as there is no true fayth nor charitie nor Christ so also we ought not to seeke any saluation but in her And therefore if a man would speake properly we should call the Churche a company onely of those whom God hath chosen to euerlasting life in al times places which is to man inuisible who can not enter so farre as to knowe Gods will neyther the hart of man himselfe but is only visible to God who knoweth those that are his as the Apostle saith hath sealed them with his owne seale Notwithstanding forasmuch as charitie hath commaunded vs to presume particularlie of all those that are called the Churche of Christ that they are of the nōber of his elect that as they are bodily there assembled together so also that they are there spiritually incorporated albeit on the contrarie part the doctrine of fayth generally teacheth vs that the wicked to the end of the world are mingled with the good the Goates with the Sheepe the chaffe with the graine the tares with the good corne yet will we commit vnto God the searcher of hartes the knowledge of the inuisible Church will content our selues to search for the visible in his word into which all they must retire themselues in this world which wil be gathered into the inuisible Churche in the world to come Notwithstanding by the way we will note the differences that are betwene these two The inuisible Church cōtaineth none but the good The visible Church contayneth both the good and the bad to witte that onelye the electe this all those indifferently which are brought into her by the preaching of the trueth And for this cause S. Augustine saith of that that she tooke her beginning by Abel and not by Caine who was the elder and contrarywise of the other he saith that the self same begate Abel Enoch Simon Peter all Christians c. as one people hauing also begotten Caine and Cham Ismael and Esau and Simon the sorcerer with his cōfederates The inuisible Church is partly considered in heauen partly in earth cōprehending aswell those which triumph already with their head Iesus Christ our Lord as those which yet fight here beneath in the earth for his name against the world against themselues which shal fight in the same church after vs The visible church is considered properly to consist in them who not onely fight here in earth for the name of Christ but as well those that fight vnder his name with false markes standerds ensignes And for this cause that is considered euen from the first faythfull vnto the last bringing all the states ages of the church into one this according to certaine places times forasmuch as she is not vniuersally visible and to be seene at one push but according to the ages and in her degrees In the inuisible there is a great many sheepe which neuer were gathered into the visible and contrarywise in the visible a great many wolues which neuer shal be receiued into the inuisible And therefore S. Augustine sayth that there are a great many sheepe without and a great many woolues within and S. Paul saith also they are not al Israel which are of Israel For to be in the church or rather to say of the church is to be vnited with Christ incorporated in the company of the faithfull through true faith towards God and charitie towards our neighbor And there is no doubt but that many here and there vnder Paganisme it selfe had this desire which yet bodily they could not accomplish the which notwithstanding they are bound to doe with all their power as contrarywise to be separated from the church is not onely to be without the assemblie but to haue no participation of Christ nor vnion of faith and charitie with his faythfull Of the inuisible it is sayd that the gates of hell shal not preuaile against her Of the visible that she shal be so troubled that a mā shall not finde faith on the earth that charitie shal be as it were quenched insomuch that the elect themselues if it were possible should vtterly quaile And therefore it is not without cause that we say in our Creede that we beleeue the church For if we ought to hold nothing for certaine but that which we see with these carnall eyes there is no dout but that in all the states ages of the church there should many times be foūd such a confusion as the good graine should be altogether hid vnder the chaffe without any appearance of the Churche and yet notwithstanding this was then whē God sayd to Elias that he had reserued in the same 7000. whereof the chariot of Israel the Seer of the Lord I say he to whom the good people ought especially to haue beene knowen could not outwardly knowe one and euen then there when the state of the Church was such as God could not be serued visiblye but in Iewrie All these differences notwithstanding we do not beleeue two Churches nor two espouses of Christ but we beleeue one onelye considered diuersely one in the blade and the other in the graine one in the threshing floore another in the garner one in the mine another now already fyned the one inwrapped yet in the minglings of the world the other before her husband without spotte or wrinckle Altogether like as by a familie we properly vnderstand the children only although speaking more generally we comprehend the seruants them selues by a Citie we vnderstand the vnion of Cittizens albeit many times one part be at cōtention considered apart by it selfe deserueth not but to be rooted out Returning then to our purpose we will call the visible church the company of those which make profession to serue the true God in Christ of which we haue presently to intreate This Church hath had three principall states or ages one without the lawe then say some of the auncient Fathers when man was but in some sort corrupted by the sinne of the first when he was notwithstanding in some sort a lawe to him selfe naturally felt himselfe conuinced of his sinne that is to say he felt his euil to seeke for remedy for the same although in very trueth this state and age of the Church found it selfe no lesse corrupted then the rest The second was vnder the lawe when it began in such sort to accustome it selfe to sinne that it grewe into a natural habite through the same and then for to shewe the sinne therof the lawe was giuen as a glasse in which she might consider her filthinesse and how farre of she was from that shee presumed to the ende she might returne again to be clensed The thirde was vnder grace in Iesus Christ promised to our first parents by by after their fal and who when the fulnes of time was come was sent of the Father who brought remedy to all them that
for the ordinarie nourishment of his children The Latine Church to the end she might nourish them with huskes and shales hath hidden it from them buried it in the earth or if for shame she hau◠sometimes deliuered it vnto them it hath bene altogether couered with poyson In stead that this worde shoulde haue directed vs to God for our saluation shee hath sent vs to men which are nothing but perdition yea to the sonne of perdition him self Whereas she should haue assured vs in the infinite merites of one Christ the infinite God the papacie hath turned vs to our own merits which merite nothing but hell and death The whole law was giuen to no other end but to make vs feele our sinnes to search the remedie thereof in the grace of Christ but contrariwise the Romane Church maketh vs to play the Iewes more then the Iewes promising vs saluation of our selues to the ende that making vs to search for it that wayes more feruently shee might therein shewe vs hell She hath receyued the deuill into the Lordes house she hath mingled in his bread of life death and into his cuppe she hath put poyson to conclude if through Baptisme which she hath notwithstanding many wayes profaned she enrouleth children to God as a mother yet is it certaine on the contrary part that through her false worships she nourisheth them vp to the deuil And as concerning saluation in Iesus Christ which is the necke that ioyneth the head with the body Iesus Christ with his Church it is so cut of by mans merits by the merits of Saintes by the Popes pardons and such other wickednesses that the life of the Church holdeth but by a very litle thread the which had bene straightway quite cut off Antichrist had so wel laboured therein had not God through his great mercy sent his seruants in time to represse him As long then as this threade remained there we deny it not the name of the Church no more then vnto a man the name of a man as long as he liueth what sickenesse soeuer he haue yea we are content to call her the spouse so that therewithall shee suffer vs in like maner to call her an adulteresse But we say that she is an heretical Church worse then al the Churches that euer haue bene a wife which prouoketh God to a diuorce a mother which nourisheth vp her children to the diuell and we pray God that he will vouchsafe to take her in childhood being defiled in her blood and that he will washe her in her olde age in the blood of his sonne that he will remember as he promiseth to Ierusalem Samaria the couenant made with her from her youth and that as he hath done alreadye in a good parte of her members it woulde please him to restore her againe to her first puritie and integritie See then as concerning the hereticall and impure Churches in doctrine whereof we mayntaine the Romane and Latine Church to be in the chiefest degree Concerning the Schismatical Churches whether they are plainely schismatical or whether heresie foloweth after a schisme as a feuer doth after a woūd heretikes schismatikes in this sense are all one Of Heretikes we haue spoken as before Of Schismatikes we make here two distinctiōs The cause sayth the Canon maketh a schismatike not the separatiō therfore we say that they which haue giuen others a iust occasion to separate thē selues from their corruptions are the schismatikes not they who haue taken it For this cause the Apostles were not schismatikes although they separated them selues from the Scribes Pharises cut themselues of from their assemblies But rather the Priestes Scribes which put them to death when they submitted them selues to verifie the comming of Christ amidst the Church we shall proue in his proper place that the selfe same in like maner is come to passe in our time of those which haue verified Antichrist in an open councill For the second we say that we must distinguish betwixt the author of a schisme those which followe it That the authors of Schisme forasmuch as they rent thēselues from charitie so by cōsequence from the body of Christ they may be cōpared to Dathan Core Abiram cutting themselues asmuch as in them lyeth out of the booke of life Concerning the others we say that they are the flocke of Christ but euil gouerned by their pastors and principally those which are borne vnder the Schisme forasmuch as neither of both are without blame neither can in any wise excuse themselues And therefore Dathan and his companions were swallowed vp and the congregation which cleaued vnto him was spared but in that it sawe the horrible punishmēt of those whom it had followed it was warned to separate it selfe for feare of the like In like maner Ieroboam his successors which through ambition had made a schisme in the Church were accursed and yet Samaria ceased not therefore at the least to be in the couenant of God neither by reason of her false worships halfe Iewish halfe heathenish To be short ambition the want of charitie wherof it proceedeth these make schismatikes therefore the poore people which do not holde thereof but are caried away with the faction of the mightiest as it were with a streame this although it be a separatiō yet properly it is not a schisme And euen as in factions which are made in a kingdome against the common wealth a good prince punisheth the Captaines through his clemēcie pardoneth the people who were let alone either to go through ignorance or in respect of their authoritie c. euen so it is to be presumed that the father of mercy doeth towards his poore children which for the most part do mourne vnder the ambition of the prelates are not partakers of their subtill coūcels This be simply spoken of the Schismaticall Churches that is to say which haue no notable heresies ioined with their schismes The like thing also may be foūd in the Churches of the heretikes for oftentimes the leaders of the Church are heretikes by their subtilties in certaine things not the people who vnderstand thē not contenting themselues with the simplicitie of the worde which alwayes is most true But we will speake of this more amplie in another place We wil conclude then that the workes of the pure Church are fayth and charitie the worde and the Sacramentes purely lawfully administred The markes of the impure Churches are whē therin they faile in part or be impure the which thing many times falleth out ordinarily together To be short howsoeuer it be when it hath no religion nor no doctrine nor no visible signes to distinguish it frō others We say that the Christian Churches haue their doctrine comprised in the olde newe Testament their Sacraments which are Baptisme the Supper that those which minister the one the other purely
be at Rome although it be graūted them exempteth it not from error Besides omitting that that S. Peter himself hath erred was reprooued of S. Paul I demaūd if S. Peters See giueth this prerogatiue to the Pope or rather to the Church of Rome If to the Pope Marcel hath sacrificed to the idols of the Painims Liberius was an Arriā Anastatius an Acatiā Moreouer eche one delighted to abrogate the decrees of his predecessor as Nicolas of Iohn the 22. Gregorie of Pelagius Innocentius of Gregorie and that in matters according to their owne iudgements concerning the faith Syluester the 2. Iohn the 19. Gregorie the 7. witnes all the histories of their times were magicians that is the successors of Simon Magus which was at Rome aswell as they and not of Simon Peter the disciples of Satan not of Christ Iohn the 23. held opinion that there was no life after this whereupon the Council of Constāce called him a deuil incarnate many other were deposed by the Councils not onely in qualitie Heretikes but also Atheists Iohn the 8. also was found to be a womā an harlot deluding both the seat al the colledge of Cardinals Briefly they say that the virgin Marie told S. Bridget that the most part of the Popes are in hell and the Cardinal of Ragousia in the time of the great schisme mainteined that the Pope might erre in the faith Cardinal Cusan that he might be an infidel which thing also the Diuines of Paris haue alwayes mainteined It followeth then that this See neyther exempteth them frō error heresie nor infidelitie but augmenteth vnto them their owne condemnation If the priuiledge be giuen to the Church of Rome I aske them if they teache not that the Church is represented by a generall Councill S. Augustine sayth that one generall Councill is corrected by another and correction presupposeth error Gregorie Nazianzen in whose time many Councils were holden sayth that the Church was then so full of ambition that none was euer seene to returne any whit the better Gerson and Panormitan say that one laye man alleadging the Scripture ought to be preferred before a whole Councill being out of the way Moreouer see the second Councill of Nice which mainteined Images against the Coūcil of Cōstantinople that of Frankford about the selfe same time which threw them downe to the ground See the third Council of Carthage another holdē at Carthage it self vnder the Emperor Mauritius which excōmunicated him declared him to be Antichrist which should cal himself vniuersall Bishop at the pursute of S. Gregorie himself whereas that of Rome a very litle while after and that same of Trent in our time hath declared the Bishop of Rome to be vniuersal Bishop hath excōmunicated al those that wil not so accōpt of him The Coūcills also of Florence of Basil brideleth the Pope with other Bishops bringeth thē vnder the Church wheras they of Florēce Trēt lift him againe aloft published him to be a God in earth And Pope Pius the second who stuck to the Council of Constāce a litle while after pronounced all them to be heretikes which helde that men might appeale from the Pope to a Coūcil that is to say those present Councils there which were general al those that follow them It followeth then either that trueth is double which neither is nor euer shall be or els that these Councils contrary one to the other haue erred so consequently that the Churche may erre Also that either the Pope is Antichrist or els the Church which hath published such a one that taketh vpon him the title of vniuersall Bishop hath shamefully erred Also either to beleeue that the pope is head of the Churche is not necessary to saluation the which the decretalles allowed of the church of Rome do allowe deliuering it for an article of our faith and the Councill of Trent hath confirmed it or else the Councils which haue denyed him to bee such a one haue erred in the matter of Saluation that is to saye the first generall council of Nice which made him but equall and like to the other patriarkes the Councill of Sardis the Council of Carthage and the vniuersal Church for the space of sixe hundred yeeres To be shorte it must needes be that our aduersaries confesse either that their Church at this day holdeth that for necessary to saluation which is contrary to saluation or els that the auncient Church so long time was ignorant of that which was necessary to saluation that is to say her owne saluation who hath refelled it in a plaine and open council whereof it must followe that the Catholike church may erre in general councils yea and the Romane Church it self notwithstanding the pretēded See of Peter moreouer that the Romane is cōtrary to the auncient church to which we desire at this day to conforme our selues Now if the pope the Romane church haue erred in matters of saluation it followeth then that the Christian visible church may erre that a man may seeke for the reformation thereof But to them which knowe how the councils of our time haue bene holden as that before they haue bene assēbled the controuersies haue bene concluded at Rome that notwithstanding all the arguments proofs they could make to the contrary they haue passed things by their speciall aucthoritie knowing howe that same holye spirite or rather that spirite of Satan hath bene brought from Rome in a Caskat moreouer seeing they are such that gouerne there that there dispute and conclude it needeth not greatly that men proue that such assemblies may erre but contrariwise it might be found a strange thing if they coulde conclude anye thing without error But now cōtrary to these so vrgent and weighty proofs they alledge vnto vs that Iesus Christ prayed that Peters faith might not faile whereupon they conclude with open triumph that the Romish Church can not erre First the matter is of great importance for it is a question concerning a great nomber of articles for which as for articles of faith wee haue bene burned for the space of these fiftie yeres which haue no other foundation but this It must bee therefore that this fundation be fast vndoubtfull if wee will not doe him open wrong who hath taught vs our saluation Adde also hereunto that al the iarre of the Greeke and Easte Churches with the Romish doe depend wholly vpon this point For if it can not erre then they which are contrary to her haue erred greatly But these thinges are farre enough one from the other I haue praied that thy faith should not faile though Satan sift thee the conclusiō which they draw thēce the church of Rome cānot erre Secōdly Iesus Christ prayed for Peter and Peter yet after this prayer denyed him thrise trusting to much in him selfe whereas he should haue
chased the Emperour to Constantinople and setteth himselfe in full libertie of all that quarter And in deede then ceassed the Exarchates that is Dukedomes so called that had endured sixe hundred yeeres that were as the lieutenants of the Emperor in a part of Italy The Emperors of Constantinople driuen away the Lombards thereupō did inuade the kingdome of Italie The Pope more feared them then those whom he had driuen away because that they were his more nie neighbours At that time there gouerned in Fraunce the race of Martel very desirous to aspire The Pope therefore putteth himselfe into the protection of the Frenchmen against the Lombards and Pepin the sonne of Martel he passeth into Italie with the powers of France who vanquisheth them The issue was that Pope Zacharie in recōpence dispenseth with the Frenchmen for theyr othe made to theyr natural prince Chilperick who left the gouernement to the Martels more subtil then himselfe and crowned Pepin chiefe of the palaces of the king of France forbidding the princes and people of France vpon paine of excommunication to choose any other then of Pepins race Contrariwise Pepin giueth vnto him the dukedome or lieutenantship of Rauenna Pentapolis which contained 29. Cities onely reseruing vnto himself the soueraigntie and the power to choose the Popes the which lawes were afterwardes released by Lewys the sonne of Charles the great although that some Emperours put them in practise afterwards as the histories are ful thereof And so likewise behold him the head of the spiritualtie because he mainteyned the murtherer of his master and temporall Lord because he crowned a subiect in the place of his natural prince this beginning of the temporaltie grewe vp by the controuersies of the houses of Aniou and Arragon in Italie and afterwardes of the Emperours of Germanie and of the kings of Fraunce till it came to that state wherein we nowe see it in these last times This was after the time that the key of knowledge which Christ promised to S. Peter was changed into the key of power the ecclesiastical censure was employed to excōmunicate all princes peoples kingdomes which would not obey them vntill they had left them for a pray and cut them of from saluatiō without acception of any persons This was in that time that these gaye interpretations were bred That all povver vvas giuen to Christ by the father asvvel in heauen as in earth Therefore the Pope absolutely commandeth both one other Also God translateth kingdomes from one nation to another Ergo the Pope hath power to establish and to put downe as it seemeth good vnto him whereupon Kings and Emperours of blinde zeale began to kisse his feete both present and by their letters and to hold his stirrop This was in that time also that Pope Boniface the eighth caused this to passe as an article of faith That the Pope is soueraigne both of the spiritualtie and temporaltie shewing himselfe in a Iubilie with a key in one hand and a sword in another that Pope Clement the fift his successour not content to commaunde Kinges and Emperours tooke vpon him by an expresse Bull to cōmaunde Angels that they should execute his will. To be short one hath concluded and decided at Rota that is to say in the Parliament of Popes at Rome that God holdeth for wel done all that is done of the Pope that his will is the rule of all right and righteousnes that he can absolutely do in this world all that God can do seeing he is all and aboue all thinges That if he change his purpose it is to be presumed that God changeth his that when he sendeth thousands of his brethren to hell none may therein reproue him that his power extendeth it selfe to heauen and earth yea and to hell that none maye appeale from him to God that he may ordeine against the epistles of Saint Paul as greater then Saint Paul and against the old Testament as greater then any authors thereof And yet one man hath gone further for one hath disputed whether he may ordeine any thing contrary to the Gospell Whether he haue not yet more power then S. Peter Whether he were simplie a man or as god To be short the deuil hath passed so far in this mysterie of iniquitie that one disputed in the schooles a litle before Luther came and somewhat after whether the Pope participated not with both natures the diuine humane with Iesus Christ And what could the deuil say more if he had come in the flesh to haue destroyed the Church And yet notwithstanding the people do worship this monster the princes of the earth do clap their hands at him destroy their kingdomes to serue his lust sacrifice yet euery day their poore subiects for a sacrifice of a sweete smelling sauor at his feete Who would haue beleeued this except the Spirite of God had foretold it and who will beleeue it after vs when the selfe same spirite shall haue destroyed him But which is more marueilous when the power of the bishop of Rome was intolerable he neuer durst alledge in the councills and in the face of the old Church one only text of Scripture to groūd his supremacy on And now that it is so much beyond the bounds that it spurneth the earth vnder feete thereof that it threatneth heauen that it aduaunceth it selfe so farre that it may be aboue God himselfe they are so impudent and so shamelesse but so she must be that is an harlot that they alledge S. Peters See and the word of God and the keyes which were promised to him as though there were no more eyes in the world to reade nor sense in men to iudge Let them not therefore ground their tyrannie vpon this Dabo tibi I wil giue thee which Iesus Christ spake to S. Peter For betwene the kingdome of Christ and the tyrannie of the Pope there is no likenes or agreement But rather if they wil ground themselues vpon some text of Scripture let them alledge that Tibi dabo I will giue thee which sathan vsed to Iesus Christ I wil giue thee saith hee all the kingdomes which thou seest if thou vvilt worship mee That is for worshipping the deuil they haue that they haue and not for any other title they can alledge But I suppose that nowe with the licence of all the Readers I maye conclude by these proofes conteyned in these two chapiters that which followeth That the essentiall head of the Catholique Church is Iesus Christ our Lord That vnder him all the Apostles were equal in dignitie and power That after them the bishops are equall amongst themselues euery one in his Ministerie occupieth the place of Christ That none may be the Ministeriall head of the Church That the Pope of Rome can pretend this title neither by Gods law nor mans That the first roume that he had was by reason of
that we shoulde not knowe it And yet in meane time the counsel of Hierusalem condemned crucified the Messiah for a deceiuer the great Rabbies and Masters with an infinit nomber of the people a little while after followed that same miserable Barcosba to ruine destruction and acknowledged him for the true Messiah To the end saith our sauiour that the worde of Isai the Prophet might be fulfilled Who hath beleeued our word and to whom hath thine arme bene manifested They haue eyes but they see not They haue eares but they vnderstand not The Lorde hath blynded their eyes and hardened their heart c. And nowe I say vnto you that the selfe same is come vpon you vpon you I say who boast of the name of the Church in the knowledge of Antichrist For he is come with all the signes wonders that the spirite of God hath foreshewed vnto vs in the same place at the same time by the same way in the same apparell There is nothing that doth not agree vnto him neyther that can agree to any other but to him In meane time the Church that is to say the Romane clergie haue receiued him for their Spouse The Council of Trent haue declared him to be God in earth excommunicating al those that wil not cleaue vnto him and the princes of the earth haue lent him their armes to persecute and to murther those who woulde make him knowen to the worlde And wherfore Because this word of God must be fulfilled which he hath spoken by the mouth of his Apostles He shall sit in the Temple of God boasting himselfe as if he were god He shal make drūk al the kings of the earth He shall abuse deceiue all the world because they haue not loued the truth God shal giue thē vp into a strong illusion to the end they may beleeue lies And euen lyke as the Coūcil of Hierusalē cōdemned Christ so the Coūcil of Trent haue approued Antichrist The clergie crucified saluation it selfe the clergie hath adored their perdition The great doctors of the lawe were therein blynd because Christ shewed them a spiritual kingdome in steade of the temporall that they waited for And the prelates of the Romish Church haue taken pleasure to shutte their eyes because Antichrist hath brought them a temporall kingdome wherein they intend to dwel But notwithstanding death the crosse and the conspiracies of all the worlde the spirituall kingdome of Christ was victorious ouer all the kingdomes of the earth And notwithstanding the temporall kingdome of Antichrist all his adorations and conspiracies of al the kings princes of this world which labour to vphold him it must needs be that he be destroyed by the breath of Christ his mouth and that he fall and vtterly perish They demaunde hereupon What then became of our fathers after so long time that this tyrannie of Antichrist came into the Church Of the great Rabbies and masters who aske this question I aske them what they haue done therein of them I say who had their soules in keeping and who had taken charge and who knew wel howe to heape vp great riches to builde them gaye houses I aske also againe of them what became of the poore people of all the East Churches who were farre greater then the Latines whom the Pope by his excommunications sent to hell by whole millions for the space of sixe or 700 yeeres after that To be short I may send thē to that which our Sauiour sayth that when the Sonne of man shall come to destroye Antichrist by the Spirite of his mouth it shall be as the dayes of Noah or of Lot in Sodom that there shal be no more neither fayth nor loue in the worlde But to the poore people who haue bene deceiued by Antichrist and his mayntayners I aunswere after another sorte First that this false doctrine of Antichrist came not in all at once but encreased by little and little till it grewe to his full measure and heape so as it was not so deadly in the beginning as towardes the ende thereof when it came to his strength But when it was most strong and in the greatest ruffe God alwayes reserued many in al coūtries which mourned vnder his tyrannie yea and some also that cryed out as loude as they coulde by theyr wrytynges as we haue already shewed And in deede xxv yeeres agoe one woulde haue sayde that there was not so much as one to be had in France which knewe Antichriste and his doctrine And yet notwithstanding at the first libertie which was graunted to the townes they were founde verye full of such people Secondly as our aduersaries make a difference betweene the Church and the people snatching the name of the Church onely to the prelates which should be common to all Christians so we likewise do well put a difference betweene the people cleauyng to the Churche of Rome and the faction of Antichriste betweene them who liue vnder the popedome and the vpholders and maintayners of the Pope betweene the enchanters those that are enchanted betweene the Pharises whome Christe calleth generation of vipers and that poore sicke woman whom he yet called the daughter of Abraham We saye that among that poore people which was so long tyme deceiued vnder the darknesse of Antichriste there was a parte of the bodye of the visible Church But that the Pope and his mainteyners are the bane of it which styfleth and choketh these poore people as much as lieth in it We saye that this was the Church of Christe but that Antichriste helde it by the throte to the ende that that saluation and life which floweth from Christe might not be powred vppon it That it was a flocke of Christ but gouerned partly by hyrelings and partly by woolues In the people we consider the members of the vniuersall church but in the scabbes infections which doe hide them we marke the poyson of the papacie and in their buddes the whoredomes that the church of Rome hath committed with Antichriste To be short we saye that the people were of the Christian common weale but the Pope with his faction a proud seditious Catiline to destroy and to set it on fire whom Cicero very wel calleth a plague and not a member of the common weale And in deede as of euill dyet and superfluitie there is engendred in mās body an impostume which yet notwithstanding is not the body nor any part of the body but a disease and very oftentimes the death of the body euen so sayth Salust that of the superfluitie of the common weale Catiline was bred euen so we saye that of the delightes superfluities and idlenesse of the Church of Rome Antichriste is bredde in it who yet is neyther the Church nor any part of the Church but is the disease and pestilence it selfe of the Church which had so infected and festered the whole bodie that there appeared no