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A07781 A notable treatise of the church in vvhich are handled all the principall questions, that haue bene moued in our time concerning that matter. By Philip of Mornay, Lord of Plessis Marlyn, gentleman of Fraunce. And translated out of French into English by Io. Feilde.; Traicté de l'église. English Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623.; Fielde, John, d. 1588. 1579 (1579) STC 18159; ESTC S107520 167,479 400

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thereupon alwayes after Agaynst this open Apostasie then all the Churches of Greece Dace Illyricum c. did oppose themselues euen to the accusing of Pope Symmachus before Theodoricus the king of the Gothes for that he vaunted himselfe not to be subiect to the reprehension of any Spayne and Englande also were a long time without receyuing the legates of Rome One Claudius Byshop of Thurine in the time of Charles the great wrote very learnedly agaynst the Popes Supremacie and agaynst his doctrine yea about the reygne of Hugh Capet there was a Councill helde at Rheims which denyed vnto him al obedience and pronounced him to bee Antichrist But finally as it was bredde of the superfluous and euill humoures of the Church so it was skilfull to nourishe it selfe of the factions enmities and diuisions of Christendome that one in despite of other haue suffered all to goe to wracke Nowe if wee shall reade that which Saynt Bernard wrote of the state of the Church in his time about the yere of our Lorde 1140. aswell in his Epistles as in his bookes of considerations to Pope Eugenius they are nothing but lamentations of the ruine of the Church like to those of Ieremie of the Church vnder the captiuitie of Babylon or thundringes against the tyranny of Antichrist who shewed him selfe in his time He sayeth That the Popes Court is a parke of deuils That they vsurpe an vnlawfull and an intolerable authoritie That there was not any more shewe of Peters succession That the Bishops of his time were marchantes enriched with the riches of the vvhore That in steade of keeping the spouse of Christ they made port sale of her and prostituted and layde her open to all the lechers of the world to commit fornication vvith her And a litle after hauing sayde vpon the 91. Psalme That Antichrist shall haue his seat in the South part he addeth What differeth then the estate of our Church from that same pestilēt estate which walketh in darkenes What differeth it more from the seate of Antichrist Therefore yours sayth he is in very deede the state of Antichrist He made three expresse Satyres agaynst the Pope court of Rome and he that would alledge al that is writtē to that end he must here put in his whole bookes Nowe after the manifest Apostasie and falling awaye of the popedome the Church of Rome hath not brought forth so excellent a man as he was Frauncis Petrarch the Archdeacon of Parma and a Chanon of Padua lyued about the yeere 1350. whom we may call in al kinde of good learning The light of his age But I wil not say howe he decifreth out the court of Rome in his Sonets vnder the name of Babylō calling it whore the schoole of error and the Temple of heresie for some will saye that much is permitted to poetrie but I beseeche the readers to reade his latine Epistles which are full of grauitie zeale and doctrine He sayth there in plaine termes That in the Pope and his shauelings there is neyther fayth godlinesse nor trueth That the Popes chaire is the chaire of lying That this is a falling awaye of a people which vnder the banner of Christ rebell against Christe and fight for Satan That they esteeme the Gospel but for fables and the promises of the life to come for dreames He compareth the Pope to Iudas who betrayed Iesus Christe with a kisse and his clergie to the Iewes which sayd vnto him Aue Rex Iudaeorū Al haile king of the Iewes his prelates to the Pharisies who in mockerye clothed him with purple and afterwardes crucified him in the moūt of Caluery And after he sayth Denie it nowe if thou canst that thou art she which the holy Euangelist Iohn sawe in the spirit set downe vpō the great waters Thou art none other that Babylon the mother of the whoredomes of the earth Thou art drunken vvith the bloud of the Martyrs of Iesus Thou art she vvhich hast made all the kings of the earth drūken vvith the Cuppe of thy poyson If thou deny it shew vs some other to vvhom these thinges maye better agree If thou canst not then vvayte for that to fall vpō thine ovvne head vvhich Iohn the Euāgelist addeth a litle after She is fallen Babylon the great and is made an habitation of deuils c. But what do I say Wayt for it Yea thou hast it already For hovv much better is the sonne of perdition then the deuill Thou art in very deed a kingdome of deuils vvhich reigne in the midst of thee in mans shape And in another place Let it not my friend euer grieue thee to returne from these princes of darkenesse And in deede vvhat vvouldest thou see in the Court of Rome Christ in exile Antichrist reigning in his stead Beelzebub the iudge Woolues let loose The Lambes in the stockes Ah good God vvho shall deliuer the vvorlde from this oppression Who shall gather together the sheepe Who shall vanquishe these vvicked Pastors Shall there neuer be a limitation and end of this intolerable mischiefe Now when there was such that durst crye so lowde wee may be sure that there were many more that lamented in their heartes To be short the most notable spirits that the worlde brought forth in the most ignorant ages and in the greatest thicknes of darkenes they perceyued this some more clerely and others as it were through a clowde vnlesse it were some such as ambition and glorie of the worlde had blynded Insomuch that when abomination was come to his full toppe God raysed vp Iohn Hus Hierome of Prage Wickliefe Luther and others which haue so lowdly published and proclaymed it that all the worlde doth vnderstād it And what will we more With leaue of those good Fathers of the Councill not long agoe holden at Trent we may make this Syllogisme Whosoeuer wil be called the vniuersal Bishop he is the forerunner of Antichrist the father of the sonne of pryde and a very Lucifer saith Saint Gregory the Pope and principall Doctor of the Church of Rome But Boniface the thirde his successour tooke this title they which followed him haue continued it and haue encreased it more more And the Councill of Trent excommunicateth all those that will not acknowledge him for vniuersall Byshop Ergo the Pope is Antichrist and al they are holden for excommunicate by the Councill of Trent that doe not acknowledge him for Antichrist Yea but the clergie of Rome wil say If the Pope were the Antichrist whereof the Church was before threatned we which are the Church shoulde haue knowen him Contrarywise I say vnto you that if you had knowen him for Antichrist he had not bene Antichrist This is that which the Pharises saide when Christ came If this were Christ who shoulde knowe him better then we We haue the Church we haue the Scriptures we are the interpreters therof We are the eyes of the people It cannot escape vs
dwell there for euer And therefore the priests had no other answere to all the Propheres that reproued them but this The Temple the Temple the Temple of the Lorde But see what the Lorde him selfe answereth vnto them Goe saith he see Shiloh I haue chosen it from the beginning for my house Now see what I haue done vnto it for the wickednes of my people I wil do euen so to the place which I haue giuen vnto you and to your fathers But if you will that I dwell there amende your wayes turne from your euil deedes Nowe if he haue forsaken his owne temple for the iniquitie of the priests besides which he had none erected in the whole world must we tye our selues to the Church of Rome or to any other place seeing that al the Elimates of the world are equally his temple Concerning the succession of persons that is no lesse friuolous then the other In all estates cōmō weales there is one perpetual sequele of magistrates either by succession or by election Nowe if there be any questiō of reforming the estate according to the lawes there is no way so ill as to vse these argumentes I am a magistrate as was my predecessour or from the father to the sonne ergo the cōmon wealth hath not to make any reformation None euer douted but that Nero was a tyrant although he was descended from Augustus neither would any man affirme that Commodus was a good prince although Marcus Aurelius was his father In like maner euery one will accord that Manasses defiled the church violated al iustice albeit he was the sonne of good Ezechias and Iosias he reformed the Church the lawes who was the sonne of Manasses himself And the ciuil lawiers themselues which make two sorts of tyrantes the one sort without title the other of exercise that is one sort vniust vsurpers the other vniust gouernors so we also make two kinds of Popes playing the tyrantes ouer the Church one sort which they call intruders which are thrust in there vnlawfully the other abusers abusing their authoritie shewing thereby that that which may fall out in the successiō of magistrates in the common wealth may also fall out in the succession of prelates in the Church Furthermore if euer any might alledge the succession of pastors they were the Iewes for they were of the house of Aaron from the father to the sonne besides them none might sacrifice Moreouer to them it was promised that they shoulde so continue for euer And hereof it was that when the Prophets exhorted them to reformation they had no other thing in their mouth The lawe shall not perish from the Priest nor the councell from the wise nor the worde from the Prophete But the spirite of the Lorde aunswered them Say not We are wise the lawe of the Lord is with vs For it is in vaine that the pen is made and that there is a scribe The wisemen are confounded And seeing that they haue reiected the worde of the Lord what shal be their wisedome any more Likewise when they boasted to Iesus Christ that they were the seede of Abraham I knowe it well saith he but the deuil is your father And in very deede this successiue hereditarie wisedome crucified Christ and reiected it saluation as also this selfe same successiō but yet only pretended worshippeth Antichrist ētertaineth it own perdition Moreouer I demaund what these alledgers of succession would haue aunswered to the Samositans Nestorians Arrians c. who had their beginning cōtinued from the first Bishops euen to thēselues namely frō Nestorius Samosatenus both which were lawfully called to the patriarchal churches the one to Constantinople the other to Antioche Also what wil they answere to the succession alledged by all the Greeke East Churches to be short to the reformed churches of Englād Denmark Swethen a great part of Almaigne c. through all which there is at this daye this succession from Bishop to Bishop frō pastor to pastor If they will alledge the Popes supremacie a man may deny it them this is another question If simply succession then they haue lost their cause If that doctrine thē we gaine this point that the simple succession of persons without the succession of doctrine is nothing worth They alledge that the auncient Doctors haue vsed this argument we deny it not But they must marke therein eyther that this was against heretikes that denyed the holy scriptures or else there was alwayes adioyning the successiō of doctrine S. Augustine enferreth it against the Manichees but they reiected the greatest part of the scriptures and manifestly the booke of the Actes of the Apostles to the end to deny the descending of the holy Ghoste and to establish Manichee in his place He alledged also vnto them miracles antiquitie c. but he addeth immediatly after You on your part alledge nothing like but onely you holde a promise of the trueth amongst you notwithstanding if you could euidently proue it I suppose it ought to be preferred before succession antiquitie miracles and al things else This is as we dispute against thē that denye the scriptures by probable reasons by authorities of prophane bookes albeit we hold them not for rules of the trueth Against the Donatists Arrians Pelagians others who accept the scriptures he disputeth by the scriptures In a certaine place he alledgeth amongst other things the succession of 39. Bishops of Rome but this was with this caueat In al this company there was not one Donatist that is there was not one that helde any such doctrine as you do Irenee sayth that they are not alwaies true priests which seeme so to be but they which keepe the doctrine of the Apostles Tertullian presseth the heretikes of his time who for the most part denyed the Scriptures to shewe that their predecessours were the Apostles or the Apostles schollers but by and by afterwards he requireth consanguinitatem doctrinae the consanguinitie or kinred of doctrine preferreth it before all succession that is to say that they onely were not the sonnes of the Apostles but also their doctrines were the daughters of the Apostolical doctrine Chrysostome sayth that the pulpit maketh not a priest but a priest the pulpit To be short a man shal not finde any which hath spoken in any other sense And nowe seeing that none can transferre that to his successour which of right doth not belong vnto him that S. Paul hath forbidden vs to heare the Apostles the Angels themselues preaching any other Gospel then his owne doth it not followe that the successors of the Apostles are reiected if they preache otherwise It followeth then that the succession neither of place nor of persons is any thing worth but onely the succession of doctrine which we haue sayd before to be the true infallible marke of