euery one may iudge them by the same CHAP. V. NOw seeing then that they do doubt that the Scripture is not on their side let vs beare at their hands that they refuse it and that they slander it as much as they can let vs also see now whether they can allowe of any other Iudge besides it I would demaunde of them if of all the auncient doctors they would chuse any one which hath bene free from those refusals which they propounde against the word of God or els whether they wil allowe al Concerning any one alone they cannot for in euery one of them there may easely be found either one error or an other but they haue so many errors to defend that to defend all all the errors of all times ages would not suffice Moreouer they would be ashamed to denie that their style is more obscure then the style of the Scripture Also they know in their owne conscience that in the most principal points they are on our side and yet there is not any one of them which they will accept in through al things for as much as they condemne in Irenee the error of the Chiliasts and the interpretation which he made of the Apocalypse concerning the church of Rome in Cyprian Anabaptisine in Tertullian the heresie of Montanus in S. Austine predestination and so like wise of others Will they then receiue all alike for Iudges but then who shal be president in the contrarieties of their doctrine and interpretations For euery one knoweth that there shall be found some euery where If it be the holy Scripture that is the thing which we desire But if they refuse the Scripture as partie or partiall by a more strong reason then we will not accept them for Iudges which are parties against vs In like maner shall it be with the schoolemen if they take them for Iudges although that they be the principall authors of the errors of the Church of Rome for betweene Thomas and Scotus and theyr armies set in battel raye and fighting one against an other who shall be iudge It remaineth then that they chuse eyther one of the Councils or els all the Councils together If they chuse one we knowe that in euery one lightly there is hādled as yet but one thing as for example in the Councill of Nice the matter of Arrius in the Councill of Ephesus and of Chalcedon the matter of Nestorius and Eutyches and so likewyse of others but of these pointes there is no contention betweene vs If they will haue all I demaund who shall be president in the errors which the auncient fathers confesse and in the contrarieties which they nomber who shall redresse them The seconde Councill of Ephesus approueth Eutyches the Councill of Chalcedon condemneth him The second Councill of Nice mainteyneth the worshipping of Images but that of Frankford assembled about the same time by Charles the great pulleth them downe The first Councill of Nice according to the vse of the primitiue Church permitteth the marriage of ministers the Councilles of Neocesaria Mentz and the seconde of Carthage forbiddeth it The Councils of Constance and of Basill doe subiecte the Pope vnder the Church yea they make him equall with other Bishops those of Florence and of Trent vpon paine of the blacke curse haue set him aboue all To be short the Councill of Carthage excommunicateth and curseth him to the deuill that calleth him selfe vniuersall Bishoppe or chiefe Priest and the Councill of Trident excommunicateth all those which hold not the Bishop of Rome for such a one I demaunde then in these contrarieties and a thousand others of like consequence who shall determine the matter shall it be the Church Nowe the Church is that which hath saide sometimes one thing and sometimes another for they holde that the Church is represented by general Councils and those for the most part are such as we haue spoken of These are then Churches contrarying one an other or rather one contrary to it selfe Moreouer if it be the Church yet we deny that it shoulde be the Church of Rome for it doeth not belong say they to a particular Church to iudge of the vniuersall which is represented by generall Councils It remaineth then that they prooue the supremacie of the Church of Rome aboue the vniuersall Church of Christ but if they cannot prooue it by the holy Scripture none of the other Churches will beleeue them for they did not beleeue Christ himselfe bearing witnesse of himselfe but God whom they by the holy Scriptures knewe to haue sent him And seeing other Churches haue their Doctors Councils and Traditions aswell as the Church of Rome It must followe that the Church of Rome must prooue her prowde prerogatiue title by the Scriptures And if the Scriptures must be iudges of the Church of Rome and her prerogatiue the which pretendeth beareth men in hand to iudge all other Churches then there can not be a more competent Iudge then the holy Scripture without which the Church of Rome is nothing more then others and from whom whatsoeuer she hath she must will shee nill shee fetche her pretended preheminence and authoritie Nowe if they obiect that there is no more neede to iudge of our controuersies and that they haue bene oftentimes iudged alreadie by Councils Saint Augustine teacheth vs that Councils may erre and that the former Councils were amended by the latter and therefore he presseth not the Arrians with Councils Secondly yf this point haue any place what will they say then vnto vs why they haue derogated from the first Councill of Nice which is the first Decomenicall Councill in the marriage of Ministers and in the supremacie of the Pope who there was made equall with the other Patriarches And wherefore after the matter was so decided would they haue it yet pleaded agayne in the Councill of Carthage c. Why woulde they haue the Pope to be declared the Vicar of God in earth in the Councill of Trent seeing that the Councill of Carthage had already pronounced him excommunicated out of the Church which would call himselfe the chiefe Bishop and head thereof Moreouer in the most approued Councils the greatest part of the pointes which we dispute of were not yet set out for errors were not hatched but by litle and litle and they began to growe and increase after that the tyrannie of the Pope was brought into the Church who in like maner also played the tyrant ouer the Councils Moreouer we make a great difference betweene Councils and Councils for we willingly accept the first Councill of Nice and such like because that the worde of God gouerned there the which worde God alwayes accompanieth with his Spirite But we doe not so receiue the second Councill of Nice where Idoles were established were the holy Scripture was alledged as it were in mockerie and which by consequent coulde not be accompanied with any other then the spirite of
be at Rome although it be graūted them exempteth it not from error Besides omitting that that S. Peter himself hath erred was reprooued of S. Paul I demaūd if S. Peters See giueth this prerogatiue to the Pope or rather to the Church of Rome If to the Pope Marcel hath sacrificed to the idols of the Painims Liberius was an Arriā Anastatius an Acatiā Moreouer eche one delighted to abrogate the decrees of his predecessor as Nicolas of Iohn the 22. Gregorie of Pelagius Innocentius of Gregorie and that in matters according to their owne iudgements concerning the faith Syluester the 2. Iohn the 19. Gregorie the 7. witnes all the histories of their times were magicians that is the successors of Simon Magus which was at Rome aswell as they and not of Simon Peter the disciples of Satan not of Christ Iohn the 23. held opinion that there was no life after this whereupon the Council of Constāce called him a deuil incarnate many other were deposed by the Councils not onely in qualitie Heretikes but also Atheists Iohn the 8. also was found to be a womā an harlot deluding both the seat al the colledge of Cardinals Briefly they say that the virgin Marie told S. Bridget that the most part of the Popes are in hell and the Cardinal of Ragousia in the time of the great schisme mainteined that the Pope might erre in the faith Cardinal Cusan that he might be an infidel which thing also the Diuines of Paris haue alwayes mainteined It followeth then that this See neyther exempteth them frō error heresie nor infidelitie but augmenteth vnto them their owne condemnation If the priuiledge be giuen to the Church of Rome I aske them if they teache not that the Church is represented by a generall Councill S. Augustine sayth that one generall Councill is corrected by another and correction presupposeth error Gregorie Nazianzen in whose time many Councils were holden sayth that the Church was then so full of ambition that none was euer seene to returne any whit the better Gerson and Panormitan say that one laye man alleadging the Scripture ought to be preferred before a whole Councill being out of the way Moreouer see the second Councill of Nice which mainteined Images against the Coūcil of Cōstantinople that of Frankford about the selfe same time which threw them downe to the ground See the third Council of Carthage another holdē at Carthage it self vnder the Emperor Mauritius which excōmunicated him declared him to be Antichrist which should cal himself vniuersall Bishop at the pursute of S. Gregorie himself whereas that of Rome a very litle while after and that same of Trent in our time hath declared the Bishop of Rome to be vniuersal Bishop hath excōmunicated al those that wil not so accōpt of him The Coūcills also of Florence of Basil brideleth the Pope with other Bishops bringeth thē vnder the Church wheras they of Florēce Trēt lift him againe aloft published him to be a God in earth And Pope Pius the second who stuck to the Council of Constāce a litle while after pronounced all them to be heretikes which helde that men might appeale from the Pope to a Coūcil that is to say those present Councils there which were general al those that follow them It followeth then either that trueth is double which neither is nor euer shall be or els that these Councils contrary one to the other haue erred so consequently that the Churche may erre Also that either the Pope is Antichrist or els the Church which hath published such a one that taketh vpon him the title of vniuersall Bishop hath shamefully erred Also either to beleeue that the pope is head of the Churche is not necessary to saluation the which the decretalles allowed of the church of Rome do allowe deliuering it for an article of our faith and the Councill of Trent hath confirmed it or else the Councils which haue denyed him to bee such a one haue erred in the matter of Saluation that is to saye the first generall council of Nice which made him but equall and like to the other patriarkes the Councill of Sardis the Council of Carthage and the vniuersal Church for the space of sixe hundred yeeres To be shorte it must needes be that our aduersaries confesse either that their Church at this day holdeth that for necessary to saluation which is contrary to saluation or els that the auncient Church so long time was ignorant of that which was necessary to saluation that is to say her owne saluation who hath refelled it in a plaine and open council whereof it must followe that the Catholike church may erre in general councils yea and the Romane Church it self notwithstanding the pretēded See of Peter moreouer that the Romane is cōtrary to the auncient church to which we desire at this day to conforme our selues Now if the pope the Romane church haue erred in matters of saluation it followeth then that the Christian visible church may erre that a man may seeke for the reformation thereof But to them which knowe how the councils of our time haue bene holden as that before they haue bene assēbled the controuersies haue bene concluded at Rome that notwithstanding all the arguments proofs they could make to the contrary they haue passed things by their speciall aucthoritie knowing howe that same holye spirite or rather that spirite of Satan hath bene brought from Rome in a Caskat moreouer seeing they are such that gouerne there that there dispute and conclude it needeth not greatly that men proue that such assemblies may erre but contrariwise it might be found a strange thing if they coulde conclude anye thing without error But now cōtrary to these so vrgent and weighty proofs they alledge vnto vs that Iesus Christ prayed that Peters faith might not faile whereupon they conclude with open triumph that the Romish Church can not erre First the matter is of great importance for it is a question concerning a great nomber of articles for which as for articles of faith wee haue bene burned for the space of these fiftie yeres which haue no other foundation but this It must bee therefore that this fundation be fast vndoubtfull if wee will not doe him open wrong who hath taught vs our saluation Adde also hereunto that al the iarre of the Greeke and Easte Churches with the Romish doe depend wholly vpon this point For if it can not erre then they which are contrary to her haue erred greatly But these thinges are farre enough one from the other I haue praied that thy faith should not faile though Satan sift thee the conclusiō which they draw thēce the church of Rome cānot erre Secōdly Iesus Christ prayed for Peter and Peter yet after this prayer denyed him thrise trusting to much in him selfe whereas he should haue
time to time howe they are groūded vpon mans lawe and that which wee call positiue They holde that S. Peter was crucified vnder Nero in the yeere of our Lorde 69 and that Clement succeeded him Others say that Linus succeeded him then Saint Iohn yea and Iames himselfe If we beleeue those bookes supposed to bee Clements they shoulde haue obeyed Clement as head of the Church for he succeeded as they saye in Peters Authoritie he ought to haue no lesse authoritie then the popes at this daye who can dispense with Paules epistles A wonderfull case that the primitiue Church when they made the Canon of those bookes that should haue authoritie in the Church that they should rather put in those bookes of Iames and Iohn then of Clement the principall heire and successour of the holy ghost by the vertue of Saint Peters chaire A wonderfull matter further that this Clemēt made so smal accompt of succession so necessary in the Church seeing that in his epistle which he writeth to Iames Bishop of Ierusalem he calleth him our Lordes brother the Bishoppe of Bishops and gouernour of the Church of Ierusalem and of all others throughout all the worlde But yet a more wonderfull matter that they shoulde bee found so impudent in the light of good learning that at this day shineth as to foūd the papacie vpon those gaye bookes of Clement in which there are so many falsehoodes Clement writeth to Saynt Iames after Peters death and teacheth him the institution of our Lorde when as the Scripture witnesseth that S. Iames was martyred long before in Ierusalem and that as long as hee liued he was to teach Clement such matters and not to learne them of him And yet this is one of the notablest authors that they can alledge But let vs proceede We holde the Apostles Creede from the beginning of the Christian Church And we there finde the Catholike church But this article of the faith that pope Boniface the eight made is not therein That if we will be saued we must acknovvledge the pope to be the soueraigne Lord. Saint Cyprian saith That there is but one Bishoppricke of vvhich euery Bishop holdeth his parte vvholy vvithout any diuision Also that none of his time either called or made him selfe Bishoppe of Bishops eyther made through tyrannie his companions subiect to his obedience Also he complaineth that certaine prophane men and Schismatikes vvith drevve them selues to the bish of Rome who saith he hath none but certaine desperate wicked fellovves that stay vpon him making thē selues beleeue that the Bishops of Affricke haue lesse povver then the Bishops of Rome And in very deede he calleth not Stephen Cornelius bishops of Rome other thē brethren cōpanions handleth Stephen rudely enough in manye places To be short a litle after his death the church of Affricke decreed in the councill of Carthage that none should be called the prince or chiefe of ministers or the first Bishoppe but onely according to the dignitie of Cities the Bishoppe of the first See. Irenee very liuely reproueth Victor the Bishop of Rome who through a certaine shamelesse ambition had excommunicated the Churches of Asia for disagreeing about the Passeouer The Ministers saith he vvhich haue helde the eldershippe of the Church ouer vvhich thou novv doest gouerne Anicetus Pius Higinus c. haue not done as thou hast done neither they also vvhich vvere vvith them Tertullian who otherwise is wont to attribute verye much to Saint Peter scorneth the Bishop of Rome his great ambition which then began to shew it selfe albeit in a certaine place he maketh a long narration of the praises of the Church of Rome yet he teacheth not neither neere nor farre of that which is the principall to wit that it was the infallible seat of the holy Ghost by Peters successiō And yet these are for all that the very firste of all antiquitie and in whose time the Church of Christ more florished then at any time In the time of Constātine as the church had more liberty so it had also more ambition then Bishops begā first to think on miters that before time thought nothing els but to be martyrs That same famous Council of Nice was then called together by Constantine the Emperour to the ende to decide the matter of Arrius The B. of Romes deputies were there but they sate onely in the fourth place Yea one decree was there made by which certaine limits were attributed to euerie patriarke ouer which the Canon gaue them equall authority which the Bishop of Rome was wont to haue ouer the neighbour Churches of his citie They went about by infinite meanes to corrupt the canons of this councill as the histories do witnesse vnto vs But Cusan the Cardinal alledging this Councill acknowledgeth the trueth in these words By this we see saith he how much authoritie the Pope hath gotten in our time against the sacred auncient constitutions and altogether through the lēgth of time and custome of a slauish subiectionall obedience And yet in meane time Iulius with standeth it not neither doe his Legates alledge to the fathers of the Councill their Tibi dabo I will giue vnto thee nor their Pasce oues meas Feed my sheep for as yet they were not studyed so deeply therin but they rested onely in the ordinance of the Councill which afterwardes was confirmed by the Councils of Antioche and of Constantinople And this was about the time that they woulde deuise the donation of Constantine to pope Syluester confuted by so many learned men so long time agoe that none but such as are ignorant will beleeue it But if they will beleeue the original which is kept in Vaticā in the popes library in goldē letters let thē also beleeue these words which are written added in the end Quam fabulā longi tēporis mēdacia finxit that is to say in the proper words of ill latine This is a fable which an old lye hath forged Or if they wil therin beleeue the legend of Pope Syluester then let them also beleeue that which it sayeth that then was hearde a voyce from heauen saying Hodie effusum est venenum in Ecclesiam that is to say At this day poyson is shedde into the middest of the Church In the first and seconde Councill of Ephesus Cyrillus and Dioscorus Patriarches of Alexandria did gouerne there though the Bishoppe of Rome there had his deputies And it forceth not to saye that the seconde was not lawfull For this can not be knowen but by the yssue but it sufficeth that in the beginning and then when men thought that it was verye lawfull and that in such a time as the ceremonies were kept there Leo the Bishoppe of Rome neyther his deputies did not there striue for the chiefe place because they thought it to haue no good grounde In the Councill of Chalcedon
they deeme spoyled him selfe of his Empire to enriche them Chrysost sayeth Whosoeuer of the Bishoppes shall desire primacye in earth he shall find confusiō in heauen he that shall desire to be the chiefe he shall not be reputed in the nomber of the seruaunts of Christ Gregory the great Bishop of Rome when the Bishop of Constātinople would attribute vnto him selfe that Supremacy he sayth not that he doeth wrong to Saint Peter or that hee withholdeth vsurpeth the right of the Bishoppes of Rome but rather he protesteth that this vvas a prophane title full of sacriledge and the fore-running of Antichrist and that this was to say with Lucifer I will ascend aboue the cloudes and will make my selfe equall to the high God. That none of his predecessours tooke vpon them to be aboue their brethren cōpanions And if there vvere any such amongst thē he falling downe al the Church should stūble fal vvith him That this vvere to destroy all christianitie And after many such other woordes he pronounceth this generall sentence That vvhosoeuer shal call himselfe vniuersal Bishop or shall desire to be so called that he is the forerunner of Antichrist forasmuch as through pride he axalteth him selfe aboue all As touching him self he flatly refused it and prayed Eulogius the Bishop of Alexandria not to giue him this proude name Hee acknowledgeth that the Bishoppes of Alexandria and Antioche are as well in Peters chaire as they of Rome to be short that Peter Paul Andrevv Iohn c. they are al particular heads of the people vvhom they gouerne but all members vnder one head vvhich is Christ hovvsoeuer they holde Peter for chiefe amongest them I beseech the readers that they will take paines to reade vpon this matter the epistles of Saint Gregory and there they shall finde the condemnation of this Supremacie more expressely then yet I haue said To conclude the Emperours haue called generall Councils the patriarks and. Metropolitanes those that were Nationall and prouincial They that were Patriarkes euery one was president ouer the See of his patriarchshippe and not the Bishoppe of Rome nor his deputies in general councils The patriarks or chiefe Bishoppes went not to seeke their Palls at Rome but were Canonically elected ouer those places The Bishoppe of Rome as appeareth by those Epistles them selues of Gregorye the great when hee was chosen exhibited vnto them the confession of hys fayth by a Synodall Epistle as they did to him Eche one of them had an Ecclesiasticall iudgement ouer his owne and none appealed from them no not the Bishoppes them selues beyond the Sea who had no Patriarke in the Sea of Rome I demaunde then by what marke they can shewe vs that Supremacy in the aunciēt Primitiue church be it but by the positiue lawe of man And yet notwithstanding wee see the course from time to time and from Councill to Councill vntill the yeere of our LORD sixe hundred and more when Phocas the Emperour killed his master Maurice and inuaded the Empire and to get fauour of the Romanes after so cursed and detestable murther gayned Boniface the third their Bishop declaring him to be head of the Church and Bishoppe of Bishoppes against that that Gregory his predecessour had a litle before so hotelye fought against If the Church had bene so long time without a head what did the members then And if Iesus Christ were the head then why lesse nowe Also whēce commeth it that when the Bishoppe of Rome was not acknowledged for such a one it had such strength and alwayes afterwards grewe weaker and decayed Againe is it not notable that all the auncient Churche was ignorant of so healthfull a doctrine hidden in the holy Scripture and that Boniface the third shoulde be the firste that shoulde fynde it out That such so necessary priuiledges should be concealed for the space of sixe hundred yeeres in the most happy ages and to the most quick sighted persons which euer were That so many Christian Emperors should make no account of it and one Phocas an execrable murtherer should be the first to giue authority vnto it But as the papacie must needes spring of the ruines of Rome the second beast of the Carrion of the first so also must it needes he that the supremacie of the Bishop of Rome as that of the first kings was must bee founded and buylded vpon murther Against these decrees of the generall councills they blush not to alledge vnto vs those goodly bookes of Clement whereof we haue spoken a litle before that same ridiculous epistle of Anaclet That Cephas is asmuch to say as head of the church that same authentical reuelation of Pope Marcellus of Peters seate to be remoued from Antioch to Rome and such other beggerly trumperie of that decree which some euen of their owne side do deride Also certaine other epistles of Pope Leo who laboureth therby asmuch as he can to make vs credit the latine Church But we know that none must be iudge in his owne cause and if as Gerson Panormitan say One lay man may set himselfe hauing the holy Scripture on his side against a vvhole generall councill vvhich erreth from it By a more strong reason maye the whole primitiue Church oppose it selfe all the whole Scripture hauing al the general councils on her side that were for the space of 600. yeres against the tyrānie of one man alone which cannot alledge any thing but his owne ambition yea against the decretall epistles of some Popes yet for the most part but shuffled in vnder the name of some of the auncient fathers I will not denie notwithstanding that a good time the bishops of Rome had not attempted to establishe a spirituall monarchie at Rome according to the example of the temporall which made them to be enuied For the Church of God began by Abel as Saint Augustine saith and Babylon by Cain and likewise it is not to be doubted but that very quicklye after the foundations of the Christian Church were layde Sathan layd also the foundations of Antichrist In Paul his time the mysterie of iniquitie began to worke when one said that hee was of Apollo another that he was of Paul and another of Cephas Victor the bishop of Rome enterprised to excommunicate all Asia for the feast of Easter but he was most liuely reprooued by Irenee Steuen also receiued the schismatiques of Affricke against the Sentence of the Churche that they should not appeale beyond the Sea but Cyprian calleth him proud and ignorant and the councill of Affricke holden about the selfe same time setteth it selfe against him Iulius in the time of Constantine beganne to establishe his Empire but the councill of Nice limitted him his power bringing him to the bound and skantling of others Yea in the sixth council of Carthage where Saint Augustine was present three bishops of Rome one after another
chased the Emperour to Constantinople and setteth himselfe in full libertie of all that quarter And in deede then ceassed the Exarchates that is Dukedomes so called that had endured sixe hundred yeeres that were as the lieutenants of the Emperor in a part of Italy The Emperors of Constantinople driuen away the Lombards thereupō did inuade the kingdome of Italie The Pope more feared them then those whom he had driuen away because that they were his more nie neighbours At that time there gouerned in Fraunce the race of Martel very desirous to aspire The Pope therefore putteth himselfe into the protection of the Frenchmen against the Lombards and Pepin the sonne of Martel he passeth into Italie with the powers of France who vanquisheth them The issue was that Pope Zacharie in recōpence dispenseth with the Frenchmen for theyr othe made to theyr natural prince Chilperick who left the gouernement to the Martels more subtil then himselfe and crowned Pepin chiefe of the palaces of the king of France forbidding the princes and people of France vpon paine of excommunication to choose any other then of Pepins race Contrariwise Pepin giueth vnto him the dukedome or lieutenantship of Rauenna Pentapolis which contained 29. Cities onely reseruing vnto himself the soueraigntie and the power to choose the Popes the which lawes were afterwardes released by Lewys the sonne of Charles the great although that some Emperours put them in practise afterwards as the histories are ful thereof And so likewise behold him the head of the spiritualtie because he mainteyned the murtherer of his master and temporall Lord because he crowned a subiect in the place of his natural prince this beginning of the temporaltie grewe vp by the controuersies of the houses of Aniou and Arragon in Italie and afterwardes of the Emperours of Germanie and of the kings of Fraunce till it came to that state wherein we nowe see it in these last times This was after the time that the key of knowledge which Christ promised to S. Peter was changed into the key of power the ecclesiastical censure was employed to excōmunicate all princes peoples kingdomes which would not obey them vntill they had left them for a pray and cut them of from saluatiō without acception of any persons This was in that time that these gaye interpretations were bred That all povver vvas giuen to Christ by the father asvvel in heauen as in earth Therefore the Pope absolutely commandeth both one other Also God translateth kingdomes from one nation to another Ergo the Pope hath power to establish and to put downe as it seemeth good vnto him whereupon Kings and Emperours of blinde zeale began to kisse his feete both present and by their letters and to hold his stirrop This was in that time also that Pope Boniface the eighth caused this to passe as an article of faith That the Pope is soueraigne both of the spiritualtie and temporaltie shewing himselfe in a Iubilie with a key in one hand and a sword in another that Pope Clement the fift his successour not content to commaunde Kinges and Emperours tooke vpon him by an expresse Bull to cōmaunde Angels that they should execute his will. To be short one hath concluded and decided at Rota that is to say in the Parliament of Popes at Rome that God holdeth for wel done all that is done of the Pope that his will is the rule of all right and righteousnes that he can absolutely do in this world all that God can do seeing he is all and aboue all thinges That if he change his purpose it is to be presumed that God changeth his that when he sendeth thousands of his brethren to hell none may therein reproue him that his power extendeth it selfe to heauen and earth yea and to hell that none maye appeale from him to God that he may ordeine against the epistles of Saint Paul as greater then Saint Paul and against the old Testament as greater then any authors thereof And yet one man hath gone further for one hath disputed whether he may ordeine any thing contrary to the Gospell Whether he haue not yet more power then S. Peter Whether he were simplie a man or as god To be short the deuil hath passed so far in this mysterie of iniquitie that one disputed in the schooles a litle before Luther came and somewhat after whether the Pope participated not with both natures the diuine humane with Iesus Christ And what could the deuil say more if he had come in the flesh to haue destroyed the Church And yet notwithstanding the people do worship this monster the princes of the earth do clap their hands at him destroy their kingdomes to serue his lust sacrifice yet euery day their poore subiects for a sacrifice of a sweete smelling sauor at his feete Who would haue beleeued this except the Spirite of God had foretold it and who will beleeue it after vs when the selfe same spirite shall haue destroyed him But which is more marueilous when the power of the bishop of Rome was intolerable he neuer durst alledge in the councills and in the face of the old Church one only text of Scripture to groūd his supremacy on And now that it is so much beyond the bounds that it spurneth the earth vnder feete thereof that it threatneth heauen that it aduaunceth it selfe so farre that it may be aboue God himselfe they are so impudent and so shamelesse but so she must be that is an harlot that they alledge S. Peters See and the word of God and the keyes which were promised to him as though there were no more eyes in the world to reade nor sense in men to iudge Let them not therefore ground their tyrannie vpon this Dabo tibi I wil giue thee which Iesus Christ spake to S. Peter For betwene the kingdome of Christ and the tyrannie of the Pope there is no likenes or agreement But rather if they wil ground themselues vpon some text of Scripture let them alledge that Tibi dabo I will giue thee which sathan vsed to Iesus Christ I wil giue thee saith hee all the kingdomes which thou seest if thou vvilt worship mee That is for worshipping the deuil they haue that they haue and not for any other title they can alledge But I suppose that nowe with the licence of all the Readers I maye conclude by these proofes conteyned in these two chapiters that which followeth That the essentiall head of the Catholique Church is Iesus Christ our Lord That vnder him all the Apostles were equal in dignitie and power That after them the bishops are equall amongst themselues euery one in his Ministerie occupieth the place of Christ That none may be the Ministeriall head of the Church That the Pope of Rome can pretend this title neither by Gods law nor mans That the first roume that he had was by reason of
thereupon alwayes after Agaynst this open Apostasie then all the Churches of Greece Dace Illyricum c. did oppose themselues euen to the accusing of Pope Symmachus before Theodoricus the king of the Gothes for that he vaunted himselfe not to be subiect to the reprehension of any Spayne and Englande also were a long time without receyuing the legates of Rome One Claudius Byshop of Thurine in the time of Charles the great wrote very learnedly agaynst the Popes Supremacie and agaynst his doctrine yea about the reygne of Hugh Capet there was a Councill helde at Rheims which denyed vnto him al obedience and pronounced him to bee Antichrist But finally as it was bredde of the superfluous and euill humoures of the Church so it was skilfull to nourishe it selfe of the factions enmities and diuisions of Christendome that one in despite of other haue suffered all to goe to wracke Nowe if wee shall reade that which Saynt Bernard wrote of the state of the Church in his time about the yere of our Lorde 1140. aswell in his Epistles as in his bookes of considerations to Pope Eugenius they are nothing but lamentations of the ruine of the Church like to those of Ieremie of the Church vnder the captiuitie of Babylon or thundringes against the tyranny of Antichrist who shewed him selfe in his time He sayeth That the Popes Court is a parke of deuils That they vsurpe an vnlawfull and an intolerable authoritie That there was not any more shewe of Peters succession That the Bishops of his time were marchantes enriched with the riches of the vvhore That in steade of keeping the spouse of Christ they made port sale of her and prostituted and layde her open to all the lechers of the world to commit fornication vvith her And a litle after hauing sayde vpon the 91. Psalme That Antichrist shall haue his seat in the South part he addeth What differeth then the estate of our Church from that same pestilēt estate which walketh in darkenes What differeth it more from the seate of Antichrist Therefore yours sayth he is in very deede the state of Antichrist He made three expresse Satyres agaynst the Pope court of Rome and he that would alledge al that is writtē to that end he must here put in his whole bookes Nowe after the manifest Apostasie and falling awaye of the popedome the Church of Rome hath not brought forth so excellent a man as he was Frauncis Petrarch the Archdeacon of Parma and a Chanon of Padua lyued about the yeere 1350. whom we may call in al kinde of good learning The light of his age But I wil not say howe he decifreth out the court of Rome in his Sonets vnder the name of Babylō calling it whore the schoole of error and the Temple of heresie for some will saye that much is permitted to poetrie but I beseeche the readers to reade his latine Epistles which are full of grauitie zeale and doctrine He sayth there in plaine termes That in the Pope and his shauelings there is neyther fayth godlinesse nor trueth That the Popes chaire is the chaire of lying That this is a falling awaye of a people which vnder the banner of Christ rebell against Christe and fight for Satan That they esteeme the Gospel but for fables and the promises of the life to come for dreames He compareth the Pope to Iudas who betrayed Iesus Christe with a kisse and his clergie to the Iewes which sayd vnto him Aue Rex Iudaeorū Al haile king of the Iewes his prelates to the Pharisies who in mockerye clothed him with purple and afterwardes crucified him in the moūt of Caluery And after he sayth Denie it nowe if thou canst that thou art she which the holy Euangelist Iohn sawe in the spirit set downe vpō the great waters Thou art none other that Babylon the mother of the whoredomes of the earth Thou art drunken vvith the bloud of the Martyrs of Iesus Thou art she vvhich hast made all the kings of the earth drūken vvith the Cuppe of thy poyson If thou deny it shew vs some other to vvhom these thinges maye better agree If thou canst not then vvayte for that to fall vpō thine ovvne head vvhich Iohn the Euāgelist addeth a litle after She is fallen Babylon the great and is made an habitation of deuils c. But what do I say Wayt for it Yea thou hast it already For hovv much better is the sonne of perdition then the deuill Thou art in very deed a kingdome of deuils vvhich reigne in the midst of thee in mans shape And in another place Let it not my friend euer grieue thee to returne from these princes of darkenesse And in deede vvhat vvouldest thou see in the Court of Rome Christ in exile Antichrist reigning in his stead Beelzebub the iudge Woolues let loose The Lambes in the stockes Ah good God vvho shall deliuer the vvorlde from this oppression Who shall gather together the sheepe Who shall vanquishe these vvicked Pastors Shall there neuer be a limitation and end of this intolerable mischiefe Now when there was such that durst crye so lowde wee may be sure that there were many more that lamented in their heartes To be short the most notable spirits that the worlde brought forth in the most ignorant ages and in the greatest thicknes of darkenes they perceyued this some more clerely and others as it were through a clowde vnlesse it were some such as ambition and glorie of the worlde had blynded Insomuch that when abomination was come to his full toppe God raysed vp Iohn Hus Hierome of Prage Wickliefe Luther and others which haue so lowdly published and proclaymed it that all the worlde doth vnderstād it And what will we more With leaue of those good Fathers of the Councill not long agoe holden at Trent we may make this Syllogisme Whosoeuer wil be called the vniuersal Bishop he is the forerunner of Antichrist the father of the sonne of pryde and a very Lucifer saith Saint Gregory the Pope and principall Doctor of the Church of Rome But Boniface the thirde his successour tooke this title they which followed him haue continued it and haue encreased it more more And the Councill of Trent excommunicateth all those that will not acknowledge him for vniuersall Byshop Ergo the Pope is Antichrist and al they are holden for excommunicate by the Councill of Trent that doe not acknowledge him for Antichrist Yea but the clergie of Rome wil say If the Pope were the Antichrist whereof the Church was before threatned we which are the Church shoulde haue knowen him Contrarywise I say vnto you that if you had knowen him for Antichrist he had not bene Antichrist This is that which the Pharises saide when Christ came If this were Christ who shoulde knowe him better then we We haue the Church we haue the Scriptures we are the interpreters therof We are the eyes of the people It cannot escape vs
we will aske no better to remaine still with them They will yet further reproch vs that Christ haunted the temple notwithstanding the marchandize that was there committed there is a great difference betweene the marchandize that was there and the idolatrie that at this day hath place in the Church of Rome But againe let them suffer vs as the Iewes did our sauiour Christ to whippe out the marchants of the whore that buy and sel mens soules by their simonies out of the church and we are all ready to frequent it To conclude they cast vs in the teeth that Iereinie preached in Topheth where abominable idolatrie was cōmitted they ought also to adde that which the text saith expresly that he preached there against idolatrie Also that Amos the Prophet prophesied in Bethel in Amasias his chappel they should adde thē that this was to signifie vnto him the horrible vengeance that God had prepared to fal vpon his head Also that the man of God prophecied wel in Bethel in Ieroboams time but they should also adde that this was to signifie vnto him that his Priestes should one day be sacrificed vpon the same altar But we will yet say more vnto them Let thē but suffer vs to preach in theyr Churches amongst theyr Idols we wil make them to fal downe at the only worde of God without euer touching or laying hande vpon them Let them but suffer vs to place the arke of God and his holy couenant in the midst of their Temples and they shall within a short space finde al their Dagons in peeces We refuse not then to goe to preach there For this is it we desire with all our heartes to make the trueth knowen vnto euery one But we can not come there and holde our peace for accursed is he which heareth his God blasphemed without protesting against it and seeth his brother deceyued and doeth not direct him But we after the example of Ieremie of Amos and of the man of God wil protest before kinges before peoples yea in the face of al their abomi natiōs we haue done it haue sealed our protestatiōs with our own blood But we wil not sacrifice after their exāple vpō the altar that king Achas caused to be made after the paterne of the altar of Damascus although that Vrias the hie priest wincke at it Much lesse wil we worship in Dan Bethel For they neuer did it we wil not I say cōmunicate in any wise with the sacriledges impieties brought in by Antichrist for this were great wickednes to do it treason against God to cōceale it more then sensles blockishnes to all not to search it out inexcusable blindnes in the light which at this day shineth euery where to communicate with these workes of darkenesse Moreouer they obiect vnto vs If you hold the pope for Antich our seruice for idolatry how thē do you receiue our baptism or if you holde that for good howe is it that you cōmunicate not with our Church First God hath had such pity of his church that he hath suffred antichr to chāge nothing in the bapt of Christ in that which is of the substāce therof although he had bewrapped it with many superstitiōs altogether like as he suffered not circūcision which was the marke of the couenāt to be quite abolished neither amōgst the Samaritās nor in Iuda whatsoeuer idolatry was there cōmitted We say then that the church of Rome through baptism brought forth childrē to god but that through her idolatries she nourished thē vp to the deuil altogether like as Ezech. saith that Ierusalē Samaria engēdred childrē to God as an adultrous womā doth to her husbād vntil she be diuorced but afterwards she sacrificed thē to Moloch that is to false gods Secōdly we say with S. Aug. that it is not the heretike that baptizeth as long as baptisme remaineth soūd but Christ by the hand of the heretike wherein we folow the practise of the primitiue church the determination of the 1. coūcil of Nice That they which were baptized by heretikes renoūcing their heresie they shall not bee rebaptized except those that haue bene baptized by the Samosatens who kept not the essētial words of baptisme whō to speak properly they do not rebaptize because with out these they coulde neuer be baptized but by the grace of God wee haue bene baptized in the name of God and not in the name of Antichrist or of his idols Thirdly baptisme in our infācie brought vs into the house of God but it is not enough to be receyued into his familie if we serue him not according to his commandemēts For then we depriue our selues of the benefite receyued by baptisme the which as S. Augustine sayeth is turned into our greater condemnation This therefore is vnto vs as the law of nature in a common weale which bindeth vs to the duetie of good citizens of simple plaine enemies that we shoulde be we become traytors and parricides if we serue a Tyrant which hath inuaded it and if we beare armes against the Lawes thereof For albeit we be borne vnder tyrannie yet we are borne for the common weale and enrouled in the Register of Citizens not within the lists of the tyrants slaues yea euen though the tyrant or his officers keepe the Register Now to the Citizen which is borne vnder tyranny who hath serued a tyrant who afterwardes acknowledging his fault withdraweth himselfe to the defenders of the cōmon libertie there is no neede of newe letters of his naturall birth although by his former deedes he made himselfe vnworthie So likewise we say that to him which is bound vnder the popedom who hath maintained Antichrist and ioyned himselfe to his faction and to euery other Heritique which hath fought against Christ there nedeth no second Baptisme when he returneth to his dutie For albeit he had renounced Christ yet Christ hath not renounced the right he hath ouer him and his Baptisme is so little defaced that of a simple enemy which he should haue bin without Baptisme he is become a traitor and guiltie of hie treason against his maiestie And therefore there needeth nothing but an vtter abolishment of his fault and not a renuing of his baptisme Fourthly Yea but there is no baptisme but in the Church and when you separate your selues frō vs you then separate your selues frō the church The answere There is no Baptisme but in the Church and we deny not also that the Church of Rome is a Church For in that we affirme that Antichrist ruleth there we consequently hold that it is the Churche inasmuch as he can not sit any where but in the Church But it is one thing to separate our selues from the Church of Rome defiled by Antichrist and another thing to depart from the cōmunion of the vniuersall church as we haue already declared Againe we depart not
HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE A NOTABLE TREATISE OF THE CHVRCH IN vvhich are handled all the principall questions that haue bene moued in our time concerning that matter BY PHILIP OF MORNAY Lord of Plessis Marlyn Gentleman of Fraunce ¶ And translated out of French into English by Io. Feilde APOCAL. 18.4.5 Goe out of Babylon my people that you be not partakers in her sinnes and that ye receiue not of her plagues For her sinnes are come vp into heauen and God hath remembred her iniquities ¶ Imprinted at London by Christopher Barker Printer to the Queenes Maiestie ANNO. DOM. 1579. THE BRIEFE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS OF this present treatise 1 WHat the visible Church is and what are the diuers states thereof 2 That of the visible and vniuersall Church some partes are pure and other some impure and what are the infallible markes of the pure Churches 3 That the other markes which our aduersaries alledge are common both to the pure and impure Churches and which are they that most commonly deceiue vs. 4 That the holy Scripture is the vndoubted touchstone to proue the puritie of doctrine which doctrine is the marke of the pure Churches 5 That there can be no other Iudge of the controuersies of this time but the holy Scripture and how euery one may iudge them by it 6 That the visible Church may erre yea and that in matters of Faith and saluation and that is proued in euery of her particular states 7 That the Pope or bishop of Rome is not head of the visible and vniuersall Church by Gods Lawe 8 That the Pope or Bishop of Rome is not head of the visible vniuersal Church by mans law and how he hath vsurped this power 9 That the Pope in calling himselfe head of the Church and not being head is the Antichrist in the Church and that Antichrist cannot be receiued into the Church with any other then the Popish doctrine 10 That euery one is bound to separate himselfe from the communion of Antichrist and that the Romanists are Schismatickes and not they which separate themselues from the same 11 That the Ministers of the reformed Churches haue a lawfull vocation to redresse and reforme the Church 12 The recapitulation or briefe rehearsall of the principall conclusions of this treatise To the right honorable and my very good Lord the Lord Robert Dudley Earle of Leycester Baron of Denbigh Knight of the most noble order of the Garter Master of the Queenes Maiesties Horses and one of her Graces most honorable priuie Councell Io. Feilde wissheth encrease of grace and all spirituall giftes by Iesus Christ our Lord. BEing willing Right Honorable and my very good Lorde in the sight of all the worlde to leaue some publique testimonie of my humble duetie vnfaigned good will towardes your Honor I thought I coulde no better way performe it then by dedicating these poore labours of mine to be shrowded and harboured vnder your good and fauourable protection And albeit I must confesse that my translation is not worthie such a Patrone yet this I must needes say that the worke it selfe both in respect of the Aucthour that wrote it and also of the matter is worthy not onely of your Honors defence but also of the defence of all noble men yea of the greatest Princes in the world if they wil answere their calling and holde of God to maintaine his Church and trueth and will set greatest price vpon thinges that are most precious For concerning the Authour though I be not acquainted with his person yet this is sufficient that I knowe him by his vertue and by this excellent worke who as he is a Gentleman of a noble house and employed in waightie affaires which sufficiently commendeth his credite and wisedome to the worlde so which is a thing to be marueiled at amiddest all his businesse whilest he lay here he set forth this notable treatise wherein he hath shewed such learning and reading with iudgement and sinceritie to the Church of God as I knowe not whether from a man of his place any hath euer bene more learnedly and piththily published and that more may make to the edifying of the Church of God and confuting the aduersarie The Lorde send many such Ambassadours that euermore their policie may be guided by diuinitie And thus much both for the person and the worke Nowe touching the translation In very deede I haue therein studied to be plaine simple keeping my selfe to mine Aucthour both in wordes and meaning so farre foorth as the proprietie of the tongue woulde suffer me Wherefore good my Lorde I most humbly beseech your Honor to accept this my humble and bounden duetie and as by your Honor I dedicate it to the Church of England so I humbly craue that it may be defended for hereunto is your Honor called of God and therefore hath he giuen you your aucthoritie that you shoulde maintaine his Church loue his religion set your selfe against Poperie and liue and die to his glorie He hath honored you that you shoulde honor him and hath set you vp that you shoulde maintaine him And wholly to trust in him and to liue to him is a stay that can neuer faile neither in this worlde nor in the worlde to come All other things shall faile for all flesh is grasse and the glorie of man is as the flower of the fielde but God is euerlasting his worde is euerlasting and they that are begotten to him by the immortall seede of his worde shall liue for euer And this life beginneth and groweth in vs as we growe and encrease in the true knowledge of God to the encreasing of our faith and working in vs as the seale of our adoption that true sanctification that maketh vs to liue vnto God by righteousnesse purely to worship him according to his worde and with brotherly loue deuoyde of all hypocrysie from a pure heart to loue our neighbours This my Lord is true religion whereunto as God in great mercie hath called your Honor so goe cherefully forwarde beware of this vaine worlde and of that vaine trust that wicked men are wont to put in it Leane not vpon it but stoppe your eares against the enchaunting and fawning whisperings of hollowe harted Papists and dissolute professors for there can be no greater trespasse against the Lord then to leane vpon Assyria to rest in the strength of Egypt to goe downe into Ethiopia Cursed is that man that putteth his trust in man and maketh flesh his arme he shal be like the heath that groweth in the wildernesse but contrariwise he that trusteth in the Lord mercie shall embrace him on euery side he shall neuer be confounded he shal be as Mount Sion and shall neuer be remoued For the Lord is his secrete place and is with him therefore who can be against him what is a mans bowe what are his legges what is the swiftnesse of Horses or the strength of an hoaste or the fauour
the pure Church Concerning miracles if a man speake of those which were wrought either in the publication of the lawe by Moses or in the confirmation of the Gospel by Iesus Christ his Apostles it is certaine that they were generally wrought aswel for the Samaritans as for the Iewes for heretikes as for sincere sound professours for the pure churches as for the impure forasmuch as the onely question is towards one to shewe the true God giuing forth the lawe towards the others the true Christ promised in the lawe whom both the one the other make profession to receiue worship And therefore this argumēt is common to both two Concerning the other which they alledge specially in that same state in which we say Antichrist heareth dominiō I say they are false in effect because they heare witnesse to falshood but if they had any true yet they are not therefore sure testimonies of the trueth The heathen had their deuilish miracles in the temples of their false gods some in effect true as may appeare by all their histories Simon Magus who would be ack nowledged for Christ wrought miracles So likewise did Apollonius Tianeus and Apuleus of Madaure But these for the most part might be illusiōs the which the deuil wrought to abuse fooles hauing nothing as S. Augustine saith more agreeable to this then their outward senses But God wrought those great miracles among the Samaritanes in their strongest Idolatrie as when he made the Assyrians to be eaten of Lyons for to reuenge his contēpt among his enemies not to authorize the faultes abuses of the people He wrought some in the time of those heresies next before the cōming of Christ to shewe the power of his name to al nations Yea it should not seeme straunge when he will worke such in lands newly found for to vāquish the deuils which reigned there Al this then is too litle to be a marke of the pure Church vnlesse the churches of the Samaritans the heretikes of the former times had bene pure churches This is that which S. Augustine answered to the Donatists which would proue their doctrine by miracles You alledge sayth he miracles in which a man is not to be heard in respect of the place but in regard of his desire We wil not proue our church neither by succession of Bishops neither by the authoritie of councels nor by the nūber of miracles nor by visions nor dreames All such things are to be allowed so farre foorth as they are done in the Catholike Church but they proue not that the Church is Catholike for that dependeth vpon the scriptures Our Sauiour Christ hideth not this from vs that he wil cast into euerlasting fire those that haue wrought miracles in his name This is not then as our aduersaries say a gift that sanctifieth them that do them It is also foretold vs that many false Christes shall come with miracles to seduce if it were possible euen the elect And S. Paul saith that Antichrist shal come according to the efficacie of Sathan in all power signes miracles of deceit This then is as litle a gift of the spirit sāctifying and purifying the Church This is more for some of these miracles shal not be altogether false in effect but onely in their end that is because they tend to a false end to establish the seate of Antichrist as saint Augustine hath taught vs vpon this place and Saynt Iohn Chrysostome when hee saith that there are miracles not onely of illusion but true and effectuall tending to bring in falshood Now if miracles approue the puritie of the Church and the trueth of doctrine then Antichrist hath gained his cause if not it is so farre of that the miracles wrought vnder the Papall sea ought to be alledged for confirmation of puritie that rather quite contrary seeing that no other miracles are promised before the comming of Christ but his owne we should suspect that the Romane Sea is that prodigious sea of Antichrist which was before foretolde vs Let vs folow thē amiddest these difficulties the instruction that Iesus Christ hath giuen to all Christians in the person of his Disciples There were miracles wrought before his birth but none were nere accōpanying his owne birth therfore there could be no abuse in it In his life time there were an infinit sort wrought of which they were made eye witnesses he being fastened to the crosse dead buried afterwardes they sawe him eate and drinke with them But of al those famous Magiciās their inchantments died with them neither was there euer one raysed vp againe For it was inough for him to say vnto them at his departure You haue seene the singular miracles which I haue wrought You ought therefore no more to doubt that I am that same anoynted which was promised vnto you Contrariwise he sendeth them to the Prophetes to Moses to the Psalmes and to be short to the holy Scriptures to the ende they may there marke what they haue seene and what was therefore told them by the Spirite of God and that what he had foretold them was now also accomplished Touching reuelations and visions which are a kinde of miracles we haue the plaine text which decideth this matter If there shall arise saith the Lorde amiddest thee a false propher or a dreamer of dreames and that the signe or miracle which he hath told thee come to passe saying Let vs followe straunge gods c. hearken not to the words of this Prophet c. There are then both Prophets and visions true in effect and yet false in theyr ende and triall which triall is doctrine as is to be seene in this place Lykewyse when Saint Iohn to the ende to keepe vs from false prophetes exhorteth vs to proue the Spirites by and by he addeth Hereby shall you knowe the Spirit of God Euery Spirite that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the fleshe is of God c. that is to say proue the spirites by the doctrine which they preach Therefore Saul Cayphas haue prophecied but as S. Augustine saith as Balaās Asse once spoke and yet for all that they myght haue once spoken the trueth For the deuil him selfe to couller his lying some times speaketh trueth We conclude then that all the foresaide markes are not the infallible markes of the sounde and pure Church First because they be not substantial but outwarde Secondly because they are common aswell to falsehood as to trueth But that they may be markes they ought to put a difference Thirdly they neede to be proued and approued by another marke to witte doetrine to be short seeing it is said that in the ende Antichrist shall come and seduce the greatest part of the people and that he shall sitte in the Temple of GOD that is to saye in the Churche it selfe and in one of the
circumcision in the time of the Apostles began that medley in the Christian religion S. Peter himself winking at it S. Paul calleth this to make the Crosse of Christ of none effect S. Augustine in many places calleth it heresie Now from hence it came that the disciples of the circumcision who went to preach the Gospell to many peoples of the East and of the South there reared vp Churches in such sorte that the doctrine of grace was mingled with the lawe the shadowes with the bodie whereof it is that many yet doe hold circumcision with baptisme I speake nothing of the infinite heresies which put vp their heades vnder diuers names making their seuerall factions but of that which then came to passe in the bodies of the most flourishing Churches which afterwardes greatly encreased and multipled On the other side the people which were called from Paganisme to Christ then principally when the Church had some litle rest consequently lesse zeale care and puritie comming out of such a bottomelesse pit of Idolatrie they coulde not altogether forsake their old customes They had builded many beautiful Temples to their Idoles and it seemed a goodly thing vnto them to dedicate them vnto Saints Martyrs In stead of their hunting places they honored the reliques of Saints in place of the Images of Mars of Iupiter of Ianus they tooke pleasure to haue those of S. Paul of S. Peter c. And wheras they had a custome to make for their fathers that died praiers sacrifices lights following the opiniō of Plato cōcerning purgatorie they willingly cōtinued it least they should fal frō their humanitie therin only changed the forme The pastors some of them because they were come out from the same Paganisme thought it good other some did beare with it least they shoulde at the beginning goe backe hoping in time vtterly to remoue it from them as S. Paul did the ceremonies of the law from those of the circumcision and to cōuert their zeale humanitie into a better custome Iusomuch that their successors ascribing impudētly to much to their predecessors not examining the reason that moued them to beare with these things they cōtinued it of thēselues builded so much vpō this rottē fundatiō that superstitiō came to this that we see it at this day The vanitie of the one part the humane wisdome of the other hath brought vs to this and he that shal wel consider what man is how an old custome that hath but a litle shew may preuaile how much it wil cost the changing he wil easly graūt that those which haue to bring in a thorow mutatiō do think to haue gained much whē they could bring to passe to change the principal in forsaking as seemed to them certaine accessories as in our time we our selues haue proued not regarding that the deuil knoweth so wel how to husbād thē afterwards whilest we are negligent to water the true plants that in the end they come to be quite stifeled choked By these means errors first entred into the churches of the Ethiopiās Syrians Armeniās Grekes Russians Scythiās c. for the more part But which is more by the selfe same meanes entred Mahomet with his doctrine who about the declining of the Romane Empire found out the controuersies of the Iewes Christans ioyned himself to a Monke of the heresie of Nestorius named Sergeus who coined his Alcoran in such sort that many Christiās of Nestorius heresie partly seeing his force partly because it seemed that he cōsented with them in the essence of Christ they left of to go forward in the true religion the Iewes for the circumcision ceremonies which he left freely vnto thē and the safetie which he promised them by force of armes receiued him in the beginning as their Messias Beholde then how heresies entred into the christian Church that those so encreased as it easely cōmeth to passe alwaies when good decaieth and euil encreaseth that from heresie they came euen vnto infide litie yet notwithstāding these Churches were there founded by the Apostles receyued the holy scriptures beleeued saluatiō in Christ except those which haue cleaued vnto Mahomet which haue lost the name of the Churches haue a successiō of their bishops patriarks folowīg in good order haue an ordinary vocatiō in their ministerie hold a great sort more countries thē those that haue acknowleged that Pope Now I demaund of the prelats of the Church of Rome whether that these Churches haue erred in the matters which concerne saluation or no. They wil say that they haue erred in the matter of saluatiō because that they haue reiected Images because they worship not the bread because they communicate vnder both kinds because their ministers marry because they knowe not any thing concerning Purgatorie c. To be short because they doe not only erre in many not able articles as these are but aboue all because they do not acknowledge the domination of their Pope which is to heare themselues speake the principal article that men ought to beleue to the end to be saued It foloweth then by their own cōfession that the Christian Catholike visible Church hath no such priuiledge by the comming of Christ which doth exempt it frō being deceiued erring yea in that which cōcerneth saluation notwithstanding al that promises and pretended couenants which we haue already mentioned before But if now it do not erre in the matter of saluatiō then it must needes follow that the Church of Rome it self must erre which hath so long time excōmunicated and cut of frō saluation as much as in her lieth so many peoples nations which haue not erred in the way of saluation and which is more that she is iustly excōmunicated by the foresaid Churches for those dānable doctrines which they condemne in her To this they wil answere vs that these Churches had no such priuiledge as the Church of Rome and that the See of S. Peter hath this prerogatiue being the chiefe amongst the Apostles that it coulde not erre Without entring into the bottome of these goodly pretēces which shal be gauged in the chapter following it must followe then that those Sees which had so great authoritie as that of Ierusalem which is called the seat of God could not erre That the Church also of Christ being there gathered together had this prerogatiue seeing that Christ the head of the Church there preached accōplished the worke of saluatiō Likewise that the Church of Antioch must haue it much more then that of Rome seeing that that was the first See of S. Peter the first Church where the name of a Christiā was heard And yet Ierusalem which crucisted Christ the Christians of Palestina of Antioch of the countries round about in the iudgement of the church of Rome are out of the way of saluation It followeth then that Saint Peters See pretēted to
prayed to God acknowledged his owne infirmitie and hereof also it came that hee that esteemed more of him selfe then al his companions should stumble and fall more shamefully then all they The Churche of Rome therefore shoulde rather drawe this conclusion from thence which is more agreeable to the text that as he trusting to much to himselfe renounced God and did worse then all the rest so likewise it maye doe when it is made to beleeue that it can not erre And therefore it should followe that according to his example it should weepe at the crowing of the cocke and acknowledge all the faultes thereof Thirdly if this followe Christ prayed for Peter Ergo the Church of Rome which is founded by him can not erre then must it followe also that the Churches which were founded by the other Apostles can not erre For Iesus Christ drawing neere to his Crosse prayed most earnestly for his Apostles and for all those which shoulde beleeue in him through their preaching to the end they might be one in the Father in him that is to say that they might be inseparably knit vnto him And yet the Romish Churche hath excommunicated them as heretikes and hath holden them as cut of from saluation It foloweth then either that this conclusion is false Iesus Christ prayed Ergo it can not erre or else that hee ment the inuisible Church against which hell gates cannot preuaile Fourthly S. Paul vnderstood not this subtiltie forasmuch as we see that hee admonisheth the Romanes called from amongest the Gentiles that they should not proudly aduaūce them selues against the Iewes vnder this shadowe that they were entred into their place For saith he the naturall branches were cut of through vnbeleefe and thou art engrafted in by faith and if God haue not spared them take heede least he also spare not thee that is to say take heed that thou fal not from faith as they haue done he meaneth then that he thought them not to be without the compasse of the danger Neither did Cyprian likewise writing to the clergie of Rome saying That the praise which S. Paul attributed to the Church of Rome that their faith was made knowen throughout the worlde shoulde be turned to their shame if they did not perseuer to inherite this faith Nor S. Hierom also whē he saith That after that couetousnes was entred into the Church as it was into the Empire the Law should perish from the Priestes and the vision from the Prophets Nor all the ancient fathers when they tooke Rome for that Babylon in the Apocalyps for the seat of Antichrist as we shal see hereafter And therfore they should doe a great deale better to followe their olde glose vpon this place of S. Luke that as in praying for him he saith O Peter I haue kept thee that thy faith shoulde not faile euen so also comforte the poore weak ones by thy example of repentance to the end that by their sinnes they fall not into despaire but that they hope for mercye as hath bene shewed vnto thee Finally besides all these foresaide reasons betweent the Antecedent Christ prayed for Peter the consequent The Church of Rome can not erre there are infinite thinges to proue betweene these two sentences to wit That S. Peter was head of the Apostles of the church That he was at Rome That he was B. there That he particularly founded any church there That he had this prerogatiue aboue the rest that he coulde not erre That he either tyed it or coulde tye it to that chaire either for the popes or for the Romish Church The which things ought first to be plainely proued before we can come to any such conclusion Let vs come then to ours following our promises and notwithstanding their obiectiō of this place let vs conclude with the holy Scriptures and the practise of all times this present disputation Our Lord Iesus Christ hath deliuered to his Church the holy Scripture as a compasse to a shippe for to conduct and guide it to Saluation Looking vnto this compasse she can not be deceiued for it sheweth alwayes vnto her her marke whatsoeuer winde do driue her and not looking vnto it she can not but erre and goe out of the way no more then all the pilots or Shipmasters of the world together know without a good cōpasse to keep their course one only houre To the churches which follow his worde he hath promised thē the presence of his spirit From these which make no accompt of it he withdraweth him selfe accompting thē vnworthy of his presence which disdaine to harken to his voice Hereof it is that the Church in all her estates and places hath greatly erred gone out of the way but more this then al the rest which hath bene more bold to intermedle without the leading of the worde which hath most presumed of her owne abilitie to witte the Romishe Church If she haue no other priuiledges and promises then the visible and vniuersall Church there is no doubt but she may erre For we haue seene by her owne confession that she hath erred euen in the matters of saluation in her most notable mēbers If she haue any speciall priuiledge as that which shee alledgeth of Saint Peters Seate yet for all that as wee haue proued that exempteth her not neither from errour nor heresie But to the ende men may see howe vaine and weake this foundation is whereupon they woulde builde an article of so great weight it followeth that wee examine those titles by vertue whereof shee pretendeth this priuiledge That the Pope or Bishop of Rome is not head of the vniuersall visible Church by any right of the lawe of god CHAP. VII WHen we demaund of our aduersaries vpon what their traditions are founded which they make equall with the articles of our fayth which haue not anye shewe of foundation in the holye Scripture they answere vs that they are the ordinances of the Church If hereupon wee will beate them downe alledging that the Church must be gouerned after God his will conteyned in his woorde and that such doctrines are not agreeable thereunto they reply that the Church can not erre in the matters of Saluation If wee proue farther vnto them by the discourse of all times that often tymes shee hath abandoned the pure seruice of God to follow her owne inuentions euen vntill shee hath bene defiled with al abhominable idolatries they reply that the Romish church hath this particular priuiledge that it can not erre because it is S. Peters seate the head of the Apostles of al the Church And therfore by this meanes all the controuersies in a maner that we haue with thē come to be brought to this question Whether the B. of Rome or the sea of Rome for they are different in themselues be head of the church In this quality there is attributed to the pope power to change the
from the vnitie of the Bishop of Rome Also the elders ministers of the Gospell haue the same right office which the priestes of the lawe had in the case of those that were Lepers They remitte then or holde sinnes according as they iudge shewe that they are remitted or holdē before god Saint Augustine The Lord calleth the keyes of the kingdome of heauen the knowledge and vertue to discerne those who are worthy to be receyued or else to be shut out of the kingdom Now howsoeuer it semeth at the first sight that he gaue this povver to Peter alone yet vve must acknovvledge vvithout all doubt that he hath giuen it to all the Apostles as it appeareth after his resurrection vvhen he sayth vnto them That vvhich ye remit in earth c. Also It is sayd vnto him I vvill giue thee the keyes as though that povver had bene giuen to him alone but as he ansvvered for al so he likevvise receyued the keyes together vvith all as bearing the person of the vnitie He is named therefore alone for all forasmuch as there vvas vnitie amongst all And therefore Augustines ordinarie maner of speache is that in Peters person the keyes are promised to all and in the person of all them to all the Ministers of the Church Leo the Bishoppe of Rome at the time that this question was handled disputing with the Byshops of Constantinople although in his workes he hath left sufficient shewe of the traces of ambition yet he speaketh not otherwise thereof This povver sayth he of the keyes is likevvise passed ouer to all the Apostles and transferred to all the gouernours of the Church And in that it is particularly recommended vnto Peter it is because the example of Peter is set forth to all the gouernors of the Church In euery place therfore where men iudge according to the equitie of Peter there Peters priuiledge is founde but contrariwise it hath no place where Peters equitie is not found Hitherto then we find not the keyes of power but of knowledge only to wit the ministerie of the Gospell the which is common to al ministers and so likewise are the keyes which are thereto annexed This is that which is repeated by Gratian in the Decretals That Saynt Peter receiued no more povver then the other Apostles and by the chiefest Canonists in the Decretalles themselues That the povver of bynding and loosing in vvhich is founded al the iurisdiction of the Church proceedeth immediatly from Christ not immediatly frō S. Peter or his successors the which also Cardinal Cusan maintained in the time of the Council of Constance against those which alledged the key of power pretended by the Pope But let vs go yet somwhat farther They holde that the power of bynding and loosing is practised principally in their sacrament of Penance when their priest inioyneth satisfaction and afterwards giueth absolution to those that haue satisfied Nowe I demaund of them whether it be God that forgiueth or the priest that giueth absolution They will saye it is God that forgiueth and that the priest by his worde doth declare it the which the master of the sentences prooueth very wel by many places drawen out of the auncient Fathers in his fourth booke following that which Chrysostom saith that in these things Neither man Angel nor Archangel cā do any thing And in very deede this is an assured Maxim of Christian religion as he there sayth That none can take avvay sinnes but Iesus Christ alone vvho is the lambe that hath borne the sinnes of the vvorld Now if God be he which bindeth looseth I demaund what more power can remaine in the Pope who doeth neyther the one nor the other And whether we may not come to the conclusion of Marsilius of Padua That the Pope cārelease no more neither from the punishment nor frō the fault then any other poore priest Also If God then exercise his authoritie as Saint Ambrose saith and the priest his knovveledge in doing his office by the key of discretion What shall remaine for the Pope to do vnlesse he will breake in vpon the authoritie of God what key remaines for him not hauing any office to exercise vnlesse it be the key of indiscretion To conclude then the interpretation of this place of S. Marthew according to the force of the wordes the conference of the scriptures the analogie or proportiō of faith the opinion of the aunciēt Doctors the Canōs thēselues of the Romish church Iesus Christ is the stone or rather the liuely rocke vpō which the Church is founded by the ministery of the Apostles who were no other but master Masons To this church which is one vnder the name of Peter who answered for all the power of the keyes was promised to open the gate of the kingdome of heauen to all those which obey the preaching of the gospel Al they which exercise the ministery of the Gospel haue these keys so farre forth as their ministery extends it cannot be attributed to thē that do not exercise any whereof it ensueth that it is so farre of that the Pope should haue thē alone or al the rest frō him that the poorest priest doing his dutie in his parish hath thē better thē he And if because this word was spoken to Peter they wil restraine this place to Peters person I say then that it is rashly done of thē to extend to all the Bishops of Rome that which was spoken to Peter Or if they wil be yet of this tough opiniō thē they must permit that these words Come behinde me Sathan thou art an offence vnto me which follow in the verses next after spokē to Pet. alone must be vnderstood of him al his pretended successors wherof must folow this special priuiledge that the successors of Peter none others may become deuils that the Church of Rome is becōe in Christēdome the stone of offence because for taking care for nothing but the great things of the world it hath forsaken those which are of God. They make an argument afterwardes by another place Ioh. 21 it is sayde three times to S. Peter Louest thou me then feede my sheepe Therefore he was vniuersal pastor of the Church If they concluded he is cōmaunded to feed therefore he was a pastor of the flocke of Christ the cōclusion were good But that therfore he was an vniuersal pastor or the pastor of pastors there is nothing in the text from whēce they may fetch it To feede sayth their owne glose vpon that word is to teach by word by example not to gouerne ouer al the world How it was said to all the Apostles Teach go ye into the whole world Also Euen as my father sent me so send I you Therefore it was said vnto all Feede my sheep S. Paul saith in many places That he is the Apostle of the Gētiles
of tyrannie That Saint Peter was the first amongst the Apostles eyther it was for his age or for his zeale as Marsilius of Padua sayeth or for his aboundance of grace as sayth Cusan the Cardinall and before him S. Augustine And admitte that he were president in their assemblies what shoulde there followe of this In all companies there is a chieftie of order but that doth not therefore import that there shoulde be a chieftie of power nor any superioritie in respect of the one ouer the other In the empire of Germanie there are seuen Electors The Archbishop of Mentz and the Countie Palatine are the chiefest the one amongst the Ecclesiasticall persons the other of the ciuil Haue they therfore power ouer their fellow Electors to wit ouer the other princes that haue not that degree That is a toye Also there is no wel gouerned assemblie where some one is not president to propound the matters they haue in hande to gather the voyces to pronounce sentence according to them Shall such a one therfore establish and dispose all at his pleasure all the worlde will say contrary Also Peter was president among twelue persons that by the electio of the Apostles and not otherwise Whosoeuer therefore will conclude that it is very good that in all cōpanies there be some one to gouerne their actions and to keepe order the conclusion shal be very good But that therfore the Pope as his successour should gouerne ouer all the worlde this should be no more order but the cōfusion of the whole world Moreouer as it hath bin notably disputed long ago against the Pope If S. Peter according to the decree of Anaclet cited by Isiodore was elected president by the Apostles it followeth not that his successour should bee ouer the successors of the Aposties vnlesse he be chosen by their successors themselues For Saint Iohn myght haue had better successours then Saint Peter all which together myght haue had power to choose one to gouerne And these are those personall dignities which descende not from the father to the sonnes and are not tyed to one chaire but depend vpon the common consent of those which haue instituted them according to that which Cardinall Cusan durst well saye that if by consent of the Christian Church the Bishoppe of Treues were chosen president of the Church he shoulde haue farre more ryght then the Bishoppe of Rome who hath it not but through sufferance and that the Bishoppe of Rome should be bound to acknowledge him for such a one and to yeeld him obedience We see then by the Scriptures that S. Peter was neuer ordeyned head of the Church by Iesus Christ that he was neuer taken for such a one also was neuer acknowledged in this qualitie or office by the Apostles as also we finde not that in any one Councill that euer the Pope hath alledged I meane within 500. yeres after Christ Iesus one onely place of scripture whē the primacie was builded Whereupō we conclude with all antiquitie that the Pope in respect that he is Peters successor cannot be called the Ministeriall heade of the Church that he is equal to all other Bishops that the primacy which he exerciseth is not in any wise founded vpō Gods law and consequently that all the articles which are founded thereupon for which as necessarie to saluation the Popes haue brought to confusion all Christendome haue not any foundation in Iesus Christ That the Pope or Bishop of Rome is not the Ministeriall head of the vniuersall Church by any right of mans lavve hovv he hath vsurped this title and povver CHAP. VIII BVt forasmuch as there is question of the succession of Saint Peter hauing seene in what it consisteth let vs see nowe what titles they bring forth to the ende they may be receiued into possession They alledge euery where that S. Peter was at Rome and hereof they conclude at one iumpe that the Pope is head of the Church We might denie that he was at Rome the which they can not proue by the holy Scripture whereof euery one may see what the foundation is of so wayghtie a buylding But contrariwise we finde great coniectures that he was neuer there of which wee were not the first searchers out but the greatest personages that were in many ages before vs Betwixt the death of our Lorde and the death of Nero there were 37. yeres By the holy Scripture it appeareth that Peter was at Hierusalem twentie yeeres after From thence he came to Antioch where Gregorie sayth that he was seuen yeres and Eusebius sayth 25. He that shall beleeue Eusebius he coulde not be martyred vnder Nero though he himselfe saye it For betwixt the passion of Christ the death of Nero there was but thirtie seuen yeeres and by Eusebius accompt there must be at the least xlvi yeeres And if we shall beleeue Gregorie there remaine but ten yeres during which time Peter could be at Rome But forasmuch as Peter and Paul were seene in Ierusalem S. Paul writing a long Epistle to the Romanes woulde he haue abstayned from him if he had bene there then Likewise he saluteth a great nomber of persons without making any mention of him Besides he writeth many Epistles from Rome in some of which a man shal finde some places that necessarily should haue made mention of him And in one place he complayneth that all had forsaken him beyng a prisoner for the Gospel And the 2. Epistle to Timothie was written the same yeere where a little after S. Paul was beheaded by the commandemēt of Nero. To be short whether S. Peter were at Rome before S. Paul or after If before as their legend sayeth that Saint Paul arriued there after that they two together had such combats agaynst Simō Magus whence commeth it that Saint Paul did not salute him in his Epistle to the Romanes Whence also commeth it that he maketh no mention of him in the other Epistles and which is more whence commeth it and howe can that accorde to that which S. Luke sayeth in the Actes That the Iewes sayd vnto Paul that they had vnderstoode nothing of him and they desire him to declare vnto them his opinion of that sect agaynst which euery man spake Is this credible vnto any that S. Peter who came thither before and was the Minister of Circumcision that he had taught them nothing of him Also whence commeth it that S. Paul who is wont diligently else where to rehearse their meetings as when they mette at Antioch maketh no mention of this meeting being in one of the most famous Cities in the worlde Nowe if Saint Peter came thither after Saint Paul besides that it is a great maruell that no mention is made thereof yet then the legende is false whereupon the primacie is founded and as it is false in one poynt so it may be in another Moreouer the Legende
sayeth that they were beheaded both together and the Canon sayeth the same yere in the same daye and at the same hower Eusebius sayeth that the one was beheaded and the other was crucified and Linus who hath written the suffering of Saint Paul he I saye whome they holde to haue bene the next that succeeded Saint Peter hath made no mention of Saint Peters suffering One sayeth that Linus was his successour another that it was Clemens To be short they are not yet agreed neyther of the tyme of his comming nor of the tyme of his death nor of the maner thereof nor of his successour nor of any thing And yet for all that they are so impudent that they will drawe all staye of the Christian faith vnto the faith of a lying legende Nowe agaynst these proofes they can alledge but one place of Scripture whereof they may be ashamed to witte that which is in the later ende of the first Epistle of S. Peter The Church which is in Babylon saluteth you I wyll not denye vnto them that Eusebius and Beda and Saint Hierome hath interpreted the date of this letter to be from Rome but I do rather willingly accept that which they confesse that they are not able to aucthorize the See of Rome by the scripture otherwise thē by acknowledging it to be called Babylon euen by their pretended founder himself Now if they wil alledge vnto me that this is a common receyued opinion that S. Peter was at Rome besides the diuersities that we haue noted before I answere that the question is not of the opinion but of an article of faith vpon which they would buyld many others of like sort That S. Hierome a Romane elder expoūding this place Beholde I haue sent you Prophets wise men and Scribes c alledgeth for example Saint Stephen stoned and S. Peter crucified by the Iewes to be short that the popedome then is founded vpon opinion and not vpon a certaine and an vndoubted faith But granting that opinion that he was there for I will not now debate the matter to shewe the vncertaintie of that which they pretende to be most certayne I demaunde whether he were there in the state of a Bishop or of an Apostle If as Bishop or elder for then we know that both these were one they were bounde euery one to their owne citie or towne and to his owne Church as may appeare by the Actes in the Epistle to Titus and therefore the Bishop of Rome could not pretende any aucthoritie ouer others for none could transferre that right which he had Againe why shoulde they not rather haue chosen Paul for their Bishop seeing that it appeareth by the holy scripture that he had preached there a long tyme Moreouer what will they answere to the Bishoppe of Antioch who is more clearely founded in the scripture then the Bishop of Rome that is to say euen in the expresse text of the Scripture for alledging that goodly reuelation of translating Peters See frō Antioch to Rome which is read in Gratians decretal they shal be derided as for an idle dreame And what will they answere to S. Gregorie himselfe who sayth that the Bishops of Alexandria and of Antioch are aswell Peters successors as he of Rome that they sitte in Peters chaire If as an Apostle we knowe that the charge of the Apostleshippe was not tyed to any citie towne or prouince no nor to any one nation but was extended throughout the whole world and if they will haue it any maner of way limited this must be by the spirite of God who had appointed Peters Apostleship amōgst the Iewes and Pauls amongst the Gentiles sending the one sayth S. Hierome to the Gentiles and placing the other by the singular prouidence of God in Iurie Whereupon it wil folowe then that by the same right all places where Peter hath preached shall haue a primacie that is to say there shal be primacies and popedomes without nomber and so consequently not one alone Also that the succession of Rome ought rather to be taken of Paul then of Peter for Rome is of the Gentiles Also that all the places spoken of Peter are yll alledged by them forasmuch as the succession is not drawen frō him This is beside For Cardinall Cusan maintayneth vnto them that all Bishops are equally of S. Peter whereof it foloweth that they haue all the priuiledge of his See that as one may erre so likewise may another If they say that S. Peter hath foūded the Church of Rome that is false for long time before that they say it should be foūded by him S. Paul wrote vnto them that the renowme of their faith was spread throughout the whole worlde Nowe if it be in respect onely that Peter there dyed they say that so did Paul also who went thither by the expresse commandement of God I say that S. Ierome writeth that he was crucified in Iudea to be short I say that the Apostle S. Iohn who liued longer then all the Apostles thirtie yeeres at the least after S. Peter according to their own reconing and who wrote the last of all sayth rather that Christ foretolde Peter that he should be glorified by his death but he maketh no mention of the place where he shoulde thereby glorifie the Pope which without doubt hee would not haue concealed for the benefite and saluation of all the worlde if the state of the Church had depended vpon this supremacie But I demaund farther who cā vaūt to be Peters heire whether the Church of Rome or the Pope If the church of Rome as it semeth the Pope Calixte gaue place to it then there is no more questiō of a Pope nor of one man alone nor of one personall succession For the Church is a body a body dieth not but successiuely in his parts there needeth no successor to him that dyeth not If it be the Pope then ought not the Church of Rome any more to say that she is the head of the Church neither that shee say any more as the schole of Sorbonistes noth That Peters chaire is for the Church and not the Churche for Peters chayre For she is but a part of the succession And if this come to passe I demaund what shal become of the Church and of the Ministerie of the same when the head thereof shall become an heretike and an Atheist when there shal be a Schisme of thirtie or fourty yeeres continuance without a Pope as often hath bene seene when Ioan shall be in Peters place c. But before they answere vs they must make voyde this broyle amongst themselues and if it please God before they agree therein their pretended succession must fall to the ground Nowe albeit we coulde reiect all in one worde beyng not grounded vpon any one worde of Gods lawe yet it shal be good to see from
called together by the Emperour Martian Leo the Bishoppe of Rome beeyng there president hee was called Archbishoppe as were the others But the history sayeth that he required the Emperour and the Empresse to gouerne there because that in the seconde Councill of Ephesus Dioscorus the Patriarke of Alexandria abusing his authoritie had approued the heresie of Eutyches whereof then there was question Nowe in that hee demaundeth this fauour it sufficientlye declareth that it was not done vnto him and if this might once bee drawen into consequence as well also must this that Cyrill was President ouer the first councill of Ephesus for all the Bishoppes of Alexandria And in very deede in the fift Councill of Constantinople his successour withstoode it not when Menas the patriarke of that place was there presidēt In the generall Councill of Aquilie S. Ambrose the B. of Millane was president there was not any mētion made of the B. of Rome although this was in Italy But behold the questiō was determined the parties being heard by the determinate sētēce of a coūcill The B. of Rome tooke vpon him a goodly large title of being patriarke ouer the churches of Affrike the schismatikes of Affrike willingly departed to go to him to finde there aid whereupon the coūcil of Mileuitane where S. Aug. was with a good nomber of fathers pronounced all them for excommunicate that had or shoulde appeale beyonde the Sea. The Bishoppe of Rome finding him selfe grieued sent to the sixth councill of Carthage where also Saint Augustine was that he might haue redresse in this matter the which was so long time in debating that Zosinius Boniface and Celestine Bishoppes of Rome succeeded one another during this Councill Aurelius the Archbishoppe of Carthage notwitstanding that their legates were there was president there and in the ende the definitiue sentence was pronounced in this force That the Bishop of Rome should not receiue those that were excommunicated by the Bishops of Affrike neither should he receiue the appellations of those that by them should be cond̄ened that all they which should appeale to him should be holdē for excōmunicated persōs The reasons of this councill contained in the 105. chapter by the letters of the council to Celestine Bishop of Rome are these that there is no coūcil that had so decreed Contrariwise that the Council of Nice had put the Clergie the Bishops of ech prouince vnder the Metropolitan That the grace of the holye Spirite had not withdrawen it selfe from euerye Prouince to discerne the right of all causes That anye myght appeale to a Prouinciall councill if hee felt him selfe grieued that it vvas more credible that GOD vvoulde inspire a great assemblie of ministers in a Councill then one man alone And because that the B. of Rome required to send his legates to be ouer those places to enquire of matters and causes they made answere that they could not find any councill that had so decreed and likewise that they would not suffer it In this council where they had time enough to dreame all their forbidding yet shall you not finde that the primacie was founded vpon anye lawe of God much lesse that which they call the fulnes of power And in very deede for to decide the matter men were not sent to search the scriptures in which S. Augustine who was present there was wel able to haue found it if it had bene there but rather to the foure originals of the coūcill of Nice which were kept in the foure patriarchall Sees In meane while Gratian the Compiler of their decree was so sottishly malicious that reciting this Canon of the Councill of Carthage That men should not appeale beyond the Sea he added vnlesse to the B. of Rome as though the Canon had bene made quite contrary to it selfe all the reasons being heard concluded to the contrary And by this place a man may very well gather what to accompte of their Canons being rehersed with such fidelitie In the Councill of Carthage holden vnder the Emperour Mauricius about the yeere of Christ sixe hundred the matter of the Supremacie was also largely debated because that thē the B. of Constantinople fauoured of the Emperor Mauricius by prerogatiue of the Citye of Constantinople called him selfe Bishop of Bishops and vniuersall Bishop And Mauricius vphelde and ayded him to beate down old Rome because thē the empire was trāslated into the East Italie left for a pray to the Northern people Let a mā read ouer al the Canōs of that council they pronounce a curse not onely vpon the B. of Cōstantinople but generally vpō al those who shall take the title of an vniuersall B. All the auncient doctors who liued during the time of these Councils yea the Latines that yelded very much to the Bishopricke of Rome as being their most neere patriarchshippe doe witnesse the selfe same thing vnto vs Athanasius albeit hee was greatly bound to the See of Rome which had receiued him in his exile he saith that all the Apostles were equal in honour power S. Hierom a minister of Rome he saith If there be any question of the authoritie of all the world the vvorld is greater then one City Wherefore vvilt thou bring the order of the Church into the subiection of a fevve persons Whence cōmeth this presūption Wheresoeuer there is a Bishop be he at Rome or at Agubiū be he at Constātinople or at Rhegiū he is of one and the same dignitie and Ministery Riches or pouertye neither make one superiour nor inferiour Againe there is saith he in euerye Churche a Bishoppe one chiefe amongest the Deacons and another amongest the Elders and all the order of the Churche consisteth in these gouernors It should folow therupon seeing the the question was of vnity that he should adde and say a B. ouer the other Bishops but he speaketh nothing S. August hath written a story which maketh this matter most cleare Donate of the black cotages a Numidian of whō the Donatists tooke their name had grieuously accused Ciciliā the Archbishop of Carthage Constantine the Emperor committed this cause which was merely ecclesiastical to Miltiades B. of Rome to certain other Bishops of Italie Gaule Spaigne Nowe if this had bene his ordinarie Iurisdiction there needed not any Cōmission of the Emperor it had belonged to him to haue chosen vnto himselfe his assistants not to haue receiued them But see further Donate being condemned appealed to the Emperor who sent his appellatiō to the Archb. of Arles either to proue or disalow the B. of Romes sentence I demand then in this fact which in this case is worth a million Where is the Supremacy where is the Iurisdiction without appeale and where is this same knowledge of all appellations this fulnes of power wherof they speak so much And yet this is that Constantine of whom they boast so much who as
were so impudent as to falsifie a decree of the council of Nice bringing foorth in steade thereof the articles of the councill of Sardes yet corrupted and falsified pretending that from all parts men might appeale to the bishop of Rome But the fathers of the councill had learned well to saye that they would not beleeue those productions and therfore sent to the originalls and they being seene they pronounced the quite contrary Leo the first receiued Eutyches condemned by Flauianus the bishop of Constantinople for a time mainteyned him against him whereupon his heresie first tooke footing and grewe which might then at once haue bene quenched But none approued this vsurpation To be short in the time of Chrysostome this ambition was so great amongest them that he complained that to obteine supremacie the bishops of Rome had filled the Churches with blood had defiled the Supper of the Lord with murthers vntill they had vtterly for it destroyed whole cities And he that will see the ciuil warres for they likewise name them which were at Rome betweene Damasus and Vrsicius in the time of Saint Hierome whether of them should be bishop and afterwards betweene Laurence and Symmachus he maye reade them in Ruffinus Amian Marcellin and their owne Pontificall it selfe And howsoeuer it were all the contentions that were made by the bishops of Rome in the auncient Church yea till the time of the murthering of Phocas for the supremacie looke how many they were they were alwaies arguments from age to age and as determined sentences against them in so much that they alwayes lost their cause whatsoeuer instāce they made or whatsoeuer diligence they vsed in pleading of it But they will obiecte vnto me that neuerthelesse the bishop of Rome hath helde the chiefe place amongst the Patriarches I agree thereto but yet I deuie that it was to commaunde others And in deede it is expressely said that he shall not be called vniuersall bishop but onely the bishop of the first See. I say moreouer that this is not in respect that he was the successour of S. Peter and lesse by vertue of those places alledged out of the holy Scripture But because that in seates there must be a first a second place according to humame order I say that this was ordeyned in consideration of that order wherby the citie of Rome was set aboue others If it had bene by the Scriptures it should haue bene a wonderfull thing that for 600. yeeres together these mysteries should haue bene hidden from the Church If in respecte of the founder why not rather at Antioche and at Alexandria after Gregorie or to all other bishopricks after Cusan who saith that all bishops are Peters successors equall in the essentiall dignitie although they differ in the administration and gouernment as the bishops of Spaine themselues haue disputed in the last councill of Trent Moreouer that Hierusalem should be the first and not the fourth seeing the Saluation of the world did there gouerne Or why is Antioche whereof Saint Peter was bishop put after Alexandria which can alledge nothing but the succession of Saint Marke his disciple To be short what hurt hath Saint Iohn the welbeloued disciple of our Lord done vnto them who so long time preached in Ephesus which notwithstanding is not nombred amongst the patriarchall cities Or what newe Apostle hath founded Constantinople three hundred yeres after the death of our Lord to attribute vnto it the second See But there is none that hath but a litle iudgement that doth not well enough marke that all the preeminences of these Sees rather proceede from the rancke and places which their cities holde then from the establishment of Christian religion Rome was then the seat of the Empire and the glorie of all the world good learning there flourished it was the chiefe of all the peoples of the earth and therefore when all the bishops were gathered together they gaue the bishop of Rome the first place for ciuilitie and courtesies sake Likewise wee reade in the histories that Alexandria and Antioch were after Rome the most famous cities and according to that degree which their gouernours helde they also helde their bishopprickes And concerning Ierusalem that was so greatly accompted of for the first originall of true Religion and therefore likewise was not reckoned in the least place for Plinie calleth it the head of all the East but yet her place was ill kept after she had lost her first glorie Afterwards Constantinople came to be builded which was called the second Rome And then also we see the councill of Constantinople where there were sixe hundreth bishops who gaue vnto it the second place which had not bene done if they had had regard to the degree of the founder and not to the degree of the citie by reason of whose might also this dignitie was confirmed vnto it by the Emperour Iustinian Aquila in Italie was called the second Rome Also there was a Patriarchship there established yea Rauenna it selfe was a long time holden not to be subiecte to Rome and it had her owne Cardinalls apart and by themselues and as Venice beganne to growe great so it had the Patriarchship of Grado for it To be short he that shall marke from countrey to countrey the erection of patriarchships and archbishopricks he shal finde no other consideration then this the same that Pope Lucinus saith alledged by Gratian That at the first they instituted Primates of the Church according to temporall policie Also Pope Clement himselfe saith That where there were chiefe Priests of the Painims there they established Primats of Christians the which is repeated in the same wordes by Peter Lombard in his fourth booke of Sentences The councill of Chalcedon wherein notwithstanding the earnest requests of Pope Leo the first the second See was giuen to the Citie Constantinople vseth also the same woordes The fathers vpon good righte with one consent agreed that the priuiledge of the first See should belong vnto olde Rome because of the Empire there and wee also moued with the same consideration agree that the second shal be at new Rome And in the 12. Act of the same council the reasoning betwixt the bishop of Nice of Basianopolis is grounded vpon the dignitie of the cities And to cut of all such controuersies this Canon was there passed That these Cities onely shoulde be holden for Metropolitans to which Kings and Princes had done this honor by their statutes And the Council of Thurin there addeth That if the earthly superioritie were translated from one Citie to another that then the right of the Archbishoprick should be translated likewise To be short when the seate of the Empire was translated to newe Rome that is to say to Constantinople we see that the Bishop of that place by by tooke vnto himselfe the primacie whereof they held euen as much as they coulde and when that
murtherer Phocas declared the Bishop of Rome to be head of al churches Platine saith plainly that it was in consideration that Rome was the auncient seate of the Empire whereon Constantinople was but the pillar as others say propter principalitatem vrbis for the principalitie of the Citie Beholde then that the pretended primacie of Rome neyther proceeded from the ordinance of Christ nor from the priuiledge of Peter but from Romulus and his successors who there erected an Empire Non inquam a Petra neque a Petro sed a Saxo Tarpeio I say neither from the rocke nor from Peter but from the rocke of Tarpeius whereupon Rome was builded the which their owne Canonists confesse seeing trueth giueth them hell for theyr rewardes Quod omnis maioritas minoritas etiam Papatus est de iure positiuo that is to say That all degrees both small and great yea the popedome it selfe they are from the positiue lavve and of mans ordinance I knowe very well that they haue a decree of Pope Innocentius which sayth that it is not necessary to change the ecclesiasticall preheminence according to the Ciuill but this forsooth was at such a time when the good man himselfe feared least the Empire shoulde withdrawe all the honor into the East and he thought it expedient which thing also his successors did very well knowe and finde to builde their greatnes glory of the ruines of the Westerne Empire And againe the decree of one man is not to be preferred before so many Councils seeing that as some of them haue said the decretals haue no authoritie by the meere will of the Pope that is to say absolutely but only so farre foorth as they are agreeable to the Canons of the Councils If they wyll yet alledge vnto me that the constitutions policies of the Church of Rome haue bin receiued by many other Churches I wyll answere them no otherwise then was answered by those professors of diuinitie in Paris three hundred yeeres passed when there was controuersies betweene our kings the Pope by Marsilius of Padua about the same time the Pope making warre vpon the Emperors of Germany which gaue boldnesse to the trueth to speake freely to witte that in the beginning men might be gouerned after it because learning there florished no otherwise then as the vniuersitie of Orleans or of Anger 's oftentimes conforme themselues to that of Paris as also the Romanes borrowed in deede their lawes from the twelue tables of the Grekes And yet by vertue thereof the Grekes shoulde not well ground to pretend themselues superiors to the Romanes and likewise the Romanes if therefore they should pretend to be superiors ouer other Bishops Nowe concerning the name Pope which is giuen vnto him they that haue read know that it was common not onely to al Bishops but also euen to elders in all the auncient Church He that wil see this matter more plaine let him reade the Epistles of Saint Cyprian of Saint Denis of Alexandria lib. 2. epist. 6.25 c. of Saint Augustine of Saint Hierome of Sidonius Apollinaris of Saint Gregorie himselfe and the actes of the Councils where men may finde them full And in deede the Greekes call theyr Priests at this day Papous and the Germaines Pfaff which they that vnderstand the tongue doe deriue from this name Papa which after Suidas signifieth Father in the language of the Sicilians Now concerning the name Pontifex Irenee called Saint Iohn the high Bishop and Athanasius calleth all the Bishops by that name and Ruffinus calleth Athanasius the great Bishop and he that will reade the auncient Fathers shall finde nothyng more often then this Nowe if they will alleadge their Cardinals they shall not finde one worde of them in the olde Church vnlesse in this signification the Cardinall Priest that is to say a Bishop or rather the Curate of some parish of the Bishoprick as in very deede all are at this day eyther Curates or Deacons of some one or other parish of Rome And in deede in the Councils they were set last as in the sixt Councill of Carthage and in the Councill of Gregory Whatsoeuer it is thei can say of it it is certaine that Innocent the fourth about the yeere of our Lorde 1244. gaue vnto them the priuiledge of the red hatte and scarlet robe and to ride on horsebacke and in the yeere 1470. Paul the seconde confirmed it and Clemens the fift is gone so farre in his Clementines that he causeth them to goe before all the princes of the earth These inuentions then were not found in the florishing state of the Church but after that it became subiect to the ambition of one man alone We haue then founde that the Pope of Rome hath beene declared head of the Church a litle after 600 yeeres not by the tradition of Christ or of his Apostles but by the treason of Phocas not by any Councill of the Church but by the conspiracy of a seruant against his master who to reconcile himselfe with the people of Rome ordained his Bishop with that title which Gregorie his predecessor had lefte for Antichrist and the Pope on the other side proclaimed him selfe Emperour in steade of Mauritius whom he had slaine This goodly ordinance of Phocas was confirmed by a pettie Councill which Boniface caused to be holden at Rome when there were none present but the Latines who desired no better And afterwardes by another holden in Affrike in the yeere 642. when the Arabians were turmoiled with many inuasions whereupon they began to inscribe the letters of Pope Theodorus To the holy father of fathers and soueraigne prince of prelates c. and so we see by histories from degree to degree howe this monster hath growen euen to full height frō which he must tumble downe headlong The Emperours of Grece who were then as banisht out of Italy to keepe the Italians in obedience they left vnto them the handling of their affaires in such sort notwithstanding that they were constrained to confirme their election by the Emperour and to date their wrytinges according to the indiction and yeere of their Empyre But euen as the Emperors grewe weake by the enterprises of the Persians in the Easte so grewe the Pope strong in the West so as about the yeere 680. Pope Benedict the second caused himselfe to be exempted from all the imperiall iurisdiction by Constantine the fourth called the Bearded About that time beganne great strifes in the Greke and Latine Church about Images whereupon encreased superstition together with ignorance The Grekes were of minde to throw thē down the Pope in despite of them woulde holde them vp This strife much encreased his might for vnder the shadowe hereof he excommunicated Leo Isauricus called Chassimage of breaking Images and forbade all the people of Italy vpon paine of excommunication to pay him any impost that is to say he
the dignitie of the citie but that all that was more was from the deuill and by vsurpation Whereupon it followeth that in regard of the ministerial head of the Church he could not pretend to be lesse subiect to error then other bishops and patriarkes neither the latine Church lesse then those of Greece others of the East And so we returne notwithstanding their exception to our former cōclusion That the articles grounded vpon the authoritie of the Pope and the church of Rome are ouerthrowne and al their traditions inuentions subiect to the examination of the holy Scripture as are the doctrines of all other Churches That the Pope in affirming himselfe to be head of the Churche and not being so in deede is the Antichrist in the Church and that he cannot be receiued vvith any other then the papistical doctrine CHAP. IX THE Pope not being head of the Church as he saith he is and hauing no other titles to prooue this generall Lieutenant shippe which he so proudly exerciseth we saye that he is the plague of the whole body a tyraunt in the common weale Antichrist in the church And for to prooue this I will not enter into the particular explication of those predictions which are in Daniel in the epistle to the Thessalonians in the Apocalypse which in times past were darckened but now are made cleere For also many learned men not onely of our time but 300. yeres agoe haue made those bookes plaine amiddest the ignorance of the world crueltie of the Pope But I saye that although he were not so liuely painted out vnto vs as he is in those foresaid places yet his doctrine ought to make vs knowe that he is the very Antichrist with whom the Church was threatned and that there could not be in Christēdome any thing more pernicious then that doctrine which he hath brought in First to take away al doubt the Scripture speaketh vnto vs of many Antichrists For euery hereticke which setteth himselfe against the truth he is in very deed an Antichrist but it speaketh vnto vs of one amongst others who shall haue his seate in the Church of God and shall vsurpe Gods place who as Origen saith must be the great Antichrist among other Antichrists This is he of whom we haue now to speake Secondly when the Scripture speaketh of Antichrist it saith that it shal be an Apostacie or a falling backe from the faith Also that that mysterie of iniquitie began to worke in Paul his time and that it should no otherwise be destroyed but by the comming of Iesus Christ Againe that he must builde his greatnes vpon the ruine of the Romane Empire and giue life to that lost beast that is to say as all the auncient fathers haue expounded to this Empire and namely S. Augustine in the xx booke of the citie of God Chrysostome vpon that place where S. Paul handleth this matter And we knowe that the Romane Empire fell by litle litle and peece by peece It foloweth then that Antichrist is not one man alone which must come at one instant of time but is an estate seat and succession of men an Empire lifted vp against Iesus Christ as we see the Scripture vnder the name of certaine beastes to describe Empires And this also is the interpretation of S. Augustine vpon that place Thirdly Antichrist is called that false prophet vomiting out blasphemies against the most highest His Empire therefore consisteth in false doctrine not in armes he is called a woman an whore he shall therefore wind in himselfe and come in by pleasaunt wayes sleightes and flatteries deceyuing men through his crafte drawing them to his spiritual whordome which is idolatrie He is also called the sonne of perdition as Iudas Againe he shall not assayle the Church by open force but he shall betray her with a kisse and shall not enter by the breach or by a strong scaling ladder but by counterfaiting the keyes by painted Emblemes and secretly like a thiefe And in very deede the Empires which consisted in forces and armes they are figured in the scriptures vnder the name of Wolues Lyons Beares and such other rauening beastes whereas for this ye haue but women whoredomes cuppes drinckings enchantments that is to say deceipts crafts and subtilties whereupon the schoolemen themselues haue concluded that this chiefe Antichrist which is here described can neither be Mahomet nor the Empire of the Turkes Fourthly he is properly called Antichrist and not Antithee that is to say contrary to Christ the Mediator and not simply against God therefore particularly he shal be against Christ Iesus our Lorde And all the doctrine of Christ consisteth in the office of the Mediatorship in the benefit of his death and passion This then shall be the speciall doctrine that he will chiefely labour to abolish It is oftentimes saide that he shall sitte in the Church of God being there acknowledged as god Nowe it is certaine that if he shoulde say that he were Christ or shoulde preach directly against Christ the Church would not suffer this in the middest of her nor suffer him to raigne It is likewise said That he shall haue tvvo hornes like to the lambe speaking notvvithstanding as the Dragon that is to say he shall counterfaite the doctrine and holinesse of Christ although he speake nothing but impieties as Satan doeth It foloweth therefore to make these markes to agree together that it must be that Antichrist of whom nowe the controuersie is that he must speake in shewe as Christ but in deede and in effect against Christ and honoring him in wordes and yet as much as lieth in him robbing him of his glorie And that he is the true Antichrist of whom the question is who vnder the shadowe of Christ shall ouerthrowe his doctrine and put him selfe in Christ his place Saint Augustine handling this matter doeth no otherwyse vnderstande it Let vs not regarde saith he the tongue but the deede Antichrist is a lyer which maketh profession of Christ and yet denieth him in effect And a litle after Howe sayest thou that I denye him in effect Because Christ sayth he is come in the flesh to the ende that he should die for vs. Chrysostome sayth That he must be knowen by his doctrine and neyther by titles miracles nor wordes of holinesse Saint Hilary sayth That Antichrist shal be contrary to Christ vnder opinion of an hypocriticall and faigned godlinesse And in another place O ye fooles who are mooued and rauished and caught in loue with woordes and gorgeous seelinges of Churches Doe ye doubt that this shall one day be the seate of Antichriste It behooueth vs nowe therefore to consider who it is that sitteth in the Church who speaketh more of Christ and leaste esteemeth him who more honoureth him with trayterous kysses and blasphemeth more against his cōming who in the chaire of Christ is
religion in great detestation one sort of thē be stiffe in Iudaisme the other perswade thē selues that all religion is nothing else but an instrument of policie I aske then for conclusion for what worse we shoulde looke from Antichrist thē to make Christ vnprofitable to Christians abhominable to Iewes and Painims shall we waite til he preach Atheisme and godlesnesse in Temples yea but they which see but the sunne moone and the order of all thinges will spit in his face What then till he preach the gods of the Romanes And what difference shal we make betweene the worship of Castor and Pollux that of Saint Ratherin and of Saint Nicholas seeing that both the one the other maketh vs quite to forget our saluation And forasmuch as he hath left preaching in the Temple of which it must needes be that he tooke possession it foloweth therefore that the Pope none other is Antichrist who vnder the name of Christ hath spoyled Christ of his place Nowe adde vnto his doctrine which is the essentiall marke the circumstances of persons Simoniakes Magicians Atheists whoremasters and Sodomites of the place where Antichrist should be to wit in the citie with seuen hilles described in the Apocalypse of the times of sixe hundreth sixtie sixe which falleth out iustly to the time that the Pope made himselfe to be acknowledged for vniuersal Bishop exempt from the subiection of any other and there can remaine no more doubt that this shoulde not be he Nowe if any man would yet demaunde testimonies of the auncient fathers from tyme to tyme first we haue this that all the doctrine of the olde Church is expressely contrarie to the doctrine of the Popes which we haue before mentioned they not beyng able anye maner of way to staye or settle them selues thereon And concernyng the markes although they spoke of them afarre of yet they drawe so nye thereto that those which they delyuer vnto vs to knowe hym by cannot be vnderstoode of any other then of him alone Saint Irenee who is a most auncient doctor of the Church the scholler of Polycarpe and Polycarpe of Saint Iohn who wrote the Apocalypse disputing of Antichrist sawe him no where else but in the Citie of Rome and in the Romishe Church For namely he saith that the latine Church shoulde be his seate and that he proueth after the opinion of his predecessours by the nomber of 666. mentioned in the Apocalypse which was foūd in these wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say latine and the latine Church I alledge not this to play the Cabalist vpon letters but to shew that then they sawe that this monster must be borne at Rome which we see at this daye through the speciall grace of GOD to decaye and totter Saint Chrysostome vpon the Epistle to the Thessalonians Towardes the declyning or decaying saith he of the Romane Empire Antichrist shall come and not without cause For this Empire beyng so renoumed none will easely be subiect vnto it But this being destroyed hee shall inuade the power of the Empire being voyde and shall take it to hym selfe in somuch as hee wyll take vppon hym the Empire both of God and men For as all kyngdomes which were before the Romane Empire were destroyed euen so shal the kingdome of the Romanes be destroyed by Antichrist and he by Christe after that he shall haue no more power The same teacheth that he shall cōe vnder the visard of holines and of myracles of superstitions counterfet godlinesse Now I reporte me to all that haue read histories if the Pope haue not growen and come to it by the ruine of the Romane Empire and if it were by any other way then fayned religion Saint Hylary Take heede sayth he of Antichrist It is a vilennie that you should be so mad at the walles You abuse your selues in reuerencing goodly buyldyngs for the Church of God For that is the place where Antichrist shall haue his seate It must not therefore be that we search for him as some suppose amongest the Barbarous but in the most cleare and manifest place of the visible Church Saint Hierome the Minister writing vnto Marcella This Babylon saith he and this vvhore clothed vvith Purple vvhich is paynted foorth vnto vs in the Apocalypse can signifie no other thing vnto vs but Rome and he repeateth the same in the lyfe of Saint Marke and Cusan the Cardinall addeth That Bede and all the auncient interpreters haue so expounded it Saynt Augustine Babylon is the first Rome Rome the second Babylon Also expoūding that place of Saint Paul in the second to the Thessalonians Antichrist shall come towardes the ending of the Romane Empire and he shall not be a prince or one man alone but a multitude of men are belonging vnto him who together with him shal be called Antichrist and he shall sitte in the Temple of God as though he and his were the Church of God it selfe And in another place He shall renewe Idolatrie he shall scatter the doctrine of the Gospell and to this ende he shal keepe Magicians Coniurers and Enchauntters c. Nowe euery one knoweth the false miracles wherewith he hath abused the people to lead them away frō Christ And he that will see howe many of the Popes came to their popedome by magicke and sorcerie that is to saye howe they were created by the deuill and no more successours of Peter but of Simon the Magician Let them reade that which their owne story wryters haue written thereof as Cardinall Benno Peter the Monke Volateran Sabellicus and Platina which I willingly omitte least I make the readers quake for horror of such wickednesse Saynt Gregorie Byshop of Rome as hee was more neere vnto it then others so hath he spoken therof more clearely then those that went before him Let it not seeme a light thing sayeth he vnto thee that Antichrist shall auouche himselfe to be God For I say confidentlye and boldely vnto you that vvhosoeuer shall call himselfe vniuersall Bishoppe or Minister and vvilbe so called hee is the very forerūner of Antichrist In other places he sayth That he is Lucifer vvhich aduaunceth himselfe aboue Angels and vvill sette himselfe at the right hande of God That this is to bring to ruine the vvhole Church c. Nowe he spake this the more frankely because it was at that time that the Byshoppe of Constantinople attributed vnto himselfe that title But beholde that a litle after his death his vniuersall foretelling was accomplished in the person of Pope Boniface the thirde his successour who to accomplishe that that the Spirite of God had foretolde vs by his Apostles doth so much preuaile by his threatninges that he obtayneth that title of Phocas the Emperour the murtherer of Mauritius and his children and the Popes following haue buylded
more health nor soundnesse therein and had bin altogether the death of the bodie had not God of his singular mercie opened the same vnto vs. Thirdly we say that this empoysoner with his complices hath cast into the fountaine of life that is to say into the doctrine of saluation in Iesus Christe all the poyson he coulde deuise and that he hath infected with his venime the most dainty meates which God had giuen for the nourishment of his people But that GOD hath giuen grace to some to absteine from it to some in tyme to vomit it vp againe to others to mingle it with the meate and to certaine to ouercome it by the soundnes of their complexion in such sort that many haue dayly escaped it notwithstanding his accursed intention and purpose For example we knowe that the most part of the people haue byn ignorant of those mischieuous doctrines which the schoolemen haue left by writing that is to say of the principal blasphemies of the papacie Also that the more parte haue neuer beleeued that they coulde merite euerlasting life by their owne workes whatsoeuer men preached vnto them thereof Againe albeit that through custome and ignorance they went to Saints and Images and frequented Masses and pylgrimages yet notwithstanding in their conflictes of death they alwayes principally claue to the Crosse of Iesus Christ and al the Franciscans preaching in their eares the habite vanishing toyes of S. Frauncis could not pull it away from them We haue an example in S. Bernard himselfe and we haue seene many more in our tyme S. Bernard in certaine places sauoureth of the contagion of his time as it was hard he should doe otherwise But see his refuge when he was tempted of the Deuill in his last dayes I confesse sayth he that I am not worthie of it I know that I cannot by mine ovvne workes obtaine the kingdome of heauen But my Lord hath obtained it by a double right by inheritance from the Father and by the merite of his passion Novve he is contented vvith the one and giueth mee the other And vvhen I attribute it to my selfe by the gift vvhich he hath made vnto me thereof I cannot be confounded And in another place My merite is the mercie of the lord And I am not poore in merits because he is riche in his mercies I haue greatly sinned but I vvill comfort my selfe in the stripes of my Lord. Euen so likewise we assure our selues in the mercy of God that a great nōber held the foūdation in Iesus Christ wherof the Apostle speaketh albeit Antichrist shooke it as it were endeuored to ouerturne it in thē all that he might Finally we say with S. Cyprian That if my predecessors either by ignorance or by simplicitie holding notvvithstanding the foundation haue not kept and holden that which our Lord hath taught them by his exāple aucthoritie as it is most certaine they did not that the mercie of our Lord might pardon thē But as this good Doctor addeth That we cannot hope for the like beyng admonished at this day and instructed by him But this matter shall be for the chapter following That euery one is bound to separate himselfe from the Communion of Antichrist and that the Romanists are Schismatikes and not they which separate themselues from them CHAP. X. THe matters beyng as wee haue before proued there shall be no great neede now that we render a reason for that we haue withdrawen our selues frō the cōmunion of the Pope frō those false worshippes which he hath foysted into the Church For seeing that he is Antichrist of whom the Church is warned threatned his synagogue is that same Babylō of idolatry out of which we haue an expresse cōmādemēt to come if we wil not be partakers of her sins plagues drinke of the cup of the wrath of God which is prepared for her we should be iustly charged with a very vile abominable faulte if we shoulde vse our selues otherwise And in deede if it were lawfull for the true citizens of Rome the citie being vnder the power of the Gaules to retire themselues into the litle towne of Veies with Camillus and if all the auncientes haue iudged that then the common weale was at Veies albeit the walles were still about Rome by a stronger reason wee ought to retire from the Temple which Antichrist hath inuaded and prophaned with so many pollutions not beyng able at the first dashe to dryue him awaye so that hauing gathered together the true seruaunts and champions of Iesus Christ from vnder his clawes we shall by the grace of God be strong ynough to dryue him from thence and there to place againe the true seruice of god And if he be to be holden for a traitor and to be accompted guyltie of hie treason that followeth the armie and ensigne of a Vicegerent or generall Lieutenant which is reuolted from his Prince much more shoulde we be traitors against the honour of our God and to him who hath vouchsafed to saue vs by his owne blood if we should fight against him vnder Antichrist who hath inuaded his place and shoulde any maner of way take his part yea seeing that it is a false title they are false ensignes that he vsurpeth of generall lieutenantship he beyng nothing more in Christendome then the least Bishops But notwithstanding to satisfie all the doubtes that may arise about this matter I am content to hādle it more largely When it pleased God to giue vs grace to know the false Cōmission of the Pope by vertue whereof he made himselfe head of the Church and that by examination aswell of his doctrine as of those markes which he ought to haue we found euidently that this is the Antichrist none other they who were called to preach the trueth haue preached in the Church they which had charge to teache haue declared published it by bookes and many to whome God gaue zeale courage haue protested it alowde and clearely euen amiddest the flaming fire Some haue shewed it to the people and common weales Some cryed it out in the eares of princes Some haue offered to verifie the impietie of his doctrine in a free generall Councill In the Councill in stead of disputing by the holy Scriptures they haue refused the Scriptures in stead of hearkening to their quick reasons according to faith they haue burned them quicke against the faith And to the ende they shoulde neuer haue occasion to hope for a free Councill and should not dare vnder the safe conduits of any to come thither they haue passed therein an article That faith and promise is not to be kept with heretikes Afterwardes all this notwithstanding we haue alwayes required a free Council where they haue condemned vs without euer calling for vs Some haue answered vs for all That these were matters done long ago whereof we should not speake any more They
haue cut vs quite of from the Church of Rome haue proceeded agaynst vs by fire and fagot by the sworde by warres by massacres cruell murthers Finally we see that they will giue no place to our worde that they will not giue vs audience in a Council that they excōmunicate chase vs from the Church of Rome Therfore following the example of the Apostles when they were excōmunicated from the Iewish synagogue for hauing preached Christ we haue begun to gather our selues together to serue the Lord first secretly in corners afterwardes more freely neither can we communicate with those Idolatries brought in by Antichrist nor at the first dash driue him from his seat for that the Princes of the earth with their power vpholde him therefore we are enforced to deliuer our selues all those that wil hearken vnto vs from his seruitude bondage Nowe I aske what our aduersaries can finde fault with in this our doyng either in the matter it selfe or in the maner of our proceeding If they looke vpon the matter we separāt our selues not for light matters but for manifest idolatrie for making voyd the crosse of Christ for perditiō which reigneth in the place of saluatiō To be short we withdraw our selues from this prince of cōfusion who is reuolted back against our lord And we report vs euen to their own iudgement whether they thinke it not lawful to separate our selues frō the cōmunion of Antichrist sitting in the chayre of Iesus Christ For if euery one wynke therat who shal discouer him and if euery one cleaue vnto him who shal chase him away and if all the world hold their peace where is the spirit of the mouth of the Lord which shal destroy him Nowe if they shall deny that he is Antichrist we wil submit our selues to proue it then there is no questiō of our separation but of our doctrine If they will reproue vs for the maner of our proceeding therein condemning vs they condemne the Apostles who hauing ouerrunne all Israel ran into a thousande dangers to the end they might make Christ to be receyued into his owne house in the middest of the temple finally perceyuing thēselues to be stopped euery way by open force by excōmunications imprisonments c. they receyued him secretely into their priuate houses and did preach him in smal assemblies till at last they brought all the worlde into his subiection But notwithstanding this they crie out that wee haue broken the Communion of the Church that we haue set altar agaynst altar that we are Schismatikes c. which were the outcries of the Pharises against the Apostles You violate the Temple the altar the lawe c. And hereupon kings and nations haue armed themselues on all sides against vs This therefore is the thing that we must presently make answere vnto First the Communion of the Church doeth not consist in a locall vnion neyther the separation in remouing of places For there are a great many without if we looke to the place who yet are within according to charitie and many againe in place that yet if we consider faith are without but the true Christian Communion consisteth in the vnion of faith and in the vnion of charitie which S. Augustine calleth the nerenesse or rather the neyghbourhoode and dwelling together as I may say of hearts and agreement in doctrine and the true separation in the diuersitie or contrarietis of the selfe same things Nowe concerning the vnion of faith it consisteth in that heauenly doctrine which is comprehended vnto vs in the olde and new Testament tending onely to this poynt to make vs feele our sinne and to shewe vs a remedie therfore in one onely Iesus Christ crucified And this is that for which according to the example of all the auncient seruants of God we suffer and are killed and for withdrawing our selues from vnder the yoke of Antichrist that shamefully treadeth it vnder his feete we are persecuted excommunicated and murthered We are therefore vnited in the faith with the Patriarkes Prophetes Apostles Martyrs auncient Doctors and generally with the whole Church that was before the lawe vnder the lawe and vnder Grace yea and vnder the tyrannie of Antichrist If they will denie it we wil submitte our selues to proue it There is not therefore any more question to cauill at our separation which is nothing else but as an escape to the ende to resort to true doctrine and if they confesse it denying vs to be vnited with them they confesse then that they are not vnited with the ancient fathers and therfore they ought not to thinke it straunge that we renounce the communion of the Papacie Concerning the Communion of charitie or loue which consisteth in suffering and bearing the euilles one of another in not lightly condemning one another we holde all them for the true members of Christ which worship one God in spirit in trueth and hope for their saluatiō in one Iesus Christ alone the sonne of God come in the fleshe and crucified for the sinnes of the worlde which is the foundation of saluation to all men We desire all vnion and agreement with them in whatsoeuer countries and regions they are and whatsoeuer corruptions may be yet remaining amōgst them not onely in maner but also in certayne poyntes of doctrine bewayling the bodyly seruitude which they endure and praying the Father of lyght that it wyll please him to enlighten them more more by his holy spirit Contrary wise euery mā knoweth that the Popes Consistorie hath excōmunicated al the East Churches 600 yeres agone only for this that they would not submit themselues to the Bishoppe of Rome which is an article that concerneth only but his ambition and that the Pope hath left them to be inuaded of the Turke in despite whereof they had rather endure all extremitie then to acknowledge him to be head of the Church And concerning the vnion of charitie amongst them which yet cleaue to the Pope there is nothing more deare vnto them then their own liues we haue bene put to the fire water sword for opening the trueth vnto them praying God euery day that he wil enlighten them by his spirit On the other side the Romish Consistory doth pursue vs by al meanes to death and that by the space of these three score yeeres and more and so many people continually groning for a free generall Council they haue not had onely so much charitie as to grant vs eyther generall or nationall to deliuer vs from the error they pretend vs to be in answering for al that to so many princes who haue iudged it necessary That these matters are already decided and ought not any more to come in question this is euery way a friuolous answere as wee haue shewed before But I demaunde what Parliament is it yea euen amongst the heathen so barbarous and so farre from humanitie
they who haue nothyng but theyr boasting and vaunting although they haue the greatest titles honors in the world to be on theyr side If therefore our aduersaries aske vs what was the calling of our first Ministers which refourmed the Church in these last times we answere that it was the same vocation and succession whereof they themselues doe bragge but the same vocation which they abused our men haue endeuoured to vse will and to that vaine succession wherewith they decked themselues they haue added the succession of true doctrine which they had corrupted without which all succession is nothing els but a continuing of abuse and error Wickleife Iohn Hus Luther Zwinglius Decolompadius Bucer and others of that schoole from whence the Ministers which haue gathered Churches from vnder Antichrist are descended were Priests as they cal them and doctors in diuinitie As Priests Pastors they had charge to preach the trueth vnto the people to minister the Sacraments vnto them according to the institutiō of our lord As doctors they were called to expound diuinitie in their readings in theyr bookes and they were bounde by the ordinary othe of al vniuersities to declare the trueth vnto the Church to confute al doctrines repugnant against the word of God and what then might to expell it Now in their time they found that the word of God was hid vnto the people that the honor which was due to God alone was turned to men to Images that the blood of Christ was troden vnder foote that the sacrament of the supper was partly turned into Idolatry partly denyed to the poore people To be short that all the holy scripture was prophaned poysoned with the Popes gloses popish interpretations And when they shewed these thinges to the Bishops and Metropolitans according to the order of their Church they made no rekoning of thē they were the first that persecuted thē because they themselues were the infected parte of the Church I aske therefore if theyr vocation commaunded them not to goe farther to witte to preach the trueth vnto the people and purely to administer the holy Sacraments And if they had done otherwyse whether they had not bin forsakers of theyr calling contenmers of theyr othe made vnto God and abusers of the people Both two therefore say I both our aduersaries and our first ministers had one and the same ordinarie outward calling But herein is the difference that that which ours haue followed the other haue forsaken that which ours haue done of duetie by reason of their charge the other haue cōcealed Ours haue ledde their sheepe vpon the mountaines of Israel into good pastures the others haue deuoured them or els left them for a pray to the beastes of the field or els driuen them to the fennes and marishes where they haue starued A magistrate shall be called to the gouernment of a common wealth where he shall finde the good lawes corrupted by the negligence or malice of those that went before his Courts full of iniustice the offices subiect to factions briberies and corruptions and he would reforme all this and bring it to the censure of the lawes He that will further nowe aske him by what right he doth this should he not make him self a laughing stocke because he followeth steppe by steppe his calling He hath not sworne to mainteyne abuses but rather to mainteyne the lawes and to prouide euery way that he can for the good and preseruation of the Common wealth Nowe contrarywise if he wincke at that which is euil he should doe directly contrary to his calling Euen so likewise haue our first Ministers done first requiring reformation and afterwards putting to their handes according to their duetie And if we could aske of the Apostles who are their true successors they would not tel vs Such as haue a triple crowne or such a cope or such a miter but those that preach the word of God after our example For so had they learned of the true master That he which doth the wil of God his father is his mother his sister and his brother At the preaching of these first men the pastors of the Churches were awakened in England in Bohemia in Germanie in Scotland in Denmarke in Swedenland and afterwardes many in Fraunce in Spaine and in Italie it selfe and these were sent to bethinke them of their duetie Consequently some whole Realmes were reformed the bishops themselues that there had preached lyes preached the trueth in the selfe same Church pulpit Of these for the most part if our aduersaries will demaund succession it is on their side for they haue succeeded from bishop to bishop frō the first which preached there the Gospell If they aske a vocation why it is euen their owne for they were called to be bishopps and pastors and they haue performed the office which they had forsaken The difference therefore as we haue said is in this onely point that they feede the people with pescod shales and the others in the pasture of life they defile their flockes with the filthinesses of Antichrist and these wash them in the blood of Iesus Christ Beholde then concerning the calling of our first Ministers which hath whatsoeuer may be good in the pretended calling of our aduersaries and this point further That our men lawfully exercise it and the other do but withhold it in vnrighteousnesse And although some of our men as in so corrupt a state of the Church as we haue seene it in our time without wayting for their calling or allowance of them that vnder the title of pastors oppressed the Lords flocke were called by those Churches to which they vowed their ministery yet this ought no more to be thought straunge then in a free common wealth where the people without wayting either for the consent or voyces of those that playe the tyrants shal haue chosen according to the lawes good and lawful magistrates Concerning the vocation of Ministers which were sent by the former and since by vs we haue herein obserued the example of the Apostles and the canons of the primitiue Church If the question be of their persons we haue lawfully examined both their doctrine and maners And this is the rule of Saint Paul That a bishop must be apt to teach and blamelesse If of the persons which make this examination why it was not one man alone but many ministers bishops and elders duely called before to this Church that is to say the Presbyterie or eldershippe as Saint Paul calleth it or as Saint Cyprian calleth it the ecclesiasticall Senate During this examination whereupon dependeth the election the Church continueth in prayer and fasting as we reade in the ordeining of elders in the Acts. Being found meet they are published to the people to the end that if any man hath ought to say against their election he might repaire before the assemblie as we reade was practised
in the olde Church euen by the testimony of Paynims Finally by the cōsent of al the people they lay their hands vpon thē they giue thē aucthoritie to preach which is the only ceremonie that the Apostles vsed by imitation of the Church of the Iewes after which they began to administer the word sacraments in the Church This is that the auncient Canons saye That the minister of the Church must be ordeined by the election of the Clergie by the consent of the people That a Bishop should not be chosen vvithout a nomber of bishops c. At the request of the Clergie that is to say of the elders vvith the consent of the people Againe that they which are come to a bishopricke by mony or fauour they should not be holden for Bishops neyther haue any right to ordeyne others Nowe wee report our selues to the church of Rome it selfe who are more canonically elected they or we whether these canons haue not bene altogether contemned amongst them for the space of more then these 800. yeres If the questiō be of bishops either ordeyning or ordeyned they come to their Byshoprickes eyther through fauor of the princes court or else by the subtilties of the court of Rome or by paying of mony And there be who are made bishops for the seruice of theyr predecessors before they were borne at that time when it was doubtful whether they should be male or female man or womā The thing it self speaketh euery man seeth it knoweth it before I can speake of it If of the examination which is made by this a mā may iudge what it is like to be whē he seeth a great part of the bishops of the church of Rome that know not whether their Masse be in Greke or Latine their liues are so knowē I touch not those few that behaue thēselues better that theyr Cardinals chosen in the time of Pope Paul the thyrd for a reformation confesse in theyr articles that for theyr wicked liues and horrible outrages the name of God was blasphemed throughout all nations If of the consent of the people which S. Cyprian so much requireth which we see so wel put in practise in the person of Eradius that was S. Augustines successor they present their bishops to the people not to haue their consent to approue thē but to cause thē to worship them for fashion sake only and not altogether in good earnest Now if we come to the simple priestes the ignorant bishops do yet make them of the most ignorant and of the most vitious worse then themselues so that the time whereof the Prophet complayneth hath endured a long time in the Church that whosoeuer would might consecrate his hand We ministers therefore at this day haue the same succession that their bishops had For from the first that reformed the Churches no man could take it away vnto this they haue further added the continuall successiō of the true doctrine But their vocation is farre better and more canonical for besides that they were ordeined by those that the church of Rome had ordeined they are ordeined according to the example of the Apostles and auncient canons which Antichrist and his mainteyners haue vtterly disanulled wheras examining the election of the Romish bishops you shal haue much a do to find one that may rightly be called a bishop Against this which hath bene said nothing can be alledged vnlesse it be that these first reformers of the Church Iohn Hus Luther Zwinglius Decolompadius others from whom ours are descēded they were not bishops but onely priestes doctors To this we answere That a Minister a Bishop in the primitiue Church were al one and that if there be any difference at this day in their titles and myters yet that in their essentiall dignitie they differ not a whitte S. Paule sayeth to Titus I left thee in Candie to the end thou shouldest ordeyne elders in euery citie And afterwards willing to shew him howe he shoulde gouerne there he addeth For it behoueth that a Bishop be faultlesse c. Also it is sayd in the Actes That he sent to seeke the Elders or Seniors of Ephesus But marke the waighty exhortation he maketh to them Take heede sayth he to your selues to the vvhole flock ouer vvhich the holy Ghost hath made you Bishoppes or ouerseers In the Epistle to the Philippians he saluteth the Deacons and Bishoppes of that citie that is to saye the auncients S. Peter also exhorting the Bishops or elders Feede saith he the flock vvhich is committed vnto you hauing an eye ouer them as Bishoppes or ouerseers c. And in deede where Saint Paul rekoneth vp the names of all the degrees in the Church he maketh no mention of bishops but onely of pastors and doctors to the elders it is said Feede teach doe the duetie of Bishops It is then most apparent that elders whome you call priests Bishops were all one And Ireneus also calleth Anicetus Pius Hyginus Bishops of Rome no otherwise then by the name elders This is that S. Hierom saith in a certayne Epistle handling this matter Among our ancients Bishop elder vvere both one but the one is the name of age the other of office or dignitie as the Apostle hath plainly shevved vs. And in another place Before one sayd I hold of Cephas I of Apollo c. all things vvere gouerned in the Church by the cōmon aduise of the Seniors or elders Aftervvardes to auoyde Schismes aduise vvas giuen that one should be chosen aboue others But as on the one side the elders are subiect vnto him so on the other side they must knovv in that that he is aboue the elders it is by custome and not by the Lords ordināce S. Ambrose expoūding the 4. of the Ephe. where the degrees of the Church are largely handled The Bishops sayeth he vvere called at the first Elders vvherupon one succeeded another c. And vpon Timoth. A Bishop is none other but a chief elder S. Gregory in his epistles calleth the Bishops Elders Cardinalles that is to saye the chiefe and Iustinian the Emperour in his Deconomical lawes calleth them Reuerende because they differ nothing from Elders in their essential dignitie but only in this that they kept the first place in the administratiō of Gods seruice that is to saye in order and Ceremonie Gratian in his decretals saith plainly That the superioritie of the Bishop and the distribution of his dioces is from mans lavve not from the institution of the Apostles Peter Lombarde repeateth it in the same wordes And M. Iohn of Paris a doctor of the Sorbonists of the order of Iacobins in his booke of the kingly papal power which the whole facultie of diuinitie approued at that time goeth further For concerning the essentiall
dignitie of the ministerie which he calleth the power of the ecclesiastical gouernmēt ouer the people he maintayneth that the priests are equal to the Popes thēselues he proueth it because in their orders they vse the same words that they vse in the orders of bishops Apostles Receiue the holy Ghost vvhatsoeuer ye bind on earth shal be boūd in heauen c. To be short Cardinall Cusan himselfe maintaineth that the popedome the state of Bishopricks that is to say al their degrees both great smal they are not ordeyned of God but of men That all Priestes according to the ordinance of our Lord are equal that they were likewise ordeined of men for the better to wit to auoyde diuision But whē this better was turned into worse this which men had ordeyned to bring m̄e to God serued to turne thē away frō God then the cause ceasing these positiue lawes should also cease mē should be brought to the first institution And therfore marke saith he that in time of necessitie whē the Pope hath excōmunicated with an euill purpose the least priest may absolue him whosoeuer he be frō his excōmunication Behold therefore that in that the B. is aboue an elder it is but frō mans lawe for order which is no longer order when it is the cause of disorder Consequently we saye that those elders haue power to laye on their handes and to ordayne pastors That they had so in the Apostles tyme it is most cleare Neglect not sayth Saint Paul the gift that is in thee which is giuen to prophecie with the imposition of the handes of the Eldership that is to say of the assemblie of Seniors or elders And againe Timothie ordeined him selfe forasmuch as a Bishop elder were al one if by the scripture the Byshops take this power to themselues aswel might the Ministers Elders if they deny it to the ministers elders they deny it to themselues In deede in the olde time this argument was cōmon in the Church He might baptize he might minister the Lordes body ergo he might lay on his hands Also when they ordeined an elder the B. holding his hand ouer his head al the other elders drew neere layd on their hands together held them vpō the head of him whō they so ordeyned as it appeareth in many places of Gratians decretals which was to keepe their right in giuing of orders to shew that although the Bishop had the charge of this action that notwithstanding it was equall amōgst thē that he could not do it of himselfe alone And certaine of their owne haue disputed this same question 300. yeres since And if the ambition of Bishops the negligence of the Ministers Elders haue confoūded all thinges abolished the order of the church we must labour as much as wee can to bring it in againe And if the Bishoppe of a companion which he ought to be is become a tyrant ouer the ministers elders why it belongeth to those that are true ministers and elders to exercise the duetie which is left vnto them And if the primacie of the Bishop brought in by men haue led men to perdition which order we do not altogether disalowe if it be rightly obserued why then by the equalitie of ministers and Elders instituted of God they must bee brought againe to saluation To be short the first Bishops of the Christian Church were but elders and our first ministers were elders the elders by the institutiō of the Apostles had authoritie to lay on their hādes according to which also ours were ordeined ministers therefore ordeined by them are well ordained and their vocation can not in any wise be cauilled at or slaundered Nowe if any thinke them contemptible in comparison of the great prelates of the Church of Rome Caiphas in deede was reuecenced of the worlde whereas Cephas had neither golde nor siluer Paul being a persecuter was in great credit and Paul being an Apostle gotte his liuing with his owne hands Also God is wont to confoūd the great and mightie things of the world through thinges which seeme small And many of ours followe the pouertie of Christ which might be honoured yea and were so sometimes amōgst the chiefe vpholders of Antichrist It is not therfore to the purpose to aske miracles of vs for the approuing of our calling For if we must shew some then must they also for that is ordinarie But if by vertue of their calling they haue taken vpon them to preache newe doctrine why then let them suffer vs by vertue of the same to restore the auncient And if they say it is ours that is newe and not theirs why then there is no more question of our calling but of our doctrine and therefore we must passe through all these suburbes and come directlye to the conference of these two In meane time these were the goodlye fetches that hyndered the fruite of the conference at Poissy from whence all Fraunce wayted for some singular good thing yet this is that vpon which at this day the Iesuites do ground their principall defence When any say vnto them Shew me purgatorie and transubstantiation and the inuocation of Sayntes or any thing which draweth neere to the Scriptures they saye vnto vs Worke miracles Euen so likewise Satan said vnto Iesus Christ If thou be the sonne of God cast thy selfe downe from the toppe of the pinacle c. being as ready to haue turned vnto him if he had done it as if he had done nothing But our Sauiour who could haue done greater things confuted him onely by the scriptures So likewise the Pharises aske him for signes albeit he wrought inow those wonderful But if he cast out deuils this was say they by the power of the deuil If he did thē in earth they aske thē frō heauen if the heauen it selfe should speake to giue authoritie to his vocatiō thē they said What thūder is this Likewise they say vnto him vpon the Crosse If thou be the sonne of God helpe thy selfe c. and when he stept out of the Sepulchre ouerth wart those gross-headed watchmen they said that he was stolne away To be short euen so in asking miracles of vs nowe they are wholy bent to say if we should do them that we were the Antichrists which should deceyue the worlde by signes miracles that therfore we ought not to be beleeued But as the Pharises whē Christ suffered vpon the Crosse in steade of asking him miracles had done a great deale better to meditate vpon this place of Isaie He was wounded for our transgressions he was smitten for our iniquities and with his stripes were we healed So should it be much better for our masters to searche out of the holy scriptures the true markes of Antichrist and deepely to thinke vpon this great miracle which God hath wrought in our