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A20660 A disproufe of M. Novvelles reproufe. By Thomas Dorman Bachiler of Diuinitie Dorman, Thomas, d. 1577? 1565 (1565) STC 7061; ESTC S116516 309,456 442

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disposuit Hoc erant vtique caeteri apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis SED EXORDIVM AB VNITATE PROFICISCITVR VT ECCLESIA VNA MONSTRETVR That is to saye And although oure Lorde gaue like power to all his apostles after his resurrection and saide As my father sent me so sende I you Take you the holie ghost whose synnes you forgiue they are forgiuen whose sinnes you reteine they are reteined yeat to set furthe vnitie he disposed by his auctoritie the same vnitie to beginne of one That were trulie the other apostles also that Peter was indued with like felowship of honour and power but the beginning commeth from vnitie that the churche maie be declared to be one These be the wordes of S. Ciprian faithfullie alleaged and trulie englished I will now repeate the matter euen from the beginning and doe you good Readers to vnderstande the cause why S. Cypriā mentioneth here at all S. Peter and why he entreth in to this comparison betwene him and the other apostles and then after make you priuey to the misteries of M. Nowelles sleight in alleaging this place which he perhappes thinketh that no man knoweth but him selfe and woulde I dare saie be lothe that anie mo shoulde For the first it is to be vnderstande that not manie lines before this place that I haue nowe in hande S. Cyprian complaining of the fraude and subtilite of oure enemie the diuel saith that now that idolles be euerie where destroied he hath bethought him of a newe waie to deceiue mankinde and that is by heresies and schismes to carie them oute of the churche And this commeth to passe saieth he while men come not to the beginning of truthe the heade is not sought out neither the doctrine off oure heauenly maister kepte which thinges if a man woulde considre and examine there woulde nede no long discourse nor greate argumentes The truthe hath made the way to proue the faithe easy Oure Lorde saieth to Peter and vpon this rocke will I builde Math. 18. my churche c. And after his resurrection he saieth to him feede my shepe And although after his resurrection he gaue all his apostles like power and so furthe as I rehersed before After all this he addeth Hanc ecclesiae vnitatem qui non tenet tenere se fidem credit This vnitie of the churche he that holdeth not thinketh he that he holdeth the faith Thus farre S. Cipriā The occasion you see that moued him to mention Peter Note and to compare him with the other apostles was because to auoide schismes we must he said seke out vnitie by the scripture where we shoulde finde that our lord woulde haue his churche to begin of one of him to whome he saide thow art Petre and vpon this rocke will I builde my churche Well then must this be reteined as a truthe in the meane season if we will be within the vnitie of the churche we must kepe vs in that churche which beginning and springing out of one roote or flowing out of one heade founteine for these be also in this place S. Cyprians similitudes is one Now let vs applye the place as it is alleaged by you M. Nowell and see whether you haue vsed S. Cyprian wel or no. You alleage the place to proue such an equalitie emongest th' apostles as that there should be no difference emongest thē and so ouerthrowe all S. Cyprians drift whereby he woulde proue the churche to be one because it taketh beginninge of one For if they be all equall and no difference betwene them then either the churche hathe no one beginning or 12. beginninges If no one beginning howe can the vnitie procede of that which is not if 12 how can the churche be therefore one because as S. Cyprian saieth the vnitie thereof beginneth of one or what beginning call yow that of vnitie that commeth from suche an equall multiplicitie If therefore it be builded vpon one alone as by S. Cyprian it appeareth that it must then is that one aboue the rest Nowe to haue the churche builded vpon one is thus muche to saye that as in a materiall building there is one foundation whereupon all the rest thereof stone tymbre Iron and what so euer elles leaneth so there is in the churche one to whome after Christe the great rocke and firste grounde all the rest that be membres thereof muste as it were leane he him selfe bearing the burdē of the whole building Is not this to be the chiefe stone in Gods building If you shoulde here perhappes wrangle and saye that although it appeare by this place that Christe disposed the beginning of vnitie to procede from one and from Peter toe that yeat here is no mention that the churche shoulde be builded vpon him notwistanding that Christe speaking off Peter saide he woulde builde it vpon that rocke then I remit you for the proufe that S. Cipriāmeaneth so here to those places of his lib. 1. epist 3. epist 8. 12. lib. 4. epist 9. lib. de habit Virgin lib. de bono pati epist ad I ubaianum And last of all to the epistle ad Quintum where he hath in expresse wordes against this equalitie that you dreame of Petrus quem Dominus primum elegit super quē aedificauit ecclesiā suam Peter whome oure Lord chose to be the chiefe and vpon whom he builded his churche This because yow sawe M. Nowell M. Nowell shamefully misuseth S. Cypriā that the verie wordes of S. Cyprian in this place did purport and that alleaged wholly they were to vnequall to serue your fantasied equalitie you first hewed of this knot Et quamuis and although Then you shaued cleane awaye tamen vt vnitatem manifestaret yeat that he might make vnitie manifest vnto this place Hoc erant vtique And yeat that sentence escaped not youre fingers for the last parte thereof Sed exordium but the beginning procedeth from vnitie you pared cleane awaye First the worde Quamuis althoughe is of suche a nature that where so euer it be put it is a messenger that signifieth some diuersitie like to followe as when S. Cyprian saide here although the Apostles were equall that which foloweth yeat he disposed the beginning off vnitie to begin of one argueth in that point some inequalitye Againe the wordes that folowe tamen vt vnitatem manifestaret yeat that he might make vnitie knowen and vt ecclesia vna monstretur that the churche may be shewed to be one These you passed ouer because in them lyeth the very cause why oure Sauioure hath appointed one to be aboue the rest for vnities sake because otherwise it coulde not haue bene chosen but so manie rulers so manie faithes and then where had vnitie bene Beside this the worde ab vno incipientem beginning of one lefte also quite oute ouerthroweth that false proposition of youres that to vnite the churche and make it one in earthe
sense for absolute nede I saie that he hath no more suche nede to haue anie in his place ouer euerie particuler church then ouer the whole For as well is he present where two or thre be gathered together Matth. 18. in his name and therefore withe euerie particuler churche or diocesse as withe the whole To the seconde point that Christ will haue no suche heade vicair the contrary whereof you saie I shall neuer be hable to proue by the holie scripture I answere that if you will stande to the interpretation of Christes churche and the learned writers of the same vpon suche places as I shall bring I shall be able to proue it Christe saide to Peter And I saie to the that thow art Peter and vpon this rocke will I builde my churche Here is Matth. 16. scripture Chrysostome sayethe that by these wordes Homil. 55. in Matth. Christe made Peter the shepherd of his church and a little after expounding these wordes And what so euer thow shalt binde vpon earthe that he made him the shepherd and heade thereof And vpon that as a moste sure grounde and confessed truth he disputeth against the Arrians and proueth Note that Christe who gaue suche preeminence to Peter was not inferiour to his father He compareth also Hieremias and S. Peter together To Hieremias saieth he God Hierem. 1. the Father saide lyke an iron piller and like a brasen wall haue I put the. But Hieremias the father placed but ouer one nation Peter Christe placed ouer all the whole worlde Christe Ioan. vlt. saide to the same Peter Feede my lambes feede my lambes Feede my sheepe His sheepe were the Apostles His whole flocke consisted of Lambes and sheepe He committed therefore to his charge young and olde strong and weake He excepted none not the Apostles them selues We haue here that Christe gaue the charge euen of his Apostles to Peter We finde elles where that he bad him cōfirme his brethern Lucae 22. Showe you one place in the scripture where any other had lyke preeminence or where this was taken awaye and then you maye saye that Christe will haue no suche heade vicair Chrysostome vpon this latter place sayeth Si amas me fratrum curam suscipias If thou loue me Peter take vppon the the charge of thy brethren And in an other place Lib. 2. de sacerdotio because you shall not wrangle and saye that this auctoritye died with Peter he hathe that he committed the same to his successours also S. Augustine expounding this place of S. Iohn hathe these wordes Dicit Dominus Petro in quo vno Sermo de verb. dom 49. format ecclesiam c. Pasce oues meas Oure Lorde saieth to Peter in whom alone he fasshioneth and frameth his churche feede my sheepe What other fasshioning or framing can you here vnderstande of Christes churche then that there shoulde be one heade for euer after as he drewe the plat thereof in making Peter heade of all What other fasshioning then that where of S. Cyprian as you hearde before Lib. de vnitat ecclesiae speketh when he sayeth that oure Lorde disposed the beginning of the vnitye of his church to procede from one And thus muche for this time maye suffice for this se conde pointe Of impos sibilitie The thirde hathe bene often times answered before That the groundes whereon the Swenckfeldians leane fol. 82. a. to bannishe all Scripture and those that the heretikes vse to spoile vs of one vniuersall heade ouer Christes churche are like and that M. Nowell in handling this argument hath vsed many shameful shiftes The 24. Chapter IN THE handling of this matter of Swenckfeldius I haue obserued that you haue diuided M. Nowell the whole processe in to three partes In the firste you purge youre selfe and youre companions of that whiche you saye I charge you with all of agreeing with the Swenckfeldians in their opinion in the seconde you shewe wherein I compare you together in the thirde you compare vs with Suenckfeldius and his In the prosecuting of these pointes you shewe right well that Nowell will be Nowell as well as Geta wil be Geta as if the reader vnderstand not I trust he shall ere it be long To the firste I answere that I neuer burdened you with the selfe same heresie that Suencfeldius helde but onely tolde you that by harping to muche on this string Christ is euer present with his churche therefore there nedeth no man to succede him in the whole yow might comme as neare hys heresie as he that you charged therewith was farre from it The laboure therefore that you toke the incke and paper that you spent to purge youre selfe in this pointe was superfluouse and might well haue bene spared And so would you I thinke also haue done had you not thought that it shoulde helpe youre cause not a little to persuade the reader off me that I were an euill tongued man and that I toke no conscience to scalundre and sowe vntrue reportes of suche good men as yowe be And therefore you conclude thus Wherefore M. Dorman you haue done nothing elles but bewrayed Nowell fol. 82. a. 19. youre moste maliciouse blindenesse in saing that it is no other thing that the Huguenots and heretikes doe and that we do leane and rest vpon the selfe same reasons and groundes as dyd Swenckfeldius Lo good reader marke here I beseche the the vnhonest Dorman dealing of M. Nowell Whereas I saye that the heretikes in that argument of theirs Christ is euer present with his church c. doe no other thing then leane and reste vpon the same groundes for the banishing of the heade of Christes churche on whiche the Swencfeldians doe for the abolishing of the scripture in steppeth M. Nowell that true dealing M. Mowell altereth my wordes to saue him selfe from ●heng man and here in his conclusion diuideth my wordes and for this one thing that theye doe no other then leane vpon the same groundes maketh me to saye two thinges Firste that the Huguenots and heretikes doe no other then the Sweckfeldians and that they do leane and rest vpon the same groundes that Swenckfeldius did Is it all one M. Nowel to saie yo doe no other then Arrius did and you leane to the same groundes that Arrius did Against transsubstantiation yow vse the same grounde that the Arrians did against the word Homousion for thei beleued it not because they saide it was not expressed in scripture and yow beleue not the doctrine of transsubstantiation for the same cause yeat is it not true that you doe no other thē they in al thinges because yow doe the same that they doe in one thing You re railing talcke and slaunderouse reportes in calling my doinges doltishe my heade foolishe c. because fo 83. b. 14 they be the floures of youre rhetorike strowed here to beautifie this first pointe and
addeth a cause whiche is Nowell fol. 107. a 10. the pyth of the matter saing thus Super illam petram aedificatem ecclesiam scio I knowe that vpon that rocke Peters chaire the churche is builded which is the cause why S. Hierome ioyned with Damasus will he saye Will you see what a perilouse brained man M. Nowell is Dorman He hathe readen my answere allready and can tell what it shall be before I vtter it the seconde time But you must giue him leaue sometimes to scoure his Rhetorike lest it wax rustye and therfore here vpon a brauery he setteth a lusty countenance vpon the matter and that which he knoweth can not be passed ouer in silence because it hathe bene moued allready he will so bring furthe the seconde time as though suche a pore catholike as I am had not had suche an obiection in store without I had first receiued it by his liberalitie euen as it were in the waye of all moise Yeat this I can not but mislike that as sone as he had giuen it it semeth that he wished that he had kepte it in his purse still for it foloweth But he maye be ashamed had he anie shame at all thus shamefully Nowell 14. by a false Parenthesis to intremingle these wordes Peters chaire in this sentence of S. Hierome and so to falsifie it as though S. Hierome had saide or ment in this place that the popes chaire is the rocke whereon the church is builded Well these be but wordes M. Nowell how proue yow Dorman that this is a false Parenthesis that S. Hierome ment not that the popes chaire as it is S. Peters chaire is the rocke whereō the churche is builded You re reasons to proue it folowe after that you haue charged me withe mangling of the sentence of S. Hierome in this wise For he did see that S. Hierome admonishing Damasus of humilitie Nowell b. 20. and withall professing him selfe to folowe no chiefe or heade but Christe not excepting Damasus case but rather affirming him not to be primum the chiefe maketh cleerely with vs who in this controuersie of the popes vsurped supremacy saie the same c. furthermore he did see that the wordes of S. Hierome folowing vpon this rocke I knowe the churche to be builded might and ought to be referred to Christe mentioned fol. 108. a. 1. by S. Hierome so nere before and by Petre confessed to be that rocke whereon the churche is builded and therefore M. Dorman left out of S. Hieromes sentence the mention of Christe that he might moste falsely and blasphemously refer the rocke to Peters chaire as though Peters rotten chaire or ruinouse Rome were the rocke whereon the churche of oure Sauioure Christe is builded You re proufes that this Parenthesis is false conteined Dorman in these wordes are two First because Hierome professed him selfe to folowe no chiefe or heade but Christe not excepting Damasus nexte because these wordes Vpon this rocke I knowe the churche to be builded ought to be referred to Christe c. as before To the firste I answere that you haue M. Nowell falsifieth S. Hierome in translating not delt honestlie and sincerely in translating the wordes nullum primum no chiefe or heade as though S. Hierome had bene of that opinion that he woulde professe him selfe to folow no other heade in earthe vnder Christe whiche if it had bene so howe agreeth this with youre owne He is contrary to him selfe wordes in this place that Damasus was S. Hieromes owne bishoppe If he were his bishop he was his chiefe or heade If he were his heade you will not I trust make him to mende youre owne cause a rebelliouse membre One of these two will folowe that either S. Hierome if youre translation were true condemneth all heades in earthe but onelye Christe or that he will obeye them as far as he list him selfe Is not this sincere handling trowe you of the fathers writinges Is not this wholesom doctrine that you woulde make them to be patrones of But I praie you that translate this worde nullum primum so diuersly three maner of waies in little more then the cōpasse of one leafe first interpreting it no chiefe or heade fol. 107. b. 5. lyne then in the same side 15. no chiefe heade Last of all fol. 108. b. 21. no heade tel vs when you write nexte to whiche of these interpretations you will stande For the second interpretation a man might graunte to you and without preiudice to vs or gaine to you For it is true in dede that in respecte of Christ there is no absolute chiefe heade but he the pope is but chiefe and supreme heade nexte vnder Christe Although this were not in this place the meaning of S. Hierome but only to signifie that nexte after Christe he ioyned him selfe to Peters chaire and that he folowed nullum primum nisi Christum none first but Christ as muche to saie as Christ first and Damasus of all other next after Youre nexte proufe that the worde rocke shoulde be referred to Christe and not to Peters chaire because Christe is mentioned so nere before and by Petre confessed to be that rocke whereon the churche is builded leaneth to a verie fickle and weake grounde and maketh me to thinke that at the leaste you nodded M. Nowell if you slepte not downe right when you wrote this For if you take the boke waking into youre hande once againe you shall I dare M. Nowell ouer throwen by his owne reason assure you finde that the worde Peters chaire is nearer to the worde rocke then is Christe so that by youre owne argument and reason it foloweth that the worde rocke shoulde be referred to Peters chaire placed so neare before Whereas you saye that Petre confessed Christe to be that rocke whereon the churche is builded where hathe Petre those wordes Note the place in youre nexte writing elles will it be thought that you make and coine scripture at your pleasure We denye not notwithstanding but that Christe is the rocke whereon the churche is builded although in Sainte Petre those words be not so to be found Yeat foloweth it not that therefore Peters chaire or Petre for bothe is here taken for one is not also the rocke whereon it is builded For Christe is Fundamentum primum maximum the chiefe and greatest fundation as witnesseth S. Augustine reconciling together these places of the scripture no man can In psalm 86. 1. Cor 3. Ephes 2. laye an other fundation then that which is layed which is Christe Iesus and this Builded vpon the fundation of the Apostles and prophetes and Petre is also a foundation nexte after Christe As to make the matter plaine by example if a man woulde builde a house vpon a rocke that rocke were the How Christ is the rocke and howe Peter chiefe and principall foundation for it hathe soliditie and strength of it selfe not of
vnlearned you vse termes like youre selfe against this chaire of S. Petre minding as I take it to persuade that I shoulde drawe S. Hieromes wordes to suche a meaning as that he shoulde meane that Christes churche were builded vpon a materiall chaire You maye be ashamed M. Nowel where you lacke iust matter to blotte paper and waste incke with suche cauilling triffles as euerie man that hath common sense wil as sone as they haue passed once youre mouthe be hable to discouer and reproue Dothe not S. Hierome in this place make twise expresse mention of Petres chaire Why triumphe you not ouer him as you crowe against me with youre foolishe and vnsauory Rhetorike and saie that he was well occupied to write from Siria to Rome for councell from a rotten chaire that he was a wise man to ioyne him selfe in communion theretoe Who seeth not that yow woulde haue taken the matter as whotly with S. Hierome as you doe with me hauing as good cause alltogether sauing that yow feared the burning of youre lippes I saie therefore M. Nowell that VVhat S. Hierome ment by Peters chayre S. Hierome to answere you in this pointe if you were so verie a dolt that you vnderstode it not before by building the churche vpon Petres chaire meaneth euen as he did in those two places before where you can not denie but that he maketh expresse mention of that chaire Sainte Hierome meaneth there no materiall chaire and therefore no rotten chaire as you like a rotten membre and deuided from the churche blasphemously saie He meaneth as Matt● 23 Christe doeth in the ghospell speaking of Moises chaire as the fathers Cipriā Epiphanius Austen Ambrose Optatus and the rest doe as often as they vse this worde that is to saie by the chayre the power and bishoplike auctoritie which Petre hauing giuē to him cōmitted to his successours For euē as a riuer though it runne manie thousandes of miles leeseth not yeat but reteineth neuerthelesse the name of the founteine and heade spring from whence it came so fareth it in the succession of bishoppes that how many so euer there be that succede yeat they are all saide to possesse the chaire of him that ruled firste yea allthough euerie of them had made for him selfe a newe chaire For the matter consisteth not as I saide before in materiall chaires no more then doth the opening or shutting of heauen gates depende vpon materiall keyes And as well might you like a Lucianist or a Porphirian haue scoffed at Christe for saing that the scribes and Phariseis sate vpon Moises chaire which if they had had emōgest them if euer Moises sate in anie should at that time haue bene as rotten as is S. Petres nowe there being betwene Moises and S. Petre not manie fewer yeares then are nowe betwene S. Petre and oure time or for making keyes for heauen as yow doe against me But to let this passe and to exaggerate no furder that for the which at the handes of suche as be of the learneder and wiser sorte you are like to susteine punishment enough by incurring the note of this infamie to be no learned reasoner but a railing wrangler I will nowe as compendiously as maie be iustifie the inserting of this Parenthesis Peters chaire First these wordes vpon this rocke I knowe the churche to be builded ought to be referred rather as youre selfe before confessed and in this case if in anie you ought to be beleued for you haue bene a scholemaister and practised better in the gramer rules then in the scriptures and fathers writinges to the wordes that go nearest before but the wordes Peters chaire are placed nearest before Therefore by youre owne confession the building of the churche ought to be referred thither Againe S. Hierome in this place it is to be presumed alluded in these wordes I knowe the churche to be buylded on that rocke to the wordes of the ghospell Tues petrus super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam Thow Matt. 16. arte Petre and vpon this rocke wil I builde my church But in that place Christe appointed an other fundation of the church beside him selfe to wit Peter It foloweth therefore that S. Hierome in this place ment not of Christ but of Peters chaire that is Peters auctoritie or Peter him selfe Thirdly it is more then probable that sainte Hierome mēt not in this place of building the churche vpon Christe only but vpon Petre also nexte after Christe because to him that with iudgement wil reade the epistle considre duly the circunstances especially the beginning it shal appeare that his whole talcke is so framed that whereas of purpose and directly he maketh mention of consulting Peters chaire off ioyning him selfe to Peters chaire and in that whole discourse of his setteth furthe the praises of the churche off Rome he speaketh of Christe but incidently and as it were by the waie of a parenthesis and that toe to auaunce the dignitye of the See of Rome as before the which he woulde preferre he saide none but Christe The whiche being so what sounde iudgement will not rather refer these wordes aboute whiche the controuersie is to that whiche is principally and directly handled rather then to that which is mentioned but incidently and indirectly Last of all it is to be iudged that S. Hierome agreeth here with his owne writinges in other places Nowe is this euident that euen the thirde epistle before thys he saieth in plaine wordes that the churche was builded vppon Petre. His wordes are Apostolus Petrus super quem Dominus fundauit ecclesiam Tom. 2. epist ad Marcellā Petre the Apostle vpon whom our lorde founded his churche Thus you see good Readers I trust howe falselye and withoute all cause M. Nowell hathe quarelled with me for this parenthesis added only to make more plaine the wordes of Saint Hierome It foloweth that I showe to you howe he prosecuteth his purposed malice by the auctorities of Erasmus and S. Augustine in the 108. 109. and 110. leaues Erasmus saieth M. Nowell cleane contrarye to all papistes Nowell fol. 108. a. 18. saieth in his notes vpon these wordes Super illam petram c. Non super Romam vt arbitror c. That is to saie Vpon that rocke not vpon Rome I trowe c. From Erasmus thus farre we dissent not that we knowe Dorman as well as he that the church was not built vpō Rome For if Rome were sacked as God forbid to morowe nexte the church should continue neuerthelesse although the bishop went from thence and shoulde sit at the meanest towne in all Italye or elles where As for that that he woulde haue the churche to be builded by S. Hieromes meaning vppon Peters faithe that first he affirmeth not confidently but saieth he troweth so next it maye be saide that in this place Erasmus telleth his owne opinion in the other place off this epistle vpon these wordes Extra hanc domum without this
fundamenta confirmet That is to saie Yow haue hearde often times that Petre him selfe is called by oure Lorde a rocke as where he saieth Thow arte Peter and vpō this rocke will I builde my churche If therefore Petre be the rocke vpon the whiche the churche is builded he did well firste to heale the feete that as in the churche he conteineth the fundation of faithe so he shoulde in this man strengthen the fundations of his membres I might here alleage diuerse other places of S. Austen to this sense * As in Psalm 30. alijs multis locis but these two here vouched and that other whiche he mentioneth him selfe in his Retractations to be in his writinges against Donatus maie be sufficient to teache that if he thought not fullie of this pointe as we doe as by these three places for one brought by yow it should seme he did he was yeat indifferent and not against vs. But what if S. Austen had bene moste earnestlie against vs Yeat could you not so presse vs with his auctoritie M. Nowell by being greater then Erasmus equall with S. Hierome aboue all papistes in credite and auctoritie that he should be aboue Clement Tertullian Ciprian Basile Hilarius Ambrose Hierome Cirill Leo who all with one voice agree in this interpretation that the church was founded vpon Petre. a Epist 1. ad Iacob fratr domini Clement saieth of him that by the merite of true faithe he was determined to be the fundation of the churche b Lib. de praescrip haeret Tertullian afketh whether any thing coulde be hidden from Petre called the rocke of the churche to be builded Sainte Cyprian libro 1. epist 12. libro 4. epist 9. Lib. de habit virgin Lib. de bono pat epist ad Iubaian and epist ad Quintum in all these places affirmeth that the churche was builded vpon Petre. d Lib. 2. aduers Eunoni S. Basile because that Petre excelled in faithe to ke therfore he saieth the building of the church vpon him e In cap. Math. 16. Hilarie the B. of Poictiers in Fraunce calleth Petre Felix ecclesiae fundamentum the happy fundation of the church f Sermon 47. S. Ambrose hath that Petre was called of Christe ecclesiarum petra the rocke of churches S. Hierome emongest manie other places expounding the verie wordes of Christe Thow art Petre c. Math. 16. giueth this sense Aedificabo ecclesiam meam super te I will builde my church vpon the. g Lib. 2. in Ioannem cap. 12. Serm. 3. in Anniuersario assumptionis suae ad ponificatum Ciril saieth that Christe in the giuing to Petre his newe name signified therby that in him as in a rocke and moste strong stone he woulde builde his churche Leo to make an ende bringeth in Christe speaking of Petre after this sorte Ego tibi dico hoc est sicut pater meus tibi manifestauit diuinitatem meam ita ego tibi notam facio excellentiam tuam Quia tu es Petrus id est quum ego sim inuiolabilis petra ego lapis angularis qui facio vtraque vnum tamen tu quoque petra es quia mea virtute solidaris vt quae mihi potestate sunt propria tibi sint mecum participatione communia super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam c. that is to saye I tell the as my father hathe made manifest to the his diuinitie so doe I declare to the thy excellencie that thow arte Petre that is Note how Christe is the rocke and how Petre. to saie whereas I am the inuiolable rocke and corner stone which make bothe one the fundation beside the whiche no man can laye anie other yeat arte thow also a rocke because by my strength thow arte made sounde and massiff that those thinges which are propre to my selfe by power maye be common betwene vs by participation and vpon this rocke will I builde my churche You haue hearde M. Nowell for one place brought by you out of S. Austen to confirme youre purpose three other euen taken from the same man to the contrarie Yow In his bookes of Retractations haue hearde that in that verie booke where withe better iudgement he ouerloketh and correcteth all his former doinges he maketh it a matter indifferent to thinke either the one waye or the other Last of all you haue hearde the iudgemēt of nyne of the moste learned fathers in Christes churche agreing all in one sentence against you Go youre waies nowe and boaste of S. Austen being against all these fathers and him selfe to if he shoulde be of the minde that you would haue him to be I trust you shall neuer be hable to bring the wise or learned in to such a fooles paradise as to make them leauing the whole consent of so manie learned doctours to folowe youre interpretation grounded vpon one not muche liking the same him selfe You gather of this place of S. Austen an argument against fol. 110. ● 17. religiouse men You moued it before and there the reader shall finde it answered Yeat this to saye of the Augustiniās of whome warily you forbare to make anie mention before the reason that you make here why they shoulde not be of S. Augustines institution is false and vntrue For neither the Dominicanes bearing the name of S. Dominike nor the Franciscanes of sainte Frauncis neither yeat these Augustinians of sainte Augustine doe beare these names in suche sorte as the Corinthians did claime to holde of suche as baptised them How they did it appeareth by these wordes of sainte Austen here in this place by you alleaged Apostolus autē Paulus vbi cognouit se eligi Christum contemni diuisus est inquit Christus The Apostle Paule when he perceiued that he was chosen and Christe contemned why saieth he is Christe diuided In this wise M. Nowell because the Augustinians neither builde vpon sainte Austen nor are called after his name there is no cause yeat shewed why they maie not be well inough of his institution as that they are Richardus Cenomanus in his learned censure vpon sainte Austens rule hathe againste Erasmus moste euidently proued As for youre other witnesses that you can ioyne to Erasmus that popes haue bene heretikes if that could be proued A. 24. by a hundred witnesses yeat till you be hable to proue that they had erred in defining anye matter iudicially and deliuering the same to the whole churche of Christe yowe haue proued nothing against this See that there is not the rocke With like fraude did M. Dorman leaue also that whiche nexte Nowell b. 17. foloweth in S. Hierome of the house without the whiche he that eateth the paschall lambe is a prophane or vnholy man and the arke of Noe withoute the whiche all that be perishe by the floude For though in that place it might seeme to make for M. Dormans purpose concerning the supremacy of the B.
of Rome as Erasmus hathe noted yet he knowing or some man warning him that the house withoute the whiche the paschall lambe maye not be eaten the arke c. by all doctours is interprete to be the one vniuersall church of Christe and by none to be the churche of Rome therefore like a wise man or elles a false fox he let that folowing alone also as he cut of Christe the heade going and ioyned nexte before and so he hathe tolde you a tale bothe withoute heade and tayle thereby to proue the pope who is Antichrist to be the heade of Christes churche Is not this M. Nowell more then intollerable impudencie Dorman to charge me with fraude for the leauing out of that sentence then which there is none either in the workes of S. Hierome him selfe or anie of the other learned doctours that more maketh for the dignitye of the see of Rome for the omitting whereof in my boke I deserued rather to be noted at the catholikes handes of ouermuche simplicitye then at youres of fraude and sutteltye But howe truly here let the place itselfe iudge Omitting Erasmus whose iudgement nowe you condemne which yeat in me might haue bene counted some pointe of leuitie if I had euer praised him as you did before to be no vnskillfull or negligent viewer of the olde fathers writinges I will come to the place it selfe whiche I doubte not but by construing for I truste although you care not muche for the rules of the churche you owe yeat for olde acquaintaunce youre reuerence to the rules of Grammer to make bothe you and other men to vnderstād also how much this place maketh for me and howe little cause I had to suppresse it and howe muche yet lesse you had to make anye mention of it Saint Hieromes wordes therefore concerning this matter are these Ego nullum primum nisi Christum sequens beatit udini tuae id est cathedrae Petri communione consocior Super illam petram aedificatam ecclesiam scio Quicunque extra hanc domum agnum comederit prophanus est Nowe let vs construe M. Nowell Ego I sequens folowing nullum primum none first nisi Christum but Christ cōsocior am ioyned communione in communion beatitudini tuae to thy holynesse id est that is to saie cathedrae Petri to the chaire of Petre. Super illā petrā vpō that rocke what rocke M. Nowel but the same chaire of Peter to the whiche he professed him selfe to be ioyned in communion going nexte before these wordes scio I knowe ecclesiam the churche aedificatam to be builded Quicunque who so euer comederit shall eate agnum the lambe extra hanc domú out of this house prophanus est is prophane Now these wordes being truly by me thus construed euerye man learned and vnlearned maye see that S. Hierome by the house whiche he here mentioneth ment Christes vniuersall churche but builded Super illam petram vpon that rocke whiche rocke in the wordes nexte before he called Petres chaire to saie Petres auctoritie If you can construe them otherwise and make them to haue any other relation then this and proue it by the rulers of Gramer you maye vaunt that you haue showed vs a scholemasters tricke that neuer was harde of yeat But I am halfe in dispare that you shall euer be able seing that youre frinde Erasmus as good a Grammarian as you and as euill in a maner affected to the See of Rome as appeareth in diuerse places by his notes and censures coulde finde no suche shifte and therefore was faine as you muste at the length to confesse the truthe that S. Hierome was of the minde that all churches shoulde be subiecte to the churche of Rome or at the least no strangers from it Nowe whereas you saye that this house that S. Hierome mentioneth is of none interprete to be the churche of Rome what were that to oure purpose if it were so seing it is interprete of the vniuersall churche whiche is of all the auncient fathers acknowledged to be builded vpon Peters chaire as S. Hierome saieth here and as hathe bene declared before S. Cyprian who calleth the churche of Rome for that cause catholicae fidei Lib. 4. epist 8. radicem matricem the rocke and mother churche of the catholike churche Yeat lacke there not also fathers that in a sense that is as in the churche of Rome all other churches are conteined call it also by the name of the catholike churche As in effect S. Ambrose did when he called Damasus the pope ruler of the whole church which he coulde by no meanes be but as he was bishop of Rome Thus In commēt in cap. 3. 1. Tim. muche maie serue for my purgation that I haue not delt fraudulently in leauing out this parte of S. Hieromes sentence Nowe let vs procede Yow make much adoe about Vitalis and Meletius and saie that I saie vntrulie that S. Hierome saieth he knoweth not Nowell fo 111. a. 1. them because they were aduersaries to the seate of Rome the cause being because they were aduersaries to the true doctrine of the moste blessed Trinitie whiche Damasus did defende I reporte me to the learned whether I had cause to saie Dorman so or no not because of these wordes who so euer gathereth not with the scattreth alone which might perhappes be trulie spoken to anie other catholike bishop but because of the circumstances that go before ioyned to these as the consulting of Petres chaire the ioyning of him selfe thereto in communion To the whiche because they did not ioyne them selues as he did he refused them If yow had spoken no more vntrulie then I yowe woulde not to colour the matter the better haue imagined that emongest other causes why S. Hierome kepte not these schismatikes companie one was because they were foriners and not his owne bishoppes an other for that they were of a strange language Ah M. Nowell did yow nodde here that yowe coulde not see that S. Hierome affirmeth that the folowed the Aegiptian confessors the bishop of Romes felowe bishoppes Were not they as muche foriners to him as were Vitalis and Meletius was not their language as strange Yeat yow vpon this desire the reader to note that S. Hierome woulde B. 25. not knowe Vitalis and Meletius because they were foriners not his owne bishoppes c. And so make a comparison betwene youre refusall of the pope and S. Hieromes refusall of these schismatikes laing for a grounde without anye proufe that the pope is a foriner and hathe nothing to doe withe yow Of the place of S. Austen taken out of the 110. question of his questions vpon the olde and newe testament The 29. chapiter HERE M. Nowell vpon the censure of Erasmus of this worcke of S. Austens maketh this shorte but sharpe conclusion against me So that it were to muche impudency for Nowell fo 112. a. 30. Dorman anie man but only M.
one and therein resteth the strength and force of my exāple I make no comparison betwene all kingdomes of the worlde whiche be manie and all churches which are but one as you doe here deceauing your selfe and other toe For if I shoulde so haue done then had not the comparison bene good Nowe if it were as true that God had ordeined all the kingdomes of the worlde to make one kingdome and not manie as he hath all the churches to be one and not manie then if you denied to all these kingdomes ioyned in one a visible king to be aboue all the rest and to gouerne the whole because god is the Monarche and ruler of all as you doe to the vniuersall churche for the same cause I woulde saie that you offendid as muche therein not alowing to all these kingdomes being but one one heade and chiefe gouernour as you shoulde doe if you woulde graunte to particuler kingdomes no particuler king the reason being as greate why the whole shoulde haue one ruler ouer it as why anie particuler membre shoulde But nowe I can not so saye because God hath appointed no suche ordre in the worlde as he hath in his kingdome the churche and therfore the questions be not like From this you runne as one that feared to tarie to long to gesse what we woulde saie if the time serued vs and here on Gods name you tel vs a long tale of the popes rule ouer all the worlde in temporalities and of king Iohn as muche to the purpose as if you had tolde vs of Robin hood and therfore I passe it ouer with youre other reasons that folowe fo 118. b. made to boulster vp the rotten reason of youre Apologie because they haue bene so often answered by showing the difference betwene the two states of the worlde and the churche The answere to the conclusion The 32. chapiter NOWE foloweth M. Nowelles conclusion wherein drawing nere to the ende and knowing howe weakely the matter hathe bene handled by him in the whole processe of his booke before he thinketh by a certeine lusty brauery of wordes to make amendes and so to beare awaye the garlande But nowe let vs here howe he bestirreth him Thus I trust good Readers you see the insufficiencie or more Nowell fo 119. a. 7. truly the lewdnesse of M. Dormans prouffes of the necessitie of one only heade ouer Christes whole church here in earthe you see where he saieth he hathe sufficiētly proued it to be Christes pleasure that there shoulde be suche an one heade that he hathe not nor coulde not for if he coulde he woulde alleage out of the newe testament where Christes will and pleasure is written and declared moste largely and manifestly as muche as one worde foūding to that purpose so farre of is it that it is as he saieth sufficiētly proued Thus I trust you see good Readers howe M. Nowell Dorman hauing begonne with a lye in the verie title of his booke calling it a Reproufe of my boke which reproueth but only 15. leaues hathe continued and nowe endeth the same in such wise as the middle and ende maye appeare in all mennes iudgement to answere to the beginning Yow see where he saieth that I haue not sufficiently proued it to be Christes pleasure that there shoulde be one heade in his steede in the whole churche because I alleaged no testimonie oute of the newe testament that in restreining my prouffes to the only newe testament and calling the testimonies brought out of the olde lawe as he dothe hereafter olde shadowes while he reproueth my prouffes for this cause he semeth not to be farre from the heresie of the Manichees who condemned the olde testament It was not M. Nowell because I coulde not that I alleaged no proufe out of the newe testament But the cause if you will nedes knowe it was for this that I thought it best to vse suche testimonies as consisting in facte and hauing bene alreadye put in execution you shoulde be lesse able to cauill against especially making my counte that the appointing of one chiefe prieste in the olde lawe being for the benefite of Goddes people you woulde easely admitte that Christe woulde be as beneficiall to his churche in the newe lawe Otherwise I coulde haue brought to you oute of the ghospell of S. Matthewe the wordes of oure Sauiour Matth. 16. to S. Petre where he vsing these wordes And I tell the that thow arte Petre and vpon this rocke I will builde my churche and againe what so euer thow shalt binde vpon earthe shall be bounde in heauen c. made Peter as Chrisostom witnesseth Shepeherd of the churche heade of the churche ruler ouer the whole Homi. 55. lu Matth. worlde I coulde haue alleaged lhe place of S. Iohn where Christe committing to Peter the charge of all his flocke Ioan. vlt. excepting none made by that meanes one ruler of the whole Homil. in cap. Ioan. vlt. and committed curam orbis terrarum the charge of the vniuersall worlde to Peter as saieth the same Chrisostome These places coulde I haue alleaged and other also had it not bene to auoide wrangling and for that that I persuaded my selfe that this example takē from the gouernement of Goddes people the Iues shoulde be to all indifferent mē sufficient enough to confirme my purpose as til M. Nowell confute it it is Yow see that schismes and controuersies by S. Cyprians iudgement Nowell and S. Augustins with 217. bishoppes moe assembled in the African councell with him and by good reason and experience allso maye be beste quieted in the countries where they arise You see that neither S. Cyprian neither S. Augustine Dorman neither the 217. bishoppes emongest whome M. Nowell before nombred Orosius being no bishoppe but a prieste onely and Prosper a bishop of Rhegium in Italie and therefore not like to be at anye councell in Africa neither yeat reason or experience whiche teache the contrarye doe saye Supra cap. 11. that schismes and controuersies maye be best quieted and decided in the countries where they arise That which they saye is ment of criminall causes not of schismes about doctrine as those wordes of S. Cyprian conteining the reason why he woulde haue suche causes hearde in the countries where they happen being these but ought there to make answere to their causes where they maye haue accusers and witnesses of their crimes doe well declare And thus you see that this is a manifold lye Yow see that it becommeth man vnhable well to gouerne a Nowell verie little thinge to humble him selfe and to yealde vp the honour and glory of gouerning the whole worlde and churche to God c. You see by the example of Peter refusing of humilitie Dorman the seruice that Christ offred to him in wasshing his feete Ioan 13. that true humilitye is to doe that whiche Christe biddeth to be done Yow see withall M. Nowells honestie
that Christ gaue power of losing and binding to al indifferently and that therfore Peter had no more preminēce then the rest is a naughty and vntrue reason as appeareth by these wordes of S. Hierome tamen etcae yeat one is chosen etc. Thirdly I gather that seing the apostles were bishoppes this Maxime of youres is cleane ouerthrowen that all bishoppes be equall and that no one hathe anie other ouer him seing the Apostles being bishoppes had Peter to be their heade Fourthly I note that this confession was wroong as it were by violence from S. Hierome by the force of his aduersarie his reason Which being that priestes might marie seing Peter the heade of the Apostles was maried it had bene for S. Hierome his vantage to haue denyed that he was heade of them to haue sayde as yow doe that they were all equall and no one aboue the other And so woulde he we maie be suer being so vehement and learned an aduersary as he was if it had not bene so manifest a truthe that it coulde be no more denied then that Peter was maried His qualifieng of the place here that the churche was in an other place builded vpon all maie giue vs to vnderstande what he woulde quickly haue done if Christe had not for all that specially made Peter the heade By this appeareth the corrupt iudgement of Erasmus who in his notes vpon the epistle Ad Marcellam where S. Hierome hath againe that the churche was builded Tom. 2. ad Marcellam adue●sus Montanum vpon Peter giueth this iudgement Hoc detorquet in commendationem Petri. This he wresteth to the commendation of Peter Last of all it is to be noted that in S. Hieromes time it was acknowledged euen by heretikes that Christe appointed this ordre of one heade as appeareth by this that Iouinian grounded him selfe thereupon in reasoning against S. Hierome for the maintenaunce of his heresie Vpon the which last note some other maie happely note that yow and youre companions are more shamelesse heretikes then were Iouinian and his To this place of S. Hierome I will adde one other to shewe that yow abuse his auctoritie to muche in labouring to founde vpon him this vntrue proposition of youres that not by goddes lawe but by mannes this ordre of one heade in Christes Churche shoulde be established The wordes off S. Hierome alluding to the house mentioned in the ghospell where Christe eate his passeouer are these Dominus domus Petrus apostolus est cui dominus domum suam In cap. 14. Marci credidit VTSVBVNO PASTORE SIT VNA FIDES The maister of the house is Peter the Apostle to whome One head shepherde that the faithe maye be one oure Lorde committed his house that vnder one shepheard the faithe maye be one Doe yow not see M. Nowell the necessitie of one heade that vnder one shepherd the faithe maye be one Heare yow not that it is not mannes deuise that it be so but Christes owne ordinaunce Haue you not with all S. Hierome expounding as it were the wordes of S. Cyprian tamen vt vnitatem manifestaret vnitatis eiusdem originem Lib. de vnitat ecclesiae ab vno incipientem sua auctoritate disposuit yeat to make vnitie manifest he Christe disposed by his auctoritie the beginning of this vnitie to procede from one by these wordes of his That vnder one shepherde there maye be one faithe By this it appeareth that S. Hierome is not of that minde that yow woulde haue him to be that is that this ordre of hauing one heade in the churche shoulde be off mannes ordinaunce not of Christes institution But here yow will aske me how I can then reconcile him and make him agree with him selfe who in this place hath that one Quòd vnus postea electus est S. Hierom expounded by him selfe was afterwarde chosen to rule the rest If after saye yow then not vpon goddes lawe Yes I reconcile him after this sorte M. Nowell If yow vnderstande this place to be of the Apostles then he expoundeth him selfe in the place that you harde before where allthough he confesse that in one place Christe builded the churche equally vpon all his Apostles which was done streight after his resurrection Ioan. 20. yeat in an other he graunteth that the good maister for so he calleth Christe there builded it vpon Peter a little before his ascension into heauen whome he appointed Ioan. vlt. to be the heade of the rest So that the worde here Postea afterwardes hath relation to that ordinarie prerogatiue of S. Peter giuen to him at Christes assension at whiche time he perfourming the promise made before to Peter in the future tense to builde his churche vpon him Matth. 16. appointed him as Chrisostome saieth vpon that place to haue orbis terrarum curā the charge of the whole worlde Homil. vlt. in Ioan. vlt. If yow vnderstande not these wordes one chosen afterwarde to rule the rest of the Apostles but of the gouernement in particuler churches as because of the example brought by S. Hierome of the churche of Alexandria you thinke they shoulde then Postea afterwarde must haue this sense that whereas vnder one generall heade of Christes churche the particuler churches were at the beginning gouerned by manye heades and common consent whiche was as Epiphanius saieth because the apostles could not furthwith take ordre for all thinges his wordes are non enim omnia statim potuerunt Apostoli constituere for the apostles could not furthewith take ordre for all things afterwardes the state of the church being better Lib. 3. hae●es 75. setled and being come to vse the words of Epiphanius ad propriā mensurā to her own measure that ordre appearing to be such as was not cōueniēt for the gouernemēt of the churche was alltered and one chosen to rule alone for the auoiding of schismes in euery particuler church not as though S. Hierō should meane that the vniuersall churche lacked at anie time one heade or had bene gouerned by diuerse the cōtrarie wherof he affirmed before but that afterward particuler churchs began to see the necessitie of one head ouer euerie churche according to the patern wherein Christ appointed Peter to be the chiefe head of all As S. Hierom him selfe in an other place doth well declare where he saieth An tequàm diaboli instinctu studia in religione fierent c. Before by the instigation of the diuell factions were made in religion and In cap. 1. epi. ad Tit. 1. Cor. 1. one saide I am of Paule I am of Apollo I of Cephas the churches were gouerned by the cōmon councell of priestes But after that euery one thought those that he baptized to be his and not Christes it was thorough out all the worlde decreed that one being chosen out of the priestes shoulde be set ouer the rest to whome all the care of the churche should belong and the occasiō of
Italie or Rome it selfe for his wordes haue euidentlie that relation and that none thinke the auctoritie of one bishop to be lesse then the auctoritie an other but a few wicked and desperate men You were driuē to the wall M. Nowell when you were forced Dorman for a pore shift to say that Leo said as he did because he wolde haue bene lord and heade ouer the church S. Cipriā saith that euerie bishop hath his seuerall portion The same saieth Leo. Leo saieth that the charge of the vniuersall church must Lib. 1. ep 3 haue recourse to Peters chaire S. Ciprian saieth not the cōtrarie Yea so saieth S. Ciprian toe calling Rome matricem the mother church And whither should children I pray you haue recourse for succour but to their mother He saith not that the subiecte of one bishop may not appeale to an other Lyes that is one lie He saieth not that the cause determined by one bishop may be called before no other that is an other lie He maketh no comparison as you say he doth betwene the bishoppes of Afrike Italie and Rome behold the third lye He saieth not that none but a fewe wicked and desperate men thinke the auctoritie of one bishop to be lesse then the auctoritie of an other which if he shoulde youre selfe were like by that meanes to be of the nombre of such desperate and wicked men who before acknowledged chiefe prelates a worde that presupposeth other that be inferiour and fol. 32. 2. be cōtrarie to him selfe as I proued before by his writing to Steuen the pope wherby he required him to take ordre by his lettres for the remouing from his bishoprike Martianus the B. of Arles and by that that him selfe sent to Rome to Cornelius to trie the matter before him with those euill mē that complained vpon him there by his excepting againste the sentence giuen by the pope for the restitution of Basilides for no other cause but because it was obteined by false information All which exāples doe not only proue that he was not of the minde that no one bishop was aboue an other but this also that the B. of Rome was of greater auctoritie then the bishoppes of Fraunce Spaine or Afrike Hetherto of the disagrement betwene S. Ciprian and Leo which by this time all men I trust perceiue to be no suche as you vaunted it was yea to be none at all but suche consent rather as in diuerse wordes there can not be greater It foloweth that we examine how Hierome and Leo agree S Hierome yow saye hath that all churches worshipping one Nowell fo 51. a. 10 Borowed out of Caluin Inst. lib. 4 cap. 7. Sect. 3. Christe and obseruing one rule of truthe are equall with the churche of Rome that all bishoppes be the successours of the Apostles and of one priestehod and of the same merite and dignitie But Leo saieth contrarie that it was giuen to one to be aboue all the rest and that they who be in greater diocesses or cities haue more care and auctoritie and that the onelie see of Peter hath charge of the vniuersall churche and is heade thereof Yow belye S. Hierome He saieth not that all the churches Dorman A lye 38. in the worlde be equall If he did he shoulde saie contrarie to Irinaeus who saieth that the churche of Rome hath potentiorem principalitatem greater souereintie then other churches haue contrary to S. Cipriā who calleth Rome the Li. 1. cap. 3 Lib. 1. ep 3. mother churche the roote and principall churche and contrarie to S. Austen who calleth it the churche in the which the principalitie of the apostolicall see hath allwaies florished Epist 162. He saieth that Christes church is not diuided * Nec altera Romanae vrbis ecclesia altera totius orbis existimanda as thoghe Rome were one and the whole worlde an other As for that that he saieth that all bishoppes be the successours off the apostles those wordes make merueilously for the opinion of Leo against you For vpon that proposition of S. Hierome I reason thus All bishoppes be the successours of the Apostles but the Apostles were not all equal because as S Hierom saith Peter was their head Ergo by S. Hieromes minde all bishoppes who be their successours be not equall but haue the successour of Peter their heade Againe Peter was heade of the Apostles and made because there shoulde arise no schisme emongest them Ergo the B. off Rome who is Peters successour must be heade of his felowe bishoppes for the same cause These two propositions that there was emongest the Apostles one heade and that that was Peter be S. Hieromes owne in his first boke against Iouinian The wordes although I rehersed before yeat because they perteine not onelie to this matter but to shewe also how these thre Ciprian Hierome and Leo mete and knit as it were together in this sentence that Christ appointed ouer his church one generall heade I will recite once againe The wordes therfore of S. Hierō to Iouiniā be these At dicis super Petrum fundatur ecclesia licet idipsum in alio loco super omnes apostolos fiat cuncti claues regni coelorum accipiant ex aequo super eos ecclesiae fortitudo solidetur tamen propterea inter duodecim vnus eligitur vt capite constituto schismatis tollatur occasio That is to saie But thou saiest The churche is builded vpon Peter although the same in an other place be done vpon all the Apostles and all of them receiue the keyes of heauen and equallye is the strength of the churche grounded vpon them yeat for all that is there one chosen emongest the twelue that by making a heade emongest them occasion of schisme maye be taken awaye See yow not nowe by this place of S. Hierome M. Nowell howe the equalitie of power that S. Cyprian speaketh of the similitude of honour and equalitie of calling that Leo remembreth the building of the churche in one place vpon all the Apostles indifferentlie that S. Hierome mentioneth notwithstanding they all three conclude in one maner with this worde tamen notwithstanding that the churche was builded vpon one that there was one heade that there was one preferred before the reste This place of S. Hierome as it vtterly stoppeth their mouthes who reason that the Apostles were absolutely in all pointes equall so confirmeth it moste strongly the answere made before to the place of S. Ciprian that the Apostles were all of equall power and auctority that that was true at the first but Ioan. 20. that after oure Lorde last before his ascension gaue the Ioan. 21. chiefe auctoritie to one in respecte as one was chosen from the rest vpon whome the churche shoulde be builded S. Hierome saieth that al bishoppes are of one priesthode and of the same merite you plaie the falsefier and adde of youre owne and of the same dignitie The gentlewoman
thought that he woulde in this case make lesse prouision for his churche then a temporall king will for the due administration of his lawes and the preseruing of vnitie emongest his subiectes Neither is it anie iniurie to the scripture or derogatiō to the maiestie thereof that the malice of men maketh it lesse sufficient to condemne heresies especially seing as Tertullian saieth the scriptures haue bene Lib. de praescript haeretic 1. Cor. 11. by the will off God so disposed as that they might ministre matter to heretikes seing it is writtē that there must be heresies which cā not be withowt the scriptures To this obiection of myne that the scriptures be so written that there was neuer heretike yeat that dyd not alleage scripture for the maintenaūce of the same and that thought not by the scriptures him selfe wel able to defende the same note I besech the good reader that M. Nowel maketh here no answere at al. Onely he maketh against this an other obiectiō that so the pope maye vnder b. 5. the name of the church mainteine and defende all errours and superstitions Whiche if it were true what woulde folowe other of this conclusion but that there shoulde be no iudge at all Is not this a propre kinde of answering trowe you But because the matter shall not remaine in that incerteintie I will M. Nowell answere youre reason although you woulde not answere mine I saye therefore that the pope as heade of Christes churche that is to saye defining or decreeing anye thinge concerning the affaires and busines thereof neuer erred yeat nor euer shall I proue it by auctoritye and by reason By the auctoritie of oure Sauiour him selfe who praing that Peters faithe might not faile coulde Lucae 22. not but obteine Whiche priuileage so obteined seing that Christe builded his churche not to continue for Peters lyfe tyme but for euer we maye not doubte but that it was giuen also to his successours S. Augustine as I noted before Epis 165. applied the wordes of Christ spoken of the Phariseis sitting in Moises chaire Quae dicunt facite quae autem faciunt Matth. 23. nolite facere Loke what they bid you doe doe it but do not as they do to the bishoppes of Rome succeding Peter and addeth that in so doing oure faithe shal be suer and certeine as the whiche being placed not in man but on God can neuer be scattred with anye tempest of schisme You haue the auctoritie of the Scripture you haue the iudgement of S. Augustine that Peters faithe shall continue in him and in his successours that to doe as they commaunde is to make oure faithe suer and defensible against the tempestes of all schismaticall stormes Now harken to reason Christe promised for euer to abide with his churche S. Paule calleth it the Matt. 28. 1. Timo. 3. piller of truthe If Christe be with it it can not erre if it be the piller of truth it admitteth no falsehode if it can admit no falsehode the pope whiche is the heade thereof and appointed by God to gouerne it in earthe can not in the gouernement thereof erre For if the heade might erre then might the whole body which is bound to folow the heade And thus bothe by auctoritie and reason by experience of these 1500. yeares it appeareth that there is greate difference betwene the two likelihodes that you put in the pope and in other priuate men touching the interpretatiō of the scripture And therefore vppon the ouerthrowe of this downe commeth all that you builde thereupon eitherin this place or elles where Hauing nowe taken youre pleasure sufficiently at vs comparing vs with Annas and Caiphas calling vs theeues aduersaries of the ghospell guiltie of manye heresies corruptions of religion and false superstitions you entre in to a common place of councelles whereof you saye as foloweth But the aduersaries off the Ghospell deale thus with vs Nowell b. 20. The Pope and all hys cleargye being guiltie off manye heresies c. and thereof accused doe assemble them selues together in a councell in the whiche nothing maye be moued muche lesse determined but suche as pleaseth the Pope him selfe there is enquirie made of vs who doe accuse them thereoff and offer to proue it and there vnhearde and vnseene we are condemned of our aduersaries c. Yow here note in the margent for the proufe hereof Dorman that nothing maie be moued in the councell but suche as pleaseth the pope Pighius in his 6. booke and first chapitre of his Hierarchie This place yowe alleaged before As I tolde you then so doe I nowe that you haue beelied Pighius Supra fol. 24. b. For he saieth not as you doe here that nothing maie be moued in the councell but suche as pleaseth the pope He saieth Haud feré fit almoste it is not otherwise not denieng as you saye he dothe that it can not be otherwise The wordes of Pighius note rather the greate diligence of the pope whiche is suche that when all the worlde shall meete together in a generall councell they can not for the moste parte name anye thinge to be refourmed or concluded that the Bishoppe of Rome with his learned councell about him hath not before forseene and handled then take awaye libertie from anye man to moue anie doubte to be resolued not considered before by the pope That the pope moueth ordinarily suche doubtes to the councell i st that offende you be angry with S. Peter his predecessour who practised the same first in the generall councell mentioned in the Actes of thapostles You accuse the pope and his and Act. 15. offer to proue it It is in deede the cōmon bragge of you al to saie you can proue vs Phariseis corrupters of religiō that the churche of Christe hathe vtterly failed and so furth The whiche if yow feare to proue in generall councelles yeat yow might me thinketh giue vs a taste of your prouffes in youre poisoned writinges To that that yowe complaine that yow are condemned vnhearde and vnsene we saie as yow gessed we woulde that yow might be hearde if yow listed against the whiche answere of oures yow replie How we are called and how we maie be heard let Iohn Husse Nowell fo 70. a. 2 called by the emperour Sigismunde his saulfe conduct vnder his greate emperiall seale to the councell of Constance with Hierom of Prague who bothe were contrary to the faithe giuen them by the greatest christian prince in the world condemned and burned to asshes be an eternall witnesse yea let their owne decree made in the saide councell which was that no faithe nor promise is to be kepte to anie heretike nor that anie man by anie promise standeth bounde to an heretike c. be a perpetuall testimonye off the same Beholde howe manie lyes in howe fewe lynes Iohn Dorman Husse being called to the councell of Constance brake the conditions of his saulfe conduct
an other yeat all this notwithstanding the firste stone of this building that shoulde be laide vpon the rocke were also the foundation but not as hauing soliditie or strength of it selfe but of that other perfect fundation whereunto it leaneth To this alluded Saint Ambrose when in a certeine place he calleth Petre firmissimam petrā the moste strong rocke quae ab illa principali petra Lib. 2. de vocat gēt cap. 9. communionem virtutis sumsit nominis which tooke from that principall rocke he meaneth Christe communion bothe of vertue and name What can be saide more plainely to expresse that Petre is called a rocke as well as Christe to confirme this distinction of rockes or fundations Hauing nowe detected the vanitie of youre prouffes whereby you laboure to proue that this place of S. Hierom shoulde be falsified by me I will confirme the catholike doctrine in this pointe and showe that this Parenthesis added by me for the better vnderstanding of the place was trulie added And because yowe complaine of me for leauing out two lynes I will proue not onelie by them but by the preamble of the epistle that S. Hierome wrote not to Damasus as to his owne bishop but to him as heade of the churche and successour to Petre. In the two lines that yow saie I cut of are these wordes cum successore piscatoris discipulo crucis loquor with the successour of the fissher Peter and a disciple of the crosse I speake Of these wordes I make this argument S. Hierome wrote to Damasus as to the successor of S. Peter But S. Petre was acknowledged by S. Hierome to be heade of the church therefore S. Hierome wrote vnto him as heade of the churche The minor proposition is proued by S. Hieron in Psalm 13. Hierome writing vpon the 13. Psalme where expounding these wordes Non est qui faciat bonum c. no saieth he not Petre him selfe which is heade of the churche Againe in an other place where he saieth Coenaculum grande ecclesia magna In cap. Marci 14. est in qua narratur nomen domini strata varietate virtutum linguarum vt est illud circumamicta varietate in qua paratur domino Pascha Dominus domus Petrus apostolus est cui dominus domum suam credidit vt sit vna fides sub vno pastore That is to saie The greate parler is the greate churche in the which is preached the name of oure Lorde garnished with varietie of giftes and tongues according to the saing Clothed with change of apparell in the whiche is prepared our Psal 44. Lordes passeouer The maister of the house is Petre the apostle to whome oure Lorde committed his house that Note this reason there maie be one faithe vndre one shepeherd The consequent of this argument is proued to be good by this reason of S. Hieromes why God appointed S. Petre to be the ruler of the churche For seing we muste nowe aswell auoide multitudes of faithe as the churche was bounde in S. Petres time to doe there must as necessarilie be nowe one heade as there was then whiche no man can iustly doubte whether S. Hierome ment that Damasus shoulde be seing he confesseth that Damasus is Petres successour who was by his confession that one heade And that it maie the better appeare that this was in S. Hieromes time the faithe of the church that as Petre was heade therof so were also his successours S. Ambrose liuing with S. Hierome calleth this verie Damasus ruler of gods house the churche whome I woulde In 1. Timoth 3. not alleage but trie out S. Hieromes meaning by him selfe were it not that yow might see how vniformely they agree in this point Hierome calling Petre the maister Ambrose calling Damasus his successour the ruler of goddes house the churche Moreouer that in calling Peter heade of the churche and Damasus his successour S. Hierome called Damasus also heade of the churche is proued by this that S. Hierome in this place protesting that he was ioyned to Damasus in communion expoundeth him selfe id est cathedrae Petri that is to saie to the chaire of Petre. Thus did S. Cyprian in his time describing the bishoprike of Rome by these wordes Locus Fabiani Fabians place expounde by and by his meaning in this wise id est locus Petri gradus cathedrae sacerdotalis that is to saie Petres place and the degree Lib. 4. epist 2. of the priestely chaire If therefore the popes that succede S. Peter haue the same place the same chaire that is to saie the same auctoritie for this worde chaire signifieth no thing elles that S. Petre had who doubteth but that S. Hierom in this place acknowledging him selfe to speake to Petres successour did agnise also the same auctorite in him that he did in S. Petre Next after this weigh I beseche yow the preamble of this epistle of S. Hierome to Damasus vttred in these wordes Quoniam vetusto Oriens inter se populorum furore collisus c. Because the Easte being sore broosed and shaken with the olde furie of the people emongest them selues teareth pece meale the whole and seamelesse coate of oure Lorde and the foxes destroye Christes vineiarde so that emongest the leaking pittes that haue no water it is harde to vnderstande where is that sealed founteine and walled gardein therefore I thought that Petres chaire and Rom. 1. the faithe praised by the Apostles owne mouthe ought to be consulted by me from thence nowe asking foode for my soule from whence once I receiued Christes lyuory Thus far S. Hierome By which wordes we maie vnderstande that he wrote this epistle to Damasus as to him that being successour to Petre was heade of the churche and therefore in all doubtefull cases to be consulted not as to his owne proprebishop For if he had why shoulde he then haue mentioned Petres chaire which worde because S. Peter was heade of the whole churche as hath bene proued out of S. Hierome argueth a rule ouer the whole not of a particuler place alone If nowe S. Hierome were not afearde to saie that he ioyned him selfe in communion to Petres chaire that in this doubtefull case he thought that that chaire was to be consulted why take yowe the matter so whotly against me for saing with S. Hierome that the churche is builded vpon Petres chaire Why call you this more blasphemie then the other to be ioyned in communion to Petres chaire to consult Petres chaire Is it vnlikely that S. Hierome shoulde saie that Petres chaire was the rocke whereon the churche was builded to the whiche chaire he sought for councel to the which he protested to be ioyned in the same communion Or is it likely that he woulde haue so saide of anie chaire saue that on the which the churche was builded I can not here but note by the waie how to make the matter seme odiouse to the
house he confesseth the minde of S. Hierome whiche he saieth was vtterly that all churches ought to be vndre the Romaine See or no strangers from it If Erasmus in his interpretation before saing that the churche was not as he thought builded vpon Rome but vpon the faith of Petre agree with S. Hierome in this pointe that all churches be subiect to the Romaine See howe happeneth it that you and youre fellowes to withdrawe all men from this subiection to that See make that principle that the churche was builded not vpon Rome but vpon Petres his faithe youre chiefe grounde seing that in Erasmus iudgement bothe might stande well inoughe together Iff on the contrarye parte this interpretation made by Erasmus can not agree with the minde of Saint Hierome Why shoulde we rather credite Erasmus not sure off his owne opinion then S. Hierome confidently affirming the contrarye Yea and furder the same Erasmus in the beginning of his argument Nowell fol. 108. b. 1. vpon his treatye against the Luciferians whiche is nexte to his two epistles to Damasus hathe these wordes Nulla haeresis grauius afflixit c. No heresie hathe more grieuously afflicted the churches of all the worlde then the Arrians in so muche that it hathe wrapped in the bishoppes of Rome and the emperours them selues It pleaseth M. Dorman sometime to alleage Erasmus against vs whose auctoritye if it be good downe goeth the pope and all popery For if the bishoppes of Rome haue bene infected with heresie then is not there that vniuersall rocke As good men as Erasmus and better to haue susteined Dorman the contrary that there was neuer bishoppe of Rome heretike But if there had it foloweth not thereof that there is not that vniuersall rocke Let that be the answere till I come to youre question What if the Pope be an heretike Nowe if M. Dorman did not see these notes of Erasmus vpon Nowell b. 16. the place by him alleaged out of S. Hierome I praise his diligence he maye of Dorman be called Dormitantius as S. Hierome whome he falsely alleageth called Vigilantius and more iustlye bothe by nature and sounde of name may M. Dorman be so called then euer was Vigilantius by S. Hierome c. I sawe them and vnderstode them it appeareth better Dorman then you Reade S. Hierome contra Vigilantium ad Exuperium and then see who is likely by S. Hieromes minde to be called Dormitantius you who with that drowsy sleeping heretike raile against the tapers and lightes in the churche the worshipping of sainctes the reuerent keping of their blessed relikes or I who with saint Hierome mainteine the contrary But I thinke euen for that cause a little thinge woulde make yow to call S. Hierome Dormitantius to for it appeareth that it pleased yow neuer a deale that he shoulde so roughly handle youre deare frinde and therefore yow prefer youre allusion to my name before that of his to the name of Vigilantius But I woulde counsell yow M. No-well either to gette yow some new trym name such as is Theodore Basile or some suche like or elles to leaue scoffing at other till this that yow haue conteining nothing well in it maie be mended Because yowe perceiued that Erasmus either made little for youre purpose or that his auctoritie woulde not be muche set by yow saie But if Erasmus iudgement be nothing worthe c. I will yeat in Christes quarell that he is the rocke and not Petres rotten Nowell B. 26. chaire bring furthe one witnes not onelie greater then Erasmus but also equall with S. Hierome and aboue all papistes in credite and auctoritie S. Austen in his 13. sermon vpon the ghospell off Mathew Yow fight with your owne shadowe M. Nowell when Dorman Fol. 109. ● 1. yow imagine to encountre with anie matche that shoulde offre Christe wrong No man denieth to Christe that excellencie to be the rocke of his churche yow maie therfore put vp youre dagger the fraie was donne before it begonne But yeat hereof it foloweth not that therefore Petres chaire that is to saie Peter is not also a fundation in Christe the first and greatest fundation as a little before I showed To the auctoritie of S. Austen I answere that euen as youre other witnesse that yowe brought before Erasmus durst in this case affirme nothing boldely but only shewed his minde doubtefully so is S. Austen in this question as it Lib. 1. Retractat cap. 21. appeareth in his worckes not fully resolued For in his first booke of Retractations where yow saie most impudently that he repeateth and mainteineth moste earnestlie this interpretation An impudent lye made vpō 12. S. Austen B. 18. that Christe and not Petre is the rocke he proposing bothe the interpretations that Peter is the rocke as he confessed that the same sense he had bothe him selfe giuen in writing against Donatus and was song in his time by the mouthe of manye in the verses of S. Ambrose where speaking of the cocke he saieth Hoc ipsa petra ecclesiae canente culpam diluit at the singing of this cocke the rocke of the churche him selfe purged his faulte he proposing I saie this sense and also that other that Christ is that rocke concludeth in this wise Harum autem duarum sententiarum quae sit probabilior eligat lector Of these two opinions let the reader chose that whiche he thinketh moste probable Is this M. Nowell to defende moste earnestly that Christe and not Petre is the rocke to sett men at libertie to beleue in this pointe as they list Is this the candor the sincere and vpright dealing that yowe speake so muche of But if yowe will yeat by no meanes graunte that S. Austen doubted of this pointe if he were resolued on anie parte I will proue by alleaging diuerse places against this one of youres that he thought as we doe and not with yow First in a sermon that he made of Petres chaire he hathe these wordes Petrū itaque fundamentū ecclesiae dominus nominauit August Serm. de cathedra S. Petri ideo digné fundamentū hoc ecclesia colit supra quod ecclesiastici aedificij altitudo cōsurgit That is to saie Our Lord therfore named Petre the fundation of the church and for that cause dothe the churche worthily worship this fundation vpon the whiche the heigth of the ecclesiasticall building riseth Againe in an other place speaking of the firste miracle Sermon de Sanct. 26. that S. Petre did in restoring to a lame man the vse of his feete he writeth thus Audistis frequenter ipsum Petrum a Act. 3. domino petram nuncupatum sicut ait Tu es Petrus super Matth. 16. hanc petram oedificabo ecclesiam meam Si ergo Petrus petra est supra quam aedificatur ecclesia recté prius pedes sanat vt sicut in ecclesia fidei fundamentum continet ita in homine membrorum
processe plaing the ape in mocking mowing and tossing of suche graue auctorities as maie serue for the confirmation thereof yow haue not impugned my proposition but scoffingly confirmed it Which maner of answering how it is to be liked I praye the discrete reader to iudge Of the necessitie of one heade in Christes churche The 11. chapitre When I minded to handle in writing the preeminence and superioritie of the B. of Rome ouer Christes vniuersall and catholike churche and considered first that the scripture it selfe then the fathers and councelles finally the examples of the primitiue churche alowed the same I laied for a fundation to builde vpon that there must nedes be one heade in Christes churche to gouerne it Not as though if to the wisdome of him who dothe in his wisdome all thinges it had so semed the gouernement of Aristocratie that is to saie off the best and wisest men might not haue bene preferred by him which is Lorde ouer nature before the rule of Monarchie that is of one alone whiche is moste agreable to nature And for this cause I saied that of necessitie it must so be Which necessitie if I had not bene able to proue as the contrarie shall hereafter appeare by that that you keping youre selfe to the title of youre boke haue onely reproued and not disproued anie one reason off myne yeat must all men off necessitie nedes confesse that seing Christ committed in the scriptures the whole charge of his church to only Peter giuing him auctoritie to feede al Lābes and shepe seing that the fathers with Ioan. 21. such cōformitie confesse the same of Peter and his successors as namely to omit other because I haue hādled this matter elles where and this is not the place propre therefore Chrisostome who saieth that Christ committed the whole charge of all to Peter and his successours nedes I saye must Homil. in Maeth 55 li. 2. de Sacerdot all mē acknowledge the necessitie of that one heade which by suche good proufes they see confirmed although I nor any man elles were able to proue the same by reason To make the matter more clere by example the churche of Christe holdeth that oure blessed ladye was a perpetuall virgin aswell after the byrth of Christe as before Eluidius the heretike holdeth the contrarie If I now to ouerthrowe Eluidius shoulde first place this proposition for my fundation to builde vpon against him That of necessitie that womā what so euer she were of whom the Sauiour of the worlde should take fleshe ought aswel to be preserued pure that that place might not be defiled through which Christ him selfe had passed after her bringing furthe as before it was preserued from being contaminat because he should passe through if this proposition were not proued or coulde not by reason or scriptures be proued woulde yow then that Eluidius shoulde go from the receiued faith of the churche and saye there neded no further battery or vndermining to be made to ouerthrow that which is manifestly proued in the persone off oure lady by the faithe of the churche as the matter is here in the personne of the pope What if disputing against a Iewe or infidell that woulde denie that Christ suffred death for the synnes of the world I should laye for the fundation this saing of the gospell Oportebat Christum pati c. Luca. 24. If Iwer not able to proue this necessitie because goddes omnipotent power might by other meanes haue wrought our saluation doth it by and by folowe that the infidell hath proued his purpose that Christ did not suffer death for vs I wright not this as though I mistrusted the prouing off this proposition of mine that there must be one heade c. but to encountre with you who beinge comen but thus farre beganne to repent yow of the long iourney that yow had to make and therefore to abridge the same thought here to make and therefore to abridge the same thought here to make the reader beleue that it shoulde be nedelesse to goe so farre as to Rome to the Popes owne sight that so youre shunning of the matter might seme to come of politike forsight not of dastardly cowardnesse I saide that the state of goddes people in the olde lawe and experience of ciuile gouernement did proue the Nowell Fol. 29. 2. 23. necessitie of one heade Yow answere that as goddes people in the olde law were one seueral people and had one high priest so that no further can be gathered thereof but that likewise in euery diocesse or countrie it were good to haue one chiefe bishop to rule in the cleargie Oh M. Nowell think you thus to ouerbeare youre pore Dorman neighbours You must remembre yow must remembre that you fight against truthe that will not so be outfaced You must remembre that when we talke of the Iewes as of the people of God we doe not in that point recon them as one seuerall people They were in dede seuerall in respect of other natiōs which had forsakē God but neuer in such sorte seueral as though the whole church of god were not vnder the gouernemnet of their lawe and chiefe priest They were therefore a figure not onelie of one diocesse or one countrie but of the whole churche that now is and made the churche that then was And so the example holdeth still You make my reason taken frō the exāples of kingdomes fol. 30. a. 21. societies families etc. and applied by force of greater reasō to the church to come from S. Cyprian to Pighius to D. Harding and so to me The mo that haue it the gladder I am But I pray you what is this to the purpose whose it be except yow doe this to shewe youre selfe to be a man of greate reading and ignorant neither in the olde writers nor in those of latter time What so euer yow make of me or how so euer it please you to take me I am not iwisse so verye a dolt but I could haue made this reason euen by the experience of those thinges which ronne dailie into myne eyes and neuer haue loked either in S. Cyprian or Pighius or borowed it off D. Harding and had not youre memorie failed you you could haue saide youre selfe that I tolde yow that experience was the thing that moued me to saye it Whose argument or reason so euer it be blinde yow saie it is That let indifferent eyes trye M. Nowell I reason thus Euery kingdome hath his seuerall king euery people citie towne village house and so furthe haue their seuer all head or gouernour ergo the whole churche which is but one diuided into many membres as saieth S. Cyprian must haue one heade as wel as hath one kingdome one people one citie c. Now what faulte finde you Li. 4 ep 2. with this reason I praie you that see so clerely and haue euē youre eies as a man woulde saie in youre handes
they were bishoppees of priuate places yow haue against yow S. Hierome him selfe Who can not be otherwise taken thē to meane thus by calling Petre as you hard before the heade of the other Apostles the maister of Christes house the one shepherd vndre whome there might be one faith You shall speake against Chrisostome who speaking of S. Iames the B. of Hierusalem hathe Quôd si quis percontaretur quomodo Homil. ●●lt in cap. Ioan. vlt. igitur Iacobus sedem Hierosolomis acceperit responderem hunc totius orbis magistrum praeposuisse That if any man woulde aske how then Iames came by the bishoprike of Hierusalē I woulde answere that the maister of all the worlde Peter made him bishop And a litle after in the same place Nam quum magna Christus Petro communicasset c. For when Christe had communicated greate thinges to Peter and committed to his charge the care of the whole worlde c. Last of all if you will nedes contentiously mainteine that Petre was no more aboue the Apostles as they were bishoppes Arnobius then as they were Apostles thē to omitte diuerse other that might be alleaged to this effect yow shall saie againste that auncient eloquent and learned father who liued in the In psalm 138. time of persecution before the reigne of Constantine the greate Arnobius the scholemaistre of that eloquent and learned Lactantius who by name calleth Peter EPISCOPVS EPISCOPORVM the B. of bishoppes Seing nowe that Peter is cōfessed by the fathers to be the heade of the apostles the one pastour the maister of the whole world and bishop of bishops which cā not be in that respecte that the Apostles were all the generall legates of Christe thorough out the whole world what remaineth but to acknowledge that superioritie to haue place as Arnobius wordes importe ouer them as bishoppes And so is youre argument taken from the equalitye of the Apostles shewed to be insufficient to proue your fantasied equalitie of all bishoppes Hetherto you haue talked generally of this epistle of S. Hierome to Euagrius Nowe will you come to the place you saie alleaged by me oute of this epistle Quòd autem postea vnus electus est c. That one was afterwarde chosen to rule the reste that was done for a remedie against schismes c. To this place you adde an other sentence of S. Hierome where for example of that which he had saide he bringeth the churche of Alexandria VVhere from Marke the Euangelist vnto Heracla and Dionisius being bishoppes the priestes did euer place one chosen off their companye in the higher roume and named him bishoppe c. Vpon this place yow conclude as foloweth VVhereby it appeareth plainely that the wordes of Saint Hierrome Nowell ● ▪ a. one chosen afterwarde emongest them to rule the reste for a remedie of schismes doe apperteine to euery bishoppe as heade ruler of the cleargie off his own● diocesse For saieth Saint Hierome suche an heade ruler was chosen at Alexandria in Aegypt c. The example of Alexandria maketh nothing against Dorman my vnderstanding of these wordes to be ment of the Apostles For why might not S. Marke the B. of Alexandria be made bishop there after this fourme of gouernement vsed emongest the Apostles that as emongest the Apostles one was aboue the reste so in Alexandria shoulde be one chiefe ruler aboue the rest of the cleargie there But in this pointe I will contende with no man For howe euer they be to be vnderstande of the Apostles or of euerye bishop as heade ruler off the cleargye in his owne diocesse once this is cleere that by them is proued that of one company there must for the better auoiding of schismes be one heade Againe on the other side you seme to be as indifferent and therefore you adde And withall what so euer was done afterwarde was not done Nowell fol. 43. a. 23 de iure diuino vpon the grounde of Goddes lawe but of an ecclesiasticall ordre and policie I praye you what if this were but an ecclesiasticall ordre Dorman M. Nowell Thinke you it nothing to breake the canons and constitutions of the vniuersall churche Because with men of youre vocation that is counted a small faulte I will proue to the reader euen by S. Hierome him selfe that this ordre to haue one generall heade ouer Christes churche is neither the inuention of ambitiouse popes as before sclaunderously you saide neither grounded only vpon anye ecclesiasticall ordre and policie as here vpon better aduise more modestly you reporte but vpon the infallible grounde of Christes owne expresse ordinaunce S. Hierome therefore writing against one of youre auncestors Iouinian the heretike who maintained that votaries and professed persones might laufully mary for the defence Aug. lib. 2. Retractat cap. 22. Haeresi 82. of this heresie of his for so hath S. Augustine termed it brought the example of Peter who was he saide a maried man By this occasion offred S. Hierome vttreth of S. Peter these wordes At dicis super Petrum fundatur ecclesia Lib. 1. cōtr● Iouin licet idipsum in alio loco super omnes Apostolos fiat cuncti claues regni coelorum accipiant ex aequo super eos ecclesiae fortitudo solidetur tamen propterea inter duodeeim vnus eligitur vt capite constituto schismatis tollatur occasi● ▪ Sed cur non Ioannet electus est virgo AEtati delatum erat quia Petrus senior erat ne adhuc adolescens ac pené puer progressae aetatis hominibus praeferretur magister bonus qui occasionem iurgij debuerat auferre discipulis c. causam praebere videtur inuidiae That is to saye But thou saiest the churche is builded vpon Petre allthough the same in an other place be done vppon all the Apostles and al of them receiue the keyes of heauē and indifferētly vpon thē is the strength of the church grounded yeat therfore is there one chosen emōgest the 12 THAT BY APPOINTING A HEADE OCCASION OF SCHISMES BE TAKEN AWAYE But why was not Iohn chosen being a virgin Age was preferred because Peter was elder Lest a strippling and yeat almost a childe should be preferred before auncient and elderly mē and the good maister which Christ appointed Peter to be heade shoulde take from his scholers occasion of strife c. might some to ministre cause of enuie Hetherto the wordes off S. Hierome Of the which maye be concluded Firste that this ordre to haue one heade in Christes churche is no ecclesiasticall ordre and policie but an ordre appointed by Christes owne mouthe to begin in his blessed Apostles in whome if this gouernement were necessary for the auoiding of schismes howe muche more necessary it is emongest vs I leaue to the learned and wise to iudge The secōde cōclusion that I gather vpō this place is that here S. Hierome teacheth vs that this common obiection of the heretikes
nombre of priestes there ought to be one chiefe ruler chosen as though only Petre had bene a bishop and the other apostles pore priestes and no more Where is nowe the equalitie that you are wont to obiect to vs of the Apostles with Petre Who maketh the Apostles more inferiour to Peter you or we We saie the Apostles all of them were bishoppes in one place or other you make youre count that they were only inferiour priestes Now being all of them bishoppes and Peter by youre confession their heade Who seeth not that the ordre planted by Christe in his church is that there be one bishop for the pacifieng of schismes ouer the rest Againe if 12. persones so well instructed by the spirite of God as the Apostles were had a heade appointed ouer them for remedie against schismes what reason leadeth yow to thinke that emongest so manye ●ades as be in the vniuersall churche gouernours of particuler churches not so priuileaged with grace there maye not be the like yea greater cause to feare schismes and so consequently that there ought not to be the same remedie that is to saye one heade So that if you counte youre selfe hurt when it is proued that there ought to be one chiefe heade of Christes churche you are by graunting of this prerogatiue to S. Peter aboue the rest of the Apostles verie daungerously hurte Yea but you were prouided for all suche after clappes before I doubte not Other wise so circumspect a man as you are woulde neuer haue yealded so farre And therfore you adde And if M. Dorman vpon this graunte woulde inferre suche a Nowell supremacie of one ouer the rest of the Apostles as the pope claimeth ouer the churche S. Paule reprouing Peter more sharpely Galat. 2. to his face then is laufull nowe for any bishop to deale with the pope dothe proue that Peter had no suche supremacy One thing I must here tell you by the waie M. Nowell Dorman that in debating this matter of the auctoritie of S. Peter aboue the rest of the Apostles except you forsake S. Hierome you must forgo this example of S. Paule his reprouing of S. Peter which S. Hierome holdeth against S. Austen how truly I dispute not in this place to haue bene but a made matter betwene them that Paule shoulde reprehende and Peter suffer him selfe to be reprehendid for vsing the legall ceremonies as appeareth in the epistles written to and fro betwene them And therfore if you will be tried by S. Hierome he shoulde rather holde with this supremacie as the man who if he erred in striuing with S. Austen about this reprehending of Peter erred onely because he thought it a thing vnsemely and vnlikely that S. Paule woulde so reprehende the prince of the Apostles Which was he saieth the cause why Origen and other to stoppe the mouthe of Porphirius the heretike who laied to S. Paules charge that he was ouerbolde to reprehende Peter the chiefe of the Apostles expounded this place as he did But leauing S. Hierome and graunting that Peter was truly and in deede reprehended by S. Paule let vs examine whether suche a supremacie as is here spoken of maie not by the iudgement of the learned fathers of Christes churche stande wel inough for all this reprouing of S. Peter vsed by S. Paule I will emongest other alleage to this purpose two only S. Cyprian and S. Austen Epist ad Quintum The wordes S. Cyprian are these Na● nec Petrus quem primum dominus elegit super quem aedificauit ecclesiam suam c. For neither Pure whome oure lorde chose to be the chiefe and vpon whome he builded his church when he contended after with Paule about circūcision reuenged him selfe or chalenged anie thing insolently or arrogātly in saing that he had the primacy and that he ought rather to be obeied of those that were nouices and came after Thus farre S. Cyprian With whome agreeth S. Austen as he that alleageth this verie place to proue that S. Cyprian to whose auctoritie the Donatistes leaned Lib. 2. de baptis contra Donatist ea for the baptising againe of suche as were Christened by heretikes woulde easely suffer him selfe for his humilitie being but one bishop or the doinges of his owne prouince either to be corrected by the statutes of the whole churche seing that he praised S. Peter in whome was the primacie of the Apostles for the same vertue of humilitie in suffering him selfe to be reproued of S. Paule Thus it appeareth that S. Paules resisting of S. Peter was no derogatiō to S. Peters auctoritie as the which by the confessiō of both these learned fathers remained saufe and whole notwithstanding the reprehension of S. Paule and withall that you and your fellowes M. Nowell who vse so often to the derogation of S. Peters auctoritie to cite this place of the epistle Galat. 2. to the Galathians doe shamefully abuse the same with no small iniurie to the blessed apostles bothe But yeat you fare that I haue saide nothing all this while to this that Peters supremacie was no suche as is the popes whome no man may blame what so euer he doe Yes sir the pope maie be blamed Neither doe the texte nor the glose by you here alleaged saye the contrarie And so haue diuerse good men freelie reprehended diuerse popes S. Bernard a mōke reprehended Eugenius the third more sharpely iwisse as youre selues can full well tel and therfore make much of him in that respect then euer did S. Paule reproue S. Petre. Paulus 4. was admonished by lettres writtē by one in Rome of the vnhonest behauiour of his nephues the two Caraffas He toke the aduertisemēt in good parte and banished them the courte immediatly What should I remembre the lettres written by Petrus a So to a frier also to Pius the pope that nowe is wherin he admonished him freely to take ordre that bishoppes and other inferiour pastours might be compelled Dat. Tridenti 17. Aprilis Anno Do. 1563. Nowell fol. 44. b. 24. to kepe residēce with their charges and threatened to him vtter dānation in the iudgemēt of God vnlesse he did It foloweth not you saye that one being chosen to beruler emongest twelue that therefore one maie be also chosen to be ruler ouer all the cleargie of the worlde No more do the it that because there was one chosen of euerye one churche or diocesse to rule the reste that therefore there shoulde be one chosen to rule all bishoppes of all diocesses namely at Rome and the saide ruler to be called pope or heade of the vniuersall churche The first answere touching that one heade emongest Dorman Institut li. 4. cap. 6. Sect. 8. fol. 53. a. b the Apostles you learned of youre Maister Caluin against whome I haue proued that the consequent holdeth verye well in my first booke The argument I haue showed oftentimes howe it holdeth and last of all in the
be suche doltes and so depriued of common sense that we vnderstand not to what ende the fauour shewed to an Anabaptist an Eluidian or anye other heretike for the crueltie practised on the catholike tendeth Argueth it not to the worlde that you seke rather meanes politikely for the tyme to staye them then vtterly for euer to represse them Well thus muche off youre priuate dissensions and lurking heresies whereof one of late in spite of all polycie sustening Verons heresie touching praedestination to abyde no longre burst oute hathe the blaste off common fame blowen ouer to vs. What other priuey store of opinions and seuerall doctrines maye be founde emonge you they knowe best that best are acquainted with you We as we can not knowe all so we can not reporte all This that hathe bene brought is sufficient to proue yowe M. Nowell a lowde lyer vntill you shewe the like to haue bene emongest vs before your heresies began The whiche because yow dispaired to be euer able to doe for yow confesse hereafter that there was at that time a coloured kinde off quietnesse emongest vs fol. 56. b. Yow bethought yow off a better councell that is to saye that emongest the Apostles of Christe the learned fathers of the councell off Nice and other off no lesse fame in Christes churche there haue bene also schismes and sectes You re wordes are these And though there were not a perfecte consent of all men in all pointes what merueile yeat were it if that shoulde happen emongest Nowell vs which was not alltogether lacking emongest the Apostles themselues c. This impudent and blasphemouse shifte you haue borowed Dorman of your Apologie the Apologie of Iohn Caluin he of that greate Lombard the diuell him selfe But here I beseche Staphilus in Epist ad Episcop Eystetēsen the considre with me good reader what either a miserable and detestable religiō is this either elles what weake but shamelesse patrones hathe it founde when suche faultes as be noted therein can no otherwise be excused but by sclaundring moste wickedly the learned doctours of the churche the generall councelles of the same yea the moste blessed and gloriouse apostles them selues Tell these newe gospellers that whereas the churche of Christe is Matth. 5. a citie builded vpon the toppe of a hill a candell set in the house to giue light to all that be in it a kingdome that reacheth from sea to sea and from the East to the west that Lucae 11. Psalm 71. their churche that they boast of is a secrete scattred congregation vnknowen to all the worlde and to them selues toe yow shall haue a peuishe proctour steppe furthe and answere as M. Nowell dyd before we take this obiection as Supra fol. 39. a. 32. no reproche being common to oure congregation with the primitiue churche of oure sauiour Christe and his holie apostles specially in the time of persecution Charge them as I doe here with schismes and you haue hearde the answere thereto allready The reporter whereof and as manie as before haue vsed this and like defences I can resemble to no worldly thing better then to a filthy and beastly sowe who being fowle and bemired her selfe neuer careth to be cleane but fodeth on still in the durte beraieng all thinges that she meeteth or rubbeth her selfe vpon as these schismaticall proctours doe not caring so muche to purge them selues as to laie their filthe vpon other that be cleane and to make them tomble and walowe in the mire as they doe Now to this blasphemouse shift because it is in the confutation of In the 3. parte fol. 136. and seq the Apologie so learnedly answered I will saie no more but that it is moste directly repugnant to the holie scriptures which beare witnesse that credentiū erat cor vnū anima vna Those which beleued at the first preaching of the Act. 4. Apostles were of one harte and of one minde It tendeth The Apostles varied dot in doctrine openly to the defacing of that marcke which Christe as of all other the moste certeine and suer to discerne those whiche are his gaue to his disciples when commending peace and vnitie he tolde them In hoc cognoscent omnes quia mei Ioan. 13. discipuli estis si diligatis inuicem In this marcke shall all men knowe that you are my disciples if you loue together M. Nowell chargeth the Apostles as the heathen philosophers dyd that finally it commeth from the ethnike and heathen spirite of certeine vaine philosophers as witnesseth the learned father Cirillus the B. of Alexandria who made in his time this verie obiection that M. Nowell nowe dothe Th● Lib. 1. contra lulianū which place maie it please the learned reader to viewe and there shall he finde that this good bishop was so assured off that perfecte agrement of the Apostles that he was not afearde to make the offer to those vaine philosophers that so reasoned with him as M. Nowell dothe with me to leaue to defende them anie farder in case they coulde proue anie disagrement emongest them in doctrine Nowe that yow haue done with the Apostles yow come to the fathers and doctours of Christes churche of whome yow saye What wondre if that were emongest vs touching some pointes Nowell that was not wanting in the primitiue churche emongest the olde fathers Let the variance emongest the bishoppes assembled at Nicene councell let the contention betwene the bishoppes of the east and west churche about the keping of Easter daye * Beholde an arrogant spirite taking vpon him to iudge and reprehende the most vertuouse and learned bishoppes of the East and west churche Dorman a matter not worthy of suche variance be a witnesse thereof This vaine obiection borowed also of youre Apologie as is allmost alltogether what so euer yow haue here patched vp in fiue leaues concerning this matter of schismes is in the answere therto made abundantly satisfied Thither I referre the good reader where as thow maiest finde that some of these controuersies here mentioned by M. Nowell were of matters indifferent and not determined by the churche other some not of doctrine or religion but off priuate quarelles as happened emongest the fathers in the councell of Nice finally some suche as be schismes if they be schismes at all in logike not in diuinitie or matters off faithe so in matters of weight arrested vpon by the determination of the churche such striffes can not be named neither by this schismaticall proctour neither yeat by anye other So greate cause we haue to giue thankes to allmightie God the preseruer of his churche who hathe so mightely defended the same that when schismatikes and heretikes haue done all that they can for the better cloking of their dissension to proue the like in the fathers and learned doctours that haue gone before they being not able with all that malice can deuise or falsehode
preache Foxes testimonie of Saint Frauncis he thought to imitate the same in him selfe and his disciples and left of shoes 〈◊〉 but one coate and that of Vile clothe in stede of a latchet to 〈◊〉 and of a girdle he toke aboute him an hempen corde and ● appareled his disciples teaching them to fullfill for so he speaketh the perfection of the ghospell to apprehende pouertye and to walke in the waye of holye simplicie He left in writing to his disciples and folowers his rule which he called Regulam euangelicam i. the rule of the ghospel as though the gospel of Christ were not a sufficiēt rule to all Christian men but it must take his perfectiō of frātike Fraūcis Hetherto this frātike fox Now whether these be iust causes to storme and toke on as he dothe against this blessed saincte for either these be the causes or he giueth none at al let the wise and godly reader iudge Whereas he calleth him frantike for calling his rule the rule of the ghospel what woulde he haue sayed of him if he had termed it a rule of mannes inuention which nowe rageth so for calling it the rule of the ghospell But he quarelleth with him because by this rule giuen by him to his disciples it shoulde seme that the ghospell off Christe were not a sufficient rule c. O fonde man By that meanes might he also call S. Paule frantike for writing Folowe Philipp 3. me brethern and marke them whiche walke so as we haue giuen yow the example As thoughe the example of Christe were not sufficient but it must take his perfection in saint Paule For euen as S. Paule willed the Philippenses none otherwise to folowe him then as he folowed Christe so did saint Frauncis giue no other rule then Christe had giuen before as the title of his rule it selfe dothe declare And as S. Paule willed them to folowe him because he folowed Christ so deliuered S. Frauncis to those that would folow him that rule of Christe to be embrased in suche sorte as he had giuen them the example before This fox runneth on his course and spareth not with his taile to caste his vrine in mennes eyes For he addeth This Frauncis as he was superstitiouse Fox counteth it superstition to cast awaye worldly Goddes in casting all thinges from him euen also the girdle girding a coarde aboute him so in outewarde chastising of him selfe so streight he was to him selfe leauing the ordinarye remedye appointed by God that in winter season he couered his bodye with yse and snowe He called pouertie his ladie he kept nothing ouer night Merueile not nowe good reader if M. Nowell call religiouse men popishe schismes and sectes if he charge them with forsaking the religion and name of Christe when thow hearest the abandoning and casting awaye of worldly gooddes the embrasing of pouertie the free committing of a mannes selfe to Goddes prouidence without carcke or care what shall become of him on the morowe according to Christes owne counsell the chastising off Matth. 19. 6. the bodye to make it seruiseable to the spirite vsed by saint Paule when I saye thow hearest all this expressely called superstition ceasse to merueile anye longer Of this blessed 1. Cor. 9. saincte S. Frauncis I coulde saie muche listed I to make impertinent discourses Although of his vertue and holynesse there can be no greater testimonie then that his ennemies them selues can finde nothing to obiect against him but that which Chirste and his Apostles taught and practised and euerye good man shoulde wishe to be in him selfe For which cause Henricus Pantaleon an heretike as M. Fox is but yeat of a more calmer spirite speaking of him in hys Chronographie vseth these wordes S. Franciscus Asisius Pag. 95. Hispanus sanctitate eruditione illustris in Italia claret S. Frauncis a spaniarde of the towne of Asisium famouse for his holynesse and learning florisheth in Italie Wel yow see good readers what Nowelles oure vnhappye age that can abide nothing that well is hathe brought furthe Yow see what foxes Sathan the maister of the game hathe vnkenelled in oure countrie of England to destroye oure Lordes vineyarde Yow are not ignorāt what flesheflies and canon crowes haue builded their neastes euen in the churche off God Oure Lorde graunte vs as we see them and knowe them so to flee them and auoide them But now to returne to M. Nowell some man maie happely aske me what answere I make to the scripture noted here in the margēt forbidding expressely that we call not men oure fathers on Fol. 54. b. 31. Matth. 23. earthe which these ordres of religiouse men doe To this I answere with Euthimius Theophilact and S. Hierom vpō this place that we are not by these wordes forbidden to Euthimius Theophilactus Hieron in ca. Matth. 23. call them that begot vs either to the worlde by the fleshe or to God by the spirite fathers The wordes of Euthimius are these Hoc dixit non prohibens vocari patres eos qui iuxta carnem genuerunt c. This Christ spake not forbidding them to be called fathers who haue begotten other either carnally or spiritually but that we might knowe who is chiefely and as the verie first cause to be called oure father For that father of oures is god only that is in heauen they that begette vs after the fleshe or after the spirite be worckers together with God and ministres rather of oure natiuitie He saieth therfore call none youre father in earthe as youre chiefe father and first cause of youre being for that father is but one which is in heauen With Euthimius agreeth Theophilact saing of this place Nō vt neminē patrem vocent sed ne ignorent quem principaliter patrem vocare oporteat Not that we shoulde call no man father but that we shoulde not be ignorant whome we ought specially to call fathers S. Hierome moueth this verie obiection vpon this place Howe then the monckes of Aegipt and Palestina were called fathers how S. Paule contrary to this precepte 2. Cor. 5. forbidding aswell the name of maister as of father called him selfe the maister of the gentiles To the whiche he answereth agreing with Euthimius and Theophilact that there is one principall maister one speciall father that all other be fathers and maisters but not properly Thus called S. Paul the Corinth His children and him selfe 1. Cor. 4. their father Thus called the monckes in S. Austens time their heades fathers Thus call those of S. Benedicte Lib. de morib eccl cathol cap. 31. his ordre S. Benedict their father because Christ wrought by him as an instrumēt this spirituall birthe in them Thus doe the Cistertians Carmelites Chartusians Franciscans with the rest Emongest whome I can not but note how warely and wisely yow passed ouer the Augustines left yow shoulde either haue bene driuen to make S. Austen the auctor of a popishe and schismaticall
sprong vp euen with youre first maister and his scholers as youre selues can not denie and departe from Christes knowen churche or elles Christe had no churche at all as those disciples off Christe that you speake off did With whom youre resemblaunce is so muche the greater because that as these first heretikes departed from the church Christe and his Apostles because they would not beleue in Christes doctrine of the blessed sacrament so haue you parted a greate nombre of yow from vs for the same cause and mainteine the same heresie as S. Augustine In psalm 54. calleth it Nowe as it were no good reason to proue vs schismatikes because yow are parted from vs being onoe as yow can not denye of vs so can no man iustly charge Christe and his Apostles with that crime because his disciples parted from him And as I answere to this so doe I to youre other obiections of the schismatikes in S. Paules time of those other also of the Nicolaites the Simonians Cerinthians c. who all parting from the knowen churche of Christe ought not to preiudicate the same For their departure was alwaies so sensible that the true christian might saye with S. Iohn They haue departed from emongest Ioan. 1. cap. 2. vs but they were none of vs. The Apostles and their companye remained alwaies a visible and knowen churche So that these examples can nothing helpe to couer your schismaticall sores whereas in Christe and the Apostles them selues there was neuer anye breache of vnitie whiche yow shoulde haue proued lykewyse therby to excuse your first Christ and his Apostles Whereas an other plea of youres is that emongest the high priestes and Phariseis there was no dissention but greate vnity and concorde emongest them against Christes Apostles to that I saye that although they agreed in this all to persecute the Apostles yeat emongest them selues they were Ioseph lib. Antiq. Iudaie 13. cap. 8. diuided into sectes and schismes some being called Phariseis other some Sadduces and yeat a thirde secte called Esseni so that they resemble more liuely yow protestantes then vs catholikes agreing as the Phariseis did against the truthe and diuided also with them into sectes emongest youreselues If you departed from vs as Christ and the Apostles you saie did from the high priestes and their churche then should you be at vnitie and concorde emōgest your selues as the Apostles were then must you shewe out of the scripture the fall of the churche of Christe the corruption of Esaiae 6● the same and the restitution in the latter daies to come all Esaiae 66. Hierem. 6. Ezech. 44 Habacuc 2. Act. 7. 13. 28. foreprophecied in the lawe as the Apostles proued oute of the scripture the fall of the Sinagoge the corruption of the high priestes the comming of Messias the placing of the newe lawe that shoulde continue When yowe can proue this and defeate Christes promise made of his churche to be visible and vniuersall ouer all the worlde and to his churche to continue for euer then call vs phariseis hardely Matth. 16. and spare not calle youre selues Christe and his apostles we giue yow leaue For furder excuse of your schismes and diuisions yow fo 56. b. 1. tell vs of the troubles that rose in Iurie and shortly after ouer all the world vpō the preaching of Christes gospell c. If diuisions and troubles were then it is not to be merueiled at oure sauiour him selfe saing of him selfe non veni pacem Matth. 10. mittere sed gladium I come not to sende peace but a sworde But oure age is not nowe M. Nowell the primitiue churche oure faithe is not nowe to be begonne of newe It hathe bene with consent of all the worlde established these 12. hundred yeares And therefore youre comparison is lewde and vntrue Yow saie furder And as iustly might yow charge the Apostles and their doctrine Nowell with those schismes sectes and troubles as yow do charge vs with those that haue risen in oure dayes Euer yow harpe vpon that string that yow woulde be Dorman like the apostles which when yow can proue that Christ promised to builde an other churche beside that whereof he made Peter the heade and that frier Martine Luther shoulde be the seconde Messias and Zuinglius or Carolstadius the heade therof then we will easely graunte to you But note againe I praie yow M. Nowell the difference of the schismes arising in the Apostles time and of youre schismes arising in our time The Apostles were not at diuision emongest them selues yow are The Apostles were before those schismes yowe haue risen together with the schismes Those schismes departed out from the Apostles your schismes are within youre selues Againe see the agrement of those schismes with youres and confer the case of the state of the churche nowe with that of the primitiue churche then Those schismes and sectes departed out off the primitiue churche euen so haue yow departed nowe oute of the same churche being of longre continuance They being departed multiplied into mo schismes and parted into farder diuision yow being departed multiply daily from schisme to schisme and newe sectes haue risen sence youre departure from Martin Luther They troubled and disquieted the primitiue church of the Apostles yow trouble and disquiet the catholike churche that nowe is If you demaunde the prouffe of this which I saie answer the booke which I am suer yow will neuer be hable to answere lately set furthe in oure tongue moste truly called The forteresse of the faithe c. And shewe vs as you will stande to it hereafter when the faith and light of goddes holy word which yow saie hathe nowe of late sprong againe was extinguished where and by whome Where it is well knowen to the worlde that oure learned men Nowell haue by their writinges more oppugned and repressed the saide sectes then all the papistes haue done This is that whiche I saide before that yow in dede Dorman wright diligently one against an other which is a moste euident assurance of youre dissention in doctrine And if these youre writinges were in the vulgare tongues to be reade of all men there woulde be no better argument in the worlde to disgrace youre doctrine for euer Whereas yow compare your diligence in writing with that of the catholikes if the late writinges of learned catholikes of all countries especially of Germanie it selfe were in dede compared to youres it shoulde appeare howe false and vntrue this is In dede we must nedes confesse a truthe that whilest we all remained Nowell vnder this quiet obedience of youre Romishe heade in one doctrine of his traditions there was a coloured kinde of qui●tnesse c. Foelix necessitas quae cogit ad meliora Happye is the Dorman necessitie whiche forceth to the better Here M. Nowell correcting him selfe for that before he charged vs so heynously withe schismes and sectes wyll somewhat
that to deceiue the simple vseth here these wordes Yealde vp the honour and glorie of gouerning the whole world and church to god as though any man so claimed the gouernement of the churche as that he woulde displace Christe thereof Also you see that in this treatie hetherto as M. Dorman hathe Nowell not one worde out of the newe testament so hath he alleaged but only two textes out of the olde testament one oute of Deuteron cap. 17. c. an other of Numeri 16. which bothe make directly against him c. You see and knowe I doubte not that one texte of holye Dorman scripture is as good as a hundred You see that M. Nowell goeth guilefully aboute to abuse the simple by this terme nation as thoughe because the Iues whiche were but one nation had their chiefe prieste and high bishoppe therefore there shoulde folowe thereof naught elles but that euerye nation countrye diocesse or churche shoulde haue also their chiefe bishoppe withoute anye one heade ouer the whole whereas the Iues althoughe they were but one nation were yeat the chosen people and churche of God and emongest diuerse heades of seuerall tribues there was ouer all those heades one chiefe heade You haue seene that of S. Cyprians applieng of this texte to inferiour magistrates can be gathered no necessary argument that it maie not be otherwise applyed that is to the higher You haue seene as many as haue readen my first booke fol. 33. 34. 35. that Moises was a prieste that yeat there foloweth no absurditie of being two high priestes at once because as S. Augustine Lu quaest super Leuitic lib. 3. cap. 23. saieth they were bothe high priestes in diuerse respectes the one in commaunding to be done the other in executing thinges commaunded And withall you see that we are here by M. Nowell vntruly burdened of disobedience to oure Souereigne as not acknowledging suche auctoritye in the same ouer spirituall matters as was in Moises and Aaron VVherefore you maye well vnderstande that were it either Nowell proffitable or necessary c to haue such an one heade God woulde haue certified vs of a thing so proffitable and necessarie more plainely and exprossely then by two olde shadowes of the Iuishe churche which doe teache vs also the contrary God hath certified vs by building his church vpon one Dorman by making one generall pastour ouer all the rest that his Matth 16. Ioan. vlt. pleasure was to appointe this maner of gouernement in his churche But what meane yow to finde faulte with the testimonies of the olde testament calling them shadowes and to demaunde other of the newe hauing brought for youre opinion not so muche as one piece of a sentence out of either the olde testament or the newe Yow see howe blindely he going aboute to proue that there Nowell fo 120. a. 1 ought to be one onelye heade ouer all the church bringeth in for proufe thereof the regiment of seuerall countries kingdomes cities c. by seuerall princes seuerall magistrates and heades whiche maketh moste directly with vs that seuerall churches should in likewise haue their seuerall heades Yow see that oure question being whether the catholike Dorman churche of Christe whiche is but one ought to be ruled by one heade or manie M. Nowell here like the blinde bayard that he speakethe of saieth that my example proueth for them that it ought to be ruled by manye because many kingdomes haue many kinges wherein yow see that diuiding the church which is but one he goeth against the faithe of the churche Yow see that he dissembleth my reason which is that as a kingdom because it is one is best ruled by one heade so the church which is but one is best ruled by one heade Yow see that to this reason hetherto he neuer answered Yow see how often S. Cyprian is by him alleaged for the pope Nowell of Rome his supremacy in those places where he speaketh of Rogatian and of him selfe being bothe bishoppes c. Yow see howe the places of S. Cyprian and S. Hierom Dormna expressely mainteining the superioritie of one aboue the rest in euerye diocesse with the cause added for the auoiding of schismes brought by me to proue by more forcible reason the necessitie of one heade ouer the whole M. Nowell wresteth to the directe prouing of the B. of Rome his supremacy wherof in that place as it was not my purpose to intreate so if I had I had done preposterously and confounded my appointed ordre of writing Yow see howe the place of S. Basile brought to declare the maner off heretikes in contemning the auctoritie of their bishoppes he laieth to my charge vntruly to haue bene brought as spoken of the pope of Rome Yow see that the comparison made betwene Nouatus and oure protestantes of England holdeth in this that either of them laboureth to withdrawe the subiectes from their laufull obedience Yow haue heard good Readers the sory melodie of M. Nowelles harpe whereupon twanging on a false string he made a shamefull lye in saing that Vrsitius and Valens offred vp their recantation as well to Athanasius as to Iulius the pope Yow see that he hath oftentimes beelied S. Cyprian and S. Hierome feining them to make all bishoppes equall in auctoritie and no one to be aboue the other Yowe see his owne inconstancie and disagrement withe him selfe one while affirming all bishoppes to be equall and none to be aboue the other an other while denieng and making chiefe prelates in euerie prouince yow see him reiecting pope Leo as witnesse in his owne cause and bringing in the African to esbeare witnesse to them selues Yow see to deface pope Leo howe shamefully he sclaundreth Zosimus of whome the whole Africane councell wrote so reuerently Yow see howe he burdeneth without all maner of proufe Celestinus of whome Prosper writeth so honorably with other his successours to haue forged a greate many of the epistles nowe abrode in the names of Clement Anacletus c. yowe see howe he spareth no iniuriouse wordes to Leo calling him theefe noting him of ambition whome the councell of Calcedon called thrise blessed and God honoured withe miracles Yow see that he chalengeth vntrulie the copies of Leo to be contrarye one to an other Yow see that he is a plaine makebate and to mende his cause by setting the doctours at variance betwene them selues how he heweth mangleth and cutteth awaie from the auctors that he alleageth wordes yea sentences to serue his purpose You see in defence of schismes howe he laboureth to finde vnquietnesse emongest the Apostles and disciples of Christe you see that to deface vnitie as he taketh it from the Apostles so he attributeth it to the Phariseis and enemies of Christe You see for lacke of weightier matter he chargeth vs with the disputable opinions of scholemen and logiciners with diuersitie of apparell of diete and meates which maners as
did to those that obiected to Lib. 5. ep 32. him the Emperours auctoritie in matters of religion Soluimus quae sunt Caesaris Caesari quae sunt dei deo Tributu● Caesaris est non negatur Ecclesia dei est Caesari vtique non debet addici quia ius Caesaris esse non potest templum dei Quod cum honorificenti● Imperatoris nemo dictum potest negare Quid enim honorificētius quā vt imperator ecclesiae filius esse dicatur Quod sine peccato dicitur cum gratia dicitur Imperator enim bonus in●ra ecclesiam non supra eccl●siam est We paye to Cesar that which is his and to God that whiche belongeth to God Tribute is due to Cesar it is not denied him The churche is goddes it maye not apperteine to Cesar because the temple of God can not be Caesars right The whiche no man can denie to be saied but with the Emperours honour For what is more honorable then for the Emperour to be called the sonne of the churche The whiche when it is said it is spoken with fauour without offence For a good Emperour is within the church not aboue the churche Thus muche S. Ambrose a prowde prieste by youre iudgement because he acknowledged not the Emperour to be his supreme gouernour in causes ecclesiasticall But because you thinke M. Nowell and saye also that I haue lewdely abused my selfe in confuting that whiche no man holdeth I will make it appeare that you haue lewdely done in so saing and that I went not about to proue that the heade is not the heade because it can not or list not doe all offices of all the principall mēbres of the bodie which you saie vntruly is the effecte of all my seconde long treaty but that temporall princes can not be the heades because they can not doe the office of the heade The whiche to proue I will alleage youre owne wordes wherein the parte of a heade you saye consisteth They are these To commaunde thinges aswell ecclesiasticall as ciuile to be done Nowell to see them done to commende and rewarde all well doers of them to correct and punishe all euill doers of them or negligent in their office is the parte of a heade or supreame gouernour to doe thinges commaunded is the office of inferiour membres and obedient subiectes We haue now good Reader M. Nowels owne limitatiō Dorman wherein the office of the heade of the church consisteth I praie the cōsidre when I alleaged scripture that the gouernemēt Act. 20. of the church was cōmitted to bishoppes and priestes that they must be obeied which watche for oure soules spoken also of priestes Hebr. 13. when I alleaged the blessed martyr Ignatus bidding vs Epist. ad Smirnē●es first to honour God nexte the bishop as bearing his image and then after that the king willing all the people to obeye Epist ad Piladelphenses Lib. 10. cap. 2 eccl histor Ambros lib. 5. epi. 32. the Emperour the Emperour to obey the bisshop the bisshop Christe c. whē I alleaged the exāple of Constātine the first Christian Emperour refusing to iudge ouer bisshoppes because God had giuen them power to iudge him when I alleaged these wordes of S. Ambrose to the Emperour Quando audisti clementissime imperator in causa fidei laicos de episcopo iudicasse Ita ergo quadā adulatione curuamur vt sacerdotalis iuris simus immemores quod deus donauit mihi hoc ipse putem alijs esse credendum Si docendus est episcopus a laico quid sequitur Laicus ergo disputet episcopus audiat episcopus discat a laico At certe si velscripturarū seriem diuinarū vel vetera tempora retractemus quis est qui abnuat in causa fidei in causa inquam fidei episcopos solerede imperatoribus non imperatores de episcopis iudicare Eris deo fauente etiam senectutis maturitate prouectior tunc de hoc censebis qualis ille episcopus sit qui laicis ius sacerdotale substernit That is to saye when haue you hearde moste gentle Emperour that laye men haue iudged of the bishop Be we therefore so crookened withe flattrye that we shoulde forget the priestly right and that whiche God gaue to me I shoulde thinke to be to be commited to other If the bishop be to be taught of the Laye man what will folowe Let the laye man then dispute and the bishoppe be a hearer let the bishoppe learne off the laye man But truly if we will loke to the course of the Note holy scripture or call to memorye the times past who can denye that in a cause of faithe a matter I saie of faithe the bishoppes were wont to iudge of Christian Emperours not Emperours of bishoppes Yow shall be God willing youre selfe one daye of more ripe age and then you shall iudge what maner of bishoppe he is whiche bringeth the right of priesthode in subiection to lay men Thus farre the wordes of Sainte Ambrose to Valentinian the Emperoure taking vpon him by euell councell to entremedle in ecclesiasticall iurisdiction When to these places I added the notable testimonies out of Athanasius where the Emperour In epist ad Solitar vitam agent is bidden not to entremedle nor commaunde in ecclesiasticall matters He is called Antichriste for making him selfe chiefe of the bishoppes for ruling in ecclesiasticall iudgementes for making his palace the consistory of ecclesiasticall matters Finally when I brought Caluin him selfe against this opinion of making temporall princes the heades in ecclesiasticall matters did I fight with mine owne shadowe Did I laboure in confuting that whiche no man holdeth Are not these auctorities directly against the commaunding of princes in ecclesiasticall thinges against the taking vpon them to correcte or iudge bishoppes in matters of faithe wherein the office M. Nowell saieth of the heade dothe consiste You maye therefore nowe perceiue good Readers that it was but a pretended cause of M. Nowelles parte that he here alleageth to shift of that to M. Iuell at the least from him selfe whiche he was suer he shoulde neuer be able to answere Wherefore nowe to conclude with you M. Nowell I will giue you this frendely councell for a farewell to striue no longre against priestes lest it happen to you that the blessed Martyr S. Cyprian saieth was reuealed to him Qui Lib. 4. epist 9. Christo non credit sacerdotem facienti postea credere in ipiet sacerdotem vindicāti He that beleueth not Christ appointing the prieste shall after begin to beleue him reue●ging the prieste Struggle no longer against the See of Rome of the A singulier testimonie ●or the churche of Rome It maye be added be fore fol. 192. b. Psal contra pa●em Donati which S. Augustine saieth Ipsa est sedes Petri quam non vincunt superbae inferorum portae That See is the rocke whiche the proude gates of hell shall not ouercome For iff you doe you are like to leese youre labour as you see except a lymme you thinke be able to doe more then the wide gates off the diuells palace ¿ Deo Gratias Quandoquidem Liber iste perlectus approbatus est a viris Sacrae Theologiae linguae Anglicanae peritissimis iudico eum suto posse imprimi euulgari Ita testor iudico Cunerus Petri pastor Sancti Petri Louaniensis 16. Octobris Anno. 1561.