yee First it is well knowne that S. Peter was a contemner of the pompe and pride of the world and a disregarder of the wealth riches thereof insomuch that hee said to one that asked almes of him that he had neither silver nor gold but the Pope of Rome is not so but contrariwise hath the pompe pride glorie and riches of the world in verie high and chiefe esteeme and aboundeth with them Againe Peter was subiect to Emperors Kings and Princes and taught all Christians to be likewise subiect to them but the Pope is so far from being subiect to them that contrariwise hee claimeth soveraignetie and supremacie over them all and taketh upon him to depose Kings Princes and Emperors at his pleasure and to disannull and dissolve the allegeance of subiects when and as often as he listeth Peter would not allow Cornelius though but a Captaine of the Italian band to fall downe at his feete but bad him arise but the Pope of Rome doth well allow not only Captaines but Kings Princes and Emperors to fall downe and kisse his feet Yea hee hath not beene ashamed with his feete to tread upon the necke of some of the Emperors Peter was a godly earnest and diligent Preacher of the Gospel in his owne person according to that commandement of Christ so often repeated saying unto him Pasce Pasce Pasce feed my lambes feed my sheepe feed my sheepe But the Pope of Rome like an idle pompous and slothfull man in his owne person seldome or never Preacheth Peter was content and well endured to be reproved at the hands of S. Paul when there was cause He also patiently suffered himselfe to be accused and contended against by certaine Christians and mildely and modestly answered to those their exceptions against him for their satisfaction But the Pope of Rome though he be never so worthie of reproofe will neverthelesse not suffer himselfe to be reproved nor accused or contended against nor will have his doings examined questioned censured or iudged by anie men such is his unmeasurable pride and unmatchable loftinesse Againe S. Peter did acknowledge S. Paul S. Matthew S. Andrew S. Iames and the rest of the twelve to be Apostles aswell as himselfe albeit they had no ordination or calling to that their Office of Apostleship from him for that they all had an immediate calling to that their Apostleship from Christ Iesus himselfe and not from Peter is a thing undeniably manifest But the Pope contrariwise acknowledgeth none to be a Bishop except he be ordeyned and made a Bishop by him or by his authoritie Moreover they were accounted and held to be Presbyters and Ministers of the Church which were made and ordeyned by other Apostles though they were not made or ordeined by Peter nor by anie authoritie derived from him But the Pope of Rome acknowledgeth none to be Presbyters or Ministers of the Church which be made by other Bishops except they be made and ordeined by him or by authoritie originally derived from him Yea S. Peter did acknowledge the rest of the Apostles to be his fellowes or Equals as well knowing that Christ Iesus himselfe did directly forbid them to beare Princely authoritie one over another insomuch that Peter aswell as Iohn was content to bee sent by the rest of the Apostles into Samaria and did goe thither at their sending But the Bishop of Rome acknowledgeth not other Bishops to be his fellowes or Equalls nor will be content to be sent as their Messenger to anie place but most proudly challengeth a Princely Primacie and king-like superioritie over them all If the Pope will needes be Peters successor it were reason and a thing equall and iust that he should claime no more authoritie over other Bishops then Peter had over the rest of the Apostles yea if hee will make Peter his patterne and president to follow as it were a happie thing for him if he were in verie deed so wel affected he must then utterly give over his triple Crowne and all his Papal worldly pompe and pride and be cleane reformed and become altogether another man in all respects wherein he is so exceedingly degenerated and unlike unto him And then together with the relinquishing of his most proud Popedome he must also forsake renounce and detest his Poperie and Popish Religion for S. Peter cleerely was such a one as we call a Protestant that is to say one that both held and taught that Religion that wee hold namely that which is conteined in the Booke of GOD the sacred and canonicall Scriptures Yea S. Peter died a Martyr for the testimonie of this faith and religion and the Pope of Rome is contrariwise a persecutor of those that professe this faith and religion For that the Papists be the cleere and undoubted persecutors of the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus is afterward manifested by a direct and most evident testimonie thereof in the Revelation of S. Iohn to the end ye should not hereafter bee mistaken in that point as usually yee be nor deceive your selves anie longer therein Furthermore S. Peter was content and held it honour enough to be a member of the bodie of Christ which is his Church acknowledging with S. Paul and the rest of the Apostles that Christ onely was and is the head therof But the Pope of Rome is not content unlesse he intrude himselfe into this his verie royal prerogative taking upon him to be the verie head of the whole militant church We know that the Church of Christ is but one body as the Scripture speaketh and witnesseth though there be manie members of it and one bodie is to have but one head why then or by what right or reason doe they make this bodie of Christ which is his Church to have two heads namely one in heaven which is Christ Iesus another on earth which they say is the Pope They confesse that of the Church in heaven which is to us invisible Christ is indeed the head but of the visible Church on earth the Pope say they is the head and that such a visible head for the visible church is requisite and necessarie And here they have a distinction that Christ is indeed Caput vitale the vital head from whence all his members have and derive their life but that the Pope is Caput ministeriale visibile the ministeriall and visible head And thus they boldly speake frame and devise matters and distinctions according to the fancie of their owne braines But first what Patent conveyance warrant or commission from God can the Pope of Rome shew whereby he is thus authorized to be either Christ his special or onely Vicar Deputie or Lievetenant over his whole universall church here upon earth or to be this speciall and onely visible and ministeriall head Iust none at all doe they or can they shew for it And is it
not then a shame for him if he had any shame in him thus to intrude himselfe into such an high and soveraigne Authoritie without anie commission or warrant from Christ the King of his church Besides themselves acknowledge and that rightly that the companie of the glorious and invisible Saints in heaven and the companie also of the visible Saints on earth do all make but one church and one Bodie to Christ Iesus though their states be differing that is to say though the one sort be triumphant and the other militant Inasmuch then as they all make but one church one bodie unto Christ Iesus how can it be shifted or avoided but that Christ Iesus must be the head aswell of the saints on earth as of the saints in heaven aswell of the visible militant company as of the invisible triumphant Yea Bellarmine himselfe will not allow anie Christian to bee tearmed or called a member of the Pope How then can the Pope rightly be the head of the church for if all true Christians vpon earth bee and be to be termed the members of Christ and not of the Pope it must be granted that not the Pope but Christ onely is their head for the head and the members be relatives And whereas in this matter they talke of a ministeriall head which is not vitall it is also but a phantasticall and vaine distinction For there can be no head in true and proper appellation to this one bodie of Christ which is his Church but that which is vitall The Pope as appeareth even by this their owne distinction is but a dead head and hath no life in him to give to anie of the members of Christ or wherby vertue grouth nourishment or increase may distil or be derived from him as from the head to anie of the members What then should the bodie of Christ doe with such a livelesse and dead head or what good profit or benefite can anie reape or receive from thence A dead bodie is fittest for such a dead head but the living and mysticall bodie of Christ hath and requireth another manner of head namely that which is vitall which is Christ Iesus onely of whose fulnesse they have all received as S. Iohn speaketh Neither is there anie such necessitie as they also vainely fancie for the visible and militant Church to have such a visible head for albeit Christ Iesus be absent from his church militant here upon earth in respect of his bodily presence which he hath carried with him into heaven yet in his Deitie and by the power of his spirit is he alwaies present with the same his church For so himselfe witnesseth saying I am with you alwayes unto the end of the world And therefore alwaies doth S. Iohn testifie that notwithstanding the manhood and bodily presence of Christ be in heaven and there remaining yet neverthelesse by his almightie power and spirit he walketh and is in the midst of the seven golden Candlestickes that is In the midst of the seven Churches for so the text it selfe expoundeth the Candlestickes saying thus The seven Candlestickes be the seven Churches Vnder the name of which seven churches be also all other churches upon earth shadowed out unto us as Augustine Primasius Haymo Beda Thomas Aquinas and others affirme Seeing then that Christ Iesus notwithstanding his bodily presence remaining in heaven is neverthelesse by his almightie power and spirit present with all the true Christian churches in the world and walketh in the midst of them to guide governe comfort teach order rule susteine uphold and direct them and give all gifts and graces requisite It is manifest that he is sufficiently present with them in the church militant to doe all the offices of an head unto them so that they need not in anie sort the Pope to become an head unto them for anie of those uses or ends Yea is it not a verie great absurditie for anie to suppose or imagine that the Pope or anie one man mortall whosoever being on earth can better rule order guide and governe the whole militant church then Christ Iesus himselfe can doe being in heaven by his wisdome almightinesse and power of his Spirit But yet further when Christ in his manhood was to ascend up into heaven he promised neither the Pope nor anie one Bishop over all the rest to be his Vicar on earth or to supplie his roome and absence but the holy Ghost onely For thus he saith I tell you the truth It is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away that Comforter will not come unto you And this comforter is the Holy Ghost the spirit of truth as is there expresly affirmed And againe he saith that After his departure they shall have another Comforter that shall abide with them for ever even the spirit of Truth vvhom the vvorld cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Doe not these texts verie plainely shew that the holy Ghost is and is to be accounted Christs Vicar upon earth ever since his departure into heaven that is to say is in his stead and place unto the militant Church and to abide with it for ever And therefore doth Tertullian say accordingly that Christus misit Vicariam vim spiritus sancti qui credentes agat Christ sent the power of the holy Ghost to be his Vicar or in his steed to leade and direct the beleevers Howbeit if some Bishop will needes be so intituled namely Christs Vicar as being an Ambassador for Christ and in Christs steade yet let him then know that he is not so alone but that all godly and faithfull Bishops and Ministers be so likewise For which cause it is that the ancient Fathers doe call them all alike Vicarios Christi the Vicars of Christ But S. Paul yet further sheweth that not Christ himselfe tooke upon him this honour to be head of the church without his fathers appointment and constitution If therefore the Pope will take it upon him it is good reason he should likewise shew where God hath so constituted and appointed him which he is not able to doe Yea S. Paul sheweth againe That onely he is head of the Church vvhich is farre above all principalitie and povver and dominion and might and every name that is named not onely in this vvorld but in the vvorld to come And therefore this is such a high peerelesse and supereminent an honour and prerogative as that it is proper to Christ Iesus onely and not communicable to anie creature Lastly you may perceive by S. Paul that Christ is so the head of the Church as the husband is the head of his wife And is there anie honest wife that will bee content to have two heads that is two husbands though for distinction sake you should terme the one a ministeriall head or howsoever else you would please to call him 6 Now touching Miracles
some have done that the King is therein called Supreme head of the Church they are deceived The words of the Oath at this day to take away all offence that any might conceive in that point being not supreme HEAD but supreme GOVERNOR And as touching this Title of Governor within his owne Dominions none can with anie reason gainesay it inasmuch as beside that which is before spoken King Alfred reigning long sithence was likewise called Omnium Britanniae Insulae Christianorum Rector The Governor of all the Christians vvithin the Isle of Britanny The Councell also held at Mentz in Germanie the yeare 814 in the time of the Emperor Charles the great and Pope Leo the third calleth likewise the Christian Emperor Carolus Augustus Governor of the True Religion and Defendor of the holy Church of God c. And a little after they say thus VVee give thankes to God the Father almighty because he hath granted unto his holy Church a Governor so godly c. In the yeare 847. there was also held another Councel at Mentz in the time of Leo the fourth and Lotharius the Emperor where they againe call the Emperor Verae Religionis strenuissimum rectorem a most puissant Governor of the true Religion The like was ascribed to King Reccesumthius in a Councell held at Emerita in Portugale about the yeare 705 in these words VVhose vigilancie doth governe both secular things vvith very great piety and ecclesiasticall by his vvisedome plentifully given him of God Where you see it expressely acknowledged that the King is a Governor both in causes secular and ecclesiasticall And this Councell of Emerita had also good allowance of Pope Innocent the third in his Epistle to Peter Archbishop of Compostella as Garsias witnesseth So that the Title of Governor even as touching matters ecclesiasticall as well as civill or secular attributed to the King he governing in them after a Regall manner and not in that Ecclesiasticall manner which Bishops and Clergie men use can no way justly be misliked but must in all reason be well approved and allowed Howbeit I grant that King Henry the eight and King Edward the sixt had that Title of Head in their times given unto them but not of the universal Church upon earth as the Pope hath but of the Church onely within their owne Dominions and not within their owne Dominions neither in such sort and sense as the Pope taketh upon him to be Head over all the Churches in the world that is to rule and governe them at his own pleasure and as he lift himselfe Indeed Stephen Gardner Bishop of Winchester when he was in Germanie upon the Kings affaires was there a very ill Interpretor of that Title Supreme head of the Church vvithin his owne Dominions given to King Henry the eight reporting that the King might thereby prescribe and appoint new ordinances in the Church concerning faith and doctrine as namely forbid the marriage of Priests and take away the use of the Cup in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and in things concerning Religion might do what he listed This manner of declaring the Kings power and authoritie under that Title did so much offend the reformed Churches that Calvin and the writers of the Centuries did complaine of it and that iustly and worthily bearing that sense but in no other sort or sense did they dislike it Yea even that Title of Supreme head being rightly understood needed not to have offended anie for they had iâ— in no other sort or sense then the King of Israel likewise had the title of Head of the Tribes of Israel of which Tribes the Leviticall Tribe was one Or then Theodosius that Christian Emperor had the like within his Empire of whom Saint Chrysostome saith that non habet parem super terram He hath no peere or equall upon earth and affirmeth moreover of him that hee was summitas Caput omnium super terram hominum the Head and one that had the Supremacy over all men upon earth Yea by the Title of supreme Head attributed to King Henry the eight and King Edward the sixt was no more meant but the verie same that was afterward meant to the late Queene Elizabeth of blessed memorie or to King Iames our now Soveraigne Lord under the title of Supreme Governor for that they are both to be taken intended in one the selfe same sense is verie manifest even by a direct clause in an Act of Parliament viz. the Statute of 5. Eliz. cap. 1. in which also is declared how the Oath of Supremacie is to be expounded And the words of that Statute be these Provided also that the Oath viz of Supremacie expressed in the said Act made in the said first yeare of her raigne shall be taken and expounded in such forme as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Queenes Maiesties Iniunctions published in the same first yeare of her Maiesties raigne that is to say to confesse and acknowledge in her Maiestie her heyres and successors none other authoritie then that vvhich vvas challenged and lately used by the noble king Henry the eight and king Edward the sixt as in the said Admonition more plainly may appeare Where first you may observe the Authoritie attributed to King Henry the eight and to King Edward the sixt and to Queene Elizabeth as touching this point intended and declared to be all one And secondly you see it enacted how the Oath of Supremacy is to bee expounded namely that it is to be taken expounded in such forme as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Queens Majesties Iniunctions published in the same first yeare of her Raigne The words of which Admonition therefore as more amply conteyning the explanation of the same Oath I have here thought good to adde for your better and most full satisfaction in this matter The Title whereof is this An Admonition to simple men deceived by the malicious HEr Maiesty forbiddeth all her subiects to give eare or credite to such perverse and malicious persons vvhich most sinisterly and maliciously labour to notifie to her loving subiects how by the vvordes of the Oath of Supremacy it may be collected that the Kings or Queenes of this Realme possessioners of the Crowne may challenge authoritie and power of Ministery of Divine offices in the Church vvherein her said subiects be much abused by such evill disposed persons for certainly her Maiestie neyther doth nor ever vvill challenge any other authority then that vvhich vvas of ancient time due to the Imperiall Crowne of this Realme that is to say under God to have the Soveraignety and rule over all maner of Persons borne vvithin these her Maiesties Dominions and Countries of vvhat estate eyther Ecclesiasticall or Temporall soever they be So as no forraine Power shall or ought to have any superioritie over them And if any person that hath conceived any other sense of the
of Gods owne voyce and commandement from heaven enioyning them thereunto as is before declared Neither would they have departed or gone out from them that is from the Papists but that they namely the Papists had first departed and gone from the soundnesse truth and sinceritie of the most ancient primitive and Apostolike Churches Well therefore doth one use this similitude that as when a faire poole of water becommeth in time corrupted weedes doe grow mudde increaseth and Frogs be ingendred in it the owner thereof cutteth a channel and leaving the corruption drawes the water to another place and so useth it without danger and the Frogs remaining can take no iust exception for this departure and separation of the water from them nor can claime the water to be theirs so neither can the Papacie accuse us for our departure or going out of their defiled and deformed Church sith God the Lord and owner of his Church would have us so to doe and so long as we left nothing behinde us but the mudde frogges and weedes and that which was the cleere and pure water before their comming we still possesse hold and retaine You now see then I hope where our Church was in all times and ages even during all the time of the raigne of the Papacie and untill wee made an actuall separation from it And much more I trust you perceive it since our separation For the Protestants reformed Churches have ever sithence that time been verie visible and still be thanks be to God verie splendent even to the eyes of the most malignant world 2 If anie doe further aske as they are sometime wont to doe what is become of our forefathers and ancestors that lived and died in the time of Poperie As wee doe and must leave them unto God whose secret counsels and judgements it is not fit for us to search into or to determin of yet this we say That we hope well and make no doubt of the salvation of manie of them First because for a long time there were in the Papacie both true Christians and false Christians right worshippers of God and false worshippers intermingled together namely untill that time aforesaid of an actuall separation yea the holy Scriptures and Sacraments the publique Ensignes of Gods Church were there though much corrupted abused Which Ensignes being displayed in the Popish Church nothing but Christianitie there pretended though indeede there was also direct Antichristianisme intermingled it was an easie matter for manie simple soules that were not able to iudge and discerne of these things thereby to be deceived For as Chrysostome or whosoever was the Author of the imperfect worke saith Antichrist sitting in the holy places of the Church and possessing the Churches vvas to have all that in shew vvhich the Church of Christ hath in Truth viz. Churches Scriptures Bishops Clerkes Baptisme Eucharist c. So that manie no doubt in those dayes under colour of those Ensignes and shewes were as they be also at this day deceived and thinking all to be well followed the Pope and Papacie like those two hundreth who in simplicitie of heart followed Absolon from Hierusalem knowing nothing of his treason and rebellion intended Or like as if a close and hidden Traytor being once and of a long time formerly in good grace and esteeme with his King should under colour and pretence of the King his Maisters service summon all his true subiects to follow him pretending a Commission from him for that purpose which neverthelesse included no such matter in it as he pretended In this case even some good subiects not knowing of his treason and beleeving his Commission to be true and to import as much as he divulged it for and the pretender of it to be a right honest and loyall man and to be still in good grace esteeme with his King receiving no advertisement to the contrarie might possibly so farre be deceived as to follow him for a while untill the Treason were discovered and therein might so farre forth in some sort be held pardonable So concerning such as in those times followed the Bishop of Rome who was once a good Bishop pretending himselfe to be made Head Ruler and Monarch of the whole and universall Church upon earth and that by warrant and Commission from Christ when indeed whatsoever hee pretended hee had no such Commission from him In this case so long as they followed him but in ignorance and simplicitie thinking all things to be right and well and as they ought to be and receiving no advertisement to the contrarie God might and we hope he did receive manie of those to mercie But such as knew the Pope to be an usurper and a traytor to Christ the onely and true King and Head of the universall Church or being advertised thereof would neverthelesse make no regard of anie such advertisement or admonitions but would maugre all admonitions wilfully persist and adhere unto him and to his false and Antichristian doctrine and designes be not so excusable And this kind of difference S. Cyprian maketh when he saith thus If any of our predecessors or Ancestors either of ignorance or of a simplicity have not held and kept that which our Lord taught them by his authoritie and example him the mercy of our Lord might have pardoned and forgiven But vve saith hee for our parts may not hope for the like favour because vvee are now admonished and instructed by him But secondly wee answer That though this mysterie of Iniquity did cast into the doctrine and Religion of Christ a great deale of Poyson so that it hath infected with his venome the most daintie meates that God hath given for the spirituall nourishment of his people yet did God give grace to some to abstaine from it to some others to cast it up againe to others to dissever it from the sound meate to others to overcome it 〈◊〉 that manie escaped the danger of it For example how manie of the common people were in those times never acquainted with those pestiferous distinctions of Merits de Congruo and de Condigno or with that distinction of Doulia and latria and huper doulia c or understood them not or else beleeved them not For even at this day they understand not these distinctions Yea manie of the common people will at this day say that they serve God onely and not Images in anie sort howsoever their great Rabbies and Maisters in these distinctions doe otherwise teach As likewise manie of them at this day will say that they doe not beleeve to be saved by anie merits of their owne but by Gods mercie onely whatsoever Friers Monkes Priests or Iesuites teach or write to the contrarie Yea even amongst the learned themselves also as well as amongst the vulgar and common people there were some that held that fundamentall point of their salvation to be onely of Gods meere mercie and through faith
is he besides that which is before spoken doe but consider what the Abbot Ioachim long sithence told King Richard the first King of England namely that Antichrist was then alreadie borne and had his seat at Rome and was to be advanced in that Apostolicall Sea And he further saith Non nulli sub specie sedis Dei id estâ— universalis Ecclesiae Facti sunt sedâ—s Bestiae quae est regnum Antichristi regnantis ubique in membris suis c. Sundrie saith he under pretence of Gods seat that is of the universall Church are become the seat of the Beast vvhich is the Kingdome of Antichrist raigning everie vvhere in his members consisting as he there further saith in the Cleargie men in the Monkes and Monasteries Againe he saith that Rome est in spiritu Babylon Rome is the spirituall Babylon And againe he saith Negotiatores terrae sunt ipsi sacerdotes qui vendunt orationes missas pro Denarijs facientes domum orationis Apothecam Negotiationis The Merchants of the earth be the Priests themselves vvho sell Prayers and Masses for money making the house of Prayer a shop of Merchandize Yea sundrie both Princes and Bishops of Germanie long agon have affirmed and published the Pope to be Antichrist as appeareth in Aventinus But I leave this to be as I said more fully handled afterward In the meane time if anie would know who be the right Catholikes as Papists verie boldly but verie uniustly take upon them that title let him consider these two sentences of Vincentius and conferre and ioyne them together The first is this Id teneamus quod VBIQVE quod SEMPER quod ab OMNIBVS creditum hoc est enim verè proprieque Catholicum Let us uphold that vvhich hath beene beleeved everie vvhere and at all times of all persons for this is rightly and properly Catholicke The second is this where he saith Ille est verus Germanus Catholicus qui quidquid universaliter ANTIQVITVS ecclesiam Catholicam tenuisse cognoverit id solum sibi tenendum creder dumque decernit He is the true and right Catholicke who iudgeth that he is to hold beleeve onely that which he knoweth the Catholicke Church to have formerly held universally in the old time This Vincentius lived above 1200. yeares sithence so that this Antiquitùs this old time whereto he referreth everie man that will be a right Catholicke cannot be intended the age and time wherein himselfe lived much lesse can it he supposed anie of those manie hundreth yeares that came after him and are sithence his time gone and past but it must needs be intended of an old time passed long before the time wherein hee lived and wrote these things which old time therefore which he so called what can it be but the Primitive and Apostolicke times If then yee will prove your selves to bee Catholickes and your Church to bee the Catholike Church by this rule and definition of Catholikes out of Vincentius then must you not take your patterne and proofe from that Councell of Trent nor from the late Councell of Constance nor anie of the times after Vincentius but you must transcend and goe to the times that were in the old Time long before the daies of this Vincentius even to the primitive and Apostolike times which were indeed the best and purest times and from thence must you take the patterne of your Church and Religion For that which alwayes formerly and every vvhere and of all Christians in That Old Time was held and beleeved is the thing that he accounteth and defineth to be Catholicke and such to be Catholickes which hold and beleeve only so much and no more Which faith doctrine and religion of those old Primitive and Apostolicke times was at first delivered by word of mouth by the Apostles but was afterwards as Irenaeus hath before enformed us committed to VVriting that so it might be for ever that The foundation and pillar of our Faith Yea this even Vincentius also himselfe teacheth saying Scripturarum canon sufficit ad omnia satis superque the canon of the Scriptures doth suffice for all matters sufficiently and more then sufficiently that is abundantly and overflowingly By this rule then and definition of a Catholike given so long agon by Vincentius it is evident that not yee but wee are to be held for the right and true Catholikes inasmuch as not yee but wee doe beleeve and hold that faith doctrine and Religion which those old and first Christians universally held in those ancient primitive and Apostolick times and which was afterwards written and is omni-sufficiently conteined in that written word of God the sacred and canonicall Scriptures Yea that and onely that wee hold and beleeve as Vincentius saith right and true Catholikes ought to doe and so doe not you therefore whether yee or wee be the right Catholiks is a verie easie and apparant matter to be decided Aufer Haereticis quae cum Ethnicis sapiunt ut de scripturis solis Quaestiones suas sistant stare non poterunt Take from the Heretickes saith Tertullian those things wherein they savour of Heathen wisedome so as that they bring their Controversies to bee decided onely by the Scriptures and they be not able to stand In which wordes men that will not suffer their Controversies to bee decided onely by the Scriptures may see themselves ranged within the compasse of Hereticks and so termed and entituled by him so farre are they off from being the right and true Catholikes And yet Papists have I grant for some of their errors a kinde of Antiquitie but it is an Antiquitie of a later date and it is not that most ancient Antiquitie which Vincentius and the rest of the ancient Fathers direct you unto and which should be in request For that is the True whatsoever is the first and that which is later or commeth in after the first is the adulterate or corrupted as Tertullian againe expressely affirmeth Yea he saith further Hoc mihi proficit Antiquitas praestructae divinae Literaturae Herein doth Antiquitie availe me if it be builded upon the divine Scripture Wherefore if yee will be good and right Catholikes ye must go and take the patterne and president of your Faith and Religion from those most ancient primitive and Apostolike times as we doe because as Eusebius also out of Egesippus noteth the Church so long as the Apostles lived remayned a pure Virgin for that if any vvent about to corrupt the holy rule vvhich was preached they did it in the Darke and as it vvere underneath the earth But after the death of the Apostles and that generation was past which God vouchsafed to heare the divine wisedome with their own eares the placing of wicked error saith he began to come into the Church For which purpose to shew that corruptioÌ„ grew in those after succeeding times ClemeÌ„s also alledgeth the proverb
the Church of the Gentiles to continue untill the second comming of Christ. It is true that the Church of Christ shall never bee extinguished But is there anie such promise that the Church of Christ shall never be hidden For persecutions even of the Christian Church have sometimes beene so great and cruell as that the Christians by reason thereof have beene enforced to lye hid and to be unseene and unknowne to the wicked world as in the daies of Dioclesian and Maximian persecuting Emperors who impiously boasted that they had utterly abolished the superstition of Christ and name of Christians The like divelish boasting also made Nero in his time Yea it is indeed expresly foretold in the Scriptures that such should be the state of the church sometime as that shee should be enforced to flie into the desert or wildernesse where shee should have a place prepared of God to cherish hide and keepe her from all her persecutors And therefore the church is not alwaies conspicuous and openly shining and shewing her selfe to the malignant world Neither doth that Text which yee alledge of Dic Ecclesiae tell it to the Church prove the church to bee alwaies openly conspicuous to the ungodly world It onely sheweth an order of Ecclesiasticall discipline for sinnes and offences how they should be proceeded in amongst brethren and such as professe one and the selfe same religion of Christ which order of discipline may well be observed even in a Christian church and among themselves though the wicked world neither see them nor the exercises of their religion nor know where they are But you say that if they make profession of their faith and religion as all Christians ought then the world cannot choose but take notice of them It is true that they are to make profession of their faith with their Mouth when cause so requireth aswell as to beleeve with their heart yea and to answer everie one in authoritie before whom they shall be convented and called and that with mildenesse and reverence concerning the same their faith and hope as S. Peter declareth But it doth not continually evermore so fal out that Christians be brought before Kings Princes and Magistrates of the earth to be examined and to make answer of their faith but at sometimes it so falleth out and at some other times againe it sufficeth that they make profession of their faith among themselves Neither were it indeed safe or a pointe of christian wisdome in them whom Christ willeth To bee as wise as Serpents though as innocent as Doves and to whom hee giveth an expresse caveat to take heede of men rashly or unadvisedly or without good and urgent cause to manifest and lay open themselves unto the view rage and furie of the malicious and persecuting world But you alledge further that Christ said to his Disciples Yee are rhe light of the world A Cittie that is set on a hill cannot be hid Neither doe men light a candle and put it under a Bushell but on a candlesticke and it giveth light to all that are in the house But none of these words doe proove the Church to be alwaies and evermore apparant to the eies of the wicked world though sometimes it bee For first though it be called the Light of the world yet thereupon it followeth not that therefore it is alwaies and at all times to bee seene Inasmuch as the Sunne and the Moone which be the great lights of the World and so appointed of GOD in the begining be not alwaies brightshining and appearing unto us but are sometimes unseene and covered with clouds and darkened and suffer strang Eclipses And therefore doth S. Augustine compare the Church to the Moone which is often obscured and hid yea he acknowledgeth that the Church may be so hid and secret as that the very members therof shal not know one another And whereas ye further alledge that it is like a Citty set upon a hill neither doth it thereupon follow that it is alwayes to be seene For in a great Mist or a darke night an Hill or Mountaine be it never so great will not be seene So if men be stricken with blindnesse it cannot be seene of them as the Aramites were that could not see the mountaine that was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha nor knew that they were in the midst of Samaria till God opened their eies Likewise though a Candle be set on a Candlesticke and giveth light to all that are in that house yet neither doth it give light to them that be in another house nor to anie that be blinde or shut their eies against it And yet the candle-light it selfe also will somtimes be much dimmed darkned with sundrie occurrents accidents that doe befall it When therfore the world either by reason of their own blindnesse or by reason of fierce and terrible persecutions or by reason of clowdie smoakie and mistie errors raised up bee not able to see and discerne the Church of Christ Is that anie iust cause for anie to quarrell against her as if therefore she had no being at all Yea when the fift Angell blew the Trumpet and the Bishop of Rome being in that time as a Starre fallen from heaven to the earth had no longer the keies of heaven in his custodie but the keies of hell even of the bottomlesse pit and that the smoake of the pit arose as the smoake of a great furnace so that the Sunne and the ayre were darkened by reason of the smoake Is it anie marvaile that the Church was then obscured Your selves doe grant that in the daies and times of the grand Antichrist foretold by S. Paule the church should lye obscured and be hidden And wee say and proove vnto you that those daies and times be come long since and therefore this ought not to seeme anie new or strange thing unto anie in these dayes Yea in the Revelation of S. Iohn you further reade that the Temple of God that is his Church which is there said to be in heaven because from thence she is descended and hath her minde treasure and affection there with Christ her head Phil. 3.20 Coloss. 3.1.2 was sometime shut and sometime opened For in that it is there said sometime to be opened therein is included that it was at other sometimes shut and closed and not open to the view of the world So that the Church of God is not alwaies openly and splendently seene to the persecuting World but is sometimes patent and sometimes latent as I trust you now sufficiently perceive and withall I trust you perceive that the Church was then in esse and had a continuance even when it was most latent For unlesse they even then had been in esse and in being they could not have beene à latent oppressed or persecuted Church Now as touching unitie I must tell you
your selfe neither eate nor drinke Bee not such grosse impieties and palpable absurdities iustlie worthie for ever to be abhorred and detested FINIS SECVNDAE PARTIS THE THIRD PART of the BOOKE CHAP. I. That the Authoritie of the Church is not above the Authoritie of the Scriptures That Popish Rome is the Whore of Babylon and therein of some special spiritual Whoredomes or Idolatries of the Romish Church BVt yet when they further say that the Authoritie of the Church is above the authoritie of the holy Scriptures what is this but to exalt men their authoritie above the authoritie of God himselfe and to magnifie the creature above the creator and to advance the wife in authoritie above her husband and his will and commandement The Church is the spouse of Christ and therefore is to be in subiection to him as to her head and husband as the wife is to be in subiection to her head and husband for so S. Paul declareth If then the Church be as is evident in subiection to Christ it is cleere shee can claime no superioritie or authoritie over him or his will or word in the Scriptures conteined yea it is the note and marke of an harlot and dishonest woman to challenge and usurpe authoritie over her husband And therefore what doth this position else prove but that the Romish Church is and must needs be the proud insolent false and dishonest Church even the vvhore of Babylon as shee is called in the Revelation of S. Iohn For what may not that Church doe or dare to doe be it never so wicked or ungodly which holdeth her authoritie to be above the authoritie of the Scriptures Is not this a dore that openeth a way to all licentiousnesse and wickednesse and to devise decree and doe in matters concerning Religion whatsoever pleaseth her selfe The right and true Church is of another and a better disposition and is ever content and desirous to live in subiection and in obedience to Christ and to his word will and pleasure and accounteth that as indeed it is her greatest honour And so also Christ Iesus himselfe sheweth that this is her chaste and godly disposition for thus he saith My sheepe heare my voyce and I know them and they follow mee and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any plucke them out of my hands Marke that hee saith that his sheepe heare His voyce and follow Him and therefore they follow not others nor their owne unbridled humors lusts or pleasures but desire and endevour evermore to obey him and to doe as he hath willed and commanded them Againe the Church of Christ is expressely charged to observe all those things which Christ Iesus her Lord head and husband hâ—th commanded and therefore is to keepe her selfe within those her limits and bounds and not licentiously to wander or to goe beyond them Wherefore S. Paul also saith thus that the Lord Iesus shall shew himsâ—lfe from heaven vvith his mightie Angels in flaming fire rendring vengeance unto them that know not God and vvhich obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ vvhich shall be punished with everlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power vvhen hee shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be made marvailous in all them that beleeve Doe you not here likewise see how great subiection and obedience unto the Gospel of Iesus Christ and to his word and will is required of all men Yea what great peril and punishment they are to undergoe which will not subiect themselves unto it namely that such shall be punished with everlasting perdition Take heed therefore and with as much good hast as ye can declare your subiection and obedience to the Gospel and word of God in the sacred Scriptures conteyned without anie further neglect of it or opposition to it As for the reason that some make that because the Church telleth us that This is the Scripture therefore the Authoritie of the Church is above the Scripture it is but a verie weake and an idle reason and no better then if it should be said that you had not knowne that this were the King but that such a man told you and shewed him to you Ergo this man is above the King Were not this a verie ridiculous and a most absurd inference The Church is by her Ministerie bound and according to her duetie ought to tell testifie and declare the word of God and what Scriptures be canonical and what not to teach the truth in those Scriptures conteyned but this office sheweth rather service and subiection in the Church then anie Soveraigntie or Superioritie in her above the Scriptures Schollers in a Schoole can tell a stranger who is the Master of the Schoole yet is not their authoritie therefore above the authoritie of their Maister Whilest then the Popish Church holdeth that her authoritie is above the authoritie of the Scriptures it is manifest she is not guided as shee vanteth by the holy Ghost but contrariwise with a spirit of pride and licentiousnesse and of opposition against God and his authoritie word and will in those his Scriptures declared And what then can such a spirit be but the spirit in verie deed of Antichrist and consequently what can such a Church be but the erring and Antichristian Church 2 For further proofe whereof give mee leave now to shew unto you that The Popish Citie of Rome from whence as from their mother Church all Papists receive their bane is that very vvoman even that VVhore of Babylon as I said before which is mentioned in the Revelation of S. Iohn with vvhom the Kings of the earth have committed fornication and vvith the wine of vvhose fornication the Inhabitants of the earth have beene made drunken Which Woman is there further said to be arayed in purple and scarlet and gilded vvith gold and pretious stones and to have also outwardly a Cup of gold in her hand full neverthelesse within of abominations and filthinesse of her fornications and all this to entise and allure Lovers and friends unto her Now if wee would know certainely and assuredly who this woman was which S. Iohn thus saw in vision the Angel telleth us precisely saying The vvoman vvhich thou sawest is the great Citie that raigneth over the Kings of the earth But the great Citie that then raigned over the Kings of the earth in the daies of S. Iohn and had the Empire was not Constantinople nor anie other citie but only the citie of Rome as all men know and therefore only the citie of Rome and not anie other citie is and must needs be there meant under the name of the woman there otherwise called the VVhore of Babylon But for more explication who this woman was it is there further said that there were seven hills or Mountaines vvhereon the vvoman sate Now it is
even God himselfe doth expressely dislike that anie should be so bold as to attempt to make anie Image or visible shape of him at all reproving the Iewes for so doing saying for that end and purpose thus VVho is like unto mee And againe hee saith To vvhom vvill yee make me like or make me equal or compare mee that I should be like him All they that make an Image saith he are vanitie and their delectable things shall nothing profit And againe he saith All that are of the fellowship thereof shall be confounded for the vvorkemen themselves are men In vaine therefore is that distinction yee have betweene an Idoll and an Image saying That an Idoll is of a false or fained thing or which revera is not or hath no being at all and that an Image is of a true thing or of such a thing as revera is For you see by the premisses that even the portraiture or fashioning of a true thing as namelie even of the true God by anie similitude or likenesse whatsoever made by men is utterly coÌ„demned Yea S. Stephen also confuteth that distinction for even the golden Calfe which the Israelites made althogh they made it to worship the true God by is by him expresly called an Idoll Act. 7.41 Againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 graecè formam sonat ab eo per diminutionem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deductum aeque apud nos formulam facit Igitur omnis forma vel formula Idolum se dici exposcit Idos in Greeke saith Tertullian signifieth a forme or figure from whence the diminutive Idolon is derived vvhich signifieth a little forme or figure Every forme therefore or figure requireth to be called an Idoll Howsoever then in French or English speech the words Idol and Image may by reason of use and custome sometime differ yet in the Greek tongue from whence the word Idoll is originally derived there appeareth to bee no such dâ—fference But hereof there needeth not to be anie further dispute because God himselfe hath directly forbidden not only Idols but all Similitudes also or Likenesses whatsoever made and erected by men in the way of Religion Thou shalt make thee saith he no graven Image nor any similitude of things that are in heaven above nor that are in the earth beneath nor that are in the vvaters underneath the Earth Thou shalt not bow downe thy selfe to them nor serve them In which words you see two things directly enioined the one that no man presume to make anie Images or similitudes of God the other that if he have made anie such Image or similitude that he proceed not further in sinning by bowing downe to them or serving them Agreeably whereunto is likewise that which Moses spake as it were expounding that Commandement unto the Israelites and saying thus unto them The Lord spake unto you out of the middest of the fire and yee heard the voyce of the vvords but saw no similitude save a voyce Then hee declared unto you his Covenant vvhich he commanded you to doe even the Ten Commandements and vvrote them upon two Tables of stone And the Lord commanded me that same time that I should teach you ordinances vvhich yee should observe in the land vvhither yee goe to possesse it Take therefore good heed unto your selves for yee saw no Image in the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire that yee corrupt not your selves and make not a graven Image or representation of any figure vvhether it be the likenesse of male or female the likenesse of any beast that is on the earth or the likenesse of any feathered soule that flyeth in the ayre or the likenesse of any thing that creepeth on the earth or the likenesse of any fish that is in the vvaters beneath the earth Marke well this reason of Moses that because they onely heard a voice of God but saw no Image or Similitude of him therefore they should take heed that they be not so presumptuous as to make anie visible Image or similitude of him Theodoret also saith Deus ab ijs fieri qui uâ—lâ—us creaturae imagine effingunt Creatorem that they make gods vvhich fashion the Creator by the image or likenesse of any creature And S. Augustine saith likewise that Dei praecepto prohibetur aliqua in figmentis hominum Dei similitudo By Gods commandement is forbidden any similitude of God devised by men Although therefore yee alledge and say that God in ancient time appeared in the similitude of a Man and that the Holy Ghost also appeared upon Christ in the similitude of a Dove all this maketh nothing for you for God might appeare in what similitude he pleased and who shall or can forbid him by anie law to doe whatsoever he pleaseth But he hath given a law and a commandement to us his creatures whereby wee stand bound though hee be free thaâ— wee shall not make anie Image or similitude of him and therefore our dutie is and accordingly our care must be to doe as he hath enioined and commanded us and not licentiously in matters concerning him and his religion to devise invent and doe as we list our selves 3 But they not onelie make Images or visible shapes of the everie where present invisible and incomprehensible God but they proceed further in this their boldnesse and do also worship God in or by those Images after that they have made them It was one great wickednesse to be so audacious as to make an Image or similitude of God and it is another to worship him after that sort in or by an Image after it is made So this is a third point of Idolatrie wherein the Popish Church is intolerablie faultie For God will be worshipped as himselfe hath prescribed in his word and not according to mens fancies and devises Yea S. Paul expressely condemneth all ethelothreskeian that is vvill-worship or worshipping of God according to mens pleasures and conceits And therefore Vetuit Deus non solum Imaginem aliquam adorari sed etiam seipsum adorari in Imagine God hath forbidden not onely an Image to be vvorshipped but himselfe also to be vvorshipped in an Image saith Abulensis Agreeably whereunto S Ambrose also saith Non vult se Deus in lapidibus coli God vvill not have himselfe to be vvorshipped in stones For as Christ himselfe also teacheth God is a spirit and they that worship him must vvorship him in spirit and in truth Yea their doings in this point be as grosse Idolatrie as was that of the Israelites in the time of Moses when they together with Aaron the high Priest made the golden Calfe and worshipped God in that Image which themselves had made For yee must not thinke them to be so senselesse or sottish as that they did beleeve that verie Image it selfe to be God I hope yee will suppose that Aaron
offer up Christ everie day or often and that in a bodily manner and this sacrifice so offered by them they also say is propitiatorie and taketh away the sinnes of men which is most intolerably blasphemous against that sacrifice of Christ. His all-sufficient mediation and intercession they also oppugne by making manie Mediators and Intercessors beside him as namely the Virgin Mary and other Saints and Angells for whose intercession sake they desire God to heare them and to grant their requests The Kingdome of Christ the Papacie likewise oppugneth for they will not suffer his Church to be ruled and governed by his owne Word and by such orders rules and lawes as hee in his Scriptures hath ordained but according to the canons rules and pleasure of the Pope and according to his constitutions and ordinances Yea as for the lawes and ordinances of God the Pope partly dispenseth with them and partly abrogateth them making them at his pleasure of no effect by his constitutions traditions and devises yea hee taketh to himselfe to be king and head of the whole militant Church and all the authoritie to the head and king of the Church belonging and that without anie warrant at all from Christ like a notable traytor and usurper For which cause it is that he also destroyeth so much as he can all the good subiects of this kingdome of Christ even his best Saints and servants be they Kings Princes or whosoever And thus you see how he oppugneth Christ everie maner of way both in respect of his Person and in respect of his Offices and that not openly and professedly but in a cunning close and covert manner that is in such a sort as belongeth to Antichrist and Antichristian people to doe 4 It is further said in this Text where Antichrist is described that Hee shall be exalted above all that is called God or that is worshipped Observe that he doth not say that he shal be exalted above God but above every one that is called God For it is one thing to be God essentially and another thing to be called God or to have the name of God or Gods attributed to him Who then be the men that be in Scripture called God or Gods It is evident that they be Kings Princes other such like Rulers and Magistrates Now it is manifest that above all these the Pope is exalted yea even above the Emperors themselves for he claimeth a Supremacie above them all taking upon him to depose Kings Princes and Emperours and to give away their Kingdomes Empires and Dominions at his pleasure O damnable and intolerable pride in a Bishop Did ever S. Peter whose successor he pretendeth to be thus detestably magnifie and exalt himselfe All the Christian world knoweth that S Peter was of another and more humble spirit not exalting himselfe above but subiecting himselfe evermore unto and under the authoritie of Kings Princes and Emperors and taught all people likewise this duety of subiection and obedience And so did S. Paul also Yea all Bishops and even the Bishops of Rome themselves aswell as the rest were in ancient time subiect to the Emperors and the Emperors commanded over them The Emperors Writ saith Hierome caused the Bishops aswell of the East as of the West to draw to Rome This is saith Eusebius a copie of the Emperors Writ whereby hee commandeth a Councell to be kept in Rome Note that he saith he commanded it Yea hee so commanded a Councell that Pope Leo himselfe excused his absence before the Emperour The Emperor Constantine saith Sozomen sent out his Letters unto all the Rulers of the Churches that they should all meete at Nice upon a day Vnto the Bishops of the Apostolicke Sees unto Macarius the Bishop of Hierusalem and unto Iulius the Bishop of Rome c. VVee command saith Iustinian the Emperour the most holy Archbishops and Patriarchs of Rome of Constantinople of Alexandria of Antioch and of Hierusalem c. Seeing then that all Bishops and even the Bishop of Rome aswell as the rest were in ancient time subiect to Kings Princes and Emperors as to the higher powers so ordeined of GOD over them What monstrous pride is it now in the Bishop of Rome so highly to magnifie and advance himselfe as to claime and arrogate to himselfe a Supremacie and authoritie over them all Insomuch that it is registred of him in his owne Records that hee is so manie times greater then the Emperor as the Sunne is greater then the Moone Is it not then high time and more then time for all to renounce and to be ashamed of such an unholy Father whose pride by no pretences can be excused and is so superlatively ill as that it is unmatchable 5 For indeed long before this his usurping and taking to himselfe a Supremacie over all Kings Princes and Emperors to whom of right and duetie he ought to be subiect did his pride appeare and shew it selfe in taking upon him a Supremacie over all Bishops and Patriarches who were his equals so that he would be called Vniversal Priest or Vniversal Bishop chiefest Bishop head of the whole universal Church of Christ upon earth and by other such like loftie and supereminent titles And yet when Iohn the Patriarch of Constantinople affected that title of Vniversal Bishop over all you may remember what Gregory himselfe the then Bishop of Rome spake namely thus I speake it confidently that vvhosoever calleth himselfe the universal Bishop or desireth to be so called he is in that his Elation the forerunner of Antichrist because in that his pride he setteth himselfe before others Againe he saith None of my Predecessors Bishops of Rome â—ver consented to use this ungodly name No Bishop of Rome over tooke upon him this name of singularitie vvee the Bishops of Rome vvill not receive this honour being offered unto us Againe writing unto Eulogius hee saith thus Behold even in the preface of your letter you have written the word of a proude appellâ—tion naming mee the universal Pope notwithstanding I have forbidden it I beseech your holinesse to doe so no more For whatsoever is given to any other above reason the same is taken from your selves Yea it is further recorded even in Gratian himselfe that The Bishop of Rome may not bee called universal Bishop Here then you may perceive how shamelesly the Popish Church abuseth some places of Scripture wresting them for the maintenance of this their Popes claimed Supremacie and universalitie over all Bishops and the whole Church of Christ. As first they alledge that saying of Christ to Peter where after that Christ had demanded of his Apostles VVhom doe yee say that I am and that Peter had answered in the name of them all saying Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God Christ said unto him Blessed art thou Simon the sonne of Ionas for flesh and bloud hath not revealed this
unto thee but my Father vvhich is in heaven And I say unto thee Thou art Peter and upon this Rocke vvill I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not overcome it And I will give unto thee the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven and vvhatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and vvhatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Howbeit first you must be put in mind that the confession which Peter here made of Christ to be the Sonne of the living God was likewise the confession and acknowledgement of the rest of the Apostles aswel as of Peter so that Hee for his part was therin but as the Mouth of the rest or like the Foreman of a Iurie pronouncing that verdict and confession for them all For which cause also the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven and the power of binding and loosing of sinnes bee there promised to be given to Peter not as to him alone but to him as bearing and representing at that time the person of them all For that Peter at that time represented the person of them all is manifest by these reasons First the question was demanded not of Peter alone but of the rest of the Apostles aswell as of him for the words be not in the singular but in the plural number Vos autem quem me esse dicitis But VVhom doe yee say that I am and consequently the answer that was given must consonantly thereunto be supposed to be the answer of them all For it were a verie uncivill and unseemely part beside undutifull if the rest being demanded and asked the question aswell as Peter should give no maner of answer to their Lord and Master demanding it of them Which they must needs be held guiltie of unlesse their answer be taken to bee included and comprehended in that answere of Peter Secondly when this promise made to S. Peter came to bee performed it was performed to them all alike as you may see in that place of Ioh. 20.22 23. where that promise was performed and accomplished Which also sheweth that the promise made to S. Peter was not made as to him alone but to him as representing at that time the person of them all For the promise and the performance of that promise must of necessitie have coherence and bee made to agree together as most aptlie and rightly expounding one an other And according hereunto doe the Ancient Fathers likewise expound it Origen saith This saying of Christ to Peter I will give unto thee the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven is common also to the rest of the Apostles and the words that follow as spoken to Peter bee also common to them all Again he saith Shall we dare to say that the gates of hell shall not overcome onely Peter and that the same gates shall prevaile against all the other Apostles And againe hee saith If wee speakâ— the same thing that Peter spake wee are become Peter and unto us it shall bee said Thou art Peter for hee is a Rocke whosoever is the disciple of Christ. And againe hee saith If thou thinke that the whole Church was builded only upon Peter what wilt thou then say of Iohn the son of Thunder and of everie of the Apostles Cyprian speaketh in like sort upon these words of Christ to Peter In the person of one man saith hee the Lord did give the Keies to all the Apostles to signifie the unitie of them all for verilie the rest of the Apostles were the same that Peter was endued with equal fâ—llowship both of honour and power But hee did begin with unitie that is to say with one that thereby it might be signified that there is but one Church of Christ. In like sort doth S. Augustine expound it saying VVhen they vvere all asked Peter alone maketh the Ansvver and it is said unto him I vvill give unto thee the Keies of the kingdome of heaven as though hee alone had received authoritie to binde and to loose whereas HE had spoken THAT for them All and received THIS as representing or bearing in himselfe the person of unitie And againe hee saith If there were not a mystery of the Church in Peter The Lord would not have said I will give to thee the Keyes of the Kingdom of heaven for if this were said onely to Peter then the Church hath them not And if the Church hath them then when hee received the Keyes hee signified the whole Church So likewise testifieth S. Hierome Yee will say saith hee that the Church is builded upon Peter hovvbeit in another place the same thing is done upon all the Apostles and all receive the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven and the strength of the Church is founded equally upon them all Beda doth likewise so expound it saying thus The power of binding and loosing notwithstanding it seeme to bee given onely to Peter yet without all doubt wee must understand that it was given also to the rest of the Apostles Haymo doth also so affirm This authoritie saith hee the Lord gave not onely to Peter but also to all the Apostles because Peter expressed the faith of all the Apostles when he said Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God So that vvhat the Lord said to Peter he said unto all his Apostles as appeareth Ioh. 20.23 where hee saith thus unto them all alike VVhose sinnes yee remit they are remitted unto them and whose sinnes yee reteine they are reteyned Wherefore the Keyes whereby the Kingdome of heaven is opened and shut to sinners and the power of binding and loosing sinnes appeare to be no more specially or principallie given to Peter then to the rest of the Apostles but they all received that power athority equally alike And here withal you may perceive that the verie person of Peter is not the Rocke or foundation whereupon the Church of Christ is builded for then upon the death of Peter the church for want of a rocke or foundation to uphold it would have come to ruine but it is Christ Iesus himselfe whom Peter there for himself in the name of the rest confessed that is the Rocke and foundation to support and uphold the Church and whereupon it is builded For so also doth S. Paul expound and declare it saying in precise termes thus Other foundation can no man lay then that vvhich is layd alreadie vvhich is Iesus Christ where you see that hee expresly affirmeth the Church to have no other foundation but Christ onely And in another place hee also calleth Christ Iesus the Rocke in expresse termes for he saith That Rocke was Christ yea and Christ himselfe saith Hee that heareth my vvordes and doth them is the vvise man that buildeth his house upon the Rocke What better expositors then these would you have to expound and declare these words By the Rocke then not Peter but Christ is to
to shew how the other words in the Text be also verified in the Pope whilest he taketh upon him to forgive sinnes as fully absolutely as God himselfe whilest he taketh upon him to depose Kings and to dispose of their kingdomes at his pleasure whilest he taketh upon him not onely to order and dispose of earthly kingdomes but also to rule and order the whole Church of God upon earth at his owne will what doth hee else but sit in the Temple of God as God and so shew himselfe as if be vvere God yea whilest he advanceth himselfe above all Bishops Kings Princes and Emperors of the World and above all general Councels also so that hee will not be censured or controlled by anie of these or by anie of their lawes or constitutions and which is yet more whilest hee advanceth himselfe even above the divine Scriptures then selves dispensing with them at his pleasure what doth he else but so carrie himselfe as if he were God or rather above God But againe what doth he else but sit in the Temple of God as God and so shew himselfe as if he were God whilest he ruleth and raigneth in mens consciences like God yea or rather above God himselfe for common experience sheweth that the men and women that be under his subiection and of his Church and superstition be more devoted and more regardfull to know and obey his will and his ordinances and constitutions then they be to know and obey God his word and commandements It is then verie evident that the Pope is at the least as a God unto them and that upon him they as confidently relie as upon God himselfe affirming and supposing him to have an infallibilitie of iudgement and such a special direction by the Holy Ghost as that he cannot possibly erre in anie thing he teacheth decreeth or determineth Yea doth he not sit in the Temple of God as God so shew himselfe as if he were God when he not onely taketh upon him the proper and peculiar powers honours preeminences rights and authorities belonging unto God as is before declared but even the verie title and name also of God For with a verie bould face hee acknowledgeth himselfe to be called God urgeth the title and challengeth it and further they say of him that he is Dominus deus noster Papa Our Lord God the Pope And doe not also these Verses dedicated to him and accepted of him sufficiently declare the same Oraclo vocis mundi moderaris habenas Et meritò in terris crederis esse Deus That is By Oracle of thy voyce thou rul'st and govern'st all And vvorthily a God on earth men deeme and doe thee call 6 But S. Paul proceedeth and saith thus Remember yee not that vvhen I vvas yet vvith you I told you these things and novv yee knovv vvhat vvithholdeth that hee might bee revealed in his time for the mysterie of iniquitie alreadie vvorketh only bee vvhich novv vvithholdeth shall let untill hee bee taken out of the vvay and then shall that vvicked or lavvlesse â—an bee revealed Here hee sheweth what it was that did withhold and keepe backe Antichrist that hee did not appeare in his colours in those times of the Apostles albeit the Mystery of that Iniquiâ—y was not then altogether idle but was even then a working in such close manner as it could This same To chatechon vvhich vvithholdeth and letteth and hindereth Antichrist that hee could not then appeare was the Romane Empyre as Tertullian Chrysostome Augustine Hierome and others doe expound it For so long as the Romane Empyre stood in his full and florishing estate Antichrist could not rise to that his power and height And therefore that Antichrist might appeare and shew himselfe in his glorie and greatnesse it was requisite that the Emperour of Rome should give place and depart from that Cittie where the seate of the Empyre then was that so the Pope might possesse it and make it his seat according to that prophesie in the Revelation of S. Iohn before mentioned where it is foretold that that great City of Rome was to become the head and Metropolitan Citie for the Antichristian Kingdome And the issue and event hath shewed it selfe answerable For the Emperor Constantine removed and translated the seat of the Empire from Rome in Italy unto Bizantium otherwise called Constantinople in Greece and after that began the Emperors by little and little to loose their right in Italy so that at the last Rome the ancient seate of the Empyre with a great part of Italy fell into the Bishop of Rome his hands and now and for the space of manie hundred yeares hath the Bishop of Rome otherwise called the Pope not the Emperour there had his seate This is so evident as that it needeth no further declaration Wherefore to goe forward S. Paul saith that The comming of Antichrist shall bee by the vvorking of Satan vvith all povver and signes and lying vvonders and in all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse amongst them that perish because they received not the love of the truth c. This is before shewed to agree verie fitly to the Kingdome of Poperie For who boast so much of Miracles as they And yet even touching the Miracles in their Legends Claudius Espencaeus himselfe saith No Stable is so full of dung as their Legends are full of fables Canus also taxeth even Gregories Dialogues and Bedaes Historie in this point And Caietan further taxeth as uncertaine the Miracles done even by those that bee the Canonized Saints in Poperie Why then will they still bee so credulous as to beleeve their Miracles to obiect them or to rely upon them For if you doubt of the reall bodily presence of Christ in the Sacrament they will tell you that it hath beene confirmed by Miracle If you doubt of Purgatorie and whether Masses Trentalls Praiers or such like do the Soules of the dead anie good they will also tell you of a Miracle or of some strange Vision Revelation or Apparition of some dead person to prove the same And so to comprehend all in few words for the confirmation of their whole religion they will tell you strange tales of Miracles Apparitions and wonders wrought by their Popes Priests Iesuites Monkes and other their supposed holy men and holy women of their religion Howbeit God himselfe hath herein given us a good rule and direction saying thus If there arise among you a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreames and give thee a signe or vvonder and the signe and the vvonder vvhich hee hath told thee come to passe saying Let us goe after other gods vvhich thou hast not knovvn and let us serve them thou shalt not hearken to the vvords of that Prophet or unto that Dreamer of dreames for the Lord your God proveth you to knovv vvhether you love the Lord your God vvith all your heart and vvith all your soule yee
know the times and the seasons vvhich the Father hath put in his owne power There is another exposition which the Protestants deliver unto you touching the 42 moneths and 1260 daies otherwise called a Time and Times and halfe a Time mentioned in the Revelation which is this namely that times in Gods appointment certaine of the several persecutions and molestations of the Church be therein limited and prescribed albeit to us they be uncertaine untill the event doe declare them For that a time certaine even in the Revelation of S. Iohn may be thus put for a time uncertaine the Rhemists themselves doe sufficiently declare who expound the Thousand yeares wherein the Divell is said to be bound which in it selfe is a time certaine to be neverthelesse the whole time how long or short soever it be of the New Testament untill Antichrists time If then the certaine time of a Thousand yeares signifie no certaine number of yeares but are put for an indefinite and an uncertaine time as the Rhemists and other Papists also teach what marvell is it or what iust exception can they take against us if wee likewise expound the 42 moneths and 1260 daies otherwise called a Time and Times and halfe a Time for a time indefinite and uncertaine to us untill it be accomplished though God in his foreknowledge hath certainely limited it Yea according hereunto Beda saith By the number of these dayes vvhich make three yeares and an halfe the Holy Ghost comprehendeth all the times of Christianitie because Christ vvhose body the Church is preached so long in the flesh To the same effect he saith upon the 14 verse Hee designeth the vvhole time of the Church comprehended before in the number of Dayes Ambrosius Ansbertus likewise saith The number of 1260 dayes in vvhich the woman tarieth and is fed in the vvildernesse doth so signifie the course of Preaching or end of Persecution in vvhich the old enemy is permitted to rage against the holy Church by that damned man vvhom he shall possesse that neverthelesse it comprehendeth the beginning either of the preaching or of the persecution in vvhich Christ began to preach and suffer yea the vvhole time of this present life which is betweene the beginning and the end Rupertus also expoundeth these daies for so long time as the Church being a stranger in the vvorld suffereth persecution Haymo likewise saith It may be referred unto all the time from the ascention of Christ unto the end of the vvorld Thus you see that even these ancient Expositors expound it not for iust three yeares and an halfe as yee doe but as comprehending in it a much longer time and as being a time certaine put for an uncertaine as wee doe But yet to answere more particularly to those Texts And first to that Text of Revelat. 11. It is there said That the Gentiles shall tread under foot the holy Citie that is the true Church of God two and forty moneths But I will give power unto my two vvitnesses and they shall prophecy saith the Text 1260 dayes clothed in Sackcloth These are two Olive Trees and two Candlestickes standing before the God of the earth And if any man vvill hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouthes and devoureth their enemies For if any man vvould hurt them thus must he be killed These have power to shut heaven that it raine not in the dayes of their prophecying and have power over vvaters to turne them into bloud and to smite the earth vvith all maner of plagues as often as they vvill And vvhen they have finished their Testimony the Beast that commeth out of the bottomlesse pit shall make vvarre against them and shall overcome them and kill them c. You suppose that by these two witnesses here mentioned be meant Enoch and Elias who as you imagine shal come againe personallie into this world to encounter and oppose themselves against Antichrist But first how doe yee prove these two Witnesses to be Enoch and Elias for yee finde them not so named in the Text. And indeed it is but an imagination or surmise which hath no sufficient ground or certaintie in it Yea S. Hierom reiecteth it saith that they be Iudei Iudaizantes haeretici c. Iewes and Iudaizing hereticks that looke for a corporal or personal comming of Elias And in another place he reckoneth such maner of expectation and opinion touching Enoch and Elias as also the opinion touching the building againe of the material Temple at Hierusalem in the number of Iewish Fable Arethas indeed saith of these two Witnesses that it was constantly received that they should be Enoch and Elias but Victorinus who was more ancient then Arethas telleth us otherwise Many thinke saith hee that one of these two vvitnesses is Elias the other eyther Elizeus or Moses but they are both dead Howbeit the death of Ieremy is not found And all our Ancients have delivered saith hee that that other is Ieremy And S. Hillary thinketh them to be Elias and Moses Such uncertaintie there is even in ancient Fathers as well as in other Writers when they goe by coniectures ghesses and imaginations onely without sufficient warrant from the word of God It is therefore to be observed that the Revelation is full of mystical prophetical and alluding speeches As for example where these two Witnesses be called two Olive trees and Candlesticks he alludeth unto that prophecie in Zachary chap. 4.1.2.3.4.5.6 c. Which witnesses of divine Truth and Preachers and Ministers of the Gospel be not unfitly called Candlesticks inasmuch as they beare and hold out the light of Gods word unto the people as also they be well resembled to Olive trees inasmuch as by the meanes of their Ministerie and Preaching of the Gospell the Oyle of Gods grace and of his spirit is powred into mens hearts to mollifie and to convert them unto God Againe in that hee mentioneth two witnesses hee alludeth unto the Law which requireth the Testimonie of two witnesses the testimonie of which number of witnesses is held sufficient to ratifie and confirme a matter So that by these two witnesses he meaneth that hee will ever have even in the greatest furie and rage of Antichrist a competent and sufficient number to beare witnesse of his truth and religion conteined in the two Testaments of the holy Scriptures Likewise hee alludeth partlie unto the times of Elias and partlie unto the times of Moses when hee saith that If any vvill hurt the two vvitnesses fire proceedeth out of their mouthes to devoure their enemies and that these have power to shut heaven that it raine not in the dayes of their prophecying and have power over vvaters to turne them into bloud c. For so in Moses time in the land of Egypt vvere the vvaters in the River turned into Bloud and sundrie other plagues brought upon that land of Egypt for molesting of Gods
Christ slept a long time For from the yeare 870 to the yeare 1050 whom doe you see but Necromancers but Adulterers and Murtherers and Infamous persons prâ—ferred to the Papacie Platius in the life of Benedict the fourth speaketh the like and giveth the reason of all this saying thus This libertie of sinning saith hee hath begotten us these Monsters and Prodigies vvho by ambition and corruption have rather usurpt then possest the holy chaire of Peter there being no Prince to represse the vvickednesse of these men Yea Platina though the Popes Servant and Secretarie yet well knowing their vices and the vices of the people under his government doth in a manner speake as if himselfe despaired of their salvation for thus bee his words Our vices saith hee bee grovvne to thaâ— height that they vvill hardly ever finde mercie in the sight of God But observe yet further how horrible and wicked their reproachings slanderings and defamings heretofore have beene and yet still bee of Gods church people their religion calling them usually Heretickes Schismatickes and by such other odious names laying sometimes most notorious slanders and most impious false accusations to their charge perswading as if our religion were a religion allowing licentiousnesse a condemner and disallower of all good works and as though wee approoved of all dissolutenesse and were enemies to the Virgin Marie to all Saints as though we made God the Author of sinne and evill other such like things which we utterly detest dislike and abhorre and which hee cleane contrary to our opinion and to the doctrine of our Religion Yea they not onely thus dishonour wrong the true Church and people of God upon earth but even the Church triumphant and Saints also in heaven For is it not a great wrong and dishonour to the glorified Saints in heaven to turne them into Idols or to make them instruments of Idolatry or of dishonouring God by invocating praying unto them when as Praier and Invocation is a service worship and honour properly and onely belonging to God Againe do they not much dishonour the Saints when they imploy them about base offices commending the keeping of their Hogs to one of their horses to another the curing of the Scurffe to a third c. Yea even concerning that most chast blessed glorious Virgin Mary Doe they not extreamely dishonour her when they make her to favour Immodestie uncleanenesse For there is an Italian book entituled Miracoli dâ—ella gloriosâ— Virgine Maria printed at Millan in the yere 1547 which saith that a certaine Abbesse being with Child the holy Virgin being willing to cover her crime did in her stead present her selfe before the Bishops in forme of the Abbesse and shewed him by an ocular demonstration that shee was not with Child Caesarius also in his seventh Booke Chapt. 35 reports that the Virgin Marie for twelve whole yeares did supplie the place of a certaine Nunâ—â— called Beatrice whilst shee lay in the Sâ—ewes till at last she came backe again to take her place and freed the Virgin from being in her roome any longer But consider yet further the most terrible cruell barbarous and bloodie persecutions of Gods Church and people committed by Papists About 400 yeares since Pope Innocent the third within the space of a few monthes made more then 200000 of the faithfull to bee slaine whom they called Albigenses In S. Bartholomewes Massacre in the yeare 1572 more then 80000 men were slaine in cold blood In a Massacre in France within a few dayes were murthered 70000 persons And how execrable beyond all measure abhominable and damnable was that their late Plot of Gunpowder-Treason for the overthrow of the whole State of England in Parliament at a blow and God knoweth of how many States and Kingdomes beside Yea what meaneth their Holy League as they call it not long since made for the extirpation and rooting out of all Protestancie Doe they not by all these shew themselves to bee utter enemies and that in the worst sort that can bee to all Civill States Kings and Kingdomes which reiect the Popes usurped Supremacie and his depraved and Antichristian Religion Why else also have they decreed that Faith is not to be kept with Heretickes And why else doe they hold that before Hereticall Iudges and Magistrates as they call them it is lawfull for them to sweare with Equivocations and Mental reservations and in a false deluding and deceitfull manner And why else doe they dislike and disallow Subjects not onely to take the Oath of Supremacie but the Oath also of Allegeance when in very deede and of right neither of both ought to bee refused What also meaneth the resort and comming of Popish Priests and Iesuits into Protestant Kingdomes under colour and pretence of Religion Is it not to make a partie for the Pope or some of his confederates against a fit time And doth it not also tend to sedition and treason in a Common-weale What doth the Popes claime to depose Kings and to give away their Kingdomes when and to whom hee list tend unto but to the setting of Princes together by the Eares aswell as Subiects to rebell against their lawfull Soveraignes Doe not all these things tend to the overthrow aswell of civill States and civill Iustice as of Religion and of Kingdomes and Common-weales aswel as of Gods Church and which maketh the matter yet more and indeede most odious all this they doe under pretence of Christianitie and of a Catholicke cause when it is nothing so but cleane contrarywise extreamely divelish and Antichristian Let then everie equal person now judge whether the Pope of Rome that thus wrongeth God his Church and Religion and not onely Bishops but all Kings Princes and Emperors also their People Kingdomes and Common-wealths and that thus intolerably abuseth the whole Christian world and yet for all that inflexibly persisteth therein without anie remorse or repentance shewed yea which with all his power and strength iustifieth upholdeth defendeth all those his wrongs errors abuses and impieties boasting glorying and delighting in them bee not rightly affirmed to be The Man of sin the Sonne of perdition and the verie undoubted Grand Antichrist in all respects THE CONCLVSION to the same pretended CATHOLIKES NOw then it appearing verie cleerely by the premisses that the Pope of Rome whom his blinded followers so much adore and reverence is the verie grand Antichrist and that the Popish Citie of Rome whereof he is the Head and Ruler is undoubtedly the VVhore of Babylon mentioned in the Revelation of S. Iohn What scruple or doubt should you or anie of you conceive to make all the good hast yee may to forsake that grand Antichrist that his Concubine the whore of Babylon and all his Priests Iesuites Bishops Monks Friars Nunns and the rest of that his Antichristian rabble and to betake and apply your selves with us to the embracing and following of Christ and
Gillebertus and Malachias and Christianus who were the Popes Legates here about 500. yeares agoe This Gillebertus an old acquaintance of Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury in the Prologue of his booke De usu ecclesiastico directed to the whole Clergie of Ireland writeth in this maner At the request yea and at the command of manie of you dearely beloved I indevoured to set downe in writing the canonical custome in saying of Houres and performing the Office of the whole Ecclesiasticall Order not presumptuously but in desire to serve your most godly command to the end that those diverse and schismaticall Orders wherewith in a maner all Ireland is deluded may give place to one Catholick and Romane Office For vvhat may bee said to be more undecent or schismaticall then that the most learned in one order should be made as a private and lay man in another mans Church These beginnings were presently seconded by Malachias in whose life written by Bernard wee reade as followeth The Apostolicall constitutions and the decrees of the holy Fathers but especially the customes of the holy Church of Rome did he establish in all Churches And hence it is that at this day the canonicall Houres are chanted and song therein according to the maner of the whole earth whereas before that this was not done no not in the citie it selfe the poore citie of Ardmagh he meaneth But Malachias had learned song in his youth and shortly after caused singing to be used in his owne Monasterie when as yet aswell in the citie as in the whole Bishoprick they eyther knew not or would not sing Lastly the work was brought to perfection when Christianus Bishop of Lismore as Legate to the Pope was President in the Councell of Casshell wherein a speciall order was taken for the right singing of the Ecclesiasticall Office and a generall act established that all divine offices of holy Church should from thenceforth be handled in all parts of Ireland according as the Church of England did observe them The statutes of which Councell were confirmed by the Regall authority of King Henry the second by whose mandate the Bishops that met therein were assembled in the yeare of our Lord 1172. as Giraldus Cambrensis witnesseth in his historie of the Conquest of Ireland And thus late was it before the Romane use was fully settled in this kingdome The publick Liturgie or service of the Church was of old named the Masse even then also when prayers only were said without the celebration of the holy Communion So the last Masse that S. Colme was ever present at is noted by Adamnanus to have beene vespertinalis Dominicae noctis Missa He dyed the midnight following whence the Lords day tooke his beginning 9º viz. Iunij anno Dom. 597. according to the account of the Romanes which the Scottish and Irish seeme to have begunne from the evening going before and then was that evening Masse said which in all likelyhood differed not from those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by Leo the Emperour in his Tacticks that is to say from that which wee call Even-song or Evening prayer But the name of the Masse was in those dayes more specially applied to the administration of the Lords Supper and therefore in the same Adamnanus we see that Sacra Eucharistiae ministeria and Missarum solemnia the sacred ministerie of the Eucharist and the solemnities of the Masse are taken for the same thing So likewise in the relation of the passages that concerne the obsequies of Columbanus performed by Gallus and Magnoaldus we finde that Missam celebrare and Missas agere is made to be the same with Divina celebrare mysteria and Salutis hostiam or salutare sacrificium immolare the saying of Masse the same with the celebration of the divine mysteries and the oblation of the healthfull sacrifice for by that terme was the administration of the sacrament of the Lords Supper at that time usually designed For as in our beneficence and communicating unto the necessities of the poore which are sacrifices wherewith God is well pleased we are taught to give both our selves and our almes first unto the Lord and after unto our brethren by the will of God so is it in this ministerie of the blessed Sacrament the service is first presented unto God from which as from a most principall part of the dutie the sacrament it selfe is called the Eucharist because therein we offer a speciall sacrifice of praise thankesgiving alwayes unto God and then communicated unto the use of Gods people in the performance of which part of the service both the minister was said to give and the communicant to receive the sacrifice as well as in respect of the former part they were said to offer the same unto the Lord. For they did not distinguish the Sacrifice from the Sacrament as the Romanists doe now adayes but used the name of Sacrifice indifferently both of that which was offered unto God and of that which was given to and received by the communicant Therefore we read of offering the sacrifice to God as in that speech of Gallus to his scholler Magnoaldus My master Columbanus is accustomed to offer unto the Lord the sacrifice of salvation in brasen vessels Of giving the sacrifice to man as when it is said in one of the ancient Synods of Ireland that a Bishop by his Testament may bequeath a certain proportiō of his goods for a legacie to the Priest that giveth him the sacrifice and of receiving the sacrifice from the hands of the minister as in that sentence of the Synod attributed unto S. Patrick He who deserveth not to receive the sacrifice in his life how can it helpe him after his death and in that glosse of Sedulius upon 1 Cor. 11.33 Tarry one for another that is saith he untill you doe receive the sacrifice Whereby it doth appeare that the sacrifice of the elder times was not like unto the new Masse of the Romanists wherein the Priest doth eate and drinke alone the people being only lookers on but unto our Communion where all that are present at the holy action do eate of the Altar as well as they that serve the Altar Againe they that are communicants in the Romish sacrament receive the Eucharist in one kinde onely the Priest in offering of the sacrifice receiveth the same distinctly both by way of meate and by way of drinke which they tell us is chiefely done for the integritie of the Sacrifice and not of the Sacrament For in the Sacrifice they say the severall elements be consecrated not into Christs whole person as it was borne of the Virgin or now is in heaven but the bread into his body apart as betrayed broken and given for us the wine into his blood apart as shed out of his body for remission of sinnes and dedication of the new Testament which
of the elect and eternall life as witnesseth the Apostle who saith Other foundation can no man lay beside that which is laid which is Christ Iesus Yet doth the same Claudius acknowledge that S. Peter received a kinde of primacie for the founding of the Church in respect whereof he termeth him Ecclesiae principem and Apostolorum principem the prince of the Church and the prince or chiefe of the Apostles but he addeth withall that S. Paul also was chosen in the same maner to have the primacie in founding the Churches of the Gentiles and that he received this gift from God that he should be worthy to have the primacie in preaching to the Gentiles as Peter had it in the preaching of the Circumcision and therefore that S. Paul challengeth this grace as granted by God to him alone as it vvas granted to Peter alone among the Apostles and that he esteemed himselfe not to be inferiour unto S. Peter because both of them were by one ordayned unto one and the same ministerie and that writing to the Galatians he did in the title name himselfe an Apostle of Christ to the end that by the verie authoritie of that name he might terrifie his readers judging that all such as did beleeve in Christ ought to be subject unto him It is furthermore also observed by Claudius that as when our Savior propounded the questiō generally unto all the Apostles Peter did answer as one for all so what our Lord answered unto Peter in Peter he did answer unto all therfore howsoever the power of loosing binding might seeme to be given by the Lord unto Peter alone yet without all maner of doubt it is to be knowne that it was given unto the rest of the Apostles also as himselfe doth witnesse who appearing unto them after the triumph of his passion and resurrection breathed on them and said unto them all Receive the holy Ghost whose sinnes ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose sinnes yee retayne they are retayned Lastly as Claudius noteth that the foundation of the Church was laid not only upon S. Peter but also upon S. Iohn so in a certaine Hymne supposed to be written by Secundinus knowne in this country commonly by the name of S. Schachlin in the yeare of our Lord CCCCXLVIII S. Patrick also is thus commended He is constant in the feare of God and unmoveable in the faith upon whom the Church is builded as upon Peter whose Apostleship also hee hath obtained from God and the gates of Hell shall not prevayle against him yea Christ is there said to have chosen him for his Vicar upon earth and as for the titles of Summus Sacerdos and Summus Pontifex the highest Priest and the highest Bishop we finde them in Cogitosus attributed unto the Bishop of Kildare himselfe those titles and prerogatives which the Pope now peculiarly challengeth unto himselfe as ensignes of his Monarchy being then usually communicated unto other Bishops when the universal Church was governed by an Aristocraty Master Campion I know telleth us that vvhen Ireland first received Christendome they gave themselves into the Iurisdiction both spirituall and temporall of the See of Rome but therein hee speaketh without book of the spirituall jurisdiction untruly of the temporall absurdly For from the first legation of Palladius and Patricius who were sent to plant the faith in this country it cannot be shewed out of anie monument of antiquitie that the Bishop of Rome did ever send anie of his Legats to exercise spirituall jurisdiction here much lesse anie of his Deputies to exercise jurisdiction temporall before Gillebertus quem aiunt primà functum legatione Apostolicae sedis per universam Hiberniam saith one that lived in his owne time even Bernard himselfe in the life of Malachias One or two instances peradventure may be alledged out of som obscure authors whose names and times and authoritie no man can tell us newes of but unlesse that which is delivered by Bernard as the tradition that was current in his time can be controlled by some record that may appeare to have beene written before his dayes we have small reason to detract anie thing from the credit of so cleare a testimonie This countrey was heretofore for the number of holy men that lived in it termed the Iland of Saints of that innumerable companie of Saints whose memorie was reverenced here what one received anie solemne canonization from the Pope before Malachias archbishop of Ardmagh and Laurence of Dublin who lived as it were but the other day We reade of sundry Archbishops that have beene in this land betwixt the dayes of S. Patrick and of Malachias what one of them can be named that ever sought for a Pall from Rome Ioceline indeed a late Monke of the abbey of Furnesse writeth of S. Patrick that the Bishop of Rome conferred the Pall upon him together with the execution of legatine power in his roome But he is well knowne to be a most fabulous author and for this particular Bernard who was his ancient informeth us farre otherwise that from the very beginning untill his time the metropoliticall see of Ardmagh wanted the use of the Pall. And therefore Giraldus Cambrensis howsoever he acknowledgeth that S. Patrick did choose Ardmagh for his seate and did appoint it to be as it were a metropoliticall see and the proper place of the primacie of all Ireland yet doth he affirme withall that in verie deed there were no Archbishops in Ireland but that Bishops onely did consecrate one another untill Iohannes Paparo the Popes legate brought foure palls thither in the yeare of our Lord 1152. Gelasius was then arcbishop of Ardmagh who dyed in the yeare 1174. at which wee finde this note in our Annales This man is said to be the first Archbishop because he used the first Pall. But others before him were called Archbishops and Primates in name only for the reverence and honour of S. Patrick as the Apostle of that nation The same time that the foure Archbishopricks were established by Iohannes Paparo our Bishopricks also were limited reduced unto a fewer number whereas at the beginning they were verie many for we reade in Nennius that S Patrick founded here 365. Churches and ordayned 365. Bishops beside 3000. Presbyters and in processe of time were daily multiplied according to the pleasure of the Metropolitan so farre that every Church almost had a severall Bishop whereof Bernard doth much complaine in the life of Malachias For in erecting of new Bishopricks the Pope was no more sought unto here then in the nomination and confirmation of the Bishops themselves all matters of this kinde being done at home without relation to anie forraine authoritie The ancient forme of making a Bishop is thus laid downe by Bonifacius archbishop of Mentz in the life of Livinus When Menalchus
as an answer unto the Bishops of Ireland that did submit themselves unto him whereas the least argument of anie submission of theirs doth not appeare in anie part of that epistle but the whole course of it doth clearely manifest the flat contrary In the next place steppeth forth Osullevan Beare a wilde Beare indeed rather then a Christian man who in his Catholick Historie of Ireland for so he stileth his trayterous and barbarous Collections lately published would have us take knowledge of this that when the Irish Doctors did not agree together upon great questions of faith or did heare of any new doctrine brought from abroad they were wont to consult with the Bishop of Rome the Oracle of truth That they consulted with the Bishop of Rome when difficult questions did arise wee easily grant but that they thought they were bound in conscience to stand to his judgment whatsoever it should be and to intertaine all his resolutions as certaine Oracles of truth is the point that we would faine see proved For this he telleth us that when questions and disputations did arise here concerning the time of Eâ—ster and the Pelagian heresie the Doctors of Ireland referred the matter unto the See Apostolick Whereupon the error of Pelagius is reported to have found no patron or maintayner in Ireland and the common course of celebrating Easter was embraced both by the Northren Irish and by the Pictes and Britons as soone as they understood the rite of the Romane Church Which saith hee doth not obscurely appeare by the two heads of the Apostolick letters related by Bede lib. 2. cap. 19. But that those Apostolick letters as he calleth them had that successe which he talketh of appeareth neither plainly nor obscurely by Bede or anie other authoritie whatsoever The error of Pelagius saith he is reported to have found no patron or maintayner in Ireland But who is he that reporteth so beside Philip Osullevan a worthy author to ground a report of antiquity upon who in relating the matters that fell out in his owne time discovereth himselfe to be as egregious a lyar as anie I verily thinke that this day breatheth in Christendome The Apostolick letters he speaketh of were written as before hath beene touched in the yeare of our Lord DCXXXIX during the vacancie of the Romane See upon the death of Severinus Our countreyman Kilianus repayred to Rome 47. yeares after that and was ordayned Bishop there by Pope Conon in the yeare DCLXXXVI The reason of his comming thither is thus laid downe by Egilwardus or who ever else was the author of his life For Ireland had beene of old defiled with the Pelagian heresie and condemned by the Apostolicall censure which could not be loosed but by the Romane judgement If this be true then that is false which Osullevan reporteth of the effect of his Apostolicall Epistle that it did so presently quassh the Pelagian heresie as it durst not once peepe up within this Iland The difference betwixt the Romanes and the Irish in the celebration oâ— Easter consisted in this The Romanes kept the memorial of our Lords resurrection upon that Sonday which fell betwixt the XV. and the XXI day of the Moone both termes included next after the XXI day of March which they accounted to be the seat of the Vernall aequinoctium that is to say that time of the Spring wherein the day and the night were of equall length and in reckoning the age of the Moone they followed the Alexandrian cycle of XIX yeares whence our golden number had his originall as it was explained unto them by Dionysius Exiguus which is the account that is still observed not only in the Church of England but also among all the Christians of Greece Russia Asia AEgypt and AEthiopia and was since the time that I my selfe was borne generally received in all Christendome untill the late change of the Kalendar was made by Pope Gregory the XIIIth The Northren Irish and Scottish together with the Pictes observed the custome of the Britons keeping their Easter upon the Sonday that fell betwixt the XIIII and the XX. day of the Moone and following in their account thereof not so much the XIX yeares computation of Anatolius as Sulpicius Severus his circle of LXXXIIII yeares for howsoever they extolled Anatolius for appointing the bounds of Easter betwixt the XIIII and the XX. day of the Moone yet Wilfride in the Synod of Strenshalch chargeth them utterly to have rejected his cycle of XIX yeares from which therefore Cummianus draweth an argument against them that they can never come to the true account of Easter who observe the cycle of LXXXIIII yeares To reduce the Irish unto conformitie with the Church of Rome in this point Pope Honorius the first of that name directed his letters unto them Exhorting them that they would not esteeme their owne paucitie seated in the utmost borders of the earth more wife then the ancient or moderne Churches of Christ through the whole world and that they would not celebrate another Easter contrary to the Paschall computations and the Synodall decrees of the Bishops of the whole world and shortly after the clergie of Rome as we have said upon the death of Severinus wrote other letters unto them to the same effect Now where Osullevan pardon me if I honour the rake-hell too much in naming him so often avoucheth that the common customeâ— sed by the Church in celebrating the feast of the Lords resurrection was alwayes observed by the Southerne Irish and now embraced also by the Northren together with the Pictes and Britons who received the faith from Irish Doctors when they had knowledge given them of the rite of the Church of Rome in all this according to his common wont hee speaketh never a true word For neyther did the Southerne Irish alwayes observe the celebration of Easter commonly received abroad neyther did the Northren Irish nor the Pictes nor the Britons manie yeares after this admonition given by the Church of Rome admit that observation among them to speake nothing of his folly in saying that the Britons received the faith from the Irish when the contrarie is so well knowne that the Irish received the same from the Britons That the common custome of celebrating the time of Easter was not alwayes observed by the Southerne Irish may appeare by those words of Bede in the third booke of his historie and the third chapter Porrò gentes Scottorum quae in australibus Hiberniae insulae partibus morabantur jamdudum ad admonitionem Apostolicae sedis antistitis Pascha canonico ritu observare didicerunt For if as this place clearely proveth the nations of the Scotts that dwelt in the Southerne parts of Ireland did learne to observe Easter after the canonicall maner upon the admonition of the Bishop of Rome it is evident that before that admonition they did observe it after another maner The word jamdudum which Bede