lift vp their sacrament offer it for the deade and quicke and eate all vp whan they haue done whether is not euery one aswel the priestes as laite bounde to obey the Queene and her lawes BOth Priestes and the laite be bounden to obey the Queene and her lawes as farre as Goddes lawe will permit but no manne ought to obey the Queene and her lawes against God and his lawes For landes goodes and bodye euerye one is bounde to obey the Queene and her lawes and no man ought to disobey or resist her or her lawes for God in the scripture commaundes But for matters of faith and relygion pertaynyng to oure soule health she hath nothinge adoe to medle for Christe himselfe hath dearly bought our soules with his precious bloude shedinge and committed them to the rule and gouernement of the Byshoppes which watche as to gyue an accompt for our soules Therefore the Scripture commaundes vs to obey the Byshoppes in matters of faith and religion pertayninge to our soules health and the Queene in temporall causes concernynge landes and goods and body The. xiii answere FOr obeyinge the Queenes maiestie and her lawes or for disobeying we do not greatly differ from him but where he sais she hais nothing a doe with matters of faith and relygion we vtterly denye it For that is as much to say as that she were not a christian Prince no nor a Prince at all for Princes are charged by God to maintaine true religion and suppresse supersticion and Idolatry This is the marke that they shote at to be exempt from all correction of Princes that they might do what they lust bring in supersticion in stede of religion and nourish the people in bloude deuotion rule all other and be ruled of none no not of God him selfe So muche obedience the Turkes subiectes owe him and yet denie him not autority in their religion But this mater was more fully handled in the. v. aunswere King Richard the. ii proues wel in his Epistle to pope Boniface the ix that temporall rulers haue oftē from the beginnige bridled and ruled the spiritualtye euen the Popes Salomon sayes he putte downe the Priest Abiather and set vp Sadoc Otho Themperour deposed Pope Ioan. xii Henry the Emperour put downe Gratianus Otho deposed pope Benet the. i. The controuersy betwix Symmachus and Laurens who should be Pope was ended afore Theodoricus kinge of Italy Henry Themperor deposed ii striuing who shoulde be Pope and set vp a. iii. called Clement the. ii Frederick Themperor corrected iiii Popes By these and manye suche like he proues that Princes haue corrected and brought◠in order so many Popes therfore they haue lawful power so to do And shal not our Quene haue power to see whether the clergye here within her Realme do their duty in teachinge true doctrine pure ministringe of the sacramentes and an vpright godlye life In dede this was the beginninge of the controuersye betwix Tho. Becket and kinge Henrye ii and these lyke good scholers of the same schole folowe the same waye Certaine priestes were complayned on for their leud liuing whom the king would haue punished But Becket withstode him sayinge it belonged not to the kinge to handell such holy anointed spirituall men Austin in his boke contr liter petiliaī ii in vi and other sundry chapters proues that it belonges to Kynges to haue care and charge for religion bothe in maintaininge the good and pullinge downe the euill He alleages this of the ii psal Serue the lord in feare c. How shoulde kinges sais he serue the lord in feare but in forbiddinge and punishing those thinges that are done against the Lordes commaundement he serues in one sort in asmuch as he is a man and in another in so muche as he is a king he serues him as a manne in liuing trulye but as a kinge in makinge lawes whiche commaund iust thinges and forbid the contrary So serued kinge Ezechias in descriyng the groues and temples of idolles so serued Iosias so the kinge of Niniue in compellynge the whole citie to pacifie the lord Thus serued Nabucho in forbiddinge by a fearfull law that they should not blaspheme god Kings serue the Lord in this point whan they doe those thynges to serue him which none can doe but kinges c. Thus far Austin Constantine also the good Emperour commaunds the donatistes to come to Ro. to heare the Bysshops iudgement but afterward whan he had hard the matter debated he iudged the cause himselfe and made a law against them as Austin writes Epist. ix viii Thus Princes than callyng their clergye together bicause fewe of theym haue sufficient learninge of themselues and hearing the matters of religion debated and the trueth tried maye and ought by their law and roial power defende that trueth and punyshe the disobedient who so euer they be The Prophete sayes that God made kinges and Queenes to be nurces to hys Churche The Nurces duetye is to feede guyde and chearyshe the chylde yea to correct instruct and reforme him wha◠he does a faut She must not be a drie nurce but wyth the. ii Pappes of the newe Testament and olde feede her children she must teache him to goe whan he is fallen take him vp agayne and geue him suche holesome meat that she maye and dare taste and trie it herselfe God graunt Princes thus to be nurces and not stepmothers that Goddes children may serue their lord Godde maister and father quietlye vnder their winges The conclusion OUr Sauioure Christe whan they called him Samaritan a friende of Publycans and sinners a drunkard c. held his tunge and made no aunswere but whan they sayde he had a deuill he saide I haue no deuil It is written also in vitis prū of Agathō whom certaine woulde trie whether he could pacientlie beare sclaunders and called him proude aduoterer a these and bereticke Al other he let passe and said I am a sinner but I am not an heretick They asked him why he aunswered to that rather than to the other he said he learned of Christe his maister to suffer lies but not his doctrine to be touched for heresy separates a manne from god So amonge all sclaunderous tounges that goe about to deface gods truth by raning on the ministers of it many are borne of manye with gryefe of minde but to be charged wyth false doctrine no honest minde can beare nor good man shoulde suffer For as he teaches the good and holesome doctryns so he should confounde the contrarye to hys power and this was amonge other a great cause why I though not hurt by this his folish railing tooke in hand to aunswere this blynde Papist and bycause those learned fathers whome he woulde seme to touche thought it vnworthy any aunswere Whan I see this copye cast abroade by a malicious member of Antichryst to wythdrawe Gods people from his truth my spirie was stirred to the aunswerynge of the same but manye whan
whether then was supersticion and ignoraunce or nowe in these dayes Forther where the true word of god is taught the holy ghost does so worke there with that vertue does encrease but as the Prophet sais sicut populus ita Sacerdos as the people be so God sendes them Priestes Apprehenderunt mendacium nolueruÌ„t reuerti the people haue apprehended a lye and will not come backe but trust in liyng Sermons whiche wil not profet them as almighty God says by his Prophet Hiere thinkinge they haue done wel because they haue done these abhominations says God by his Prophet Hieremi so as the Priestes be so be the people blynded in herisie as God sais by his Prophet Esai that their hartes do not vnderstande their eyes do not see their eares be stopped for hearinge the trueth so that this maye well be called the time of supersticion and ignoraunce calling darknes light and light darknes that whiche is euill good and good euill And for the brinning of Paules Church which he speakes of was in time of ciuil warre and not destroyed by thandes of God as it was at this time Whosoeuer reades the Chronicles shal perceyue that and this be not lyke Therfore beware of false Prophetes and Preachers which come with faire wordes in their mouthes of the Gospel but marke the frutes that comes of their preachinge howe they haue set the people in such case that no prayer is vsed no fasting litle almes dedes all liberty vsed What disobedience children be in against their parentes howe vntrusty seruauntes be what swearinge and blaspheming of God is vsed of all people what theft whoredome crafte subtiltye and deceipt these be frutes that come of this newe fanglet doctrine Therefore retourne backe againe to the steppes of good fathers afore vs be not caried away as S. Paule sais with a straunge and diuerse doctrine embrace the religion and faith taught in Christes Churche from time to time continually and frame your liuing accordingly or els Gods vengeance hanges ouer your heades readye sodenly to fall vpon you so sais the Scripture and let this token of brinninge of Paules be an example and token of a greater plage to folow excepte ye amende A CONFVTACION OF AN ADdicion vvyth an Appologye vvritten and east in the stretes of VVest Chester agaynst the causes of burnyug Paules Church in London vvhych causes the reuerend Byshop of Duresme declared at Paules Crosse â— Iunij 1561. OUr Sauiour Christ whan the Deuill spake the truth plainly did not confute or gayne saye it but whan he did it frowardly Christ rebuked hym sharpelye As whan the deuill said Iesus of Nazareth what haue we to do with thee art thou comen to destroy vs I knowe that thou art the holy one of god He did not refuse nor denye that truth which he spake but whan the deuill tempted him to throw himself down from the Pinacle of the Temple be rebuked him quickly bicause he alledged y e true scripture maliciously So it is not sufficient to do a good dede barely or speake the trueth only except it be done rightly with such circumstances as be necessarily required to make it good as that it be from the hart and for Goddes cause willingly c. In like maner where this scauenger sweping the stretes with his bookes as a fitteÌ„ brome and officer therto hais spoken the truth not trulye bicause it is for an euil purpose and frowardly I shal passe ouer it with silence but where he followes his maister the father of lies in falsifiyng the trueth or racking the Scripture subtilly I shal by gods grace let the world see his iugling and by truth trulye vttered disclose his shameles lyinge The firste examples that he bringes declaring how god does iustlye plague the obstinate sinners that will not repent after manye warninges giuen are true all but being alledged to bring vs backe to Poperye and for another purpose then God oure Lorde hais taught them they be craftelye misused and ye see whose fotesteppes be folowed And as he vses theym to perswade vs to supersticion so they maye and ought to be vsed specially for maintainynge true religion The Rhetoricians teach that suche kinde of beginninges as maye be applied to two contrary partes are fauty Therefore seinge I maye vse the selfe same reasons and woordes that he haâ—s from the beginning hitherto to train vs to loue and embrase oure godlye refourmed religion he can not muche crake of his wyselye placed examples or reasons But I wyll not stycke wyth hym in suche small poyntes as these although they be fautes but I wil ioine with him in matters of weight and those thefe pointes of religion whiche he hais touched and we differ from him and hys sort in them Committinge the rule and gouernement of hys Church to the Byshops c. THe first is concerning thautority and gouernment geuen to Bishops ouer Gods Church wherin his wordes are not so vntrue as they conteyne a false doctryne and meaning in them Yf ye thinke that I to boldly enter to iudge his meaning confer these wordes with such as folowe in his owne writing wherin vntruly he claimes those priuileges to his Bishops whiche neyther he nor they are able to iustifie and there at large ye shall easlye perceiue what he meanes by these fewe woordes here But I will followe him where awaye he leades me and because he does here but briefly touche it I shall likewise shortly passe ouer it and more throughly search it where he does more at large presse it In the beginninge of their late reuyued tyrannye and afore they had obtained their long desired autoritie to ragne ouer Kinges and Princes it was my chaunce to talke with one of their stoutest Champions and of those that he calles the godly Bishops in prison Among sundry thinges that were to be redressed in talke as he thoughte he toke this selfe same matter first and said it was not fitte for any temporal officer to sit as iudge on any Priest or spiritual manne specially in any spirituall matter For the same cause began Tho. Beket to rebell against his Prince not sufferinge his Priestes to be punyshed for their murthers roberyes and now like good childer they followe his steppes I asked whye for the lawes were then as they be nowe and both verye well that Iustyces in their Sessyons and Assises might and shoulde enquire who than offended the ciuill lawes and the order of religion establyshed whether he were Priest or other he aunswered that in the xx of the Actes of Thappostles it was plaine that God had set the Bishops to gouerne the Churche I saide that was another kind of gouernment that Saint Paule there grauntes to Byshops and differs from that which kinges or Princes claime and ought to haue No sais he marke the woordes and it is ad regendum Ecclesiam regere regum est therefore Byshops haue
Christ will chalenge no more autoritye to theym than their Maister Christ had I am sure thys pleases hym well to heare speciallye of my mouthe that such spirituall autoritye is geuen to spiritual ministers to execute on all sortes of people for as they belie vs in other thinges saying we teach false doctrine and moue the people to sinne so they saye that in deniyng them their vsurped autority we take from theym that whyche is due to them Yet in graunting thus much vnto them I meane as they teach that Priestes and Byshoppes haue this power of theym selues or whan they be greased wyth the Popes oyle that they may execute it whan and on whome it pleases theym but that God workes it by them as his wisdom thinkes good whan they vse them as he appointed them For as the iudge or pursauant that bringes the kinges pardon to saue a thiefe on the galowes is but the Princes seruaunt and not the chiefe Sauiour and delyuerer of the condemned so in this absoluing and raysing vp the sinful clogged conscience the chyefe praise and worke is gods and the Bishop or minister is but Gods seruaunt goinge his message by his worde and commaundement to saue and loose them whom it pleases God to offer this grace vnto But mee thinke I heare him saye If Byshops in temporall causes haue not thys autority why sit they so oft by commission now vnder y e gospel in temporal maters In dede forsomuch as they sit by commission it proues that it belonges not to their offyce as appointed by god but in y â— they serue the Prince as they be bounden Who wils and commaundes theÌ„ by Comission to serue in such place and tyme. The Byshops offyce is chiefly taught in the scripture by the holy ghost and from him he receiues his Commission and is not inuented by Pope or man Yf ye compare together Saint Paules Byshop described in Timothe and Tiâ—us with such toyes as the Popes Prelates are ordeyned to play and feede the people withal they are as lyke as blacke and white Saint Paules Byshoppe is in the firste place licensed to marye the Popes are forbidden wiues and alowed hoores for money Saint Paules Bishop must preache the Popes thinke it shame to stand in the Pulpit Saint Paul wils his Bishop to haue his children obedient with al reuerence the Popyshe Priestes Children sit by other mennes fires and brought vp most wantonly The Pope hais commauÌ„ded his Bishops to christen belles and shippes to halow Miters and staues ringes Churche yardes Altars Superaltares albes vestimentes Chalices corporas Palmes ashes candels water fire bread oyle creame flowers strippes swordes crownes fingers c. This is their holle lyfe and yet not one suche worde appointed theym by God in Scripture What is this but to forsake Gods ordinaunce and folow their owne deuyses to prefer man and his doinges to the wisdom of the holye ghost Whan he hais done all these thinges he maye say he hais serued bis maister the Pope and done his commaundement but not one thing that God biddes him Yet remaynes one doubt vnanswered in these few wordes whan he sayes that the gouernemente of the Churche was commytted to Byshoppes as thoughe they bad receyued a larger higher commission from god of doctrine discipline thaÌ„ other lawer priests or ministers haue and thereby might chalenge a greater prerogatiue But this is to be vnderstand that the Priuileges and superiorites which Byshoppes haue aboue other ministers are rather graunted by manne for maintaining of better order and quietnesse in commen wealthes then commaunded by God in his word Ministers haue better knowledge and vtteraunce some than other but their ministerye is of equal dignitye Gods commission and commaundement is like and indifferent to all Priest Byshop Archbyshop Prelate by what name so euer he be called goe and teach baptisinge in the name of the father the Son and the holye ghost And againe whose sinnes so euer ye forgeue they are forgeuen and what soe-euer ye loose in earth it is loosed in heauen c. Likewise the Lordes supper by whom soeuer being lawfully called it be ministred it is of lyke strength power and holines Saint Paule calles the Elders of Ephesus together and sais the holy ghost made them Byshops to rule the Church of god he writes also to the Byshops of Philippos meaninge the Ministers for neyther Ephesus nor Philippos were so great townes but one lytle Byshopricke is a greater compasse of ground than they needed not manye Byshops therefore this diuersitye of absoluing sinnes inuented by idle braines that a simple Priest maye absolue some small ones other greater belonge to the Byshop Tharchbyshop clames an other higher sort the rest and fowlest sort pertein to Popes and Cardinals as the fathers maintainers of them these I say are so foolish childish to beleue that I think it not nedeful to speake of theÌ„ they are not grounded on Gods word therfore must nedes be vntrue and not to be credited because our faith hangs only on the holy scripture greadye couetousnes to enriche theÌ„selues hais inuented these as also the rest of their supersticion whiche they tearme religion Saint Ierom in his commentarye on the. i. Chapter ad Tit sais that a Byshoppe and a Priest is all one and in hys Epystle ad Euagrium he sayes that the Byshop wher so euer he be he is of the same power and Priesthoode Rome makes him not better nor Englande makes him worse A Byshop is a name of office labour and paynes rather then of dignytye ease welth or ydlenes The word Episcopus is Greke and signifies a Scoutwatche an ouerloker or Spie because he shoulde euer be watching and warning that the deuill our enemye do not enter to spoyle or destroy And as in warre the watchemen Scoutes or Spies yf they fall on slepe or be negligent they betraye their felowes and deserue death so in Gods Church if the Byshops watch not diligentlye and saue their sheepe God hais pronouÌ„ced sentens of death against them by his Prophet I made thee a watche man to the house of Israel sais the Lord thou shall heare the word of my mouth and declare it them from me If I say to the wicked thou wicked thou shalt die and thou wilte not warne hym to take hede to his way he shall die in his wickednes but his bloude I will require of thee But I thinke the holy Byshops he crakes so much of haue their callynge of the Dutche name that signifies byts shepe rather than of the Greke that teaches to saue sheepe by his painefull diligence If they were not to muche blinded in their owne folyshnes they might see in the last subsidye graunted in the tyme of their owne raygne that they graunt those to be their betters aboue theym from whence they receyue their autority The Parliament geues theym and their Collectours power to suspend depryue and interdite
consent of the nobles and Prelates to Rome after him to declare the matter and accuse him of disobeying the kinge troublinge the Realme and the Clergye and of periurye in not kepinge the lawes whiche he sware to first The Embassadours ware Roger Archebysshoppe of Yorke Gilbert Byshoppe of London Roger Byshoppe of Worceter Hilary Byshop of Chichester Baâ—tholmewe Byshoppe of Eretor the erle of Arundel with many other noble men and clerkes Their orations wherein they accuse this holye traitour be there in print seuerallye and somewhat long to recite but iudge indifferentlie whan so many Byshops and the Erle accuse Thom. Becket afore the Pope so earnestly whither we be to blame to accuse him nowe Theffect of the Byshop of Londons oration to the Pope and Cardinals was this and the other byshops â—rations are like Fathers the care of the Churche belonges to you that they whiche be wise might be cherished by you and they that be vnwise might be corrected that they might be wise but he is not thoughte wise to youre wisedomes that trustes in hys owne wysedome and goes about to trouble the peace of his brether the king Of late there fell a debate in England betwiâ—t the Kynge and the Clergye for a light cause whyche myght haue bene easelye buryed yf a gentyll medicyne had bene ministred but the Byshoppe of Eantorb vsynge hys owne will and not oures was to earnest not consyderinge what harme might come by suche headines And bicause he could not get our consent he wente aboute to cast the faute of his rashnes on oure Lorde the Kynge and the Realme and that he might deface oure brotherlye loue he flees awaye no man compellinge him as it is writen in the Psal. The wicked flees wheÌ„ no man persecutes him The other Byshoppe and Erle folowe with like or more vehement wordes Whan kinge Egfride had maried Etheldrede and shee had rather liue a virgin than do the dutie of a wyfe the kinge desyred Saint Wilfride to counsell his wife to do her duty the Byshoppe woulde not but rather encoraged her diuorced her made her a Nunne and the kinge maried another whiche counsell of Wilfride was plaine contrarye to S. Paule sayinge The woman hais not power of her owne bodye but the manne for she can not depart from her husbande without licens and but for a time God kepe vs from suche holy Byshops Polychro lib. v. ca. xxii declares a knot of these his holye fathers Aldelme firste Priest than abbot and lastly a Byshop whan he â–ª was tempted in the flesh toke a faire wenche into bed with him while he might saye the Psalter and yet wold not mary lib. vii ca. ii Walter Byshop of Ertford was slain by a woman whiche goored him in the coddes with her sheares because he woulde haue rauyshed her Ca. xi Walter Byshoppe of Durram made women to serue him the munks at the table with their hear hanginge downe where fewe scaped their handes ca. xii Giraldus Byshop of Yorke was sais he a lecherous man and a witche O holye fathers I trust who so euer considers these things wel wil iudge the holynes of these good bisshoppes on whom he glories so muche The rest of the Byshoppes whyche he names be such like and bicause he speakes not muche of them I will let theim passe for they be no better and oute of the same worshipful history ye shal read of them because no learned manne hais thought mete to loose his time in commendinge suche They lyued all sins the conquest not v. C. yeare sins all made Saintes and promoted by the Pope and he by theym therefore they must neede maintaine his doinges and he theirs I woulde not haue blotted so muche paper with so muche wickednes nor filled your eares and eyes with such filthines but that he prouoked me to it and cals that good which is euil and light darknes The rest be no better In euery Bishopricke ye shal finde some byshoppes that were ennemies to the Pope and his doinges in that blind age In Lincolne Robert grosshead appealed from the Pope to Iesus Christ and wrote diuers good bookes against manye his doinges Ranolde Pecocke of Chichester was condemned in the xxvi yeare of Henrye vi for this newe learninge and specially for saying that a generall counsell and the church may erre in religion In the late dayes of poperye were burned fiue byshops and fiue bannished let them shewe so many byshops that sufferd within this thousand yeare for their God the Pope and they might haue some shewe of honesty for theÌ„ It is a rare thing to see a byshop die for religion and specially a Papist Seynge they reforme religion so swell as they saye it were mete â–ª as they forsake the religion that their predecessours vsed as masse matins ministracion of sacraments tht they shuld also forsake houses parks lands and reuenewes that their predecessours hadde and go from place to place for gods sake and preach If nothinge els this one sayinge will proue him a dissembinge liynge Hipocrite All the worlde knowes that the greatest faute and readiest that they haue to lay against the Gospel time is that Churche landes and liuinges are taken from spirituall menne and bestowed on other and of this thing he complaines hymselfe in manifest woordes hereafter Therfore it is manifest that he woulde not haue the byshops to giue away their landes seing he complaines of the takynge it awaye but he woulde so faine finde a faute in the newe bysshoppes that rather than he find none he wil shew him self a foole in blaming them wherein they deserue it not and which be thinkes to be no faut in dede Why they forsake their masse and mattins is sufficiently declared afore For their houses parkes and landes why some few that haue any such do not forsake them that be left there is good reason but why other some haue them not that they might forsake theym if they shoulde I feare their popishe predecessours haue prouided to wel for them against reason They keepe house and such lands as they can get because they be not Anabaptistes nor heretyckes thinkynge it not to be lawfull for them so to doe for Goddes good creatures are ordeined to serue Gods good ministers and also because they bee not so supersticious as the obseruants freers which thought themselues so holye that they might not handle money They remember also that Godde commaundes them to kepe hospitalitie to their power bicause by this meanes it may the better be done they do not refuse it althoughe gredilye they doe not desire it The Prince also and commen welth desires a seruice of them whiche they can not so wel performe without these but chefely for the maintenance of learning which is so decayed almost remedilesse and so litle hope to recouer it if these helpes be cleane taken away that extreme blind ignoraunce is like to folow this age Looke into the