to them thiese perniciouse persuasioÌ„s that they be here in earth by almighty god placed in his churche to be the heads thereof and not membres to be fathers and not children to rule in causes of religion and not to be ruled that to them it belongeth in the right of their crowune to approue doctrine or to condemne it to alter at their pleasure the state of religion by actes of parliament without the consent of their cleargie to depose bishops and put other in their places in their stiles and titles boldely to write them selues gouernours in their realmes in all things and causes aswell ecclesiasticall as temporall and yet no ordre all this while broken because forsoth theie be such as theie beare them in hand they ar that is to say the heades the rulers the shepherdes the fathers maisters and guides in religion Thiese be theie therefore good readers that as the prophete saith call bonum malum malum bonum tenebras lucem lucem â—enebras good euel and euel good darckenes light and light darckenes Thiese be they that as their Idol of Geneua in this poinct trulie giueth answer goe about to make princes iustle with god Finally thiese ar those lowsy brokers that leading as it wer by the hand their good and vertuous princes after this sweete poysoned bait from the most pleasaunt and fertile valeis of humilitie to the toppe of the highe barren and craggy mountaines of pryde and arrogaÌ„cie showing them when they haue them there the riches and ornaments of the churche the landes and reuenues thereof by good and vertuous princes their predecessors and auncestors long time before for this entent especially thereto giuen that the ministres of Christes most holy word and blessed sacraments being by hauing of their owne deliuered from that comberouse care of prouisioÌ„ for them selues that afterward the holy ghost who was the procuror of such almoise and stirred from time to time the deuocion of good men thereto forsaw thorough the decay of pietie and coldenes of charitie towardes the latter ende of the world they wer likelie to fall into might thereby the more quietlie folow their vocation promise of all the same to make them the lordes and maisters if they will doe them homage and fall down and worship them that is to say harckeÌ„ to their doctrine submit them selues thereto and graunt to it within their realmes and dominions fauorable entreteinement And that this is true good readers that they haue thus shamefully abused and deceiued their princes and not surmised or imagined by me to bring them in to hatred whome god I take to recorde I pity much and hate nothing I hope by his assistaÌ„ce who is the giuer of all good thinges â—o plainely to proue that yow your selues shall at the eye see it and they if there remain yet in them anie sparcle of grace shall not be hable to denie it The which that I may the better perform I shall truly bring furth as it wer into the face of the open courte all such euidence of importance as either parte hath to alleage for them selfe so truely Itrust that the councel of th'other side shall haue no cause to complaine that either I haue suppressed and coÌ„cealed their necessary proofes one waie or obscured their beauty in the bringing of theÌ„ furth on th' other But because an indifferent and vpright iudge must alwaies haue an earnest eye to the issue which is betwene vs who should gouerne in ecclesiasticall causes the prince or the priest it shall not be amisse because to be chief gouernour in thinges and causes ecclesiasticall is nothing elles but to haue the supreme iurisdiction thereto belonging to examine first in what poinctes that consisteth that so by conferring our euidence wyth the same whether it agre with euery parte with none with some and with which we maie at the length by good scanning comme to the knowledge of euery mans owne Iurisdiction therefore ecclesiasticall consisteth especially in thre poinctes in auctoritie to iudge ouer doctrine whych is sound and which is other in the power of the keyes that is to say as our sauiour him self hath expounded it in loosing and binding excommunicating and absoluing in making rules and lawes for the gouernement of the church and in the ministery of the word and the sacraments To the first of thiese three what title Kinges and princes haue it shall if theie haue anie be seene hereafter But for priestes yow shall see to begin withall an auncient commission out of the scriptures where almighty god speking to Aaron vsed thiese wordes Praeceptum sempiternum eâ—t in gener ationes vestra vt habeatis scientiam discernendi inter sanctum prophanum inter pollutum mundum docâ—atisqué filios Israel omnia â—egitima mea that is to say it is a precept that shall euer endure thorough all your generations to haue the knowledge to discern and put difference betwene holy thinges and prophane betwene cleane and polluted and that yow teache the children of Israel all my commaundements To whome gaue almightie god here the power to iudge of doctrine whome commaunded he to teache anie other then Aaron and his race which wer priestes In the booke of DeuteroÌ„ saieth he not also that if there arise any hard or doutefull question the priest must be consulted that he that of pride will spurn ageinst his ordinance shall suffer death therefore and agein in the same booke in an other place that apon the priestes word all causes shall hang. Ezechiel the prophete doeth he not witnesse the same â–ª and when there is anie controuersy sayth he they shall stay in my iudgements and giue iudgement Aggeus and Malachias prophetes bothe bid they vs enquier for the law of god at the priestes handes or at the kinges No assuredlie they send vs not to kinges which had they bene the chiefe gouernours in those matters without faile they would haue doen but to the priestes whose lippes they promise shall not misse to kepe the true knowledge because theie ar our lordes angels Haue we any such warrant of worldely princes No trulie And wer it not more theÌ„ necessary that we should if princes should rule them in matters of religion of whom thiese wordes be spoken But to procede is this auctoritie giue to them onely in the olde testamentâ—ar they not put trow yow in as greate trust in the newe Or ar they thinck yow excluded and kinges admitted theâ—eâ—â—â— If it had bene so neuer would S. Paule tâ—at blesâ—ed aposâ—le haue made his accopte that god had placed in his churche first apostles next to them prophetes then doctours and so furth Emongest all the which although that frantick foole that preaching not many yeaâ—eâ— sence at Powles crosse went about with his rayling Rhetoricke to make his audience as foolish as he was maâ—de in beleâ—ing that this place should make ageinst the auctoritie of the pope because
lettres or worde leauing the free election notwithstanding to them to whome of right it apperteineth as this placing of Sadoc in Abiathars office may welbe vnderstande To th'example of Ezechias I answer with the scripture that of all those thinges here rehersed and what so euer elles may be he was onelie the executor the councell and ordering thereof comming alwaies from Esaias the prophete Who as the mouth commaunded the arme that is the prince to doe and put in execution this or that In like māner I answer to the example of Iehu who killed the wicked prophetes but by thaduertisement and sentence as it wer first giuen ageinst them by Haelizeus the prophete sent to Iehu as king by him to be put in execution How Iosias warned the priestes of their office and duety it appeareth in the fourth booke of the kinges where he required the priestes to demaund at goddes handes councell what he and his people should doe so that what so euer he did also he cā be counted no otherwise to haue doen but as a ministre apon the aduertisement and relation of the priestes Nowe as for Iosaphat and Ioas if th'one ouerthrewe the wooddes and hilles where the people lurcked from the temple the other warned the priestes to see better to the reparation of the same what greate matter is this I praie yow or how doeth this proue that kinges ought to haue the chief rule ouer the churche If princes that haue byn in times past had so well looked in this point to their duetie as of right they ought and all good men wishe they had if they had scoured your luskes corners and ouerthrowen the wooddes the blinde cellers and rotten barnes in which yow first vttred your poisoned doctrine neither had that made thē rulers of the church but faithefull and trusty ministers nor yow byn here nowe to trouble the churche of god as yow doe As if on thother side they had also folowed th'example of Ioas in calling apon the reparation of goddes house neither would any good man haue found faulte therewith all nor any wise man haue thought that this should haue made thē the chief gouernours in religion nor finally so many churches lien at this day flat on the ground so many monasteries in which god was serued and the pooer relieued made stables for horses housen for shepe or sties for swine And thus may yow see good readers that all thiese examples alleaged by our aduersaries ar to no purpose as of the which some as of king Dauid who was not a king onely but a prophete also conteine a manifeste fallacie other as that of Iosue that he should receiue especiall commaundemēt of almightie god to meddle with religion an impudent lie some as of Salomon Ezechias and Iehu a figure or phrase of speche as by the scriptures I haue proued and as of Iosias may be also truely answered who enterprised nothing before he had caused the priestes first to goe and consult what he should doe and other some such as of Iosaphat and Ioas as no man euer denied to kinges yea many wishe that in the practising thereof they had in times past and at this daie also would showe them selues much more forward then they haue or doe And last of all yow may see that all wer it so that euery example had plainely concluded their intention that yet it is no good reason to say that therefore our kinges nowe a daies must haue the like auctoritie no more then this that if Moyses had byn no priest it should folow that other temporall gouernours might consecrate bishoppes because he did being none consecrate his brother Aaron or that because Dauid had many wiues therefore our kinges also maie or the cleargie put to death kinges because Samuel did or priestes kille adulterers after th'example of Phinees or one spoile an other I meane of them that be of contrarie opinions in religion because the children of Israel spoiled the Egiptians And here there cōmeth to my remēbraunce an other cause why that reason of theirs should be naught which is this that the priestehod of the Iewes was altogether carnall and fleshelie and might therefore the rather be subiect to the kinges whereas the priesthod of the newe testament is so much more excellent then that as by how much the matter and obiect about which it is occupied the head author and chiefe priest thereof which is no other then Christ him self the eternall priest according to the ordre of Melchisedech doeth far surmount either the matter the priest or priestehod of theirs Which thing S. Petre did not obscurely signify by these wordes vos estis regale sacerdotium yo we ar a kingelie priestehoode as who should say the priestehood before was not kingly for that that kinges ruled ouer priestes but nowe is the priestehod kingly for that to it be subiect euē kinges them selues Which neither is any such greate absurditie if we indifferentlie wey the matter as some men would haue it seme to be considering that Ignatius disciple to S. Iohn the euangelist that all the auncient fathers doe most plainely affirme the same neither yet anie greate reason why thiese wordes should be to any man cause of offence seing that when all is counted this honor of gouernement resteth not in the priestes but goeth farder to god him self whose ministres they ar as contrarywise the dishonor the contumelies and reproches doen vnto them ar doen also to Christ as him selfe witnesseth Qui vos spernit me spernit he that dispiseth yow dispiseth me The which thing I would to god our aduersaries which glory so much of the name of Christians vaunt them selues of the knowledge of the gospell would not thinck scorne to learne by the exāple of a pagane and infidell I meane Alexander the greate Who although he wer by religion an ethnike by nature intollerably proude so that not contentid as Quintus Curtius writeth of him to be born of the race of mortall men he cōueighed his petigrue frō the goddes not suffering but commaunding also that apon peine of his indignation all men should call him the sonne of Iupiter and to encrease the more that naughty humor of his and to poure as the prouerbe is oile in to the fier by fortune so happy that the whole worlde was in a manner by the dent of his sword conquered and brought vnder that at his name the proudest tirants trembled and barbarouse nations stooped he yet all this not withstanding being such and so mighty a Monarche when on a time he should entre in to the citie of Ierusalem as sone as he once perceiued Iaddus the highe priest comming towardes him fell downe and reuerenced him Whereat whē Parmenio one of his trusty friendes marueiling not a little had demaunded of him why he whom all other men worshiped and had in reuerence did worship the prince of the Iewish priestes his answer was
churche permitteth to baptise at all times And your congregation M. Iuell is content also to goe from the olde manner and to baptise on the Sundayes and holie daies whether there be anie necessitie or none If all this satisfie yow not but the churche must nedes appeare coram vobis in youre L. consistorie to giue a reason whie she forbiddeth not all men now to be present at the masse sauing those that will communicate as once yow saie she did although he shoulde offre yow no wronge that should first bidde yowe proue that she were subiect to youre iurisdiction and then afterwarde to propose youre interrogatories yet will she not deale with yow after that sorte but is contented because she is illustris persona and can not be compelled by the lawe personallie to appeare to send yowe her aduocate S. Austen who answereth for her in this sorte Sicut aeger non debet reprehâ—ndere medicinalem doctrinam c Euen as the sicke man ought not to reprehend the phisicions prescriptes commaunding him one thing to daye an other to more we yea forbidding that which before he coÌ„maunded for so required the healthe of his bodie to haue it Euen so man kinde from Adam vnto the ende of the worlde so long as the corruptible carcas being sicke and wounded annoieth the soule maie not finde faulte with goddes phisike if in this it commaunde one thinge in that an other one thinge first the contrarie after Lo M. Iuell I trust yowe see that lawes maie be in the churche altered and changed as the time and manners of meÌ„ require and that no maÌ„ ought to grudge or murmure at the change thereof And by this also I trust it appeare vnto you that it was not so vnhandsome a coÌ„parison as yow saide it was that M.D. Cole made when he resembled the state of the churche in the apostles time to the age of infancie The which because yow sawe your selfe yow coulde not well denie and that by the graunting thereof your parte woulde be the worse yow turne his wordes an other waie because yow woulde seme to saie somwhat and impudentlie father apon him that he shoulde call Christe and his apostles enfantes But I praie yow good sir by the waie let me be so bolde to aske yow being a marchant of logicke and sent from the wisdom of your father to scoffe at all other mennes reasons that went before yowe emongest whome yow haue not spared S. Austen although either of malice or of ignoraÌ„ce yowe attribute his reason of Peters primacy and so by a consequent the B. of Rome his to Roffensis what price bare logike which at other times was yowe saye so good cheape when yowe made this argument he saith the churche vvas in Christes and in his apostles time in her enfancie Ergo he calleth Christe and the apostles enfantes Trulie I thincke the marcket was risen and good stuffe verie deare when my L. bishop thought to vtter such homelie ware as this is If a man had saide of the famouse vniuersitie of Paris in Charles the greate his time when it was first erected that it was then in her enfancie had he called Alcuinus that greate clercke and all the rest of the learned doctours called thither to plant good learning babes and infantes If of your scattred congregation one shoulde saie that it were yet vnder that age of infancie I wene no man woulde thincke that Iohn Caluin if he now liued wer called a babe No he wer like to kepe his olde name still for all that I warrant yow and the rest of your pillers to But here it is a worlde to see howe thorough ignorance yow be shamefullie deceauid in taking one for an other If yow had readen S. Austen so diligently as reason woulde yow shoulde bothe him and the rest of the doctours toe before yow had made your chalenge Yow shoulde haue founde that yow reprehended not so muâ—h M. Cole as yow did vnwares S. Austen Whose wordes agreing with his I haue thought good here to alleage that all men maye see how ignorance hath deceiued yow The wordes arre these Dominus enimipse in corpore suo quod est ecclesia iunior fuit primis temporibus ecceiam senuit For oure lorde that is to saye him selfe was in his body that is the church yonge at the first and now lo beholde he is becomen olde And a little after autem Christi quod est ecclesia tanquâm vnus quid am homo primâ—o iunior fuit ecce iam in fine seculi est in senecta pingui The body of Christ which is his churche was as it wer a man at the beginning yong and now beholde in the ende of the worlde it is in a ripe or fâ—ll age But leauing this as wide of my purpose I shall returne thither from whence I haue digressed Well let it be graunted yow wil saye that the churche hath power to alter and chaunge thinges indifferent apon occasion and as necessitie requireth what such occasion was there here to reuoke that olde commaundement that all that wer presente at the masse shoulde receiue with the prieste or elles departe Will yowe know I shall shewe yowe an occasion If the churche then when although all woulde not some yet there were that failed not dailie to communicate with the prieste forbad those that would not so much as to be present with other that did thinking therebie to drawe the worse to the imitation of the better founde at the length by experience that not onelie by this restreinte theie were nothinge amendid but by absteining from that communion in the which oftentimes before theie were wont spirituallie by the swete remembraunce of Christes deathe and passion in those holie misteries to ioyne with the prieste in their manners and liues not a littell empaired If the churche I saie apon these considerations bearing like a good mother with the infirmities of her children willing rather to holde her selfe contented with a littell with their good willes then to leese all deuotion with their euell released the former coÌ„maundement was it not trowe yowe cause sufficient But all this M. Iuell I must desire yowe to take as spoken vnder an if that if yow can be hable to proue anie such commaundement of the churche yowe maie haue a reason whie the same hath bene abrogate and taken a waie To make an ende and to knit vp the knot of this present article I haue here thought good M. Iuell that if yow minde to write againe yow maye finde in fewe wordes couched together the some of all that hath bene saide touching this matter before briefelie to showe the catholike doctrine in this pointe which is this First the catholikes forbid no man meete for the holie misteries to receiue with the prieste when and as often as he listeth but wishe and hartelye praie that all men woulde so put theÌ„selues in ordre as at euerie masse there mighte be that
sit vs downe and make oure accompt as though we wer certeinlie sure that we shalbe saued but that we must still labour and worcke oure owne saluation cum timore tremore with feare and trembling Theie teache men that for their sinnes theie must not onelie lament and be hartelie forie which yow saie suffiseth but that if time also and leisor theretoe serue theie must take by penance vpon themselues vengeance as iâ— wer therefore Theie teache also with S. Austen that to confesse oure sinnes to god onelieis not ynoughe but that we must laie them also in the lap of the prieste a mortall man and a sinner as greate perhappes as we ar And this remission of sinnes by confession and penance doe Origen and Cirill call a harde and a peinefull waie And trulie so is it and so shoulde it be and all yeat little ynough and a greate deale to little toe to bridle that wilde and vntamed nature of oures from sinning Now see yow I doute not M. Iuell whose doctrine hathe wroughte this disordre in the worlde or if yowe doe not listen I beseche yowe a little to youre fellowes disputing after this sorte vpon their maisters good enstructions and I trust yowe shall If we be so predestinate saie theie to be saued or damned that by no meanes it can be otherwise if good worckes be nothing auaileable to the doers if onelie faithe doe iustifie then let vs cast them at the papistes heades that teache them To what ende serue theie that neither can in Christes deathe saue vs from hell nor helpe vs to heauen Or whie labour we at all to doe well if we haue not oure will free to be the worcker thereof If sinne be so easelie forgiuen as oure maisters beare vs in hande if one thought serue vs to repent our life if penance be nedelesse if we nede not to confesse our sinnes to the prieste which onelie thing made vs for worldlie shame full often to forbeare the doing of manie a horrible crime then will we suerlie forbeare no ynche of our pleasure whilest we ar here then will we score on goddes mercie and recon with him for all at the last Thus much although theie saie not in expresse wordes yet speake theie in their wicked deedes And therefore seing in the comparison of these fewe pointes betwene yow and vs I finde so manie occasions giuen by youre doctrine to this disordre seing there be no such to be founde in oures but that contrariewise all that we â—aughte and yowe woulde ouerthrowe tended to the contrarie I can saie no more but to me it â—emeth a cause sufficient to abhorre the same These be the causes that haue kepte me in the catholike faithe these be theie that maie iustlie call yowe thither againe from whence yowe ar straied and will I nothing doubte if yowe faile not to youre selfe For trulie if yow will but make an exchaunge of pride with humilitie if yow will laye downe that proude pecockes taile of youres esteme youre selfe somwhat lesse and other men somewhat more yow shall easely gaine againe that quiet hauen of Christes churche from whence the blustring tempestes of pride droue yowe in to the maine sea and daungerouse goulf of heresies Be not ashamed yow which haue hethertoe kepte companie with wicked heretikes to folowe in youre returne the example of some droncken soule who hauing perhappes in his dronckennesse leaped some dauÌ„gerouse leape or passed some other notable perill which no man hauing his right wittes woulde haue doen in giuing the aduenture whereapon the oddes was greate thaâ— he shoulde haue miscaried being broughte by his frindes on the morrowe sobre to the daunger that he escaped the nighte before being dronâ—ken and tolde of his aduenture first lifteth vp his hart and handes to almightie god whome he thanâ—kâ—th moste humblie for the preferuing of him from so imminent and present a daunger nexte he maketh an earnest and solemne vowe to vse after that such temperancie and sobrietie as he will neuer by the contrarie minisâ—re anie occasion to fall in to the like If yowe had not bene as dronâ—ken M. Iuell with pride as euer was anie with wine woulde yow one emongest so manie of your side haue made this chalenge which of the rest none woulde attempt to doe woulde yow haue euer called it blasphemie to saie that Christe is in the Masse offred vp to god his father which S. Austen affirmeth and Chrisostoâ— faith that Christe coÌ„maunded to be done woulde yow haue euer alleaged this weake and feble reason to haue proued youre saing because contrariewise Christe presenteth vp vs and maketh vs a sweete oblation in the fighte of god his father whereas yowe finde in S. AusteÌ„ Sacerdos est ipse offerens ipsâ— oblatiâ— Christe is the prieste him selfe which offreth this sacrifice and the oblation which is offred and in Chrisostomes Masse Tu es offerens oblatus suscipiens distributus Thow art he which offrâ—st and art offered which receiuest and art distributed By which places it appeareth that it is no such absurditie as yow woulde haue it to â—eme that Christe shoulde in this sacrament bothe offer and be offred This being therefore a cleare case that yow haue showed your selfe in this chalenge of youres a man if not dronken trulie starâ—ke mad loke on the daungers that in the meane season by the goodnes of god yow haue bene preserued from looke I saie vpon and beholde that depe pitte in to the which with so manie heretikes before yowe had not the mercifull hande of god staide yowe and holden yow vp yowe had long ere this fallen Thancke him of his goodnes therefore which hath so mercifullie borne with yowe and not taken yow as he mighte if he woulde at the worst Propose for the loue of god with youre selfe neuer hereafter to commit the like I wot not whether to call it either dronâ—ken or franticke parte If the causes aboue rehersed doe nothing moue you thereto if the feare of god if your owne coÌ„science pricke yowe not let yet this persuade you to leaue those vaine bragges at the which youre friendes blushe wise meÌ„ laughe and the aduersaries of youre doctrine them selues vtterlie contemne at the least for that youre impudencie being discouered your credite is lost and youre estimatioÌ„ gone so that ye shall but waste wordes in vaine which euell spent might better be spared Crie oute as Dioscorus that heretike did being condemned by the councell of Calcedon as longe as yowe list eueÌ„ till youre uoice if you will faile you Ego testimonia habeo sanctoruÌ„ patruÌ„ A thanasiâ— Gregorij c. Ego cuÌ„ patribus cijcior Ego defendo patrum dogmata non transgreaior in aliquo I hâ—ue for my parte the testimonie of the holie fathers A thanasius Gregorius I am cast out with the fathers I defende their doctrine I violate no parte thereof Brag with Eunomius the heretike that yowe