolne diocesse belonging to the gift of that church of saint Albans called Wengraue and for the next besides it that shuld fall Yea he did sometime write for children Whereupon there grew a great contention betweene the bishop of Lincolne Robert Grosted and the pope Innocent the fourth whome Alexander the fourth his next successour called the seller of benefices Pope Innocent was so offended with this Bishop of Lincolne for withstanding his lewd and wicked couetousnesse that when he heard that the Bishop of Lincolne was dead hee purposed presently to write to the king of England not to suffer him to be buried in the church but to be cast out thereby to disgrace him as much as he possibly could Besides these they haue yet other wayes to get money They send in their ambassadours or legates which when they are once well setled within the land they send to bishops abbates or such as they knew to be of wealth for so much money as they thought good to get But the least gaine came not to the church of Rome by that vniust decree of Innocent the fourth whereby it was prouided that the goods of clarkes that died intestate should go to the bishop of Rome But it were too tedious a matter to come particularly to euery point of the popes greedines It was a thing generally misliked and spoken against yea this their miserable greedinesse as Mat. of Paris witnesseth was the chiefe cause why the Greeke church departed from the Latine church For an archbishop of the Greeke church comming to pope Gregory the ninth to be confirmed in his archbishopricke by him coulde not obtaine his desire vnlesse he would promise much money He seeing that detesting their greedinesse departed and tolde this to sundry of the nobilitie There were other also that reported as euill or worse of that they had seene and knowen at Rome and so they would haue no more to do with the west church In like manner did the same pope behaue himselfe in hearing the matter betweene Walter elect archbishop of Canterbury on the one side and the king and sundry bishops on the other side And although it were obiected against the archbishop by the king and the bishops that in sundry respectes hee was vnfit namely that hee had defloured a Nunne and gotten children by her and the king was very earnestly bent against him the pope also confessed that he was vnlearned yet coulde not the king and the bishops get the pope to be fauorable in that good cause vntill such time as the kings embassadors fearing lest the pope would make him archbishop of Canterbury that was altogether vnworthy of such a place promised to the pope the tenth of all moueables through England Whereupon the pope being so well hired was content not to place a wicked man in the sea of Canterbury And the pope to shew that it was the reward that made him and that he looked for perfourmance thereof he sent into England to demaund the same and it was graunted according to the promise that was made vnto him These and such other corruptions and extortions of the Bishops of Rome made them so odious to the king of England and his nobles that they thought be defiled and polluted the place where he dwelt And therefore when pope Innocentius the fourth requested the king that hee woulde permit him to lie at Burdeaur in Gascoigne which then belonged to the king of England he and his Nobles thought that it was too neere to England and that corruptions would come thence into England And Robert Grosted B. of Lincolne durst boldly say to the pope and in his hearing O money money how much canst thou doe especially in the court of Rome which as it is said in another place is alwaies gaping alwaies greedie But indeed great sums haue him gathered out of this realme which haue gone to the pope insomuch that king Iohn did affirme to the pope Innocent the third almost threatning him for
his malitious persecuting and pursuing of them What neede we to produce examples of forraine countries or former times We haue amongst vs in our dayes better proofe thereof then either we desire or they can denie Is it not too proude and insolent a part for either Pius the fifth or Sixtus the sith to call our soueraigne Queene and most gratious prince Elizabeth whom God hath mercifully placed amongst vs and ouer vs and mightely and maruelously defended from innumerable popish practises and Henry king of Nauarre and nowe also the French king hereticks schismaticks and I know not by what names of reproch he not prouing no nor daring to offer any reasonable triall or lawfull way to prooue the same Why is hee afraid to haue religion tried by a free generall council Why doth he hinder it by all meanes that he can The question is whether his religion that I say which he commendeth to christians and commaundeth to be onely and that vpon paine of death beleeued is true or not We denie it we haâ—e vnanswerable arguments for vs. The religion that he would haue vs to content our selues withall is not catholike that is it is not preached or taught at all times in all places with full consent as he and his frends must confesse when it is examined It hath not any sufficient warrant out of Gods booke which onely should be the ground of our relgion Nay it is so contrarie to Gods written words that it is impossible that that which God in the scripture teacheth vs and that which the popish church requireth of vs should both be true As for Gods worde we know it cannot lie And therfore we haue great cause to say that that which is contrarie to it cannot be true Again the church of Rome as they al confesse prooueth many points of their religion by traditions onely that is to say by the doctrines of men only These things we alleage Admit that it were not euidently true that we say Is it not good reason yet that we should be heard howe we can prooue that we alleage Were it not fit that before indifferent iudges the matter should be tried For why should the pope that is a principall partie in this controuersie or his legats that are his sworne adherents and seruants take vpon them to be iudges in their owne cause We accuse them of Idolatrie superstition many heresies manifest breach of Gods lawe despising of Gods word yea of plaine apostacie from the true faith Shall we euer imagine that they will pronounce sentence against themselues And confesse themseules guiltie of these great crimes No no as we are not so foolish as once to hope that they who with tooth and naile seek to maintaine their owne pride will so subiect themselues to Christs yoke so we are not so mad as to thinke them to be fit iudges to pronounce whether the truth be on our side or theirs For we knowe that they will not speake for vs because they will neuer speake against themselues Let them then permitte this question that is amongst vs to be tried by a free council Let the matters in controuersie be debated let the reasons on both sides be heard and wayghed let indifferent iudges be appointed such as sincerly sighing in singlenes of hart seek to know the truth serue the Lord. TheÌ„ will it appeare who teach the tru religion But this can neuer be tried by such ouer-ruled conuenticles as that of Trent wherein indeed the protestants were admitted to speake But they might say but placet wee are content with that you haue done They might not set downe their reasons against Romish errorn they might not be heard to dispute But that was before concluded in som priuat meeting of a few popish diuines alowed at Rome for catholike doctrine and thence sent to the council to haue approbatian of them that durst not denie it to that they might say Amen Yea and what they could haue said the council wold not greatly haue regarded as it seemeth For Clement the seuenth when the emperour Charles the fift and the French king were earnest with the said Clement to haue a free generall conncil permitted wherein matters might maturely be discussed on both sides he answered that was a perillous matter and preiudiciall that the protestants should be suffered to dispute of those things that had beene before coâ—cluded by councils As though God by his word were not sufficient to giue lawes to his church or that he should be tied to the iudgements of men Not that we thinke the auncient lawfull councils to be against vs but because that vnder the name of generall Councils they bring in their later wicked and vngodly conuenticles of the times wherein corruption grew more and more in the Church which Councils haue concluded manie things that were neuer heard of in the purer age wee would therefore let them vnderstand that as manie of their councils are worthily reiected so euen the best are not to be bleeued but as they consent with Gods vndoubted and infallible worde And that this was the bondage of that Councill of Trent which our aduersaries would so faine haue so much accounted of it appeareth by Sleydon in his historie Brocard who was one in that councill writing vpon the Apocalipse Gentillet and Caluin against that council How theÌ„ dare those arrogant popes whose doctrine can not abide the touch whose decrees do shun the light condemne princes for heretikes or enemies to the catholike faith yet will not permit their faith and religion to be laid to the rule square of the catholike doctrine Theodoret saith truly The decrees of the church must be tried and proued not pronounced as an ouer ruled case or as a sentence of a Iudge And shall we then receiue as an Oracle from God that which is deliuered vnto vs after this maner the church of Rome or the bishop of Rome hath said it God forbid We will trie the spirits whether they bee of God We seeke to trie all their doctrines that we may holde fast that which is good This then I say is an euident argument of arrogant insolencie in Pius 5. and Sixtus 5. that so wickedlie they dare presume as to giue such slaunderous names to princes that professe so vndoubted a truth as then they both did and yet our most gracious Soueraigne dooth But to depriue them of their kingdomes to release their subiects from their bonde of obedience to dispose of their dominions according to their pleasures as they would doe if they could is as intollerable pride as their predecessours before did euer vs to other And so maliciouslie to prosecute this their conceiued mischiefe as they haue done these manie yeares whiâ—h open tumult with secrete conspiracies with poysoning of some principall Princes with murthering of other by other meanes with prepairing the hearts of doubtfull subiects agaynst the time of inuasion to take
their part for all these things are common to the pope and his white sonne the king of Spaine they are their continuall meditations dooth not this sufficientlie proue their cruell malice So that their proude practises and cruell purposes which are two of the fruits of the supremacie of the popes that I haue spoken of are plaine enough euen in our dayes we may see with our eyes the proofe of the same by almost dayly examples But their greedie mindes and couetous affections doe not appeare to vs so plainely as vnto our fathers vnto whom they were an intollerable burthen as I haue shewed before And although we nothing doubt but the fat morsels which they vnderstand their predecessours haue plucked from this land doe make the popes that haue beene in our dayes more eager to get such like againe yet God hauing deliuered vs from the rauening pawes and iawes of that Romish Lion the Lord make vs truly thankefull and in life fruitfull for this his inestimable mercie we feele not the griefe of his exactions But this I trust sufficeth to decalre that the power which the pope vnlawfully hath gotten he vnreasonably abuseth making it a wicked and vngodly meane to crowe ouer princes to fill his coffers and to execute his reuenges And now that the pope was come to that that hee might doe euen what he would to satisfie his proude greedie and cruell lusts he thought it good for him to dwel and continue alwayes in that lawlesse estate And therefore did he not onely striue by all the power and policie that he had and with all his indeuour to maintaine the same for the time present but also did prouide some meanes to maintaine it as hee hoped for euer And to performe this they haue had no small helpe by priuileges and grauntes from princes who at the first when bishops of Rome and others also did applie themselues in some measure to perfourme their duetie were willing to the better incouraging of them to goe on forwardes in well doings and that those worldly things should not be to them any let or hinderance in their callings that were a burthen vnto other they were willing I say to exempt them from such seruices and duties as they required of other to be don vnto them And because that at the first when Christianity began to increase and grow mightie no doubt many that were secret enemies and yet durst not when the Emperors had by law established the christian profession accuse any man for their religion would then lay other faults to their charges and obiect other crimes to bring the Gospel into contempt as appeareth by Tertullian Iustin the Martyr and others that they did when religion was yet professed in corners Now it is not vnlikely but that godly princes to exempt them from such flaunders and reproches would commit the hearing of those accusations vnto such as were of best credite among themselues that when their enemie did see that their accusations were not like to be fauoured vnlesse they were sufficiently proued they might be discouraged from defaming them with vniust reports But howsoeuer these immunities were graunted vnto them at the first or on what consideration I wil not precisely set downe But afterwards I am sure they tooke them as their owne right and that they did alwayes belong vnto them And therefore when as the Emperour would haue taken vpon him to haue iudged of some causes of cleargie men pope Iohn sheweth that hee must not so doe and telleth him boldly but falsely that the almightie God will haue the clearkes and priests of Christian religion to be ordered examined and receiued when they returne from errour not by publike lawes or powers of this world but of bishops and priests Christian emperors saith he must submit their executions to prelates and not preferre them Whereupon the glosse doth gather that the cleargie was neuer vnder the secular power and therfore that all the constitutions that are made that clearks should not be iudged by any but by bishops are but declarations of that their former right And in the same distinction the verie next chapter that pope Iohn is not ashamed to affirme that Christian princes were woont to be obedient to bishops and to how downe their neckes to them And afterwards there is in Gratian a whole treatise to this purpose to proue that as is their alledged out of Caius the Pope no man must presume so much as to accuse before a secular iudge a bishop or any clearke I need not alledge to this end many testimonies These are as plaine as need to be He that would see mo testimonies to this effect let him looke the first question of the eleueuh cause in Gratian he shall see it affirmed with full mouth But how vntruly in a word may be declared And first how false that is which he affirmeth that princes haue alwaies submitted themselues vnto priests there is no colour of truth in it if we examine the shamelesse lie either by the scriptures or by the examples of the emperors and kings in the primitiue church For Moses was the ciuill magistrate and Aaron was the priest Did Moses submit himselfe to Aaron No did he not rather on the contrarie reprooue him as at other times so especially concerning the golden calfe which he caused to be made And did not Aaron in token of his submission to Moses call him his Lord And why did God deliuer the law and the order for all the sacrifices and ceremonies and all the seruices that were commaunded rather by Moses to Aaron and the people Moses being the ciuill magistrate then by the ministerie of Aaron who was appointed to be the priest Did not God hereby testifie that he would haue the ciuill magistrate to haue a speciall regard vnto the things that belong to Gods seruice Was not Abiathar the high priest at the commaundement of Salomon when at the commaundement of Salomon the king he was put from the office of the high priest and the king made Zadocke high priest in his roome But out of manie examples let these suffice for the time before Christ S. Paul when he saith Let euerie soule be subiect to the higher powers teacheth vs that we must not looke that they should submit them selues vnto vs but how sincerely we should obey them And what is meant by the higher powers saint Peter telleth vs that the king is chiefe then other gouernours vnder him And these are the superiour powers which saint Paul meaneth of as if need were might hee proued by all antiquitie If we looke vpon the bishops that were in the time of Constantine and a good while after their stories will teach vs that they as humbly as they could submitted themselues to Emperours and princes called them Lordes intreated them with all submission Yea and Leo the third pope of that name eight hundred yeares after