aboue the Apostles which would not be taken for Lords that had authoritie to command but for Ministers serving the will of the Lord. And a non after he sayth Thirdly that Elders Bishops and Pastors be all one it is manifest by that which we doe read in this wise And sending messengers from Miletus to Ephesus Acts 20 he sent for Priests or Elders of the Church and when they came unto him he sayd you know that from the first day c. And a litle after Looke therfore to your selues and to all the flocke in which the holy spirit hath set you Bishops to feed the Church of God c. The same which Luk calleth the Priests or Elders of the Church of Ephesus those Paul calleth Bishops and sayth that they be set there to that intent to feed the Church of God So we do see manifestly that Priests or Elders Bishops Pastors be all one And that there was in one selfe same Church ioyntly together many Bishops and that appoynted by the holy spirit as we may see also by that which we do read in the Apostle saying Paul and Timothie the servants of Iesus Christ to all the Saints in Christ Iesu which be at Philippos together with the Bishops and Deacons Lo there were many Bishops togeather also at Philippos And touching the questions in Baptisme thus he intreateth thereof Augustine saith If we will in wordes declare that the litle children doe know in godly matters which do not yet understand worldly matters I feare least we shall seeme to doe wrong unto our very senses in so saying whereas the playne evidence of the truth doth easily surmont all that strength and meanes of our sayings I know what Augustins answer was unto this question to Boniface the Bishop Aug. epis 57 ad Dardan where he writteth in this wise It is answered that the Child doth beleiue which hath not yet any affection of faith It is answered that it hath faith because of the Sacrament of faith Thus saith he he calleth baptisme the Sacrament of faith But in case that the Sacrament of faith be faith how is it said that the infant hath faith which hath not yet baptisme and is therefore demanded whether that he doth beleiue to the intent that he may receaue baptisme Agayne the question is not whether he hath the sacrament of faith or not but whether he doth beleiue The question is of faith and not of the Sacrament of faith yet for all that it cannot be truly reported that he hath faith therefore And so it is a very feeble answer that this great man maketh in this matter for asmuch as the infant when he is thus demanded hath neither faith neyther the sacrament of faith For how should he haue that which he hath not receaved But yet thus they are compelled to answer the matter which will needs maintayne and keepe this custome used in the Church without any ground of it And this beyng so fond a custome that it cannot be defended risen first of this that the Bishops did disorderly apply that forme of baptising of such as were of perfect yeares of understanding unto the baptising also of infans and so began to demand of infants of the abrenouncing of Satan and of the faith in the holy Trinitie as well as they did of them that were of yeares of full age In my iudgment it were more convenient if the Father of the infant that is to be baptised were present at the font to require baptisme for his child and that he should be openly examined of his faith by the Minister in the presence of them that stand by of the faith not which the infant hath but which he himselfe hath in Christ our Lord and Saviour and whereunto he will bring up and teach his infant Unto M. Musculus succeeded M. Gualter who upon the Prophet Zephaniah that prophesied onely in the time of King Iosiah which was the cheifest reformer of religiō that ever raigned among the Iewes Gualter yet notwithstanding this Prophet sent of God was such a vehement taxer of the defects in the reformation of religion remnants of Baall and relicks of superstition left in Iosiah his time that non of all the Prophets did more exclame against the reliques that were left or threatned greater plagues for lack of full reformation Whereupon M. Gualter in his first sermon upon the Prophet Zephaniah useth this spech in the name of the Lord. My servant Iosiah removed away many thinges But because through your ungodlines many thinges yet remaine being contrary to my lawes Gualt upon Zepha ser 1 verily I my selfe will bring forth Broomes much more rough where with these abominable relickes with their Patrons or defendors shal be cleane purged c. And in his second sermon a litle before the end he thus concludeth But let us consider the degrees of superstition which the Prophet in this place maketh mention of The first is when the remnant of superstitions is kept when God granteth libertie to reforme things craftie dissemblers do attend uprn these superstitions whereunto they beare good will and by litle and litle spread them a broad by and by after followeth open Idolatry but least they should seeme to forsake God altrgother first theris invented a certaine mixture but the same at the length degenerateth to a playne defection or falling from God and these things certainely even at this day are seene every where Behold England and do we as yet marveil at the wrath of God hanging over our heads Let us learne therefore to attend and waigte upon the word of God to flie all occasion of evill O that our Prelats of England would attend wait upon the word of God and so flie all occasion of evill cōsidering the degrees of superstition how they increased even in King Iosiahs time namly by retayning the relicks of superstition and not to invent a certaine mixture wherby must needs follow a degeneration to a playne defection and falling from God For every country man can tell that if a crab tree be graft with the sweet apple called the apple of paradice or with the most excellent apple that is in the world although the graft doe grow and flourish marvelously well yet if the sients be suffered to grow by litle and litle within a while the crabb tree sients will so prevaile and the graft of the good fruit so decay that the whole tree will turne againe to be a crabb tree and beare no fruit but crabbes So in King Henrie 8 time the Popes supreame head was cut of and the graft of Gods word was set up in every Church through out England which graft as Iames saith is able to saue our soules if it be receaved with all meeknes and all filthines layd a part Iames. 1. But King Henrie 8 suffered almost all the boughes upon the stocke beneath the graft to grow King Edward pared of many of them Queene
highest Ecclesiasticall corruption tyranny shewyng himselfe that he is God And for the maintenance of his high exaltation he thought it requysite aboue all other to take care of these two thinges First how to keepe under the temporall Princes Lords which had long raigned before him and to set up his spirituall Lords as his owne creatures which should be apperteyning and beholding to himselfe onely for all their Lordly estate The highest ecclesiastical corruption and tyranny that at the last both the Lords temporall spirituall might serue him to his great glory Now this great Antichrist reignyng over his temporall Lords and Princes who by the ordinance of God were appoynted to reigne themselues to the honor of Christ and not to the glory of Antichrist and specially triumphing by his spirituall Lords as his owne creatures created unto their Lordships and Archlordships by himselfe onely and not ordeyned therevnto by God but by him appoynted for his speciall gard and defence of his owne person and of his wife the great whore of Babell It pleased the Almightie God which created heaven and earth in the time by him appoynted reformation beginyng to rayse vp againe agreeable unto his first institution certayne poore Ministers Bishops Pastors to whom he committed the word of God which is the sword of the spirit therwith to fight against this glorious Antichrist and all his spirituall Lords And therefore as you haue heard before the auntient Fathers utterly condemning the great livyngs and Lordly estate of Bishops both by their doctrine decrees and practise of their owne lyues Now likewise let us heare what these men thus newly raysed up of God hold and affirme also in the practise of their owne liues approue touching the same Lordship of Bishops and other unwritten Traditions of men And first of Wickliffe of whom our booke of Martyrs saith This is out of all doubt Iohn Wicleffe Act. Mon pag 323 edit 1570 that at that time all the world was in most desperat and vile estate and that the lamentable ignorāce and darknes of God his truth had overshadowed the whole earth this man stepped forth like a valiant Champion Vnto whom it may be iustly applyed that is spoken in the booke called Ecclesiasticus of one Simon the sonne of Onias Even as the morning starre being in the middest of a cloude and as the Moone beyng full in her course and as the bright beames of the Sunne so doth he shine and glister in the temple and Church of God This Wickliffe in his answer unto King Richard the second as touching the right and title of the King and the Pope joyning old Barnard before named with himselfe saith How could the Apostle giue unto you that which he had not himselfe Harke what he saith Not bearing rule saith he as Lords in the cleargie but behaving your selues as ensamples to the flocke And because thou shalt not thinke it to be spoken only in humilitie and not in veritie marke that the Lord himselfe sayth in the Gospell The Kings of the people doe rule over them but you shalt not doe so Heere Lordship and Dominion is plainly forbidden to the Apostles and darest thou then vsurpe the same If thou wilt be a Lord thou shalt loose thine Apostleship or if thou wilt be an Apostle thou shalt lose thy Lordship For truely thou shalt departe from the one of them If thou wilt haue both thou shalt lose both or else thinke thy selfe to be of that number of whom God doth so greatly complaine saying They haue reigned but not through me they are become Princes and I haue not knowne it now if it doe suffice thee to rule without the Lord thou hast thy glory but not with God But if we will keepe that which is bidden us let us heare what is sayd he that is the greatest among you saith Christ shall be made as the least and he that is highest shall be as the Minister and for example he set a child in the middest of them So this then is the true forme and institution of the Apostles trade Lordship and rule is forbidden ministration and service is commaunded Ye heare what this bright mornyng starre which is likened to the full Moone in her strenght and to the sun-shining in the Church and temple of God sayth and concludeth that Lordship and rule is forbidden to Bishops and ministration and service is commaunded And in another place he saith To enrich the Cleargie is against the rule of Christ Fox tom 1 art 31 pag 55 16 art 34. Silvester the Pope and Constantine the Emperour were deceaved in giving and taking possessions into the Church And in another article he saith The Pope with all his Cleargie having those great possessions as they haue be heretikes in so having and the secular power in so suffering of them doe not well And touching the practise of his owne life It is written of him that he went in a simple russet gowne Fox tom 1 pag 526. and yet he was specially favored mainteined by the great Duke of Lancaster sonne to King Edward the third with the Lord Henrie Percie high Marshall of England and many other Lords and men of great account who esteemed him as an excellent learned man true Preacher of the gospell imbraced his doctrine even to the danger of their owne liues were able enough to maintaine him like a Lord or at the least to haue put him out of his simple russet gowne into a Mathematicall capp with foure angles deviding the whole world into foure partes as our booke of Martirs termeth it with a great and large sarcenet scarf about his necke and a wide sleeved gowne with a standing coller as an Archdeacon if he or they had thought it meete for him to haue been so like a Lord or pettie Lord mainteyned The next that we read of which God raysed up after Wickliffe was Iohn Husse Iohn Husse who being of so great reputation amonge the Bohemians that they came to the Counsell of Constance to make his defence for the gospell of Christ He was accompanyed and assisted besides others of his frends with divers Noble men of the Bohemians who stood by him and spake boldly in his defence even to the day and time of his Martirdome yet was he never nor would be mainteyned with the great living and high estate of a Lord Bishop as plainely appeareth by his last farwell to his deare frend brother Martin farwell saith he in Christ Iesus with all them that keepe his law Acts Mo. to 1. p. 747. My graye coat if you will keepe to your selfe for my remembrance but I thinke you are ashamed to weare that gray colour therefore you may giue it to whom you shall thinke good My white coate you shall giue the Minister N my scoller To George or else to Zuzicon 60 groats or else my gray coate for he hath faithfully served me
this vseth our reverend English Father M. Nowell in his great Catechisme Nowell Catech. where commending and speaking of the Discipline of the Primitiue Church he saith But this Discipline since long time past by litle and litle decayed as the manners of men be corrupt and out of right course specially of the rich and men of power which will needs haue impunitie and most free libertie to sinne and doe wickedly But to returne to Ierome ye see wherevnto the superiority of Bishops was come even then and what fruite this corne of evill seed being then but newly sowed hath brought forth vnto this day a man may easily judge And this is the cause why Ierome so often as hath been before declared putteth the Bishops in remembrance that they are greater then other Elders or Ministers by custome and not by any truth of the Lords appoyntment and that they ought to rule in common But the Discipline liked them much better whereby they might haue free liberty to sinne and that no man might dare or be so bould to reproue them much lesse to punish them Yet Ierome in his Epistle to Nepotian is bould with the Lordship of Bishops saying Illud etiam dico quod Episcopi sacerdotes se esse noverint non dominos This also I say that Bishops should know that they be preists and not Lords And further he saith to Nepotian Negociatorem clericum et ex inope diuitem et ex ignobili gloriosum quasi quandam pestem fuge A man of the Clergy saith Ierome that is an occupier and that is become of a poore man a rich man and of a man of low degree to be a man of honorable estate flye from such a one as it were from a certaine pestilence And touchyng his owne estate he saith being then one of the most famous christian Pastors in the whole world and in many things greater better learned then Augustine Altaris oblatione sustentor habens victum et vestitum his contentus ero et crucem nudam nudus sequor I am susteined by the offring of the Altar and having food and rayment Epistlo 11. and being a naked fellow my self I follow the naked Crosse of Christ And in his Epistle to Augustine he saith Ego in paruo tuguriolo cum monachis id est cum compeccatoribus meis de magnis statuere non audeo I in my poore litle cottage saith he with certaine monks that is to say sinners dare not determine of high matters You see how far Ierom was from Lordly estate he lived not in a Princly Pallace but in a poore litle cottage Yet for the excellencie of his fame and learnyng inferior to none which then lived For proofe whereof and for the worthynes of the matter I will set downe one example though I shall make there in a litle digression Algasia a gentle woman of Fraunce dwelling at the least as far from Ierom as England from the Iles of Canarie hearing of his excellent learnyng and knowledg in Divinity sent purposely vnto him from the borders of the Ocean sea and the furthest part of all Fraunce and passing by Rome she sent unto him dwellyng at Bethleem to be resolved in divers poynts of the scripture Among which the Eleaventh question was how she should vnderstand the words of the Apostle speakeyng of Antichrist 2 Thes 2 ca. In answering which question Ierom saith Ad Algas q. 11 Nec vult aperte dicere Romanum inperium destruendum quod ipsi qui imperāt aeternam putant vnde secundum Apocalipsim Iohannis infronte purpuratae meretricis scriptum est nomen blasphemiae id est Romae aeternae Nether would the Apostle saith Ierom say in plaine termes that the Empire of Rome should be destroyed which they that raigne there thinke to be eternall where upon accordyng to the Revelation of S. Iohn in the forehead of the purple coulered whore there is written the name of blasphemie that is of Rome eternall A religious and right noble Lady In which discourse diuers things of speciall note are worthy to be observed As first the great zeale carefull diligence of that Noble gentlewoman seekyng so far to know and understand the scriptures O that our Ladyes and gentleweomen of England were so carefull to seeke after God that their soules might liue Secondly that she passed by Rome beyng right in the way to Bethleem with the proud Pope which boasteth himselfe to haue all knowledg within the coffer of his owne breast together withall his colledge of Carnalls and seeketh after Ierom the poore Minister of Bethleem Thirdly of how great fame poore Ierom was for his knowledg and learnyng in Divinity Fourthly that the name of Rome eternall is the name of blasphemie which is written upon the forehead of the purple coulered whore Now to returne againe to the state of the Church in Ieroms time leaving him to his poore cottage with his Monkes Hom. against peril of Idolatry part 2 let us see in what lordly estate Augustine liued and what his judgment is concernyng the same of whome it is written in the Homilie of our English Church that he was the best learned of all the Auncient Fathers And Possidonius testifieth of him Posid de vit Aug cap. 31. how excellent and dilligent a Preacher he was Verbum Dei usque ad ipsam suam extermam aegritudinam impraetermisse alacriter et fortiter sana mente sanoque consilio in ecclesia praedicavit He preached the word of God in the Church saith Possidonius without pretermission with sound mind and advised judgment even vnto the time of his extreame sicknes Where marke the word impraetermisse without pretermission how far the Lord Bishops are from this dilligence in our dayes Now touchyng this matter Augustine saith lib de Pastor cap ◠Vnde enim vivitur c. It is of nessitie saith he to take so much as the Pastor may be able to liue on and charitie requyreth so to be given unto him not as though the gospell were a thing to be sould and that should be the price thereof which they take that preach it for so they should indeed sell a great thing for a smale price but they ought to take of the people the sustentation of their necessitie and of the Lord a reward of their stewardship But let us heare what Augustine and all the Bishops of that parte of the world with him not onely say but also in full assemblie decree in the third Counsell of Carthage And first touchyng their titles Canon 26. Carth Coun 3. Vt primae sedis Episcopus c. We decre say they that the Bishop of the first seate shall not be called the cheife preist or hie preist or any such manner of thing but onely he shal be called Bishop of the first seate And marke that they say nor any such manner of thing And also these words but onely by which two wordes they clearly
put on the Surplice and the rest of the Popish apparell as our booke of Martyrs sheweth D. Brooks Lord Bishop of Gloucester commeth to him with these words saying B Put of your cap M. Ridley put upon you this surplice Ridley ib pa. 1934 pag 1935 ed. 1570. Not I truely B But you must Rid I will not B You must therefore make no more a doe but put this surplice upon you Rid Truely if it come upon me it shall be against my will Br Will you not do it upon you Rid No that I will not Br It shall be put upon you by one or other Rid Doe therin as it shall please you I am well contented with that and more then that the servant is not aboue his Master If they delt so cruelly with our Saviour Christ as the scripture maketh mention and he suffered the same patiently how much more doth it become us his servants And in saying of these wordes they put upon the said D. Ridley the Surplice with all the trinkets appertayning to the Masse and as they were putting on the same D. Ridley did vehemently inveigh against the Romish Bishop all that foolish apparell calling him Antichrist that apparell foolish and abominable yea to fond for a vice in a playe Wherin these fiue things are to be observed in this peece of dialogue First that none of all the Popish attire is named but the Surples and that is named three times that it might not be forgottē Secondly that M. Ridley compares those Popish garments to the attire that in scorne and dispite Herod and the rest of the crucifiers put upon Christ Which thing as you heard before M. Iohn Husse speaketh of saying That when they put the white garment upon him he could not but remember how Herod put the white garment upon Christ to scorne him with all Thirdly that he compareth the very crueltie thereof with the cruell and shamefull dealing against Christ As likwise our booke of Martyrs saith of M. Hooper when he was driven by Ridley and the rest Acts Mo. pag. 667. edit 1570 to weare the popish apparell Thus saith our book of Martyrs He had upon his head a geometricall that is a foure squared cap able it that his head was round What cause of shame saith Master Fox the strangnes thereof was that day to that good preacher every man may easily iudge Fourthly that the same rod of Gods correction was now layd upon M. Ridley which he and the rest of the Bishops had laid upon their fellow Elder M. Hooper Fiftly how vehement the spirit of God stirred him up to detest the surplice and the rest of the Popish apparell calling the Pope Antichrist the surplice with the rest of the Popish apparell foolish and abominable and to fond for a vice in a playe Alas that ever the good learned preachers of the word of God should be compelled either to loose their Ministery or else to be attyred like vices and fooles in playes But let us go forward and heare what this noble witnes and Martyr of God saith in other poyntes of reformation now desired In his treatise wherein is conteyned a lamentation for the change of religion in England Acts Mo. pag 1946. edit 1570 he saith There are in the Papistrie an innumerable rablement of abominations Among which he setteth downe by name dispensations and immunities from all godly Discipline lawes and good order pluralityes and totquots and as he saith a thowsand moe O that dispensations of Nonresidencies pluralities vnions and totquots which M. Ridley nombreth among the rablemēt of Popish abominations were out of England and restored unto the Pope which he so often calleth Antichrist and to his spouse the Church of Rome which he calleth the very whore of Babilon And for the name of Priest in his disputation at Oxford he saith There are but two onely orders of Preisthood allowed in the word of God namely the order of Aaron and the order of Melchisedech but now the order of Aaron is come to an end by reason it was unprofitable and weake Hebr. 7. And of the order of Melchisedech there is but one Priest alone even Christ And generally of all matters of religion speaking of the Church of Rome before she plaied the harlot Acts Mo pag 1939. edit 1570. and maried her selfe to Antichrist he saith If ye will know how long that was and how many hundred of yeares to be curious in poynting the precise number of yeares I will not be to bold But thus I say so long and so many hundred yeares as that sea did truely teach and Preach that Gospell that religion exercised that power and ordered every thing by these lawes and rules which that sea receaved of the Apostles as Tertullian saith the Apostles of Christ and Christ of God So long I say that sea might haue been called Peter and Paules chaire and sea or rather Christs chaire and the Bishop therof Apostolicus or a true disciple and successor of the Apostles How happie were we all our Bishops if by this rule of M. Ridley they might be called Apostolici and true Disciples and Successors of the Apostles which cannot be till every thing be ordered by these lawes and rules which they receaue from the Apostles the Apostles of Christ and Christ of God Cranmer Now although I haue alreadie spoken of Cranmer yet heere agayne I cannot but compare him to Solomon with his many hundred wiues who at the last drew him to Idolatry and all abominations So Cranmer being married to many hundred Churches was at the last driven to subscribe to all abominations of Popery For well may we compare the many hundred wives and concubines of Solomon unto the multitude of Churches subject unto an Archbishop pag 929. ed. 1570. And rightly no doubt it is spoken by one of the blessed Martyrs in our booke of Actes Monumēts that it is as lawfull for a lay man to haue two wiues at once as for a preiq to haue two benefices And Cranmer being the elect child of God with Solomon at the last detested the foulnes of his owne fall First he fired his owne hand for subscribing to all the abominatiōs of Antichrist and so entred through the fire of torments into euerlasting ioye with Christ Iewell The like may be sayd of Iewel Bishop of Salisburie who although he did beare much with the injquitie of the to follow but children and infants And in another place he saith They use them as the marchants use his counters somtime they stand for an hundred pounds somtime for a penie This is the objection which unto this day is commonly made against the reformation which many good men desire to be made according to the original of the primitiue Churches which objection you see heere with what derision M. Iuell rejecteth it as though therby they counted Christ and his Apostles as children and