speake in defence of her maiesties supremacie in causes ecclesiasticall and her booke of common prayer then disobediently to inueigh against them This ought not to be my good bretheren and countrimen of England and therefore now at the last for our better agréement let vs rather giue eareto the Apostle who in most louing and charitable manner exhorteth vs to cease all bitter contention and studie to be quiet it becommeth not the seruants of God to be contentious neither to séeme wise in their owne conceites but peaceable vnto all men If you bite and deuoure one another saith he take héede lest you be consumed one of an other Let euery soule therefore in the feare of God humbly submit him selfe vnto the authoritie of the higher powers not onely for feare of vengeance but also because of conscience knowing that whosoeuer resisteth power resisteth the ordinance of God The authoritie of Princes and duetie of Christian subiectes THe ciuil magistrate is a minister armed with lawes and sworde appointed of God as a nurse to the Church and a father to the common wealth to defend the guiltlesse punish the guiltie execute iustice and kéepe outward discipline as well in causes ecclesiasticall as temporall Moyses a temporall Magistrate receiued the whole order of religion at Gods hand and deliuered it vnto the people and sharpely chastised Aaron the Priest for making the golden calfe Dauid brought home the Arke and restored religion which Saule had destroyed Salomon remoued Abiather the Bishop and appointed Zadock in his stead Ezekias brake the brasen serpent when he saw the people fall downe to worship it It is therefore the duetie of euery good Christian subiect obediently to submit him selfe vnto all publike gouernment and ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the king or those that be set in authoritie vnder him not onely touching ciuill policie in the common wealth but also external discipline decencie ceremonies orders rites fashions in the Church which are not particularly expressed in the holy scriptures but left generally as thinges indifferent to the disposition of the same whereof the prince next vnder God is supreame head at whose commandemeÌ„t they are to be vsed and refused as time place both require according to the Apostle Let al things be done after a decent order Hereunto agréeth the saying of S. Augustine In his rebus de quibus nihil certi statuit scriptura diuina mos populi dei vel instituta maiorum pro lege tenenda sunt And in another place quod neque contra fidem neque contra mores iniungitur indifferenter est habendum pro eorum inter quos viuitur societate seruandum Notwithstanding if the magistrate shall command any thing against the substance of religion concerning matters of faith doctrine remission of sinnes and eternall faluation we ought then with Peter and Iohn rather to obey God then man The Prince is but Gods inferiour officer and if God command one thing and the prince another the higher is alwaies to be obayed before the lower so Daniel prayed and Peter preached contrarie to the magistrates precept and as the Lacedemonians being conquered of their enimies were commanded certain things against their religion no quoth they we had rather dye then be commanded things harder then death So our bodies lands and goodes are at the commandement of our Casâ—r but our soules and consciences partaine to God only But for asmuch as our gracious Soueraigne is a most vertuous godly christian Princesse a most faithful professor and louing imbracer of the Gospel of Christ without halting in any one point of religioÌ„ being so prouident to preserue it so careful to defend it and so desirous to haue all her louing subiects learne and vse it as to resist her Maiesties procéedings is to resist against God himselfe Of the office titles aud dignities of Bishops and Archbishops TOuching the honourable titles and dignities of our Bishops I wonder why they should séeme offensiue to any séeing I partly knowe by that which I haue read and great Clearkes haue taught that the best and most principall pillers of the Church since the time of Christ vntill this day haue taken the same vpon them The Apostle himselfe setteth downe the office of a Bishop and I doe finde in Ecclesiasticall Histories that Iames was Bishop of Ierusalem Peter of Antioch and Marke of Alexandria We must weigh and consider the order of the Lordes procéedings in his Church from time to time and make a difference betwéene the infancie and strength of the same As first vnto the children of Israel Moyses was sent onely with a rodde in his hand and had Aaron giuen him for his mouth When the people were deliuered from the bondage of Egypt and came into the wildernesse Moyses by the counsell of Iethro his father in lawe appoynted Captaines ouer hundrethes fifties and tennes When the lawe was giuen the Arke and ornaments thereunto belonging with ceremonies sacrifices the Priestes office and garments was ordained And after the people were setled in the land of promise were kings and prophets appointed So when Christ himselfe was sent downe from his father hee made choyce of his Apostles who after his ascention according to their commission went foorth and preached through the whole worlde ordained Elders and Deacons in euerie congregation And after when the Church grewe to more ripenesse were Bishops appointed to haue the charge and ouersight of the rest And as it appeareth by the Apostle himselfe there was great difference betwéene a Bishop and an Elder the Bishop was taught not sharply to reprehend an Elder but gently to admonish him and to receiue no accusation against him vnder two or thrée witnesses but we reade not that the Elders were permitted to reprehend or receiue accusation against a Bishop And as for Archbishop Patriarke or Metropolitan being titles of equall degrée they are verie auncient euen since the time of the Primatiue Church as before is mentioned But say some they were not called Lorde Bishops sure I thinke so because the people of those countries could speake no English but rather in the Lattin tongue Domini which signifieth Sir or Lord. The Elders that rule well saith the Apostle are worthie of double honour especially they which labour in the worde and teaching And why should we be more curious in yéelding vnto our godly and reuerend Bishops those titles of honour then Hanna a figure of the Church was in giuing the same vnto Ely the high Priest who perceiuing her lippes to moue and her voice not hard thought she had beene drunke Not so my Lord quoth she I haue drunke neither wine nor strong drinke I am a woman of a sorrowfull heart and haue poured out my soule before the Lord. Againe when that good man Obadia ruler
AS the vngratefull Iewes of an obstinate blindnesse had most cruelly persecuted and condemned to the crosse that pure guiltlesse innocent the onely Sauiour and Redéemer of the world so after his triumphant Resurrection and glorious Ascention the spitefull heathen Emperours of Rome hauing the whole power and iurisdiction of all Asia Affrica and Europe in their hands intending vtterly to abolish his name and extinguish his religion for euer as before they had crucified the heade sought still by all meanes possible with most grieuous afflictions painefull torments and horrible kinds of death to persecute his poore dispersed members for the space of 300. yeares together till the Lord of his fatherly affection taking pitie of his poore dispersed flocke raised vp that godly and famous instrument Constantine the great After their long and lamentable troubles to snaffle Satan and set them in quiet rest and safetie This Constantine the first Christian Emperour to confute the infectious heresies of Arrius with his pestilent Disciples and to set an vniforme order in the Church assembled at Nicene a Citie of Bithinia a generall councell of 318 graue and learned Bishops himselfe being present where it was decréed that the vniuersall Church should be deuided into foure Prouinces and foure chiefe Bishops Patriarkes or Metropolitans to be heaâ—-Pastours and gouernours of the same Namely the Patriarke of Rome of Alexandria of Ierusalem and of Antioch and after in stead of Antioch came in Constantinople and so long as the Church was gouerned in this order though in outward rites and ceremonies there was some difference yet so well they agréed in one Catholike doctrine as it mightily increased and flourished till Sathan the authour of mischiefe had so greatly infected the minde of Iohn Archbishop of Constantinople as at length he presumed to chalenge vnto himselfe the proude title of vniuersall Bishop Pope or Arch-father assembling a councell to establish and ratifie his throne But Gregoris then Patriarke of Rome affirmed him in his chalenge to bée no other but the forerunner of Antichrist alledging the saying of Chrysostome Quicunque episcoporum primatum in terra desiderabit confusionem in coelis reperiet Untill the death of this Gregorie the basest of all the Bishops before him and the best of all that came after him the Sea of Rome remayned in some reasonable order not presuming to exalt her selfe aboue her sister-Churches till Boniface the third succéeding in that sea within thrée yeares after his decease obtained of Phocas that wicked vsurper who of a common souldier by consenting traiterously to murther Mauritius his soueraigne with his wife and sonne aspired to the Empire that he and all his successours should bée called supreme head of the vniuersall Church The same title which his predecessour had left for Antichrist At which time as it is written was heard a voyce in the ayre saying Hodiè venenum infusum est Ecclesiae Afterwardes through the liberalitie of good Princes especially one Mathilda a noble Dutchesse in Italie who made the sea of Rome heire of all her landes and reuenues the Bishops beganne to growe in wealth and prosperitie and the more they flourished in the worlde the more they swelled in pompe and pride And the more they shut vp and swelled the more Gods holie spirite forsooke them till at last they had cast of the lawes of Simon Peter and were become in conditions and manners like Simon Magus Caiphas and Iudas so as that which was ordeyned to bring men vnto God was made an occasion of falling from God for riches begat ambition and ambition destroyed religion or after S. Augustine Religio peperit diuitias filia deuorauit matrem Nowe to open the filthie detestable doings of that Romish rabble from the time of their first corruption what superstition they practised what heresies they taught what hypocrisie they vsed what vice they maintayned and what bloudie warres they raised setting Princes together by the eares and the sonne agaynst the father woulde not onely loath honest natures but also infect the verie ayre Some Popes came in by Simonie some by Negromancie and some by poysoning It is written howe Siluester the second a sorcerer gaue himselfe to the deuill conditionally that hée would helpe him to be Pope Iohn the thirtéenth was noted for a wicked person euen from his youth namely a whooremonger and a cruell tyrant Of some of his Cardinals hee pulled out their eyes of some he cut out their tongues and of some their noses He made the Palace of Laterane a Stewes committed incest with two of his owne sisters and in the ende being taken in adulterie with a mans wife was slaine of her husband Iohn the thrée and twentieth had these crimes prooued agaynst him that hée was an heretike an hypocrite an inchanter a murtherer that hee had hyred a Physition to poyson the Emperour and was therefore by the Councell of Constance deposed Iohn the two and twentieth and Clement the seuenth were ranke heretikes openly denying the immortalitie of the soule In the space of nine yeares was nine Popes one hoysting another out of his place Againe thrée Popes raigning and raging at once as Benedict the first Siluester the third and Gregorie the sixt Though the Pharisies were not to bée followed yet were they to bée heard but the Romish rabble whose doctrine standeth chiefly vpon lying visions and prodigious fables are neither to be followed nor heard the effect whereof is this That it is possible for man to kéepe the law That all actes of charitie deserue eternall life That the woorkes of Friers do merit Paradice That Saints can by their merits saue all men that pray vnto them That whosoeuer is buried in Saint Frances habit is deliuered from the paines of Purgatorie That our Ladie by her virginitie can saue all women that call vpon her attributing vnto her that which in Dauids Psalmes is spoken of the father and the sonne In thée oh Ladie haue I trusted haue mercie vpon me oh Ladie The Lorde saide vnto my Ladie sit thou on my right hande c. The absolution they gaue to their penitentiaries is in this maner The passion of Christ and the merits of the blessed virgine Marie Saint Peter Saint Paul and all other hée Saints and shée Saints of Paradice be vnto thée in remission of thy sinnes In these and such like dependeth their whole religion Thus was the worde of God neglected true religion defaced the right way to saluation abolished and vice vnder a shew of vertue maintained For vnder a cloke of professed pouertie they possessed the riches of all lands Under a shadow of being dead to y e world they ruled it at their pleasure Under the colour of hearing the keyes of heauen and hell they crept both into mens purses and their consciences And like as the Scribes and Pharssies in bragging so highly of the Temple of the Lord destroyed
the Church of Rome to be the whore of Babylon and the Pope and his Cardinals Antichrist for which they with diuers others for the like offence were committed to the fire and burnt to ashes The ruine of that proude Sea was long ago prophecied by a parable of a certaine bird who being deckt and adorned with the fethers of all other birds in the fielde became so hautie proude and disdainefull that shée fell to pounce and beate the rest of her fellowes whereupon assembling together they agreed with one consent that euerie one shoulde take againe his owne feathers and so leaue her naked Theodorius Bishop of Croatia in the yeare of our Lord 1380. did prophecie that the Sea of Rome which was so horriblie polluted with Simonie and auarice should bee vtterly subuerted and ouerthrowne for euer and that the true Church should flourish Hereunto agréeth an olde prophesie in these wordes Papa citò moritur Caesar regnabit vbique Et subitò vani cessabunt gaudia cleri Pope Leo the tenth creating in one day thirtie and one Cardinalles at which time fell such grieuous tempest thunder and lightning as in the same Church where they were created the image of Iesus was violently remooued out of his mothers lappe and the keyes out of Saint Peters hand which many did interpret to foreshew the subuersion of that proud sea The Hebrew doctors or Rabbins affirme that in the same night that Israel came out of Egypt all the Idolatrous temples of that countrie by earthquakes and lightnings were destroyed When Lot was departed out of Sodome by fire and brimstone it was vtterly consumed And so shall Antichristes Idoles of errour Go out of Babylon oh my people sayth the voyce of the Lord that you be not partakers of her plagues for her sinnes are gone vp to heauen and god hath remembred her wickednesse All that will liue godly sayeth Mantuan bee packing from Rome for there all things are lawfull but to be good it is not lawfull About the time of Saint Briget one Iohn Hilton an English man did prophesie that in the yere 1516 one should come and vtterly subuert all Monkerie In like maner Iohn Hus and Ierome of Prage beeing condemned to the fire by the councell of Constance for inueying against the abuses in the Church of Rome at the place of their execution did prophecie that after an hundred yeares were come and gone their enemies should yéeld account to God them Which thrée prophesies were verefied by Luther who began to write in the yeare of Saluation 1516. iust an hundred yeares after These with many other faithfull witnesses haue boldly both preached and written against that sinke of sinne the sea of Antichrist painting out those Romish wolues in their colours yet could they neuer preuaile till the comming of Luther who as the rest had touched only their filthie liuing he goeth on further and reprooueth their supersticious doctrine not séeking the man but shaking the seate It chanced that Leo the tenth vnder the pretence of warre agaynst the Turke had sent out his pardons into all Realmes christened perswading the people that whosoeuer would giue ten shillings should at his pleasure deliuer one soule out of purgatorie but one dodkin lesse thē ten shillings would profite nothing Wherevpon this famous and swéete mouthed hound taking then his fit occasion so hunted his Bull as vtterly spoyled his sale so tossed his seate as it could neuer stand steddie after and set his triple crowne so farre awrie as it will neuer be set straight againe Shortly after began to rowse our noble and valiant Lion of England Henrie the eight of famous memorie who taking his borespeare in hand vncoopling his trustie kenell of English houndes our godly and learned prelates well taught to choose and hunt their game so coursed that venemous Dragon pearsed his bodie razed his holdes and defaced his dennes as inforced him with vncurable wounds to retire to the sinke from whence hee came Who yéelding at length his debt due vnto nature left off his line that godly and valiant Champion Prince Edwarde who as eager and couragious as his father pursued with might and maine that gréeuous enemie to Christ and his Gospell till vntimely death to Englands wo beréeued vs of that woorthie and precious iewell After whose decease for our sinnes no doubt that bloudie monster according to his woonted manner began afresh to rouse and rage agaynst the poore members of Christ persecuting his truth and putting out againe the light of our soules Till at the last it pleased the Lorde in his mercy to send vnto vs that chosen vessell that famous woonder of the worlde that noble Lionesse of the right royall race of the English Princes Elizabeth his faythfull annoynted handmayde our gratious souereigne Quéene and Mistresse Whose very name the seuenth of God the rest of God and fulnesse of the othe of God doeth signifie vnto vs that as the blessings of God were accomplished in Henoch the seuenth from Adam and Dauid the seuenth sonne of Isay so in our Elizabeth borne in the seuenth moneth of the yeare and seuenth day of the wéeke our Christian Sabboth the Lorde will performe the fulnesse of his othe and promise which he sware vnto our fathers in heaping the treasure of his mercies vpon those that feare and loue him and execute the terrour of his iustice on those that hate and loath him Being the seuenth vertuous Prince since William the Conquerour in whom as in a mirrour of vertue doe rest the fortitude of Iosua with noble Henry the second The magnanimity of Gedeon with valiant Edward the third The triumphant victories of Machabeus with inuincible Henrie the fift The prudēt wisdome of Salomon with her good grandfather Henrie the seuenth The zealous affection of Ezechias with her noble father Henrie the eight And the godly deuotion of Dauid with her religious brother Edward the sixt Who for the loue of that noble Lion of the tribe of Iuda that so wonderfully hath preserued her from so many horrible and treacherous conspiracies both forreine domesticall hath most valiantly with honourable Iudith cut off the heade of proud Holifernes With faithful Debora deliuered Israel from the tyrannie of Sisera With vertuous Hester endangered her owne life to saue her people and defende the truth With godly Iosia cleansed the land from Idolatrie and restored Religion to the children of God And by vncoupling her matchlesse crie of swéete mouthed houndes the graue godly and learned Prelates and Pastors of our Church hath so hunted tossed and chased that Romish Antichrist with all his superstitious trash and traditions out of the forrest of England as except by stealth in priuie corners he dare not once he séene to shew his head The Lord in his mercie still preserue defende and kéepe her Maiesties person in health wealth honor and prosperitie that to the ioy and comfort