their meaning is that no man can because Christ is head of the vniuersall church be vnder him head of the whole but may well be of some particuler churche as Kinge Henrie was and the Quenes maiestie now is then demaund of them what reason they haue to leade them to say that a particuler membre of the churche as the churche of England can be no more may haue an other head beside Christ and the whole bodie maie not and why one mēbre maie haue two heads more then one bodie Finally if at that time they flattred the king and gaue him that which neither they could giue nor he receiue and abused his good nature to the destruction of so manie notable men as for th' onelie refusall to saie as they said by most exquisite and painefull tormentes lost ther liues saie vnto them that they yet at lenght acknowledge their fault and admonish that good ladie our maistres that she consent not to vse that title which because it belongeth to Christ she may not haue or if theie thinck and will stand in it that she may without offence that they doe yet at the least confesse that reason of theirs to be very weake and of no strenght Christ is head of the churche therefore it maie haue no other Except they will perhappes say that he is head of all other churches and hath onelie lest oures headles so that because he is not head thereof we ar out of the feare of falling into that inconuenience of hauing manie and maie therefore choose some one emongest our selues whome we list Thus I trust good readers you see sufficiently proued that Christes pleasure is for the repressing of heresies and calming of tempestuouse schismes that there be one head of his churche here in earthe supplieng his corporall absence for the time his honor in the meane season nothing thereby the more diminished then it is in other thinges wherein he also vseth the ministerie and seruice of men It foloweth now that I show to yow who is and of right ought to be that head if first I doe yow to vnderstand that it must necessarilie be a priest and that so by iust consequence neither laye man woman nor childe can be capable of that office THAT THE HEAD OF CHRISTES CHVRCHE HERE IN EARTH MVST NEEDES BE A PRIEST GRegorius Nazianzenus that auncient father and maister to S. Hierom in a certein oration that he made of the femelie ordre that ought to be in Christes churche hath thiese wordes Nemo delphinum vidit terram sulcantem neque bouem in vnda laborantem quemadmodum nec solem in nocte crescentem aut decrescentem siue lunam interdiu ignis flammam emittentem whych is in englishe to saie thus much There is no man that euer sawe the dolphin forsaking the sea plowe the lande or the oxe leaue the earth to swymme and labour in the water no more then the sonne in the night rising or falling or the moone in the day shining And as thiese kepe the ordre and course to them by god and nature appoincted the dolphin the water the oxe the land the sonne the daie the moone the night without entremedling them selues ether in others function so is there saith he in christes churche an ordre taken that one shalbe a head to rule and giue councell some other in place of feete to goe some handes to worcke other some eares to heare and eyes to see some shepherds to feede other some shepe to be fedde some in one office some in an other This most bewtifull order in Christes churche is on our behalfes as many as wilbe accompted membres thereof inuiolably to be obserued onlesse in obedience towardes our creator we will by brute beastes suffer our selues to be vanquished and ouercome This is that ordre whereapon dependeth the welfare or illfare of the whole worlde This is that ordre which so long as it remaineth whole and not broken so long common wealthes florishe so long vnitie and peace ar norished so long Christes true religion triumpheth as contrary wise the breache thereof when the feete that should goe will vsurping th'office of the head presume to giue councell the eyes wil heare the eares wilbe eyes the head wil goe the shepe feede their sheppherds the scholer teache his maister is in verie dede the breakeneck of all good ordre and common quiet This is that orderly cōiunction of one membre with an other and euerie one in his owne place which although it be and euer hath byn a greate mote in Satans eye yet neuer durst he or any of his directly impugne it And therefore hath he by those his ministres whome in thiese our daies he hath sturred vp ageinst Christ and his truthe found out such a bie waie as wherebie he maie bothe remoue this let whych hindreth so much his course and seeme yet neuertheles to stād stoutelie in the defence thereof For what doe our aduersaries trow yow expressely mainteine that ordre is naught that the scholer should teache the maister the shepe feede ther shepherd that thinges should be so iumbled together and such a hochepot made of all estates that it should be lawfull for euerie man to comptroll one an other in his of fice No no they be wiser then so I warrant you For although in deede all their driftes tend to that ende yet couet they to make men beleue that they minde nothing lesse For if they should openly pretend so much then wer the matter at an end and ther credit vtterlie lost And therefore for the sauegard thereof they would cast before our eyes such a mist that we should beleue those that be in very dede scholers to be maisters shepe to be shepherdes the feete to be the head and the head to be the feete and that vnder such gouernement there wer of ordre no breache at all This is no newe or strange practise good christian readers but vsed euen from the beginning and continued dailie by that old enemie to mankinde and wily serpent the Diuel to set vp vice and ouerthrow vertue Thus cloketh he pride with the name of clenlinesse couetousnes he termeth frugalitie prodigalitie liberalitie adulterie in other men solace in priestes and such as haue uowed the contrary he couereth it with the honorable title of matrimonie although the auncient fathers of Christes churche haue not doubted some of them to call it not as doe the diuels ministres mariage but adulterie as dothe S. Ambrose S. Basil and Theophilactus some of them as S. Hierom S. Austen and Chrisostom not adulterie onelie as doe th' other but sacrilege and incest This practise I say of the diuel their fathers doe those his ministres most diligentlie imitate those clawebacks and princes parasites whose fauour when they labour to winne that vnder the shadow thereof their heresie may finde the better entreteinement and to the poysoning of the worlde the freer passage they vse
of thiese wordes must nedes be atteined by the conference of one place of scripture with an other and to that ende doe they not fondly alleage S. Paule callyng Chryst a rocke yea Chryst calling hym selfe a vine when he was in dede neither the one nor the other but by a fimilitude As though because th' apostle or Chryst hymself vseth a fygure in one place we must thincke that in all other he neuer spake other wise By which abhominable doctrine what letteth if a man would be so wicked to affirme that Chryst the sonne of god and second parson in trinitie wer not the true and naturall sonne of god but by adoption onelye and for that wycked heresy to bring this texte dedit eis potestatem filios dei fieri he gaue them power to be made the sonnes of god Which wordes we knowe being spoken by vs men must be vnderstand by grace and adoption and frowardly to mainteyne that all the places whych any good man can bryng for the defence of the contrary should be drawen to thys texte alleaged by them and expownded and vnderstand thereby The Anabaptystes who deny the baptesme of infants leane they not thyncke yow to thys grounde of yours yea truely and good reason it is that being all heretykes as you ar although in some poyntes dissentyng yet all ioining and agreing in one cancred hatred against the churche you should all vse the same rules and principles For that I may here passe ouer that reason of the Anabaptistes which belongeth to an other place that therefore infants must not be baptized because it is not expressed in scripture a principle also of your religion but deliuered vnto vs by tradition saye they not also that they haue the scripture playne for them ageinst vs where yt hath Qui erediderit baptizatus fueriâ— saluus erit he that beleueth and is baptized shalbe saued and again in an other place vna fides vnum baptisma one faythe one baptesme By whych places say they it appeareth that say the must goe before and baptisme folowe after And when the catholykes to represse and vtterly ouerthrowe this bruâ—ysh and beastely opinion answer that for infants thus baptized the faithe of the churche is sufficient and accounted for theirs crie they not as yowe doe that in this controuersâ—e one place of scripture must expound an other and that therefore where as the scripture requireth in him that is baptized faith that theie must haue it of their owne according to th'apostles saieng fides ex auditu faithe commeth by hearing which infants can not haue and according to the saieng of the prophete Iustus ex fide sua victurus est the iust man shall liue by his owne faithe I am sory that in answering to this fond reason I haue bin compelled to make anie mencion of such horrible heresies as thiese ar which I had much rather wer with their first authors buried in hel from whence theie cam where neither they nor their name might euer hereafter offend the conscience of any good christian man But as I haue necessarily laied before your eyes thiese that by a part yow may iudge of the whole so haue I willingly staied my self from rehercing whole swarmes of such opinions as being of all men taken for confessed heresies onely depend apon this one false ground that we nede here in earthe no other iudge to decide and determine doubtes arising upon the sâ—ripture then the scripture it self whych being they saye laied and conferred to gether one text with an other will not faile to bring vs to the right vnderstanding thereof If your hartes good readers be moued with thiese heresies in the reading as truely god I take to witnesse mine was in the writing abhorre those that teache them shonne and auoide such principles and groundes as haue byn the foundacion not of thiese onelie but of all that now reigne in the worlde and may be of any other hereafter that any desperate heretyke lysteth to inuent Stick to those by which all heretykes haue byn and thiese shalbe to their vtter confusion vanquished Shrincke not rashelie from that fundacioÌ„ whereon your elders and forfathers fastening them selues haue passed ouer so many hundred yeares in the true confession of one god one faith one truthe to them that hauing yet scarse fourty on ther backes haue notwithstanding emoÌ„gest theÌ„ creaping all out of the filthy neast of one Martin Luther so manie faythes and yet no faith so many truthes and yet no truthe neuer a one agreing with the other as there be mad frantick heads emongest them Giue no eare to that subtil generation walcking in the darck like blinde battes without a head without a iudge and all to thend ther iuggeling might not be espied Tell them that yow haue sene them thriue so euel apon that presumption of theirs so many heresies so many schismes and lewd opinions brought in thereby that yow ar at a poinct with your selues to leaue them and take that way that S. Hierom in the like case hath doen before yow who although his knowledge in the tongues wer such as by the report of most men it passed anie others in his time yet would not he take apon him in the discussing of doutes to leane to that rule of theirs to lay and confer to gether one texte with an other but referring him self to the see of Rome he alwaies protested that by that seate and faithe praised by th'apostles owne mouth would he be counceled and ruled Beatitudini tuae id est cathedrae Petri communione consocior To your holines saith he writing to Damasus then the bishop of Rome that is to say to Peters chaire am I ioined in communion and he addeth a cause whie Super illam Petram aedificatam ecclesiam scio I knowe that on that rock Peters chaire the churche is builded Say vnto them as S. Hierom said vnto the the heretikes Vitalis and Miletus because they ar aduersaries to this seate that yow knowe them not that they scatter and ar schismatikes alltogether out of the churche that gather not with Peters successor Tell them boldelie with S. Austen that yow will owe neither sute nor seruice to their chaire of pestilence nor be a membre of that bodie that either lacketh a head and is a dead tronck or hath many and is a liue monstre Aske of them with what face they could so many yeares to gether call king Henrie the eight supreame head of the churche of England immediatlie vnder god and nowe our gracious souereigne lady his daughter supreame gouernor in all ecclesiasticall thinges and causes ouer the same which how so euer they please them selues with fine fetches and coloured deuises is with th'other title in effect all one if this reason of theirs wer good Christ is head of the churche therefore there is no other head thereof vnder him And how was king Henrie then if they say that
emperour yet hath he not thereby gotten auctoritie to depose bishoppes and ordeine newe â–ª which onely bishoppes must doe So strange a thing semed it then good readers in Christes churche which nowe we see so commonly done Long after thiese emperours start vp Leo Isaurus emperour of Constantinople he that made war with images Ageinst him god raised vp also his Azarias one to warn him of his duetie and that was that notable learned man Iohn Damascenus Giue saith he the apostle Paule crieth to euery one his due honor feare pension tribute to eche one that which they ought to haue The charge that kinges haue is to see well to their common weales the ordering of the churches apperteineth to the pastours and teachers This manner of inuading other mennes offices I can terme it no better my brethern then robbery and plaine violence And a little after he hath thiese wordes Tibi ô rex in ijs quae pertinent ad presentis vitae negocia c. As for those thinges ô king which concern onely this presâ—nt life in those we willingly obey the. In ordering thâ— state of the churche we haue shepherdes which haue spoken to vs the worde of god that is to saie taught it vs and haue left vs rites and ordres therefore And in the same place he addeth Non recipio regeÌ„ qui per tyrannidem sibi sacerdotiuÌ„ vsurpat I acknowledge him for no king that vsurpeth by tirany the priestes office And last of all to knit vp the knot in plaine wordes he saith Non assentior vt regum legibus gubernetur ecclesia sed patrum potius traditionibus siue scriptae hae sint siue non scriptae I consent not saith he that the churche of god shalbe gouerned by the lawes of kinges but by the traditions rather of oure fathers be they written or vnwritten And thus much hetherto good readers haue I thought good to reherce that yow may the better vnderstand how the auncient fathers of Christes churche haue not ceased continually from time to time to resist the vnlaufull attempt of such princes as being heretikes or enueigled theretoe by heretikes for of other perdy it was neuer gone about nor of all them neither would contrary to the expresse worde of god the custome of Christes churche from the beginning continued the alowed exaÌ„ples of all ages of all common weales Christian and heathen hetherto practised mingle heauen and earth holie and prophane together by vnlawfull vsurping to them selues the supreme and chief gouernement in causes ecclesiasticall To come nearer home to our owne time and daies if in it any prince haue attempted the like there hath not lacked also stoare of diuerse meÌ„ singuler bothe for their vertuous life and exquisite learning which haue rather chosen to withstand the same with the expence of their bloud and losse of this present life then to the vtter destructioÌ„ of both body and soule and losse of that which must continue for euer to consent thereto But if thiese examples please not the deinty tast of the aduersaries as being ouer stale I shall set before them their owne deare derling the piller while he liued of their religion the very head of their churche if they be not all together headlesse their Idol and their god in earthe whose doctrine and opinions at other times and in other thinges they haue so rauenouslie deuoured Iohn Caluin him self For if kinges and temporall gouernours as our aduersaries affirme ought euerie one of them in their realmes signories and dominions to gouerne in causes ecclesiasticall and matters of religion whie did then that monsterous beaste in his comentaries apon the prophetes Osâ—e and Amos rayl apoÌ„ our late souereigne lorde king Henrie the eight calling him homo belluinus a beastelie maÌ„ and comparing him with Iehû whome he termeth wicked and nought Why termed he theÌ„ blasphemers that first buzzed into his eares that vaine desire to be called chief head of the churche of England for of other yow wot well he neuer attempted to be nor euer was called vnder Christe here in earth If Caluin haue taught the truthe then haue his scholers taught vs and yeat doe feede vs with lies If they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie chief head of the churche of England vnder Christ which is to saie in effect nothing elles but to be chief gouernour in all causes belonging to the same who was yet a man although laie and thereto also of great wisdome and learning in what degree of blasphemie shall we place them that giue this title not to laie men onelie but to women also and children with out respect If Caluin who touching the giuing of this vnlaufull title to our late lord and maister was vtterly innocent coÌ„plained yet that euen his conscience was wounded not a little there withall how much more daungerousely wounded ought they to thinck them selues who of so many horrible and bloudly woundes whereby for the refusall to folow this example in christes churche neuer hard of before so many godly learned and innocent men in this realme haue died some by heading some by hanging some by quartering and tearing peace meale one membre from an other haue by ther false and vntrue suggestions byn the chief and onelie occasion who yet like cruell bloudsuckers and bloudy bourreâ—aus cary about in their murdering aud malicious mouthes the naked knife which wer it laufull for them they would sheathe in the throates of euerie one of vs that thinck not as they doe But if now on the contrarie part their maister Caluin wer deceauid if they be in the right and he in the wrong why steppeth none of them furth to defend and vindicate from perpetuall infamy that prince of famouse memory which by his railing writinges this wretched caytiff goeth about to bring him into why haue they left him so long vndefended who did no other thing then whereof them selues wer the authors and first beginners Or why at the least purge theie not them selues of the horrible crime of blasphemie laied by him to their charges and all such as theie ar for if they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie head of the churche of Englande what priuilege haâ—e thiese that calling not onelie him but his sonne and daughter by the same title in effect they should not incurre the same crime Where is now their spirit of vnitie that they ar wont so much to bragge of which dissent not here in any small poinct or from any meane man but euen from the chiefest caterpiller whyle he liued of their congregatioÌ„ who not onely in thiese places before by me alleaged kepeth as it wer with their proceadings a combat but elles where in his InstitutioÌ„s doeth merueilousâ—y discredit the same And in steede of manie places which might be brought here out of his worckes I shall onely for this time be coÌ„tented to alleage one in such sort as I finde it in the frenche because at the writing hereof