his word cherished nourished vp in the faith and she at the first giuing vs sucke and afterwards more fast and strong meate through the Communion of Christ his bodye in the Supper we are more and more vnited to him and by this meane inuested into that heauenly inheritance It followeth then that she is the pure Church and true mother who bringeth foorth vs her children through Baptisme regenerateth norisheth vs through the worde knitteth vs to Christ and so a-amongst our selues one to another through the Sacrament of his Supper that is to saye shee is the true mother in which the worde of God is purely preached and the Sacraments according to the same worde duely administred In the Church of Iuda and Israel Circumcision occupied the place of Baptisme the Passeouer of the Supper the worde of God alwayes keeping his place as the ordinarie nourishment of the children of God and therefore we see that after their entrie into the land of Canaan Iosue being admonished by the Lord to repaire those faults committed in the desert made the people to be circumcised and bound them by an othe if they would be his people to keepe the word of God that is to saye if they would bee his Church Likewise Iosias after so great confusions and mingle mangles when he would reforme the Church in which there was not so much as that visible marke which circumcision had left in the flesh we see that he began there first digging vp as it were the law which had bene buried published the same and made the people to sweare solemnly vnto it And cōsequently he caused a Passeouer to be proclaymed in these woordes Celebrate the passeouer of the Lord your God as it is written in the booke of this couenant that is to say according to the ordināce of the Lord your god Esdras also after he was returned frō Babylon for to reedifie the temple and to restore the Church he began at these foundations he expoundeth the lawe vnto the people and maketh thē to sweare in the forme of that couenant and after to nourish and fortifie them in the hope of their saluation to come he restoreth againe the true vse of the Paschall according to those things sayeth he which were written in the booke of Moses To be short al the true seruants of God after that there came any great scattering of the Church being willing to redresse it they haue alwaies before al other things restored these markes no otherwise then a good Captaine who after a great slaughter confusion raungeth his men into an aray and planteth his standerds in some high place to the end they may shew them selues to all sides Iesus Christ who is the true husband hath giuen vs no other markes to knowe his espouse by For this cause that he calleth the Church his wife he teacheth her her duety which is to obey his worde and not to hearken to the voyce of a straunger not to lose the tokens nor to defile the Iewels and pledges of her mariage but marke how he speaketh in expresse wordes He that is of the trueth heareth my voice And againe My sheepe heare my voice and I knowe them and they followe me and in another place Ye heare not because you are not of god The pure wife and Church then of the trueth is onely she which heareth the voyce of Christ Not a voyce in the ayre or an imaginatiue voyce but that voyce which hath it Echo out of the scriptures and which will resound vntill the end to witte the same that is pronounced by the mouth of his Prophets Apostles vpon which Saint Paul teacheth vs that the Church is founded Christ Iesus being the chiefe corner stone This is the cause why sending foorth his Apostles to erecte the Christian Churches he saith vnto thē Goe and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father c. and teaching them to keepe all that I haue commanded you And in the Actes we reade that the faithfull continued in the doctrine of the Apostles in the Communion breaking of bread in prayers which is no other thing but a briefe description of the true Church of Christ instructed by the worde in true faith and knit together in true charitie through the Communion that is in him The which thing S. Ambrose teacheth vs saying that the Catholique Church is that where God speaketh with his seruāts and S. Augustine also whē he placeth the ministerie of ministers pastors of the Church in the word of God Sacramēts Let vs yet adde hereunto the third mark of this church albeit it be not of the substance but outward to wit the lawful vocation of pastors ministers of the Church which haue the administration of the things aforesaid For seeing that there is question of preaching be it by the word or by the Sacraments which are vnto vs as a word that may be felt and that to preach it behoueth that the ministers be sent it is very necessary that the Church of God haue an order to send forth their pastors But more shal be seene of this point in another place We wil call then the true pure Churches all those wherein we finde the worde of God and Sacraments purely and lawfully administred that is to say as Cyprian saith according to the institution of the Lorde And we nothing doubt to communicate with them that God is there president howsoeuer in some certaine pointes of doctrine there haue bene some errour and in the outward policie some abuse and corruption and impuritie in maners for it behooueth that alwayes we resort thither when the chiefe pointes of the foundation of our saluation be there truly taught seeing we are men the Churches are compounded of men as speache and language consist of syllables and letters of the qualities of which men as long as the Church is in this world she is alwayes a partaker As concerning the false and impure Churches they are not so easely to be defined Trueth soundnes and right are but of one sort but errors diseases crookednesses are without nomber Againe there are many kindes degrees of impure Churches notwithstanding we can say in one worde that al those Churches are impure in which the word of the Lord and his Sacraments are impurely ministred that is are administred both against the honor of God and the saluation of our neighbour and because that the whole Gospel is nothing else but faith and charitie and whole Christ nothing but head and body we may make two principall kindes thereof calling those Heretikes which erre in the faith doctrine of Christ those schismatikes which sunder themselues from charitie and from the communion of his body which is the Church yea although they agree otherwise to the trueth of doctrine in all pointes Nowe as there are many pointes in the
dwell there for euer And therefore the priests had no other answere to all the Propheres that reproued them but this The Temple the Temple the Temple of the Lorde But see what the Lorde him selfe answereth vnto them Goe saith he see Shiloh I haue chosen it from the beginning for my house Now see what I haue done vnto it for the wickednes of my people I wil do euen so to the place which I haue giuen vnto you and to your fathers But if you will that I dwell there amende your wayes turne from your euil deedes Nowe if he haue forsaken his owne temple for the iniquitie of the priests besides which he had none erected in the whole world must we tye our selues to the Church of Rome or to any other place seeing that al the Elimates of the world are equally his temple Concerning the succession of persons that is no lesse friuolous then the other In all estates cōmō weales there is one perpetual sequele of magistrates either by succession or by election Nowe if there be any questiō of reforming the estate according to the lawes there is no way so ill as to vse these argumentes I am a magistrate as was my predecessour or from the father to the sonne ergo the cōmon wealth hath not to make any reformation None euer douted but that Nero was a tyrant although he was descended from Augustus neither would any man affirme that Commodus was a good prince although Marcus Aurelius was his father In like maner euery one will accord that Manasses defiled the church violated al iustice albeit he was the sonne of good Ezechias and Iosias he reformed the Church the lawes who was the sonne of Manasses himself And the ciuil lawiers themselues which make two sorts of tyrantes the one sort without title the other of exercise that is one sort vniust vsurpers the other vniust gouernors so we also make two kinds of Popes playing the tyrantes ouer the Church one sort which they call intruders which are thrust in there vnlawfully the other abusers abusing their authoritie shewing thereby that that which may fall out in the successiō of magistrates in the common wealth may also fall out in the succession of prelates in the Church Furthermore if euer any might alledge the succession of pastors they were the Iewes for they were of the house of Aaron from the father to the sonne besides them none might sacrifice Moreouer to them it was promised that they shoulde so continue for euer And hereof it was that when the Prophets exhorted them to reformation they had no other thing in their mouth The lawe shall not perish from the Priest nor the councell from the wise nor the worde from the Prophete But the spirite of the Lorde aunswered them Say not We are wise the lawe of the Lord is with vs For it is in vaine that the pen is made and that there is a scribe The wisemen are confounded And seeing that they haue reiected the worde of the Lord what shal be their wisedome any more Likewise when they boasted to Iesus Christ that they were the seede of Abraham I knowe it well saith he but the deuil is your father And in very deede this successiue hereditarie wisedome crucified Christ and reiected it saluation as also this selfe same successiō but yet only pretended worshippeth Antichrist ētertaineth it own perdition Moreouer I demaund what these alledgers of succession would haue aunswered to the Samositans Nestorians Arrians c. who had their beginning cōtinued from the first Bishops euen to thēselues namely frō Nestorius Samosatenus both which were lawfully called to the patriarchal churches the one to Constantinople the other to Antioche Also what wil they answere to the succession alledged by all the Greeke East Churches to be short to the reformed churches of Englād Denmark Swethen a great part of Almaigne c. through all which there is at this daye this succession from Bishop to Bishop frō pastor to pastor If they will alledge the Popes supremacie a man may deny it them this is another question If simply succession then they haue lost their cause If that doctrine thē we gaine this point that the simple succession of persons without the succession of doctrine is nothing worth They alledge that the auncient Doctors haue vsed this argument we deny it not But they must marke therein eyther that this was against heretikes that denyed the holy scriptures or else there was alwayes adioyning the successiō of doctrine S. Augustine enferreth it against the Manichees but they reiected the greatest part of the scriptures and manifestly the booke of the Actes of the Apostles to the end to deny the descending of the holy Ghoste and to establish Manichee in his place He alledged also vnto them miracles antiquitie c. but he addeth immediatly after You on your part alledge nothing like but onely you holde a promise of the trueth amongst you notwithstanding if you could euidently proue it I suppose it ought to be preferred before succession antiquitie miracles and al things else This is as we dispute against thē that denye the scriptures by probable reasons by authorities of prophane bookes albeit we hold them not for rules of the trueth Against the Donatists Arrians Pelagians others who accept the scriptures he disputeth by the scriptures In a certaine place he alledgeth amongst other things the succession of 39. Bishops of Rome but this was with this caueat In al this company there was not one Donatist that is there was not one that helde any such doctrine as you do Irenee sayth that they are not alwaies true priests which seeme so to be but they which keepe the doctrine of the Apostles Tertullian presseth the heretikes of his time who for the most part denyed the Scriptures to shewe that their predecessours were the Apostles or the Apostles schollers but by and by afterwards he requireth consanguinitatem doctrinae the consanguinitie or kinred of doctrine preferreth it before all succession that is to say that they onely were not the sonnes of the Apostles but also their doctrines were the daughters of the Apostolical doctrine Chrysostome sayth that the pulpit maketh not a priest but a priest the pulpit To be short a man shal not finde any which hath spoken in any other sense And nowe seeing that none can transferre that to his successour which of right doth not belong vnto him that S. Paul hath forbidden vs to heare the Apostles the Angels themselues preaching any other Gospel then his owne doth it not followe that the successors of the Apostles are reiected if they preache otherwise It followeth then that the succession neither of place nor of persons is any thing worth but onely the succession of doctrine which we haue sayd before to be the true infallible marke of
and also by writing doeth neuerthelesse call his ministerie The ministerie of the spirite because it is the spirite that giueth efficacie and power to this worde The Scripture is called the olde and newe Testament or Couenaunt and in all couenaunts there are conditions of both parties Concerning the olde we see that the saw was kept in the Arke vpon which God manifested his presence vnto his people when he gaue them counsell and in all that time wherein the people forsooke the lawe of God to serue Baal we see that God likewise aunswered not vnto their demaundes not vouchsafing to assist those by his spirit which made no accompt of his word And as concerning the newe Beholde my couenaunt that I make with them saith the Lord My Spirite that is in thee and my vvordes vvhich I haue put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seede for euer c. He ioyneth the spirite with the worde in plaine wordes as if the couenaunt were conceiued in these woordes My spirite shal be in thee but marke this that the wordes that I haue put in thy mouth do not depart out of thy mouth for euer Neither ought we to saye that this is to much to abase the spirite of God to bring it backe to the worde For this is alwayes to measure God by himselfe and this also is the onely measure that he hath giuen vs. For if spirites are to be discerned by doctrine as Saint Iohn teacheth vs and doctrine as we haue already proued by the worde conteyned in the holy Scriptures it followeth then that the spirite of God must be considered in the holy Scriptures the which were left vnto vs by the Apostles and gathered by the primitiue Church to the ende that there wee might haue a liuely portraiture and drafte of the Spirite who had taught the Apostles according to the word to discerne the spirites of Sathan who without any allowance of this worde durst teache false doctrines in the Church The Church then is ledde by the Spirite of God in the vnderstanding of his will but in asmuch as she searcheth for it in his worde that is to saye to him that searcheth the will of the Lord in his word the Spirite is therein giuen vnto him for an interpreter But to those that make no accompt of the text there needeth no interpreter and therefore to those that neglect the worde to followe their owne inuentions the Spirite of God is not giuen for an interpreter For the spirite of man and the Spirite of God are not mingled together vnlesse that a man forsake his owne spirit and his owne fancies to be ledde and conducted by the Spirite of god To all those therefore that alledge the leading of the Spirite without the word we wil answere with Saint Iohn Chrysostome that which followeth Many saith he boast of the Spirit but they which bring their owne pretend the spirite falsely As Christ witnesseth that he spake not of himselfe in asmuch as his doctrine was taken out of the Lawe and the Prophetes in such sort if any man bring vnto vs vnder the title of the spirit any doctrine not conteyned in the Gospell we beleeue it not For as Christ hath fulfilled the Law and the Prophetes so the holy spirite hath fulfilled the Gospell Now Chrysostome had in hand in this Sermon to extoll the Spirite for there he taught that the holy Ghost ought to be worshipped as the true god And yet notwithstanding Chrysostome thought it no abasing to the Spirit when he measured it according to the Gospell no more then did our Sauiour Iesus Christ when he measured it according to the Lawe and the Prophets They obiect vnto vs that GOD is sure in his promises and that therefore hee keepeth the couenaunt that hee hath made with his Church We aunswere that in verye deede the worde of GOD endureth for euer but in all these sayd couenauntes there is alwayes a condition If ye keepe my vvorde how soeuer through his mercy he many times beareth long with our iniquities And therefore we must not conclude God is sure therefore the Church cannot erre But much rather to say Seeing that the Church erreth so greatly and so oftentimes forsaketh hun it must needes be that God is sure in his promises and full of mercye For it is certaine that very often hee keepeth his couenaunt with her how corrupt and diseased soeuer she bee and euen then when she prouoketh him to a diuorce so as she treadeth the contracte of marriage vnder her feete and when she hath enlarged her bedde as the Prophete sayth to all commers as it maye plainely be shewed in all times and states of the Church When our aduersaries will proue that the Church is before the Scripture they beginne it at Adam This therefore is the place from whence we must beginne God hauing created Adam he forbad him to eate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and euill that is to saye He commaunded him to order all his affections and desires according to his holye will and to seeke all his felicitie and all his knowledge in this onely point of cleauing vnto god If he did not he signified vnto him by this that he shall die the death that is to saye he shal be separated from God which is the soule of our soule as our soule is in our bodies In this couenaunt we see a plaine condition Adam altogether full of graces as hee was then loued rather to followe his fantasie then to be ordred according to the worde of God and to hearken rather to the voyce of Sathan then of his Creator Iust punishment followed vpon him and vpon all his posteritie man remayning corrupted not onely in his body and outward senses but also in his reason and in his vnderstanding in such sort that reason it selfe for the most part serued to no other ende but to make them so much the more vnreasonable and vnderstanding nothing but to make them searche curiosities that might withdrawe them from their saluation And yet for all this we may marke in our foolish vnconstancie the constant loue and goodnesse of our Creatour towardes vs his vnworthy treasures when he promised euen presently after to our first parents the seede that should brufe the head of the serpent in which alone they might obtaine mercy This then was a conditionall couenaunt broken of mans part by the sume of the first Adam and repayred againe in the person of the second by the assured goodnes and onely bountie of the Creator Now if this Church euen from her first roote was thus polluted if from her beginning euen then when she was full of knowledge and incegritie and when she enioyed the presence of God she failed so shamefully because she turned away from the worde of her God to her owne desires can it be that any man nowe a dayes in obscuritie
which for the agreeing of two persons onely woulde refuse to handle againe a processe whereof there had bene a determinate sentence giuen by the Parliament before This therfore is in the Romish Cōsistory where there is manifest doubt of their doctrine or else foule and shamefull lacke of charitie and that in such a wayghtie case as concerneth the saluation of the more part of Christendome To be short we agree and are knitte together in the doctrine of the Bible with all Christians but we reiect the pestilent gloses and traditiōs of the Pope we haue bene willing brotherly to communicate the trueth to our brethren with the danger of our life in the middest of their Churches and contrarywise the Pope in stead of hearkening vnto vs fearing to be discouered hath excommunicated chased and driuen vs out It is therfore the Pope and his greasie ones which haue broken the Communion of the vniuersall Church not we who to keepe vs in are readie to submitte our selues to al reason to abide all dangers Secōdly that they alledge altar against altar if we shall consider the nature of the Christian Church it is not much from the purpose In auncient tyme vnder the law there was but one Temple and one altar without which they were forbidden to sacrifice whereupon we see yet that the Iewes which were scattered throughout the world myght not sacrifice And therefore those which set vp altars in Dan and Bethel albeit that they had not sacrificed but to the true God and according to the sacrifices ordayned in the lawe yet they were guiltie of death because they had broken the expresse ordinaunce of God who woulde haue obedience and not sacrifice and because that in Iesus Christ to come figured by one citie of Hierusalem by one Temple and by one altar they ought to withdrawe themselues from the societie of all other people This is the cause that we reade not that the Prophetes established any order of the seruice of God in any other place although that the Temple of Hierusalem were defiled with idolatrie but rather that they preached opēly against those which mayntained it yet without sacrificing any where else But by the cōming of Iesus Christ as we haue often sayde it is altogether otherwyse For all the worlde is Hierusalem the temple and the altar of the Lorde We pray not any longer towardes the East but on euery side to which we turne vs wee turne to God we looke alwayes to Iesus Christ When therefore the Apostles preaching Christ coulde not be receyued into Hierusalem preaching Christ in the temple they preached him in houses and when they were yet dryuen away they shooke of the duste of their feete in witnesse agaynst them and went and preached else where When also they were forewarned by the holie Ghost of Gods vengeance to come vpon that Citie that had crucified Christ the anoynted they made no difficultie sayeth Eusebius to withdrawe the assemblie that is to say the true Ierusalem and the true children of Abraham from thence to gather them together into the little towne of Pella neere Iordan If therefore the temples of Constantinople are turned into the temples and Churches of Mahomet Christians may serue God and sacrifice to him the sacrifices of prayse and thankesgiuing at Pera harde by Constantinople And if Antichrist bee sette downe in the Church of Rome amiddest his temples we may serue Christ in the porche and if we may not preache agaynst him vnder the roofe of the Church we wyll doe it vnder the roofe of heauen which is euen aswell the Temple of the Lorde And this is the cause why being forbidden by kings and Princes vpon payne of rebellion to preache in Temples agaynst the Idolatrie which is there committed and agayne beyng likewyse expressely commaunded by God to auoyde Idoles and to publishe the trueth wee haue gathered the true faithfull thyther where we myght serue God together according to his worde and we haue withdrawen Hierusalem into the towne of Pella by the example of the Apostles and according to the libertie which Iesus Christ hath gyuen to the Vniuersall Church But by separating our selues from Rome we haue remayned in the heauenly Ierusalem founded vpon the doctrine of the Apostles from which it hath separated it selfe and wee haue not buylt an altar against the altar of the Lorde for Rome is not the peculiar seate of the Lords altar but rather an altar of Christ against the altar of Antichrist a temple of lyuing stones founded vpon the chiefe master stone of the corner agaynst the temples of idoles buylded vpon the stone of offence which is Antichrist There is therefore a notable difference betweene Hierualem and Rome and consequently it is one thing to separat from the faction of Rome that can hardly deserue the name of a member and an other from the Catholique and Vniuersall Church Hierusalem was the Temple of the Lord and at this day the whole worlde is his Temple in comparison of which Rome is nothing To Hierusalem was promised the Sonne of God to Rome the sonne of perdition And from this peculiar Temple of God the Apostles withdrewe themselues for that it refused saluation yea that they myght not perishe in her destruction they remoued the Christians into another place From the cōmunication or fellowshippe therefore of the Church of Rome which worshippeth and vpholdeth perdition wee holde our selues bounde to withdrawe our selues if we will not draw vpon vs the heauy vēgeance of God which is prepared for all those that remaine therein Thirdlye it is one thing to withdrawe our selues from the papacie and another thing to goe away from the poore Church that is there holden vnder captiuitie Euen altogether like as it is one thing to flie from a Citie and another to flie from the pestilence that is in the Citie And it is one thing for a man to withdrawe him selfe from the common Wealth and another from the power of a tyranne that vsurpeth the common weale They that flie the pestilence are ready to come to the Citye againe when the plague is gone and they that auoide tyrannie are readye to ioyne them selues againe to the Citizens that were vnder tyrannie as soone as it shall be banished Yea which is more they are in the Citye and in the Common weale in heart and spirite suffering together with their fellowe Burgesses and Citizens bewayling their bondage and purchasing their deliuerance by all the meanes they can deuise where as the tyrants that keepe that Citie they that are there seeme rather to be shut vp frō all cōmunaltie or fellowship not onely of the common weale but also as Cicero sayeth from all mankinde euen as Thrasibulus was beeing gone aside frō Philes during the time that thirtie Tyrantes did teare in pieces the common weale of Athens And as Camillus at Veies during the time that the Gaules wasted the citie of Rome And
they who haue nothyng but theyr boasting and vaunting although they haue the greatest titles honors in the world to be on theyr side If therefore our aduersaries aske vs what was the calling of our first Ministers which refourmed the Church in these last times we answere that it was the same vocation and succession whereof they themselues doe bragge but the same vocation which they abused our men haue endeuoured to vse will and to that vaine succession wherewith they decked themselues they haue added the succession of true doctrine which they had corrupted without which all succession is nothing els but a continuing of abuse and error Wickleife Iohn Hus Luther Zwinglius Decolompadius Bucer and others of that schoole from whence the Ministers which haue gathered Churches from vnder Antichrist are descended were Priests as they cal them and doctors in diuinitie As Priests Pastors they had charge to preach the trueth vnto the people to minister the Sacraments vnto them according to the institutiō of our lord As doctors they were called to expound diuinitie in their readings in theyr bookes and they were bounde by the ordinary othe of al vniuersities to declare the trueth vnto the Church to confute al doctrines repugnant against the word of God and what then might to expell it Now in their time they found that the word of God was hid vnto the people that the honor which was due to God alone was turned to men to Images that the blood of Christ was troden vnder foote that the sacrament of the supper was partly turned into Idolatry partly denyed to the poore people To be short that all the holy scripture was prophaned poysoned with the Popes gloses popish interpretations And when they shewed these thinges to the Bishops and Metropolitans according to the order of their Church they made no rekoning of thē they were the first that persecuted thē because they themselues were the infected parte of the Church I aske therefore if theyr vocation commaunded them not to goe farther to witte to preach the trueth vnto the people and purely to administer the holy Sacraments And if they had done otherwyse whether they had not bin forsakers of theyr calling contenmers of theyr othe made vnto God and abusers of the people Both two therefore say I both our aduersaries and our first ministers had one and the same ordinarie outward calling But herein is the difference that that which ours haue followed the other haue forsaken that which ours haue done of duetie by reason of their charge the other haue cōcealed Ours haue ledde their sheepe vpon the mountaines of Israel into good pastures the others haue deuoured them or els left them for a pray to the beastes of the field or els driuen them to the fennes and marishes where they haue starued A magistrate shall be called to the gouernment of a common wealth where he shall finde the good lawes corrupted by the negligence or malice of those that went before his Courts full of iniustice the offices subiect to factions briberies and corruptions and he would reforme all this and bring it to the censure of the lawes He that will further nowe aske him by what right he doth this should he not make him self a laughing stocke because he followeth steppe by steppe his calling He hath not sworne to mainteyne abuses but rather to mainteyne the lawes and to prouide euery way that he can for the good and preseruation of the Common wealth Nowe contrarywise if he wincke at that which is euil he should doe directly contrary to his calling Euen so likewise haue our first Ministers done first requiring reformation and afterwards putting to their handes according to their duetie And if we could aske of the Apostles who are their true successors they would not tel vs Such as haue a triple crowne or such a cope or such a miter but those that preach the word of God after our example For so had they learned of the true master That he which doth the wil of God his father is his mother his sister and his brother At the preaching of these first men the pastors of the Churches were awakened in England in Bohemia in Germanie in Scotland in Denmarke in Swedenland and afterwardes many in Fraunce in Spaine and in Italie it selfe and these were sent to bethinke them of their duetie Consequently some whole Realmes were reformed the bishops themselues that there had preached lyes preached the trueth in the selfe same Church pulpit Of these for the most part if our aduersaries will demaund succession it is on their side for they haue succeeded from bishop to bishop frō the first which preached there the Gospell If they aske a vocation why it is euen their owne for they were called to be bishopps and pastors and they haue performed the office which they had forsaken The difference therefore as we haue said is in this onely point that they feede the people with pescod shales and the others in the pasture of life they defile their flockes with the filthinesses of Antichrist and these wash them in the blood of Iesus Christ Beholde then concerning the calling of our first Ministers which hath whatsoeuer may be good in the pretended calling of our aduersaries and this point further That our men lawfully exercise it and the other do but withhold it in vnrighteousnesse And although some of our men as in so corrupt a state of the Church as we haue seene it in our time without wayting for their calling or allowance of them that vnder the title of pastors oppressed the Lords flocke were called by those Churches to which they vowed their ministery yet this ought no more to be thought straunge then in a free common wealth where the people without wayting either for the consent or voyces of those that playe the tyrants shal haue chosen according to the lawes good and lawful magistrates Concerning the vocation of Ministers which were sent by the former and since by vs we haue herein obserued the example of the Apostles and the canons of the primitiue Church If the question be of their persons we haue lawfully examined both their doctrine and maners And this is the rule of Saint Paul That a bishop must be apt to teach and blamelesse If of the persons which make this examination why it was not one man alone but many ministers bishops and elders duely called before to this Church that is to say the Presbyterie or eldershippe as Saint Paul calleth it or as Saint Cyprian calleth it the ecclesiasticall Senate During this examination whereupon dependeth the election the Church continueth in prayer and fasting as we reade in the ordeining of elders in the Acts. Being found meet they are published to the people to the end that if any man hath ought to say against their election he might repaire before the assemblie as we reade was practised
Diuinitie in one Tombe Notwithstanding after that the diuel had cast out his fire against the Apostles and disciples of Christ that he had raysed against them infinite persecutions it must needes be in the end that he yelde himselfe that al the earth acknowledge their lord Let the earth therefore do what it will the word of God endureth for euer And it must be that Antichrist perish be discomfited by the breath of the mouth of Christ that he be abolished by the brightnesse of his comming All kings and al the earth can do nothing against this determination But I beseech the Almightie that it will please him to inspire into the heartes of all Kings and peoples a true desire of knowing the trueth to search for their saluation a true zeale to bring Christendome againe to true vnitie vnder the obedience of Christ a true affâ—â—â—â— on to reigne and to liue in him as they raigne and liue by him to the ende that Kings being well obeyed of their people and the people well commaunded of their Kinges we may see in our dayes one onelye Iesus Christ acknowledged of all peoples Kinges to be the King of Kinges and Lord of Lordes and in his Church the onely mediatour fauiour and Lawegiuer Amen Conclusions THe Church is considered as it is to be seene or not to be seene The Church not to be seene is the companie of those whom God hath chosen to euerlasting life in all times and places The Church that is to be seene is the company of those who are called thereinto and is considered according to certaine times and places There is notwithstanding but one Church but considered diuersely In that which is to be seene as the corne with the chasse in that which is not to be seene as the corne threshed and fanned This visible Church was first without the law afterwards vnder the law tyed to one certain place familie Now through grace it is spred throughout the world one place hauing no more priuiledge then an other whereof it is called Catholike that is to say vniuersall The Catholike Church comprehendeth vnder it all assemblies of Christians in al regions whoÌ„ we call Churches as we call partes of the sea the sea distinguishing theÌ„ notwithstanding by their names as the Church of Greece of Affrike c. Of the parts of the Church as the members of the same body yea though it be vniuersall some are pure and some impure and of those that are impure some are more and some lesse impure The pure Churches are those in which the word of God is purely preached and the sacraments duly administred albeit that in respect of God there is nothing pure The one they call the sound and true Churches the other but unproperly Catholike Churches The impure are those in which the word of God and his sacraments are ill administred whatsoeuer other outward marckes they can pretende And because that al the doctrine of Christ is faith and charitie we cal those that are impure in the doctrine of faith heretical Churches and those that haue separated themselues from the vnitie which they do through lacke of charitie Schismatical And some there are that are both heretical and Schismatical as the Churche of Rome and they that at this day cleaue vnto it for they maintaine many damnable heresies and persecute and excommunicate those that desire reformation Notwithstanding forasmuch as the profession of Christ remayneth there in some sorte we denie them not the name of a Church as we call a man a man howe sicke or brainelesse soeuer he be To discerne the pure churches froÌ„ the impure God hath deliuered vs his worde contained in the scriptures the which is perfect cleere to saluation for it hath for his aucthor the most perfect father of light This is that therfore by which men ought to determine the coÌ„trouersies of this time to reforme the Church as the coÌ„moÌ„ welth according to the lawes abolishing that which God hath there forbidden vs holding that for forbidden in his seruice which hee hath not ordeined looking to that which he hath commaunded and interpreting his wil by it selfe concerning those thinges that are in controuersie The Churches which follow that wil caÌ„not erre for that is the way of saluation and following that God guideth them also by his spirit which enlightneth them and is inseparably ioyned thereto Contrariwise the Churches which departe from it may and doe erre yea and that in the matter of saluation for that they goe out of the way of saluation Neither can they beast of the spirite for God bestoweth it not but vpon his sheepe neither doth he hold any for his sheepe but those that heare his voyce Therfore the Church following mans fantasie not the lawe of God hath greatly erred in all her particular states times euen vntil the crucifiyng of the sonne of God that is to say her owne saluation As in our time we say that the Church of Rome doth adore and worship the sonne of perdition that is to say Antichrist The Church is a body Christ the sonne of God is the head thereof giuing efficacie to the Ministerie of his Gospell through his spirit by the selfe same assisting all those that truely call vpon him And this is that wherein consisteth the administration or gouernement of the head of the Church And as touching the ministerial head no man may be it For the Church by the comming of Christ is spread throughout the whole world none can exercise that ministerie throughout the world but rather euery pastor representeth Christ in his charge And in deede our sauiour Christ before he ascended into heauen ordeyned none such neither did any of the Apostles exercise any such office the whole primitiue Church neuer knewe of it Wherefore following the worde of God and the opinion of the same church we hold that the Papal See which vnder this false title exerciseth tyranny ouer all the world is Antichrist the which without other proofes and circumstances may be verified by his doctrine alone Notwithstanding that this Papal See placed in one part of the Church is not the Churche neither a part of the Church but as a pestilence to the body of the Church which hath corrupted and infected all asmuch as it coulde and had vtterly choked it without the special mercie of God. We doe therefore depart from the papacie and not from the Church from Idoles and not from the temple from Tyranme and not from the common wealth from the plague and not from the Citie being ready entirely to knit and ioyne our selues againe when Antichrist the euil which he hath brought in shal be taken away And in waiting for this we reforme the Ministerie of the worde of God and as nye as we can his seruice according to his institution by the example of the Apostles excommunicated out of Hierusalem which yet notwithstanding is not to
they call her Princes the Princes of Sodome and her people the people of Gomorrhe to be short that they threaten her that God will remoue his tabernacle from thence to others And Saint Paul sayeth that they should be so deceiued for hauing neglected the trueth of God that they shal worship Antichrist in the Church The reason hereof is very cleare that the Church is as the moone a body thicke cloudie which hath no light but from Christ the sunne thereof By meanes that she looketh towards him she is bright and cleare and the more she turneth away from him the lesse brightnesse she hath sometimes she withdraweth her selfe so farre from him so great a masse of earth setteth it selfe betwene them that she seemeth altogether eclipsed Hereof it is that of this vniuersall Church dispersed throughout the whole worlde and gathered together into particular Churches of all the nations thereof wee maye see some vtterly rooted out by the iust iudgement of God as the Philippians Colossians many others of the East which were erected by the Apostles thēselues others to be erected else where through the euerlasting goodnesse of God towards mankinde Some by the corruption of men to be corrupted both in maners and doctrine as those of Greece of Egypt of Affrike c. Others by the presumption of their leaders hauing nothing left sound as the Church of Rome at this day To be short some other gone from heresie to infidelitie as in the coūtries where Mahomet begunne his sect which are altogether the fruites of the first sinne of man who of him selfe turned awaye from God to himselfe and was blinded in his owne loue thinking to be wise enough to guide himselfe without the worde of god Thus much in few words concerning the parts of this visible Church nowe vniuersall But let it suffise for this time that wee resolue our selues that this Church is the Assemblie or Congregation of all those which make profession of Christ throughout the whole worlde that vnder her are comprehended al the particular churches to which the promises of Christ made to this universall Churche belong equally That of the same some are pure and some impure according as they are turned away from God to themselues to be short that the purer churches are impure before God seeing he hath not founde puritie in his angels sauing that he supporteth them in mercie in Iesus Christ his sonne our Lorde That of the visible Catholique Church some partes of it are pure and some impure and which be the infallible markes of the pure Churches CHAP. II. THe Catholique or vniversall visible Church is the assemblie of all those which make profession of the Gospell of Iesus Christ throughout the whole worlde distinguished as we haue sayd into many particular Churches all which do make but one body Of all these particular as members and parts of one the selfe same body some are pure other some are impure some more some lesse sounde and some at this day are sicke euen vnto death which in times past were more healthful according as all are composed of men and therefore are subiect to be partakers with their faultes Those that are of the purer and sounder Churches we call them sound and true Churches cōsenting to the true doctrine which is the name that for the most part the auncient fathers haue giuen them The others wee call the erring hereticall or schismatical Churches according as they erre either in faith or in charitie agaynst the square and right rule of Christ or against the rule of his Church either in the one or in the other notwithstanding euery one in his degree And yet for all this both the one and the other are truely Churches that is to say assemblies that make profession of Christ but they are not pure Churches that is to say seruing God in Christ onely in puritie and veritie euen like as a lying person is truely a man albeit he be not a true man a man ceaseth not to be a man howsoeuer he be disfigured without and inwardly infected with leprosie and in such sorte benommed of his members or else troubled in his senses that he is depriued of the principall actions of a man yea and of those things also in outwarde appearance that make difference betweene a man a beast I meane speache and reason I knowe very wel that the auncient fathers and principally the Latines they cōmonly call the pure Church Catholike by excellencie to distinguish it from the congregation of heretikes but to speake properly there is no particular Church how pure sound soeuer it be that can bee called universall And if we giue them their name because they are partes of the universall Church by the selfe same reason it should agree aswell to the most impure Churches themselues And in deede this worde Catholike was not put in our Creede for to distinguish a pure Church from an impure but to distinguish the Iewish Church in times past tyed to Ierusalem from the Christian Church which by the cōming of Iesus Christ was spread throughout the whole worlde that is to saye to authorize the vocation of the Gentiles against the pretended prerogatiues of the Iewes against which S. Paul hath written in the three first whole chapters of the Epistle to the Romaines and to shewe that according to that that was foretolde by all the Prophets that all people were made one in Iesus Christ which was the principall controuersie that made greatest broyle in the primitiue Church And if a man shall deepely way this thing he shall finde that this maner of speaking vsed of the auncient fathers calling the sound and true Church Catholike came of the reasoning they had against the Schismatikes as against the Nouatians Donatistes and others who tooke vpon them to binde the whole Church to themselues and shut out all the rest of the world besides as namely the Donatistes who tyed it to a little corner of Affrike vnder the colour that they presumed that they themselues were more holy then the rest against whom to the ende to stoppe their mouthes they opposed the Catholike or vniuersall Church according to the Scripture spredde throughout the whole world Nowe it followeth that we search out the true markes of this Church which we call the true pure Church or if we like better the Catholike Church to distinguish it from the impure erroneous Church We haue said alredy that God vouchsafing through his goodnes to be the father of one sort of men would also that his Church should be the mother and we knowe very wel that it belongeth not to the mother alone to bringforth children into the world but she is a true mother who also nourisheth them and careth for them after shee hath brought them forth Nowe through Baptisme we are auowed to be the childrē of God and of children of wrath which we were we are through
the pure Church Concerning miracles if a man speake of those which were wrought either in the publication of the lawe by Moses or in the confirmation of the Gospel by Iesus Christ his Apostles it is certaine that they were generally wrought aswel for the Samaritans as for the Iewes for heretikes as for sincere sound professours for the pure churches as for the impure forasmuch as the onely question is towards one to shewe the true God giuing forth the lawe towards the others the true Christ promised in the lawe whom both the one the other make profession to receiue worship And therefore this argumēt is common to both two Concerning the other which they alledge specially in that same state in which we say Antichrist heareth dominiō I say they are false in effect because they heare witnesse to falshood but if they had any true yet they are not therefore sure testimonies of the trueth The heathen had their deuilish miracles in the temples of their false gods some in effect true as may appeare by all their histories Simon Magus who would be ack nowledged for Christ wrought miracles So likewise did Apollonius Tianeus and Apuleus of Madaure But these for the most part might be illusiōs the which the deuil wrought to abuse fooles hauing nothing as S. Augustine saith more agreeable to this then their outward senses But God wrought those great miracles among the Samaritanes in their strongest Idolatrie as when he made the Assyrians to be eaten of Lyons for to reuenge his contēpt among his enemies not to authorize the faultes abuses of the people He wrought some in the time of those heresies next before the cōming of Christ to shewe the power of his name to al nations Yea it should not seeme straunge when he will worke such in lands newly found for to vāquish the deuils which reigned there Al this then is too litle to be a marke of the pure Church vnlesse the churches of the Samaritans the heretikes of the former times had bene pure churches This is that which S. Augustine answered to the Donatists which would proue their doctrine by miracles You alledge sayth he miracles in which a man is not to be heard in respect of the place but in regard of his desire We wil not proue our church neither by succession of Bishops neither by the authoritie of councels nor by the nūber of miracles nor by visions nor dreames All such things are to be allowed so farre foorth as they are done in the Catholike Church but they proue not that the Church is Catholike for that dependeth vpon the scriptures Our Sauiour Christ hideth not this from vs that he wil cast into euerlasting fire those that haue wrought miracles in his name This is not then as our aduersaries say a gift that sanctifieth them that do them It is also foretold vs that many false Christes shall come with miracles to seduce if it were possible euen the elect And S. Paul saith that Antichrist shal come according to the efficacie of Sathan in all power signes miracles of deceit This then is as litle a gift of the spirit sāctifying and purifying the Church This is more for some of these miracles shal not be altogether false in effect but onely in their end that is because they tend to a false end to establish the seate of Antichrist as saint Augustine hath taught vs vpon this place and Saynt Iohn Chrysostome when hee saith that there are miracles not onely of illusion but true and effectuall tending to bring in falshood Now if miracles approue the puritie of the Church and the trueth of doctrine then Antichrist hath gained his cause if not it is so farre of that the miracles wrought vnder the Papall sea ought to be alledged for confirmation of puritie that rather quite contrary seeing that no other miracles are promised before the comming of Christ but his owne we should suspect that the Romane Sea is that prodigious sea of Antichrist which was before foretolde vs Let vs folow thē amiddest these difficulties the instruction that Iesus Christ hath giuen to all Christians in the person of his Disciples There were miracles wrought before his birth but none were nere accōpanying his owne birth therfore there could be no abuse in it In his life time there were an infinit sort wrought of which they were made eye witnesses he being fastened to the crosse dead buried afterwardes they sawe him eate and drinke with them But of al those famous Magiciās their inchantments died with them neither was there euer one raysed vp againe For it was inough for him to say vnto them at his departure You haue seene the singular miracles which I haue wrought You ought therefore no more to doubt that I am that same anoynted which was promised vnto you Contrariwise he sendeth them to the Prophetes to Moses to the Psalmes and to be short to the holy Scriptures to the ende they may there marke what they haue seene and what was therefore told them by the Spirite of God and that what he had foretold them was now also accomplished Touching reuelations and visions which are a kinde of miracles we haue the plaine text which decideth this matter If there shall arise saith the Lorde amiddest thee a false propher or a dreamer of dreames and that the signe or miracle which he hath told thee come to passe saying Let vs followe straunge gods c. hearken not to the words of this Prophet c. There are then both Prophets and visions true in effect and yet false in theyr ende and triall which triall is doctrine as is to be seene in this place Lykewyse when Saint Iohn to the ende to keepe vs from false prophetes exhorteth vs to proue the Spirites by and by he addeth Hereby shall you knowe the Spirit of God Euery Spirite that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the fleshe is of God c. that is to say proue the spirites by the doctrine which they preach Therefore Saul Cayphas haue prophecied but as S. Augustine saith as Balaās Asse once spoke and yet for all that they myght haue once spoken the trueth For the deuil him selfe to couller his lying some times speaketh trueth We conclude then that all the foresaide markes are not the infallible markes of the sounde and pure Church First because they be not substantial but outwarde Secondly because they are common aswell to falsehood as to trueth But that they may be markes they ought to put a difference Thirdly they neede to be proued and approued by another marke to witte doetrine to be short seeing it is said that in the ende Antichrist shall come and seduce the greatest part of the people and that he shall sitte in the Temple of GOD that is to saye in the Churche it selfe and in one of the
shoulde say to the ende it should be deliuered vnto the posteritie so as we haue it there registred by foure sworne Notaries of the holie Ghost and expounded in many Epistles of the Apostles Finally these Registers of the kingdome of heauen haue gathered them together by the common care of the Churches wherein they haue bene kept the which haue witnessed that this worde proceeded from them and thereto haue put to their seale and to the ende that no Scripture myght be made equall vnto them and to take away also the foundation of all heretikes which euery where alledge it and bring in to serue euery turne the traditions of the Apostles the Churches haue brought them into one booke which they call the Canon that is the rule and the Canonical Scriptures See then that in the Christian Church we haue now as was vnder the lawe one rule to iudge the right from the crooked a squire to direct our buylding a compasse to guyde our barke a lawe to iudge controuersies and a God in his woorde to determine all matters which shall arise in the Churches All that is agreeable to this word of God is of God for that it is his owne word All that is not agreeable to this worde is of man and no man hath any voyce in the Churche to make any lawes concerning the seruice of god The sonne of mā alone God and man hath onely this power of whom it is onely sayd Heare him Al then that is ouer and besides this ought to haue no place in the Church By this worde thus limited within the bookes of the Canonicall Scripture the primatiue Church hath taken away an infinite nomber of traditions which heretiks haue made to passe vnder the name of the Apostles allowing nothing but that which they haue found contained in the foresayde bookes By the same also they haue stopped the mouth of heresies which sprong vp of the noughtie and vnsound interpretations thereof to be short they neuer complained when they had any thing to doe with heretikes who agreed of this Iudge accompting their matter wonne but rather when they vanquished them which refused the same worde forasmuch as it is impossible to finde a Iudge to them that refuse to be iudged of God. Our aduersaries alwaies cry with open mouth The Fathers Fathers Fathers but beholde whereby the Fathers woulde bee iudged and before whome they would pleade This controuersie sayeth S. August requireth a Iudge let Christ then be Iudge himselfe and tel vs himself wherefore he dyed Let the Apostle also be iudge together with him for in the Apostle also Christ himselfe speaketh It is sayde that he hath not spared his owne sonne c. but hath giuen him to the death for vs See then the Iudge before whome he calleth the Pelagians from whome our aduersaries haue borowed their doctrine Against the Donatistes his ordinarie wordes are We haue founde Christ in the scriptures there also must wee finde the Church Also let it not be heard any more betwene vs I say this thou sayest that but rather see what the Lord sayth for we haue saith he the bookes of the Lord to which we both giue consent we both beleeue and keepe Againe the canonicall Scripture is the rule of all The epistles of Bishops gyue place one to an other and Councels are amended and corrected one by an other but that must correct all Also where shall wee feede the sheepe of the Lorde Vpon the mountaynes of Israel these mountaines of Israel are the altars of the Scriptures of god When any man shall preach according to that from thence take taste thereof and all that is not from thence cast it awaye for feare of straying in the mystes And when the Donatistes alleadged Saint Cyprian vnto him of whome notwithstanding hee maketh a great accompt in all his workes and specially through whome he myght haue ouercome them in many matters I sayeth he allowe not the wrytings of Saint Cyprian for canonicall And yet herein I doe him no wrong for not in vayne was this so healthfull a Canon made in which are comprehēded the bookes which we dare not iudge and through which notwithstanding wee iudge of all bookes as well of infidelles as of Christians That which I finde there agreeable with Scripture I accept it with prayse that which I finde not agreeable to the Scripture by his good leaue I reiect it And there is no doubt sayeth hee in another place but that nowe he seeth all more cleare and bryght then when he was conuersant in darkenes that he will rather be glad to know how comfortable it is for vs that in the writinges of Christian orators and learned preachers a man may finde things to be reproued and that in the writings of those poore fishers that is to say of the Apostles a man shall finde no such thing in them Alledge not therefore to me sayeth he in this case their writings but the Lawe the Prophets the Psalmes the Gospell and the Apostle For from hence it is that I holde the Church is spread ouer all and is not tyed vnto any certayne place And the rule which hee gyueth vs out of the bookes of Cyprian he hath also gyuen out of his owne and out of all the rest and the places also repeated by Gratian in his Decretalles I knowe very wel that Gratian to get credite to himselfe gyueth no lesse aucthoritie to the decretall Epistles of the Pope then to the Canonicall bookes of the scripture impudently corrupting a place taken out of the bookes of Christian doctrine where he speaketh the quite contrarie But this is not worth the confutation And Alfonsus de Castro himselfe who is one of the chiefe pillars of the Papacie doth acknowledge this fault very liuely reproueth him for it The Arriās in a more high matter of the Christian faith woulde escape by the Councilles but he alwayes draweth them to this Let vs not alledge saith he disputing against Maximine their Bish neither thou the Council of Ariminium nor I the Councill of Nicee for neyther I am bound to the aucthoritie of that there nor thou to the aucthoritie of this here but let vs dispute by the aucthoritie of the Scriptures which are common witnesses to vs both cause against cause and reason against reason c. All his bookes are ful of such places especially against the Manichees who denyed one part of the Scriptures following the example of Christ who vanquished the Sadduces in the matter of the resurrection specially by the bookes of Moses because they reiected all the others And yet this is he that so astonished all the heretikes of his time that he put them to vtter silence But to the end that they condemne him not for an heretike whome they haue already so sore suspected it is necessarie to see what others doe holde concerning this matter Basil the great woulde that wee examine all doctrines
might haue burned all the primitiue Church By this one onely rule therefore comprised in a fewe wordes and easie for euery one to vnderstand wee cutte of the Masse Purgatorie prayers for the dead inuocation of Saints the Pope his pardons indulgences and almost all that hath troubled Christendome for this long time But to defeate this rule they would drawe certaine places by the haire to the end to make vs to finde therein their lewd inuentions As for example It shall not be forgiuen in this world nor in the world to come Ergo there is a purgatorie which must be vnderstood as S. Marke hath expounded it by these words It shal neuer be pardoned according to the Hebrew phrase Also if Moses and Samuel were before me to pray for this people I would not forgiue them Ergo say they we must pray vnto Saints Whereas quite contrary by the plaine words of the text a man shall rather gather that it is a vaine thing to call vpon them and the meaning of the Prophet is cleare that as God saith If Moses and Samuel were aliue and should intreat as sometime they did for the sinnes of that people they were become so heinous that yet he would not forgiue them To be short euen altogether like as it was that Ieremie in the chapiter aforegoing when he had made earnest prayer vnto God for the people he answered him that if Moses himselfe who was most deare vnto him should praye vnto him for this people he would not heare him Againe sometime they haue certaine Allegories to proue these matters by But we demaunde of them whether these doctrines are necessarie to saluation yea or no If they be necessarie then we haue another certaine rule That the word of God is cleare to saluation For that same light it selfe is come downe from heauen for to teach vs that hath it not done darkely or about the bush The holy Ghost came downe vpon Christ in the likenes of a doue and vpon the Apostles in great brightnesse their doctrine therefore was plaine and euident and they were not doctors or teachers of darknes Let them therefore alledge one plaine and manifest place not bring places wrested from their proper meaning and altogether from the purpose and we are readie to yeld vnto them And this is the rule which S. Hierome gaue That Allegories darke places proue nothing And S. Augustine saith That al that perteyneth to saluation is plainely and clearely set downe in the Scripture and that that which is darke in one place is plaine and cleare in another Now as concerning the third point we haue a rule which all the auncient fathers haue giuen vs That the holy Scripture is the light to it selfe And that which is darke in it is plaine by it selfe in another place and that therefore the determination of all matters must be drawne from the conference of such places where they are handled Besides we haue two markes to direct our selues by to which the whole Scripture tendeth and they are the glorie of God and charitie towardes our neighbour Moreouer we boldly admittte all the doctors of the auncient Church for the interpretation of matters belonging to this thirde kinde namely in the places and treatises where they expresselye handle them And wheresoeuer they are or shall seeme to be contrary we willingly referre therein our selues to euery man according to his owne common sense and meaning that shal haue readde the holy Scripture As for example there is a controuersie betwixte vs whether these wordes This is my body be a figuratiue speache or no. First of all I conferre or waye together the places of the Euangelistes and I finde in Saint Luke This Cuppe is the newe Testament in my bloud which cannot be expounded without a figure and I knowe that flesh and bloud are both of like importance in the Sacrament Further I consider that the question is here of a Sacrament and that this is the accustomable maner of speaking common to all Sacraments The rocke vvas Christ this is one place Baptisme is regeneration that is another c. Finally I finde in S. Augustine these words In figuratiue speaches saith he alwayes keepe this rule If it be a maner of speach that according to the letter commaundeth thee to do that which is good or forbiddeth thee to do that which is euil streight way thou mayest iudge that there is no figure For thou hast found there the scope and butt of the Scripture to wit the glorie of God charitie But if thou shalt take it according to the letter and it seemeth to commaund thee to do that which is euil or to forbid that which is good then thou shalt streight way iudge that in very deede there is a figure For example saith he Except you eat my flesh and drinke my blood you haue no life in you According to the letter it seemeth that Christ commandeth vs a foule an heinous thing This therefore saith he is a figuratiue maner of speache by which he commandeth vs to communicate with the passion of the Lord thorowly to fixe in our memorie that his flesh was pierced and crucified for vs When I see then that it is in such sort figured that S. Augustine himselfe alledgeth it vnto vs for example of figuratiue speaches I resolue my selfe that this with other textes of Scripture conferred in like sort together proue such maner of speaches in the matter of the Supper cannot be otherwise taken but figuratiuely Nowe by these rules then shal the matter of the supper iustification of faith and workes free will and such other be determined which stand vpon the interpretation of the textes of Scripture which both the one and the other would drawe to their owne meaning and intention I demaunde then of euery Christian man what we may iustly attribute more to the iudgement of the auncient fathers for where we haue a plaine forbidding from God euery one will agree vnto vs that men can doe nothing and that there neede no interpreters Againe where we haue no cōmaundement from his mouth there it lesse behoueth for where there is no text there can be no glose Those matters then remaine out of which these commaundements are taken and interpreted diuersly in which we most gladly admit the interpretations of the doctors of the primitiue Church and the most notable in all ages To conclude then this article we say that the infallible marke of the pure Church is the pure doctrine therof duely administred and the vndoubted touchstone of pure doctrine is the pure worde of God conteyned in the holy Scripture which God hath deliuered to be the rule of his Church That the same is perfect and to be vnderstood of those that desire their saluation yea aswell of it selfe as conferred with it selfe albeit for the decyding of controuersies founded vpon the same we wyllingly admit the interpretations of the most auncient Briefely
institution of Christ in the Sacraments to change according to the time the interpretation of the holy scripture to make newe articles of the faith to derogate from the olde Testament from S. Paule his epistles as the vicar of Christ successour of S. Peter This then according to their iudgemēt is an article of great importāce to saluation vpon which all other articles necessarie to saluation are founded In the selfe same quality iurisdiction is giuen vnto him ouer all the East churches to cut them of frō the Cōmunion of the Church to leaue them for a pray to the Turk because they will not acknowledge him To be short it is come to this point that he calleth himself king of kings to establish empires at his own wil to set out kingdomes for a pray to dispence with subiectes for their othe made to their prince This therfore is an article not onely belonging to the saluation of euerye Christian particularly and to all in generall for that same vnion which is so much commended vnto vs but also necessarie to policie to the obedience due to magistrates to the whole life of man But nowe wee see that Iesus Christ his Apostles haue deliuered vnto vs the articles of our faith the doctrine of the Sacraments of the obedience which is due to our superiors in plaine expresse termes and those very often repeated in many places It followeth then that this article by the which new articles of faith are established the changing of the Sacraments the setting vp deposing of princes the subiecting of heauen and earth vnder the power of one onely man must bee there plainely set foorth Nowe if it be not there expresly conteined one of these two things must folow either that our Lord his apostles took pleasure to hide these things frō vs to make a math confusion of heauen and earth together which to thinke were verye execrable blasphemie or else it must bee altogether false and consequently all that is builded vpon it must quite fall downe and bee vtterly razed to the ground Nowe I doe adiure euerye one euen as they loue their saluation that they weygh wel the proofes of this article For if the very foundation of the popishe doctrine which is this here haue no foundation in Christ it followeth that the pope hath layd another foūdation in the Church then Christ contrary to that which the Apostle saith and by consequent that hee is none of those which hath builded vpon the foundation of Christ woode haye stone but the Antichrist him selfe which hath setled him selfe in the place of the chiefe corner stone which is the onely fundation of the Church We say that Iesus Christ is the head of the Churche our aduersaries say that it is S. Peter in his successors or rather the pope and the Church of Rome because of S. Peter his seat Now as we haue found the body out of the Scriptures to wit the church so likewise we ought not to search for the head any where else S. Paul saith that Christ is the head of the church the church the accōplishmēt of him which hath accomplished all in all Also that Christ is the head of the Churche as the husband of the wife and the Sauiour of his body Also wee which are manye are one body in Christ euery one of vs are mēbers one of another These places are so cleare the our proposition can not be denied Thereupon they will graunt vs that Christ is the head of the Church but they will say that there must be a head and generall lieutenant in the gouernment thereof that this is S. Peter in his Successors whome they call for distinction sake the ministerial head of the Church This is it that they must proue vnto vs by plaine textes for wee flatly deny it vnto them First of all we must not here imagine an earthly kingdome For Iesus Christ hath taught vs that his kingdome is not of this world if his be not of this world then much lesse shall his be whosoeuer shal enterprise to be his lieutenant This lieutenantshippe then is neither temporall nor secular neither can it be stretched ouer the empires of the earth neither can the B. of Rome in this qualitie call him selfe the Monarch or onely gouernour both of the spiritual temporal But as the kingdom of Christ is spiritual to wit the gouernmēt of the soules of the faithfull whō he fedeth by his word as S. Paul sayeth that it is peace ioy righteousnes through his spirit so must it be likewise that the administration or gouernmēt of his seruāts must be spiritual to wit the ministery of the word from whence proceede those forenamed effects much lesse ought we to imagine an earthly king For Christ is the Sonne of the eternal God who stileth euery thing with his power who by the vertue of his spirite is present to all thinges and is present with those that consent in his name to the ende of the world He needeth not therefore any lieutenant as doe other earthly princes for to winne the heartes of his people for these are the effectes of his Spirite giuing efficacie to his worde the which no man how great holy ▪ soeuer he seeme can attribute to him selfe And if they finde it strange that our Lord by his spirite in that he is God doth gouerne his Church forasmuch as he hath promised so to doe Let them not thinke it more strange that we deny his corporall and carnall presence in their masse which he hath not instituted Againe here is no question of a kingdome which may be gouerned by a lieutenant alone but of preaching the Gospell throughout the whole worlde of reconciling al the people of the world by the word vnto God in a woorde of the Ministerye of the Gospell which consisteth in administring the worde and Sacraments in all places Nowe it is certaine that no man can accomplish this but onely he who is the worde it selfe and the alone sacrifice because that with his manhode hee hath Godhead and power that is infinite Therfore there can none but he bee the Bishop of Bishoppes the Pastour of Pastours and the high Priest and none can bee this Ministeriall head or Lieutenant in his offices But rather euery Bishoppe and pastor amongest his flocke may represent Christ in exercising his charge without acknowledging of the Bishop of Rome to be aboue him as hath bene most largelye disputed by Cusan the Cardinall in the time of the Council of Constance That which they alledge of Moses and Aaron that they were heades the one of the common wealth the other of the sacrifices whilest yet God walked in the middest of his people is but naughtely drawen into a consequence For besides that there was the expresse institution of God in their persons and in the successors of Aaron for