the first place to Apostles the second to Euangelists the third to Prophets the fourth to Pastours and the last to Doctours Whereof the first of the number Apostolus doth comprehend in it as in genere these whole species ennumerated of spirituall functions so that euery Apostle was also a Doctour but notreciprocally By these we doe manifestly see that Christ in the foundation of his Church did follow for gouernment the same Architype which was giuen vnto Moses and that one God hath but one meaning of one order in matter of Policie as I haue sayd for if ye will hold this comparison betwixt the Iewish and Christian Church to be remote and fantasticke because the first was Typicall and is expired I answer There was in the Mosaicall Law three parts the typicall the morall and the politicall the daily sacrifice and these ceremoniall things which were figuratiue of Christs passion they are finished and haue no imitation in Christs Church but for the morall it doth remaine the same Law lieth ouer vs which did astrict them albeit we haue easier meanes to performe it by faith in Iesus Christ. And for the politicall it doth also remaine as S. Paul saith Know you not that those who minister at the altar doe liue by the Altar c But for the concordance of these two Churches in matter of Policie I bring first the testimony of S. Ambrose who expounding these words of S. Paul to Timothy Seniorem ne increpaueris doe not reproach an Elder among other things he saith also thus Vnde Synagogaprius postea Ecclesia Seniores habuit sine quorum consilio nihil agebatur first the Iewish Synagogue then the Church of Christ had their Elders without whose Councell nothing was done Next I bring the testimony of Iohn Caluine who vpon the harmony of the Euangelists hath written thus Quant au nombre de 70. il me semble auoir c. Touching the number of the 70. Disciples it appeares to me saith he that our Sauiour hath followed the same order whereunto the Iewes of old were subiect and accustomed So many Apostles were chosen who should be as Patriarkes to assemble the members of the reall body of the Church for the like respect of imitation the 70. Disciples were elected for we know saith he that Moses being vnable to beare the charge tooke vnto him seuentie to gouerne the people For of him who would obiect against the similitude of these Churches for policie that the 70. of Israel were no spirituall Rulers and therefore could not be resembled by the 70. Disciples I would aske you how then did the holy spirit come vpon them that they prophesied in the presence of the people and how was the spirit of Moses parted among them Thirdly I giue the Testimony of Doctour Beza who hath deriued his reformed discipline whereby the Elders be adioyned to the Pastours from the Iewish example But that which makes this poynt of the similitude in policie of these two Churches to be most cleere and out of doubt is the opinion of S. Ierom the pretended Patron of the Presbyterians who in the conclusion to the Epistle to Euagrius writeth thus Quod Aaron filij eius atque Leuitâ—… in templo gesserunt hoc sibi Prâ—…sbyteri Episcopi Diaconi vindicent in Ecclesia vt sciamus traditiones apostolicas de veteri Testamento sumptas esse saith hee Whatsoeuer Aaron his sonnes and the Leuites did exercise in their persons in the Iewish Church let Bishops Presbyters and Deacons take on them to doe the same that we may vnderstand saith he the Apostolicall Traditions are exemplary drawen out of the old Testament Alwaies heere it is where the Puritan and the Papist meet to vrge one thing vpon the Leuiticall imitation in policie the Puritan to inferre an inconuenient the Papist to induce his aduantage first say they if you appeale to this exemplar how can you auoid Priestly Soueraignty and a supreme Bishop next they turne it ouer thus If your bishops be in the Church for vnities sake as they are ad â—…ollenda Schismata then this argument following must be good Either there is as great vnity in a parish vnder a Minister as in a Diocesse vnder a Bishop or else the more Churches make the greater vnity If the second be true then must we allow the Hierarchall Supremacy because thereby all Churches are reduced vnder one so that vpon this the Papist will build his Popery and the Puritan will haue our Bishops to bee Antichristian Which obiection is so friuolous that Caluine himselfe alleaged by them to bee a fautor of their Presbyterian rule doth answer vnto it saying there is not the like reason betwixt a peculiar people as the Iewish Synagogue and the whole world vnder the Gospell Neither was it the meaning of our Sauiour that as euery particular Church should be vnder one Pastor so all the world vnder one head otherwise why did he choose his twelue together and in parity For howsoeuer we doe marke in the particular members of nature manifest argument of Monarchiall policie yet find we no generall vnity noâ—… absolute Soueraignty but in God As for example although the Lyon be king of beasts who did euer heare that all Lyons were subiect to one Lyon or that all Kings be ordinarily subiect to one Supreme Monarche The Lord God is onely the Center from whence the diuersitie of nature hath proceeded whereupon the Cabbalists did found that word In Centro veritas in circumferentia nihil The verity is in the Center and in the circumference nothing but shadowes which is confirmed by the holy Scripture Solus Deus verus sermo eius veritas Onely God is true and his word is only verity the 〈◊〉 of nature haue no other fountaine to returne vnto but God nor no capitall vnion to repose into but him If the Angels haue their owne Hierarchies we doe not read that they bee all vnder one head vnlesse it bee the Lord Iesus Christ called by the Prophet the Angel of the Testament and the Angel of the great Counsell as is said before As God hath reserued the Supremacie of generall nature to rest in his owne person so hath Christ in his Church reserued it to himselfe to be onely head thereof in such sort that no Bishop can be called Antichristian but in so farre as he doth depend from the Papall Soueraignty and as the setting vp of a second Bishop in one Diocesse were to be Schismaticke from the first Bishop so to introduce an vniuersall Bishop in Christes place is to make defection from him For euen aâ—… Christ did send his Twelue with equall Commission and equall graces that the establishing of our faith should be more miraculous by the vnanimity of twelue then could haue beene by the consent of one euen so hath it beene the meaning of the Apostles and their successors to mainetaine Catholike vnitie not by Hierarchall Supremacie in
them a scruple against the peace and quietnes of the Church so were they gouerned with the spirit of charitie but such is our seuerity now adayes that we doe looke vpon euery circumstance with the iealous eyes of Iuno prying into the smallest shadowes of occasions that are not to our humour so hath one impetuous and vehement zeale extinguished our loue and too much curiositie drowned our meekenesse Confregimus iugum rupimus vincula we haue broken the bonds of Christian concord and harmonie as is said before The holy Spirit of charity should worke among distracted Christians like vnto that animall spirit of the Magnes or Loadstone which although it do banish and chase away Iron by the one end yet it is mightily attractiue by the other euen so although we should abhorre the Idolatrous points of the Popish Church yet by our kindly sympathising with things which be without error among them wee should contract and draw them as neere vnto vs as is possible but all in contrary the name of Poperie is become more odious to some of vs then the name of Paganisme and if we do not loue the Turke more then a Papist perhaps wee doe lesse hate him which is the reason why nothing can content vs but absolute derelinquishment of all and whatsoeuer is into the Church of Rome concerning the worship of God yea I do thinke there be among vs who if they knew how the Pope and his Priests doe eate they would striue to take their meat in an other sort that they might refuse to him the Communion of nature But as it were an ignorant part to refuse to eate of delicate and wholesome fruits because wee doe not see the root whereof they spring nor the secret conueyes of that moysture which doth nourish them or to refuse to dwell in splendid and commodious houses because we doe not see the fundamentall stones whereupon they were builded euen so no question it is an idle and euill part in vs if we doe not feed vpon the spirituall fruits of the Gospel peace loue and vnanimitie or if we refuse to dwell in one Arke because we cannot find to our curiositie all the reasons of the artifice whereby it hath beene builded doe not wee contemne the fruits of the Gospel when by our discrepance in matter of ceremonies indifferent at least if not vsefull wee make the Papist to say that the diuision of our language doth testifie that we are the Gyants who enterprised the Tower of heresie and when one Pastor doth affirme that his brother within the bowels of one Church and one kingdome doth carrie an idolatrous habite in the seruice of God yea when a Presbyter doth avouch that his ordinarie Bishop is Antichristian is not that a scandalous opposition within one particular church like to the twins of Rebecca who shooke each other in their mothers wombe whereby she became mightily afraid and dolorous for if wee doe flatter our selues to thinke these light differences vnworthy the name of separation wee must remember that small sparkles doe easily concitate a great flame chiefly when there be such cunning bellowes to set it a fire as the Iesuitique practises which be lurking among vs as the remanent of the Canaanites among the people of Israel And to conclude this point I pray God of his mercy that this kind of vnnecessarie distraction doe not make vs one day to say as Cyprian did lamenting the Church persecution for the contentions of his time These euills saith he had not come vpon the brethren if they had been linked together in the brotherly concord As concerning the rest of the Ceremonies being in the Church of England certainely they are not of that weight that wee need to insist on them And seeing it hath pleased the Lord to blesse these disordered beginnings of our Reformation here in Scotland by our Revnion with the ancient orthodoxall policie of his Church why should we not meet this mercifull dealing of God by our voluntarie acceptation of whatsoeuer indifferent Ceremonie not contrarie to Gods word which is in our neighbour Church yea rather in the bowells of our owne Church according to the opinion of learned and sincere Diuines to the effect that wee may remoue that the obloquie of our enemies which we vnderlie why should we not be altogether consentient among our selues to the effect wee may bee the more apt out of Christian loue to wish and pray for the generall reformation of the holy sanctuary of all Christian people whereof I will returne to speake because it is the point from whence did flow this particular Interim of our coniunction with the English Church in indifferent Ceremonies CHAP. XIII A briefe suruay of the States and Princes which be Catholike Romans and of the possibilities of general Reformation AND because I know that many good and wise men doe hold it a thing meerely parodoxall to reason of the reformation of Rome As I haue already spoken of the meanes whereby it ought to be after the true imitation of the refomation the restitution of Ierusalem in three seueral conditions so I wil now speak of the likelihood and possibility how they may come to passe It is true that the Church of Rome wil not willingly follow that example of Daniel to confesse before the Lord that her Pope her Cardinalls her Priests that both her Consistory and her Cloysters haue declined to fearefull Idolatry and abuses but what yet no man will imagine but God hath destinate a time for the reformation of so many Churches as haue drunken of that cup hee hath hung aboue her head the sword of his great seruant Mahomet wherewith hee hath chastised Ierusalem Antioch Alexandria and many other mother Churches he hath the sword of his omnipotent Word which hath already wrought admirable effects since the time of Luther If we shall wish her to be reformed by Mahometanâ—… fury we shall haue no Christian hearts towards her nor wisedome towards our selues if wee shall wiâ—… it to bee by the force of the spirituall sword of Gods Word wee must wish it to bee out of Christian loue and brotherly compassion otherwise our wishes our prayers our preachings are to no effect exhort in the spirit of meeknesse and loue saith the Scripture As Abraham did euen perturbe God in fauour of the Sodomites that hee would pardon that abominable people for the sake of tennemen if there could be found so many vpright before him there be no doubt in the Church of Rome thousands of good men who haue neuer bowed the knees of their hearts to â—…aal thousands of deuout soules who grone vnder that bondage languishing for their reliefe for whose sake wee would be heard if our prayers were founded vpon faith and charity if it were not that God doth repulse them because they are mutuall imprecations as is said The Lord hath neglected his holy sanctuary and the pace thereof hee hath suffered his people so long to lie in
high Court of Parliament at Paris hath beene perturbed with the agitation thereof sithence This I thinke is the best seruice which I can yeeld to God my Soueraigne prince and to the common weale seeing it doth concerne euery good subiect both Theologically and ciuilly to vnderstand what hee doth owe to his King in his conscience for Religion and ciuilly it concernes him for the securitie of his state The Iesuits indeed haue most subtilly gon about to make an Antithesis or contradiction betwixt the Principautie and Priesthood holding this to be onely diuine and that onely humane and therefore that to be subiect vnto this vpon which Antithesis they build this vsurpation ouer Princes and states but if your Lo doe not stop your eares against the following discourse I hope your Lordship shall find that in my peregrination beyond seas I did furnish my selfe with as much concerning the substance of this question from the most learned both writers and speakers as is sufficient to ridde any man whatsoeuer of this dangerous doubt vnlesse it be those whose hearts and best spirits are already ouercome by the poyson of this deadly Absinthium And first I lay downe this generall Thesis that all such authoritie and power in the Church which doth disproue Christian orthodoxal Magistrates erecting violent vsurpations in their place is manifestly contrary to the voyce of Christ in the Euangell the practise of the primitiue Church approued by the great doctors thereof in all following ages yea and contrary the first ordinance of God in the typicall gouernment of Moses and consequently all such doctrine which doe mainetaine the same must bee hereticall and impious To cleare this generall Thesis in the fountaine let vs looke vpon the first plantation of Christs Church and the condition wherein it was setled which by the Spirit of God is compared to a vineyard Homo quidem paterfamilias plantauit vineam circundedit eam sepibus and so forth as we read in the Text A certaine husbandman planted a vineyard and hedged it about This is the vineyard of Christianitie watered and made fertile by the foure floods of the foure Euangelists as is mystically figured in Genesis A flood went out of Eden to water the garden and from thence it was diuided into foure heads Christ who is the planter of this vineyard hath fortified it in the Gospel with three seuerall walles as so many diches and rampards to compasse it The first fortification and wall is the word of God and holy Scripture against heresies and heretickes Vt potens sit exhortari in doctrinasana eos qui contradicūt arguere to be able to reach wholsome doctrin to improue them who speak against it The second Fortification is of spirituall Iurisdiction against those who be rebellious Qui Ecclesiam non audinerit sit tibi tanquam Ethnicus Publicanus who is to be excommunicate from the company of the Saints The third Fortification is of Temporall power against humane inuasions Duo gladij Vpon the first of which three Ramparts hee hath placed learned Doctors in the Church who are furnished with spirituall wisedome to conuict herefie Vpon the second Prelates with authoritie to excommunicate those who be disobedient to the voyce of Christ. Vpon the third Brachium seculare Ciuill power of Princes to guard his Church from the persecution and inuasion of rauening Wolues from without and from intestine disorders without any of which three this Vineyard of Christ is neuer sufficiently fortified The erronious dreames of Anabaptists too much imitated by some pure and foolish Puritanes would depriue the Church of the vse of one of those strengths to wit of the secular Arme But specially this Iesuiticall Clergie hath preuailed mightly to breede a disiunction of the Ramparts which God wee see hath conioyned to rend asunder the Church and ciuill authoritie the Prince and the Priest which although they were contrarie in themselues as they be seuerall yet the Lord hath knit them together As of contrary Elements hee hath formed the vnitie of mans bodie and hath vnited a mans owne constitution of things meerely contrary soule and body heauen and earth Caro aduersus spiritum spiritus autem aduersus carnem saith the Apostle for euen as the soule of man which receiueth that diuine inspiration of wisedome and knowledge to rule our life is in it selfe a thing contemplatiue and abstract neuer able to subiect the members of our body to this Rule if it were not that the power of our actiue spirit sitting in the chaire of our conscience doth frame and force our will and the faculties of our minde to make our body obedient otherwise it should neuer obey vnto the soule by reason of the corruption therof Our soule is as the Alte of this Musicke our flesh as the Counterbase our actiue spirit as the Tenor and midcuple that ioyneth them This difference of our soule and spirit is cleere once by Saint Paul Ut seruetur corpus anima spiritus integor in die Domini nostri Our great Philosopher Christ againe did vse to say Tristis est anima meavsque ad mortem Spiritus quidem promptus caro autem infirma And Daniel Laudate Spiritus Animae Iustorum Euen so in Gods Church the Priests and Pastors are the soule which receiue the inspiration of Gods will in his law as the Scripture saith of them In quorū pectora condūtur Oracula Dei ex ore illorum promanant Eloquia diuina to bee taught and communicate to the people who bee the body of this Church if it were not by the power which God giueth vnto the Prince who sitteth in the Throne of authoritie and actiue wisedome like armed Pallas this bodie of ours would oftner refuse obedience to the soule as daily experience doeth prooue That Christian Princes to whose charge is committed the gouernment of States the rule of the people in pietie and iustice the protection of the Widdow the Orphanes the Innocent the Stranger the punishment of Malefactors and aduancement of the vertuous to Gods glory that those be not most diuine Offices and that therefore Ethnicke Princes haue had graunted by God himselfe the title to be his seruants who may deny it the Lords Annointed independent of any but of him alone and holding of him imediately the Charter of their authoritie Into the Iewish policie whereof God was the founder himselfe for an example to all vertuous and godly States wee see in the person of Moses a coniunction of spirituall and temporall power not onely did God esteeme his Vocation diuine but he giueth him the stile of a God Ego te constituam Deum Pharaonis I shall make thee the God of Pharaoh Moses did thereafter indeede by the direction of God separate those functions but alwaies in these termes that they should remaine in one vnited concurrence in the gouernment of Gods people like vnto the fingers of a mans hand
then the Prince Of which thinges it is most manifest that God hath laid the whole burthen of earthly gouernment vpon these two Iurisdictions of the Ciuill authoritie and Priesthood as the two diuine Arches vpon the which the policie of the world is sustained they are as the two Poles which fixe the Axletree of the coelestiall Spheres directly looking one vpon the other which two if they should neuer so little incline to obliquitie fall to iarre or presse to draw the one the other it were to disturbe and endanger the whole frame of the world which is carryed vpon their conjunction euen so the variance of the Temporall and Spirituall Magistrate is to cut the Axletree whereupon as on a mighty Atlas the Sphere of Christian gouernment doth relye And this farre I adde In the beginning all the Patriarks had the Priesthood coupled with their Kingly office euen from the day of Adam And in after-times whensoeuer any constraint or corruption of time bred a necessitie to confound them in one person it hath euer beene so that the ciuill authoritie did carry the Priesthood which coniunction we finde to haue beene twice in the person of one first in Moses who was so farre preferred to Aaron or to his particular office that God said Aaron shall speake for thee those words which thou shalt put into his mouth and thou shalt bee as his God And thereafter againe by reason of corruption in latter times God did suffer the Princes of the Machabes and Almonei to possesse the Priesthood also as Simon Ioannes Alexander Hircanus and Aristobulus of whom some are witnessed in the Booke of Machabes to haue beene rare and excellent men as Simon Onia of whom it is said Erat tanquam astrum matutinum inter nubes tanquam Solrefulgens intemplo altissimi He was like the day Starre among the cloudes and as a shining Sunne in the Temple of the most High Which confusion of seuerall powers our Sauiour againe in his time did cleerely distinguish commaunding to giue to God that which was his and to Caesar that which was due to him after which Christian Princes Prelates did long liue euery one contented to attend their owne function Prelates to pray for Princes to teach their people and watch ouer their soules Princes againe to nourish them to protect the Church and minister Iustice vntill the poles of this gouernment beganne to shake through vanitie of the Priesthood striuing so much to inuade the Temporall puissance and to confound the two functions in their owne persone whereof I will relate what hath beene the iudgement and practise of the Fathers of most simple and vnsuspected antiquitie of the primitiue Church Saint Ambrose saith of these two Iurisdictions that the one doth assist the other mutually Saint Augustine saith the same in his Epistleto Macedonius Boniface in his Letter to the Emperour Honorius saith it were too great burthen for the Church to ouerwatch spirituall things if she were tyed to any temporall care Saint Cyprian in his Epistle saith to inuolue the Church in worldly affayres were to estrange her from God Saint Iohn Chrysost. as also Augustine against the Manichees do affirme there is no power but from God eyther that hee doth establish it or permit it for the execution of his will in mercy or in iustice for the which reasons say they a Christian subiect may serue vnder the commandement of an Infidell or sacriledgious King and as the iniquitie of the commandement doth render the Prince culpable so doeth the band of obedience keepe the subiect innocent All Antiquitie doth conclude with Saint Augustine in the Citie of God thus God onely doth ordinate Kings after his secret pleasure good or bad according to our merits or demerits therefore saith hee it is our part onely to obey vnlesse we will repine against God for saith he the great God who gaue Empire to the Assyrians and Persians hee granted it vnto the Romanes when he pleased and as great as he pleased hee raysed the power of Marius hee yeelded authoritie to Caesar to Augustus yea to Nero to Vespasian and to his gracious sonne Titus and to his tyrannous brother Domitian And finally saith this holy Father he who placed into the Empire the most Christian Constantine hee did also honour with the same power the filthy Apostat Iulian and howsoeuer the causes of this proceeding in God be hidden and mysticall saith he yet they are vndoubtedly iust and holy This is the doctrine of Antiquitie whereupon the Primitiue Church did in euery thing of exterior gouernment depend vpon the temporall Soueraintie whether in ciuill or criminall cases if any man did inuade Ecclesiasticall patrimony or goods they did remit it to the imperiall Iudicatorie if any man did offer violence or kill a Bishop they did the same as Augustine testifies vpon the Epistle to the Romanes these and such like bee the Precepts which are left to vs from Antiquitie for Christian policie or gouernment The practise of the Primitiue Church hath bene agreeable to this doctrine for in their gouernement wee doe obserue three things which haue beene inuiolably kept of them First not onely did the Church serue and obey Pagans Tyrants and abominable monsters in the Empire who refused her for their mother who did afflict and persecute her but she did make ordinary prayers to God for their happinesse so farre that as Tertullian writeth diuers Ethnickes did ascribe it as a peculiar glory to Primitiue Christians that their exercise was to pray for their enemies shewing how farre Christian profession doth surmount the doctrine of Philosophie Secondly where the Emperors begun to range themselues vnder the holy ensignes of the Church becomming her Alumni and children she did obey vnto the most cruell hereticks as to Constantius Valens and others and to the greatest Apostates and mockers of Christianity as vnto Iulian notwithstanding of whose bloodie persecutions she neuer left her obedience as the Records of her ancient Counsels beare witnesse wherein any man may reade the processe of the Councell of Arimini that worthie Bishop Melitus the light of Asia in his time did write vnto the Emperour Antonius those words according to a true version Ye haue sent saith he such rigorous edicts against vs for tormenting of vs vnto death thinking thereby to extinguish the name of Christians we know not if these haue proceeded from your owne will which if it be in that case we shall obey you for nothing can come from you but good but wee doe most humbly beseech you to consider that their are many Calumniators about your person that seeke how to destroy vs that they may possesse our goods In the Histories of France and Spaine we read that the Church did carrie the same reuerence vnto a great number of Princes Visigotti Arians heretickes yea and which should more moue vs the Popes themselues who haue possessed the seate of Rome haue left vnto their successors notable examples of
their faithfull obedience vnto all the Ostrogotti who did raigne in Italie among the which Theodoricke was so respected of the Sea of Rome chiefly of Pope S. Hormisda that they had almost canonized him as is written There was no seruice whereinto they did not obey those princes if they had any occasion to send any Embassadours they did vndergoe it as Pope Innocent the first tooke a legation from Alarico to the Emperour Honorius to negotiat his peace and to obtaine a dignitie to that Arrian King And further to declare how sacred they did hold their obedience to whatsoeuer King God did place ouer them they did vndertake Embassages from Arrian Princes in fauour of Artian Churches for conseruation of Arrians and in case of excommunication as Iean the second and Pope Agapet were imployed by Theodoric and Theodotus Now to him who will answere to this that these Princes were not excommunicate therefore the Church did serue them I replie that there was greater cause to excommunicate them then nor nowadayes is taken against Christian Princes and which is more we find the letters of Hormisda and others to Anastase as full of honor and respect as if he had beene free from the sentence of excommunication and of Gregorie the second to the Emperour Leon Iconomachus albeit he was excommunicate by that same Pope himselfe which things we must not imagine to haue bin done at randome or pro tempore but from good warrant appearantly since the iurisdiction spirituall is onely ouer the soules of men Church gouâ—…rnours ought not to transcend their ordinary bounds to meddle with the bodies or temporall states of Kings but their Fulmen Ecclesiasticum the thunder of excommunication should bee onely spirituall and like vnto the naturall thunder which can strike a man to the death without the meanest offence done vnto the apparell of his body For I would aske the Iesuite albeit the Church haue power ouer the Kings soule if it be so that they might rashly excommunicate him what right haue they for this ouer his kingdome and people If they haue why did Saint Paul in his time cry Querimus vos non vestra And why hath Saint Ambrose and Optatus Mileuitanus in his third booke Aduersus Parmenianum said That Emperours and Kings be within the Church but that the Empire is without it yea say they the Church is within the Empire in token that Antiquitie did exempt things temporall from the dint of excommunication when Pope Marcelline did sacrifice to Idols and Pope Honorio became a Monothelet Hereticke they were excommunicate but did not loose their Bishopprickes Pope Formose Bishop of Port was chosen successor to the same Pope who had excommunicate him And in the Counsell holden at Lions vnder Pope Gregorie the tenth it was concluded that Cardinals albeit excommunicate might assist the Pope his election by their vote and presence So modest were the Fathers in the point of Princely authoritie that Paulus Samosetanus against whom the Councell of Carthage was conuocate being deposed from Episcopall charge hee did yet possesse a certaine territory belonging to the Church but these Bishops demanded iustice thereof of the Emperour Aurelian albeit an Ethnicke because all that was ciuill and worldly did belong vnto the Empire The Church saith Augustine vpon Saint Iohn doth possesse no patrimonie nor goods but Iure humano Iure diuino she hath nothing This Iure humano is the Right Imperiall of Princes which being vsurped of any other it hath no more Title nor right vpon earth saith he So was it the constant meaning and doing of the ancient Fathers to thinke that they had nothing which they might refuse vnto the Emperours but the onely house of God Nor yet that saith Ambrose if I were assured that the Emperour speaking of Valens would not plant Arrians into it in which case onely I would presse to retaine it O what difference betwixt that and this blind ambitious and impudent age wherein Church rulers make open doctrine and profession to Master Princes lawfull and orthodoxall and to â—…reade vpon their neckes holie antiquitie would not aduenture to take from an excommunicate Bishop an house belonging to the Church but by the authoritie of the Emperour nor would not resiste the Emperoer by violence for the Temple of God to ane hereticke king although it were to giue it to heriticall pastoures whereas the plaine guyse of this time is to be Piscatores piscium non hominum and to abuse excommunication and the papall Thunder to spoyle a king of his cloathes to dethrone him of his kingdomes and to make him naked of his subiects Thirdlie we doe obserue of the primitiue Church that whensoeuer she did enioy good and godly Emperours they did not onelie not repute them as priuate members of the Church iudicable by the power Ecclesiasticall but contrarie they hold them chiefe members of their generall counsels vnder their misticall head Iesus Christ yeelding to them the authoritie of conuocation and whole exteriour Iurisdiction giuing them the tittle of common and externall Bishopes For we reade in Eusebius that Constantine the great was called so of the Church and said to bee brother vnto the fathers in which qualitie of a common Bishop he did exercise his power ouer the Church exteriorlie and ouer Bishops In like maner we find that in the Calcedonian councel the Emperour was called vniuersall Bishops yea Antiquitie did esteme no counsell supreame wherein an Emperour did not sit and praesidiat In all the appellationes of the primitiue Church which forme of Iudicatore is fittest to try where the maine sway of authoritie doth lie because it was absolute soueraigne and without declinatour hauing power against the Tyrannous gouernment of Popes against discords of other Prelats against vniust decrees of counsels themselues In all these appellations I say we finde that none was esteemed supreame but that wherein the Emperour did ouer rule as the only power vpon earth which is in dependant The first appellation we reade of in the Church was by Cyrillus Bishoppe of Ierusalem from the condemnatorie of one Counsel to another more general assisted sayth he with Seculare brachium with seculare power which he called a prouocation vnto a greater Iudgemement And so his cause was examined in the counsell of Seleucia As for the cause of Athanasius which did preceed that it was rather a remission of the processe to the counsell of Sardiâ—… then an appeale and went alwaies by the direction will of the Emperour Constantine to whom Saint Anthony write diuers letters directlie praying him for the restitution of Athanasius Saint Iohn Chrisost. in a second appellation did prouoke in the same tearmes with Cyrill to a higher iudge a more generall counsell assisted with imperiall authoritie as it cleare by a third appellation of Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria the time of the counsell of Calcedon in which appeale he doth expresselie protest that the coniunction of the imperiall
authoritie of a sacred Emperour declaring therby that in the poynts of externall policy he did esteeme them as men ordinary subiects whō in their spiritual functions he had counted as Gods The same authoritie was practised by Charlemaine who in his time did conuocate eight Councels and by his sonne Lewis Debonnaire who did assemble one And to shew it more plainely that this power to conuocate was Imperiall and not Episcopall we read how all the Popes of those dayes did write to Emperours for that effect Pope Innocent sent to Honorius fiue Bishops two Priests to obtaine a Councell for the restitution of Saint Iohn Chrysostome as we read in Euagrius Pope Leo doth beseech Valentine the third to obtaine of Theodose the yonger a Councell against Eutiches and in token that the Popes did not so much as pretend this power to assemble wee finde in Sozemene that Pope Iulius complaines onely that the Bishops of the Orient did not inuite him to the Councell of Antioch saying that a law of the Church prouided that no Decree should passe without the opinion asked of the Bishop of Rome And in Theoderet Pope Damasus makes the same complaint and in the same termes against the councel of Arimini in which such honour was done to the Emperour Constantius and such reuerence to his authoritie that the Fathers conuened there being detayned too long and being pressed to put downe some Decrees which were not orthodoxall they durst not for all that depart vntill they had the Emperours leaue and permission Further now will wee obserue the very internall Iurisdiction of the Church and that which is meerely spirituall to wit the sentence of Excommunication and how it was exercised we doe finde two things in that one is we shall not see that the primitiue Church did excommunicate any Emperour or King albeit there were more occasion against them nor is now contained in the great Bul of the holy Thursday which is yeerely published at Rome against Christian Kings and States Constantius and Valeus persecuting heretikes Trinitaries who would haue forced the Fathers to confessions against the Catholike faith were not excommunicate Theodose the second and Valentinian the third Eutichean heretikes were not excomunicate Basilieius enemie to the Councell of Calcedon Iustinian and of Kings Chilpericke King of France infected with Arrianisme Theodoricke King of Gothes Atalarichus Theodotus Vittiges and many others of whom none was excommunicate no not Iulian the Apostata nor Valentinian the second who fell in an heresie three seuerall times nor Iustinian who fell twise no when they had banished Popes themselues for wee read in an Epistle of Pope Siluerius that beng banished by Belizarius at the command of Iustinian his Master he assembled certaine Bishops to excommunicate Belizarius but did not so much as murmurre against Iustinian by whose direction he was persecuted Neither yet if they did kill a Bishop a◅ Valens who caused some of them to be drowned Secondly we obserue on this point of Excommunication that Bishops in the primitiue Church did excommunicate by the consent and permission Imperiall for Princes fearing that Church Rulers should abuse the spirituall sword made an ordinance repeated afterwards by Iustinian that no person should bee excommunicate vnlesse the cause of their sentence were before the Emperour cleerely prooued to be agreeable to the will and meaning of the holy Spirit which Saint Augustine doth expressely acknowledge in an Epistle to Boniface saying that the Church doth exercise her power against heretikes vnder the permission and power of Kings Some Bishops haue questioned hardly with Emperours as a Bishop did commaund Phillip the Emperour that hee should not enter into the Church but remaine without in the place of the Penitentiaries Saint Ambrose Bishop of Milane dealt right so with Theodosius the great but they did not pronounce any Excommunication maior against them for then they would not haue enioyned them penance if they had beene without the bosome of the Church As for Anastatius albeit some Churches as that and the Church of Ierusalem did excommunicate him yet he was euer in peace and vnion with numbers of Catholike Churches in the Orient which did declare that it was not magnum anathema but rather a t◅merarious Act howsoeuer this be such two or three exceptions will not serue against one ordinarie rule for then to meete these we finde in like manner three extraordinarie acts of Imperiall authoritie which caused excommunicate or eiect the Popes Xistus the third of that name suspected for adulterie was excommunicate by commaundement of Valens the third Theodoricke King of Gothes did eiect from the Church Pope Symmachus And the people of Rome vnder the Magistrates did forbid Pope Pelagius the assembly of the Church besides Saint Iohn Chrysostome deposed and expelled from his Church by Arcadius As for the excommunication of Arcadius done by Pope Gelasius it is doubted of in the Ecclesiasticall histories but I doe not speake of such extrauagant acts but of that which was ordinarily followed whereby it is still verified that the whole sway of Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall was in the Emperors The Conuocation was due to them the processe went by their permission and consent their persons were exempted from excommunication as wee haue heard which bee three maine points of soueraigne Commandement For the fourth which is the confirmation of the Popes it was also due to the Emperours Constantius the sonne of Constantine hee banished Liberius and erected Pope Felix in his place yea farther hee recalled that good Prelate did establish him with the other Theodosius the great a great pillar of the Church by the right Emperiall he setled at Rome together with a Pope a Bishop of a diuers religion I thinke for satisfaction of a mutinous people Laeonius in his time was Bishop of Rome for the Church of the Nouatianes Honorius his son again comming into Italie while Boniface and Eulalius did contend for the Pontificat he chased them both away and after placed Boniface making lawes against such ambicious competences Iulius Nepos the tyrant ouercomming Glicerius the Emperour he made him Pope as Euagrius doth recorde for some hold that he made him onelie Bishop of Milane because he is not found in the catalogue of the Popes Odoacre king of the Horoli being master of Rome he made an ordinance at the solistation of Pope Simplicius and to the imitation of proceeding Emperours That no Pope should be exalted without the consent of Emperiall authoritie When the Emperours had recouered Rome from the Goths Iustinian did not only eiect Vigilius but made him come to Constantinople to be iudged offering to the people of Rome his Arch-deacon Pelagius whereupon they thanked the Emperour willing him to suffer Vigilius and after his death to establish whom he pleased which right did so continue with the seate imperiall that Saint Gregorie the greate durst not honour himselfe with his titles before he had receaued the imperiall confirmation of
his pontificate Finally if we come to speake of the confirmations of councels and canons which is the last point of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction we also finde that nothing was solid vntill the imperiall approbation was conioyned to the spirituall The Rolles of the decrees of the counsell of Nice and Constantinople were presented to Constantine and Theodosius to be subscribed and authorised by them against which foresaide policie of the primitiue Church so farre depending vpon the Emperour I know not what we can pretend vnlesse we will be like those ignorant Gnostickes of whom Irenaeus doth make mention in the fourth Chapter of his third booke who held this opinion that while God did commaund vs to obey superior powers he did accommodat that command to the condition of persons and tymes and that the Church is not now in minoribus as she was then but out of Pagerie and able to commaund her selfe Certayne the lawe of God is immutable and eternall and doeth not suffer ecclipse nor is subiect to the measure of our fantasies If one will say the dealing of Arrian Kings with the church vnder the crosse is not to be drawne in example what shall we say to the Iurisdiction of Constantine the greate the first patron of the Church who tooke vpon him in his tyme to establish Bishops and had at his death Athanasius vnder his Iudicature and what shall we answere to Charlemaine a great fauourer of the Church to his son Lues Debonaire who sent to Rome to iudge a Pope for the murther of Theodore a Romane Senatour of the French deuotion wherein the Pope was forced to cleere himself by the kings owne appointment as the letters of Pope Leon to Lues to that effect doth import Thus if we haue done any thing out of purposse in that processe we are readie to amend it by your owne officers whom weâ—…treate you to send outwell disposed men to take triall of that matter The ecclesiasticall histories and the liues of Popes where they are written besoful of such testimonies and so plaine into them I thought it not necessarie to quote them particularlie So concluding this generall Theme in fauours of the lawfull authoritie of Kings I say the primitiue Church had neuer a Bishop nor Pope who did refuse to submit himselfe to the imperiall Iurisdiction after the example and doctrine of Christ in such manner that we are to esteeme all this contrary clergie of Papall parasites to be a false and bastard Theologie of ambitious monsters who striue to vsurpe that power which God hath reserued to himselfe of disposing of Kings and Diadems of the world after the way of his secret and diuine prouidence which power is so alone to him that no mortall flesh may participate of it as Daniel doth approoue in the Dreame of Nebuccadnezar Altissimus habet Potestatem super Regna hominum dat illa cuivult constituit super illa homines vilissimos The most High hath power ouer the Kingdomes of men hee giueth them to whom hee will and placeth in them most vile men And the Prophet Esay in this point in the person of the Ethnicke Cyrus he doth prophesie his victories hee calleth him the Lords Anoynted of whom God did say Whose right hand I haue holden to subdue Nations before him he ordayned him to be obeyed saying Uae ei qui litigauerit contra factorem suum Woe bee to him who doth question with his Maker Numquid lutum dicet factori suo quid facis Shall the Clay say to the Potter What dost thou make Then hee concludeth saying I haue raysed him and he shall let my people goe not for money but freely When God commanded Nolite tangere vnâ—…s meos hee did not except Saul more then Dauid Balthasar more then good King Iosias what then shall these miserable and wretched potshrads of these times reason with their Maker when he saith Dedi eis Regem in furore meo regnare facit hypocritam propter peccata Populi What shal they haue a count of him or how doe they not heare the voyce of the Prophets of Christ himselfe of the Apostles of the Fathers of the primitiue Church all consentient and contrary to that poysoned doctrine of Rome inuented and maintayned by the Iesuites where in place of these sacred priuiledges yeelded vnto Christian Princes as is said consisting in foure or fiue points of Soueraignity in the Ecclesiasticall gouernment wee shall heare foure or fiue such Maximes as these To Christ is giuen all power in Heauen and Earth and Christ hath giuen the keyes of all to Saint Peter therefore the Pope his successor hath all power also of Heauen and Earth hee is aboue Kings and may translate and destroy their authoritie he is aboue generall Councells and may inhibit them hauing all power in his owne person In place of Christian Apostolike and reuerent speeches of Monarchs Kings there is to be heard fastuous contemptible inuectiues against them serpentine insinuations to cut the throat of their Royall power to depose them spoyle their estates and inuade their liues and these by exoterick or publike writtes and who will be curious of their acroamaticke or hidden and cloysterall doctrine shall bee taught to vnderstand this ground for all that after the raigne of the Antichrist all Nations are to be collected vnder one Pastor and to obey him and to that effect God doth establish and raise some puissant Christian authoritie which should be in the occident as some Rabbins and Iewish Doctors who became thereafter Christians haue obserued by these mysticall wordes of our Sauiour vpon the Crosse Vouch chi hammassiah chesche uitlash bannesthimneth hu daieth roscho daiphen nalt sarphat dareth rachen nalcha That is to say Et erit postquam Messias suspensus fuerit in ligno ecce ipse inclinabit caput suum prespiciens ad occidentem dixit miserebor tui The French say they doth expound this mysterie of the Grandor of the French Crowne because their Princes were myraculously brought vnto the Christian faith receiuing the Flower-de-Luce sent from heauen as their Stories record with a supernaturall power to heale the Ecruelles by touching which Flower is holden sacred and in holy Scripture is recommended aboue all other Flowers being imployed in the worke of the great Candlesticke made by Moses and after vsed by Salomon who built the Temple whereof Moses drew the figure so that they esteeme this Flower to be the true hyerogliphicke of their faith and hold it yet for their Armories they haue beene mightie promoters of Gods Church by destroying flouds of Arrians Gots and Visigotti in Spaine in the daies of Carollo Martello and Pipino his sonne by their expulsion of Longobards and succouring of the seat Apostolicall vnder Carolus Magnus by their exploits in the Orient about the conquest of Ierusalem vnder the Armes of Godfred de Bullion and his partners and by their Christian enterprises against the Saracenes vnder Lodouicus sanctus
Papae ab Ecclesia as I haue shewen your Lordship already He told mee that the seat of Rome was like vnto one who hauing made vnlawfull purchase of many neighbour Lands doe so curiously maintaine their march stones that they will not haue them to be remooued halfe a foote quia vno dato incommodo multa sequuntur because that one graunted with the like equitie much more were to bee demaunded They doe well remember saith he that Embleme of Sylurus the Scythian vnto his eyghtie sonnes for the knot of their vnitie A sheafe of Arrowes hardly bound out of the which if one could bee taken out it would quickly make the rest to scatter The reformation of any one poynt might possibly they feare dissolue the whole Masse of that superstitibus trade These speeches did in like sort further my better iudgement Next againe vpon my arriuall at the Court of England vnto the which I brought the Commission of some aduertisements of this kinde from the same Mounsieur Causabon and others to the Kings Maiestie where my hearing his Maiesties learned discourses sometimes at his Maiesties Table I confesse did also much shorten my way seeing all the world doe talke of his rare and singular wit and of the sanctified knowledge which God hath giuen him in the holy Scriptures I hope I may without suspition of flatterie say of his Maiestie that which one of the first Order of wise men in the Land spake to my selfe while hee liued the late Earle of Salisbury that his Maiesties knowledge was supernaturall that he was the highest Spheare and neerest to God which did receiue the first influence of wisedome that hee was like to Salomon of whom it was said Beatiserui tui qui coram testant audiūt sapientiam tuam Happy are thy seruants who stand before thee and heare thy wisedome That his Maiestie did bestow vpon his seruants riches and knowledge and that himselfe did professe to haue gotten more encrease of good knowledge then of Estate since his Maiesties exaltation to the Crowne Thereafter comming to Scotland vpon the occasion of your Lordships transportation from the Castle of Edingburgh vnto Saint Iohns towne where you was confined I did oftentimes heare as your Lordship did that great and diuine Preacher now the Bishop of Galoway who for your instruction did expressely choose his Thesis against those fallacious and false grounds of the antiquitie vniuersalitie and succession of the Romane Church which bee the points that most entangle your Lordships witte and which hee did so learnedly cleere that for my part I doe acknowledge they helped greatly to disintangle my selfe After this I went to dwell in Dundie for the space of two whole yeeres where I did most diligently heare that excellent Preacher Master Dauid Lyndesay and his fellow labourers in the Church of that citie in whose worth I thinke doth consiste no small parte of the happinesse thereof I had my priuat conference with him to my great comfort as he can beare me record I had my solitarie exersices in diuers subiects of Theologie whereof I prayse the Lord I haue extant as manie testimonies as will suffice to shew my painfulnes to study the trueth of his worship till now in the ende it hath pleased him of his mercie to giue me by faith a sure holde of the thread of his word which is our onely guyde through this misticall pilgrimage of humane follies of which threade our great Theseus Lord Iesus Christ hath left thee on ende heere with vs vpon earth in his word and hath tyed the other vpon the gate of heauen which he did first open called for that by the spirit of God the first borne among the dead So that there is no meanes to ariue safelie vnto that porte but to keepe our eyes fixt vpon the course of this thread as our vndoubted Loadstarre Thus I doe ingenuously confesse my owne weakenesse to the glorie of God yea if it should be to my shame my vncertayne wandering in the wildernesse of my owne ignorance brought vp in my infancie in the simple profession of Gods word at home and then contemning it to goe a whooring after strange Gods beyonde seas like in that wise to the swyne in the Gospell before whome the pretious pearle should not haue beene caste And returning homeward to much a Cassandrist halting betwixt two that at my being at courte the kings Maiest in perceauing me thus to wander in matters of religion tolde me that I should take heede least I did imitate a certayne English gentleman who in his youth was a protestant in his trauayling beyonde seas a papist and in his returning a Cassandrist and now finally a most obdured Papist which word did wound my heart and spurre me to craue of God a happie Resolution which of his grace he hath so farre granted me as I haue sound it by experience that these who be of the number of his Saints and of the houshold of faith they are chosen of him in the same manner that he called their father Abraham to whom he spakesaying thou shalt get thee out of thy owne countrie that I may blessetheo in an other which words besides the litterall sense hath also this interpretation by remote theologie that he should not onely leaue his natiue countrie which was an Idolatrous land but that he should leaue his owne Idolatrous disposition he should quit the wisedome of the flesh and doctrine of humanity and so goe out of himselfe to beleeue Gods word absolutely which he did not vpon an instant for the spirit of God telles vs that when the Lord did first promise to him the comming of Isaac that the knowledge of the flesh tolde him that it had ceased to be with Sara after the manner of women Therefore he in his distrust layde himselfe vpon his face and laughed at God saying would to God that Ismael may liue but in the ende he did abiure humane wisedome and himselfe to beleeue Gods word so farre that when he had gotten Isaacs he went to sacrifice him willingly notwithstanding so manie promises giuen him of his succession wherevpon it was said of him by the holie spirit That Abraham beleeued God and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnes Euen so the Lord hath made me to quite the Idolatrous land the doctrine of Idolatry peece and peece the traditiones of humanitie to quite my owne weake and darke vnderstanding and abiuring all other things whatsoeuer to betake my selfe to the incorruptible trueth of his eternall word which doth so shine in my conscience praysed be his holy name that I confes it ioyfully the more I fled it to follow superstition and the more I did practise these damones meridionales the more I lost out of sight the pole-starre of the right course to the kingdome of heauen Now thirdly I come to giue your Lordship my counsell how to extricat◅ your selfe foorth of this labirinth wherein you are and it shall consist of three
the Prophet to the Israelites during their captiuitie My children as it came into your minde to goe astray from your God so endeauour your selfe ten times more to seeke him saith the Prophet We haue all here forgotten our exemplar for the Church of Rome on the one side contrary to Daniel and the Iewish reformation she cryeth that neither she nor her Prelates nor her Priests haue transgressed and that they cannot etre and therefore they haue no need of reformation Vpon the other side againe we who doe see her abominations wherewith shee hath defiled the Sanctuary and corrupted Christian Religion in place to say with Daniel Lord turne thy wrath from Ierusalem thy holy Mountaine haue pittie on thy holy Citie wherethy name was once truely called on Ierusalem is a reproach to all that are about her wee doe cry because the Church who was sometimes chaste vnto thee O Lord is now become Fornicatrix therefore destroy her because shee hath polluted the Catholike saith therefore diuorce vs from her O Lord thus lying ouer into implacable paroxisme and strife while one sayes he ought not to be reformed because hee cannot erre and his aduersaries exclaime that he is so contagious as he is not capable of reformation one cryeth for a sole and soueraigne Bishoppe to commaund both Church and State both Prelates and Princes an other cryeth that he will haue no Bishop at all ctc. There is a sort of enchaunted Papists whom the waters of the Iesuiticall absynthyum haue so venummed that they will not remit one dramme weight of the superstitious worshippe of their great Idoll if it were for the peace of the whole Sanctuarie There be againe a Sect of extrauagant and heteroclite Puritans of the late stampe I speake not of any iudicious good man who doth discharge his function in Gods feare and the obedience of his Prince to Christian education but of these Anabaptisticall Clerks Quiout labouche sans bride as the French saith who carry no bridle in their mouthes being in opinion of Gouernments whatsoeuer meerely Republicanes against the Architype and order of God not onely despising Princely authoritie with the Iesuite but vilipending all Prelates in the Church in fauours of a fantasticall Anarchie or a seditious popular tribunat forged in their owne braynes obstinately refusing to accept for doctrine for manners for policie whatsoeuer almost haue beene in the Church of Rome if it were neuer so good these be most wretched and pernicious humours of men carrying factious and vehement spirits blowne vp with the vapours of Pandoras boxe and abhorring the peace of Israel with both which I must expostulate in this place and say vnto them as the Prophet commanded to cry in the eares of the rebellious Iewes of his time Confregistis iugum rupistis vincula you haue disolued the bands of Catholike loue and vnitie you haue broken the yoke of Christian societie you are obstinate against desires of reformation you doe Iudaise but Moses did Christianize who for the sake of that Idolatrous people would haue beene rased out of the Booke of life Saint Paul did the same who would haue beene anathema for the loue of his Christian folke but all your meditations your writtes your sermons be like vnto these inuolued Rolles brought by the Angell vnto Ezechiel wherein was written nothing within nor without but lamentations mournings and woe you haue no sparke of Christian charite left without which it is impossible to please God know you not that in the Scripture this charitie is properly said to be a fire we read in Leuiticus Vt ignis in altari semper ardeat That the fire should neuer goe out vpon the Altar which is a true mysterie and type of that Christian loue which should be vnder the Euangell for now there is no Altar leftvs but the Altars of pure hearts before the Lord nor no Sacrifice bur of contrition faithfull prayers and loue The lawe Euangelicall as I said before is the perfection of the naturall and Mosaicall and loue againe as the Spirit of God doth testifie is the end of this law finis legis est charitas in which words the Apostle doth attribute as much to loue in Theologie as in Philosophie is giuen to Iustice speaking of Cardinall vertues Iustitia in se virtutes continet omnes That Iustice hath in it all vertues euen so saith the Apostle if wee haue as much faith to cause Mountaines remooue and want loue it is all nothing This loue is euer commanded de proximo of our neighbour Thou blinde Papist canst thou haue a neerer brother then the Protestant And you precise Puritans can you but esteeme them your pitifull brethren who liue in Papall ignorance Dilige pro quo mortuus est Christus saith Paul Will you follow the example of Christ did he not both pardon and pray to God for those who slew him whose ignorance was aboue all ignorance their vnbeleefe aboue all vnbeleefe and fault aboue all faults without vnitie and loue there can be no perfect Church because that is the whole scope of the Euangel as I haue saide and of all true Religion vnanimitie is the bond which maketh the Church strong Ecce circundedi te vinculis saith God in Eze. Behold I haue hedged you about with bands This loue is the knot which bindeth together the members of Christ in one body therfore is so diligently recommended by him to his Apostles that they should remaine fast and conioyned among themselues by so many types in the old Testament is figured vnto vs this Christian concord and vnitie by the vestiments of the high Priest whereof euery portion was ioyned to another the wholebeing one peece By the Tabernacle whereof euery thing was ioyned into another the whole standing in coniunction for are we not so called in the Apocalips Ecce Tabernaculum Dei cum hominibus habitat cum ijs The Tabernacle of God which dwelleth among men By the vessels whereof so many as were not closed together but were opened and in diuers pieces they were said by the spirit of God to be vncleane as we see in the Booke of Numbers we are the vessels who bee made by the hand of our heauenly potter of whom S. Paul saith Alia quidem in honorem alia vero vasa in contumeliam some be vessels of honour and some of reproach you haue your mouth open to spewe out contumelies and malignitie one against another and therefore take heed you shew not your selues vessels of dishonour you haue not this Christian fire of charitie whereof the spirit of God saith Quod operit multitudinem peccatorum That it couereth multitude of sinnes The Altars of your hearts are kindled with the prophane fires of Nadab and Abihu the fires of pride arrogancie and contradiction fires of mutuall rayling and Philippicke Inuectiues where Pastors in place to perswade Christian loue vnity and mutuall compassion after the example of our Sauiour they
feede vs with contentious Sillogismes Pascuntur Sillogismo sicut Boues foeno as Oxen are fed vpon haye O you who call your selfe a Christian Pastor how doe you forget that precept of Saint Paul Vt orationes fiant postulationes gratiarum actiones pro omnibus hominibus That prayers supplications and thankes giuing may bee made for ◅ll men in generall how doe you not remember that he hath commanded your corrections and admonitions to be brotherly Noniactantiae studio nec contumeliosa obiurgatio sed in spiritu lenitat is Not in ostentation or cōtumelious reproach but in the spirit of lenity there is no other reason for this but because Confregitis Iugum rupistis vincula you haue broken the bonds of Christian fraternitie and loue This fire of charitie in the soule of a good man is like to the abundance of heat in the stomacke of a strong body which draweth good nourishment out of grosse and euill matters the want whereof againe doth turne the most delicate substance into phlegme and noysome humours if you had abundance of this loue you would doe through the heat thereof as the Apostle commaunds you Alter alterius onera portare you would digest the ignorance and weakenesse of your brethren by seeking their reformation by all brotherly meanes and the want of this againe vndoubtedly maketh you to distaste and loath euen the good things which be among them The want of it makes you to detest the name of a pacificatour to fly the voyce of peace to cry Crucifige to carrie one against an other murthering tongues poysoned pennes and vehement spirits of destruction spirits contrary to God Inspiritu vehementi conteres naues Tharsus saith Dauid in a vehement spirit shalt thou breake the ships of Tharsus Wee read in the second of the Kings while Eliab was commanded to attend the comming of God vpon the Mountaine the holy Spirit saith Behold there was a winde which did rent the rockes but the Lord was not therein therewas a great commotion and earthquake but neither was he there and thereafter a huge fire but he was not yet in it In the end there came Sibilus aura tenuis the whispering of a sweet and temperate ayre and therein was the Lord Euen so the Christian Clergie who goe into the mountaine of God to vnderstand the secrets of his will so long as they thunder out such tempestuous windes of mutuall despight God will neuer be there to pitty our Christian distractions So long as they raise such vehement commotions and fearefull earth-quakes to rent the states and liues of Christian Princes God will not be there neither to restore Ierusalem and to purge his holy Sanctuarie of the Catholike Church so long as you burne your selues with fire of mutuall acerbity and wrath you shall not yet see the Lord there to pitty our Christian discordes that our Christian Religion bee no longer a reproach to the dangerous multitudes of infidell nations who watch their opportunitie to assault vs because as the holy spirit doth testifie in that same place Non in commotione Dominus the Lord in his mercy cannot be in a commotion but if you should whisper out this Sibulus aurae tennis ibi Dominus this gentle and soft ayre of meeknesse and brotherly admonition there possibly you might finde the Lord. Now to the effect that this briefe exhortation to dispose our selues to Christian peace should not bee mistaken and neglected as an indigested phantasie of my braine I send you all to read that treatise called Eirenicon sine de pace Ecclesiae of the peace of the Church done by that famous Iunius one of the chiefest lights of the Church while he liued In which treatise he doth call all these of your humour wicked and seditious Tribunes and of which he did vpon his death-bed protest as I was informed of those who were present to haue more comfort hauing written it immediately before Tanquam cantum Cygneum as the spirituall song of his farewell then of all the religious exercises of his life time which were many and most laborious So that to imitate for Reformation the practise of our architype Ierusalem this is the first point which we must obserue with Daniel to make generall confession of our transgressions as well Pope and Iesuite as Puritan and againe to make orations and suppications for all which as it is a thing wee ought to doe so it is strange how wee should refuse to doe it while Daniel hath said Lord to vs belongeth open shame our Kings our people our selues T is strange of the Papist that you should affirme thy Pope and thy Priests are holy and cannot erre that they haue no need of generall Councells nor of generall Reformation as if God had taken corruption mutabilitie from the earth and granted vs heere a generall beatitude for the sake of Rome In Gods name let it please you to esteeme your Pope no more holy then Daniel was and if you wish him to be cleansed from his Idolatry and vniust vsurpations to be restored againe to the vnity of the Catholike faith and that dignity which he did once lawfully brooke to be a chiefe Bishop of the occidentall Church Then must you cry with Daniel O God to our Pope our Cardinalls and Priests and to vs belongeth open shame because we haue transgressed against thy seruant Moses euen our great Moses Iesus Christ who redeemed vs from the bondage of that fearfull Pharaoh Satan Wee haue turned his faith and all Religion to superstitious worship wee haue turned his spirituall gouernment into a Tyranous Monarchy and we haue turned the piety of Christian manners into iniquity and abhominion This must be the voyce of thy confession And thou protestant if thou wilt wish the increase and restitution of Christs Church thou must pray for Rome as Daniel did for Ierusalem Lord be mercifull vnto the holy City where thy name was once so truely worshipped thou must teach and admonish them preach and write to them as the Prophets did to the Israelites in captiuity Brethren as it came in your minde to depart from the Lord your God so wee beseech you to indeuour your selues tenne times more to turne to him againe If you will deny that Rome is your mother Church that is nothing either it is lerusalem Antioch Alexandria Rome or some other you cannot deny that shee is your sister Church who once had a concord and vnity of faith with you and that by her defection the Catholike Church is greatly weakned You cannot deny that whiles shee is fornicatrix the Lord doth beget in her sonnes and daughters who daily turne vnto him as he did in Ierusalem when hee said to his Prophet Hosea Goe yet and loue a woman that was an harlot according to the loue of God toward Ierusalem for she looked after strange Gods and I bought her with siluer c. You cannot deny but those who did possesse the chiefest functions
deceiued who say that Titus or Timothie had an extraordinary vocation for they were chosen by the Apostle and were the Schollers of S. Paul Quae accepi à Domino saith hee catradidivobis The things which were taught to mee by our Master Christ these haue I teached you Yea doe we not see how in the very time of the Apostles themselues when the extraordinary spirit was giuen to many there was iealous warnings among them against extraordinarie Pretenders Audiuimus quosdam ex nobis c. we heare saith the Apostle that some haue gone out from among vs who haue troubled you bidding you to bee circumcised quibus mandat a nulla dederamus to whom no coÌ„mandement was giuen An euident Argument that no man might enter into the Church without Apostolicall ordination notwithstanding the holy Ghost was frequently giuen and extraordinarily to manie by God himselfe immediately Briefely this extraordinary Vocation hath neuer in no time beene seene but accompanied with such miraculous graces as did sufficiently warrant it from doubt or calumnie which makes mee thinke that hee who is in this Libertine and corrupted age will pretend extraordinarie calling he had neede to qualifie the same by extraordinary markes The Lord God indeede who Master of all creation of all redemption and of all Reformation and for common doth worke by naturall and ordinary meanes in all these three when he will to shew his power and glory he will worke aboue and contrary to Nature and to her order as hee made the Red Sea to diuide for Moses and the Sunne to be fixed for his successour Iosua as he suffered by way of reformation the Asmoner to be for the time both Kings and Priests in one person as nature it selfe following the same doing of God her Soueraigne Lord albeit for the ordinary she worketh to procreation and generation of things yet sometimes she workes deuouring inundations and pestilent plagues which although they seeme to destroy yet they are necessary purgers of nature for the time euen so there hath beene in the beginnings of Christian reformation extraordinary things done by good men in case of so great exigence and necessitie as was but these extrauagant interims are neuer to bee drawen in rule The tyranny of Rome hath enforced that kinde of doing the cruell martyrdome first of Sauouarola and then of Hus for their cries of Reformation their deceiuing of Caroliu 5. and two succeeding Emperors in their designs of reformation their barbarous persecution of the Protestants of France and Germany by bringing vpon their neckes the Arms of the holy league for their protestation to haue the Catholike Church reformed These mad Christian people despairing of generall reformation by ordinary means and authoritie of Princes and Prelates to attempt it with some disorder and violence wherein some haue beene better some worse accoding to the diuers mindes and meanes of Reformatours in diuers places all tollerable for the time none perfect but that which hath beene done after these Iewish reformations whereof we speake and to speake ingenuously of all these which haue been it seemeth that no worse carriage hath beene in any then in those of Scotland and France albeit mooued by godly and reuerend men yet because they were attempted against the auctoritie Royall for the time which was the reason why they fell forth as a furious Northerne tempest threatning a common otherthrow in place to reforme Policie and Prelates they did destroy both enrage the people eiect the Prince shake the whole state and make their natiue Countries a bloudy stage of domestick and forraine ambition that it may be iustly said thereof as Cicero did reproach to the vnhappy Brut us Bona inâ—…o optima causa sed mihi crede foedissimè per acta a good cause yea a most good cause but beleeue it most miscreantly gouerned A much better act was that of George Prince of Henault who being but a ciuill man did reforme the Pontificate of Meresburgh For albeit he was not ordained by Pontificiall authoritie yet as he affirmes in his Apologie for that act he did procure vnto himselfe an ordinary vocation and canonicall Election by the whole Chapter of that Cathedrall Church who had their calling in the Church of Rome and did ordaine him a pastour with power by their aduise to reforme that seat for there be diuers of the Catholike Romane Cleargie who doe not hold euerie ordination vnlawfull which is not approoued of the Pope witnesse the late controuersie betwixt him and the Venetians for the Abbey of Policena where he did ordinate his Nephew Cardinall Burghesio they one of their own Citizens who did inioy it Better yet were these Reformations of Germany performed by Wicliffe Luther Bucer Farelluâ—… Viretus and others whereof some being questioned before the Emperor were neuer demaunded vpon their calling because they had gotten order within the Church of Rome yet perfectly good were none of these Germane reformations neither because the greatest part of them were onely Presbyters and had no Episcopall authoritie to reforme But of all these Reformations which haue beene lately in the Catholike Church that of England hath beene most vpright perfect and agreeable to the Architype of Ierusalem as you shall hereafter more cleerely perceiue where Prelates and Princes doe erre and Princes and Prelates againe to whom onely the authoritie did belong did reforme both themselues and the people retaining alwayes in their Church the Primitiue Ecclesiasticke gouernement with so many of their religious Rites and Ceremonies as were agreeable with Catholike Antiquitie and not contrary to Gods word resolued to part no further from Rome then she hath parted from the veritie which was the reason why this Reformation came not as a storme into the ayre nor in a Commotion but like vnto that Sibilus aurae tenâ—…is wherein the Lord was so that amidst the fearefull thundere and coruscations of Europe it did confirme the tranquility of that kingdome in a miraculous sort and did truely procure vnto the late Queene of blessed memorie that braue word Circundita Marte quiesco So that it might haue beene said of her feminine Raigne as it was said of the gowne of that great Orator Cuius sub iure togaque Pacificas sauus tremuit Catilina secures How many forraine machinations did she illude How many intestine Catelines did she surpresse how did shee cut the crust of the Spanish ambition with such dexterity as a second Iudith cutting off the head of Olophernes Cranmer Bishop of Canterbury Primat of the English Church Latymer Bishop of Wighorne Hooper Bishop of Glocestre Rialey Bi of London these were lawfully ordinate Bishops in the Church of Rome King Henrie the eight and his Successors Edward the sixt and Queene Elizabeth were lawfull Princes to both which according to the exemplar of Ierusalem and vnto that which was due to their Predecessors in the Primatiue Church did belong the power to reforme themselues and their kingdomes and Iurisdictions to
the which reformed Church of England the graue and learned Beza giues this vertuous testimony If saith hee the reformed Church of England doe persist as they are ruled by authority of Bishops whereof some of our age haue bin famous Martyrs and most worthy Pastors and Doctors let England enioy that singular blessing of God which I pray the Lord to continue with them said he Alwayes for this point we may conclude thus that in case Prelates should become Papall and Idolatrous that Presbyters might reforme with their tongues but not with hands preach reformation but not pull downe Churches perswade and illuminate mens consciences but not concitate popular tumults The third thing which we mark in these reformations of Ierusalem is that things were reduced not to the times immediately preceding nor other then vnto Primitiue Institutions for saith Daniel Wee haue sinned O Lord not against Dauid nor Samuel but against the lawe of thy seruant Moses who was their lawgiuer And here is the maine point wherein doth stand the perfection of all Christian reformation that the doctrine gouernment of the Catholike Church should be conformed with euery thing which was in the Primatiue Church whereabout there be some little diuersities in opinions but no man yet hath bounded it more narrowly then the first 300. yeeres except this heteroclite Clergie of the late Presbyterians who will precisely limitate it vnto the dayes of Christ and his Apostles taking aduantage that way as they thinke to discredite Episcopall Regiment because forsooth there was no mention then of Diocesan Metropolitan and Partriarchall Bishops And so fantasing to reduce the Church policie to the termer wherein it was immediatly after Christs ascension at which time there was no need but of Presbyters before Cities Sheriffedomes Prouinces Nations were conuerted who doth not know that the policie of the Church behooued to encrease with the encrease of faith it behooued to haue a Bishop before a Diocesan Bishop and him againe before a Metropolitan Bishop the Metropolitan before the Patriarchall authoritie But these bee headdy inuentions of poore and clandestine Synagogues who cannot pretend for themselues any learned Patron except it be falsely Not Luther not Melancton not Bucer not Zuinglius not Zanchius nor Caluine These were no dreamers they were graue and sage Diuines farre of as you shall heare by their owne testimonies from bringing into the Church of God such Anarchies and popular Tribunates yea they cannot betake themselues to any of our own Protoreformatours not to Iohn Knox who howsoeuer in the point of the Ciuill Magistrate to speake ingenuously he was somewhat extrauagant yet he was a great and good instrument of God and in this point of Bishops wise and conforme the time being considered as you shall heare hereafter CHAP. VIII A limitation of the Primitiue Church whereunto we are to appeale for Reformation which the iudgement of the best Reformators touching the meanes thereof BVt to proceede touching the Primitiue Church I say that whatsoeuer is in the Church it is either Doctrine Policie or Ceremonies what concernes doctrine doth limitate the Primatiue Church to the dayes of Christ the Apostles and Euangelists that nothing is to be admitted for doctrine but that which the Spirit of God did penne by their hands what concernes euery particular Act in policie or custome in Ceremonies it is not to be reckoned so To make this cleere we are to vnderstand a distinction in diuine institution some being more directly diuine then others as the doctrinal points of Saluation treated by the Apostles are more diuine then that which the same Apostles did concerning the policie The first is the bread of life it selfe the second is but the order how it shall be kept dispensed so that these things which our Sauiour spake out of his owne mouth are immediately diuine The Acts againe of the Apostles in establishing the Church after the ascension no man will refuse them to be diuine institutions so farre that the Apostles might say they did proceed from the holy Ghost and from themselues yet no man either must hold them equally diuine with the personall doctrine of Christ in regard whereof they hold a second degree are called Apostolike Traditions Therfore such as be strict about this distinctiō say that which did immediatly flow from Christ himselfe is a diuine ordinance and the other onely diuini Iuris that is to say hath a diuine right Now say they in regard of the first institution the difference is but small betwi◅t a diuine ordinance and an Apostolicall ordinance but in respect of continuation or perpetuitie there is a great discrepance that which is immediately diuine being absolutely and unchangeably necessarie to bee kept in the Church from Christs mouth to the consummation of the world The other againe not so but as it did not flow directly from Christs owne mouth nor from the Apostles immediately after the ascension but being traditions politicall for the Church they were peece and peece deliuered and practised according to the increase of the faith euen so they do not imply a necessary perpetuitie in the Church in that sort as some do fondly reason saying if such Policie or such Ceremonies be Apostolicall then they must be perpetuall in the Church wherevpon by way of aduantage they inferre the nullitie of many reformed Churches in France Scotland Geneua and others which is an absurd inconvenient O but it is not so The word of God and the Apostolicall traditions be of like ve◅itie but not of like authoritie nor like perpetuitie nor a like necessitie for that is to bee retained in the Church which is expedient and convenient as wel as that which is absolutely necessary but the difference is that of Christs word one Iot shall not perish it is vnchangeable incorruptible eternall Whereas these other Apostolicall institutions which were the fountaines and beginnings from whence did flow the growth of the Churches policie with the growing of the faith vnder the successors of the holy Fathers of the primitiue Church these I say albeit they be from the spirit of veritie yet hauing but a second place and being but diuini Iuris they are not so absolute incorruptible and vnchangeable as the first they are like vnto vpright gold into which an excellent Iewell is mounted there to be kept which gold if it were most fine it is with time worne diminished altered and perhaps broken but still againe renewed euen so as the Riuers which after long running doe willingly fall againe into the bosome of their great fountaine the Ocean from whence they come and which is their naturall seat so all disordered and strange courses of pretended policies and nouelties of the Church gouernment do by length of time returne againe into the fountaine of the Apostolicall institutions as experience doth shew which are not to bee limited to the daies of Christ or to the beginnings of the Apostles as the word is
of nationall Churches cannot bee lawfull Bishops vnlesse they bee vnited vnder one Hierarchie which cannot bee in any one person but in Iesus Christ the second person of the Trinity And as wee see in nature the more excellent creatures tied by a wonderfull simpathie to their inferiours that they are rather fathers to them then Dominatours ouer them as the supernall spheares make perpetuall influctions in the body of the Moone to maintaine her operation and as the Element of the fire doth purge the aire below it and nourish the earth with continuall heate So we see a vertuous Prince vnder the name of a Monarch he doth infuse his power into the chiefest of his members and maketh his Rule in effect Aristocraticke euen so in the Church vnder predominate names of Bishop Archbishop Metropolitane the gouernment is Monarchall in Christ the head Aristocraticke in the Bishops and Democraticke in the Presbyters and laye Elders by their mutuall harmonie as is hereafter more aâ—…ply declared Thus is nature the Fountaine of knowledge vnder God and the fittest schoole to rectifie our iudgements chiefly in matter of Policie because the Lord hath manifested himselfe in his workes letting vs see how one miraculous hand and not two hath framed them by one miraculous Artifice and not two to one end and not to two breathing motion in them from one spirit and not from two subiecting them to one law and not to two and to one sort of gouernment and not to two as he is God One and vnited in himselfe so hath he vnited them Symbolically among themselues all conioyned to be the Symbal of his glory power and wisedome So that what naturall instinction we find among brute beasts for order or for subiection and commandement it is a type to vs of that rule which is among the Elements the Elementall gouernement is a figure of that which is among the Celestiall Spheares and that againe doth represent the Angelicall policie and all those considered coniunctly are a shadow of that rule which God hath ouer the vniuerse Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis To proceed for the vertue of the Monarchie I found my first argument for it in this sort These Creatures which are neerest to God are of most noble and perfect of nature for example That Spheare which is next vnto the throne of God called by the Cabbalists the great Metatron which receiueth the tenne seuerall emanations of God to be distributed among the tenne Spheares called of them Decem Zephiroth to make from them seuerall influences into the inferiour world who doth doubt but that Spheare and the great Archangel who moueth it are more excellent creatures then the Spheare of the Moone or the manner thereof which is called of the Philosophers Coelum terrestre terra coelestis a heauenly earth and a terrestriall heauen because it is a mediate Creature betwixt coelestiall and Elementar things for as the fire is the Masculine Element or the Agent which giueth life to inferiour things and the earth Feminine or patient who doth receiue this life so the globe of the Moone is the Feminine of that high Spheare who receiueth in her bellie these celestiall influxions and as pregnant of them doth deliuer them monethly as wee see being in that sort farre inferiour to the excellence of the other and as it is in Creatures that the neerest to God is most excellent so it is in the order of Creatures that action which doth resemble the action of God is most perfect Now for the Hypothesis I subsume that there is not so noble a Creature of God as is the holy vniuerse and therefore no gouernment is more excellent then that whereby the world is gouerned which is the Monarchiall power of God himselfe who is Lord ouer all for to those who will hold that the rule of God is Aristocraticke by reason of the Trinitie I answere that the works of God which be Ad extra as the Theologes speake They proceede à Deo tanquam vno non tanquam Trino Vnder this supreme rule of God we do obserue Monarchiall gouernment both in the constitutions seuerall of the vniuerse and in the administrations seuerall of the vniuerse In the constitutions this way all the seuerall Creatures of the world are vnder the vnity and common instinction of generall nature one mother of all All the accidents of one subiect vnder one vnitie thereof things many in number be vnder the vnitie of vna species All men vnder the Species of mankind all horses vnder the Species of that kind and so foorth Things that bee many in kind againe bee all vnder one gender Man Beast and Plant are Animalia and feele a common instinct of that Genus In the seuerall administrations wee doe obserue it thus The seuerall persons of the glorious Trinitie be in one Godhead All these tenne Zephiroth receiue their vertues from the supreme Metatron and all the Spheares doe obey the motion of one Primum mobile so that we haue the supreme Archangel Michael ouer the powers and orders Angelicall who is Christ because he is called the Angell of the Great Counsell Et vocabitur mâ—…gni Consilij Angelus And he is called the Angell of the Testament Statim veniet ad Templum Angelus Testamenti quem vos vultis saith Malachie We haue the sunne among the Planets the fire among the Elements Man ouer liuing Creatures the Lyon ouer foure-footed beasts the Eagle ouer fowles the Whale ouer fishes the Diamond among the Iewels the Gold among the mettals the Balme among the Gummes the Cedar among the Plants the Rose among the flowers the Wheate among cornes the Bees haue their King the Cranes haue their leader the Herring of the sea and the creeping Ants haue the same among the Vines one is Masculine and one Feminine so it is among the Trees Herbes Iewels mettals one Archidiable is ouer vnclean spirits one head being the seat of all the senses ruleth all the members of the body one reason sitteth as a king ouer all the sensual affections In Sciences Ethicall Architectonica is aboue the rest in these which becoÌ„templatiue the metaphisicke hath the place of Mistresse and Theologie as Queene ruleth ouer all Reliquae tanquam ancillae famulantur the rest be as her seruing mayds There you see a short Anatomy of the vniuersall and particular rule of nature in all which we marke nothing but Monarcall and harmonicall soueraignity without any type or Symball of these Democraticall Consistorian Presbyterian or other sorts of popular and confused gouernments whatsoeuer which corruption of time and the ambition of men haue introduced in the world as all light is deriued from one Sunne all humours from one Moone all waters from one Ocean so doe all lawfull and solid gouernments flow from God in one Nature and in one Architype It rests to consider these gouernements which bee among men and they are either Spirituall or Temporall Temporall is either
and his tyranny againe intercepted by Henry the seuenth These were the infinite effusions of natiue bloud during that tempest of Naufrage wherein their Writers doe collect haue beene sixteene or 17 seuerall pitched battells the slaughter of nine Kings or Kings sonnes forty Dukes Marquesses and Earles 200000. of the popular And what extraordinary punishment haue wee in our time seene inflicted vpon the persons houses and states of diuerse disloyall subiects who haue attempted to abuse the sacred authority of our most gracious Soueraigne certaine it is a ground in reason a tryall in experience a conclusion of all politickes and warranted by Gods word in holy Scripture strengthened with the opinion of graue Doctors of the Church That Rebellon doeth euer moue greater mischiefe then Tyranny CHAP. X. A defence of Episcopall gouernment by diuerse most cleere and ingenuous reasons NOw wee come to conside◅ what affinitie the Church gouernment hath with those others whereof we haue spoken before the written Law of Moses God did elect so many Patriarckes to rule his first Church Enoc Noah Abraham Isaac Iacob and others And our Sauiour before the written Law of the Euangel or of grace hee did elect so many Apostles to rule the second whereof the former was the type when the numbers of the beleeuers did increase euen vnto Moses were adioyned seuenty to assist him in his charge so did Christ next his twelue Apostles elect seuenty Disciples In Israel there were many particular Princes and Elders of the people who did rule euery man his own Centuries and Chiliads but these seuenty were created to beare vniuersal rule as we collect frō the words of Moses Ego solus ferre omnem populum istum non possum I only cannot beare the charge of this people answere Congregatibi gather vnto you which is to be his Collegues and yet they were subordinate for while Moses went to the mountaine he left a deputation ouer the people Ecce Aaron Hur. If any man haue controuersie let him come to Aaron and Hur euen so these seuenty Disciples howsoeuer they were adioyned to the Apostles yet they were subordinate and inferiour the Apostles being still chosen to be conuersant with Christ constant witnesses of all his actions and onely intire with him like vnto Moses who onely went vp to talke with God We read in the twelfth of the Acts how the Apostles found Iustus and Matthias onely sufficient of all the rest to succeed in the place of Iudas argument enough of the Apostolicall superiority ouer them Luke againe and Marke were of good authorities among the Apostles because they were the Euangelical Historians yet were they not of the seuenty Euangelists being elected by men and not our Sauiour as Tertullian writeth of Luke Non Apostolus sed Apostolicus non Magister sed Discipulus vtique Magistro minor Not an Apostle but Apostolicall no Master but Disciple and alwaies inferiour to the Master That diuerse had the holy spirit as the Apostles who were not yet their equals it is euident after their dispersion Philip did Euangelize at Samaria but Peter Iohn were sent to constitute the churches The holy spirit without the ministery of S. Paul did come vpon Cornelius and his company for besides these two orders of Apostles and Disciples there was a third among the number of an hundred who were present at the choosing of Matthias besides the twelue Apostles and seuenty Disciples there were thirty eight who beene in neither ordination were Prophets as all the learned do affirme who treat of this point of which number was Annamas and Agabus endued with propheticall spirits to impart to the Church diuers reuelations which they had Touching these againe who were thereafter called Episcopi Presbiteri we see that in the Apostles daies the Church was a while without them the first mention of of that order we finde it in the Church of Ierusalem in the twelfth of the Acts for so long as the Apostles and Euangelists did remaine there was neither Episcopus nor Presbyter but after they were disseuered Iames being beheaded and Peter fled then did they enter from that forth Luke doth coniunctly report of them with the Apostles Saint Paul so like vnto himselfe in all his Epistles we cannot thinke that without a reason in his Epistle to the Philipians hee hath giuen salutation to the Episcopi and Diaconi and hath not done so in the rest of his Epistles In that Epistle to the Romanes hee salutes diuers whom he calles his co-operarij or fellow labourers as Andronicus and Vrbanus famous among the Apostles And of the Domestick Church which was some while at Ephesus and somewhile at Corinth to these hee giues them their owne praises yet doth he not call them Episcopi nor Presbyteri as hee doth Epaphroditus in that to the Philipians And Archippus in that to the Colossians when hee came to Rome we read how hee was receiued but by no Presbiteri which had not beene omitted if that ordination had beene then among them more then it is omitted in the 15. and 21. of the Acts where he is said to be receiued of Presbyters all this time there was no Presbiteri yet planted other then Timothy Titus Apollo Luke Stephen Fortun. Achai and a few others whom the Apostles did send vpon occasions nor these Churches had then no other Bishop but S. Paul In the meane time the Apostles and the Euangelists did at their commodities visit them as Epiphan and Ambrosiu◅ beare witnesse Epiphanius thus while the preaching of the Gospell was but resent the holy Apostle write according to the time and to things that were where there were Episcopi hee write to them and vnto Diaconi where they were for the Apostles did not ordinate saith hee al things vpon the sudden there was great neede of Presbiteri and Diaconi vnder the Apostles because by these Ecclesiasticall function is perfect Where none was found worthy of Episcopall charge that place did remaine without a Bishop for they being no great multitude of beleeuers saith he they were no great numbers found capable of the Presbyterat therefore the Church at that time did rest vnder the Apostolike Bishopricke till with time things grew to greater perfection in which words we doe obserue this that in the beginning while the Apostolicall mission was limited to Iudea Christ did onely chuse 12. Apostles and 70. Disciples but after the Legation was generall both to Iew and Gentile they tooke vnto them co-operarij Euangelists Prophets and others and when the Gospell beganne to spred they did institute Episcopi and Presbyteri So that Christs Church was planted by the like beginnings and had the like growth of policie as that of Ierusalem both hauing their originall in the persons of Moses the figure and Christ the man figured and both with time diuoluing by little and little into a diuersity of subordinate rulers of whom the Apostle setteth downe the cleere distinction and imparity giuing
the person of one no lest it might both seeme a worke of man and be the more easily corrupted but that it might seeme the worke of God and be the more miraculous by the harmony of many Bishops who atall occasions might communicate the confessions of their faith by their Canonicall Pontificall and publike letters If any man did erre they first sought him to be reformed by those failing thereof they assembled their Counsels to depose him Cyprian saiththat the Catholike Church is one not diuided or rent with Schismes Sed coherentium sibi inuicem Episcoporum glutinâ—… copulata as it were coupled together with the glew of Episcopall Concordance therefore saith he the body of Bishops is copious and tied together with the knot of mutuall vnity that if any one should be author of heresie the rest might indeuour to controle him as this was the true meaning of the Apostles so to reason still from experience it is true that vntill the comming of Papall tyranny in the yere 607 the Church of Christ was euer most free from that superstition ambition auarice and impiety of manners which siâ—…ce haue spoiled all Seeing wee haue thus truely and without inconuenience brought the Ecclesiasticall gouernement to the rules of the old Testament it may suffice to rectifie a good and iuditious mind in that matter of the Bishops yet because it is a maine point not onely of generall reformation but of our intestine vnion with that perfect Church of England of our sincere coniunction also among our selues in Scotland I will insist briefly in it not into the idle perplexities which the malice and ignorance of you who be opponents doth moue because they be exactly treated by learned diuines onely because my discourse is Empericall I will speake two or three words touching the promiscual and common vse of the names Episcopus and Presbyter which is 〈◊〉 questionis affirmed by you to haue had no difference at all in the Apostolicall dayes so that thereupon you doebuild all the Sophistrie of the question Secondly I will giue you the cleere testimonies of the Catholike and Consentient Antiquitie vpon two things one of the great vse and benefite which hath redowned to the Church by the rule of Bishops an other of their successiue continuation from the dayes of the Apostles hitherto without intermission excepting a few reformed Churches 60. yeeres agoe Lastly I will set downe to you the iudgement and meaning concerning Church Policie of all our famous reformatours beginning at Luther euen vntill now to let you see how they bee as farre against your Consistorian Discipline as are our Bishops who be now in gouernment And first concerning the communitie of the words Episcopus and Presbyter it is true they were as they are still Unus Episcopatâ—… vnum Presbyterium and if you please to say Vnus Apostolatus Oâ—…e and the same thing touching the substance of their ministerie they preach one doctrine but we must not from that homonomie of wordâ—… enforce such wrangling conceits as if we had not learned in the Logicall Schoole the definition of Equiuoca verba quorum nomen est commune ea autem quae nomini conueâ—…unt alia atque alia which haue a common name but things competent to the name most diuers in the one and in the other they labour about one subiect but they be distinguished by some accidentall points wherein they differ by reason of degree of Ecclesiastical authority Quae differunt sâ—…lummodo quantitate qualitate non differunt natura say the Philosophers the things which differ onely in quantity and quality they doe not differ in nature as to say that the Archbishop hath within his rule the same power which the Patriarke within his touching the substance of his charge excepting some reseruations to the Patriarchall degree vnto the which by reason of superioritie appellation in some cases was made from the others and to the which belongeth a power to conuocate Archbishops by reason of more ample presedence so euery Patriarchall Bishop was an Archbishop but not reciprocally And euery Episcopus a Presbyter but not reciprocally while the Episcopall power was in the Apostles themselues or in Apostolicall men they who had that power were still called Apostles as by the worthier stile and therefore Ambrose in some of his Treatises vpon the Gospell by Apostles doth vnderstand Bishops and Cyprian in like manner Apostolos id est Episcopos praepositos Dominus elegit The Lord chose Apostles that is Bishops and ouerrulers for as Theodoret hath well obserued in these words in time past saith he they called one and the same man Bishop and Presbyter and these who now are called Bishops they named Apostles but in processe of time they left the name of Apostles to those who were truely Apostles and the name of Episcopus or Bishop they tooke away from Presbyter and gaue it to those who were wont to be called Apostles by confusion of names onely saith he which testimonie conferred with many others like will make the trueth of the matter to be this while as the Bishops were Apostles or Apostolicall men for so were the first Bishops the Angels of the Churches were also called Apostles of the Churches other inferior Pastors were then called Episcopi and Presbyteri by confusion of names but when those first Bishops being dead their successors were to be chosen out of the Presbyters men neither Apostles nor Apostolicall which Ierom noteth to haue beene done at Alexandria after the death of S. Marke as you shall heare and was done in other places where no Apostolicall men did rest aliue then I say and there they left the name of Apostles to Apostles indeed who were dead and for difference from them they called the intrant successor Episcopus or Bishop and his inferiour minister againe Presbyter allowing no more confusion of names so that this cleare distinction both of names and offices was embraced in the very first succession of the Apostles For Ignatius who was Bishop of Antioch in the Apostles time after that Euodius had been there before him hee did vsually distinguish these three degrees of the Clergie as the Church hath euer done since by these three names Bishop Presbyter and Deacon the difference of which degrees and the superioritie of Bishops is witnessed by the same Ignatius writing to the Smyrnenses Let no man doe any thing appertayning to the Church saith he yea let not the administration of the Eucharist be lawfull but by the Bishop or by him who hath his authoritie from the Bishop Next touching the restimonies of Antiquitie vpon the vse and benefit of Episcopall Regiment all the Fathers doe in one voyce applaude that which Cyprian the most modest of Bishops hath written in that point affirming that all heresies and schismes haue euer flowed from discontented humours of those who contemne the authoritie of Bishops which is placed to coerce and correct them Unde schismata
hereses aborta sunt nisi dum Episcopus contemnitur homo dignatione Dei honoratus ab indignis hominibus iudicatur from whence are heresies saith he but because vnworthy men doe censure and despise him whom God hath honoured with preferment Basilius saith that the vnitie of the Church doth depend from the vnitie of the Bishop and that the erection of a second Bishop within one Diocesse vnlesse it be to help and assist him by his own consent hath euer been esteemed the breeding of schisme but of all the Auncients Saint Ierom doth best cleare the truth of this point euen hee who is pretended to be flagellum Episcopâ—… the scourge of Bishops as you shall see It is true indeed that Ierom writing vpon the first of the Epistle to Titus hath once called the Episcopall authoritie rather a custome then an Apostolicall Tradition saying thus Before that by instinct of the Deuill there were factions in the Church and that it was said among the people I am of Paul I am of Apollo and I of Cephas the Church was gouerned by the common consent of the Presbyters but after through all the world it was decreed that one of the Presbyters should be placed aboue the rest to whom should apperteine the whole Ecclesiasticall care and extirpation of schisme Thus far Iâ—…m Out of which words the Presbyterians doe extort this consequence that the primitiue Church was gouerned by presbyteriall policie without Bishops to this the answer is first if it were granted to come in by a consueted and not by a primitiue tradition Yet the consequence is voyde against Bishops vnlesse we will say that Presbyters and Deacons were not neither an Apostolicall ordination because in the beginning the Apostles did gouerne the Church without both these by consent of the people as it is manifest by the Epistle to Titus as Creta Corynth Ephesus and Philippi before they had Episcopus or Presbyter whom when they did receiue the Church did yet remaine vnder the rule of the Apostles Secondly it is answered where hee speakes of the choosing of one Presbyter aboue the rest for taking order with schismes that schismes were begun in the Apostles ownetime so that this same election hath been also then begun or otherwise that the Apostles haue not been so wise as their Successors which were absurd to hold Thirdly it is answered that reason of Ierom taketh away Deacons as well as Bishops because the murmurations of the Greekes against the Hebrewes moued that institution as wee know which was not in the beginning Fourthly it is answered this opinion of Ierom is singular and perhaps of temerarious and discontented humour hee being but a Presbyter For while he speaketh of a noueltie in the Church accepted through all the world he should haue put downe the time by particular circumstances otherwise hee leaueth his opinion weake and obnoxious Lastly the answer is The best Doctors of the Church haue erred in their writts and haue set downe their Retractions as Augustâ—… so is it of veritie that Ierom hath mended himselfe 〈◊〉 this particular 〈◊〉 hath made an ample palinode and Recantation 〈◊〉 in this argument it is ouer past and suppressed by the presbyterian Cleargie as if none but they could finde it out In his epistle to Euagrius Alexandria inquit 〈◊〉 Marco Euangelista â—…sque ad Heracliâ—… 〈◊〉 Episcopos Presbyteri vnum ex sese electum in excelsiori gradâ—… collocatuâ—… ad tollenda schismata Episcopum 〈◊〉 quomodo si exercituâ—… Imperatorem faciat At Alexandriâ—… from Saint Marke the Euangelist vntill Heracliâ—… and Dionisius Bishops The Presbyters did â—…ill choose one of themselues to bee aboue them for auoyding of schismes whom they called Bishop euen aâ—…if an armie should create an Emperour Againe in the preamble of his Commentaries vpon Mattheâ—… he saith that Markâ—… was the first Bishop of Alexandria that 〈◊〉 dyâ—… 〈◊〉 thâ—… times of the Apostles the seuenth yeare of Nero he doth testifie in his Catalogue Script ecclesinst that which is true thaâ—… Ananiâ—… suereeded him therefore it must follow of his owne words that he was 〈◊〉 by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exeroituâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aâ—… an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ate an Emperour Thirdly in an otherplace most plainâ—… Totius Ecclesiâ—… salutâ—…m à Summâ—… 〈◊〉 dignâ—…ate 〈◊〉 câ—… si non exors abâ—…mnibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 potestâ—… tâ—… in Ecelesia efficereÌ„â—…r schisâ—…ta quot Sacerdâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he The Churches prosperitio doth relieâ—…n the 〈◊〉 of the chiefe Priest or Bishop of the Church 〈◊〉 if hee haue not granted vnto him a free power aboue the rest there would be as many schismes as Priests withâ—… the Church so that Ierom must confesse that â—…rke and Anianâ—… at Alexâ—… and 〈◊〉 and Ignaâ—… 〈◊〉 Antioch were constitute by the ordiâ—…ce of ouâ—… Sâ—…our or then that the Apostles did institute 〈◊〉 to the minde of Christ which is absâ—…d to holâ—… 〈◊〉 lastlâ—… the conclusion of thaâ—… Epistle as I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…lated doth referre the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Iewish Church in which speeches first and last of Ierom we doe not onely obserue the great benefit redounding to the Church by Bishops and the end why they were created for vnitie and auoyding of schismes but we doe in like manner marke the antiquitie of that policie from S. Marke and the authoritie and power thereof as if an Armie should choose an Emperour saith hee and the succession thereof to Dionisius and lastly the vniuersalitie thereof Decretum erat in toto orbe terrarum saith hee It was decreed throughout the whole world wherevpon hee hath concluded that the weale of the Church doth depend à Summi Sacerdotis dignitate from the worth of the Bishop After that some of the inferiour Clerkes who did assist the informall election of Nouatian in the place of Cornelius were againe reduced vnto the Catholike Church their penitence was declared in these words We are not ignorant that there is one God one Christ one holy Ghost one Bishop into one Church whereby wee see that vnitie was the end of Episcopall institution When Constantine at the instance of the deuout Matrons of Rome licenced Liberius to returne but withall appointed that Church gouernment to bee common betwixt him and Felix The faithfull people deriding that ordinance of the Arrian Emperour cryed aloud as Theodore writeth one God one Church one Bishop So that antiquitie doth euer ascribe the benefit of vnitie in the Church vnto that apostolicall and ancient policie Thirdly for testimonies for the succession of the Bishops in the Church from the Apostles hitherto there be so many that for a short rehearsall one knoweth not what to choose Against the Bishopricks of Titus and Timothie many things bee idly pretended which are plainly discussed by those Theologues who haue expresly handled this question but against those who doe alledge that they remained not at Ephesus and Creta numbers of Authors beare witnesse Dorothaus in Synopsi Soph in Catal in tot Ifidorus de vita morte
Sanctorum vincent li. 10. cap. 38. Anthonius ex Policrate Part. titul 6. cap. 28. Niceph. li. 10. cap. 11. who all report that they liued and died the one at Ephesus and the other at Creta And as they were ordained by the Apostles so were diuerse others institute Bishops in diuerse places Eusebius witnesseth that about the yeere 45. Euodius was created by the Apostle Peter and Paul Bishop of Antioch and Ignatius who succeeded him in the Apostles time doth witnesse that Peter and Paul ordained Lâ—…nus Bishop of Rome An. 56. whom Anacletus succeeded after him Clemens obserued by Ireneus and Eusebius By the appointment of Saint Peter Marke was first Bishop of Alexandria To whom Aniâ—…us Abilius Cerdo all in the Apostles times witnesseth by Niceph. Gregory Ierome That Iames the iust was Bishop of Ierusalem institute by the Apostles immediately after the passion of our Sauiour Ierome doth affirme it Catalog scrip Eccles. Eusebius bringeth the most ancient testimonies of the Church for the same That to Iames the brother of our Lord surnamed the iust the throne Episcopall of Ierusalem was committed In particular hee bringeth Clemens Alexandrinus testifying that Iames Peter and Iohn did chuse Iames the iust Bishop of Ierusalem after the Ascension and Higesippus whom Ierome and Eusebius affirme to be of the first successours of the Apostles doe hold the same of Iames. Eusebius in his History giueth a Catalogue of 37. Bishops in Ierusalem betweene Iames and Macarius The same is testified by Ambrose and Augustine yea and all the general Councel of Constantinople whose records proue that Iames was the first Bishop to whom the Chayre of Ierusalem was trusted Now if any would say that these were Bishops but of one Church if there was but one in Crete how was it said Opidatim coÌ„stitues sicut ego te Ireneâ—… counted among the first of the primitiue writers speaking of the Church of Rome saith that the holy Apostles Peter and Paul the foundators thereof Tradiderunt Lino potestatem administrandi totius Ecclesiae That as the numbers of Christians did increase at Rome they were diuided in seuerall paroches vnder seuerall Presbyters by Euaristus Bishop of Rome which againe were augmented the Churches I meane by Higinus in the yeere 138 as Platina and Onuphrius doe testifie de Episcopat titul and Eusebius in his sixt Booke cap. 3. doth affirme that vnder Cornelius Bishop and Martyr in the yeere 250. there was in the Church of Rome 46. Presbyters 7. Deacons 100. other Clergy men and but one Bishop But of this point there is a cleere and manifest example and most free from controuersie of the seuen Churches of Asia ouer which was appointed the seuen Angels as Bishops confessed by Doctour Beza himselfe one also of your pretended Patrons calling the Angell of the Church of Ephesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prelate or gouernour Antistitem saith hee vt vocat Iustinus Of these Churches I say that euery one comprehended in circuite both City and Country Churches and euery one of them had but one Angell or Bishop As Polycarp at Smyrna was Bishop 13. yeeres before the Reuelation was deliuered as is obserued by Bullingerus in Apocal. and hee died a glorious Martyr as Eusebius prooueth in his 4. Booke cap. 15. by an Epistle of the Smyrnenses and Onesimus Bishop of the Church of Ephesus testifieth by Ignatius ad Epiphanium and Ignatius himselfe was at Antioch Epiphanius doth testifie that the Church of Alexandria had besides the Church called Caesarea which was burned in Iulian his time and reedified by Athanasius it had also that Church of Dionisius that of Thomas that of Pierius that of Serapion of Mepdidius of Annianus of Baucalis and Abias and that in one of those Colluthus was a Presbyter and in one Carpones in an other Sarmatas and Arrius a Presbyter in one Aps large testimonies haue wee of those of Asia that Ephesus was a great Metropolis hauing a large Countrey subiect to it That Pergamus was a famous City sometimes the seat of the Church of Asia that Smyrna Sardis Laodicia Philodelphia were great and mother Cities hauing within them many Churches Ignatius to the Smyruenses Viueremini inquit Episcepum Reuerence your Bishop saith hee as Christ and his Apostles doe command and in his Epistle ad Trallianos what is a Bishop saith he but one Qui principatum potestatem super omnes obtinet who hath power aboue the rest and what are Presbyters saith he Sed Collegium sacrum Conciliarij Coassessores and in his Epistle ad Magnetianos As Christ saith he doth nothing without the Father so must not the Presbyters or Deacons doe any thing without their Bishops Aliter iniquum est Deo odiosum otherwise it is iniquity and odious to God Cyprian who was the most indulgent Bishop we read of to his Presbyters and the most modest Prelate In the fift Epistle of his second Booke touching one Aurelius whom he did ordinate but aduice of the Church Clergy Wee vse deare brother to deliberate with you before and to weigh the manners and merits of men by your concurrence but wee need not to looke for the testimonies of men Cumprecedant diuina suffragia when wee are strengthened by diuine suffrages Like to this againe we find of him in his ordination of one Numidicus in the tenth Epistle of his fourth Booke Brethren saith he I aduertise you that Numidicâ—… by diuine inspiration is adioyned to the number of our Carthagine Presbyters and that hee doth sit with vs among the Clergy and what hath beene done by Cyprian we read not where it was retracted by any which I doe not put downe heere yet any Bishop should delight to imitate this kinde of rule but onely to shew what doth in cure appertaine to the person of a Bishop and the weight of his authority as the same Cyprian doth testifie in the 27. Epistle Indeper temporum suecessionum vices Episcoporum ordinatio Ecclesia Ratio decurrit vt super Episcopes Ecclesiam constituatur Et omnis actus Ecclesia peripsos gubernetur So hath it fallen out saith hee by length of time that the order of Bishops and the condition of Ecclesiasticall rule is such that it doth altogether rest with them and euery act thereof appertaine to them Now because I intend not to bee tedious in this discourse therefore you are to marke how of all these ancients I haue chosen out three whose testimonies and opinions in the question of Bishops is to bee esteemed most sincere for the reason following Of all the Bishops of Antiquity Cyprian was the most fauourable and most affected to his Presbyters and in his carriage more like to a Compresbyter then a Prelate Of all the Bishoppes of Antiquity whose writings are extant in the Church Ignatius is most ancient and hath drawne his knowledge out of the pure fountaines of Apostolicall wisedome and not from the riuers as his fellowes
haue done Of all the Doctours of Antiquity Ierome is most sought to by the Presbyterians The Councell of Sardica cap. 10. 13. hath decreed that if a rich man by meanes of Court come to bee a Bishop hee shall first performe the office of a Reader Deacon and Presbyter that by degrees hee may ascend to the height of a Bishopricke Nazianzene giueth testimony of Athanasius and Basil that they ascended into Episcopall dignity by the spiritual Law through all the degrees of Ecclesiasticall offices The Councell of Antioch that whatsoeuer things appertaine vnto the Church are to bee gouerned by the authority of the Bishop by whom say they people are instructed The Councell of Calcedon decreed that none should build a Cloyster or Monastery without the consent of the Bishop of the City and that all Monasticall persons should bee subiect to the Bishop And if we should search all the Doctours Fathers and Councells wee should finde that Episcopall policy accompanied with a cleere consent of all Catholike antiquitie to applaud it So farre that for the first thousand yeeres of the Church no man hath beene knowen to denie or decline it but onely Aereus who was therefore compted an Heretike by Augustine in his Catalogue of heresies and by Epiphanius also which hath not beene rashly nor with repentance affirmed by Augustine as some hold for it was written after his retractation and after his writing of 230 Bookes besides his Epistles and Homilies He saith in his preface that it is hard to giue an accurate definition of an Hereticke he reckoneth vp 53. heresies which after Christs ascenscion were contrary to his doctrine giuing the last place to that of Aereus And concluding in the end of all Omnis it aque Christianus Catholicus ista non debet credere Euery Christian Catholike ought not therfore to beleeue them The Coūcell of Nice hauing decreed that the Catharists or Nauatians or a sort of sublimitated Puritans of these daies returned to penitence vnto the Church those who had brooked any dignity of before should be repossessed of any office whatsoeuer in the Church except it were to displace a Bishop which should not bee lawfull to him who hath beene a Nouatian Bishop But hee should content himselfe to be a Priest vnlesse the Bishop would receiue him to be a Coadiutor or communicate to him the honour of the name or if hee like him not to finde him a Choro-Episcopat or Presbyterat To the end as Ruffinus sayes Ne in ◅na Ciuitate duo sint Episcopi that there should not be two Bishops in one City Augustine being ignorant of this when he was drawen from Nauationisme to bee Bishop of Hippona while yet Ualerius liued because of his great woorth when Augustine himselfe became old and nominated Euodius to be his Successour and had chosen him himselfe to be his Coadiutor yet hee held it vnlawfull during his owne life to ordinate him Bishop when Ualerius ordained me Bishop said he we were both ignorant of the decree of the Connsell of Nice but what was reprehended in me shall not be blamed in my Successour as Possidon hath it Quod sibi factum esse doluit alijs fieri noluit So did this holy man reuerence that ordinance of Nice in fauours of orthodoxall Bishops neither shall we find through all ancient Counsels or Fathers one who hath not done the like reposing still the glory of the Church vpon the authority of Bishops according to that which Dauid did foresee in his Propheticall spirit saying in his 45. Psalme Insteed of Fathers children shall be borne vnto thee whom thou shalt make Princes in all the earth which word Augustine doth interprete insteed of Apostolos who were thy fathers O Catholike Church sonnes who are Bishops are created vnto thee therefore thinke not thy selfe forsaken because thou seest not Peter nor Paul who begat thee Agnoscant quiprecisi sunt veniant ad vnitatem Let them saith hee who are Opiniators and Schismatiks acknowledge those sonnes who be borne to the Church to be her Princes ouer all the Earth The like exposition Ierom the pretended Patron of Presbyters maketh vpon the words of Esay in the 17. verse of the 60. chapter according to the Septuagint speaking to the future estate of the Church through a Reuelation I will giue thy Princes in peace and thy Bishops in righteousnesse whereon Ierome Heerein saith hee the Maiesty of the holy Scripture is to be admired who calleth futuros Ecclesia Episcopos The Princes and Rulers that were to be of the Church Bishops whose visitation is all in peace and the name of their dignity all in righteousnesse saith he So that we finde an excesse of honor and dignity which from Primitiue and ancient times hath beene yeelded to this vertuous Prelacie in the Church Doth not Tertullian who liued in the first 200 yeeres write this of Bishops not onely yeelding vnto them poynts of preeminence and iurisdiction but speaking of the celebration of the Sacrament The Bishop saith hee hath the right to minister Baptisme and then the Presbyters and Deacons but not without the authoritie of the Bishop for the honour of the Church which being safe peace is safe In regard of which Catholike and constant testimonies from time to time what shall wee say shall we not for once thinke it impossible that the successours of the Apostles all the holy Fathers so many Martyrs and Saints would haue abolished that gouernment whatsoeuer which Christ and his Apostles left vnto the Church for the next shall we not hold it impossible to fall out that any policie which was not receiued from the Apostles could be at one time embraced of the whole Christian world and approoued of all generall counsels in the Primitiue Church For the last shall we not thinke it a scorne beyond all scornes that all those antiquities and Apostolicall traditions witnessed by Apostolicall men generall counsels Fathers Doctours Catholike consent without interruption must bee condemned for follies schismes corruptions by some pure and Heteroclite braines who haue start vp more then 1500. yeeres after to impugne the credit of the Church Gouernment qualified by so many diuine men whose faith was tried in the fire of affliction and who sealed their profession with glorious Martyrdome Certainely if it must be so we may say that the true light hath endured a miraculous ecclipse and that great knowledge hath beene long reserued to bee at length vouchsafed to the Allobrogicall Doctours CHAP. XI The opinion of the Archi-Reformatours concerning Church-Policie FInally to conclude this point of the Church-Policy I come to shew what haue beene the opinions of Protoreformatours concerning the same In the Augustine confession which is the first publike Protestant act wherin wee can obserue it this Article is contained wee haue oft say they out of our great desires protested to obserue the Ecclesiasticall policie in all degrees as it is canonicall in the Chruch and to reuerence the authority of
Bishops prouiding they doe not force vs to anything contrary to Gods word which protestation shall excuse vs to all posterity that the ouerthrow of the ancient policie be not imputed to vs say they which confession Caluine among others did soone thereafter subscribe Melancthon to Martin Luther Non credis quanto sum in odio Noricis alijs You will not beleeue saith he how I am hated of the Norricians and others Alwayes it is not well that men should so abhorre the restauration of Bishops for I know not with what a face wee can refuse them If they will permit vs to haue purity of doctrine And I doe feare that Episcopall authority being dissolued wee shall haue more intollerable Tyranny in the place thereof saith he And in another place which was not written to Luther Et mecum semper sensit Lutherus And Luther did euer iudge with me who saith he knew himselfe to bee the more loued of mer because by his meanes Bishops had beene cast out and themselues set at liberty which shall be dangerous for the posterity for what state of Church shall we haue when the ancient policie shaken off there shall bee no certaine Rulers saith Melancthon which solid iudgement Camerarius doth praise in these words Quod reclamantibus multis ille hoc suadebat non modo ad stipulatore sed auctore Luthero vt restituerentur Episcopi si vsum purae doctrina permitterent that against many he did not onely by Luthers consent but by his direction perswade the Restitution of Bishops if they will grant the purity of doctrine In another little treatise of these times entituled Articuls Protestantium de vnitate Ecclesiae Gradus illos plures Episcoporum Archiepiscoporum Patriarcharum vtiles esse existimamus ad Ecclesiae salutem si ij qui presunt faciunt officium all these degrees of Ecclesiasticall policie are profitable for the Church prouiding Prelates discharge their dutie Bucer de vi vsâ—… ministerij saith thus Therefore these orders of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons established in the beginning by the holy spirit when Churches begun to be multiplyed they did ordaine to euery Prouince their owne Metropolitan And againe thereafter to shew how he thought it a diuine ordinance he saith as the people were more and more frequent in Metropolitan Citties It a dabat Dominus vt haberent ampliores Episcopos illae Ecclesiae so did God ordaine greater Bishops to those Churches Hemingiâ—…s is of that same opinion and both of them doe blame that wrested sense of Ierom aforesaid saying that howsoeuer it might bee so while Churches were not perfectly constituted yet all the other Fathers were against him froÌ„ thence forth he contented to acknowledge his error as you haue heard Philip Hebrâ—…nerus a great Protestant Theologue hauing mooued the question touching these degrees Ecclesiasticall hee answereth in fauour of them because the Apostles doe mention them in the first place the Presbyter in the next and the Deacon in the last saith he who is more famous among vs as I haue said then the venerable and learned Zanchius who hath left vs a long discourse of Episcopall gouernment in the Church which were too long to relate heere and is to be found in his obseruations 25. in titulo 38. de Disciplina clericali beginning thus Tertia pars disciplina clericalis est ea quae gradus infimi subijciuntur superioribus and it is most plaine of any for Bishops as may bee perceiued also by those his following speeches in the historie of the Augustine confession My faith saith he doth absolutely rest vpon the simple word of God next vpon the common consent of the ancient Catholike Church if it is not repugnant to the holy Scripture for whatsoeuer hath been decreed by those holy Fathers assembled in generall Couâ—…cells in the name of God if it doe not contradict his word that I take to flow from the holy Ghost albeit I doe not account it in the same degree with the written word and seeing it is most euident by all the writts of the ancient Fathers that Bishops and these other orders haue been allowed in the Church Quis ego sum who am I saith he who should take vpon me to impugne that which the holy Catholike Church hath approued Neither durst the most learned of our time disprooue them because they were instituted for good ends and for edification of Gods people Besides I haue respect to these reformed Churches who hauing embraced the Euangell doe yet retaine the order of Bishops in name authoritie meaning the Lutherians And looking to the Protestant Churches I finde they haue their Bishops and Archbishops vnder changed names of Superintendants and generall Superintendants and where neither the old good Greeke names of Episcopus and Archiepiscopus nor these new ill Latine names of Superintendant and generall Superintendent be acknowledged Notwithstanding I see their meaning of Presbyterians chiefe men who take vpon them all the authoritie where therefore these be maintayned and Bishops refused it is but a controuersie for names so when wee agree as wee doe vpon the thing it selfe why should we striue about the name Thus farre Zanchius Wherein wee see that he doth acknowledge that distinction mentioned by me in the beginning of this Article of that which is directly diuine as the word and that which is diuini Iuris as the Policie both being of like veritie but not of like authoritie necessitie and perpetuitie This sound iudgement of Zanchius is so truly naturally and holily conceiued that euen the latest and most peremptorie Reformators since be forced to haue the same opinion and to follow the same practise Caluin speaking of the primitiue church before the intrusion of Poperie during all which time saith he the Church gouernment hath nothing almost dissonant from Gods worde For the Presbyters who had the charge of doctrine did chuse one among them selues vnder the stile of a Bishop ne vâ—… fieri solet dissidia nascerentur ex equalitate that dissension should not arise of aequalitie as commonly it doth saith he And in his Epistle to Cardinall Sadolett he is contented to obey a Bishop prouiding he be reformed in doctrine Talem nobis Hierarchiam si dederint quae à Christo tanquam vnico capite pendeat The opinion of Beza concerning the Church of England I haue told already then for their practise it is manifest that all the Gouernours of the Church of Geneua since the Bishop was eiected haue wished by all meanes to replant that authoritie but could not for the State being altogether changed in a popular gouernment by repining from the Bishop who was also their ciuill head it was so farre from receiuing any image of Soueraigntie either spirituall or temporall that Caluin being altogether out of hope to get a Presbyterie established of Ministers alone was contented to comport a mixed Presbyterie of six Ministerie and twelue Citizens alwayes while he liued he was perpetuall
President in effect of the Ecclesiasticall Senate differing onely in name from a Bishop which name and authoritie both hee could haue susteyned in his person if the State had vrged him seing hee was contented himselfe to obey a reformed Bishop Beza likewise during ten or twelue yeares carried the same authoritie they did both rule ouer their brethren as a Primate ouer his Coepiscopi or a Bishop ouer his Compresbyteâ—… euen as Zanchius hath said And how many Christian Pastors of remote Nations did in all those times depend from their Oracles as Presbyters vnder Bishops If any man will say it was the merit of the men no ordination of the Church I answer if it was so it is all one to beare authoritie whether colourably or openly onely heere is the difference that lawfull authoritie is better then that which men doe arrogate without warrant and it is better to endure a lawfull Bishop then an vsurping Brother but to neither of these two doe I ascribe any disorder they were wise learned and diuine men who did comport with the policie of the time Inuita Minerua as wee say of necessitie For euen Beza finding things yet to goe farder from the Episcopall rule by the comming thither of Daâ—…aeus he did vehemently regrate it to his familiars And I say that Anthon Faâ—…us who is now Arch-Presbyter there is as wise in that kind as any of his Predecessors for I know it by experience to be so It may be indeed said that the Church of Geneua is yet in puritie without faction but who doth not see the reason of it because it is parua Respublica a small Common-wealth easily ruled where the Presbyteriall Clergie is not aboue the number of eighteen counting both Pastors and Doctors but if it were populous and grosse or if diuision should fall in that which is might it not come to passe among them as it hath done to others in the like that for want of a spirituall head the Ciuill Magistrate behooued to interpose his authoritie and perhaps ioyne him selfe to the wrong side as sundry Romane Emperours haue done in such things according as Ecclesiasticall Stories doe record And what was the doing of our owne Reformator Iohn Knox and of all those who were wise Reformators was it not like vnto the Romanes wisdome who hauing cast out their Kings did in euery case of danger clothe themselues with the absolute authoritie of Dictators Euen so did they after the expulsion of Bishops exercise the same power as Zanchius hath said vnderchanged names and euill Latine names as he calls them of Superintendents and generall Superintendents vntill by length of time as the state of Rome was neuer stayed before it fell againe into the owne naturall center of Monarchie Naturam furca expellas licet vsque recurret Euen so the Ecclesiasticall policie hath returned againe to the owne fountaine from whence it did flow All which considered I giue you my counsell who are Puritans that you be not ashamed to say with Zanchius Quis ego sum c. who are you to oppose your selues against the rule of God in nature in all her members against the rule of wisedome in the Ciuill state of Oeconomie in families of moralitie in one mans person of God in the Architype of the Iewish Church of the Apostles the Primitiue Church and all antiquitie following thereupon I giue you my Counsell to vnderstand the mysterie of time and the nature of reformation which is not compassed vpon the suddaine but with length of time euen as corruption growes with time We see in the old Law the Priesthood was one thing and the Priestly transgressions an other what did Manâ—…sses what did Ahas and other kings of Iudah How did Uziah the Priest and diuers others concurre with the impiety of their kings to defile the house of God with Idolatrie we may see it in the booke of the Kings and Paralyp did God therefore take away from the people the Priesthood no it was oft times prophaned but neuer abolished yea before the Lord should take it away hee did rather suffer both Priesthood and Principautie to be confounded in one person as is said before why should you then malitiously transgresse against so many examples to contemne Episcopall regiment because the Papall tyrannie hath prophaned it why doe you search argumens for diuision and not for vnity It is no Christian part out of the sixteene Archbishops of Antioch to obiect alone Paulus Samositanus who abused his authority to pride heresie would you thinke the like aduantage good against the Apostles to speake of Iudas out of multitudes of Bishops you haue chosen a few of the most insolent and wicked to be of your side marking the disorders of Theoph. Alexandrinus Valens Vrsatius Nestorius Macedon Phoc. What would you answere to these who would deale so with yourselues among hundreths of the like entercourses of your policie to obiect but two your great feast day holden at Edenburgh which made the seuenteenth of December so famous and again your caryage after the treason of Gowrie at Perth where the Lord God stood miraculously for the life of your most Gratious Prince and that for greater causes as you haue seene then were reuealed at that time and no doubt for greater ends then you doe yet see what can you answere to the bad behauiour of some brethren who durst challenge such a king his Maiesties reputation and fame and bring it in question before his people which things I mentioned heere out of my true affection to your reformation because the Physicians say Nulla medicamenta magis sunt salutifera quam ea qua dolorem pariunt There is no medicine more powerfull then that which breedeth dolor to the patient why doe you not therefore ouerpasse your malitious caption of mens faults to lookevpon the benefite which doth depend from lawfull policie why doe you not remember that the Archiepiscopall authority hath serued to represse the Arrian heresie the most mighty opposition that euer hath beene in Gods Church why do you not remember that Samositanus was more times in parting from the troth and more corrigiable thereafter as is said then Manicheus Marcion Arrius Pelagius and other Heresiarches who were but Presbyters why doe you not call to memorie the holy and reuerend names of Gregor Nazianz. Basil. Nicen. Athanas. Chrysost. Cyprian Ignat. Polycarp Iren. Ambros. August Whose persons were not so remote from this age of ours as the sincerity of their Christian and Catholike gouernement in the Church was different for the present rule of the Romane Bishops And notwithstanding of the corruption which is this day pregnant in the world and which you doe so much perill to fall in the state of Bishops by diuoluing of that charge in great noble personages more through the fauour of Princes then for their Merit as you say yet doe but looke a litle vpon the worthy Prelates which haue bin in the Church of
England stil since the reformation thereof and who be presently whom you shall see all to be ordinarily taken out of the prime men of the Vniuersities and neuer brought from the Court to that dignity doe witnesse in speciall those graue and most Reuerend diuines the Archb now of Canterbury the Bishops of London Elie and Bathe more shining lights then whom the Church of God hath not within nor without the kingdom which I in special may affirme who haue heard some of their vertuous names remembred with honor by their chiefest enemies in Christendome a cleerer marke then which cannot be of mens worth I say no more but God of his mercy grant that ourmost vpright Christian Ministers may follow their example in true pastorall vigilance and sincerity out of those mirrours let vs reuerence this beginnings which we see of our reformation that by our zeale and loue to peace and vnitie God may be moued to ouerthrow that beast of Rome and to plant againe his holy spirit in it to dissolue the Papall tyranny to reduce it to the ancient regular limits of Patriarchall degree If this Counsell be contrary to your Theologie then learne it from nature That Princes and Prelates are the Superiour Orbes that moue you and therefore that no motion must be within the peculiar Spheare of your Pastorall discharge to make you disobey their motions and if you cannot neither doe this out of a good instinct of nature like the celestiall Planets whose proper mouements doe neuer hinder them to obey and follow their Primum Mobile Then for the last make it a good and necessarie policie to imitate that Goose who knowing her owne imperfection prouides for those euils which might fall vpon her in perilous places through too much noise and so to saue her selfe from the Eagles which frequent the top of mount Taurus as she flieth along it she keepeth a lowe course and carrieth a stone in her beake to restraine her ordinarie cry Princes and Prelates tanquam aues solares are like the celestiall Eagles which goe neerest to the sunne they receiue the immediate inspiration and deputation of God to rule the inferiour world they are placed in the mountaine of gouernment so that you must take heede that you doe not concitate them by your disordered clamours Now hauing said thus farre in fauours of the Episcopall authoritie to the effect that you may see how I intend heere to serue God and not man I will also lawfully speake of that which ought to be the vpright and Christian duety of Bishops They are to remember that it is the fault of rulers which often times giueth distaste to people of lawfull authorities as the tyranny of Rome hath made the Primatiue and Orthodoxall gouernment of Christes Church to be abhorred it is the wisedome and modestie of their carriage which must cast a good smell in the nose of the multitude the Popular is like to a dead Ocean which hath no motion of it selfe but from aboue from the influence of the Moone or from the agitation of the aire Bishops are the Spheares placed aboue them to giue them influence and the Planets which should minister light vnto them So that they are to learne the temperament of their gouernment from the sunne the chiefe of Plannets which if it should still keep the altitude or summer solstice howsoeuer the glory and force thereof should be that way more perceiued yet no man nor beast could endure the vehemence of that heate in such manner that for the benefit of inferiour Creatures which be nourished by it it followes as we see an oblique temperate course betwixt the Tropicks of Cancer and Capricorne They are to learne the artes of their gouernment from God himselfe who albeit hee haue both absolute and infinite power that he could of the stones of the earth raise vp seede to Abraham and bring any thing to passe suddainely and in a moment in the generation of whatsoeuer his creatures yet for the maintenance of their order and policie he doth adioyne vnto his working the ordinarie concurrence of second and inferiour causes making things to goe on by naturall and mutuall meanes they are to follow the example of Moses in the Iewish rule of Gods people not as the Presbyterians doe following the Archi-type for the Laicke Elders and refusing it for the Prelacy they must not onely imitaâ—… the Moysaicall where it serueth to establish their power but also in that which Saint Ierome doth record of Moses Qui cum solus praeesse populo haberet in potestate who hauing in his will to be onely ouer the people yet hee did adioyne vnto him seuenty to assist him among the most ancient Canons which be Catholike this is reckoned with the formost Episcopos singulartum Genium scire oportet qui inter eos primus sit qui habeatur Caput praeter cuius Sententiam nihil agant sed nec ille praeter illorum sententiam faciat The Bishops of all Nations must vnderstand that hee who in his owne iurisdiction is head ouer the rest without whose authoritie they can doe nothing neither hee shall proceed but by their concurrence and aduise Sic enim vnanimitas erit Deus glorificabieur saith he by that meanes Vnanimitie shall be kept and God shall be glorified Ignatius the most ancient of the Fathers hath called the Presbyters Counsellours and Coasessours Cyprian followed this temperate rule Ambrose also doth teach the same For this sort of gouernment doth much ease them in their discharge and nothing derogate from their authority for who will say that a temperate Monarch who followeth his graue Counsell doeth thereby lessen his power but hee is the more aduised The excellent vertues of the Episcopall function are knowne by the excellent stiles giuen vnto it by the Spirit of GOD in the Apocalips they are called Angells and Starres Constantine did call them Gods in his time and seeing they get celestiall stiles they must also imitate the heauens to bee the chiefe Preachers of Gods glory Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei saith the Prophet Dauid These bee the properties of the heauens which also ought to be in them bodies most subtile most high most lucid most cleane most perfectly ordered most round they doe euer moue euer giue life and light vnto inferiour creatures First they must bee subtile in solide knowledge of holy scriptures Quia tu Scientiam repulistirepellam egote ne Sacerdotio fungaris 〈◊〉 saith the Lord Because thou reiectest knowledge I shall relect thee from the Priesthood They must bee high in the vertuous shew of their life Tantum gregem praecellat sanctitas presulis quantum ones superat vita Pastoris The sanctity of a Prelate should as farre excell that of his flocke as the life of a Pastor is more worth then a sheepe In the vertue specially of charitable frugality they should shine Splendidum in panibus benedicent labia multorum
weale and when there is cause an other chosen in his stead by the greatest part of the people but then to let you see that all that processe must depend from the Pope vpon the word Tyrannus they doe reason thus Tyrannice gubernans non potest spoliari sine publico Indicio lata vero sententia potest quisque fieri Executor potestque deponi a populo qui iurauerit ei obedientiam perpetuam He who raigns Tyrannously cannot be spoyled of his dominion vntill the publike sentence bee pronounced which once done he may be depriued by any yea by the same subiects who did sweare to him perpetuall obedience This publike sentence we must vnderstand is Excommunicatio Maior proceeding from the Pope How these Aphorismes doe agree with the doings of the Primitiue Church let the most ignorant iudge whither they bee not seasoned with their wormewood Vpon these two foundations of excommunication and depriuation doth of necessitie follow the third to wit murther of Kings first thundered next eiected thirdly slaine and doctrinall grounds set downe to authorise the same Gean Guignart in his treatise vpon the murther of Henry the third a good Prince and a catholike Romane he doth stablish two propositions one that the cruel Nero was murthered by a deliuering Clement whose heroicall act inspired by the holie spirit was to be reputed iust and lawfull yea and most laudable next that the crowne of France ought to be transposed to another Race and the Biarnois so doth he disdainfullie call the french king he ought to haue a monasticall crowne that is to say to be shauen and condemned to the cloyster albeit he was become a catholike Romane which if he would not accept they should by force of armes eiect him or depriue him of his life Ambrose Varades principall of the Iesuites Colledge at Paris was found the instigatour of Barrier against the late king immediatly after his conuersion to the Church of Rome Chastell who strooke him in the mouth confessed that he was taught by Iesuites that it was an act of extraordinarie great godlinesse to kill him because he was no lawfull king although he was conuerted vntill he was receiued by the Pope A letter was found of father Commelet a man most famous among them for prudence and grauitie bearing these words we must haue an Aeod let him be a monke a souldier or a sheepheard it is no matter we must haue an Aeod for the assassinat or slaughter of King Henrie the third so did their absynthiū vniuersallie poyson all that euen in the Serbon it was concluded in fauour of the Pope that his excommunication and murther was both lawful and wel acted William Parry confessed at his death that Benidicto Paulio Aniball Codreto Iesuites did persuade him that it was a most religious act to surprise the life of the late Queene of England a good Princesse replenished with Pietie vertue And who should heare the true relation of the state of Polonia since the entrie of the Iesuites there he should heare of more wicked secret practises during that time then for hundreths of yeeres before This is the doctrine and these are the practises of Papall pride with the Christian Kings of this age which being paralelled with these of the primitiue fathers it is easie to marke the antithesis So to ende this particular touching the Maxims of the Iesuisticke schooles it is the glorie which they doe cary as a bright starre in the front of all their renoune that they be daunters of puissant kings and it is found in their owne bookes in that treatise called Summa constitutionum imprinted at Lions Anno 1859. conteyning the gouernment of that societie it is sayd Tyrannos aggrediuntur lolium ab agro Domini euellunt They inuade tyrants and roote out the cockle and filth from the Lords feild And so invincible they be in this mischeuous doctrine that albeit they vnderstood Tanquerall was condemned to vndergoe a great punishment and hardlie did escape his life Anno. 1561. for suffering this Theame touching the authoritie of kings to be called in question of the Sorbon and to be disputed there yet so bould are they that euer since that tyme they did practise the court of parliament at Paris to fauour the same motion albeit oftentimes it was despightfully reiected vpon suspition of that which in effect was found true that they had couertly corrupted the Sorbon by sliding in among them some of their owne scolers neither is there anie thing in all this more strange then to heare Cardinall Bellarmine his answere for that holy carriage of the fathers of the primitiue Church with Emperours and Kings of their Tyme it was sayth he more necessarie in that time of the primitiue Church to admonish Christian people to obey temporal powers least otherwise the preaching of the Gospell had beene hindered The case being altered now when the Church is inful authoritie power her selfe which fiefor shame is no other then to make the word of God to be a religion of Foxes a doctrine of sophistrie a profession of Equiuocation consequentlie of P◅rle quia qui dubi◅r at his me◅itur bis peiur at as Cicero saith as if vpon these words Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo Christ would say to his Apostles and successours that they should obey Princes so long as they were vnder the Crosse and could doe no otherwise but when they should beginne to floorish and get the winde vpon them that then they should change the stile of the Euangell and teach a contrarie doctrine a doctrine not of Christ but of the ambitious schoole of Machauel to the stayne of Gods glorie who hath made no law but on for kings of Israel for kings of the primitiue Church and for all who haue followed vpon which point and vpon these words of our Sauiour Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo we may heare S. August as it were vpon the Theater of the world making a procliamation to secure all authorities from such feare Iealousie Audite saith he Iudaei gentes audi preputium audite omnia Regna terrena non i◅podis domination◅ ve◅am in hoc mundo O heere yee Iewes and gentiles yee circumcised and vncircumcised heere yee all the kingdomes of the earth Christ maketh no stoppe nor opposition to your authorities temporall and we reade S. Bernard vpon this text in the 12 of Saint Luke where one said to Christ master tel my brother vt mecum diuidat here ditatem that he may diuide our heritage he answered homo quis me constituit Di◅isorem aut Iudic◅m super vos who appointed me a iudge ouer you or diuider of your lands whereupon Saint Bernard saith stetisse lego Apostolos iudicandos sedisse iudicantes non lego I read saith hee that that the Apostles stood to be iudged but that they did sit ◅o Iudge I read not Their successors indeed the Bishops of the
primitiue Church at the command of their Soueraigne Emperors did take vpon them to be Iudges Councellors Embassadors as I haue related and that because being Subiects of the Empire they were bound to obey as Constantine the great wrot vnto them but these câ—…ill imployments were not due to their Episcopall function Mercy God what wonderfull difference 〈◊〉 here Christ would not vsurpe so much of temporall power as to march a small piece of heritage for pacifying of two brethren being pressed vnto it the Pope doth affirme that he hath right of marching and where betwixt Cancer and Capricorne betwixt the Arctique and Antarctique circles nay betwixt the North and South Poles betwixt the Occident and the Orient he hath the right of diuision ouer all the earthly Globe â—…he hath by his â—…lls deuided the East from the West Indies and hath distributed them betwixt the Spaniard and the Portugalls first and now againe hath giuen all vnto the Spaniard Next I come to tell your Lordship how this doctrine of Papall Soueraignitie is â—…pugned by the catholicke Romanes Panormitanus that learned Bishop hath written against that opinion of the Popes being aboue generall counsels And therefore by Baronius and Bellarmin is counted a schismaticke one Nicholas de Châ—…sa in a treatise de concordia Cathol hath done the same perfectlie saying vniuer sale consiâ—…um maioris esse author it at is minoris fallibilitatis quam Papae tantum The Counsels haue more authority and lesse fall abillity then the Pope alone Paulus Venetus vpon these late distractions of Venice from the Pope hath made it plaine by many Treatises but the fountaine of that truth hath beene in France kept pure and incorruptible with many disputes at seuerall times for the libertie of their Princes as their stories beare namely in the time of Phillip the faire So that this question is cleerely handled of Gerson who for his excellent learning was Chauncellor of the Sorbon He hath expressely written forbearing to speake of particular points of the Papall authoritie De Auferibilitate Papae ab Ecclesia of certaine cases and possibilities wherein the Church of Rome ought to want a Pope and hath put it downe in twentie seuerall considerations as hee termes them from which the generall Counsels haue lawfull power to pronounce a Nâ—… of the Pope All which as any man may perceiue who doth 〈◊〉 them are founded vpon the solid conclusion of S. August Ciaâ—… Regnicaelâ—… datâ—… sunt saith he Pâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The keyes of heauen were giuen to Peter in type of â—…tie of the whole Church Whereon Gerson in his second consideration doth establish the same groâ—… saying they were giuen Non â—…sed 〈◊〉 not to one man but to the 〈◊〉 of one Church And in his 〈◊〉 consideration what Christ gaue to Saint Peter saith he It was not giuen vnto him but vnto the Church because it was giuen 〈◊〉 Therefore saith hee the whole Church may the Pope being absent 〈◊〉 authoriâ—… 〈◊〉 ese the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In that twelfth consideration he doth induce the Apostolicall example when Paul Galat. 2. did reprehend Saint Pâ—… that he brought nouelties 〈◊〉 the Church A murmuration grew Act 10. so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compelled according to his owne Doctrine Paraâ—… esse as Gerson saith 〈◊〉 Ecclesia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecclesia es non 〈◊〉 To prepare himselfe to render an acount before the whole Church otherwise she had not beleeued him in the same consideration againe he reasons thuus The Papall power is giuen to the Church for her 〈◊〉 and not for her destruction and therfore such a power may be suspended or taken away from one who would abuse it to her perill And what else is this then to say that the Pope hath the place of a moderator so long as he is modest or that he thinks the Church could well enough want the Papall authoritie Then doth he passe from the theorick of the question to the practise by supposing what disorder or insufficiencie might fall into the person of a Pope If saith he that the Pope will teach that the holy Ghost doth not proceede from the Father the Son must not the Church resist it if said he an other Pope would orâ—…n the Kingdom of France to be sacked with fire and sword râ—…sistere debet Rex the King ought to resist And so in his tenth consideration issobe saide hee the Pope should inuade a man perâ—…ce and this man in his owne defence Si Papâ—… Mâ—… proiâ—… it if hee should fling the Pope into the Sea he doth it lawfully then should it much more be permitted and lawful saith he for the whole Church to cast out a Pope for her owne preseruation by these twenty Considerations of the occasions of the Papall Nullitie one may well see how hee thought that Popery was a foolish and dangerous humane institution as it is indeed Lastly I will in few wordes open the mysterie and designe of this Iesuiticall doctrine that euery one may know how to pull downe his maske and see the leaprous face of his ambition How this Papall Tower hath beene builded Histories bee so full of it and it is so triniall that I need not to insist in it by the weaknesse of the Empire by the remotenesse of Emperours their naughtinesse by the subâ—…ditie of Popes 〈◊〉 studying to keepe some dangerous enemies vpon the shoulders of the Empire till they might get some aduantage by their fostering of perpetuall discords among Christian Princes and neighbour States for the like end that they might haue the better meanes to ouerthrow one of the sides and ro increase themselues vpon their ruines Crescit 〈◊〉 Roma Alba ruiuis by the crafty practising of ignorant Bishops first to repayre to Rome as for the commodity of the place next to doe nothing without their consent thirdly to make appellation there still keeping the seedes of dissention among Prelates for that purpose till they contriued that inuention of the Vniuersall Bishop Alwaies the Iesuites who haue lately cropen in that the Cup of iniquitie may be the sooner full and that the world may the sooner see the reuelation of the Beast who seeketh to bee adored of all Princes and people They haue a desperate profession not to obey God nor to obey the Pope nor the Church of Rome but to obey their generall per Omnia in Omnibus tanquam Christo presenti as we read in their Summa Constitutionâ—… pag. 307. The glory of their obedience doth stand in undergoing trauailes and dangers for propagation of the Church of Rome and to that end they haue gone through the World as I haue saide like vnto Pandora that wretched and fatall Ambassatrix of fierce Nemesis carrying their boxes full of all sorts of profound and curious learning but alas rearefully infected with Absynthium to poyson the waters of true knowledge and corrupt our vnderstanding they haue braue spirits astonishing tongues and eloquent words with all kinde of