did in Iurie and is in our time come to passe in Barbarie In some other place he doth so destroy that yet hee leaueth there some little trace and token of a church as now we may see in al Graecia and in some other places also more neare to vs. Sometimes also the Lorde doeth cut off the personal succession of Pastors by the fault corruption negligence and sluggishnesse of the Pastors themselues or by such violence as is vsed against those pastors which are good Of the firste wee may take example of the church of Antioche in which Samosatenus an euill heretike did thorowe corruption and ouersight succeede good fathers going before him Of the seconde the church of Alexandria may giue vs an example out of which when good Athanasius was banished Arians did succeed The like is to be seene also in moe other churches by him that will marke the histories of the church Such a cutting off and breaking of personall succession was euen in the church of Rome more than once or twise As when Honorius the first of that name being Pope and Bishoppe there was condemned for partaking with the horrible heresie of Eutiches about the yeare of our Lorde 623. And when Iohn the xxii of that name was by a general coūcel condēned for heresie Likewise was the personal successiō cut off in Rome when that womā Pope Anno Do. 854. whom in her popedome they called Iohn who before was called Agnes was Bishoppe of Rome as Ioannes Chemensis Episcopus doeth report in his booke intituled Onus Ecclesiae So was it cutt off also in the person of Siluester the seconde and of Gregorie the seuenth and in a number of such necromanticall Popes Likewise it was cut off in the times of the romish schismes and when schismaticall Popes who were in those schismes helde the helme and did sit as they say in Peters chaire when Pope was against Pope euen in Rome one Pope cursing an other Pope chalenging to each of them Peters chaire that for the space of many yeares And sometimes they all that thus chalenged were turned out of the seat of Rome and that by decree of a generall councel As at Constance three Popes were vnpoped at once and at Basill one This proueth sufficiently the of cutting of the personall succession in the Popes and Bishoppes of Rome To this also may be added the tragedies which Pope played against Pope from the time of pope Formosus which was about the yeare 893. vntill the time of Pope Leo the viii of that name The wise reader shal easily perceiue how Pope sought to cutt off Pope both in person and proceedings one condemning that which an other had decreed besides cruelties exercised on the bodyes of some of them being deade This schisme in the church of Rome is noted haue bene verie long therewith most cruell So that if there were want of other helpes the Popes themselues haue holpen vs plentifully to see how the personall succession in the church of Rome hath beene cut off by Popes themselues The cruel and popelike tragedies in Rome doe so displease the Papistes themselues that one of them Fascicul temp writing the history of this time bursteth out into this exclamation O most cursed times Nauclet to 2. And one other hath it in horror to report howe many things were wickedly done by no fewer thā 28. popes one succeeding an other Let the godly reader also wey what cutting of ther was of this personall succession whē by the pott of poyson Pope after pope was cutt off by that cunning poysoner Brazutus which yet at the length made some stay in one of the worst that euer did sit at Rome Gregorie the seuenth as no lesse man of credite than a Cardinall doth write Beno So that if either cutting off persons or cutting off the doctrines degres of popes may bee taken to bee a cutting off the personall succession in Rome then was it cutt off many yeares since Therefore without looking to this personal successiō which doth oftē and by many occasions faile a godly christian may full well know the true church of Christ And so shall he doe if hee will obserue when and where the true doctrine of God is taught and the syncere administration of the holy Sacramentes is obserued They are to be taken for the successors of the Apostles which being lawefully called to this ministerie do build vpon the foundation of the Apostles and doe enter into their labours whether they haue among thē a personal succession in perpetuitie or that it hath bene cut off for a time or that themselues bee the first that preach the Gospell in the place to which they are called to exercise the office of a true minister of Christes church And on the contrary part those pastors in place which do not preach the gospell of God at all or which in steade of preaching the doctrine of the Apostles do preach their own doctrine by themselues inuented though they doe alleadge a thousand of their predecessors which folowed one an other in personall succession yet are they not to bee taken for true pastors but are wolues and so to be takē neither are they nor can they be reputed nor taken to bee the true pastors of Christs church how largly soeuer they account of personall succession His worde is not in their mouthes neither are the congregations which are misseled with such wolues to bee taken to bee the true church of Christ For the true church of Christ doeth not heare the voyce of a stranger But this misseled church doeth both heare and receiue the voyce of a straunger and straunge doctrines They haue not the worde of Christ taught They wil not heare it neither will they haue his holy Sacramentes syncerely administred to them If any man wil aske whether it be lawful for euery mā that wil of his own priuate authoritie to preach the gospell to minister the holy sacramentes I aunswere no truely For all thinges in the house of God must be done in good and comely order as the Apostle doth teach vs. 1. Cor. 14. Who then will you say are the verie true pastors and teachers Euen they which are lawfully called to that office and doe it faithfully Now then we must knowe what a lawfull calling is There is a forme Of calling or maner of calling ordinarie Ther is also a form or maner of calling extraordinarie That is rightly ordinarie in which that order is obserued which God hath established in his worde and church In this order is first right assigning of men to do the office truly to which by the worde of God they are called Then a triall must be had of their habilitie in doctrine and examination of life Then a lawfull election or choosing Last of all followeth the imposition of handes This is to be seene by the example of the practise of the Apostles themselues For so was Mathias
feeble a slender ground For we shal find the determinations of councells which are called the church representatiue one contrarie to an other as by conference of them together it will appeare Herevnto I will adde this reason Iesus Christe is hee whome all the true Prophetes honoured for as their Lorde he did send thē and yet they are not aboue him but he aboue them notwithstāding he doth approue his doctrin by their testimonies S. Paul suffereth the Bereites to do the like with his doctrin Act. 17. S. Peter prayseth greatly this kinde of doing 2. Pet. 1.19 Therefore they which doe call themselues the Vicars of Iesus Christ the successors of Saint Peter and Paul may not refuse this condition To this purpose serueth that which Hierome writeth We must not sayth he followe the errours of fathers nor of auncestours But wee must follow the authorite of the holy scriptures And Chrysostome writing vppon the 14. Lib. 2. in lir cap. 9. chapter of the gospell of Sainte Mathewe saith That hee which will knowe which is the true Church of Christ when thinges are in confusion through likelihoode hee must knowe it by the scriptures And in the same place vppon these wordes Hom. 49. Let them which are in Iurie flee vnto the mountaines he saith Let them which are in the christianitie retire and drawe them selues to the holy scriptures For when the time is such that heresie doeth possesse the Churches so that one cannot haue by or in the church any sure or certaine tryall to prooue which is true christianitie there can bee no other refuge to such christians as are desirous of the christian faith but only to the scriptures whosoeuer then will not know which is the true church of Christe how shal he know it but only by the holy scriptures saith this ancient father Againe he saith The Lord knowing that great confusion should come in the later dayes doth commaund that the christians which doe desire to take some holde of true faith should haue their refuge to nothing but to the holy scriptures For otherwise if they will haue regard to other thinges they shall be offended and perishe not vnderstāding which is the true church and so shall fall into the abhomination of desolation which wil hold it self in the holy place of the Church An other olde greek writer Basil I do meane in the nienth Summe of his moralls Cap. 22. saith If all that which is not of faith be sinne as the Apostle saith and faith commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God then all that which is out of the diuine holy scripture is sinne Againe in a Sermon which hee maketh of the confession of faith If God be faithfull in all his purposes and his cōmandementes be sure for euer being done in trueth and right it is manifestly to turne from the faith and a sinne of pride to throwe any thing away of that which is written or to bring in any thing which is not written Thus much in answere to that which our Romish rufflers do bellowe for their church the power and glorie thereof And to shewe what a christian may and ought safely to thinke of the church and how to giue humble credit to the holy scriptures and to giue to them their due authoritie To this Oration made and pronounced in that Colloquie had at Poyssi by that singular instrument and seruant of God Theodore Beza the Papistes and their capitayne the Cardinall did not reply For I thinke they had not the hartes to withstand the trueth Yea they were so far from denying of it that euen then and there their chiefe doctor Despense was in approbation thereof content to saye that hee did allowe that in generall which was sayde in this Oration of the church and saide that hee had alwayes taken this for a wicked blasphemie that some doe say that The church is aboue the holy scriptures But touching that which was in this oration saide of the ordinarie succession of Pastors hee was not yet fully satisfied He added that he did not take the pastors of the Churches reformed by the Gospell to be lawfull ministers because they had not the handes laide on them by the Bishops To this the doctor was aunswered then Impositiō of handes and thus That there are markes of the lawfull calling of Pastors of which some are substantiall and may not bee omitted others may Substantiall things not to bee omitted are these First that the person admitted into the ministerie bee appointed to doe that office wich is enioyned the minister of Christ in his church by the worde of God which is to preach truely the doctrin of Iesus and sincerely to administer the holy sacramentes Agayne that before his admission he bee tryed and examined howe fitt and able hee is to doe this worke of the Lorde and so he must by tryall be founde able in doctrine and of a godly conuersation of life Thirdly that then hee be chosen to the office by forme and order of a lawefull election But as touching imposition of hands it doth concerne but an externe forme and serueth as it were but to put him in possession and vse of the holy ministerie it doth not make him a minister it is not of any such force Hierome writing against the Luciferians saith expressely that the imposition of handes is not of necessitie prescribed by the law but it is a certaine honour done to the priesthoode Eliah and Samuel did both of them sacrifice and yet did not any of the ordinary priestes lay their handes on them It may be further saide in answere that if the romish maisters now wil needs haue vs to receiue impositiō of hands of them or else they will not take vs to be lawfull ministers they muste shew first that them selues are right and lawfull ministers of the gospell of Iesus But that they cannot do For touching their institution it is as strange and vnknowne to the gospell as was the institution of the priestes of Ieroboams calues strange to lawe of God For the Romish priests are instituted to haue authoritie to offer sacrifice to God and to say masse for the quick and the dead as the Popes Pontifical beareth record and that in the name of the lord say they But the Popish Pontificall doeth herein greatly abuse the name of the Lord. For the Lord God doeth not in the whole newe Testament ordeyne any such kinde of sacrifizing or massing Priestes And therefore the order of the Popish priesthood is as farre wide from the gospell as the calues of Ieroboam were from the lawe of God and his priestes frō the Lords priestes Now in the execution of that office which the Priestes in poperie pretende to haue and to exercise they doe likewise depart from the trueth For they preach not the gospell of Iesus but the deuises of men contrarie to the doctrin of Iesus They do not administer his holy sacraments
chosen So were the Deacons chosen And hereto do those rules serue which S. Paul doth giue in his Epistles writē to Timothie and to Titus touching the admission of church ministers You see nowe what the ordinarie calling is out of which we may easily gather what the extraordinary calling or vocation is which hauing an authoritie from God is lawfull notwithstanding that one or two pointes appertayning to an ordinarie calling bee wanting in it The Lord hath oftentimes vsed the seruice of men called to the ministerie of the word by such an extraordinary calling as appeareth by the holy scriptures Moses had no ordinarie calling by men Iirmiah Ionas had none Daniel Amos and diuerse other of the Prophetes had no ordinarie calling by men and yet the Lord God called these men such like to the ministerie of the word whē they which kept the place of the ordinary calling did abuse the same Thē I say then God vsed to lay to his hand extraordinarily to the worke which they that had their ordinarie calling did not onely neglecte but bring into ruine Thus the Lord god himself did and yet he did not bring any disorder or confusion into his house by this meane But thus did he to correct and reforme that confusiō disorder which was brought into his house by them which vnder the colour of ordinarie succession did ouerthrowe all good order peruerted it This doth the writings of the prophets witnes in which the priests are chiefely reproued If you will say that the men whome the Lorde did thus call extraordinarily had yet some outwarde miraculous testimonie of this their heauenly calling It is so in deed of some but it was not so in all I doe not finde that many of the Prophets did come of the race of Aaron nor that the ordinarie imposition of handes was layde vppon them Nor that they testified their vocation and calling by working straung signes and miracles If you will say that these prophetes teachers which had this extraordinarie calling did content themselues with that part of the church office which is to teach and to reprooue but they did not meddle with the sacrifices This is not altogether true For Samuel who was not of the stock of Aaron 1. Sam. 7. did sacrifice in Mizpah as it is written And Eliah beeing a Galaadite did sacrifice in Carmel 1. Reg. 18. Again it is no maruel if the prophets of that time did not extende their commission of their extraordinary calling to circumcise and sacrifice for that was the charge and priuiledge then expressely committed to the stock of Leui for that time Thus you heare what is the church and what bee the markes thereof and what is to bee thought of the vocation or calling of the Pastors and teachers of the church And thus doe wee at this present approue our christian church the ministers thereof by the rule of Gods word Tom. 4. fol. 160. And in this behalfe doth that make for vs which Augustine writeth in his booke of 65. questions and in the last question where he teacheth that wee shall knowe that he is sent of God who is not chosen by the flatterie of a fewe men but he whō life good manners and the doing of the Apostolike Priests do commend who seeketh not to be aloft but to be profitable to others Of the authoritie of the church Nowe let vs come to the authoritie of the church and speake a little thereof It doth appeare by that which is said before that wee do not take away any thing of those high and glorious titles whiche the holy ghost doeth giue vnto it We say that it is the body of Christ but so that part thereof is yet in pilgrimage looking for the full inioying of the heade Iesus Christ This is the house of God which hee doth dayly builde so that it groweth stil more and more It is gouerned by the spirit of God stil fighting against the fleshe It is purified but so that it is by little and little brought towards that perfection of beauty in which is neither blemish nor I pot It knoweth God truely but yet in part In which kinde of speaches I doe vse the very wordes of the holy scripture Out of this Church is no saluation For life and saluation is no where else but in Christ Iesus alone and onely neither doeth the Lorde Iesus powre foorth his quickning power grace but onely vpon his owne members The vnion and assembling of them together in their head Iesus is called and is the true church of Christ If you aske me whether this church being in this worlde can erre and whether it be in authority aboue the holy scripture or else it be subiecte to the holy word of God Howe the Church may erre To the first I answere that it is out of doubt that the members of the church counting each one by himselfe in particular may erre And that there are of them which do erre in doctrine maners of life For they knowe but in part 1. Cor. 13. as S. Paul saith And Iohn saith 1. Iohn 1. If we do say that we haue no sinne we do deceiue our selues And in this number we may and do recken the olde doctors For many faultes are to be founde in them and therefore they are not to be receiued in al things without exception Thus doe we thinke of the members of the church in particular whose imperfections doe not so prevaile but that of them knitte together in trueth is made a true church For they do by little and little growe and goe forwarde in the knowledge of God and of his trueth and holinesse of life But if wee will consider the partes of the Church more generally as it is diuided into diuerse Diocesses and Prouinces we say playnely that it may erre Card. Lotha It is also confessed by one of the chiefe capitaines standing for the Pope his Lorde that particular churches and prouinciall Synodes may erre and haue oftentimes erred Which thing long experience hath prooued true Let vs then consider the church in the vniuersalitie thereof which is as some say considered in that it is in a generall councell represented There is no cause why we shoulde thinke that all the power and giftes which the holy ghost doeth bestowe vpon the vniuersall church shoulde be restrayned to a certaine number of prelates gathered together in a generall councell which are not alwayes the best learned nor the best men which are in the whole chuch although they doe there represent the whole multitude of them which did sende them thither For it falleth out often times that a simple man shal be founde to haue better vnderstanding than the greatest man in the whole assembly Panormitan Which caused one famous Canonist to write vppon the chapter Significasti tit de Electionibus that sometime more credite is to be giuen to one priuate man beeing a