are that pure Churches that those which minister them impurely are the impure Churches the Church of Rome the most impure of all others which hath so villanously defiled both the one and the other that there remayneth not any more so much as any shewe of the institution of Christ That the other markes which our aduersaries alledge are common both to the pure and the impure Church such as for the most part hold not CHAP. III. THey that perceyue thēselues vanquished in this that they haue not the essential markes of the pure sound Church they would quite cōtrary make vs beleeue that the true Church can not be knowen by the pure sincere administration of the worde Sacraments but by certaine outward markes to wit by antiquitie multitude succession of places and persons by miracles reuelatiōs no otherwise then false coyners which wil not haue men to knowe their money by the finenes of Golde and by the touchstone but by the wayght by the sounde by the coyne the colour which they may easely falsifie They alledge therefore vnto vs antiquitie following that which is sayd vnto Iob of one of his friends Aske for the auncient generation prepare thy selfe to seeke after the fathers Againe dayes shal speake or the multitude of yeares shal teache wisedome To whō I could answere by Iob him selfe euen in the verse next following The masters are not alwaies wise neither do that olde men alwaies vnderstand iudgement Also it is the spirite of God not yeres that ought to speake in man But forasmuch as they make an instance so lowe it behooueth that we giue them a more full answere The questiō is here of the puritie of the Church Nowe the Church is compared to a litle barke or ship and the more she is vpon the Sea the more she leaketh and vnto a house which with age decayeth and falleth to ruine and to a Citie and the policie of it corrupted if once a man drawe it to any other beginning and to a mans body to which yeeres doe bring an heape of al kinde of euils To be short to the most healthful and temporate body in the world age is euen as sickenes it selfe I saye then that antiquitie alone ought to make vs thinke that in the Church there is a great sickenesse and much filthynes and that euen for this cause alone without any longer confutation it behooueth vs to bring a broome to purge it and to call for a Physition so farre is it of that for these things a man should mayntayne that she is pure and sound as they do Furthermore I demaund howe they will aunswere vnto the heathen yea to Saynt Austine him selfe who sayeth that Ierusalem began by Abel and Babylon by Rain Also that the promise was by Isaac and the bastardise by Ismael which was the elder Consequently what would they haue answered vnto the Iewes in the time of our Sauiour Iesus Christe if that antiquitie had beene a true marke of the Church They sayde that they were the children of Abraham Nowe he was called the Father of the beleeuers For they had their genealogie from the creation of the first man They could haue alledged the couenantes that were made of olde betweene God and them And after that Christe was sent vnto them according to these promises vnder the shadowe of this antiquitie they called him the Carpenters sonne a Samaritan one that hath the deuill a Preacher of noueltie and there is great likelyhood that if our masters had beene then there in that time seeing that they keepe the selfe same argumentes they would haue holpen to haue crucified him Nowe we say likewise that Antichrist who was foretolde vnto vs entered into this ruinous house whiles the most part was a sleepe in this dead sleepe of antiquitie in steade of that was said vnto them Watch pray that the subtillest lent him their hād till he had turned all topsituruie and yet men would not know him Furthermore I demaund what they wil aunswere vnto the Greeke Churches the Armenians Ethiopians c. founded by the Apostles as olde as the Church of Rome yea and elder too seeing that the Church of Christ as we know tooke her beginning from the East to the West If antiquitie be a marke of puritie they are pure if they be pure the Latine Church in comparison to their iudgemēt is most impure If they be heretikes impure as the Latine Church doth hold them then it followeth that antiquitie is not a marke to proue the puritie or veritie of the Church Howe then shal we reiect antiquitie nay rather we embrace it with all our heartes a great deale better then our aduersaries but in such fort we embrace it as the auncientest of tymes be asked heard before al our fathers and alwaies according to this most certaine rule that Primum quodque verissimū that the first things are truest that is to say that when there shal be any question of a pure Church we looke into the word of God what she hath bene of olde time that we draw her from the rust of our euils which she hath gotten through age so restore her vnto the beauty integritie of her youth See then how we ought to honour antiquitie to reforme our selues according vnto it and not to suffer our selues to be corrupted with the rust and so to perish vnder the shadow of it This is the rule which our master hath giuen vs When there was question concerning diuorce that Moses had agreed vnto the people for the hardnes of their heartes they had a prescription long inough if prescriptiō might haue had place against the institution of God Notwithstanding he answereth in one woorde It was not so from the beginning that is to say there was no such ordināce of god Tertullian saith Prescriptiō is nothing against the trueth neither time nor authority of persons nor priuiledges of kingdomes For there is no foolish custome which can haue authority against the trueth Now Christ is called the trueth and not custome And if Christ be alwaies more aūcient then al then also is trueth more auncient then al customes Heresies haue alwaies bin vāquished by the trueth not by noueltie and whatsoeuer is contrarie to this trueth it is heresie although it be neuer so olde a custome Cyprian saith we must not regard that which any other hath done before vs but we must regard that which Christ hath dōe which is before all for we must not followe the custome of men but the trueth of god Againe he saith custome without trueth is an old errour the Lord hath said I am the trueth and not I am custome Ignatius saith all my antiquitie is Iesus Christ whō not to heare is manifest perdition See then howe the most auncient sende vs alwaies to laye holde vpon the trueth which is
the seruice of God there was this other thing in it that it was but a litle countrey and in that countrey one onelye Citie Ierusalem and in that City but one Temple where men ought to sacrifice so that there one gouernour and one high Priest might suffise in steade whereof the whole world by the comming of Christ the Messias is become one Temple and al the people but one flocke which must be fedde by the worde of God a thing that no one mā may presume to do Not that I would denye but in the heart of one Pope there may bee ambition enough to couet the whole world for this were to deny the truth of all histories but rather I woulde saye that there was not any one of thē that was not ready to haue forfaited lost the crown if he failed to instruct by the preaching of the word of god the least diocesse in the world Of this allegation then they conclude nothing to their aduantage vnlesse they wil become Iewes enclose the whole world in one Citie make voyde the benefit of the death of Iesus Christ which is cōmon to al the world But contrariwise we may by the way drawe this consequence That seeing Moses as they say was head of the cōmon weale and Aaron of the seruice of God that the Pope ought to content him selfe with the one without farther intermedling with the other to the preiudice of all the princes kings of the earth Nowe if they replie that they are able ynough to exercise the estate of the generall lieutenantshippe of Christ throughout the whole world without calling them to the practise which yet neuer was seene I demaund whether this be by the spirit of Christ or by their owne If by theirs why then this is the spirit of the prince of this world for to couet and not to conduct and miserable is that Church which is left to be guided by the vaine spirite of these men who thinke themselues to haue such abūdance Nowe if it be by the spirite of Christ I do require thē either that they will agree that this spirite following the promise of Christ to his ministers doeth giue power to the ministery of the worde pronounced by them whereof followeth that euery Bishop and pastor in his ministery occupieth the roome of Christ visibly or else that they proue vnto vs by fit agreeable texts that Christ hath enclosed the roote of his spirite so in the heart of the Pope that none can be partaker of it besides himselfe To be short the kingdome of Christ consisteth in this that he gouerneth his owne giuing power to the preaching of his worde and to his Sacramentes by the vertue of his spirite and the ministerie of his Gospell consisteth in the administration of that worde and of his Sacramentes Nowe there is not any man that can boast to giue and dispense the holy Ghost for he proceedeth not but frō the Father and the Sonne None then vnlesse it be Christ God and man can be the essential head of the Church Likewise no man can preache the woorde exercise the ministerie throughout the world none therefore can bee the Ministeriall head of the whole Church But rather eche minister pastor in his owne right vnder the Pastor of pastors Iesus Christ our Lorde Nowe let vs come to that which our aduersaries say that Saynt Peter was the ministeriall head of the Church If he were so they must needes graunt that this was by the institution of Christ for otherwise and without his commaundement he would neuer haue presumed to haue takē vpon him such a dignitie Likewise if our Lorde haue placed him in any such degree and so necessary as they saye for the Church they will graunt me that Saynt Peter hath exercised this office for otherwise it had bene to leaue the Church for a pray and confusion If then Christ haue not instituted it nor S. Peter exercised it it must followe that he was neuer the ministeriall head of the Church Concerning the first poynt The whole Gospell throughout teacheth vs nothing but humilitie that we should become litle children and poore in spirite c. Christe setteth forth himselfe for an example to his Apostles and willeth that his Apostles be examples to the whole worlde I am sayth he your master and yet notwithstanding I am amongst you to serue you Also when there was strife amōgst the Apostles at two sundry times who should be chiefe Christ pronounceth this determination He that wil be the greatest or chiefe amongst you let him be a seruant to al. And he saith vnto them Learne of me He sayth not sayth Saynt Augustine to worke miracles nor to make a newe worlde but that I am milde and humble of heart And as touching S. Peter he is brought vnto Christ by his brother Andrewe to the end to be his companion and not to be called the chiefe or to haue any primacie attributed vnto him Agayne when they were sent foorth to preache they went two by two as companions which excludeth all superioritie When Christ promiseth that they shall iudge the twelue tribes of Israel sitting vpon twelue thrones he giueth not him a place aboue the rest to gouerne in Whē the triumphant Church likewise is described vnto vs by Saint Iohn it is sayd that the Citie hath twelue foundations and vpon them the names of the twelue Apostles of the lambe without mentioning of any great stone for Peters throne aboue the rest To be short when the Apostles receiued the holy Ghost the power of binding and loosing commaundement to preache throughout all the worlde and when the holye Ghost it selfe descended downe vpon them this was when they were al gathered together without any prerogatiue of one more then the other Hitherto then in the principall places where the primacie should haue beene shewed we see not so much as any appearance thereof Against these places playnely denying and forbidding the primacie they alledge vnto vs that which Iesus Christ hath said vnto Peter Tu es Petrus super hanc petram c. Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke I will builde my Church and the gates of hell shall not preuayle against it Nowe vpon this place our aduersaries ground this proposition The Church is founded vpon Saynt Peter And we will drawe another The Church is founded vpon Christ which is the rocke and vpon the confession of his name That of theirs is foūded vpon this that it is sayd Tu es Petrus that is to say Thou art Peter That of ours vpon this that it is said Super hanc Petram non super te Petrū that is to saye Vpon this rocke not Vpon thee Peter And hereof it is that our Sauiour Christ hath clerely distinguished Petrum a Petra that is to say Simon Peter from the liuely rocke whereupon he hath builded his Church changing
were so impudent as to falsifie a decree of the council of Nice bringing foorth in steade thereof the articles of the councill of Sardes yet corrupted and falsified pretending that from all parts men might appeale to the bishop of Rome But the fathers of the councill had learned well to saye that they would not beleeue those productions and therfore sent to the originalls and they being seene they pronounced the quite contrary Leo the first receiued Eutyches condemned by Flauianus the bishop of Constantinople for a time mainteyned him against him whereupon his heresie first tooke footing and grewe which might then at once haue bene quenched But none approued this vsurpation To be short in the time of Chrysostome this ambition was so great amongest them that he complained that to obteine supremacie the bishops of Rome had filled the Churches with blood had defiled the Supper of the Lord with murthers vntill they had vtterly for it destroyed whole cities And he that will see the ciuil warres for they likewise name them which were at Rome betweene Damasus and Vrsicius in the time of Saint Hierome whether of them should be bishop and afterwards betweene Laurence and Symmachus he maye reade them in Ruffinus Amian Marcellin and their owne Pontificall it selfe And howsoeuer it were all the contentions that were made by the bishops of Rome in the auncient Church yea till the time of the murthering of Phocas for the supremacie looke how many they were they were alwaies arguments from age to age and as determined sentences against them in so much that they alwayes lost their cause whatsoeuer instāce they made or whatsoeuer diligence they vsed in pleading of it But they will obiecte vnto me that neuerthelesse the bishop of Rome hath helde the chiefe place amongst the Patriarches I agree thereto but yet I deuie that it was to commaunde others And in deede it is expressely said that he shall not be called vniuersall bishop but onely the bishop of the first See. I say moreouer that this is not in respect that he was the successour of S. Peter and lesse by vertue of those places alledged out of the holy Scripture But because that in seates there must be a first a second place according to humame order I say that this was ordeyned in consideration of that order wherby the citie of Rome was set aboue others If it had bene by the Scriptures it should haue bene a wonderfull thing that for 600. yeeres together these mysteries should haue bene hidden from the Church If in respecte of the founder why not rather at Antioche and at Alexandria after Gregorie or to all other bishopricks after Cusan who saith that all bishops are Peters successors equall in the essentiall dignitie although they differ in the administration and gouernment as the bishops of Spaine themselues haue disputed in the last councill of Trent Moreouer that Hierusalem should be the first and not the fourth seeing the Saluation of the world did there gouerne Or why is Antioche whereof Saint Peter was bishop put after Alexandria which can alledge nothing but the succession of Saint Marke his disciple To be short what hurt hath Saint Iohn the welbeloued disciple of our Lord done vnto them who so long time preached in Ephesus which notwithstanding is not nombred amongst the patriarchall cities Or what newe Apostle hath founded Constantinople three hundred yeres after the death of our Lord to attribute vnto it the second See But there is none that hath but a litle iudgement that doth not well enough marke that all the preeminences of these Sees rather proceede from the rancke and places which their cities holde then from the establishment of Christian religion Rome was then the seat of the Empire and the glorie of all the world good learning there flourished it was the chiefe of all the peoples of the earth and therefore when all the bishops were gathered together they gaue the bishop of Rome the first place for ciuilitie and courtesies sake Likewise wee reade in the histories that Alexandria and Antioch were after Rome the most famous cities and according to that degree which their gouernours helde they also helde their bishopprickes And concerning Ierusalem that was so greatly accompted of for the first originall of true Religion and therefore likewise was not reckoned in the least place for Plinie calleth it the head of all the East but yet her place was ill kept after she had lost her first glorie Afterwards Constantinople came to be builded which was called the second Rome And then also we see the councill of Constantinople where there were sixe hundreth bishops who gaue vnto it the second place which had not bene done if they had had regard to the degree of the founder and not to the degree of the citie by reason of whose might also this dignitie was confirmed vnto it by the Emperour Iustinian Aquila in Italie was called the second Rome Also there was a Patriarchship there established yea Rauenna it selfe was a long time holden not to be subiecte to Rome and it had her owne Cardinalls apart and by themselues and as Venice beganne to growe great so it had the Patriarchship of Grado for it To be short he that shall marke from countrey to countrey the erection of patriarchships and archbishopricks he shal finde no other consideration then this the same that Pope Lucinus saith alledged by Gratian That at the first they instituted Primates of the Church according to temporall policie Also Pope Clement himselfe saith That where there were chiefe Priests of the Painims there they established Primats of Christians the which is repeated in the same wordes by Peter Lombard in his fourth booke of Sentences The councill of Chalcedon wherein notwithstanding the earnest requests of Pope Leo the first the second See was giuen to the Citie Constantinople vseth also the same woordes The fathers vpon good righte with one consent agreed that the priuiledge of the first See should belong vnto olde Rome because of the Empire there and wee also moued with the same consideration agree that the second shal be at new Rome And in the 12. Act of the same council the reasoning betwixt the bishop of Nice of Basianopolis is grounded vpon the dignitie of the cities And to cut of all such controuersies this Canon was there passed That these Cities onely shoulde be holden for Metropolitans to which Kings and Princes had done this honor by their statutes And the Council of Thurin there addeth That if the earthly superioritie were translated from one Citie to another that then the right of the Archbishoprick should be translated likewise To be short when the seate of the Empire was translated to newe Rome that is to say to Constantinople we see that the Bishop of that place by by tooke vnto himselfe the primacie whereof they held euen as much as they coulde and when that
most auncient of all For this is alwaies a ryght rule and to be receiued that those thinges which are nought worth in the beginning are no whit better in the continuāce of time and if a mā cannot prescribe against kings and against the Church in their possessions much lesse he can doe it against God and against the trueth which is the only treasure of the Church Nowe let vs come to multitude it is saide expressely thou shalt not follow a multitude to do euill Also the gate is wide that leadeth to perdition Cōtrary wise feare not my little flocke for it is my fathers pleasure to giue you a kingdome Moreouer we see that all the worlde was brought to one onely Noah and afterwards to Abraham Then God chose one people of Israel the least as he hath said of al peoples and finally of all peoples the least part to wit Christendome which for this cause he calleth a litle flocke According to which S. Austin saith that the Church was sometimes in one Abel and in one Enoch Multitude then shoulde be rather a presumption of the false then of the true Church of impuritie rather then of puritie for asmuch also as man in all things is prone by nature to euill and tendeth not vnto good vnlesse he be as it were drawen by force vnto it If we looke to the number of Painims they will set against vs in al nations almost many against one and againe all nations against one only nation yea and in that nation it selfe all the families of one time against one or two as namely in the time of Noah those which were called the childrē of God mocked him his religion Likewise amongst this chosen people of God the Samaritans bare themselues against Iuda for there were ten tribes against two and in Iuda Israel the idolaters gained against the people of God for Elias cōplaineth that he was left alone against the good Prophet Micheas there arose vp foure hundred false the Prophets crie that all the people were deceiued euen from the Kings to the Priests Prophets In the Christian Church also there shall be as fewe in that place for euen at the beginning it was saide Who hath beleeued our word to whom hath the arme of the Lord bin reueiled we read that it was brought to a small number of persons the schoolemen themselues hold that after the death of our Sauiour in one instant it consisted in the virgine Marie alone In the greatest floure of it we reade that after the death of Constantine his sonne being of the same name fauoring the Arrians there were so few sounde professors amongst the Christians that the Emperour reproched thē that foure or fiue persōs with their Athanasius would trouble the peace of the whole worlde to whom Liberius the Byshop of Rome answered that his solitude or fewenesse did no whit diminish the word of faith In the end we are aduertised that when that sonne of man shall come before which that sonne of perdition must seduce the worlde he shal finde neither faith nor charitie on the earth and that those daies shall be as the daies of Noah Lot c. The eclipse thē of this Moone shal be as it were vniuersall all the whole earth being put betweene the Church and the Sunne therefore if we haue no other direction in these darkenesses then the multitude we shall haue no part with that little number Moreouer the Christians which reiect the Pope in Asia and in Affrica are a great many moe in number then the others If the Pope hold them for pure Churches then is the Romaine Church an heretike for she condemneth them and excōmunicateth them for diuers points of doctrine If not then multitude which is a common argument to the impure Churches themselues can not be alledged for a marke of puritie And yet for all this we cease not to praise GOD for the blessing which he hath giuen vnto his woorde making the same to fructifie and encrease to hundreds and to thousandes likewise we pray that as he hath already drawen a part of Christendome frō vnder the yoke of Antichrist so it wil please him to continue it more more But we say that if in certayne places it seeme that God do retire but few as the Pastor that saueth from the mouth of the Lion an eare of his sheepe as saith the Prophet Amos or according to Ieremie taking one of one towne two of one tribe for to retire them into the restauratiō of his Church yet for this cause we must not cal the trueth into doubt for asmuch as the selfe same trueth hath foretolde vs this the great number is no marke of puritie veritie nor the litle number of falshood and heresie Nowe followeth the succession of place and of persons which they alledge against the succession of true doctrine which we require in the Church As concerning the place there is no doubt but that this is to play the Iewes to enclose Orbem in Vrbe that is the whole worlde in one citie For the Church is not any longer tyed to Ierusalem but we see euery day that God calleth his people euen those which seemed not to be his people and contrarywise he hath permitted by his righteous will that many Christian Churches haue bene turned into the Temples of the Turkes as that of Ephesus foūded by S. Paul and S. Iohn and that of Bōne in Barbary wher S. Austin preached c. And further that is said expressely that the Church of God for a long time by reason of the persecution of Antichrist shall retire her selfe into the wildernes as the common glose it selfe doth expound Moreouer the Church is a citie that is to say one vniō of Citizens vnder the iust gouernement of Christ Now betweene a citie and a towne there is this difference that the one cōsisteth in walles the other in the vnion of the people gouerned vnder the same lawes therefore the citie of Rome was at Veies with Camillus being a banished man though the towne of Rome was in the hand of the enemie And Themistocles saide that Athens was in shippes which the Romanes had taught the poore Carthagians to their cost when they made their Citie to be caried out of their towne To be short the Popes thē selues haue maintayned for lxxx yeeres together that the Romish Church had her sea in Auigniō although they had forsaken Rome Moreouer this argument is common to the Churches Greekes Syrians Armenians Ethiopians c. whom the Pope condemneth in many poynts of doctrine To conclude if euer there were Church that might alledge succession of place it was Ierusalem For of it was said The Lord wil euermore dwel in this Temple Also I haue chosen and sanctified this house to the ende that my name may
denie that the old and new testament had equall authoritie with this commaundement If they take it after sinne entred God blameth and conuinceth our first parents of their faulte and this is the Lawe And after he promiseth vnto them the seed which shall bruise the head of the serpent this is the Gospell Beholde them then dead in sinne by the Lawe and as it were newe borne by the promise of Christ to come in whome they hoping after this woorde were made the beginning of the Church without this they had bene lost with all their posteritie Wherefore whether we fetche the Church from before the fall of man she hath no power aboue the word of God but is iudged by it and therefore the cōclusion is false Or whether we deriue it after yet the word is before the regeneration of the Church that is to say before the Church and that antecedent it selfe shal be false Moreouer this is an ill argument It was the first in time Ergo the first in authoritie For we haue a hundred Cities in Fraūce more auncient then our first kings and yet notwithstanding without any gainesaying they obey their lawes And the word of God of it selfe is giuen to commaunde wheras the Church is placed in the world but to obey And though it be so that the word of God be in power eternall yet it is most certeine that it must be last in this action because that before he commaund it must needs be that it should first create some men whom it might commaund This then is nothing but plaine sophistrie which is not worthy to be heard in the Church Moreouer I demaund of them whē they make this argument whether they meane to speake of the whole Church comprehending al the states and particulars of the Church into one or whether they speake of particular Churches or of the church of Rome alone If thei vnderstand the whole Church as it is like they do then they speake nothing that makes for them for the church of Rome the whole Church are things farre differing before that Rome was or any Wolfe there gaue suck more then 700. yeres the law of Moses was published in the Church If they speake of particular Churches the Cast churches wil demand the same prerogatiue and by the self same argument they wil set themselues aboue the church of Rome For they are before them in time as euery man knoweth If the church of Rome alone by the vertue of the institutiō of Christ yet they are to bring forth the titles and right thereof and then they cannot bring forth one that hath so much as any outward shewe To be short all this is nothing els but a manifest dotage for if they looke to the beginning of the Church they shall finde neither Rome nor the Pope neither the See of S. Peter nor consequently any authoritie aboue the word of god If they looke to the beginning of Rome they shall there finde the word the law the prophets expositors of long time before and therefore an authoritie farre aboue their church But in this a man may see the poore defence of their Church when for the establishing thereof the word of God must fall downe which is the foundation of the pure Church Now in this whole disputation they can not finde one onely word out of the auncient doctors for there was neuer yet any heretike so mōstrous which durst set it forth till the Councill of Constance where it was first set out by the doctors of the Church of Rome There was the question moued concerning the taking away of the cup of our Lord from the people expresly against the institution of the Sonne of god There could not one place be found out in the Scriptures which might fauour directly or indirectly plainly or darkely so damnable a sacriledge Iohn Hus called them to the holy Scripture and they knewe well that that was full against them Then first they began to aduise of those goodly Maximes or groūds which they haue mainteined euen vntil this day that the Church is aboue the holy Scripture that the Scripture hath no other authoritie then that which the Church giueth it that the Scripture is as they say De bene esse of the wel being but not of the essence or being of the Church that such should be the interpretation as seemeth good to the Church to be short that the word of God was more long and large then the word written and that the Church is more worthie thē it to which some haue sithens added that the Church should be in better case if there were no Gospell written These are the intolerable blasphemies which sprang vp in this councill who also were authors of one other goodly canon forsooth that ouerthroweth al christianitie That we must not keepe faith or promise with heretikes Iohn Hus notwithstanding presseth them yet somewhat more neerely Though it were so saith he that the Church should be aboue the word of God to which you shal neuer haue me to agree Shew me yet that the minde of the auncient Church was euer so that it euer so ordeyned or so interpreted Name me one onely auncient doctor which is not wholly and plainly against it That it is so yea our owne canons do excommunicate all those which cōmunicate not vnder both kinds therefore to communicate vnder one is not to be partaker of the communion but of excōmunication To this argument they yet find another shift more mischieuous then the former that albeit that of one commandement of the Gospel there be at this day another interpretation then was in the auncient Church notwithstanding that that meaning which is receiued in the Church must be accepted as the way to saluation in asmuch as the holy Ghost hath inspired it to the Church That is to say that the Pope his mainteyners according to their good pleasure may cry downe all the auncient interpretatiōs of the Scripture as coynes are and put them into the Mint to make theirs currant Also that as the iudgement of the Church is changed in the Scripture so we must presume that the iudgemēt of God is changed And therefore when that good man Iohn Hus could not content himselfe with these horrible blasphemies their last argument was the halter the hang man to cast him into the fire To make Gods spirit chāgeable his word a nose of waxe God himselfe inconstant in his purpose changing himselfe according to the vanitie ambition of men wil there be founde in the traditions of the Pharisees in the speculations of the Cabalists and Thalmud in the Alcoran of Mahomet any such execrable blasphennes as these are I leaue to the iudgement of euery one whether the spirit of God or the spirit of Satan ruled there in those coūcills That there can be founde no other Iudge of the controuersies of this time but the holy Scripture and how
frō the tēple but from the idolatry cōmitted in the temple nor from the cōmon weale but frō the tyrāny which oppresseth the cōmon wealth nor from the city but from the pestilence which infecteth the city nor frō the cōmunion fellowship of the people to whō we wish al happines saluatiō but frō the conspiracie of Antichrist of his mainteiners we therefore renounce not their baptisme but we ratifie it By the same we are bound to serue God to renounce the deuil following the same we seeke to serue God according to his word renounce all idoles By these letters of natural birth we are bound to mainteine the lawes of the ancient christian cōmon wealth which is the church folowing thē we set vp againe before vs the law of God the only lawgiuer of the church would deliuer the church frō al new impositions burdens which Antichrist hath laid vpon their consciences By baptisme we haue made an oth vnto christ the pope would turne our seruice from Christ to his idols to him selfe we therfore set Christ against Antichrist and the church against his cōspiracy And this is that for which by the grace of God we haue bin baptized into the Church how tyrannicall and disordered soeuer it hath bene But the ministers therof whō you pretēs to be of Antichr they haue baptized you In deed they haue put water on my head but Christ hath baptized me The tyran or his officers which he hath established after his fashion haue made me lift vp my hande giue him an oth but they haue made me to make it to the cōmon welth not to the tyran in the name of Christ not in the name of Antichrist The forme of the othe hath remained entire sound albeit the estate were chāged To folow therfore the tenor of mine oth I will retire my selfe into the army of true citizēs I wil seek out the true church in the place wherunto it hath withdrawen it self I will renounce the communion of Antichrist who vnder colour of mine oth maketh me to breake mine othe To conclude this point It is sayde vnto vs Preach the trueth We haue done it but they haue excommunicated vs It is said consequently vnto vs Flye from idoles and departe out of Babylon We haue done it but yet then when the obstinacie of men against the trueth hath compelled vs Finally after the example of the Apostles beeing shut out of Churches by the magistrate we haue gathered together the faithful into houses and haue builded the true Ierusalem at Pella If men marke this deede in it selfe they cannot finde faulte with it For wee stande grounded vpon the expresse woorde of god Nowe if anye man further saye howsoeuer it ought to be done that yet it belonged not vnto our Ministers to do it There is no farther question but of their vocation and calling which shal be handled in the chapter next following That the Ministers of the reformed churches haue a lawfull calling to reforme the Church CHAP XI FOrasmuch as our aduersaries cā neither deny the corruption which is entred into the Church nor the tyranny of Antichrist with other things depending therof from the which we go about by the word of God to set it free to the end to hold vs from entring to the groūd of this matter from ripping it vp againe they at lēgth vse this pretty shift aske vs whatcalling our ministers haue to reforme the church to preach in it This is euen the same that Zidkiiah the false prophet saide vnto Micheas What way went the spirit of the Lord frō me to speake to thee And the Pharises to Iesus Christ Thou art a Carpēters sonne who hath sent thee To whō we may answere in one word with Iesus Christ The words which we preach beare witnes of vs. They likewise cast in our teeth their long succession That they are the children of Abraham S. Peters heires c. To whō Iesus Christ hath answered for vs Ye are Abrahās seede but the deuil is your father from whō ye are come s Paul Brethrē be not deceiued for Antichrist shall sit be vvorshipped in the tēple of God. But forasmuch as hertofore they haue made whole books vpon this point it is needefull to handle this more largely When fire shall take holde of any Citie or towne or an enemie shall scale it in the night if the least Burgesse shall giue an alarme yea admitte it be but a straunger whiles the watchmen sleepe no man will demaund by what tytle he did it and much lesse punish him for it but rather men wyll runne to the water and to the walles they will see where it is and euery one accepteth him thankfully that warned them When contrariwyse we discouer Antichrist sitting in the Church whō we haue submitted our selues to conuince before the face of a Councill and in his owne presence in steade of hearing vs of examining our reasons of going to the holy Scriptures where he is liuely painted out they fall to examine vs of our condition and by what authoritie we aduertise them yea they put vs to a worse death then if we had betraied the common wealth If the gouernours of some places shoulde doe the like when men giue them aduertisements what place shoulde not soone fall into the handes of the enemies And what prince is there that would not hold them for traitors and iudge that they had conspired with his enemies There is no question here of our condition qualities but of the qualities of Antichrist of his doctrine It standeth with the duetie of those that warne vs and it concerneth the saluation of all and of our selues If the aduertisement and warning be true it is the saluation of the Church if it be false it is ours The questiō is then to examine the circumstaunces of the warning and not the qualities and condition of those that warne vs In the conspiracie of Catiline the Senate lent theyr eare to a base woman agaynst the greatest And when the Gaules would by night haue inuaded the Capitole of Rome the watchmen spake not a worde and the dogges were dumbe there was nothing but the Geese that cryed and yet euery man ranne thither and made accompt therof and had not this gagling bin this notable Citie which afterwardes conquered the whole world had byn lost When therefore we shal be the most vile contemptiple of the Church we deserue to be heard yea seeing we desire not to speake in the eare as slaunderers but in the face of the Church yea in the eare of himself that hath accused vs not frō our selues but frō god Cōcerning the reformatiō of the Church after the scattering which the Pope his haue made in it we knowe that there must be a lawful callyng but we maintayne our selues to be therein better warranted and grounded then