fourth time dixit Dominus and Samuelem the Lorde sayde or as ye call it pronounced vnto Samuell c. confirming all that he had pronounced before by the former Prophet As for Samuell béeing straightly charged by Hely the hye Priest not by the way of prophecie pronounced those words of the Lords to him or to any other but onely shewed him al that God had sayde Indicauit ei vniuersos sermones non abscondit ab eo And Samuell tolde him euery whit of the â—…ayings and hidde it not from him And therefore where ye say he onely executed the sentence pronounced before by Samuell Gods minister as though God had prophecied it by the mouth of Samuell as he did in the chapter before by an other and as ye say in your Counterblast published before by Samuell the Leuite the texte mentioning neither the pronouncing nor publishing of this sentence by Samuell at all but onely the fore sayde maner of priuate telling to Hely what he heard God pronounce it is but an vntruthe in your selfe to tell your tale so to your aduauntage that it might séeme that Salomon was but the executour of some solemne sentence published and pronounced before by Samuell commaunding or mouing king Salomon to obey that senteÌ„ce and so to depose Abiathar And héere appeares also your other vntruthe that Salomon shoulde doe it to this ende and intent to fulfill this prophecie Which in déede he fulfilled in the dooing but it was not fulfilled by him alone king Saule had fulfilled a greate parte of it before in causing to be killed wickedly the whole familie of Hely excepte onely this Abiathar that escaped by flighte Whiche cruell facte of Saule proceeding onely of méere malice agaynst Dauid and furder agaynst them as Dauids abettours fautours was the onely cause of this tyrannie and not to fulfil Gods prophecie Neither coulde he pretende it and yet he fulfilled the same when he fulfilled his wicked luste But Salomon that deposed Abiathar the onely remaynder of Helies stocke and his sonnes after him had good and righte cause to depriue him and all his posteritie of thys dignitie bicause he was as your selfe confesse a traytour to him For which cause Salomon deposed him and layde this cause to his charge onely not that he must execute Gods sentence of punishing his fathers offence and yet in doing the one he perfourmed the other also Bothe of these Princes were executours of Gods sentence that wrought by his secrete Iustice what soeuer he purposed yea as well by the euill deede of Saule as by the righteous déede of Salomon And things foretolde in the scripture came not to passe bicause they were foretold but bicause they should come to passe therfore they were foretold God did foretell what he would do to that house yet he named not by whom so that none could pretend to do it bicause God had foretold it but when God had done it by suche instruments as he purposed good or bad then the writers of the scripture by the instruction of the holy ghost bicause of the certenty of Gods prophecie doe say it was done to fulfill suche or suche a thing So when Herod had killed the innocents sayth S. Mathew tunc adimpletuÌ„ est theÌ„ was fulfilled that which was spoken by the Prophet Ieremie of which kinde of spéeche as well in factes of the godly as the vngodly we haue many ensamples Though therefore the wordes of the Scripture be Eiccit ergo Salomon Abiathar vt non esset sacerdos domini vt impleretur seâ—…mo Domini quem locutus est super domum Heli in Silo And so Salomon cast out Abiathar from being the priest of the Lorde that the Lordes wordes might be fulfilled which he spake vpon the house of Hely in Silo yet doe not these wordes import that Salomon did it of this purpose to fulfill that prophecie as you woulde make the reader to vnderstande by youre guylefull translation saying And so Salomon put out Abiathar c. to fulfil the words of the Lord as though the cause why he did it was that when the cause was Abiathars treason and therfore he tolde him before he was â—…ilius mortis the childe of death id est sayth Lyra morte dignus pro conspiratione coÌ„trame â—…rdinationem Dei patris mei that is to say Thou art worthie to suffer death for thy conspirâ—…cie against me and the ordinance of God and of my father Here is the verie cause why Salomon deposed him although also he fulfilled therein Gods secret iustice whiche the holie writer considering wrote vt adimpleretur that the Lordes woordes might be fulfilled c. And thus whyle yée would charge the Bishop with one lye euen your self discharge him and you committe a couple for failing to menâ—… the matter withall Neyther the Priestes nor the Leuites swarued in any thing pertayning to their office from that the king commaunded them The 43. vntruhe those woordes are not in the Scripture alleaged These wordes make a heynous quarell at which wordes also in his Counterblast he stormeth saying He hath swarued lewdly from the text added wordes more than is exprest and that with suche homely shiftes an yll cause must be furthered And when all is done it is but a little parenthesis placed in the middle of the text by the way of explication tâ—… declare wherein the king commâ—…ded them and they obeyed in their offices nexte before set out howe the king ordeyned according to the disposition of Dauid his father the offices of the Priests in their ministeries and the Leuites in their orders to prayse God and minister before the Priests according to the custome of euery day and the porters in their diuisions porte by porte for so had Dauid a man of God commaunded and neither the Priestes nor the Leuites swarued from any thing that the king commaunded Thus lyeth the texte worde for worde Wherein the Bishop placing this parenthesis â–ª what did he that any most exacte interpreter might not do M Stap. héere escrieth it for so horrible a cryme yea and an vntruthe of his bedroll withall wheraâ—… first there is no vntruthe at all in the parenthesis and himselfe in the same chapter confesseth for Princes a great deale more that they may not onely commaunde the Priests to do those things that appertayne to their office but cause them to do them which is a manyfest proofe of the Princes supreme authoritie 〈◊〉 them so that vntruthe in this parenthesis was there none Nor any other faulte at all sauing that M. Stapleton was frowardly disposed to picke a quarell at the forme and print of the letter not at the matter as though those wordes were pretended to be the wordes of the texte wherein he himselfe though there were some negligence in the printing dothe yet excuse the Bishop of this faulte of any suche addition of wordes For twice in his Counterblast mentioning those
do so VVe say further say you that not onely the generall Councell of Trent but that the whole Churche hath condemned your opinions by generall and nationall Councels many hundreth yeares since VVe say further also that as your Councell of Trent so did the Priests the Lawyers Scribes and Pharises assemble togither held a councell against Christ in his absence and Caiphas gaue iudgement on him that one man meaning Christ should die for the people And so hath your Trident Councell in their absence condemned Christ in his members The residue of your saying is but your lying vaunt of the whole Church where in deede ye meane but the popish Church â–ª ye crake of many hundred yeares but ye tel not howe many they be nor what is condemned nor by whoÌ„ nor where nor when nor what Councell generall nor prouinciall but carie away the matter in generalities But we say to you againe in generall speach that not onely Generall and Nationall Councels haue condemned many of your doctrines many hundreth yeares since but euen Christ him selfe and his Apostles yea some of your owne Popes yea some of your owne selues habentes cauterizatam conscientiam hauing their consciences marked with a hote iron haue condemned them And all this partly hath bene alredy sufficiently and partly shall be further prooued in particulars as we descende thereto And if we go no further than the present matter and issue in hande concerning the Princes authoritie yea euen with your owne mouth or euer we haue done ye shall yet more than once againe condemne this your owne saying that the Princes gouernement in ecclesiasticall matters stretcheth no further than to make lawes and constitutions to punishe heretikes Nowe when ye haue thus with bare sayings charged vs to be heretikes ye woulde charme the Prince also in putting him in remembrance that his dutie stretcheth not now to stande in examining all this that ye lay to vs nor to iudge therevpon whether it be true or false but on the credit of your bare honesties and words to make forthwith some sharpe lawes of attaching hanging sacking drowning or burning vs for condemned Heretikes bicause you haue so called 〈◊〉 To this purpose therefore say you And that Christian Emperours christian Princes as well in other countries as in Englande especially the noble and worthie king Henry the fifte haue made sharpe lawes yea of death against Heresies VVe do not nor neuer did disalowe these their doyngs as repugnant either to the olde or newe Testament VVhy then call you for this respect the Catholikes popishe Donatistes The Bishop sâ—… called them M. St. not with Bare sayings as you haue here called vs deprauers blasphemers and condemned Heretikes But the â—… hath so proued his sayings that as ye haue hearde all your improuinges were to no purpose but to bring M. Feckenham more in the mire and to proue him a greater Donatiste and your selfe also in his defence Ye say ye do not nor neuer did disalowe as repugnant to the old or new Testament Christian Emperours and Princes doings nor king Henry the fifte his sharpe lawes yea of death against herefies If ye do not so disalowe them as repugnant then be they conformable But how chance then your selfe excusing M. Feckenham saide he omitted them bicause they made against him if they make against him they are repugnant to him And if you disalowe them not as repugnant then are you repugnant to him and to your owne excuse for him Yea what repugnancie your wordes present do implie or what doubtfull vnderstanding ye meane in saying we do not nor neuer did I leaue to your owne expounding whether ye meane ye did neuer or euer or sometimes disalowe them and in adding as repugnant whether ye meane ye disalow them in other senses or 〈◊〉 But interprete your owne sayinges as ye lust if ye say to conster them to the beste ye disalowe them not as repugnant that is ye allow them as agréeable in those doings of Princes in the olde Testament â–ª then as King salomon displaced Abiathar the high Priest so may the Emperour displace the Pope and other Princes their Bishops when they be vnworthie of their roumes and offices But besides the punishing of false teachers and Heretikes by their lawes that ye allowe in the Princes of the old Testament for Princes vnder the newe Testament to do the like did they nothing els made they no other lawes and constitutions ecclesiasticall or do ye allow them onely for their lawes in punishments and disalow them for all other lawes and constitutions that they made Well what soeuer you allow or disallow God allowed them and liked well of them And therefore to all Christian Princes they ought to be paternes to do the like not onâ—…ly in zeale of punishment of heretikes abolishing Herefiâ—… superstitioÌ„s Idolatries and all errours but also in setting forth the true and sincere religion of Christes gospell and ouerséeing that the Prelates and Pastours the Nobilitie the Magistrates the people and all subiects what soeuer do euery one their dutie in receyuing and aduauncing the same But this ye vtterly disalowe in Princes if they go one inche furder than lawes of punishment of those whom ye giue vp to them to punish and the defence of your persons and goodes making Princes either your waighting garde or els your slaughtermen and there is al say you that in these matters Princes haue to deale And for this respect we not onely call you but proue you popish Donatistes Nowe that by crying out vppon vs you thinke ye haue fully cléered your selfe ye enter into your other point to burden vs with this crime of the Donatistes euen to denie that little which you graunt vnto Princes Which surely were a cunning poinâ—… 〈◊〉 do to proue that we denie with the Donatistes that which we affirme against the Donatistes and you too First we affirme that it appertayneth to the Princes supreme authoritie next vnder God by the aduise of their godly and learned estates to make lawes and constitutions to punish Heretikes â—…ismatikes erronious teachers and to abolishe all their false doctrines And also to make lawes and constitutions for the setting forth of all true doctrine and to appointe godly learned setters out thereof This say we before hande if now you can make vs beléeue we holde the coÌ„trary to this that were worth the séeing But will ye know M. Horne say you who be in this point in very deede the doltish diuelish Donatistes hearken on well and ye shall heare On to M. Stapleton hitherto we heare nothing but your blacke Rhetorike not worthe the hearing which remitting to your common place thereon tell on your tale and we will hearken The Donatistes as S. Augustine reporteth saide it was free to beleeue or not to beleeue and that faithe should not be forced VVas not this I pray you the common song among
He toucheth two reasons The one in that he saith to my Lorde The other To the Lordes anoynted But bicause that was the chiefest reason for that Saule was anoynted of the most highe God that onely he nameth twyse Whereby we sée he accempted Saule still as his lawfull king and himselfe to be his dutifull and obedient subiect And so he acknowledged him selfe to Saule when he cried after him saying O my Lord the king â–ª and when Saule looked behind him Dauid enelined his face to the earth and bowed himselfe And Dauid sayd to Saul wherefore giuest thou eare to mennes words that say beholde Dauid seeketh euill against thee Beholde this day thine eyes haue seene that the Lorde hath deliuered thee this day into my hand in the caue and some badde me kill thee But I had compassion on thee and sayd I will not lay my hande on my Maister For he is the Lordes anoynted Moreouer my father behold I say the lappe of thy garment in my hande For when I cut off the lappe of thy garment I killed thee not Vnderstande and see that there is no euill nor wickednesse in me neither haue I sinned against thee According to the Hebrue saith Caietane neither is rebellion in me c. He excludeth all sinne by repeating his worke backwarde For last of all he excludeth sinne against Saul and before rebellion against the King and first of all euill vniuersally And vpon these words The Lord be iudge betwen thee and me And the Lord auenge me of thee and let not my hand be on thee This he said saith Lyra in the zeale of Iustice and not of reuengement For no body ought to take vengeance on his own iniurie by himself except it lye vpon him by his office and euen then it were better that he did it by another All these words saith Caietane are not of him that wisheth but foretelleth and expecteth For they are in the Hebrue texte of the future tence and the indicatiue mode He shall iudge and he shall auenge So farre is Dauid from wishing any euil vnto the king And he so humbleth himselfe vnto him that he calleth himselfe in comparisoÌ„ of the King a dead dogge and a flie Sith I am saith Lyra of no moment or nothing worth in regarde of thee Thus farre was Dauid froÌ„ euer attempting to depose King Saul after Samuel had anoynted him And that not onely where Ionathas but euen where Saul himselfe acknowledged that Dauid shoulde be Kâ—…ng after him saying and nowe I know of a certaintie that thou shalt raigne and the kingdome of Israel shall be established in thy hand But yet he saith not that he then presently raigned neither doth he resigne vnto him but make a couenant and take an othe of Dauid that when he should raigne he shoulde not destroy his séede after him nor take away his name from his fathers house this Dauid swore vnto him Wherin he acknowledgeth though a state to come yet no state in present The like occasion falling out againe 1. Reg. 26. Dauid behaued himselfe to Saul in semblable wise For when he might haue killed him and Abisai would haue killed him â—…he not onely woulde not doe it nor suffer it to be done But he sayth to Abisai destroye him not For who can laye his handes on the Lords anoynted and be giltlesse Dauid sayth Lyra wold gyue this to the person of him so long as he was suffered of God in the Kingdome Alwayes sayth Caietane Dauid had fixed in his harte and in his mouth the honour of the moste high God in so muche that he thoughte none innocent that stretched hys hande vpon the anoynted of god As the Lorde lyueth saith he either the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to dye or he shall descende into battell and perishe The Lorde keepe me from laying my hand vpon the Lords anoynted By this saith Lira Dauid entended that by no meanes he would be the efficient cause of his death excepte perhaps in defending himselfe so that he could not otherwise escape And when Dauid called to Abner he challenged him to be worthy of death for keping the Kings person no better and when Saul knowing his voice said is this thy voyce my sonne Dauid and Dauid sayd it is my voyce my Lorde O king And he sayde wherefore doth my Lord thus persecute his seruant for what haue I done or what euil is in my hand Now therefore I beseeche thee let my Lorde the King heare the wordes of his seruaunt c. thus humbleth he himselfe in his purgation and sayth the King of Israell is come out to seeke a flie as one woulde hunte a Partridge in the mountaynes So lowly abasing himselfe in comparison of Saul whome he calleth the King of Israel Neyther dissembled he but spake Bona fide euen as he thought in his hart So farre was Dauid from not acknowledging Saul to be still hys soueraigne Lorde and lawfull King so farre from gathering anye vnlawfull assemblyes againste him so farre from any priuie conspiracie or open rebellion so farre from so much as thinking to depose him that when he had him in his daunger he woulde not onely not hurt him nor suffer other to doeit but gaue him so great honour as any subiecte can giue his Prince How then is not the storie of Saule and Dauid wrested for a Christian subiect that hath no such authoritie as Dauid had to depose or take armes against his Christian Prince or to go from the obedience of him as no longer lawfull Kyng after the Byshop shall saye he hathe deposed him and to obey any other that the Bishop shal appoint for King The third thing that Master Saunders inferreth is this that althoughe the Pope and his Bishops may doe thus to Princes yet Princes were very tyrants if they should doe oughte to them And hereto he alleageth that when the high Priest Achimelech asked counsell of the Lord for Dauid Saul hauing intelligence thereof commaunded his seruants to fall vpon the Priests of the Lord no man durst execute so cruell a commaundement besides onely Doeg the Idumean For Achimelechs asking counsell of the Lord for Dauid Whâ—… Dauid fled vnto him first the case Maister Saunders is not so cléere but that as Lyra confesseth a question is made theron for there appéereth no such thing in the. 21. Chapter Althoughe Doeg so accused him and Achimelech standeth not to the deniall thereof but vpon his innocencie Lyra sayth Dicunt aliqui c. Some saye that he lyed as tale bearers are wont to saye more than is in deede but the contrary seemeth rather to bee true So that this is not so cleare a case as you make it But what is all thys storye to the purpose or not rather againste you especially that that followeth of Saules puttyng the Priestes to death Wherein although he dyd a wycked and tyrannous acte yet it argueth
that reckens without his hoste must recken twice But a Gods name as master Stapleton cryeth let vs cheerefully proceede on We are almost at an ende of this first booke of his The. 25. Diuision AS the Bishop hitherto on the wordes of Saint Pauls Rom. 13. calling the Prince Gods minister hath by the fathers Chrysostome and S. Augustine and by these Ecclesiastical historiographers Eusebius Nicephorus about these two Emperours shewed sufficiently how farre this ministerie stretcheth and wherein it chiefly consisteth so concluding this for the other testimonie of S. Paule alleaged he sheweth the endes and boundes of the Princes gouernment not onely to stretch to the conseruation of ciuill peace outwarde tranquillity but also to the maintenance and preseruing of Gods true religion To the confirmation of this sentence of the Apostle he citeth Chrysost. coÌ„cluding hereon that these two parts and notes of a princes gouernmeÌ„t are so knit togither that the one cannot be without the other therfore both are necessary to be required in a prince And that thus the auncient Christian Princes did consider of their duties he citeth out of Cyrill the testimonies of the Emperours Theodosius and Ualentinian Master Stapletons aunswere to this chiefly standeth in thrée poyntes First he querelleth with the Bishop for calling these Emperors Christian Emperours Secondly he yeldeth to the Bishope allegation of Saint Paule and Chrysostome as rather for him than against him thereto trauayleth in bringing forth ensamples Thirdely to the testimonies of Ualentinian and Theodosius he replyeth with other testimonies of the sayde Emperours All the first part is friuolous and to no effect nor aunswering the argument of the Bishops conclusion which is this All Christian princes notable and godly doings that are necessarily belonging to their office are paterns for other Princes to beholde and do their dutie to their subiects by But these and such like Princes are by the ecclesiastical writers commended for their notable doings in the maintenance and furtherance of Christian religion as doings necessarily perteyning to their office Ergo they are paterns examples and glasses for other Christian Princes to beholde and to learne thereby to do their dutie to their subiects in the maintenance and furtherance of Christian Religion To this master Stap. sayth neuer a worde but falleth a rayling on the Bishop for calling this Emperour Christian Emperour And first in his sume he sweareth by God that he he will not feare the Bishops conclusion syth the antecedent was so naught And shall we nowe M. Horne sayth he your antecedent matter beeing so naught greatly feare the consequent and conclusion ye will hereof inferre Nay pardie Well sworne master Stapleton ye can not sweare by a greater But if one of your companie would do so much for me as to remember you but with a good phillip that your foreheade smarted withall ye woulde not thus lightly take the name of God in vaine but it was done in this your beginning ex abrupto and shall we c. to shewe your bolde manhoode Shall we feare say you the Bishops conclusion his antecedent being so naught nay perdie No in no wyse M. Stapl. feare it not but stande to it euen as you did to the other that is to say take your héeles and runne quite away from it And be it naught or be it good aunswere not a worde thereto But onely wrangle aboute some bye worde or other finding play with the Reader aboute other matters and thâ—…n euen as you aunswered the antecedent so shall ye shewe your selfe constant in aunswering the conclusion For what else is all your first part where if ye feare not the Bishops consequent ye should denie it and shew some reason thereof or distinguish the same or else ye graunt it but a bare shifting off to other matters as this bicause the Bishop called the Emperour on Nicephorus his commenmendation a Christian Emperour an example a spectacle a glasse for other as one that refourmed Religion to the purenesse thereof This say you in suche a personage as yee counterfeyâ—… can not bee but a deadlye and a mortall sinne Herevppon ye snatche occasion to fling at master Foxes bóoke of Martyrs once againe about M. Doctor VVesalian of whome ye say ye spake before Here againe ye come to your former Qu like the 〈◊〉 Pharisey despising the Bishop as one that is farre from the knowledge of Bishop White and Bishop Gardiner these are Reuerend fathers with you as for the bishop nowe is a verye poore sielie Clerke and howe mete to occupie such a roume ye leaue it to others discrete and vpright iudgement There is no doubt M. Stapleton but that ye meane some discrete and vpright iudges to iudge this matter of both their learnings ye shewe your selfe so vpright betwéene them But what shall those discrete men iudge of your vprightnesse and discretion in aunswering For what is anye of these things to the purpose although setting aside this your impudent outfacing what man it was well knowen what mightie great Clerkes the better of these twaine Bishop Gardiner and Bishop VVhite were either for law or for versifying either for a Sophister or a schoolemaister And yet in these pointes were they neither in primis secundis nor in â—…ertijs As for any déepe knowledge of Diuinitie or of ecclesiastical stories which had bene fitter for a Bishop I trow Iwis it was not so great but that a meaner man than the Bishop that now is might hasarde a comparison with theÌ„ But comparisons they say are odious I speake it not to the dispraise of their learning woulde God such as it was they had emploiedit better to the glory of God the giuer and the edifying of his Church in setting forth his Gospell as they ought to haue done For this is the chiefest thing in a bishop although the other are also necessarie and as ye say among other this the knowledge of ecclesiastical stories which ye vpbraide to the bishop as a verie poore sielie clarke in them But thus much your impudencie driueth me to saye that neither of your two Reuerend Fathers haue taken a quarter of the studious trauel in this point that the B. that now is hath done and hath shewed more fruite thereof than euer they did Scripture as they saye maketh mention of all thrée let your discrete and vpright men or any other searche and iudge who lyst But wherfore in conclusion is all this adoe forsooth the Bishop on Nicephorus wordes commendeth him for a Christian Emperour and sayth he was a spectacle and glasse for others and as one that reformed religion to the purenesse thereof this can not be a venial but a deadly and mortall sinne saith M. Stapleton Whosoeuer be the discrete iudge you are no mercifull iudge M. Stapl. there is no pardon with you but present death I see well I woulde at least ye were an vpright iudge to iudge vprightly of the matter Ye haue condemned
the B. for saying an Ecclesiasticall writer commendeth him for a Christian Emperour but what will you say to the same writer if he will call him the most Christian Emperour is not this warraÌ„t inough for the B he calleth him an exaÌ„ple a glasse or a spectacle for others What if not onely Nicephorus say the same a great deale more but Langus your catholike Clerke say euen the same also and commend him like wise for a paterne and mirror to the Emperour Ferdinande But Lorde what a stirre is here for that the B. spake of reforming religion to the purenesse thereof Here is the Bishop and Maister Foxe chalenged both of them for heretikes more than any of their felowes Here is Maister Stapleton disposed to haue his tongue roll as though it had not walked and run at large before And then sayth he that I may a little roll in your rayling Rhetoricke wherein ye vniustly rore out against M. Feckenham may I not for much better cause and grounde say to you than you did to him to make him a Donatist M. Horne Let your friends now weigh with aduisement what was the erroneous opinion of the Grecians against the holy ghost and let them compare your opinion and guilefull defences thereof to theirs and they must needes clap you on the backe and say to you Patrisas if there be any vpright iudgement in them deeming you so like your great graundsiers the Grecians as though they had spyt you out of their mouth Howe iustly or vniustly the Bishop proued Master Feck of set purpose to followe the steps of the Donatistes is alreadie declared at large and also howe teatly you haue excused him and brought him and your selfe further into the selfe same briers But howe vnfâ—…tlye and vniustly here ye woulde returne the Bishops words vpon himselfe chalenging him to denie as the Grecians did the procéeding of the holy ghost from the father and the sonne is not only manifest to the contraryâ—… to all that knowe and often heare in publike place the profession of his faith to argue you to be a wilfull malicious lier Abhominatio est domino labia mendacia lying lips are abhominable to the Lorde but also the Bishops wordsminister no occasion to gather any such surmise vpon Which sheweth you to be a captious wrangling sophister for the Bishop doth not flatly say he was such an one as reformed religion to the purenesse therof which you make him here to say but he sayd Nicephorus in his Preface before his ecclesiasticall storie doth compare Emanuel Paleologus the Emperour to Constantine for that he did so nearely imitate his duetifulnesse in ruling procuring and reforming religion to the purenesse thereof in whiche wordes the Bishoppe sayeth that Nicephorus commendeth him for this And this haue I proued at large that Nicephorus doth so which is the Bishoppes full discharge How be it this you wil not sée but make it the bishoppes flatte assertion Which yet notwithstanding were it so no man except hée were sette on gogge of pure malyce woulde wrest this sentence of the Bishoppe to anye other matter than to the present controuersie of the Princes dutie and dealing in ecclesiasticall matters and not to euery other opinion or vice which was either in the Emperor or in Nicephorus or else in al the Gretians And woulde ye but limit your selfe to the boundes of the question as the bishop doth ye coulde not haue made this false extravagant chalenge And ye shoulde haue séene that not onely the bishop had discharged himself but that so farre forth as this controuersie stretcheth both the Emperour Nicephorus and also all the Gretians whatsoeuer they were in other pointes in this controuersie of the Princes supreme gouernement it appeareth they were of a sounde and true opinion although you call it schismaticall and hereticall whatsoeuer be against the Primacie of your Pope but till you prooue it so to be no wyse man will be moued with your bare so calling it If you nowe denie that Nicephorus was of this opinion besides the Bishops allegations that haue prooued it sufficiently The same Preface of Nicephorus is full of other proues First Nicephorus dedicateth his ecclesiasticall hystorie to this Emperour not onely to haue his publike protection but also to haue the Emperors censure and iudgemeÌ„t whether it were sounde doctrine agréeable to Gods worde and méete to be set out among Christian people or no. Inprimis vero si quid minus c. But chiefly sayeth he if anything shoulde not haue bene declared of mee in this woorke that your myldenesse woulde pardon mee and by the sharpenesse of your iudgement you woulde clense my historie eyther by adding to or taking therefrom For whatsoeuer your iudgement shall more exactlye correct that shall bee accounted both to mee and to all other thankefull and sure Forbicause that of all other which haue bene vnto thee it hath chiefly happened by the readynesse and quickenesse of nature through the gift of God to perceyue and finde out suche thynges And bycause thon knowest both to reason and dispute wyth a iust moderation and also hast skill to expound diuine matters with feare And bicause thou canst excellently conceiue in thy minde and with an eloquent mouth declare that which thou thinkest good And moreouer canst in a maner giue such iudgement thereon that one thing may bee throughly knowne from the other Neyther is there any founde so malapert or rash that after thy correction and iudgement will abyde to set his hande vnto thy writing â–ª c. And the like sentence he hath towardes the ende of the Preface Thus besides his authoritie such an excellent iudgement in determining and deciding diuine and ecclesiasticall matters Nicephorus ascribeth to this Prince and commendeth him for euen as you woulde do to the Pope or any of your most reuerend holy fathers All which you cleane denie to Princes to haue any medling knowledge iudgement or determination in them but rather commende Princes for ignorance and woulde haue them onely meddle with iudging mereâ—…cuill matters But Nicephorus euen where the Bishop left in citing his allegations which were sufficient to any man except to such a brabler as you sayth to the Emperour Moreouer thou hast with a feruent order made more sincere and purer than golde the priestly vnction which sounded of a certaine corruption And also both by setting out a law and thy letters thou hast taught a continencie of maners and contempt of money by meanes whereof the priestly ministery of the common weale is become holy the which in former tymes by little and little through a corruption of discipline and maners was defiled and depraued And here noteth Langus in the Margin Reformatiâ—… Ecclesiae The reformation of the Church And thou conceyuing alwayes some more notable matter hast adorned the forme and state and Image of the Church most beautifully polishing it vnto the primitiue example These things