Who obteining that seate by vnlaufull meanes that is to saie vpon promise made to the Empresse to restore to the bishoprike of Constantinople Anthemius depriued thereof by Agapetus for heresie as sone as euer he entred into that seate the empresse chalenging him off his promise so was his wicked minde by gods speciall prouidence soddenly altered made answere that rather then ▪ he woulde restore an heretike to his seate from whence he was iustlie remoued he woulde soner suffer all the extremitie that might be And so did he in dede lyeng longe in prison suffer bothe hongre colde and diuerse other tormentes Whiche notwithstanding he acknowledged to be worthilie due vnto him for his greate offense The priuileage therefore I saie of this seate is suche that we be assured by his promise that saide to Peter that his faithe should Lucae 22. not faile that as hetherto the pope hathe allwaies fedde Christes churche withe sounde faithe and wholesome doctrine so shall he continue to doe so long as there is in earthe anie churche at all that is so longe as there is a worlde so long as Christes churche militant here in earthe and triumphant in heauen mete not in one to ioyne together And therefore yowe talcke of the popes tirannie to doe and say what he listeth yow talcke without boke M. Nowell and continue youre accustomed wont of sclaundring and lyeng Because yow well vnderstode that all this rouing talcke of youres was wide from the marcke that we shoote at and that happelie some one might saie vnto you that the matter which nowe is handled is whether there ought to be one generall heade in Christes churche or no and that therefore this place was brought in not to proue who it shoulde be or where he shoulde be resident yow thought it good to saie somewhat to this effecte to proue that this place is vntrulie applied to the proufe of the supremacy of one heade But howe proue yow this M. Nowell Because S. Cyprian alleageth this and other like places of scripture Nowell fo 60. a. 6 to make for the seuerall auctoritie of euerie peculier bishopp in his owne diocesse not of one heade ouer all bishoppes What thereof M. Nowell maye not one texte be applied Dorman by diuerse men diuersely and yeat no sense contrarie to the truthe The commaundement of S. Paule Omnis anima Rom. 12. potestatibus sublimioribus subditasit Let euerie soule be subiect to the higher powers maketh especiallie for the auctoritie of Emperours and kinges because it importeth moste that they be obeied yeat will you not I thinke saie that if the Iustice of a shiere or maior of a citie woulde bringe this texte to some stubborne man to wyn him to obedience that it were euill applied or were not when occasion serueth thertoe to be applied to the obedience of a kyng or emperour because it serueth also for his subiect The meaning of S. Cyprian was to persuade obedience to suche priestes as haue the charge to rule to the whiche purpose the example of the high prieste is well applied if it were for no other cause yeat euen for this that euerie bishop is in his owne diocesse the high and chiefe prieste of all the other that be of the same and no lesse to be obeied in that portion of his charge of those that be vnder him then he him selfe is bounde to obeye the pope the chiefe and heade in earthe of all bishoppes It agreeth not you saie that because the Iues one nation had Nowell one chiefe prieste therefore all nations thorough out the worlde shoulde haue one high prieste ouer all other You misuse the reader with the terme nation For not Dorman as one nation but as one Sinagoge as the onelie churche that then God had they had one highe prieste And so all Christians being but one catholike churche though manie nations ought to haue one heade bishop ouer all nations For as for the impossibilitie that yeat once againe you repeate of hauing one heade it hathe bene sufficinetly proned allreadie that that plea of youres is of no force and so far wide from the truth that it is not otherwise possible to haue the church well gouerned and without schismes God hauing nowe taken that ordre Which I saye as of the churche consisting of fraile and sinfull men For as touching God as you saie it is possible to him to gouerne the church without one heade so saye we it is not impossible to him to giue vs one heade to rule the whole and so to direct him that he neuer faile in his decrees concerning oure faithe Which because hetherto in dede he hathe done and beside hath promised that the faithe of Peter shall not faile we saye Lucae 22. of necessitie that it is and must be so S. Cyprian you saye alleageth this place of Deuteronomie of obedience to the high priest aswell for the auctoritie of Rogatianus Nowell a. 21. b. 28. as for his owne This is no more then you saied before which you ofte Dorman repeate to seme by ofte saing one thing to saie somewhat In dede it confirmeth verie muche my answere made before For whereas it is manifest that this place concerning the obedience due to the high prieste is alleaged as well for the auctoritie of Rogatianus who was an inferiour bishop as also for S. Cyprian the archebishop and Metropolitane of Africa it foloweth that S. Cyprian in the citing and alleaging therof had no other meaning then to persuade obedience to euerie bishop of what calling so euer he were bishop Archebishop primate patriarke or pope Excepte you will saye that he was of the minde that betwene bisshoppes and Archebishoppes he put no difference Yea verilie saie you of that minde was S. Cypriā in dede Nowell b. 15. For he confesseth in the beginning of his epistle to Rogatianus that he did but of courtesy and not of dutie refer this matter of his disobedient deacon by complaint to him c. I nede not muche to trauaile to proue that S. Cyprian Dorman shoulde not be of this minde seing that the learned knowe that the verie worde it selfe Archiepiscopus vsed in the churche bothe in S. Cyprians time and long before doth proue the contrarie and youre selfe haue vsed before the worde chiefe prelates of euerie prouince which were toe foolishe to be saied if there were betwen bishoppes no difference at al. Li. 3. epist 9. The wordes of S. Ciprian praising Rogatianus for that he did honorably towardes him and according to his accustomed hunulitie in referring the matter of his stubborn deacon to him being his archebishop whereas he him selfe by his owne auctoritie might haue punished him make nothing for this equalitie betwene all bishoppes If they had bene equall then might belike Rogatianus haue punisshed aswell one of S. Ciprians diocesse as he might the deacon who was of Rogatianus diocesse Which if you saye then will it
all thinges for this / that they that call her grace supreme gouernour in all thinges and causes aswell ecclesiasticall as temporall / The protestantes doinges sclaunderouse to the Quene and the realme are noted / not at home only but abroade also in strange countries / moste lewdely to abuse the same / while euen in a matter of no greater importance then is the wearing of a square cappe / they refuse the ordre of the supreme gouernour in all thinges and causes as in wordes they call her ecclesiasticall and temporall while for the signe of our redemption the crosse whiche her maiestie kepeth moste reuetently in her chappell / she is in her owne realme by a booke printed and set saithe by a meane and base subiect / inalapertly comptrolled â–ª What maye foraigne princes thinke of suche a contâ—â—mely / if as her graces affection towardes the crosse is vnknowen to none / so the onlye knowledge of the title of suche an infamouse libell rather then a booke / be brought to the eares of anie of them But what maie they saye / if vnderstanding the tongue / Calshil in â—pist ad Martialem pag. 7. they shoulde read â–ª within foure leaues of the beginning As for hir priuate doinges neither are they to be drawen as a president for all nor any ought to crepe in to the princes bosome of euery facte to iudge an affection What could they gather herof but that the princes honour were vilanously touched / as though in religion which is but one and therfore not subiecte to change / she did vse one religion her selfe / and deliuer an other to her subiectes as though which is worse she kepte for hir owne priuate vse the bad / and gaue to the rest the better yea which is yeat worst of all as though she shoulde pretende one thing outewardly / and be of an other affection inwardly / which coulde not be perceiued but by creeping into hir bosome But if he that setteth forwarde so vnhappely saile the rest of his course withe no better fortune / he shoulde in all wise iudgement haue done more wisely / if he had continued stil in the quiet hauen at the ancre wherat once he laye / then he hathe done by committing him selfe to the mercye of the windes waues of these troubelouse seas of controuersies / wherein no skilfuller pilote then he sheweth him selfe to be / maye easely make a foolishe shipwreke / and be cast awaye These be the sclaunderouse persons good Readers / whom M. Nowell if he haue that regarde to the honour of our souereigne ladye the Quene / his dutie to oure countrye lawes thereof / that he pretendeth will shortly haue in the chase / and let me and suche as I am alone / who protest neuer to desire to liue houre longre / then we shall be contented to liue like true subiectes vnder the humble obedience of oure gratiouse souereigne The prince goddes image in earthe / whome we acknowledge to be the image of God in earthe / in all ciuile and politike gouernement But nowe here I praie yowe beholde / how M. Nowell that maketh these greate bragges / of repelling withe earnestnesse suche reproches as I haue attempted he saieth to blemishe my prince lawes and countrie withall quitteth hym selfe of his promise Doth he not euen then when he commeth to that article where these surmised reproches shoulde be / flee backe and giue ouer in the plaine fielde Is not this repelling withe earnestnesse a plaine mockery to be laughed at / when about the matter that made him he saieth to wright so carefully and diligently / of 124. leaues / he bestoweth not fully three when he endeth there / without entring in to the article / where he shoulde rather haue begonne The thirde reason that hathe moued M. Nowell to wright the more largely against me / he expresseth in these wordes because the simple vnlearned readers haue often best liking in bookes more boldely then learnedly written and are moste in daunger to credite most lewde and sclaunderouse lyes I therfore haue in answering more at large applied my selfe to such as be of meane vnderstanding to whome the guilefull dealinges of the papistes can not with breuitie be made manifest These be M. Nowelles causes for his excuse why in so many wordes he hath vttred so little matter But the truthe is / when after longe streining of curtosy emongest the brethren which of them shoulde answere my booke / they all agreed / first in this / that something muste nedes be saide therto / and finally that M. Nowell of all other shoulde take the matter in hande / as he that for his rare gift of railing were best able to feede the humour of suche simple and vnlearned / as here him selfe saieth / haue often best lyking in bookes more boldly then learnedly written then he deepely considering / that the greatest vauntage that he coulde finde against me / muste be by making men beleue / that the places of S. Cyprian S. Hierome and suche like / brought for the confirmation of that first proposition of myne / That there must be one head in earth to gouerne christes churche were alleaged directly for the B. of Romes supremacy / to the whiche being conteined withein the compasse of 15. leaues of my booke / if he shoulde but answere after like proportion / his answere were The true cause of M. Nowel les so large writing like to be counted but a twopeny booke / and he for no better then a three-halfepeny doctour his high wisdome in respecte of these considerations founde it best / to dilate so that little stuffe that he had to vtter / that he might seme to haue made a iust volume / and to haue answered therein the whole For this respecte / because to haue intituled his booke A Reproufe written by Alexander Nowell of a piece of a booke c. VVhy he termed his boke a Reproufe had bene to greate a blemishe to his worship / and call it a confutation or an answere to my whole booke by any meanes he coulde not / he deuised to terme it a Reproufe of my booke / a worde as he thought suche / as in reprouing only 15. leaues he might seme to be able to iustifie / and which shoulde sounde in the eares of the vnlearned not accustomed to looke so narowly in to the nature of wordes asmuche as a confutation of the whole For this cause / to pacifie the learneder sorte whome he sawe he shoulde not be able by suche a tricke of ligier de main so easily to deceiue / and who woulde he knewe well not staye at the title / but take a diligent viewe of the contentes of the whole / he ransacking all the corners of his iugglers boxe / brought furthe at the lengthe a tricke of deceptio visus whereby he woulde make them beleue as you haue heard that M. Doctour Hardinges booke
and mine were so like in substance / that M. Iuell in one shoulde answere bothe / and that therfore his furder trauell shoulde be nedelesse whereas yowe knowe / that my seconde proposition the whole conclusion of my booke / haue no maner of agrement with any argument handled in D. Hardinges boke Yow haue heard the effecte of M. Nowelles smoky preface / wherin all his labour taken is bestowed to this end / to excuse the not speedy answering of the whole brotherhod / his own parcell answering / his so large earnest answering to so meane a man as I am / finally to deface me and other that haue written / by moste lewde / foolishe / and vntrue surmises Which neuerthelesse he aduoucheth so confidently / as though he had bene present at Louaine and priuey to all our doinges / and thoughtes / yea and to more then euer we thought toe Wherein how vaine he hath shewed him selfe to be / if nothing had bene saide allreadie / euen this that he hathe of M. Rastell / whome he affirmeth to haue had his booke lienge by him readye made foure yeares at Louayn whereas yeat he hathe bene Nowell in his praeface 3. side 35 Calfhill in his epistle to M. Martiall and praeface to the reader scarse on this side of the seas halfe foure yeare / at Louain wheÌ„ he printed his booke not foure full monethes were alone sufficient to declare This deceitfull dealing of his / by defacing vs to the world / liked so wel hym that came nexte after him to wrighte / that he thought his parte not to be wel plaied / vnlesse he endeuoured also inforced him selfe to doe the like And for this cause forsothe ruffling in the figure of Ruffinisâ—us he calleth M. Doctor Harding * How muche better woulde this name haue becoÌ„med M. Iuell that of a catholike became an heretike of an heretike a catholike of a catholike an heretike againe Apostata at my name he scoffeth calling me worthy Man who gaue but a Dor. M. Rastelles because it laye not so open to his scoffing spirite / he depraued vttrely / calling him Rascall But o I woulde it might please almighty God / who hathe bestowed vpon him whome he so calleth / so bountifully so manye excellent giftes of vertue and learning / that they were bothe thoroughly knowen to the worlde for suche as they are Then shoulde M. Rastell to speake the leaste / be founde to be as farre in all respectes from all base and vile condition / as this shamelesse man is him selfe from all honesty and Christian-like behauiour in so calling hym To M. Stapleton this painted poppet threateneth drye blowes / yeat wisely vnder an if / and in the name of an other The booke of Staphylus he compareth to a Ruffians sworde al to be hacked / calling by the waie a moste learned and graue councelour to the late Emperour Ferdinandus / Ruffian In dede there was a rude blacke * Iacobus Smidelinus smythe / that did the best he coulde to breake the edge and to leaue soâ—e gashes in this sworde / but those litle nickes that he made / the * Staphyl In defens Apolâ—g Calf fol. 17. b. 33. owner therof grounde out so conningly againe / that the edge of it was after more sharpe then euer it was before Lest al this should not be inough to discredite vs / last of all he chargeth suche of vs as being in Louain haue ben of newe colleage / withe the smoky styrres blowen in Scotland the fyry factions inflamed in Fraunce the Pholish treason condemned in England the popishe conspiracy attempted in Ireland Commeth not this thinke you of a high wit / and a greate discoursing heade Thankes be to God it is yeat no horned beaste that assaulteth vs thus cruelly He chargeth vs with gaping for bishoprikes / but surely if hym selfe laboured not ambitiously to be chiefe councelour to some lorde of misrule at Christmas / he woulde neuer haue stremed so farre the streightes of his simple brayne / as by this moste singuler discourse vpon these late troubles and treasons which beside him selfe neuer a man I beleue in England coulde haue dreamed of to giue a moste vndoubted experiment / what wonders he were able to worcke by his witte / if he listed to bende it But this is the lewdenesse of oure aduersaries / when to the doctrine that we defende they are able to saye nothing / to deface as muche as in them lieth our persones by vntrue surmises / by false and sclaunderouse reportes / by all meanes directe or indirecte For this they are once as it should seme by their doinges persuaded howe trulye God he knoweth that they shall be able to write nothing so absurde / that shall not with some get credite / and finde frendely entreteinement Wherfore this is good Readers the common request of vs all vnto yow / that reiecting vttrely these vaine / vntrue / and impertinenent exceptions of oure aduersaries / whereof youre eares be longe since full / it may please yow to haue a diligent eye to the matter it selfe / and not to suffer youre selues to be thus shamfully abused / and caried from thence to suche sciendre considerations as are these whether the writers be yong men / or olde many in conference / or fewe alone whether they wright in shorte space / or take long leisour whether they translate or make of their owne For surelye they that propose these exceptions / as it is an euident argument that they mistrust their cause / so seme they not to sauour of the spirite of humilitie / which seketh nothing but the honour and glorye If S. Cyprian writing this epistle to Cornelius the B. of Rome M. suell in his Replye fo 228. beginneth to â—hrincke from his chalenge name him either the high prieste or christes vicair generall in earthe or vniuersall bishop or head of the vniuersal church c. then may M. Harding seme to haue some honest colour for his defence For these respectes therfore I saie / and other which here for good causes I conceale / it hathe ben thought good to requier yowe / to signifie to vs / whether yowe will ratifie the doctrine conteined in that boke made against the crosse / lest after yow flee to the Praetor his exception Quod nomine meo gestum non est raiuÌ„ noÌ„ habebo It is reason that we demaunde / and it is lawe Consulte youre lawier so well knowen in Oxforde for his three giftes of heresye / frenesy and Ialousy / and he will tell yow no lesse When we vnderstande youre minde herein / yowe shall knowe more of oures It woulde doe well that yow declared it at Powles crosse / from whence we are contented to take notice the rather / because we trust yow will saie nothing there / but that whereto yow will stande hereafter Faultes escaped in printing Leafe Syde Lyne Faulte Correction 23 a 25
for the B. of Rome his supremacie but rather dothe vttrely ouerthrowe it as apperteining specially to the B. of Carthage in Afrike not to the B. of Rome in Italie and declaring in dede the bishoppes of all places to be equall in auctoritie and consequently ouerthrowing the supremacy of one ouer all I denie not but that this phrase maye here specially apperteine Dorman to the B. of Carthage No more ought yow make strange to confesse that if S. Cyprian woulde saie that heresies and schismes rise of the contempte of the B. which is one in a diocesse muche more of him which is one in the whole churche and who is the chiefe and roote of byshoply ordre as shall hereafter be by S. Cyprian declared And thus yow see that I applied it not euill to the purpose although it proue not immediatly the popes supremacy the thing which here I take not vpon me to proue That which yow saie of these testimonies that they declare the A lye fathered vpon S. Cyprian 3 bishoppes of all places to be of equall auctoritie is a moste vaine and impudent lye fathered vpon S. Cyprian That the place of S. Basile was alleaged to the purpose and that the same and the other taken oute of S. Cyprian are bothe falsely impugned The. 3. Chapter It is farre yow saie from all purpose that I alleage by Nowell patching here and there out of Basilius magnus his 69. epistle to the bishoppes of Italy and Fraunce c. If yow in this Reproufe of youres had brought nothing Dorman furder from the purpose it woulde neuer by the tenth parte haue bene halfe so greate as it is For I tell yow once againe that my purpose was not here as yow vntruly surmise to proue the B. of Romes supremacy My meaning was to persuade men to continue and abide in the obedience of the heade of the churche the rather because as Ciprian before gaue a generall rule that all heresies and schismes rise by going from the heade so here S. Basile exemplifieth the same in that vnreuerent demeanure and vnsemely behauiour that the Arrians of his time vsed towardes their heades and gouernours how saie yow maketh the place for this purpose or no I abuse bothe the Readers mine owne and other mennes time Nowell fol. 3. b. 1. yow saie in charging yow with the crimes of those men whose heresies and wickednes it is well knowen yow detest I trust no man thinketh so but yow and youre felowes Dorman M. Nowell For standing the case so that yow detest the Arrian heresie where withall I charge yow not and therefore A lye 4. yow haue beelied me yeat maye yow this not withstanding right well agree with them in other their euill maners I will not charge yow to be infidelles with Iulian the Apostata yeat is youre hatred against the crosse off Christe no lesse then his Yow note me in the margent for turning the wordes Nowell fol. 3. a. b. praesidentias inuadunt they inuade and sett vpon their heades and saye He shoulde haue saide they doe inuade the chiefe roumes or places and againe for ioyning blasphemias protulit to those which folowe ad populi episcopum For the first I susteine that I translated the wordes well Dorman and truly as he shoulde that woulde giue to the worde potestati resistit in S. Paule this englishe resisteth the magistrate Roma 13. by the figure called Metonymia As for the faulte in pointing if it be one yeat of this am I suer that neither is it greate nor came of malice suche as it is but of some suche small ouersight as maye happen some time to the diligentest writer that is Howe euer it be this the rigorouse nothing thereof maye giue men to vndrestande that it went harde with yow when yow were driuen to seke after suche aduauntages Yow saye of this place of S. Basile that it dothe moste Nowell b. 30. liuely represent the doinges of the Papistes You re onely proufe hereof standeth vpon a heape off Dorman sclaunderouse lies Because the place of S. Basile is extant to be seene I will trouble no fardre the learned reader but desire him only to confer it withe these M. Nowelles sclaundres Here M. Nowell yow charge me once againe with a conclusion gathered yow saie out of that which hetherto Nowell fol. 4. b. 22 hathe bene alleaged out of S. Cyprian and S. Basile and saie that I am not ashamed to applye the places before mentioned to the proufe of the B. of Romes supremacy First I gather here no conclusion out of the places before Dorman alleaged and therfore applye not by the waye of concluding these auctorities to the B. of Rome his supremacie and so that is an other lye It is a transition rather so drawen A lye 5. out of the 3. first alleaged auctorities that it serued also to make a steppe and a newe degree to the seconde pointe touching more specially the pope wherein I much maruell that yow shoulde so fowly misse youre termes M. Nowell And as here yow missed the quisshin so plaied yow as homelie a parte in making me to reason vpon the pretended conclusion in this wise The entry into all heresies M. Nowell maketh me to reason after his pleasure fol. 5. ◠1. is to make open warre against the bishopp appointed by God to be the laufull gouernour and heade of the churche but the B. of Rome is the bishopp appointed by God to be here in earthe the laufull gouernour and heade of the churche Ergo the entrye into all heresies is to make open warre against the B. of Rome The which reason althoughe it be moste true in it selfe and I minded to defende euery parte thereof yeat reasoned I not so here but minded only in this place to passe to the example of Nouatus the heretike that as before I had showed how heretikes in diuerse particuler churches went from the obedience of their laufull bishoppes so here I might set before the Readers eyes one who spared not euen the Bishop of Rome him selfe that so this propertie of heretikes and schismatikes might appeare and be the better proued while they forsake not onely the inferiour bishoppes but him also that is the chiefe of all other But what if I had reasoned as you woulde make me to reason M. Nowel might I not haue defended that argumēt trowe you Yeas forsothe might I not prouing my minor by this place of S. Cyprian but supposing it to be true till suche time as I came to the place where it ought to be proued So that you nede not to tormente and vex youreselfe about these wordes the bishopp appointed by God to be the laufull gouernour and heade of the churche which I neuer alleaged as you vntruly saye of me to proue directly the B. of Romes supremacie but only to proue A fortiori that muche greater occasion there was
Dorman saieth thaâ— Nowell Fo. 19. a. 32 those men returned againe to the churche by this waye that is to saye by the acknowledging Cornelius to be the heade of the vniuersall churche he saieth moste vntruly Yf you considre well my wordes M. Nowell that went Dorman last before and vpon which these depende you shall finde that I doe here as sence the beginning I haue done kepe my selfe close to the argument of my preface or introduction Which is to shewe that the going from the heade is the cause of all schisme and the returning to the same the cause of vnitie and concorde This as it is euidently true whether the heade be particuler or generall so the more that suche heade is generall and vniuersall the more true is it The schisme hath bene proued by the departing of Nouatus the heretike from Cornelius his laufull head the B. of Rome The vnitie is here declared by the returne of Maximus Vrbanus and Sydonius from the Lib. 2. epist 12. faction of Nouatus to pope Cornelius What nede yow then here to laye to my charge that I saye vntruly that these men returned to the churche by acknowledging Cornelius to be the heade of the vniuersall churche which as I saye not in this place so was it not nedefull that I shoulde My wordes haue relation to those other where I saye that we first reuolt froÌ„ the church by contemning and not acknowledging the heade without any expresse mention of the heade of the vniuersall churche and that so muste our returne thither againe be by the coÌ„trary c. And that so did those that after their falle with Nouatus S. Cyprian receiued into the church againe What So did they construe englishe M. Nowell I praye yow did they not so returne to their heade as they had forsaken him Doe not yowe confesse as muche youre selfe in this verye place well then this place proueth well that vnitie acknowledged is the ende of diuision which is the onely marke that I shoote at in this preface That this vnitie is especially to be considered in the pope that was not to be showed here but woulde folowe I knew of it selfe vpoÌ„ this fundatioÌ„ laied here after there where the popes auctoritie shoulde of purpose be handled It coÌ„meth in by the waye as it were that the example is founde betwene the B. of Rome and Nouatus going from his vnitie and Maximus returning to it Any other example would haue serued my turne in this behalfe but the case standing so that I had to treate of the B. of Rome those examples liked me best which being directly of him might better declare the vnitie and more liuely set furthe the schisme by how muche the one or the other was greater as falling from or ioyning with him who was not a common bishop but the head or chiefe of all other Although I might well defende that this exaÌ„ple is suche as is that which foloweth of Vrsatius and Valens as maye serue bothe for my preface to commend vnitie and for the matter it selfe to proue the popes auctoritie by acknowleding thereof For you see here that they confessed that there must be one bishop in the catholike churche Which wordes not withstanding that you labour to drawe to an other sense and I denie not but that they haue some ambiguitie Yeat if we considre of whome they were spoken that is of Cornelius the B. of Rome and successour of Peter called by Arnobius an auncient writer Episcopus episcoporuÌ„ the bishop of bishopps it wil not be absurde to thinke that by that one bishop they meÌ„t the B. In psal 138. of Rome successour of Peter and so the bishop of bishoppes Here because no small vauÌ„tage as you iudge lieth in the traÌ„slating of these words in ecclesia catholica you thinke that Nowell Fol. 20. a. 20. I shoulde haue said in a catholike church In dede if I were of youre minde that the chaire of S. Dorman Peter were but one emongest manie like or equall and his churche as one of the rest the translation might well haue bene vsed that you speake of But whereas I am resolued and proue it in place that there is difference betwene S. Peters Lib. 2. de baptis coÌ„tra Donat Cap. 1. chaire as hath S. Austen and the chaires of other bisshoppes that the churche of Rome is not onely a catholike churche being taken for a peculier place but in a true sense also the catholike churche when it is taken for the mother churche of all Christes flocke because it is all one to saye the churche of Christ in earthe and the churche of Rome as by S. Ambrose it is to be proued who when S. Paule had saide the churche of God to be the piller of truthe S. Ambrose wel knowing that he spake not of any one church but 1. Timoth. 3 of the whole doubted not yeat to say cuiÃs hodie rector est Damasus whose ruler at this daye Damasus is who was thaÌ„ pope you maye not marueile if I traÌ„slate not the wordes as you doe The same S. Ambrose in the funerall oration of his brother Satyrus telleth that minding to receiue theblessed sacrameÌ„t wherby he had a litle before bene saued froÌ„ drowning in the sea he asked the bishop at whose handes he thought to take it whether he agreed with other catholike bishoppes that is saieth S. Ambrose with the churche of Rome What was this elles but to aske him whether he agreed with that churche which because it conteined all catholike bishoppes in her lappe and none he toke for a catholike but him that agreed with that churche he iudged to be the catholike church Yow see therfore M. Nowel that it is no suche absurditie as yow thinke to translate these wordes in catholica ecolesia in the catholike church For what priuileage haue you I praye you more then I that yow maie translate the worde catholicae ecclesiae of the catholike churche and that I must englishe the same wordes of a catholike so 19. b. 8 churche Or why shoulde it be laufull for you so to translate them twise when alleaging those wordes of S. Cyprian Episcopo Cornelio in catholica ecclesia Yow englishe them the second time the B. C ornelius in the catholike churche which fo 20. a. 8 Cipr. li. 3. epist 13. you will not suffer me to doe so much as once Ah M. Nowel is this euen dealing Or thinke you when you haue done to colour the matter by a feined rule of youre owne making which saieth that Episcopus catholicae ecclesiae and Episcopus in ecclesia catholica are as much to say as a catholike bishop I graunte that in some places they are so M. Nowell Will you therefore make a generall rule that they must alwaies be so taken and in no place otherwise Muche like to this is the argument that you make Li. 3. Epist 11. f. 20. a. 13 to
proue that Maximus and his fellowes called not Cornelius bishopp of the catholike churche in this place here brought by me Cyprian saye yow called not Cornelius bisshop Li. 3. ep 13 of the Catholike churche but bishop Cornelius ordeined in the catholike churche Ergo Maximus and his two companions called not Cornelius bishop of the Catholike churche Is not this a goodly kinde of reasoning Wil you see the like M. Nowell preached not at Poules crosse that there was no scripture no councelles no doctours no allowed examples of the primitiue churche to proue the supremacye of the B. of Rome ergo M. Iuell did not I thinke M. Iuell woulde giue you a good flice out of his benefice vpon the condition that you coulde proue this consequent to be good And that thus you reason can you not denie For the Lib. 3. epistol 11. wordes alleaged by me here out of S. Cyprian be not Saint Cyprian his but the verie wordes by his owne confession of the pore penitentes And therefore to bring a phrase out of S. Cyprian to proue that because he did not so saye therefore an other did not if this were all were a greate faulte in reasoning But now if the wordes had bene in bothe the places S. Cyprians owne then had youre reason bene like to this M. Nowell preaching before the Quenes highnes at the courte saide not that it woulde do him good to rase his buckler vpon a papistes face ergo he saied not so at Powles crosse You obiect againe against this place to be ment of one chiefe bishop ouer the whole churche that then as there is one Nowell fol. 20. b. 12. onely God and none but he so there shoulde be but one onely bishop and no more but he That were true M. Nowell if as God is the name off a Dorman moste simple nature and excellencie so the name of a bisshop were suche as woulde admitte no degree of dignitie When it is saide that there is one bishop in the catholike churche it is ment one chiefe bishop For it is not necessarie that in all pointes this similitude of one God and one bishop shoulde agree It ought to suffise you that the similitude standeth vpright in that wherein the comparison is made which is here of gouernement that as one God gouerneth heauen and earthe so there shoulde be one chiefe bishop to gouerne vnder him the churche in earthe Thus forasmuche as there be degrees in bishoppes though in God there be naturally none for by abuse of Idolatres and by participation of name there be also manie Goddes and manie lordes as witnesseth S. Paule it is sufficient that as 1. Cor. 8. there is one God so there ought to be one chiefe bishop not excluding the reste but referring them to their heade by meanes whereof and in which sense there is one bishoprike and one bishop And so consequently it foloweth that my marginall note of one God one bishoppe meaning as you saye I did was not in vaine The next obiection of youres why in this place these wordes one bishop in the catholike churche shoulde not be vnderstand of one especiall bishoppe ouer all you confirme by S. Cypriā in diuerse places First by that which he hath of one Nowell fol. 21. a. 6 Lib. 4. Epist. 9 Bishop in the firste booke the 3. epistle then by a sentence taken out of his epistle to Pupianus afterwardes by certaine wordes of his to Antonius and last of all by that which he hath in his boke de simplicitate praelator or de vnitate Ecclesiae not farre from the beginning To the first two places youre selfe seme not muche Dorman to trust although folowing the preceptes of youre arte you are content to vse them to make a shewe of store either because youre conscience telleth you that the reason foloweth not He saieth so in this place therefore he must nedes saye so in the other either elles because youre selfe perceiued that there is a greate difference betwene these places by reason of the worde catholike For in the place here alleaged the schismatikes returning to the churche confessed that there must be one bishop in the catholike churche in these two places auouched by you S. Cyprian saieth that heresies doo spring or arise by contempt of the bishop whiche gouerneth the churche and is one Now as the latter wordes maye according to the circumstances of the place and here are I doubte not taken for the seuerall heade of euery bishoprike so the firste can not well otherwise be taken then to exclude all particuler churches by reason of the worde catholike which signifieth vniuersall addid thereto especially the wordes being translated the catholike churche and not a catholike churche as by youre owne so turning of them and otherlike to them it appeareth they must Off the thirde place out of the epistle to Antonius you conclude nothing neither but turne the matter ouer to the laste auctoritie of S. Cypriā in his boke De simplicitate praelat where moste plainely you saye he declareth his minde of this one bishoprike wholly and equally possessed of all and ouerie bishop Well then at the length M. Nowell from post to piller you be come thither where you will cast ancre Wherewith I also for my parte am well contented and desire no better then to be in this controuersie tried by S. Cyprian Now showe how S. Cyprian maketh for you that is nothing for the B. of Rome his supremacie but directly against it For those be the wordes that yow conclude Nowell fo 21. b. 25. Lib. de Simplicitat praelator Dorman withall vpon this place That doe yow after this maner S. Cyprian saieth that there is one bishoprike which euery bishop hath wholy for his parte Ergo consequently all bishoppes be equall and no one can be aboue an other I denie the cōsequent M. Nowell Will yow knowe why This worde episcopatus comprehendeth here by S. Cyprian his minde the whole nature of that kinde of gouernement which bishoppes haue as if in like wise a man shoulde saie Vnum est sacerdotium there is one priestehode in the churche which euery prieste hath wholly for his parte woulde yow now thinke that vpon this proposition it were well done to conclude of priestes as yow doe of bishoppes that therefore because in nature off priestehode they be all equall the meanest as trulye and wholly participating the nature thereof as the chiefe there shoulde be no one priest in dignitie of gouernement aboue the other and so ouerthrowe the office of archipresbiteri chiefe priestes whereof the councell Can. 15. itē Concil Carthag 4. can 17. of Toures in Fraunce aboute the time off Pelagius the first aboue a thousand yeares past maketh mention But what speke I of priesthode will yow condemne the whole churche of Christe for making of Archebishoppes I thinke yow wil not And what signifieth this worde Archebishoppe but a chiefe bishop If there
deanlike Was this preacherlike Was this minister like Nay truly it was minstrellike That the places hetherto alleaged are not impertinent to the Popes auctoritie The. 9. Chapter Although I haue heretofore in the seuerall defence off euery one of these places saide so much as maye suffice for the iustifieng of them to be alleaged to the purpose yeat doth youre Rhetoricall repeating of them here enforce also me to trouble the reader therewith againe I saye therefore as I did before that if the going out of the churche be by the rebelling of the deacon or prieste against his bishop as S. CypriaÌ„ saide in the case of the deacon disobeieng his bisshop Rogatianus if Pupianus ought to reconcile him selfe to Cyprian his bishop and metropolitan that then by this reason of S. Cyprian muche more ought the going out of the church to be by the Deacon prieste â–ª or bishoppes rebelling against the Pope the chiefe bishop of al other muche more ought they to reconcile their selues to him who is chiefe shepherd of their soules in earthe If S. Basile spake of the bishoppes in the east churche it is but a sory shift to saye that his wordes maye not be extendid to all rulers where so euer they be If Nouatus sware men to sticke to his heresie to take him and not Cornelius for their bishop he sware men against the Pope and so do you If Maximus Vrbanus and Sidonius reconcile them selues to their owne Romaine bishop whome they had vniustly forsaken yow must doe the like to him being your bishop although not so immediatly whome you haue as vniustly forsaken If Vrsatius and Valens offred onely their recantations to Iulius and not to Athanasius as I shewed before then haue you made a lye and so bothe this auctoritie and the other are not impertinent but to the purpose An answere to suche lyes scoffes sclaunders falsefied auctorities and other cancred matter as M. Nowel in the 25. 26. 27. and 28. leaues hath powred oute against the Popes The. 10. Chapter As I minde not to defende the euill maners of Popes as neither of temporall princes if any haue gouerned euill and haue abused perhappes the power giuen to them by God so will I neither measure their auctoritie by their liues as did the frantike Donatistes and Anabaptistes doe neither reueale the turpitude of my father as did wicked ChaÌ„ Gen. 9. neither iudge my heade as is the maner of heretikes and schismatikes to doe as witnesseth S. Cyprian as hath bene said before applied theÌ„ to the same sense that it is now For Li. 4. ep 9 of this am I suer that how euil so euer their liues be how far so euer they abuse the auctoritie giuen to theÌ„ yeat shall that nothing preiudicate the churche nor hurt the innoceÌ„t ChrifliaÌ„s If these were my words I caÌ„ gesse what were like to be youre answere but being not myne but S. Augustine his nor his so but that they be grounded vpon the wordes of Christe truly if I were my selfe an heretike I confesse I knowe no waye to auoide them The wordes of S. Augustine after that he had rehersed by name all the popes that were from S. Peter to Anastasius time 39. in nombre emongest whome â–ª there was he saide no one Donatist to be founde are these In illum autem ordinem episcoporum qui Epist 165. ducitur ab ipso Petro vsque ad Anastasium qui nunc eandem cathedram sedet etiamsi quisquà m traditor per illa teÌ„por a subrepsisset nihil praeiudicaret ecclesiae innocentibus Christianis quibus Dominus prouidens ait de praepositis malis quae dicuÌ„t facite c. Vt certa sit spes fidelis quae noÌ„ in homine sed in domino collocata nuÌ„que tempestate sacrilegi schismatis dissipetur that is to saye In to this range of bishoppes drawen from Peter him selfe to Anastasius which now sitteth in the same seate althoughe some betrayour had within that compasse crepte in yeat shoulde this nothing haue preiudicate the churche and innocent Christians for whome oure Lorde prouiding faieth of euill heades Do what they bid yow doe c. That Matth. 23. the hope of the Christian man maye be sure whiche being grounded Note not vpon man but vpon God can not by wicked schisme be scattred This place good Reader as it maye serue the for a lesson to beware how thou rashely iudge of their doinges whome God hathe so especially priuileaged so ought it to be no small comfort to all true Christians to thinke that god hath prouided for them suche a heade to direct them here as whose iudgement what euer his lyfe be they are sure can not be false and maye withall serue for an answere to all suche spottes as M. Nowell here and other elles where were they all true and muche worse then they speake of haue noted in the popes manners to ouerthrowe their auctoritie Whereby allso standeth that proposition of mine fol. 25. a. 15. saulfe ment of thinges concerning his office the pope commaundeth it ergo it must be obeyed if S. Augustine haue anye credite with vs if Christ maye be beleued Who beside the wordes alleaged by S. Augustine hath giuen vs also an other moste sure staye to grounde oure selues vpon when Lucae 22. he assureth vs that Petres faithe shall not faile whiche although it please you M. Nowel in youre swinishe eloquence to saye that it pertaineth as muche to the pope as dothe a saddell to a sowe yeat was S. Bernard to alleage him rather then anie other for that youre selfe in this place bring him in against the pope and M. Horne I am credibly enfourmed gaue to him not longe since in the vniuersitie of Oxford suche praise as that he hath it is supposed not a little enflamed the hartes of diuerse younge men to the studie of that blessed author of a farre other iudgement then you are For he writing to InnoceÌ„tius the pope after salutatioÌ„s beginneth his epistle thus Oportet ad vestrum referri Epist 190 Apâ—stolatum pericula quaeque scandala emergentia in regno Dei ea praesertim quae de fide contingunt Dignum nanque arbitror ibi potissimum resarciri damna fidei vbi non possit fides seÌ„tire defectuÌ„ Haec quippe huius praerogatiua sedis Cui enim Lucae 22. alteri aliquando dictum est Ego pro te rogaui Petre vt non deficiat fides tua Ergo quod sequitur à Petri successore exigitur Et tu aliquando conuersus confirma fratres tuos That is to saye All daungers and offences rising in the kingdome of God must be referred to youre apostleship those especially which concerne the faithe For there doe I thinke it to Note be moste mete that the hurtes of faithe shoulde be redressed where faithe is sure not to faile For suche is the prerogatiue of this seate For to what other was it euer saied I haue
helpe God I thanke therefore to frame this reason to my purpose the argument made before will speake though I holde my peace In the meane season this of youres might haue some probabilitie if as Christe hath appointed one churche so God had assigned one kingdome in the whole worlde But seing that from the time the tongues were dispersed in Babilon many seuerall companies of men and not long after many seuerall Gen. 11. nations and consequently manie seuerall heades were so appointed by God that whether it were for the paine of sinne or elles to haue the partes of the earthe more quickly inhabited ones they were not one of them bounde to be vnder the other nor all to be vnder one heade in earthe whereas on the other side Christ came to gather together Psal 146. the dispersed of Israel in to one bodye one kingdome one folde and all the churches in the worlde be reduced accordingly to one churche which can not be saide of all the kingdomes for you nowe to requier no more one heade in the churche then there is one king in the worlde it is suche a kinde of argument as I thinke beside youre selfe it would haue bene harde to haue founde one other so foolishe that woulde haue made it What D. Harding saieth out of Homere or Aristotle it fol. 31. a. 15 maketh no matter to me allbeit it proueth verye well that those Gentiles sawe that the gouernement of one bodye belongeth to one heade And therefore if they had bene as verilie persuaded then that the whole worlde is but one kingdome as you are that the churche is but one bodie as they woulde of all likelihod haue concluded that it had not bene good to haue manie rulers so liuing now and being persuaded the like of the churche it is not to be doubted but that they woulde haue bene touching the same off the same opinion As for that that you adde scoffingly to deface it that it is M. D. Hardinge his poeticall argument for the popes supremacie I praie you be good M. Nowell to poetos of whome you sauour so muche in youre sermones and writinges and who the time hathe bene were the fairest floure in youre garland Otherwise you will giue men occasion bothe to thinke and to saie that the olde prouerbe is true in you that the parishe prieste remembreth not that once he was parishe clercke But I praie you maye it be laufull for you to folowe poetes in lieng as you doe and maie not other men alleage for their purpose one graue sentence of a poete yea all were it so that it were directly to proue the popes supremacie as this is not so brought in If it be so then scoffe also hardely at S. Paule who to proue the omnipotent power of God alleaged the sentence of the Act. 17. poete Aratus not so famouse iwisse as Homere is Aristotle misliketh not the gouernement of the best and wisest yeat preferreth he Monarchie the gouernement that is to saie of one alone before Aristocratie Euen so doe bothe D. Harding and I And therefore to saye that I am in fol. 31. b. 1. this point against bothe my maister for so you call D. Harding and I will be alwaies readie to confesse no lesse so long as it shall please him not to be ashamed of suche a scholer and Aristoâ—le so noble a philosopher I can call it no better but A lye 23. a verie lye You saye that the gouernement of the vniuersall churche Nowell b. 5. consisting of so many or rather innumerable thousandes of men and women of all countries nations and languages can not possibly be ruled by one neither was by God appointed to be so gouerned What God hath appointed I showed in the article of the Dorman popes supremacie whereunto you durst not approche and this will be bolde to saie thereof in this place that Monarchie Not impossible to gouerne the church by one being as youre selfe can not denie of all other the noblest kinde of gouernement it is likely that Christe would prouide the same for his spouse the churche in the which willing especially vnitie and concorde and commaunding nothing more it foloweth that he woulde binde it in one with that bande wirhout the which it coulde not either at all be had or not so commodiously had As for the possibilitie I praye the gentle reader considre with thy selfe what preachers and maisters thow hast who are nowe so malepart with God that beside that whiche their peuishe heades shall like to fantasye they will allowe him to be hable to doe nothinge Thus in oure present question doth M. Nowell hauing so muche at the length prouffited by teaching in the schole that he dareth now take vpon him to set God him selfe to schole and to tell him plainly that this ordre of his appointing in the churche one heade is suche as by no meanes possible can stande Thinkest thow not good Reader that he mistrusted all other proufes when he fleeth to this sorye shift Yes verelie doth he For as in the matter of the sacrament verie nede driueth them to this miserable refuge so persuade thy selfe that it standeth with them here But nowe to yow M. Nowell is the arme of God shroncken Esaiae 50. 59. or shorter then it was wont to be thinke you Can not he that appointeth one sonne to giue light to the whole worlde he that by diuerse riuers streames and brookes dispersed thorough the partes of all the earth maketh one body of the elementes of water bothe to come from one heade the sea and to returne to the same againe he that of so manie contrarie and disagreing qualities as heate colde moisture drougth maketh one well agreeing worlde is not he M. Nowell possibly able to rule and gouerne his church dispersed through all the earthe by one chiefe and supreme heade Especially sith one prince or Monarche as namely Assuerus being him selfe an infidell was able to gouerne Hester c. 1. from India to Aethiopia a hundred twentie and seuen prouinces The which as he gouerned by captaines and vnder officers after the example of Moises who being Exod. 18. not able to beare the burden of ruling the whole people alone did it notwithstanding with much facilitie by the helpe of suche rulers as he called to parte of his charge whiche were captaines or heades some ouer thousandes some ouer hundreds other some of fifty yea of ten so the pope gouerning the whole churche by patriarches primates archebisshopps bishoppes ArchedeacoÌ„s Archepriestes and priestes euery one in their degree with grace in him for that purpose by the worcking of God sufficiently multiplied is right well able to rule and gouerne the church were it greater then it is And this al wise meÌ„ and such as yealde to the omnipotency of God see to be so farre from all impossibilitie that some one perhappes moued with iust indignation against youre blasphemouse reasoning
miserably shaken notwithstāding the labour of the chiefe prelates of euery prouince Now to come to princes and tēporall gouernours if they haue as many seueral or contrary lawes as their be seuerall countries or nations cōcerning the keping of their people in ciuile ordre and peace what breache off vnitie What hurte What disordre in the worlde will folowe hereof I praye you So that to haue made this reason of youres probable you shoulde thus haue reasoned As in the whole worlde there is no disordre because seuerall princes haue seuerall and contrary lawes so in the churche will there be also none if diuerse bishoppes teache diuerse and contrary faithes But as no man is so blinde but he seeth the falsehode of this comparison so is no man I truste so voide of wit but that he seeth this to be as true as that which you made before Thus by reason we finde that schismes can not be appeased without one heade in the churche to whome the greater causes ought to be referred whome the rest ought to credite and obeye To the which heade because he is by Christes owne mouthe so priuileaged in Peters faithe that as he neuer yeat deliuered to the churche any erroniouse doctrine to be beleued but hathe allwaies continued the faith receiued from the Apostles so are we suer that he neuer shall we ought and maye in matters of faithe giue full and assured credite As by S. Austen we be counceled who to this purpose bringeth this saing of the ghospell Quae dicunt Epist 165 Matth. 23. facite c. Doe what they bidde you doe and addeth for the reason that in so doing oure faithe being moste certaine as being grounded not vpon man but vpon goddes promise can neuer be scattred by the tempest of anie schisme This being most true we maie boldely conclude that this state of Monarchie that is of gouerning the churche by one heade as it is moste necessarie so because we are suer that this one heade can not giue wrong iudgement in matters of faithe it is of all other for the churche the moste conuenient as being the verie best For in this pointe doe all men agree euen the moste aduersaries to this state that if one Monarche were suer allwaies to gouerne well that then that state off gouernement were to be preferred before all other To all this that hathe bene saide maye be added that iff you will nedes haue the seuerall diocesses and churches off euerie bishoprike to be like seueral kingdomes then as there is no only kingdome in earthe so by you it shoulde folowe that there is no one only churche in earthe Or if it may be enough for the church in earthe to be one body because Christe in heauen is the one heade thereof why maie not then the kingdomes of the earthe be in earthe one because Christe in heauen is the king of them also This being not I thinke vnknowen vnto you howe vneuen this comparison of youres was made yow will nowe leauing youre reason trie the matter by auctoritie S. Cyprian yow saie dothe most plainely teache that Nowell fo 32. a. 30 it is right and reason that seuerall bishoppes haue the gouernement of seuerall diocesses euen for the same cause for the which I yow saye doe vntruly alleage the necessitie of one heade To the place of S. Cyprian beginning Cum statutum sit Dorman Lib. 1. Epist 3. omnibus nobis c. I answere that it is right and reason that seuerall bishoppes haue the gouernement of seuerall diocesses and that to appease schismes and correcte vices as often as these thinges maie be in suche seueral diocesses commodiously done But that this maie be allwaies perfourmed in particuler bishoprikes and that if it can not recourse maie not be had to higher power that yow shoulde haue proued and that S. Cyprian hathe not Therefore this place maketh not against the auctoritie of one heade But you force it further and saie S. Cyprian affirmeth all suche appellations from a bishop off Nowell one countrie to a bishop of an other countrey to be vnlaufull for that that all bishoppes of all countreys be of like auctoritie and that none but naughtie and desperate men doe thinke the auctoritie of some bishoppes to be inferiour to the auctoritie of other S Cyprian affirmeth not here that all appellations from Dorman one bishop to an other be vnlaufull He saieth that it is reason and hathe bene ordeined emongest them that the subiectes of euery bishop haue their causes hearde there where the faulte was committed And maye not the B. of Rome doe this by sending his legates in all such cases of appeale to the places where the offences were committed there to examine the processe to receiue witnes to determine the matter Beside this if S. Cyprian had in this place vttrely forbidden all maner of appeales to Rome yeat by the phrase of his wordes it appeareth that it was decreed emongest them by a locall statute of their owne for the better maintenaunce of brothrely concorde Which as it extēded no fardre then to that place so if anie of them that once agreed to that ordre refuse at anie time to obey it although it ought to be a barre to him that once gaue his consent to the cōtrary yeat is it none to the pope why he maie not procede in the cause who neuer renounced his right if it be appealed to him The like to this is to be seene in the colleages of oure vniuersities where the founders in most places haue ordeined by their statutes that the membres of such colleages for the better reteining and vpholding of quiet and brotherly agrement emongest them shall propose suche quarelles and contentions as happen emongest them to the seuerall heades of suche colleages This ordre thus taken right and reason woulde haue kepte but if some frowarde body not contented with this will complaine furder to the chauncelor of the vniuersitie or chiefe patron of his colleage he may at their handes haue iustice That this was the case that S. Cyprian speaketh of manie thinges may persuade First that he saieth Cùm statutū sit omnibus nobis wheras an ordre is taken emōgest vs all he giueth vs two thinges to vnderstande that whereas they toke suche an ordre emōgest S. Cyprians place expoundyd thē it was not ordinarily so before but accustomed rather to be otherwise or elles what neded a statute to be made to for bid a thing neuer any otherwise practised Nexte that it was but for thē only for he saieth omnibus nobis emōgest all vs. So that in other places he denieth not yea by these words he cōfesseth rather that it was otherwise And therfore you haue done lewdly and made alowde lie M. Nowel to gather of this place this generall propositiō that all appellations from the bishop of one countrie to the bishop of an other be vnlaufull Whereas this ordre being taken
be inferiour to other Laste off all there is no worde tending to this sense that schismes maye be allwayes whiche yow must proue to deface the necessitie off one heade ouer all appeased by the seuerall bishoppes of seuerall diocesses therefore you haue made fower lyes vpon S. Cyprian A clustre of lyes 27 You repeate againe as that is a greate figure with you Nowell fol. 33. a. 6. that which yow saide before that it is impossible that there shoulde be one generall heade in earthe ouer the vniuersall churche or that suche a heade can ouersee his charge and kepe all churches from schismes and troubles and pacifie them when they are risen This as a thing tried by the state of the worlde at this daie and euer sith the first beginning thereof you will leaue to the reasonable reader to determine betwixt vs. As for the impossibilitie I answered before and saie againe Dorman fol. 50. b. that how euer it seme impossible the weake nature off maÌ„ coÌ„sidered yeat suer we are that he that appointed that ordre God him selfe is so able to multiplye grace in his ministre and to prouide him of suche helpe by the meanes of other inferiour ministres gouerning their seuerall charges vnder him that it shall not only not be impossible but easy enough Whether this one heade be hable to kepe the churche from schismes and pacifie them when they are risen better then many heades let the indifferent reader on Goddes name take the late table of Staphilus and after he hathe vpon the viewe thereof ioyned the fruiteful encrease of heresies in oure daies to the quiet agrement in faithe wherein we liued vndre the obedience of one heade lett him iudge whether he thinke more necessary for either the auoiding of schismes or suppressing of them when they be raised Which offer of youres to betried by the state off the worlde at this daye argueth to the worlde that yow haue neither wit in youre nowle nor shame in youre foreheade That the place taken out of S. Cyprian lib. 1. epist 3. proueth that for the which it was brought that is that there ought to be one generall chiefe heade ouer Christes vniuersall Churche The 12. chapitre I promised to bring the iudgement of certaine notable Nowell fo 33. a. 29 men to proue the necessitie of one heade lest anie man shoulde thinke me to be the auctor of that assertion Yow saie it was the inuention of ambitiouse popes I thinke other men haue bene ambitiouse aswell as the Dorman popes of Rome Yeat neuer was there hetherto any king or emperour muche lesse bishop or spirituall man able so manie hundred yeares to mainteine a superioritie by ambition only without all good title Neither was the diuell able to plant a succession of so many and so notable martirs confessours learned and vertuouse men as haue bene in the See of Rome to deceiue the worlde by the instrumentes of Christe It is Christe M. Nowell who hathe so by his auctoritie disposed the ordre of his churche that if you Lib. de vnit eccl will beleue S. Cyprian to make the same one he hath appointed one heade thereof in earthe as many riuers haue one spring many braunches one roote c. Which neded not by youre high diuinitie seing that it hath Christe the heade thereof in heauen in which respecte it might be one But nowe to the place of S. Cyprian here by me alleaged seing thus muche maye serue to proue you to haue made a saunderousâ—e lye Yow saie that this place of S. Cyprian here alleaged by me Nowell fol. 33. b. is not spoken of the pope Neither dothe it skill whether it be spoken of the pope Dorman or no. And yeat in this pointe yow spende a greate many of idle and superfluouse wordes For I am not as yeat come to proue the pope to be supreame heade of Christes churche but am only in the prouing hereof that it is necessarie that there be one suche heade If you woulde nedes comptrolle the alleaging of this place you shoulde showe that S. Cyprian speaketh not at all of anie necessitie to haue anye one heade or iudge in the stede of Christe obeied in earthe neither in particuler churches neither yeat ouer the vniuersal churche For so long as you coÌ„clude not thus it will euer Note folowe that if one prieste must be obeied in his owne diocesse for the auoiding and appeasing of heresies and schismes that by muche more greater reason must one prieste aboue all priestes be obeied in the stede of Christe to appease heresies and schismes in the vniuersall churche of God I had thought M. Nowell that you had knowen the proportion that is betwene the parte and the whole the lesse and the greater in the same kinde If one villaige can not consist without a heade muche lesse can one citie and yeat lesse can one shiere and lest of all can a prouince or whole kingdome Nowe when we speake of the churche one diocesse is in respecte of the whole churche as one villaige towne or shiere is in respecte of a whole prouince or kingdome As therfore it is not sufficient for the quiet gouerning of a prouince or kingdome that euery village and citie within the same haue a seuerall heade to ouersee the inhabitantes of suche villaiges or cities without there be beside one generall heade to ouersee all those inferiour heades Euen so the seuerall gouernours in particuler diocesses exclude not but inferre by a stronger reason the necessitie of one heade ouer all other heades in Christes being heade of the Churche excludeth not the ministerie of man the whole churche Which reason you can not shift awaie by saing that Christe is that only heade for so it maie be truly replied to you he is of all the particuler churches in the worlde toe And yeat this not withstanding as there woulde heresies and schismes rise in particuler churches if to vse S. Ciprians wordes there were not one prieste and iudge obeied in the same in the steede of Christe and for this cause one suche in euery diocesse supplieth the roome of Christe not visibly present in earthe so is not Christes being heade ouer the vniuersall churche any more let why there shoulde be a visible heade in his steede of the whole churche which is but one Especially seing the bishoppes maye as easely and are muche more likely to styrre vp schismes in the whole churche as are the particuler membres of euery particuler diocesse as the examples of youre first 600. yeares in which there was neuer yeat anie notable heresye that was not by bishoppes either begonne or mainteined sufficiently beare witnes Which chaunce happening seing that meanes must be sought to appease it aswell as the schismes of particuler churches and yeat Christe no more visibly present to be consulted in this case then he is in the other what remaineth to thinke but that he hath supplied
to 15. wordes I can not but thinke that his pleasure was by a young man suche as I am to shewe how little those greate pillers off their side were hable to doe I am not I confesse of that reading and studie in diuinitie that manie other be in oure countrie What so euer it be that is in me I vowe it to Christe and his catholike faithe against all heretikes and heresies during my life And suerlye that littell which I haue shal I trust I will saie with S. Cyprian dico prouocatus dico dolens dico compulsus I saie it being prouoked I saie it sorowfully I saie it compelled by yow thereto be sufficient at all times to matche with yow in anie of those foure questions that I haue handled in my boke For why should I doubte by the aide of God to be hable to saie in defence of the catholike faithe more then yow shall against it Yow saie that hetherto I haue proued nothing and that I Nowell fo 51. b. 1. haue gone about most lewdely to gather that because euerie seuerall countrie citie and companie haue their seuerall princes rulers and heades that all churches dispersed in all countries cities townes villages c. shoulde haue one onelie heade here in earthe I reasoned and yeat doe reason in this wise Euerie seuerall Dorman countrie because it is one bodie euerie seuerall citie and companie for the same cause must haue their seuerall rulers and heades Therefore all the churches in the worlde being but one misticall bodie must haue one chiefe heade to rule and gouerne the same I reasoned after the same māner Euerie particuler churche as hath S. Ciprian and S. Hierome must haue one bishop to rule the same and to be the heade thereof Therefore the whole churche of Christe where the daunger of schismes is greater and the mischiefe likelier to happen must haue in like case one heade I haue shewed yow nowe that youre reasons to the contrarie There is no one head ouer all the kingdoms in the world and it is impossible that there shoulde be one suche therfore in like maner it is impossible that there shoulde be one generall heade in earthe ouer the vniuersall church Fol. 32. b. 14. ar of no force forasmoche as the difference of these two states is suche as suffreth Supra cap. 11. fol. 49. b. 50. b fol. 50. a 61. a. not youre argument to holde As because the diuision off vnitie that is of faithe in the churche for the maintenaunce wherof this ordre was takē that there should be one heade in the whole church is merueilouse daungerouse to christian men forasmoch as without faith there is no saluatiō as hath our Sauiour him selfe Qui non crediderit condemnabitur Marci vlt. Heb. 11. he that beleueth not shall be damned And the Apostle Sine fide impossibile est placere deo To please God without faithe it is a thing impossibile Whereas it is not so touching the obseruation of anie other vnitie emongest Christian men in ciuile policie forasmuche as it is not necessarie that all agree in common gouernement but they maie well according to the diuersitie of countries tongues conditions of men haue diuerse maners of liuing and gouernement Yea it is necessarie the contrarie natures of men and countries so requiring that there be not onelie diuerse but contrarie positiue lawes in diuerse countries and prouinces When notwithstanding no diuersitie of natures no varietie of customes no circumstances what so euer they be can excuse them from the vniforme obseruing in all the whole worlde of godde◠commaundementes and ministring of his sacramentes without the which there is no entraunce to life To this maye be added that to gouerne the whole churche in spirituall thinges how harde and impossible a thing so euer it seme to you is yeat much more easie to be done then to gouerne the worlde in temporall gouernement bothe because the businesse and affaires of the worlde are more diuerse and contrarie then are those of the church and also because the sworde of excommunication wherewith the heade of the churche dothe punishe rebelles and suche as forsake the truthe passeth soner and easelier to the correction of suche offendours be they neuer so far of then doth the materiall sworde which the temporall magistrate vseth Againe that there shoulde be one head ouer the whole churche it is Christes institution who woulde so haue it when committing to Peter the charge of aswell his shepe as his lambes he made him generall shepherde and Homil. 87 in cap. 10. han 21. ruler as saith Chrisostome ouer the whole world Whereas in temporall gouernement it appeareth not by the scriptures that he planted euer anie suche ordre Naye the scripture Eccles 17. maketh mention of the contrarie if we will beleue yow It foloweth Nowell b. 17. You haue hearde also how ignorantly if he did not vnderstande how shamelesly if he did vnderstande he hathe alleaged S. Cyprian and S. Hieromo for him c. Men haue hearde M. Nowell doubt you not how like a Dorman propre mā you haue quit your selfe And yeat as though no man had sene you hetherto with a shamelesse repetition of a nombre of lies made before you turne you as it were about againe to be better considred Howe S. Ciprian and S. Hierome make not againste me but euidentlye with me how vaine or rather a balsphemouse lye it is to saie seing God hath so appointed it to be that it is impossible that there shoulde be one only heade ouer the whole churche How my witnesses agree with moste perfite consent it hathe bene to your shame before declared Yow see there was no suche opinion muche lesse knowledge Nowell of any suche heade emongest the Apostles or in the primitiue churche but that it is a newe diuelishe deuise of the late ambitiouse bishoppes of Rome who when they were neuer able yeat hitherto well to rule the churche of Rome one citie as by all histories and experience is euident woulde yeat of the worlde vsurpe the superioritie and supremacy And if S. Paule did thinke he was not meete to haue charge of one church who coulde not well gouern his own house of what mōstrouse ambitiō and presumption is he that being neuer yeat hable to gouern one peculier church doth claime the regiment of all churches thorough out the world whereas he is not hable to tell the onelie names of a small parte of the saide churches neither knoweth in what parte a greate many of them be Are yow not ashamed M. Nowell to call it a newe diuelishe Dorman deuise of the late bishoppes of Rome and to saye that there was no suche opinion of one heade emongest the Apostles or in the primitiue churche seing that S. Cyprian and Hierome who yow saye vntrulye are againste Epist ad Quint. fracrem Lib. 1. aduers Ioninian me doe make mention thereof as I shewed before
vnto the whiche doubtes of greate importaunce maye be referred then to haue manie in manie places and euerie one without respect to one chiefe to doe as he shall thinke good Howe thinke you M. Nowell is it not better in one familie to haue one Maister in one citye one Maior in one shiere one lieutenant then in a familye manie maisters in a citie manie Maiors in a shiere many lieutenātes I know not who gouerneth in your house your wife or you or bothe but this I thinke I maye be bolde to saye that if youre wife were not quarter maister onely but as muche maister as you that you were not therefore in better case then youre nexte neighbour that had the whole rule of his house him selfe Iff the streightes off youre owne house like you not loke vpon the largenes of the whole realme and iudge whether it be better to haue one liege souereigne or manie Yow hearde S. Augustines opinion Lib. de verarelig ca. 25. a better diuine I trowe then yowe touching this matter before concluding that their auctoritie was greater and they of better credite that reduced all thinges to one God because in the worckes of nature he saied it was so So in the churche M. Nowell seing that as God is one the faithe is also one one heade is better to conserue that one faithe and the vnitie thereof then many Therefore if the Iues had one heade bishoppe and the churche diuerse heades it is by all reason worse prouided for Excepte you will saie that to haue manie equall rulers in one bodie in one common wealthe is better then to haue only one Which notwitstanding before yow resembled to their fantasy who woulde haue manie equall goddes to rule the worlde But yow saie there is muche labour and paines saued Here while yow seke for ease yow leese vnitie while yowe diminishe paines yow prepare the high waie to the multiplieng off schismes Yow haue an eye to the resorting to that one heade from all places of the worlde but yow considre not the fruite of peace and vnitie that is thereby procured Make diuerse equall heades in the churche and you shall neuer be hable to auoide schismes in the same whiche S. Hierome as yow hearde before saieth can not be kepte out of particuler churches without there be one prieste of perelesse auctoritie aboue the rest Now let the learned reader iudge whether paines be well redemed by suche an inestimable benefite Yow clatter still that this heade emongest the Iues was but of one nation I tell yowe againe as I dyd before it was the churche that God had in earthe at that time But M. Dorman dealeth not truly with the Apologie c. The Nowell fo 62. b. 7 Apologie saieth that as the church decaied in the olde lawe where was the same God the same Christe the same holie ghoste c. then as is nowe so maie it and hath it decaied now M. Dorman handleth the matter as though he coulde proue by the Apologie that because where was the same God the same Christe the same holie ghost c. in the Iuishe church as is nowe therfore must there be one heade bishopp ouer all the christian churches thorough out the world as there was one heade bishop ouer all the Iues whiche foloweth no more then that we muste haue circumcision nowe for that the Iues had it then I merueile that yow be not ashamed to make anie mention Dorman The reason of the Apologie The church decaied in the olde lawe ergo it maie and hathe decaied in the newe confuted of that foolishe false and blasphemouse reason vsed by the Apologie For the concealing whereof reason woulde yow shoulde rather haue thanked me then haue accused me of vntrue dealing But wilt thow see good Reader how vntrulie I haue delt Forsothe because the proposition off one God one Christe c. brought by the Apologie serued not for the proufe of that for whiche it was brought I vsed it being a generall and true maxime to proue a true conclusion But why shoulde it not serue his purpose as well yow will saie as mine I will tell yow the cause One especiall cause why this argument of the Apologie The Synagoge hath decaied Ergo the church hath decaied defended here stoutely by M. Nowell shoulde not be good is because God hathe made other maner of promises for the continuance of his church then euer he made to the Synagoge He hath promised that hell gates shall not preuaile Matth. 16. against it This were not true if it had bene either these 15. or nine hundred yeares either ouerrun with heresies He hath appointed it to continue with the sonne and to remaine till the monel be taken awaie If because the churche Psalm 71. of the olde lawe was brought to that paucitie that some times there were but eight as in Noes time or but Elias alone Gen. 7. as he was persuaded but yeat in dede 7000. mo as God tolde him and that in Israel for in Iuda notwithstanding 3. Reg. 19. the churche florished although your Apologie had not reade so farre If I saie the churche of Christe might after 15. hundred yeares continuance be brought to the same case In the Portress◠the 6. 7. 8. and 10. chapitres nowe where were all these promises with diuerse other diligently of late gathered together made to the churche and of the churche If because in the olde lawe God was Notus in Iudea in Israel magnum nomen ei us knowen in Psalm 75. Iurie and his name greate in Israel but so no farder it maie be laufull for yow to defende youre secrete conuenticles at Geneua or elles where where is then thorough out all nations Lucae 24. beginning at Hierusalem Where is the prophecie of Dauid spoken before hande of Christes kingdome the churche that it shoulde rule from sea to sea and from the floud to the Psalm 71. ende of the worlde Seing therefore these greate promises haue bene made by all mightie God to the churche whereas to the Synagoge the figure thereof there were made no such although it decaied although at the last it vanished awaie as the priestehod and lawe did we can not conclude that therfore the same should happen to the church which hath other maner of staies to holde it vp The compilers of youre Apologie might be ashamed M. Nowell if they had not abandoned all shame and honestie to abuse after this sorte the examples of the holie scripture to proue that Christes churche might faile because in the olde lawe it was brought to some pancitie◠whiche reason they borowed of the Donatistes those wicked heretikes as appeareth by Saint Augustine who confuteth the same And Lib. de vnitat eccle cap. 12. thus haue I shewed you M. Nowell a cause why this saing of youre Apologie could not be applied to the churche of Christe that is nowe it remaineth that I answere
present when he saide Qui minor est Lucae 9. inter vos omnes hic maior est He that is the leaste emongeste you all is the greatest Belike you woulde haue asked hym how one could be the greater and the lesse But do you not youre selfe confesse that euerye bishop is the heade of hys diocesse And howe then M. Nowell doth that agree I vse youre owne wordes with the humble ecclesiastical ministery Is your heade the bishop a headye seruant and a seruile heade Kinges and Princes are they not the heades of the people whome they gouerne and yeat in that verie respecte that they be heades ministres notwithstanding as S. Paule witnesseth Rom. 13. and seruantes M. Dorman harpeth to muche vpon one string oute of tune Nowell b. 16. for his purpose I meane the example off the Iuish high prieste cet Who twangeth moste vppon one string that let the learned Dorman reader iudge Once this is suer that the string that you shoulde strike here you touche not so muche as once For I bringe not in this example of the high prieste off the Iues at this tyme as because I once did you dreame that I doe still to proue that there ought to be one onelye heade in Christes churche as there was emongest the Iues but to detecte the vanitie of this reason of youres Christe is heade of the churche and able to rule the same him selfe alone ergo there nedeth no other To this answered I so was M. Nowell dissembleth my reasō and twāgeth vpō a false string he being God heade of the Iuish Synagoge also and as wel hable to rule the same without anye helpe or meanes as he is nowe to rule his churche Yeat was his pleasure to appointe a highe prieste c. And therefore that ought to be no reason to persuade vs that he dothe not or maye not do the lyke nowe To this because yow were not hable to replye you dissembled my meaning as a little before in this verye place you doe when you saye that my examples make rather against me then with me The whiche practise you vse also hereafter as in place shal be declared For this matter I haue no more to saye but to aduise you that you take youre harpe into youre hande and twang once vpon the right string In prosecuting the confutation of that naughtie argument fol. 80. a. 24. 1. Reg. 15. of youre Apologie I vse the examples of Saule called in the scripture the heade ouer the tribues of Israel of the husbande called by Paule the heade of his wife off the 1. Cor. 11. Archebishoppe heade ouer the other bishoppes of his prouince and conclude thereupon that as it is no good reason to saye God was heade of the tribues of Israel therefore Saule was not Christe is heade of vs all men and wemen therefore the husbande is not heade of the wife The Arche bishoppe is heade of the other bishoppes of his prouince Therefore the bishoppes be not hedes euen so that the argument of youre Apologie Christe is heade of his churche therfore there is no other head is a faulty argument because if it were good it shoulde exclude also whiche it dothe not the other heades that I named confessed to be true heades in earthe For quae ratio partis ad partem eadem totius ad totum the same proportion that is of the parte to the parte the same is the proportion of the whole to the whole that is if their maie be a heade of one diocesse in earthe which is parte of the whole notwithstanding that God is heade of the whole there is no let by this argument but there maie be an other heade also vnder him ouer the whole And so I proue the reason of the Apologie naught in the whole quia non valet in partibus because it is not good in the partes To this reason of mine you neuer make answere but dissembling it as you did the other before you saie that I bring these examples to proue that there be diuerse seuerall b. 13. heades in earthe vnder Christe So I did in dede But why woulde I proue that To proue that there ought to be one heade ouer the whole Why saye you so for shame M. Nowell Why dissemble you that whiche anye man that hathe his common sense can not but see to be otherwise I bringe it to shewe howe absurde it is for you to graunte that ouer the tribues off Israel there maye be a heade ouer seuerall churches there maye be heades withoute derogation to Christes honour who is the chiefe and yeat you will not graunte so muche to the whole churche for the impediment of that pretended reason because Christe is the heade which letteth not in particuler churches And therfore neither Hosius nor I care whether Saul were head of the tribue of Leui or no this example prouing how euer it were sufficiently our intent whiche is to disproue your folishe reason that because Christ is heade of his church there nedeth no other When Hosius or I alleage this place to gather thereby that there ought to be one head in earth vnder Christ ouer all churches then we will folowe your minde in cōcluding In the meane season we take youre argument that because Christe is the onelie heade ouer the vniuersall churche therefore there nedeth no other generall heade vnder him to be by this example sufficiently confuted as before I shewed Yeat because your desire is that it maie be considered whether when the scripture saieth that Saul was made heade of the tribues of Israēl he were appointed heade ouer the tribue of Leui also that is ouer the cleargie considre it I praie yow and spare not and when yow haue all considered and done yow shall perceiue howe muche this exemption of the cleargie from the auctoritie of king Saul maketh against yow and youre companions that will make kinges to rule the cleargie in causes ecclesiasticall I doubte not but some of youre side that haue more staied heades then yowe and that are lesse passionat will saie that yowe might haue kepte this consideration to youre selfe still And where yow mingle kinges and bishoppes together whose Nowell b. 30. fo 81. a. 1. offices are distinct and vse the examples of the Archebishop off Cauntorbury and the bishop of London what titles so euer your bishoppes when they were in those roumes vsed or abused I am suer they who be nowe in place take it for their chiefe honour to be and to be called also gods ministers in his churche What a worlde is this when protestantes complaine of Dorman mingling kinges and bishoppes together As though the worlde knewe not who confoundeth and iumbleth together these two offices they or we But the faulte is founde with me for reasoning from their offices whiche be distincte Why yow knowe M. Nowell if you haue not forgotten youre logicke that it
haue loked so farre in the 34. and 35. leafe of my firste booke Nowe to the place of Chore Dathan and Abiron of the whiche you saye Nowell B. 5. thus Concerning the reason made by Chore Dathan and Abiron that the people ought not to obeye their gouernours because they be all holye * These wordes and the lorde is emōgest them left oute by M. Nowell Dorman and that therefore the magistrates ought not to lifte them selues aboue the Lordes people it is not oure reason cet No in dede M. Nowell as you haue alleaged it it is not youre reason But if you had trulye reported it it woulde haue gone as nere to your reason as twelue pense to a shilling But you doe here as you did before with the reasons of Swenckfielde that is leaue oute the chiefe reason wherein the comparison is made and then crie oute vpon me for making suche wise comparisons Who seeth not that I compare you hereto these schismatikes refusing to obeye Moises and Aaron not because they saide they were all holy but because they added in ipsis est Dominus and the Lorde is present with the multitude as you refuse that one heade of Christes churche because Christ is present with his churche As for the wordes that you note here in the margent of youre boke multitudo sanctorum and populus domini papae as though you coulde thereby make some shewe that this place might be applyed to Chanon Chore Deane Dathan and his felowes it deserueth to be rather laughed at then answered seing that bothe it is a manifeste lye wherewith you sclaundre the cleargye who neuer called them selues the holy people of the greate Lorde of Rome as you here feine and also it is well knowen that what so euer libertyes and immunities the cleargye had the same were giuen as the faithe encreased by Emperours and kinges them selues and therefore they were moste far from the maner of reasoning vsed by these schismatikes Nowe whereas M. Dorman alleageth the Apologie as thus reasoning Nowell B. 25. that the churche hathe no neede of anie other ruler because Christ is with it truth it is if M. Dormā doe meane one only heade of the vniuersall church For Christe nedeth no suche generall gouernour seing he is bothe present him selfe continually by his spirite as he promised and also for that he hathe in euery peculier countrie and churche his Moises and Aaron that is to saye his feuerall deputies in his steede euerye where here in earth for that no one mortall man can possibly suffice to the gouernaunce of the whole worlde or churche c. If he nede gouernours of euery peculier churche where Dorman he is no lesse present then with the whole why nedeth he not aswell one chiefe heade to gouerne the whole who shall emongest so manie heades diuided into partes euerye one thinking his opinion to be best strike the stroke and preserue vnitie If yowe saie God maie so preserue euerie bishop that he fall not into heresie you put god to worke daily mo miracles then he doth to preserue the chiefe bisshop of all whiche yet you stagger to graunte as a thinge impossible The wordes folowing in youre Apologie that no one mortall man can suffice to the gouernement of the whole fo 96. a. 3. worlde or church I of my accustomed sinceritie omitted yow saye And what haue you gotten by it nowe you haue alleaged it youre selfe Verilie this that you will make all men vnderstande that god is able with you to doe no more then you list to giue him leaue but of this I haue entreated before sufficiently You saye that you are far from rebelling Nowell against youre naturall soueraigne and other gods ministers appointed to gouerne you c. But how farre M. Nowell I Dorman praie you Who made the boke of succession at home Who sounded the two traiterouse blastes against the mōstrouse regiment of women their Quene being a woman From whence were they blowen but from the lake of Gehenna Who grudgeth against the princes ordinaunce in matters indifferent and of small importance no greater then of a square cap Who made warre against their prince in Scotland Who set all Fraunce in an vprore against their king Who but that vnhappy vermine the protestants That which foloweth fol. 96. b. and 97. a. b. is answered before That the waye to ouerthrow Fol. 68. vsque ad fol. 106. heresies is not by the only scripture The 27. chapiter THIS matter hath bene sufficiently handled before in the 21. chapitre And allthough in me it be a greate faulte and highly laide to my charge to alleage thrise one place of scripture yet muste yowe good readers beare withe M. Nowell if he alleage his absurde and wicked assertions more then six times thrise and maie not in any wise twite him with the prouerbe Crambe his that to muche of one thing is naught yea allthough he neuer proue anie of them once But maie yowe not be ashamed M. Nowell so vniustly to M. Nowell repre hending other men for vnreuerent speaking of the scripture speaketh of all other most vnreuerētly him selfe charge Pighius and Hosius with vnreuerent speaking of the scripture when youre selfe in this place applie your prophane prouer be to signifie that to muche of scripture maie be nought that anie place thereof maie so often be alleaged that it shoulde become vnsauory By what auctoritie claime yow I praie yowe tell vs suche libertie that yowe maie speake of the scriptures that whiche is vnlaufull and plaine blasphemie and other maie not vse so muche as similitudes or comparisons betwene the scriptures and other prophane thinges Why is it laufull for yow so oftentimes to repeate these heathenishe wordes that it is impossible for one man assisted by gods grace for otherwise we affirme it not to gouerne the whole churche of Christe that we be like to the Phariseis and high priestes of the Iues you to Christe and his apostles that there ought no more to be one chiefe heade to gouerne the churche then one emperour to gouerne the whole worlde that the pope can not be iudge in his owne cause as though goddes cause were his owne priuate cause with suche like absurdities a nombre mo and maie not be laufull for me to alleage thrise the holie scripture of God to proue three seuerall pointes Firste that it coulde not be likely that God prouiding for his chosen The place of Deuter. alleaged by me thrise to three seuerall purposes people the Iues a chiefe and heade gouernour to ende and determine all their controuersies woulde not for his churche whiche he loueth more tendrely where he knewe shoulde be greater nede doe the like nexte to answere thereby youre foolishe reason Christe is heade of his churche and present allwaies withe it therefore there nedeth no other By which reason I saide that God shoulde haue prouided for the Iues no chiefe
In cap. Marci 14. Peter was made ruler of the churche vt sub vno pastore sit vna fides that vndre one shepherd there maie be one faithe that the same remedie ought to continue also that is that there be one heade But to this will you by no meanes be brought and therefore I maie iustly conclude that you are those headlesse bishoppes that sitte in these pestilēt chaires making to youre selues seates out of the churche and against the church by troubling the ordre begonne by sainte Petre as bothe this auncient auctor saieth here and Optatus moste euidently in his worckes against the Donatistes Lib. 2. doing the like But against this you reason and saie that we must first Nowell fol. 112. proue oure selues to be the true churche of Christe which we shall neuer be hable to doe being in deede the Sinagog of Antichrist We will not proue it M. Nowell but will make you and Dorman youre companions to proue it for vs in spite of your beardes be you neuer so lothe For when being asked where youre church in the which you make youre ministres and bishoppes was but fifty yeares ago you shall not be hable to answere youre verie silence shall speake for vs seing that a church Christe must haue allwaies which because it could not be youres that was no where it must be that of whiche we are that was allwaies and euery where Your nexte refuge is to this that these wordes whose seate Nowell fol. 113. a. 1. he vsurpeth seme to proue that the auctor here noted some Antipope which hath bene no noueltie for these 3. or 4. hundred yeares to haue two or three popes at once And so some writer in fauour of him by like that was chosen and kepte residence at Rome hathe written this against some other that vsurped Petres seate c. It is happy M. Nowell that this is but a bare surmise of Dorman youres leaning to no sure fundation but confirmed by a pore by Like As for the wordes whose seate he vsurpeth they make nothing for youre Antipope but haue relation to suche false bishoppes as being heretikes or schismatikes corrupt the traditiō of catholike bishoppes whose seates they vsurpe by making warre with the church and chalenging to be of the ordre of bishoppes and of the bodye of Christes church whereas of their bishoppes they can shewe no beginning and of their bodye they will haue no heade You can not here saye that because they were oute of the church thys auncient auctor called them a body without Christe their heade For althoughe that be true Yeat the wordes that go next before They trouble the ordre begonne of Peter c. chalenging to them selues an ordre withoute beginning that is to saie professing a body without a heade argue an other heade then Christe whose auctoritie of being heade of his church depended not vpon Petre you wote well but contraryewise Peters vpon his Whereas you restreine this place to be ment against some false pope intruding him selfe into the bishoprike of Rome you doe the auctor greate wronge who as the learned will easely espye speaketh here generally of all suche bishoppes as make them selues sees out off the churche or against the churche You might if it had pleased you haue gessed nearer if you had saide that he had noted the false Donatist bishoppes who making them selues Sees against the churche professed a bodye withoute a heade as you doe As appeareth by Optatus liuing in the same time and writing of their bishoppes in this wise Igitur Optatus lib. 2. de Schismat Donatist quia Claudianus Luciano Lucianus Macrobio Macrobius Encolpio Encolpius Bonifacio Bonifacius Victori successisse videntur si Victori diceretur vbi sederit nec ante se aliquem illic fuisse monstraret nec cathedram aliquā nist pestilentiae ostenderet that is to saie Therefore because Claudianus seemeth to haue succeded Lucianus Lucianus Macrobius Macrobius Encolpius Encolpius Bonifacius Bonifacius Victor if one shoulde aske Victor to whome he succeded neither coulde he name any before him nor shewe any other chaire then the chaire of pestilence That to colour the better this fond fantasy of youres you saie it hath bene no noueltie for these 3. or 400. yeares to haue 2. or 3. popes at once as though some late writer were the auctor of this worcke it is a most miserable shifte seing that bothe there be store of olde writtē copies not vnwritten these 500. yeares where this worcke is to be founde in the name of S. Augustine and therefore can this place by no meanes excepte yowe woulde haue it written by prophecie before the thing were done be vnderstande of anie suche schismaticall pope and againe if it be not S. Augustins it is yeat more auncient for as muche as the auctor thereof counteth but 300. Quaestio 44. yeares from the comming of Christe to his time Howe so euer it be the matter can not be applied to vs who Nowell a. 10. doe not vsurpe Peters chaire Further what worde is there here to proue the chaire of Rome to be the heade of the vniuersall churche c. You trouble the ordre begonne of Petre whiche is inough Dorman to proue youre chaire the chaire of pestilence For that I noted you of althoughe by taking vpon you that whiche belongeth to that chaire you vsurpe his chaire also These wordes the ordre begonne of Petre include the auctoritye of the See of Rome that ordre being first begonne in Peter that he was the heade of the reste as hathe bene declared and so are you answered to youre demaunde what word there is here to proue the chaire of Rome to be the heade of the vniuersall church To procede we hauing Christe to be oure heade our churche Nowell is no deade troncke as lacking an heade and hauing him oure heade onely and other his ministres oure gouernours vnder him oure churche is no lyue monstre as hauing manye heades no more then oure common wealth hauing God the onely heade in heauen oure prince his seruaunt oure heade gouernoure in earthe is therefore a liue monstre or the whole worlde hauing God to his heade is therefore a deade troncke because it hathe no one onely earthly heade nor can haue any suche no more can the vniuersall churche thorough oute the whole worlde haue anye suche one earthly heade c. and so maye he conclude that God and Christe the authors of lyfe be no heades or no suche heades as can saue the bodies whereof they be heades from being deade tronckes excepte the saide bodies haue a false vsurper from Rome to be their heade beside and to giue them life You twang here M. Nowell vpon that olde false string Dorman that euer iarreth and neuer is in tune For as I haue euer tolde you so often as you made mention of this comparison betwene the state of the worlde and the church
which hathe bene in this Repronfe of youres verie often that betwene the gouernemet of the church and the whole worlde there is greate oâ—â—es so doe I nowe answere you againe But you will saie that I am the auctor of this comparison my selfe who reason that the churche must haue one heade because kingdomes countries cities be so best gouerned It is my reason I confesse that euery thing that is one is best gouerned by one And therefore the worlde it selfe were for vs that liue in the same best gouerned by one chiefe heade vnder Christe if for the paine of oure sinnes God had not disposed the same to be gouerned by manie Which when yow saie to be a thing impossible bothe in the church and in the world you speake as you are wont without anie proufe muche to the derogation of goddes omnipotency Nowe to come to youre comparison see I praie yow whether if God had appointed all the kingdomes in the worlde to be one as he hathe all the churches to be one for he came into the worlde vt dispersos congregaret in vnum Psal 146. to gather the dispersed together it shoulde not be also a deade troncke if it lacked a visible heade to make it one Your similitude betwene the churche and oure common wealthe is made betwene Christe heade of the churche onlye a multitude of ministres gouernours of the same vndre him and the common wealthe hauing God the heade in heauen and one prince his seruaunt and heade gouernour in earthe This comparison maketh not onelye not withe yow but verie muche also against yow First it maketh not with yow because yow supposing the churche to be one bodie and Christe the onelye heade thereof allowe to the churche manie vndreheades whereas in the common wealthe being allso one bodye and the other parte of the comparison there is mention but of one heade vndre Christe the prince him selfe So that thereupon to infer that the churche hauing an infinite no more of heades beinge but one bodye is no monstre because the common wealth hauing but one visible heade like to it selfe is no monstre it is a monstrouse conclusion more meete to procede from a blocke that hathe no sense or a monstre that hathe manye heades but wit in none of them then from a creature endowed with reason It maketh against yowe thus the common wealth where be manie heades and euerie one will gouerne is a monstrouse bodye but the churche is Christes common wealthe and hathe as yowe saie manie heades to gouerne it therfore it is a monstre Againe The common wealthe that because Christe is the onelye heade thereof in heauen will admit no other chiefe heade in earthe is a blocke But so doeth youre churche therefore it is a blocke or deade troncke As for the conclusions that yowe saie I maie make that God and Christe be no heades or no suche heades c. and againe that aswell all kingdomes and common wealthes in Christendom be liue monstres as hauing many heades c. In dede I muste nedes confesse a truthe God hathe giuen me free will and I maie abuse it if I list and make as manye foolishe conclusions as yow haue done But I trust yowe will not deale with me as yow ruffled before with the pore Franciscanes and those of the company of Iesus to conclude that I will saie so because I maie saie so if I list to plaie the foole Nowe to these conclusions I saie that trulie I can not so conclude the first of them folowing no better then if yow M. Nowell woulde conclude that God and Christe the auctors of all true doctrine can not instructe men if it so pleased them in all wholesome knowledge without the externall helpe of man because they doe this by men For euen as God vseth the ministery of men to teache and preache not as though he coulde not so doe without for our infirmities sake and because it pleased the diuine wisdome that Christe the seconde persone in Trinitie should not be allwaies visibly present with vs for the same cause hathe it pleased all mightie God to gouerne the membres of his churche by the meanes of one visible heade the B. of Rome The folie of youre seconde conclusion appeareth I doubte not by the difference that is betwene all the churches of the world which make all but one and the kingdomes which be diuerse and were neuer appointed to be one And had M. Dorman had so muche leasure from his diuinitie Nowell matters as to haue looked better vpon his notes of the canon lawe his peculier studie he woulde haue bene better aduised then to haue called vs Acephalos headlesse and therefore deade trunckes who doe obeie oure owne prelates seing Acephali as is there noted are those who be subiecte to no prelate And had M. Nowell had so muche witte to haue loked Dorman first vpon the texte and then vpon the glose from whence he borowed this note he woulde haue bene better aduised then to haue alleaged it of all other for their defence For by the texte it appeareth that those whome the glose there calleth Acephali had heades quos ministros seu custodes vel gardianos aut nominibus alijs appellant whome they cal ministres kepars wardens or by other names Why dothe the glose then call then headlesse quia sub nullius veri praelati obedientia existunt because they are vnder the obedience of no true prelate This is the reason of the glose But yeat let vs aske an other question why were they vnder the obedieÌ„ce of no true prelate Because their heades were not alowed by the pope This is the reason of the texte You must not be angry with me M. Nowel for charging you as I doe with the canoÌ„ law For you bogge me in my peculier studie as you saie and you seme to haue coÌ„ceiued greate trust vpoÌ„ this place which maketh me the bolder and earnester to With the texte and the glose agreeth reason for if your head that standeth now vpon your shoulders should sodenly be turned in to the heade of an Asse he should not saye amisse that for all the long eares shoulde saye you were headlesse not for that that yow had no heade at all suche a one as it were but in this respect that you had no suche heade as you shoulde haue no suche heade as a preacher shoulde loke out of a pulpite withal To come nowe nearer to the common case of you all and to exemplifie it by some of youre lignage that haue gone before you were the subiectes of Nouatus trowe you that false bishop Acephali without a heade when forsaking Cornelius the B. of Rome they obeied him If they were you are For youre case is like your bishoppes being no more truly bisshoppes then Nouatus was nor alltogether so truly neither For he was made bishop by two bishoppes laufully made by the pope whereas you were made by the commission
currebant ego non mittebam Nowe seing the canon lawe helpeth Hier. cap. 23. you not yea seing it maketh directly against you as the whiche accounteth them headlesse that appointe heades to them selfe without the popes approbation seing at the lawes of the realme you finde as I heare saie as little grace seing that by the scriptures you are condemned for running not being sent what remaineth but to saye that the obeing of your Idoll bishoppes can not excuse you from being headlesse All this a doe hathe M. Dorman made nowe by the space of more Nowell fol. 114. a. 1. Clem. li. 3. Tit. 13. de censib exact cap. cum sit lib. 5. de verb. sig Tit. 10. ca. 1. Ex frequentib Dorman then three leaues to deface scripture as no fitte iudge in controuersies and to persuade vs that the pope like an other Pithagoras by his only bare worde maie and ought to satisfie all men heretikes and others and that it shal be sufficient for him only to saye without reason of scripture why he so saieth sauing this reason only papae est pro ratione voluntas with the pope will standeth for reason as is mentioned in the boke of his owne canon lawe c. Not to deface the scripture M. Nowel haue I made al this a doe there you belye me but to deface heretikes while by this meanes it shall not be laufull for thē to peruert and corrupte it with their false and vntrue expositions The places that you bring out of the canon lawe to proue that it is sufficient for the pope to saye without reason of scripture why he so saieth are two but in neither of those places is that which you saye The first place speaketh of certeine priuileges which the pope for causes and considerations will not haue extendid to monasteries and churches after a certeine time Here saieth the glose vpon this place that the popes will in this case standeth for reason Againe in the seconde place which is not there where you falsely note it here in the margent to be but in the title de sententia excommunicat cap. si summus pontifex of the pope absoluing one excommunicate it saieth as muche but no where in the popes lawe is this odiouse saing of youres founde Loke therfore better bothe vpon the texte and the glose and learne to vnderstande them before you bring them nexte An answere to 8. demaundes made by M. Nowell touching the pope The 30. Chapitre THE FIRST what if there be two or three popes at once Is it not to be doubted which of them shall be this certeine iudge in cōtrouersies Nowell And is not the popish churche in this case in daunger to be a liue monstre as hauing manie heades If there shoulde be so manie popes at once as truly popes Dorman as you professe to haue of your church manie heades at once then should the church be not only in daunger but in deede a liue monstre as youre schismaticall churche is But whereas in truthe there is but one laufull pope it is in no suche daunger as yow fantasy not if there were ten that pretended euery of them right to the papacy If any suche chaunce happen we knowe it chaunceth by Goddes permission who as he hath hetherto so guided his churche that when the like hathe happened it neuer susteined thereby anie detriment in faithe so are we by his promise assured who promised neuer to forsake his churche that he will in no wise permitte in this doubtefull time anye such cōtrouersie to be moued as that maye not withoute the detriment of his church remaine in suspense vntil suche time as God haue reuealed the right iudge and true pope What if there be neuer a pope at all Shall all oure doubtes lye Nowell b. 25. therewhile vndiscussed for lacke of a iudge and youre popishe church so longe two or three yeares together lye as a dead troncke for lacke of an heade If your doubtes be suche as the vsage of the churche the Dorman consent of all nations be not able to explicate then is there no other remedie but by praier to desire allmightye God to kepe from vs no longre this necessarie meane appointed by him in earthe to signifie to vs his holye will and pleasure The churche is not in the meane season a deade troncke no more then one of youre particuler churches is when the bishop dieth For euen as there although not in all thinges the Chapitre supplieth the lacke of the bishop in many so the See of Rome being voide by deathe hathe a graue Senate that supplieth althoughe not in defining of controuersies yeat in manie thinges that want of the heade I trust when the generall heade of the church of England in earthe dieth you will not call your church a deade troncke VVhat if the pope sitte not at Rome in Italie May we not doubt Nowell of the certeintie of the iudge not sitting in the chaire whereof he hath all his certeintie The pope hathe not his certeintie of Peters materiall Dorman chaire but of the auctoritie and power giuen to Petre the signe whereof the chaire is And therefore you nede not to trouble youre selfe with that care whether he sitte in the verye same chaire that Petre did or in some other whether he sit at Auinion in Fraunce or Toletum in Spaine he is allwaies bishoppe of Rome and successour to Petre. And as we saie where the kinge is there is the courte so where the pope sitteth there is Peters chaire to saye Petres auctoritye VVhat if he doe erre VVhat if he be an heretike Nowell The pope maye haue his priuate and personall errours Dorman it can not be denied God onely and not man is priuileaged that he can not so erre But in determining any matter of faithe or deliuering any doctrine to the whole churche he that is the chiefe heade of his churche will neuer suffer him so to erre And therefore I saye with S. Augustine that August epist 165. his misdoinges doe not preiudice the churche If it woulde please you M. Nowell to become scholer to those that you call my maisters as for anie greate learning that you haue showen in this Reproufe of youres it might beseeme you well enough Pighius and Hosius in them shoulde you learne Lib. 4. eccles hierarch cap. 8. Lib. 2. contra Brent folio 83. sequent that all youre companions be not hable to conuince so muche as one pope emongest so manie as haue bene to be an heretike But let that be as doubtefull as this is moste certeine that there was neuer yeat anye pope that gaue in any matter of faithe an hereticall sentence And therfore you are much to blame to conceiue of Goddes prouidence for his churche any such dispaire not being hable for all the time past to shewe so muche as one example of that whiche you captiously demaunde VVhat if
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