Apostle not virtually as you would haue it the whole quire or Colledge of them Our Sauiour was not so poore as to haue but one Apostle saies Irenaeus l. 3. against them that thought Paul was the onely man So farre off was Peter then that scarce he was thought to be one of the number Indeede twelue as I shewed you before for great cause But concerning Peter vnus Apostolus saies S. Austen but one Apostle As for the prime we graunt you as you haue beene often told and to content you the more more then in one regard of primacie An excellent flower he was in that garland what would you els But that this primacie was distinct from your supposed magistracie or maiestie Ecclesiasticall as you would inferre out of gerere personam heare what followes S. Austen hauing recounted the three former degrees of Peters condition he proceedes to a fourth neither coincident with the rest nor yet containing any such principalitie as you talke of but meerely affoarded him of our Sauiours free bountie in regard to his excellent worth among his fellowes Sed quando ei dictum est Tibi dabo claues regni coelorum Quodcunque ligaueris super terram erit ligatum in coelis quodcunque solues super terram erit solutum in coelis vniuersam significabat ecclesiam saies S. Austen he stood for the Church it was said to him in the person of the Church not as chiefe Magistrate not as primus Apostolus the first wheele in the clocke but in a sense distinct from the former three degrees therefore he saies Sed quando yet happily the rather for his aforesaid worthines our Sauiour put this part vpon him honoured him with representation of his Catholike Church made him to signifie Ecclesiam vniuersam S. Austens words but onely to signifie it that not as an Apostle but in a fourth consideration which helps you nothing rather spoiles you of all § 18. That which followes is pregnant but I must be sparing though you may thinke we are afraid to enlarge quotations Besides it hath beene brought totidem verbis before out of his 13. serm de verb. Dom secundum Matth. the Father hauing recorded it in two seuerall places so farre he was from retracting it That Petrus à petrâ sicut Christianus à Christo and not è contrà that our boast should not be in men but in the liuing God And yet in truth more plainely in this place which may serue if any thing to open their eyes that dare build vpon a man as the foundation of their Church though it were Peter himselfe that I say not how vnworthy creatures now in his Roome Ideo quippe ait Dominus Super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam quia dixerat Petrus Tu es Christus filius dei viui Super hanc ergo inquit petram quam confessus es aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Petra enim erat Christus super quod fundamentum ipse etiam aedificatus est Petrus Fundamentum quippe aliud nemo potest ponere praeter id quod positum est quod est Christus Iesus That is For therfore saith our Lord Vpon this rocke I will build my Church because Peter had said Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God I will therefore build saies he my Church vpon this rocke which thou hast confessed For the rocke was Christ vpon which foundation euen Peter himselfe was faine to be built For another foundation can no man lay besides that which is laid which is Iesus Christ Then Ecclesia quae fundatur in Christo claues ab eo regni coelorum accepit in Petro id est potestatem ligandi soluendique peccata How so Quod enim est per proprietatem in Christo ecclesia hoc est per significationem Petrus in petrâ qua significatione intelligitur Christus petra Petrus ecclesia Haec igitur ecclesia quam significabat Petrus c. that is to say The Church which is founded in Christ receiued of him the keyes of the kingdome of heauen in Peter that is the power of binding and loosing sinnes For that which properly the Church is in Christ the very same by signification is Peter in the rocke By which signification Christ is vnderstood to be the rock Peter to be the Church This Church therefore which Peter signified c. I say nothing of signification whereof enough before and euery line in S. Austen is fraught with it But is not this strange that Peter whome they euery where aduance for the head S. Austen should still take for the bodie In the person of the bodie of the multitude of the faithfull did our Sauiour heape those priuiledges vpon Peter And whereas some of you are not ashamed to vrge Sequere me for a document of his primacie as if it were Sequere me in gubernatione ecclesiae a strange probleme of desperate pleaders euen there Peter differs not from the communitie but still stands for a figure of the bodie Heare S. Austen Vniuersitati dicitur Sequere me pro quâ vniuersitate passus est Christus It is saide to the whole multitude Follow me for which whole multitude Christ suffered For to construe Follow me in so ambitious a sense that is be Lord as I am Lord be Regent as I am Regent Christian people will soone abhorre though meanely instructed who know we are to follow our Sauiour Christ by imitation of his vertues not by affectation of his place and Peter to follow him no otherwise then we Peter euen as Paul for the agreement of his spirit with them both is not nice to call vs to the imitation of himselfe but yet subordinately to Christ Bee ye followers of me euen as I am of Christ 1. Cor. 11. 1. And so absurd is this argument for Peters Monarchy from Sequere me that S. Austen in his commentarie vpon the 62. Psalme construes Sequere me by vade post me follow me by get thee behind me His words are Redi post me Satanas non enim sapis quae Dei sunt sed quae hominum Then Quia antecedere me vis redi post me vt sequaris me vt iam sequens Christum diceret Agglutinata est anima mea post te Because thou wilt needs goe before me get thee rather behind me that so thou maiest follow me Though it be true also that Sequere me was a common word with our Sauiour and spoken both to S. Matthew when he called him to the Apostleship from the receipt of custome Matth. 9. and to him that preferred to goe and burie his father before the following of his Master Matth. 8. And if Peter obeyed the Sequere with the first of these two in performing his ministerie his successors with the second while they leaue Christ to snatch at a mortuarie § 19. I am afraid of giuing the Reader a surfet in a case so euident but yet I must not omit this one passage that followes in
a metaphore saying he would build vpon him § 18. The like ad Marcellam Epist 54. vpon whome our Lord built his Church namely Peter But can we answer S. Hierome better then by S. Hierome The fortitude of the Church or the puissance of the Church was equally built or grounded vpon them all Super omnes ex aequo You heard it before out of his 1. lib. against Iouinian How does this then prooue Peters priuiledge in the matter of authoritie though building were graunted to found that way as it doth not And when S. Paul sundrie times as Coloss 1. 23. and Eph. 2. 20. speakes of grounding and building the Church either vpon faith as in the first place or vpon the Prophets and Apostles as in the second shall we thinke he was enuious that said nothing of Peter and that extraordinarie manner of the Churches building vpon him that you dreame of § 19. Here you tell vs of three waies by which the Apostles might be saide to be foundations of the Church in hope that Peter may be so in singular And quoting Bellarmine for it not your owne inuention you counsell the Bishop to learne it of him Shall wee first see how good it is One way for that they first conuerted nations perswaded people and founded Churches not Peter alone but ioyntly all of them In this sense belike they are all foundations But what is this to beeing the foundation of the Catholicke Church and to lie like a rocke vnder that great building because they were planters of particular Churches Also you argue fallaciously from the diligence of preaching to the power of supporting and that by authoritie as now the question is Besides a founder and a foundation is not all one And did none plant Churches good Sir but the Apostles Shall your Iesuites in Iaponia be foundations too And shall we say of them super quos aedificaeta est Ecclesia dei You see the absurditie Yet you quote proofes Rom. 15. I haue preached the Gospell where Christ was not named least I should build vpon another mans foundation Does this prooue that men are foundations of the Church or rather that the man and the foundation are two Againe 1. Cor. 3. I haue laid the foundation like a wise architect so speakes your Vitruvius-ship but would you call him a wise Logician that should argue from hence that S. Paul meant himselfe to be the foundation Yea though he said not in the same place Iesus Christ and no other foundation § 20. Secondly you say the Apostles were all foundations because the Christian doctrine was first imparted to them and the present faith is groūded vpon that which was deliuered at the first And new articles of faith you say are not alway reuealed Is not this accurate trow you as well for order as for substance For had this been a reason ought it not to haue been set in all reason before the other Can a thing bee preached afore it be vnderstood or made knowne to others afore it selfe be knowne Your argument therefore from preaching should by all meanes I say haue followed this from reuealing and this from reuealing haue gone before the other But pardon your order looke into your substance Were not some things reuealed to others afore the Apostles Did not our Lord first manifest his resurrection to women Did not the Angel say to them Goe and tell Peter Will you haue women and all to be the foundations of the Church But we are much beholden to you that you coyne not newe articles of faith euerie day Articles therefore and new articles you graunt and of frequent reuelation but not euery day We long for your last kinde of foundation wherein Peter is so entire § 21. Thirdly then you say in respect of gouernement and authoritie For Peters was ordinarie their 's Legatine his originall theirs depending from him You should shewe what Father sayes so besides your selues for of Scripture you despaire And yet you agree so ill emong your owne selues of this point that you iumpe not about the very termes For Baronius cals Peters power extraordinarie the other Apostles ordinarie you make his ordinary and theirs extraordinary Is it possible that kingdome should long hold out which is so at ods Yet behold another leake in this obseruation For though the Apostles had deriued their authoritie from Peter yet they might all haue beene foundations of the Church as well as he euen in regard of gouernment no lesse then some receiuing the doctrine immediatly from Christ as Peter Iames and Iohn witnes Clemens in Eusebius before quoted the others from them yet you make them all in regard of doctrine to be foundations alike num 25. § 22. Another authoritie of S. Hieromes is out of his Epist ad Damas 57. I following no first or chiefe but Christ doe communicate with thy blessednes or am linked in fellowship with it that is to say with the chayre of Peter vpon that rocke I know the Church is built You see Hierome followes no first but Christ Nullum primum Where is then the primacie that you challenge to Peter if none of the Apostles be afore another but Christ Indeede Bellarmine saies he meanes he preferres none but Christ before Damasus which is an vtter peruerting of S. Hieromes words who as he saies he followes no chiefe but Christ or none prime but Christ so he shewes after what sort he is affected to Damasus communione not subiectione by communion not by subiection communico tibi as to Theophilus to Cyrill to Athanasius to who not the auncient orthodoxe professe of themselues in diuers places But the edge of the place as it serues your turne lies in those words I know the Church is built vpon that rocke Which rocke is Christ not so long before mentioned but this may referre to it and to build vpon a chayre is no such cleane pickt metaphore that we should be forced to take it so though vpon a rocke be Besides the scio that he giues it a word of certentie makes vs thinke he would neuer be so peremptorie for Peter sith diuers haue construed the rocke another way whome S. Hierome would not crosse ouer hastily with his Solo and lastly his owne modestie declared a little before professing to follow none but Christ Therefore he tooke Peter for no such foundation § 23. The last and the least is out of his first against Iovinian O vox digna petrâ Christi â speech worthie the rocke of Christ But you may as well build Christ himselfe by this deuise vpon Peter as the Church of Christ For as Saunders writes of the rock of the Church so Hierome calls Peter here the rocke of Christ That is the fortresse and champion of the Christian faith as S. Ambrose was called columna Ecclesiae S. Iames 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the title of the Church of Ephesus wherein Timothie was to conuerse rather then of Rome as the
and I thinke we haue answered you Cum caeteris communicandas claues accepit sayes Optatus himselfe Will you haue so many Monarchs as receiued the keyes that are afraid of two a little after § 2. Your impudent putting of a Monarchie vpon the Pope by your queint definition as you think at least holds no water and much lesse fire A Monarch is he say you that gouernes for the common good not for his owne Let vs beleeue the Pope to be that single-hearted Charitie quaerens non quae sua sunt sed aliorum aliorum indeede too often for the deuill himselfe giues ouer seeking his owne if S. Bernard say true is this all that is required to make a Monarch Is there no difference betweene gouernment and gouernement Let Gelasius tell you de vinculo Anathematis to say nothing of Chrysost a little before quoted or hath not our Sauiour himselfe a Vos autem non sic to spoile your definition and to marre his Monarchie § 3. I might tell you of S. Basil in this very worke what respect God hath planted in vs to Kings by the hand of nature which respect you would so wickedly purloyne from them and carrie cleane away to the Popes by peruerting the Fathers words about S. Peter I haue scene a swarme of bees saies he c. But when he shewes what is answerable in the Church of God to that which a King is in humane societies he dreames not of a Pope to supplie the analogie but of the word of God that is our King saies he and the fall from that makes way to Antichrist iust as S. Paul saies of the dissolution of the Empire Donec tollatur è medio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That you may see by what meanes the Popedome thriueth namely by the fall of Princes and what thriues with the Popedome namely Antichrist and the extinguishing of Gods word which is our King saies S. Basil But I come to Nazianzene § 4. And though I affect breuitie yet Nazianzenes place I will set downe somewhat more fully the rather because our man saies the Bishop thought some words as sore as a bile and therefore set them downe in his margent indeede but durst not touch them in his text those sore words As if any would doe the one I meane print them in the margent that was afraid of the other that is to speake to them in the text For why might he not better haue left them cleane out But heare we Nazianzene those words at length See if any thing could be brought to check them more De moderat in disput seruandâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Seest thou of the Disciples of Christ all high and worthy to be chosen one is called a rocke and hath the foundations of the Church entrusted to him another is more loued and leanes vpon the breast of Iesus and the rest brooke this praelation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that whereas afore he argued out of S. Basil from praelatus est we haue now prelation first of more then one But proceed When they must goe vp to the mountaine that he might glister in his shape and shew his godhead and discouer him that lay hid in the flesh who go vp with him For all are not beholders of the miracle Peter and Iames and Iohn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which both were and were reputed to be afore the others Afore we had two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preferred nowe we haue three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that were and were reckoned to be afore the rest But who were with him in his agonie and a little before his death when he went aside and prayed the same againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the order that our Sauiour tooke in preferring It followes The rest of their comlinesse and orderlinesse how great Peter asks this question Philip that Iudas that Thomas that another that and neither all the same nor one man all but euery man particularly and one by one and as you would say euery one thereafter as he needed But of that what thinke you Philip would say a thing and dares not alone but takes Andrew to him Peter hath a question to aske and sets on Iohn by a nodde Where is surlinesse here where is ambition How could they more shew themselues the disciples of Christ that meeke and humble hearted one for vs a seruant for vs his seruants and who in all things returned all the glorie to his Father that he might shew vs an example of orderlinesse and modestie which we are so farre from obseruing that I would think it were well with vs if we were not bold-hardier then all besides c. Now let F. T. plead for primacie from hence and the pride that our Sauiour suppressed in his disciples so long agoe You see that if our Sauiour preferred one he preferred more and the name of preferment serues them all alike no better of Peter no worse of Iames of Iohn c. So true it is that the Bishop answered of many monarchs to bee pickt from hence if any at all But what say we to the words as sore as a bile That Peter had sibi credita Ecclesiae fundamenta the foundations of the Church entrusted to him Neither does this prooue monarchy nor supreame magistracie It is nothing but an exegesis of what went before that Peter was a rock not a rocke for nothing but to build vpon and to carry as the rest doc Apoc. 21. for I must not leaue vrging him with the Bishops answer though I see it anger him the foundations of the Church though to him more particularly confessing Christ it was said also more particularly But if this was the reward of his constant profession as no man doubts and the text most clearely shewes to bee tearmed rocke and withall hee confest in the name of the rest as Bellarmine graunts and the Fathers affirme who sees not that this title must belong to the rest to be rocks all as well as he and therefore the Bishops answer remaines most sound that he is a rocke indeede and beares the foundations but with others And so his instance vanishes that a King may beare one more fauour then another though he make him not so great an officer or prelate For as we graunt the preheminence that Nazian speakes to haue beene yeelded S. Iohn to leane vpon Christs brest did come from greater loue then to Peter so we denie that Peters was a prerogatiue of iurisdiction though it was the honouring of him in an other meet kind answerable to the confession wherein he out-stript his fellowes For as he spake first so the tearmes of honour first lighted vpon him no authoritie Sir And to bee graced with those tearmes directed to him was the particular preheminence that Nazianzene speakes of answerable to S. Iohns leaning vpon Christs bosome in particular Though it is true that Iohn also signified for others as
vnitie for for that cause hee chose one and as in diuerse other things Peter had the preheminence but yet with others as Iames and Iohn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more primi then Peter where more might be vsed so here where but one could be employed in the businesse the rest beeing slipt ouer Peter was thought the meetest to be the modell of vnitie because in some prerogatiue hee might passe those primos or perhaps it was the secret of our Sauiours brest Are you so little acquainted with the libertie of Gods actions or reserue you nothing for our knowledge in the world to come This to your obiection § 8. Now marke what we gather out of S. Austens text First Some things there are seeming to belong to Peter which can make no cleare sense but when they are construed of the Church This is flat against you that would haue Peter such a figure of the Church forsooth as yet to occupy a certain place of his owne and what is giuen to Peter should be giuen to the Church and what to the Church the same to Peter But some things saies S. Austen are said to Peter which can haue no pregnant construction but of the Church Secondly amidst those some things is Tibi dabo claues S. Austen vseth this very example which you would fain haue to be ingrossed by Peter as if the keyes had personally beene deliuered to him and in his owne right which S. Austen denies Thirdly Si qua alia if there be any more There may bee more then as Pasce oues No doubt this must be one by his owne exposition before de Agone Christiano c. 30. Fourthly that he bare indeed personam ecclesiae but in figurâ which you had pared off Not by power of his place or authoritie permanent but culld out before the rest by our Lord for that end to signifie vnitie Fiftly that primatus was not the primacie of magistracy euen that declares that he saies the keyes were promised to him propter primatum So that first the primacie then the keyes And his primacie among the Apostles was a motiue-cause to promise him the keies in the name of the Church whereas else primatus and the keies had gone together and as soone as primatus so soone the keies But now they are promised him for some specialty in him Not for office then as you would haue it Sixtly as Iudas sustained the person of the wicked sustinuit a more powerfull word then gestauit and much more then significauit which is said here of Peter and yet but quodam modo so shie is S. Austen so farre from the iurisdiction that you build vpon Tullies Offices so Peter of the Church As Iudas of the one so Peter of the other saith S. Austen which is no authoritatiue primacie you may bee sure vnlesse Iudas shall haue a generation of Successors now as well as Peter and which is more damnable of holy Scriptures institution If any such were who more likely then the Pope that holds by the purse which Iudas carried and troubles all the world for Supremacy in Temporalls But neither Iudas then nor the Pope now Else Peter should haue been head vnder Iudas his head doe you like this when he went so farre as to scandalize our Sauiour and deserued the name of Sathan at his hands Was Peter then vnder Iudas his iurisdiction yet no doubt far gone in that part which Iudas bare the person of by S. Austens saying For so we read in his Alia expositio of the same Psalme Cuius populi diximus Iudam in figurâ gessisse personam sicut ecclesiae gessit Apostolus Petrus Your grauitie perhaps will say that this is reproach for so chap. 4. num 33. But we doe but argue and I pray who giues the cause Quacunque scripta sunt propter nos scripta sunt Rom. 15. § 9. To omit that Prosper vpon the same Psalme Prosper Leo's secretarie and S. Austens scholler tunes it yet in a higher key making Iudas not onely beare the person of the wicked which you construe so imperiously as we haue now heard but he saies in plaine tearmes Iudas primatum gessit inimicorum Christi Iudas bare the primacie of Christs enemies which I trust you will not expound how impudent soeuer that Iudas was made chiefe magistrate ouer Christs enemies no more then was Peter ouer Christs friends § 10. YOV quote farther S. Austen in his 13. serm de verbis Domini secundum Matth. out of which you haue these words Petrus à Petrâ cognominatus c. which moreouer you thus english Peter taking his name from a rocke was happy bearing the figure of the Church hauing the principalitie of the Apostleship Of which anon as it serues your turne In the meane time you may see what varietie of words S. Austen hath to set out the meaning of his gerere personam both here and elsewhere Though here he doth not vse so much as the word personam but figuram onely which is a great deale lesse or rather makes all besides to be iust nothing But as I began to say see a little I pray you his store of words to giue you his right sense about gerere personam that you dreame not alwaies of Magistrates in Tullies Offices Admonet nos intelligere mare praesens saeculum esse Petrum verò Apostolum ecclesiae vnicae typum He giues vs to vnderstād that the sea is this present world and Peter the Apostle a type or instance of the onely Church The same againe de baptismo contra Donatist l. 3. c. 17. In type vnitatis as afore of the Church so now of charitie but it is all one in effect Dominus Petro potestatem dedit c. In the type of vnitie our Lord gaue Peter power saies S. Austen or in the type of charitie And will you say that all that were types in the old Testament were so many magistrates where some were of Christ yea very many were there so many gouernours of Christ I pray you or the types of the Church that went before in the old Testament were they all Church-gouernours And yet thus you see S. Austen declares his meaning about genere personam by sigura by typus and such like But you will say it followes in S. Austens words Ipse enim Petrus in Apostolorum ordine primus And what then As if wee denied the primacie in the order of the Apostles which are ready to graunt euen more then so if need be The Bishop yeelds a triple primacie to Peter in the booke that you confute before you vnderstand Out of which you in time may prooue the triple crowne And had S. Auston beene so fauourable you had done it ere this In whome it followes Saepe respondet pro omnibus spoken of Peter And will you knowe quo mysterio Let himselfe shew Vnus pro multis vnus in multis once againe to endeare this vnitie
saies S. Austen speaking stil of the Luciferians but it fits but euen too wel with out stout-hearted Iesuits dum in Petro petram non intelligunt nolunt credere datas ecclesiae claues regni coelorum ipsi eas de manibus amiserunt They haue lost the keyes whilst they talke so much of them and all because they vnderstand not or will not vnderstand Petrum in petrâ that is Ecclesiam in Christo as S. Austen before expounded it in his 13. Serm. de verb. Dom. secundum Matth. that is the Church in Christ So neither Peter the petra as they would faine make him nor Peter at all but Petrus in petra that is Ecclesia in Christo or populus Christianus and fidelis in Christo the Church in Christ or the number of the faithfull as they are recollected in Christ is it to whome the keyes are here giues But F. T. and his fellows nolunt credere datas Ecclesiae claues regni coelorum will not beleeue that the keyes of the kingdome of heauen were giuen to the Church and why but quia Petrum in petrá non intelligunt they will not vnderstand the mysterie of Peter not in himselfe but in the rocke that is in Christ S. Austens prophesie their propertie at this day § 29. It followes in him yet against such as forbid second marriages Qui cum super Apostolicam doctrinam se mundiores praedicent sinomen suum vellent agnoscere mundanos se potiùs quà m mundos vocarēt Who pretending themselues cleaner farre then the Apostles doctrine are found to be cleane besides all praise of cleannes If you aske why so the reason is rendered in the next words Cogunt viduas suas vri quas nubere non premittunt Non enim prudentiores habendi sunt quà m Apostolus Paulus qui ait Malo eas nubere quà m vri They compell saies he their widowes to burne whome they forbid to marrie whereas they should not be coūted wiser then the Apostle Paul who saies I had rather they should marrie then burne But no doubt while they affect a purity aboue the Apostles doctrine they might giue themselues if so it pleased them a name more agreeable to their filthie sect The world hath not yet forgotten how roundly Bellarmine replies vpon his MAIESTIE moderately censuring their restraint of mariages which yet they would haue to be so many Sacraments that marriages before the vow indeede are Sacraments but after that sacriledges S. Austen makes it free here for all to marrie that find themselues to be in daunger of burning windowes and all and who knowes but vowed and professed widowes The rule is generall and he applies it generally without any limitation Malo eas nubere quà m vri I had rather they should marrie then burne frō which it is not to be thought he would excuse any S. Paul himselfe 1. Tim. 5. 12. though he speake of widowes that had giuen their first faith suppose as you construe it their faith and vow to remaine widowes yet afterward in the 14 he giues them leaue to marrie since they could keepe it no better I will haue younger widowes marrie Where it were hard to construe yonger widowes twice named v. 12. and 14. and one time condemned for their wantonnesse after vow desiring to marrie another time licensed to marrie as for remedie They will marrie v. 12. and S. Paul I will haue them marrie v. 14. I say it were hard to construe these two of two sundrie kinds of widows the one vowed the other not vowed whereas then the remedie were no remedie if it be not a remedie against such as made default and if Paul allowed the vowed widowes to marrie though not without checke for breaking their vow then Bellarmines sacriledge is no sacriledge but rather his doctrine sacrilegious I might shew the same out of Cyprian Austen Ierome I might shew it out of some of the auncientest Councels I might alleadge Medina obseruing as much though he ouerthrow it againe like a cow that hath giuen a good soope of milke so with the dash of his heele In contrarium est D. Thomas What maruell if Thomas be of such authoritie when some of you haue recorded that in conclusion of your famous Coūcell of Trent the Fathers cried out there as if they had done a great act vpon the name of S. Thomas ascribing the winning of the day to him Iust as Plato in his Timaeus makes the maker of the world to congratulate his owne paines in the assembly of his pettie-gods after the creation And yet some thinke that Thomas is not so firme for vowes but when they proue inconuenient he giues leaue to break them But so much of S. Aust and his authority cited out of de Agon Christ c. 30. where F. T. complaines the Bishop to haue left out so much Are these trow you the things that the Bishop left out § 30. ANOTHER testimonie conforme to that of S. Austens to shewe either the force or the extent of the commission giuen to Peter in Pasce oues meas the Bishop produced out of S. Ambrose another of the fowre Doctors of the Church of their owne registring that it may satisfie the more In ore duorum praesertim tanti testium De sacerdotali dignitate as now the title runnes though it hath runne otherwise in times past cap. 2. not as F. T. wrongly cites the first Quas oues quem gregem non solùm tunc B. suscepit Petrus sed nobiscum eas suscepit cum illo eas nos suscepimus omnes That is Which sheep and which flocke not onely Blessed Peter then receiued but both he receiued them with vs and with him we all haue receiued them As for the pregnancy of this testimonie and that it toucheth to the quicke what need we say more when we haue our aduersary confessing that this manner of speech doth indeede inforce a greater equalitie betwixt S. Peter and other Pastors then euer S. Ambrose did imagine he meanes then can subsist with their supposed primacie or Papacie of Peter But how does he answer it Forsooth they are said not to bee Ambrose his words not those at least nobiscum eas suscepit both he receiued them with vs c. And why so Because first they are contrarie to Ambrose his iudgement in other places but specially because they are not extant in the printed copies and in a word are meerely of the Bishops forging A great fault if it can be prooued if not a great slaunder as all men may see and sufficient to cracke the Adioyners credit through out the rest of his whole booke It may please the Reader then to vnderstand that of sundry editions of S. Ambrose which haue been set forth though we could not come by all to consult them yet so many are foūd to haue those words which he quarrels to be foisted as may easily shew on
we mistake it not Then followes his commendation of Church-vnity the onely remedy in Cyprians iudgement against the aforesaid maladies which hauing taught to be figured by our Sauiour in S. Peter whome in equall priuiledges of power with the rest he called from the rest to patterne that vertue he amplifies from other places the authority of the Church as vna est columba mea Cant. 6. vnum corpus and vnus spiritus vna fides Ephes 4. with Qui ecclesiae resistit quomodo se in ecclesiâ esse confidit and after a notable enforcement to the preseruing of vnity from vnus Episcopatus est there is but one Bishoprick throughout the whole Church which euery Bishop hath his solide share in and Qui in ecclesiâ praesident which are chiefe in the Church shewing that many Bishops gouerne the Church and not one Bishop alone as the Papists would haue it he returnes to ecclesia Ecclesia vna est quae in multitudine latiùs incremento faecunditatis extenditur c. and yet againe more closely after certaine protases of similitudes which F. T. saies the Bishop durst not lay downe for fraud but himselfe laying downe gets nothing but hatred for his abominable tediousnesse Ecclesia Domini luce perfusa saies he per orbem totum radios suos porrigit vnum tamen lumen est ramos suos extendit riuos expandit vnum tamen caput est origo vna vna mater c. That is The Church replenished with the light of our Lord stretches her beames through all the world yet the light is but one F. T. would haue Peter to be this light as if the Church were but rayes and he the body of the sun which S. Cyprian neuer meant but for more perspicuity sake calls it Domini lucem our Lords light vnlesse Peter be that Lord too reaches out her branches spreads her riuers yet the head is but one the spring but one and the mother her selfe but one abounding in fruitfulnesse c. So as one may wonder that F. T. after so manifest conuiction would persist to force this clause vpon Peter which so properly and so immediately belongs to the Church but that it fretted both him and the Cardinall too not a little to be taken tripping so fowly as to make Peter a mother or the Pope a woman once againe and he hath no shift but to say that S. Cyprian in one and the same tenure of vndiuided connexion meanes the first part of Peter and the latter part of the Church like Virgils monster in Pristin ' desinit aluus § 2. Here is also to be noted that F. T. citing that sentence of S. Cyprian tamen vt vnitatem manifestaret c. foists in those words which are not to be found in the printed copies vt vna cathedra monstretur at least not in Morelius yet a Popish edition which I now vsed anni 1564 at Paris not of Frobenius at Basil anni 1530. not of Gryphius not diuers more And yet this is the man that challenges the Bishop for corrupting of Fathers And farther he prints those words one Chayre in an eminent letter to giue credit to his cosenage one Church in an ordinarie because though that be Cyprians yet nothing to his purpose num 5. of this third chap. How beit if vna cathedra were read in Cyprian it is not the Popes chaire but answerable to that of which he said a little before Episcopatus vnus est c. there is but one Bishoprick in the Church and yet such a one as euery Bishop hath his full share therein For as the Bishoprick so the Chayre With like honestie he peruerts the words of Cyprian exordium ab vnitate proficiscitur by either adding to them or translating them in this frantick fashion num 4. The primacie is giuen to Peter whereof not a word that we find here in Cyprian And he tells vs we heard before that Cyprian saies our Sauiour built his Church vpon Peter which for my part I neither heard nor read yet in S. Cyprian de vnitate Ecclesiae of which worke now the question onely is What he saies ad Quintum comes not to be examined till his 12. numb But thus he must patch one thing with another that cries out against falshood in all men els as the onely Doue And the toyle is more to recken vp his leud corruptions then the taske to cleere the Bishop from those things which he imputes to him in that very kind Lastly for a tast of his learning as well as his sinceritie he construes robur vnum in S. Cyprians comparison one strength Multi rami sed robur vnum Many boughes but one strength Neither giuing vs the sense of S. Cyprians similitude but vtterly smothering it like a faithfull alleadger and forgetting Virgil Aeneid 2. Roboribus textis yea his very Accidents Pectora percussit pectus quoque robora fiunt § 3. Now in the epistle ad Quintum what find we Petrus quem primùm Dominus elegit super quem aedificauit ecclesiam suam As if one of these did not expound the other For our Sauiour is said to haue built his Church vpon Peter in that he chose him first not chose him to be first primùm elegit not elegit in primatem as preuenting him with the promise and honouring him with the exhibition of the keyes before the rest For they were deliuered to him in the generall name as signifying vnitie as both S. Austen and S. Cyprian haue taught before so as the rest notwithstanding had as full right in them as euer Peter had which S. Cyprian declares when he saies Pariconsortio praediti potestatis endued with like fellowship of power and Hoc erant caeteri quod Petrus the rest were the same that Peter was S. Austen also in those words of his cited before but of necessitie to be brought to your remembrance I see euer and anon There are some things which though they were spoken to Peter yet can make no good construction vnlesse they be referred to the Church in generall and he instances in that Tibi dabo claues As for the building of the Church vpon Peter howsoeuer some writer may say so in his sense yet you neede not be ignorant how the most sort construe it to be a building vpon his faith not vpon his person Super petram quam confessus es i. super meipsum August de verb. Dom. secund Matth. serm 13. Hilar. de Trin. l. 2. item l. 6. to the same purpose for I couple his faith with the obiect for this time that is to say Christ Chrysost hom 55. in Matth. Ambrosin Eph. c. 2. de Sacram. Incarn Domin c. 3. Beda in cap. 21. Iohan. I sidor in Exod. c. 42. Dt quâ soliditate fidei Dominus dicit Super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam i. of which soundnesse of faith our Lord sayes Vpon this rocke I will build my Church
Euagrius may seeme to imply as much lib. 4. c. 40. speaking of Anastasius Bishop of Antioch where Peter first sat To which Bishop the assaults were so fiercely giuen as if his ouerthrow would haue been the Captiuitie of the right faith they are the Historians words and in him were all But he manfully withstood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For he remained vpon the impregnable rocke of faith Iuvenalis Bishop of Hierusalem with fiue more Bishops in Rescripto Synodico in Concil Calched ad presbyteros monachos Palestina Prouincia hauing quoted the words of the Gospel aforesaid inferres thus Super hanc confessionem roborata est ecclesia Dei Where by the way you may see what the opinion was of the Fathers of that Councell concerning those words Super hanc petram to settle the cheifedome in Rome as before you would beare vs downe though they deriue the priuiledges of it meerely from the Empire and the graunt of their auncestors Also the Bishops surmise remaines good that the Cardinall left out those other words in Cyprian as preiudiciall to his cause that Peter did not challenge to himselfe any thing insolently or arrogantly as to say he had the primacie You say he might haue said so in his full right but S. Cyprian calls it an insolent and an arrogant challenge by which you see that primacie whatsoeuer it was was not of authoritie but of meere senioritie like primùm elegit a little before euen Andrewes first resorting to our Sauiours schoole hinders not this sith there was duplex vocatio as Maldonate will shew you before quoted which the words following shew too Et obtemperari à nouellis ac posteris sibi potiùs oportere comparing Paul the later called with Peter aunciently designed to the Apostleship In one respect an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an abortiue as himselfe confesses and yet in other respects nothing short of the cheife S. Austen also though hee alter S. Cyprians words lib. 2. de bap c. 1. as is soone done in allegations of memorie yet he keeps the sense and fauours you nothing the primatus Apostolorum excellenti gratiâ praeeminens standing in dignity or qualitie let the word gratia helpe to perswade you not in authoritie Yet wee haue principes Apostolorum Paul and Peter nothing so common in your owne mens mouthes yea Cardinal Pole sayes both their Apostleships grewe into one Amborum Apostolatus in vnum coaluit lib. 3. ad Henrie 8. c. So as either no monarchie nowe or of more then one a thing meerely impossible § 4. That you quote out of S. Austen concerning Peter Peter did otherwise then the truth required yea and in so great a point as was Circumcisiō also afterward more plainly in the same num 14. that he erred would you euer write thus if you were well in your wits striuing for Peters primacie to impute errour to him and errour in faith which you know cannot be without the grand perill of the vniuersall Church As S. Gregorie sayes that all fall if vnus vniuersalis fall one in whome are all as you in your Pope euen as the moile stumbling all goes to wracke that the beast caries and the greater the beast the fouler the wrack whether it be gold or siluer or what other fraight foeuer And I pray you what does your primacie serue for vnles it be ioyned with infallibity Yet you forfeit the one here to winne the other § 5. I might likewise aske you what manner of primacy you call that which excuses not the superiour from the iust and lawfull rebuke of his inferiour but so as if S. Peter should haue refused to follow and to obey S. Paul they are your owne words num 16. he should haue done insolently Call you that a primacy specially a Popish one which must be patient of controule liable to the obedience euen of his vnderling if it will avoyd pride § 6. And therefore thought the Bishop in his vsuall modesty say as you note numb 16. videtur mens Cypriano fuisse it seemes Cyprian was of the minde it is not for diffidence Sir but as I told you Videtur and est is all one with the Philosopher saies Zimaras in his Table quoting the Commentor for it And so the Lawyers If there be fraud in videtur it is rather in Bellarmines De Pontif. Rom. l. 1. c. 9. Indicare videtur Apostolus ad Heb. 8. What that the Church triumphant is a patterne of the militant where there may be videtur but no est certenly because there is no such thing in the Apostles text You might rather haue thought of that Luke 22. 24. Quis videretur esse maior where if videretur be not better construed your primacy is but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very fancie § 7. I am ashamed of thus digressing but your dealing forces me I cannot forbeare yet with this I will end concerning Cyprian To your 17. numb whereas the Bishop saies Fundamentum sed non vnicum what more confonant to Scripture not Apoc. 24. as you quote it but 21. v. 14. where there are 12. specified But againe whereas he saies There is caput vnicum and therefore non sequitur à fundamento ad caput what more agreeable to sense For as for that you adde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with a mouth speaking bigge which Anna forbids 1. Sam. 2. 3. that as the 12. to Christ so the eleuen to Peter were enterchangeably subordinate you should shew this written humano stylo either in Scripture or in Father that we might runne and read it But though you sweat your heart out it growes not there Yet you seeme to your selfe wise when you shew the Bishop as well many heads vpon one body as many foundations of one building Videlicet say you the states of Venice so many states so many heads of that commonwealth Which first is harsh in Aristocraty to make euery gouernour a seuerall head more then the Amphisbaena hath the whole company rather and many men if you will but one head Yet this fonder that the Bishop arguing from a materiall house not a metaphoricall and from a naturall bodie not a proportionall to demonstrate what is meet to bee expected in the mysticall you shew him a politicall which is nothing to his demand § 8. NExt of S. Hierome And why might not the Bishop taxe the Cardinall for suppressing S. Hieromes words as well as before S. Cyprians As well say you the one as the other that is iust neither or neither iustly But of Cyprian we haue seene see we now of Hierome Inter duodecim vnus eligitur vt capite constituto schismatis tolleretur occasio Amongst twelue one is chosen that a Head beeing appointed occasion of schisme might be taken away lib. 1. in Iovin But in the same booke saies the Bishop Hierome thus which the Cardinall would take no notice of But thou wilt say that the Church is built vpon Peter
wee shewed before out of S. Austen as well as in Peter the others were included that allowed his confession And truely if it be good arguing from the prerogatiues of Peter and Iohn in Nazianzene the one to be called a rocke another to leane vpon our Sauiours bosome I see not but Iohn excelled Peter herein For his honour was reall Peters verball hitherto though I knowe that Christ makes all good in the ende which he promises Peters doubtfull and subiect to expositions Iohns cleare euident and ocular Peter you say was the first stone in the foundation after Christ but Iohn wee see immediately leaned vpon his breast which breast if it be as certenly it is the foundation of the Church is not this a type who hath the greater interest therein of the twaine But your way should haue beene if you had not been that fumbler to haue argued thus out of our graunts That all the Apostles were the foundations of the Church and Peter had the foundations committed to his charge as Nazianzene saies therefore Peter was made gouernour of the Apostles As if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were any thing but the exegesis of a rocke as I said ordained for building it selfe the foundation and carrying the foundations as you would say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an vsuall scheme Which was the cause that the Bishop medled not with that bile hauing said enough to it in the word Rocke before But suppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made a distinct sense wil you say they were committed to him to bee gouerned Does the earth gouerne the heauens and all because they are in a manner founded vpon it What preposterousnesse is this or what faith is there in him that would so falsifie the very word of faithfulnesse it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I meane in his 8. numb where he deflects it to gouernement all too vnseasonably § 5. As for Chrysostome which is the next neuer any thing so ridiculous as he shewes himselfe there in defending the Cardinall Onely the Cardinall owes him so much the more for doing him seruice in so desperate a cause Tantò plus debes Sexte quòd erubui Homil. in Matth. 55. Cuius pastor caput homo piscator speaking belike of Peter and the Church that is to say whose Pastor and Head a fisherman is Though to be a Pastor of the Church is a small title in S. Peters style For first a pastor is a word of reproach and basenes if we beleeue S. Basil Orat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet transferred to Church-vses it is nothing singular but comprehends whome not both Apostles and others Dedit quosdam pastores Eph. 4. He gaue some to be Pastors and to what ende Not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keepe them right that are once conuerted to the faith but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to gaine them that are without Aquinas so distinguishes them vpon the place which the Papists would make to be the Popes proper care to set men on worke to conuert the infidels and vnbeleeuers But here we see it is common to collegium pastorum to the many pastors not to vnus pastor onely Eccl. 13. or to the master of the assemblies Euen as Demetrianus of Alex. sent Pantaenus into India to conuert the Brachmanes into India Athanasius sent Frumentius Sozom. l. 2. c. 23. Meletius sent Stephanus into Germanicia S. Austen of his owne head writes to the Madaurenses to conuert them from Paganisme Epist 42. Victor Vticensis yields vs another example hereof lib. 1. de persecut Vandal which I will set downe somewhat at large because I am fallen into this argument Martinianus saith he Saturianus and two more brothers of them beeing sold by Gensericus that cruell tyrant tooke Capsur King of Mauritania keeping his Court in that place of the wildernes which is called Caprapicti what by their preaching what by their liuing and yet but lay-folke for so much as appeares by the storie and moreouer sold for bondslaues whereas the Iesuites thinke that pietie can finde no worke to doe in captiuitie but hath her armes and her legges chopt off as Salomon saies in another matter onely exercising her selfe in a pleasurable estate tali modo ingentem multitudinem gentilium barbarorum Christo Domino lucrauerunt so speakes Victor vbi anteà nulla fama Christiani nominis erat divulgata i. gained a great multitude of Gentiles and Barbarians to the Lord Christ where before the Christian name was not heard by fame And all this they effected afore they had helpe from Rome afterward they sought and found there as reason was TVNC DEINDE COGITATVR quid fieret c. So as Rome it selfe did not presently come into their minds for this matter but that other places might haue affoarded the same aide at neede and like enough vsually so they did This Victor But now as I was saying and to returne to the authoritie quoted out of S. Chrysostome Whatsoeuer become of pastour which though we finde not where he quotes it in S. Chrys yet with all our hearts we ascribe to Peter I would he could keepe there God appeared to Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not contending but keeping sheep saies S. Basil where before but the Pope he hath left the one for the other yea and ecclesiae pastor pastour of the Church of the Catholique Church So Clemens makes all Bishops Constitut lib. 6. cap. 14. much more then an Apostle What saies he to caput that Peter is head of the Church which we finde not in the Greeke You shall heare his answer cum riseritis ineptias hominis then thinke as you list for my discourse will soone be at an ende I answer saies he that though they be not now in the Greeke copies which the Bishop hath seene yet it little importeth seeing that the Latin translatour found them as it is most probable in the Greeke copie which he followed and S. Chrysost saies as much in effect both there and in other places Number the absurdities First not now Belike then heretofore they were in Who tooke them out you shall heare his owne guesse num 18. Either the Grecians themselues in the time of their schisme from the Romane Church or perhaps some of our late hereticks who haue taken vpon them TAKEN VPON THEM to print the Greeke in these daies Perhaps saies he so doubtfully he speakes and perhaps neither But if the Printers of these daies haue pickt them out why shew ye not some ancienter copies at least that haue them Not any say you which the Bishop hath seene Hath any then trow that your selfe hath seene or that the Cardinall hath seene or any other If they haue why doe they not name them why not produce them Not onely none hath them that the Bishop hath seene but shew you which of all hath not beene seene by the Bishop that we may beleeue they are yet extant in some other
that the mysticall sense is farre more cleere and euident and therefore that he omitting the literall exposition would expound those places figuratiuely forsooth This is the constancie of these men that as Benhadad for feare and guilty conscience ran from chamber to chamber so they to avoide what makes against them change sense for sense sometime literall for allegoricall then allegoricall for the literall about the words spoken to Peter by our Sauiour The former they thinke they may doe with S. August and avouch him for it there the allegory is the cleerer As for the latter they will not endure that Origen should doe so by any meanes Here all is spoild vnlesse you stick to the Letter And a Chaos a confusion is brought in by vs Lay folk and Clerks Men and Women promiscuously inuading both the keyes and the office no difference left nor signe of difference if we allowe of this Thus he But howsoeuer you rowle and ruffle in your Rhetorique declaiming against the supposed Anarchy of our Church and not discerning which euen Balaam did the beauty of those tents to which you are a professed enemy so thicke is the fogge of your malitious ignorance that stuffes vp your senses I beleeue Sir the keyes are conueighed to the commonalty rather by you then vs and to the worser sexe too not so to be honoured as in your Abbesses to be gouernours in your gossips to be dippers and baptisers and I knowe not what And doubtles you would haue admitted them to be Preachers too by this time if you had not thought it fitter to discharge your men then to licence your Women Neither if Origen extend this to more then Peter must it therefore presently be communicated to all There are Apostles besides Peter there are Pastors besides the Apostles there are the iust and faithfull of all sorts besides diuers that belong to the bodie of the Church in shew It is not necessary we should open so great a gappe as you thinke though wee take Origen litterally Though this I must tell you that Origen in all likelihood would not haue applied it so by allegory vnlesse he had stretched it beyond Peter in the very property For assurance whereof consider his words Si super vnum illum Petrum existimas aedificari totam ecclesiam quid dicturus es de Iohanne filio tonitrui Apostolorum vnoquoque If thou thinkest the whole Church is built onely vpon Peter what wilt thou say of Iohn the sonne of thunder what of euerie one of the Apostles besides It seemes incredible first to Origen that the whole Church should bee built vpon one man onely though it were Peter himselfe Therefore he insists vpon totam Ecclesiam and considerately opposeth vnum illum And makes the one but existimas or si existimas If thou thinkest so saith he by Peter but the other is quid dicturus es how wilt thou answer it how wilt thou defend it against Iohn and against the rest And sure as Origen was of the minde that no Apostle of the Twelue sate out from beeing a foundation of the Church in the sense that Peter was so hee names Iohn you see in particular of whome afterwards you shall see how great opinion he conceiued and how ful of reuerence not inferiour to Peter In the meane while it is euident how he pleades for the Apostles all in generall whom he cannot digest to be denied this priuiledge of supporting the frame equally with Peter For which cause he deales so peremptorily and takes vp his aduersarie as we noted before Si existimas Petrum quid dicturus es de caeteris c. Which differs from his moral collection as you call it which is a great deale more mawdlen where he affirmes by fortasse Fortasse autem quod Petrus respondens dixit c. Perhaps if we say the same that Peter said wee shall be priuiledged like him this is but perhaps Yea the practise of the Church implyes no lesse then we now stand for which Origen there declares towards the ende of his discourse Quoniam ij qui Episcoporum locum sibi vindicant vtuntur eo dicto sicut Petrus claues regni coelorum acceperunt c. Because they that are Bishops take this to themselues euen as Peter and haue receiued the keies of the kingdome of heauen Heare you not euerie Christian now nor predestinate man which is his morall doctrine and offends you so mainly but the Bishops good Sir the Bishops in speciall take this to belong to them and claime the keyes Is not this a signe the keyes were committed to all the Apostles For the communitie of Bishops descendes from all the Apostles If the Keies had been Peters onely onely the Pope should claime them pretending to come of him as now he doth But Origen saith the Bishops doe this in plural Episcopi vtuntur eo dicto sicut Petrus The Bishops make vse of this saying euen as Peter did And they haue receiued the Keies c. § 4. Now when you tell vs that Origen neuer mentions in this place the commission of feeding pasce oues meas though the Bishop brings this place to answer the other by about Summa rerum de ouibus pascendis out of his Commentary vpon Rom. 6. and so the Bishops answer fits not with the obiection You are to know that as the one so the other is to be construed either of Peter or of all If Tibi dabo claues belong to them all and specially if Super te aedificabo ecclesiam meam so doth Pasce oues too by proportion either equall or maioris virtutis as they call it For what so singular and so individuate as Super te aedificabo Sure pasce oues is not so much The one a promise the other a precept and precept is not broken if it extend to many promise either is or is the weaker for it without all doubt And yet Origen himselfe teacheth you as much in this tractate as it were preuenting your obiection when thus he saith towards the middle of it Si dictum hoc commune est caeteris cur non simul omnia velut dicta ad Petrum tamēsunt omnium communia That is If this belong to all though spoken to Peter as he doubts not but it does why not all the rest then though directed to him yet are to be meant of all § 5. Another place you quote out of the same Origen vnquoted by the Cardinall but belike to help him post aciem inclinatam out of Hom. 2. in diuersa Euang. namely that Peter was Vertex which is no more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which before giuen by S. Baesil to the great Athanasius Yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no bare toppe nor no bald vertex as your Popes is at this day Martial hath an Epigram against one that had three sculls and when almes were distributed came for three mens parts Si te viderit Hercules
What then though the same in another place be done vpon all that is the Church is said to be built vpon all the Apostles and all to receiue the Keyes of the kingdome of heauen and the strength of the Church to be equally grounded vpon them all Yet indeede one is chosen among the twelue that a Head beeing appointed occasion of schisme might be cut off Is this no cooling card to the other authoritie For you that tell vs of dice I may doe well to speake to you in a sutable metaphore and not abhorring from your trade As the Philosophers say the braine in a mans bodie tempers the heat of the heart beneath so doe not the words precedent allay the force of these latter which yet the Cardinall onely set before vs For the threefold equalitie which S. Hierome before ascribed to all the Apostles one of their equall interest in the foundation another in the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and the third which is reiterated for deeper impression of bearing the whole strength or stresse of the Church leaues onely now this sense of caput that Peter was chosen to haue such a kind of Headship that is of prioritie among the twelue as should not derogate from paritie and yet exclude schisme or garboyle or confusion Which is the primacie of order that we haue often told you of and you would faine diuert to a primacie of Maiestie I could not answer your fallacie in a directer fashion yet I know you haue replies as that caput in the last place addes great force to super quem fundata est in the first Which we remit to the iudgement of the indifferent Reader whether so many equalities yeelded to the Apostles in the words afore doe not rather force vs to construe caput as hath beene sayd not derogating from the equality of their power in the keyes nor from bearing the groundworke of the Church ioyntly that is as you construe it from beeing gouernours thereof Besides that Caput is onely a borrowed word and signifies primum or the first in that kinde which we grant to Peter with all readines and lastly tempered with such a modest clause to keepe out schisme or disorder onely § 9. You say there is more daunger of schisme nowe then among the twelue For they were confirmed by speciall grace we not so And therefore they were not so likely to runne into schisme for which they should haue a head As though Paul and Barnabas were not running into a schisme a paroxysme at least that is the first grudging of the other ague as though when Peter confirmed his brethren tu confirma Luk. 22. 32. they had the lesse vse of him as their head against a schisme And though the will of God be to confirme some here yet not without meanes neither at first to rectifie them nor afterward to continue them in their good course to the ende Of which meanes this might be one of which S. Hierome speakes Was any man more confirmed then S. Paul rapt into the third heauen c. yet he struggles with his nature least preaching to others he should be a reprobate himselfe So here Besides that this schisme which our Sauiour preuented by appointing an Head as S. Hierome saies might be schisma populorum not Apostolorum and therefore he saies vt occasio schismat is tolleretur that the Christian people seeing who was eminent in the Colledge of the Apostles might not euery one rashly set vp their principall and so fall into schisme § 10. But at least we neede a Head now a daies as much as they As if we haue not our Head in our manifold regiments Dedit quosdam pastores Eph. 4. Obedite praepositis Hebr. 13. Terribilis sicut castrorum acies ordinata and so forth Is there no Head but of an vniuersall Bishop yea theirs was of order onely and to shun confusion ours of power and commands subiection Besides Kings and Princes which God hath giuen to our times as to feede his Church and to giue them milke which very milke is Discipline so to bring home wanderers from the high waies and the hedges to the feast of the great King that 's to suppresse schismes as S. Austen often but namely contra Gaudent l. 1. c. 25. § 11. For where you tell vs that Princes may cause these schismes themselues and so contemning spirituall censure and proceedings must either be hampered with another coerciue power extending to bodies and to estates or els all runne to nothing and the Church be cleane extinguished you bewray your spirit sufficiently and a man may read your drifts in your forehead which at another time you would so faine couer and smooth ouer Sermo tuus indicat te may be our speech to the Pseudo-Peter as was once to the true Doe you thinke then that S. Hierome would giue this leaue to Priests or the Prince of Priests as you would haue him to bind Kings in materiall chaynes and to load their Senators with such iron fetters as no metaphore hath mollified to vse such other violence as commonly goes herewith Though of you I lesse wonder if you giue them iron in their chaynes to whome you haue giuen it in their crownes as Clement to Charles if Platina say true in Clem. 7. But to S. Hierome How then does he construe these words of Dauid Against thee onely haue I sinned to haue been spoken in that sense because Dauid was a King and not to be proceeded against by any temporall punishment or coactiue hand of a mortall man How does he say in his Epistle to Heliodore de obitu Nepotiani that a King rules men against their wills a Bishop no farther then they will themselues They subdue by feare these are giuen vs for seruice and many the like How does Basil vpon the 37. Psalme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he knew his power as he bore his name A King is subiect to no iudge How does Chrysostome professe so often that he can goe no further then words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shepheard though he be yet he may not fling a stone at a wolfe but rate him onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Again in his 2. de Sacerd. c. 2. 3. at large againe in the Homil. which is not extant in Greeke but in Latin onely Cum ageretur de expulsione S. Iohannis Statis omnes non ferro sed fide deuincti Tom. 5. And in Act. Apost hom 3. in Morali the people to the Minister are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not subiect to him or in his hands but hauing their obedience free in their owne power Againe in the same place within a fewe lines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magistrates rule by feare so doe not these viz. the Ministers And yet more frankly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There things are caried by order and by appointment here
spiritualia autem in voluntate non in necessitate sic Principes spirituales Principatus corū in dilectione subditorum debet esse positus non in timore corporali Which last authoritie is cited by Bellarmine lib. 4. c. 21. de Pontif. Rom. you may wonder how he can digest it In English thus For as all carnall matters are subiect to force not to free liking and all spirituall matters to free liking not to force so are also spiritual superiours Their cheifdom or princehood ought to stand in the loue of such as are vnder thē not in their bodily feare c. Which bodily feare the Pope is wholly for driuing his subiects into and without that he is nothing But thus farre the Fathers because I spare the rest § 12. The Scriptures also banish vs from like forcible dealing in more thē one place if we had leisure to produce them The minister must be no striker The seruant of the Lord must be patient and long suffering expecting men till God giue thē a mind to returne home We wrastle not with flesh blood that is with materiall enemies No maruell then if the weapons of our warfare be not carnall nor materiall but spirituall Armastulti pastoris sunt gladius baculus Our commission is in our tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may explaine that by the way We beare no rule ouer your faith that is ouer you the faithfull people of God like vestra Sanctitas limiting his power and preseruing his reuerence to the Christian people both in one Lastly we beseech you in Christs stead be reconciled vnto God Yet with you if there be no coaction all is marred § 13. You say that Bishops in their Courts mulct the purse and sometime imprison the bodies c. Though I thinke you are scarce perfect in this part of your lesson for I haue heard otherwise of a very sufficient Doctor yet suppose it were so This leaue comes of the King strengthning the arme of spirituall censure by that meanes least the prophane and wanton of the world should contemne it Originally there is no such power in a Bishop Will you then retort vpon the King with his owne license or vnnaturally gall him with his owne quils Is not this the way rather to spoile all and to disarme the Church of the royall protection § 14. You say that he which hath command of the soule hath also of the bodie And therefore the spirituall power which is acknowledged to be in the Minister drawes the temporall with it as a consequent Truely I graunt that he which can commaund the soule out of an absolute power it is likely the body is also subiect to him But neither the ministers power commaunds the soule by any forcible impression for as we cannot make one haire white or blacke so no more can we make one soule merrie or sad further then as God shall cooperate with our endeauours and the perswasions that we vse they are directed no lesse to the sauing of the bodie then to the gaining of the soule Both the Magistrate and the Minister deale both with the soule and the bodie But the Magistrate violently applies himselfe to the bodie to reclaime the soule if neede be and the Minister perswasiuely carries himselfe to the soule to the ende the bodie may be made pliant to righteousnesse Rom. 6. The proceeding not the subiect then is that which makes the difference betweene the two powers and howsoeuer your Casuists say a lame-handed man cannot regularly be made a Minister yet that is for Pashurs turning Magor-mishabibs Ier. 20. the kingdome that we send to as it is not built with hands so it requires no violence to conuey thither § 15. If in the nonage of the Church the Apostles were endued with power of punishing men corporally to the ende the Gospel should not be trampled vnderfoote by vnreuenged scornes yet now the Magistrate supplies that place beeing himselfe turned Christian and suppose that should faile and all things revolue to barbarous Heathenisme as in former time which God forbid yet we are to thinke that the like extraordinarie prouidence would still attend the Church but howsoeuer it were no priuate man might be too forward and much lesse a Minister which seemed then so inconuenient that the opposers were deliuered to the deuill to be tormented in defect of Magistrates rather then the Iesuiticall mutinies which F. T. here pleads for should take place § 16. THe substance of your Discourse beeing thus disprooued it were no hard matter to gather vp the spoyles and note certaine scapes of smaller importance In translating the Bishops words numb 22. Quod toties iam nobis seriò inculcat Cardinalis you handle it thus Which the Cardinall doth now so often and earnestly inculcate vnto vs. What thinke you of inculcate first you that muster the tearmes of the Bishop of Lincolnes booke for so hares may plucke dead lyons by the beard though nothing so vncouth as your Rhemish Testament hath Praepuce Sindon to Euangelize the orient c. But to omit that Does the Bishop meane that Bellarmine pleades earnestly in the case or rather maruell that hee is in earnest at all the argument beeing trifling and not worth the naming yet thus you say so often and earnestly as if SO might augment his earnestnes too Did you vnderstand the booke that you tooke in hand to confute And as this is your eloquence so view your conscience numb 27. you say the Bishops haue their proper talent of calumniating Bellarmine Againe calumniate as good a word as inculcate before And if common to both how proper to either yet you say both haue their proper talent Be like not quarto modo But Sir who taught you to call vices talents Is this your reuerence that you beare to Scripture or doe you so confound God with the deuill What remaines but you call grace chaffe and vertue cockle and the rest as your vngodly Rhetorique shall inspire you But well doe you fulfill the measures of your fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the thunder bolts walke not as Nazianzen saies of them that abused S. Basil So Campian in the tower ieasting at his aduersaries for the weakenes of their argument said he could make as good sport about the Incarnation Another I thinke Rastall or but a letters difference at least paints his margent thus Luthers lying with a Nunne in the Lord. What vengeance remaines for such gracelesse companions And are these Diuines and handlers of Gods cause foming out such shame which were intollerable in him that followed the plowtaile Yet you haue vp with the Bishop and Eudaemon before you for his pleasant veyne forsooth in writing You may remember your iolly preface to Parsons Discussion which I touched at before If you had your will you would make vs daunce about another maypole without hose or doublet as
should Peter haue been the rocke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if so precise regard had been had to his faith as to value it with his primacie so much for so much by way of meed and merit as you pretend and yet no Simonists but either all the Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Pet. 2. 1. which are dignifyed with a faith nothing inferiour to ours euen to Peters selfe or the poore woman in the Gospel of whome our Sauiour affirmed O woman great is thy faith or lastly the Centurion Verily I haue not found so great faith in Israel § 9. But in silentio reliquorum while others held their peace and primum cognoscere eloqui illud quod nondum vox humana protulerat that was it that made S. Peters confession so glorious and so remarkeable witnes Hilary witnes diuers more whome I forbeare to name And in that sense he might instly be tearmed a foundation or a prime workman not but that others followed or consented with him and so foundations too Apocal. 21. but his zeale was such he spake first for which hast it is not like he was made cheife gouernour § 10. There remaines S. Maximus and first whether he were that same Bishop of Turin or no. Which the Bishop denyed not as not hasty that way although the case were plainer to be so peremptory it is enough for you to determine magistraliter but left vnder doubt the rather because the Sermons that are attributed to Maximus haue beene printed with S. Ambroses in times past and so vncertaine to whom to be adiudged as in many other fathers it fareth at this day And if your obseruatiō be good which you bring out of Gennadius you see what profit the Bishops doubting hath brought with it I would say praise and commendation to you if it were thought to be your owne which you will hardly perswade them that know you here not to haue dropt out of the Note-booke of some of your good Masters As for the Sermons de tempore not made as the Bishop said in S. August time which you call a scaepe or a not able ouersight of his and you thinke you might call it a flat lie according to the rest of your maydenly modesty you are answered before yea your selfe haue answered your selfe in that point as Siseraes mother did that at least S. August gaue no such titles to his sermons whatsoeuer they did that came after Yet in producing Witnesses is it not reason that you should call them by their proper and right names or else they loose the force of their credite for deposition And this was all that the Bishop made sticke at concerning that point § 11. Now to the authority it selfe the Bishops answer thereto Quanti igitur merits apud Deum suum Petrus which you persist to construe Of how great merit was Peter with his God so hardly are you driuen with the dogge from his licourment as if Peters merit had beene to rowe the boat and his reward to be made the gouernour of the world whereas the indifferent translator would rather haue construed it thus Of how great interest or how great account therefore was Peter with his God antecedens pro consequente which your Rhetorique cannot be ignorant of that quote Quintilian afterward about the trope Catachresis who after the rowing of a little boate had the gouernement of the whole Church committed to him Thus Maximus And the more to blame you then as the Bishop well answers you to assigne him the gouernment of a particular Church Peter I meane so in effect to rob him of the Vniuersall For we deny not but that both he and his fellow Apostles had the whole Church committed to their care ioyntly and seuerally without any limitation And surely Maximus his words import no more As for that the Bishop saies that Y O V haue giuen him the gouernment of a particular Church after the gouernment of the whole haue not You I pray giuen it him in that You allow it him that You stand for it to be his against them that make question of it Will you neuer leaue this dissembling of your skill to take all things in so wrong a sense and by the left handle as Epictetus calls it Isay You haue giuen it him Not wee but Christ you will say You meane perhaps of his Vniuersall gouernment of the whole Church which in a sense we grant you as common to the rest and not to be transmitted to posterity In your sense you are as farre from euicting any such thing for ought I see as if you had neuer gone about it that he should be the ordinary pastor onely and the rest the extraordinaries But to the particular Church of Rome you will not say your selues that Christ designed him no more then to Antioch which he abandoned after possession but rather his owne choice if not your fiction For you haue giuen him leaue to sleet and to chop and to fixe his seate else where then at Rome when so seemes good Only piè wee must beleeue that hee will not doe so in hast Howbeit if wee should deny that he was euer at Rome as some haue bin mooued by no weak grounds to do as both collections out of Scripture and supputations of the time when he should arriue there yet your argument is strange whereby you would approoue it here in your num 15. where you say it is demonstrated and as it were proclaimed by the continuall successions of Bishops in that Sea to this very day Call you this a demonstration of Peters being at Rome that Bishops neuer failed in that Sea to this day ergò S. Peter was the first that sate there Though againe it were no hard matter to disprooue the continuance of your Bishops in that Sea euen at sundry seasons if it were pertinent to this place But howsoeuer that be you ought to bring a more colourable argument of Peters sitting there as I take it For of many that I haue heard this is simply the simplest Neither is that much better which you vaunt farre more in if it be possible writing thus in the same numb And withall he addes a strange Parenthesis quasi ea totius pars non esset as though the same particular Church of Rome were not a part of the whole As who would say that S. Peter could not be gouernour both of the whole Church and of a particular Church Wherein he argueth as wisely as if he should say that a Bishop of Ely could not be gouernour of the particular Church of Ely and of the whole Diocese or that a Bishop of Canterbury could not be gouernour of that Bishopricke and primate of England or that a generall of an army could not gouerne a particular company and yet be generall of the whole army And here though you would seeme to haue triumphed ouer the Bishop in your impregnable
semper quod filius postulat That suite hath euermore easie speeding which the sonne makes Christ to wit Neither does S. Ambrose mention without cause the sitting of Christ at the right hand of his Father to whet his mediation Which S. Paul had mentioned for the very same cause in the place that hee comments vpon Rom. 8. 34. And indeed but to Christ it was neuer said to any Sede à dexteris meis sit on my right hand Hebr. 1. 13. Which by collation of places shewes that there is none other intercessor for vs but he Lastly thus S. Ambrose Vt de Deo patre securi Christo filio eius in eorum fide laetemur That beeing confident of God the Father and Christ his Sonne we may reioyce in the faith that we haue in them So as you see faith and aduocation goes onely still with Christ not with the Saints § 21. NExt is Ruffinus lib. 2. historiae c. 33. who sayes not that Theodosius did inuoke the Saints but as the Bishop answered you and you cannot take away that at the tombes of Martyrs he craued helpe of God by the Saints intercossion Which although it suppose their suing for vs yet it is not coupled with our praying to them What you bring out of Chrysostome who names not Theodosius much lesse points at this fact of his as you dreame both here and numb 50. but onely speakes vniuersally of the Emperours hath been replyed to before We dresse no Crambe Hee names Constantine And if he meant Theodosius why does he not name him But whomsoeuer he meanes they may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 need the holy ones suppose the Angels and yet not pray to them nor to Saints neither and yet whether they doe or no it makes no lawe Heare S. Cyprian orat de lapsis Mandant aliquid Martyres fieri Sed si scripta non sunt in Domini lege quae mandant antè est vt sciamus illos de Deo impetrâsse quod postulant tunc facere quod mandant That is Doe the Martyrs commaund a thing to be done But if that which they commaund be not written in Gods lawe it is reason we should first know that God allowes what they aske before we doe what they command So as not onely the actions of mortall men though neuer so godly but the commands of Martyrs appearing from heauen must be examined by the law of God ere they may be accomplished by S. Cypr. iudgement Antè est vt sciamus c. Yet you back it by Sozomen lib. 7. histor cap. 24. out of whom that which you bring is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Sozomene it is said or reported though you amplifie it by commonly reported Well what is it First you leaue out Theodosius his going into the Church to pray to God and to none else that he names in that part of the sentence This you dissemble and leaue out as not concerning the matter though nothing more who charge the Bishop so causlesly and sencelesly else where for the same fault yea when it is no fault Secondly as for the Temple which Theodosius built in the honor of S. I. Baptist we might aske you how that agrees with S. Austens Templum Martyribus non ponimus You will say it was called by the Baptists name onely and in memory of him So it may be he but named or remembred the Baptist in his prayer as he had good occasion conuersing in the Church that might put him in minde of him You haue both built Churches and offered sacrifice though you cloake it neuer so much to him and to Martyrs contrary to S. Austen For doe you not offer sacrifice in the honour of the Virgin You will not deny it How then does this differ from the Collyridian heresie To omit howe much more hainous a matter it is to offer Christ our Lord in honour of his Mother then a cake as they The like I might say of vowes which you make to Saints by way of special honour which the aforesaid Valentia seeking fowre wayes to iustifie is most fowle in all One time he saies that the Saints are called for witnesses of what we vow to God A small prerogatiue and yet more then need too euen this Another time that wee vowe to God indeed but for loue to the Saints As if God were not louely enough or had not right enough to our vowes but for the Saints sake A third time that we doe this because we thinke the Saints are well pleased with such seruice when it is performed to God But by this reason we may as well vowe to Saints in earth and in mortalitie Lastly ' he denies it to be an act of relligion if it be done to the Saints of which hereafter As for Theodosius his calling S. Iohn Baptist to be his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it might be materialiter that the pietie which hee had shewed in decking the Temple with the name of the Baptist for distinction sake might bee mentioned by him to God to mooue him to fauour as Ezechias and Nehemias and diuerse more haue done the like And yet not trusting in their owne righteousnesse neither but by some proportion of their indeauour and his good acceptance In this sense S. Iohn Baptist might be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as our workes are saide to pray for vs vitalis oratio Bellarmine acknowledges another that eleemosyna orabit pro te so this an imploration of S. Iohn Baptist renuing the memorie of the Temple that bore his name before God in his prayer The starres are said to fight against Sisera Heauen is called to reioyce ouer Babylon So all the Saints out of their brotherly sympathie are our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at all times vocati nec vocati and yet when wee call for them we may call for them of God without praying to them Ille educit thesauros ex abyssis This therefore though there were no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prooues no praying to Saints Whereas you say that if we pray to S. Iohn Baptist why not to others We make no question but the reason is alike but you haue heard our answer to Sozomens storie which at another time no man disclaimes more then your selues Sozomenus multa mentitur in historia Greg. de Val Tom. 4. Comm. Theol. p. 1952. The like iudgement giues Bellarmine both of him and Socrates T. 2. edit Ingolstad anni 1605. p. 487. and remember I pray you that he saies Theodosius went in to pray to God so as if he prayed to the Baptist it was besides his purpose § 22. The Bishops reasons against prayer to Saints because we haue no such warrant in the holy Scripture and we know not if they heare vs or no c. how doe you refute The Church of God say you the spouse of Christ the pillar of truth hath done it before vs with whome our Sauiour hath promised to be
you did our forefathers while your power lasted Thanks be vnto God that hath shortned those dayes abridged your malice Yet Elias confounded Baals priests with a ieast and S. Chrysostome commenting vpon the 140. Psal bids vs make much of the frumpes of the godly which is your fault to haue profited no more by the Bishops kinde reproofes Yet in all the passages of that Reuerend man there is no one word contumelious to pietie or disgracefull to relligion or preiudiciall to grauity and good manners Whereas Sir Thomas More the champion for your Clergie as it were vicarius in spiritualibus he was such a buckler to the Bishops as Stapleton saies the common voyce was in those dayes yet he I say vndertaking the Churches cause wrote a booke so gamesome and so idly idle that dissembling his owne name he was faine to father it vpon Gulielmus Rossaeus a title that one of your fellowes hath taken vpon him of late to shroud his virulences vnder as he did his vanityes and lastly the great Philosopher kept a foole at home as the same Stapleton records to make him merry no doubt though his wit was able to prouoke laughter in others as full often it did And if More be of no more authority with you you may looke backe to your owne Cardinall that dry Child that sage Sobrino yet he excuses himselfe in one place of his controuersies a worke a man would thinke that did not fit so with mirth Ignoscat Lector quòd temridiculè Tilemannum exceperim Let the Reader pardon me for beeing so merrie or so pleasant with Tilemanne This he Yet because you haue descried such a veine in the Bishop as you thinke at least might you not haue answered your selfe touching that which you obiect to him here about Iouinian that it sauoured but of Ironie For what more fit to be hit in your teeth who euery where crake to vs of Iouinians heresies then when you bring that in earnest to countenance your Poperie which S. Hierome puts vpon Iouinian by supposall At dices tu Iouiniane scilicet Though the Bishop doth not challenge him for such an absolute Iouinianist but onely saies Probè in to secutus Iouinianum the Cardinall therein following Iouinian very handsomely Which words are enough to dissolue your cauill that the Bishop should lay absolute Iouinianisme to his charge which you say surpasses all impudencie Such a rustique you are an arrant clowne not discerning what is ieast and what is earnest Howbeit it will be hard for you to prooue Iouinian to haue beene an hereticke Epiphanius and Philastrius doe not recken him among the catalogue and they that may conclude him to haue held a falshood will finde some a doe to condemne him for an hereticks Neither is the meaning of that word by all agreed vpon neither doe all take it in euery place alike Yet because this scandall rests vpon Iouinian for the most part you may be pleased to remember Sir out of S. Austen what other monsters Iouinian fostered and therein if you thinke good compare his doctrine with ours As that all sinnes are in like degree heinous which is the Stoicall paradoxe no way cleauing to vs though you slaunder vs so vniustly for not holding veniall sinnes which Roffensis himselfe held not That fasting and abstinence profits nothing Can you charge vs with any such impietie That the regenerate man cannot sinne after baptisme wherein he comes neerer to you then to vs. As for your merits you may keepe them the badges of your insolencie and in you Sir of your ignorance not to know what merit meanes all this while Yet beware how you magnifie the Virgin against the married least the Councell of Gangra condemne you not for an hereticke now but a cursed hereticke Can. 20. giuing you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if you doe but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though you condemne not marriage if you but swell out of the conceit of your single life And so Minutius Foelix most diuinely Inuiolati corporis virginitate fruimur potiùs quà m gloriamur After that he had said Vnius matrimonij vinculo libenter inhaeremus S. Chrysostome goes further If the perfection of Monkerie it selfe may not stand with marriage all is spoil'd See Comm. in ad Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in ipso fine And why should Virginitie then be exalted aboue marriage if the perfection of the strictest Monks themselues be compatible therewith And he closes his discourse with that diuine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pindar saies should be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a iunket alwaies in the ende of a feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Vse marriage moderately and thou shalt be the very first in the kingdome of heauen Indeede therefore all the Saints are lodged in Abrahams bosome in the married mans bosome as the same Father cannot denie lib. de Virg. in extremo Once the Trinitie in his tent and now the Saints in his bosome Yet still the married man and not the worse for his marriage As for the rewards of the faithfull that they are not equall in the heauen that we looke for and that the sacred Virgin suffered no decay of her maidenly honour by the stainlesse and immaculate birth of our Sauiour let Iouinian thinke what he will though S. Hierome neuer imputes this latter to Iouinian in the 2. books that he wrote against him yet not onely you but troupes in the English Church so teach And would the time giue leaue is there not a Montane and a Tatian to make you blush for your abhominable heresies about meates and marriages as well as you haue a Iouinian to twitt vs withall But because I now onely assoyle the Bishop from your wicked slaunders it is well his integritie hath so acquitted him without me that your selfe dare not speake of him but with It may be and Except such a hooke his fame hath put in your nostrills who onely in this may be resembled to Iouinian to Paphnutius rather that in single life he defends the libertie of other folkes marriages But hast we to an ende § 17. To the other places of S. Hierome as Matth. 16. which in great good will you aduise the Bishop to read ouer forsooth what saith S. Hierome there That our Sauiours dicere is facere his saying is doing therefore calling Peter a rocke he made him so But I hope good Sir as doing and saying went together in our Lord so both of them in his owne meaning not in your mistaking What is this then to prooue Peters Monarchie or smaller regencie either if such could content you And if it could yet it were hard I say to boult it out of this place of S. Hierome where no syllable of authoritie or power once appearing for explanation sake as reason was if you meant to speede he saies onely that Peter for beleeuing in the rocke our Sauiour bespake him and yet not properly but in
is first very insolent for I beginne with your later that faith should be a meritour at Gods hands or a meritresse if you will haue it so I pray correct me if I speake amisse for you see whether your absurdities lead me wheras Charity not faith is the fons meriti the actuall deseruer by condignity at least as your selues hold for ex longinquo is another thing and expraeuiâ dispositione c. Where in truth you are so dazeled about this merit of Peters that you say you know not what ascribing that to his charity which is more proper to his faith and againe that to his faith which belongs to his charitie To be cheife in feeding you ascribe to his Loue to Amas me plus his Which is true in our Sauiours sense for exciting his care not in yours to inuest him in the supreame iurisdiction which rather requires the priuiledge of freedome from errour And here his deseruing to be the rock or the principall for bearing sway you impute it to his faith which is too yong to be a deseruer if it be not otherwise accommodated euen by your own doctrine This is one absurdity therefore Secondly that he should merit to be the rocke of the Church whereas a man canot merit that is not first in the Church as yourselues will not deny and so presupposeth the foundation is laid But in no sort can one merit to be the foundation thereof himselfe As S. August often shewes that the Redeemer of the world did not merit the coniunction of his flesh with the deity but beeing inuested once therewith then merited for vs and wrought saluation Whom although we should grant to haue merited to be the foundation of the Church the Iudge of the world c. yet you are not ignorant how it is held by your owne diuines namely per titulum secundarium hauing right to it before out of the worth of his hypostasis which in S. Peter is nothing so But especially if you will take to that of Maximus whom you quote a little after that S. Peter for rowing in a frigot or small boate was made Master and gouernour of the Vniuersall Church for what merit could there be of that in this And suppose that there is an orderly promotion among shipmen from the Lower roomes to the higher till they be Pilots and Admiralls c. or in like sort that the good Deacon gets himself a faire degree as S. Paul speaks to be made Priest Priest a Bishop Bishop a metropolitan c. yet you speake of a promotion in diuersissimo genere which is too too vncouth that S. Peter for steering his materiall vessell at the sea should be preferred to sit in the highest place of the Church and congregation of God Thirdly if this were true that you auouch of his merits S. Peter should not only haue merited for himselfe but for as many monsters miscreants as euer sate after him in that sea Which you doe well to shroud vnder the merits of S. Peter least they appeare too too vgly naked in themselues sauing that pallium breue as the Prophet Esay speaks their couering is too short and non est satis nobis vobis Matth. 25. What For them that beleeue not for them that apprehend not that concurre not in the least sort yea for them that were not borne when S. Peter liued could S. Peter merit As for Hildebrands dictates they are no gospel His words are neither slanders whē they are directed against vs nor testimonies of any force when they are produced for you And will you allowe no qualification of S. Hilaries word Whereas they that haue but tasted the auncient writers know that to merite is to obtaine and procure though by grace and fauour and no further to be vrged He attained then saith S. Hilary a supereminent glory Which glory may be in many things beside his primacie as the Bishop answered you of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Basils authority and calling it gloriam it seemes he rather points to our Sauiours approbation then to any reall preferment collated vpon Peter Gloria is in fame in predication and report as euen Tully will teach you Orat. pro Marcello which is nothing to office and to installment § 7. As for the coupling of S. Peters person with his faith his faith with his person which is the second point of the twaine about which you sweat and trauell sore casting vp mole-hils and mustering your Metaphysicks long vnskoured the Bishop neuer dreamt as you fantastically imagine that S. Hilary should giue this to a fleeting shadow or to faith without a subiect like your Accidents in the Eucharist which you welcome as well as S. Iames his hoste doth his guests that biddes them warme themselues without a fire feede without victualls and so you them to sit down without a chaire or a stoole Not so But if faith be the proper foundation of the Church as S. Hilary implies by his fiue-fold repetition Haec fides haec fides c. then was Peter in behalfe of his faith onely pronounced by our Sauiour the foundation of the Church Which is another thing then to be preferred for the merit of his faith to be the Churches foundation as you fondly dreame For so it might fall out that he should still remaine the foundation of the Church though he had cast of his faith wherewith he beganne which will not stand with S. Hylaries conceit of it and accordingly none other are at any time to bee reckoned the foundations of the Church but they that shall tread in the steps of faithfull Peter howsoeuer otherwise they may come neere him in calling For where is more promised to Peters successors by vertue of meere succession then to Abrahams children Rom. 4. Nay the adoptiue branch may not challenge so much to it selfe as the naturall Rom. 11. Succession saith Greg. Nazianzen is oft-times between contraries Sickenesse succeeds health night succeeds day so an vnworthy Bishop succeeds a worthy as Nazianzen instanceth So your Popes may Peter Irenaeus saith warily that we must obey those Priests in the Church of God which deriuing their succession from the Apostles together with their succession in Office haue receiued the certain gift of truth lib. 4. cap. 43. § 8. By this also the other places of S. Hilary are declared where he proceeds to call Peter the foundation of the Church as you expound them his person I graunt if ought at all as the Bishop also meant not a qualitie without a subiect which is your chimaera but in respect of his vertue not of his authoritie singular And as all the faithfull may come more or lesse neere to Peters faith so they haue all more or lesse a part in this prerogatiue as you heard lately out of Origen yet still without disturbing the Churches aray Neither perhaps