who shall reforme the World in better and shall bring backe all Clergie-men to the ancient and primitiue manner of liuing according to the forme of the Disciples of Christ He shall conuert the Infidels and the Iewes c. And so there shall be one Law one faith and one Baptisme and one manner of liuing and all Christian people shall be of one minde and of one heart louing one another and their peace shall last many yeares but after the world hath beene reformed into better the malice of men shall againe awake and they shall returne to the committing the former euils yea they shall doe more wickedly then ere they did before for the which cause God shall hasten the end of the World And as the authors of those Prophesies who fore-told of the vtter desolation of Rome seemed to allude vnto the 21.22.23 and 24. Verses of the eighteenth chapter of the Reuelation by which words in those Verses the Angell fore-shewed the same so the latter end of this old Prophesie seemeth to haue relation to these words of Christ in the 12. Verse of the 24. Chapter of Saint Matthew And because iniquitie shall be increased the loue of many shall be cold As also to these words in the 22. Verse according to the vnderstanding of some And except those daies should be shortened there should no flesh be saued But for the Elect sake those daies shall be shortned And the former part seemeth also to allude vnto those words in the sixe and twentieth and 27. Verses of the 7. Chapter of the Prophet Daniel which sheweth that after Antichrist and his Kingdome is ouerthrowne the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and the Iewes shall be called and so all shall be conuerted to the truth and serue the onely true God Neuerthelesse wee may not vnderstand it to be meant of euery particular of all For howsoeuer Antichrist the Head and his successiue incorporate body shall vtterly be desolued so as that there shall neuer be any more a publique Church of Antichrist yet euen as it is now here in England and the other conuerted Nations some of the members of the misticall body of Antichrist will remaine scattered here and there in diuers parts of the World to the comming of Christ to iudgement For to the same effect are these words of S. Paul 2 Thessalonians 2. Chapter where he speaking of Antichrist and his members saith Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and abolish with the brightnesse of his comming And as that old Prophesie did foreshew the calling of the Iewes by the meanes of a godly and learned Bishop so in another Prediction had out of the Bishop of Limoges Library in France vttered more then 600. Yeeres agoe it is said that an holy Bishop shall cause a generall Councell to be called and shall perswade Christian Princes to ioyne together all their powers against the Sarazens and to rid Ierusalem of them which being done the same Bishop because of the iniquity of the Romans shall translate Saint Peters Chaire to Ierusalem and shall suffer none other Law but that onely of Iesus Christ And to this agreeth that Prophesie of Sauanarola the Dominican Friar which to shew that as Ierusalem was the first Church and the chiefe of all other so it should be at the last saith thus I saw in a vision in the yeere of our Lord 1482. two Crosses the one was blacke planted in the middest of the City of Rome spreading as it were the armes ouer the whole Earth and with the top touching the whole Heauen whereon was written these words Crux Irae Dei The Crosse of Gods anger or wrath which hauing seene behold incontinent I beheld and saw the aire darkened and troubled with tempestuous cloudes windes lightnings darts swords fire and haile and mee thought I saw an innumerable number of men destroyed through the force and violence thereof so that few were left behinde vnslaine Afterwards I saw a sweete faire and cleare time ensuing and loe I beheld and saw as it were a golden Crosse in the middest of Ierusalem of the brightnesse and height of the former so bright that it did inlighten the whole World and filled the same with new ioy and gladnesse and it had written vpon it Crux misericordiae Dei The Crosse of the mercy and fauour of God and loe incontinent and on a suddaine all the Nations of the World of both Sexe came in troupes from all parts to behold it Esay cap. 2. Verse 2. and imbraced it And this Vision seemeth to agree with that Prophesie of Esay Chap. the 2. where it is said It shall be in the last dayes that the mountaine of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of the mountaines and shall be exalted aboue the hilles and all Nations shall flow vnto it And also with these words of Saint Paul Romans 11. If the fall of them to wit the Iewes be the riches of the World and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles how much more shall their abundance be By which and other such like Visions saith the Translator the aforesaid holy man Sauanarola was forewarned of the future castigation and renouation of the Church of Rome and how that the Apostolike Sea should be remoued from thence to Ierusalem which is likewise according to the Prediction of the Franciscan Friar Ioannes de Rupe scissa and also to another Prediction had out of Limoges Library in France and finally to the Prediction of Marlinus Caldidonius And now Christian Reader as it seemeth apparant by these Romish Predictions agreeable to the Scriptures that God respecteth England as the holy Land of Canaan so is it made yet more apparant by William of Malmsbury in his second Booke of his Kings and second Booke of his Bishops where hee sheweth that in a Vision to holy Brithwall Bishop of Winchester this voyce was vttered Regnum Anglorum est Dei The Kingdome of England is Gods Which signifieth that howsoeuer all the Nations in the world are Gods as well as England yet hath God made speciall choyce of England aboue all other Nations in the World to effect some notable and extraordinary worke which worke we may easily gather by all the former Predictions is to be a chiefe instrument of the propagation of the Gospell to forraigne Lands both for the calling in of the remainder of the Gentiles and also of the whole Nation of the Iewes To the which I beseech our Lord God to giue good successe and to send peace and agreement amongst the Electors For their Astrologian Ruth in the second part of his Booke 7. Chapter sheweth that there shall be great tribulation and diuision amongst them and therefore admonisheth them to agree lest the Turke get so great aduantage by their discord as to driue the Bohemian Polonians Danes and English to be glad to contract a league of amity with him which thing God
Euseb eccles his lib. 2. cap. 14.16 Peter came not to Rome till the second yeere of Cladius the Emperour which was in the yeere of Christ 44. and foureteene yeares after hee was called to be an Apostle During which time hee and the other Apostles had planted many Churches in the world and yet was none of them the mother Church For that onely must needes be the mother which was first in which Christ himselfe first planted and taught that Faith and Religion which afterwards by the meanes of his Apostles should be made Catholique which as S. Matth. Matth. 26. Luke 21. Matth. 10.5.6 chap. 26.55 and Saint Luke chap. 21.37.38 sheweth was Ierusalem which Faith and Religion as appeareth in Matthew 10. Christ commaunded not to reueale to the Gentiles till they had spread it throughout the Regions of Ierusalem therefore Ierusalem and not Rome was the first and most ancient Church 10. Againe when as afterwards the Gospell was preached to the Gentiles it was not first taught to the Romans no not by S. Peter himselfe For as themselues confesse Peter after he had preached well neere seuen yeares about the coasts of Ierusalem went to Antioch and taught there other 7. yeares before hee came to Rome therefore that verie first Church of Rome could not be the most ancient Mother of the true Catholique Faith and Religion If not the first which was planted by Peter then not the second that was planted by Boniface aboue fiue hundred yeares after 11 And that it may yet more manifestly appeare that shee was not the Mother but one of the chiefe Daughters not the head but a chiefe member of the Mother Church these words of Tertullian which liued in the next age after the Apostles will make it plaine d Tertul. de praescription contra Haereticos Runne ouer said he and behold the Apostolike Churches whereas the Apostles Chaires are yet still continued and whereas the Authenticall writings of the Apostles are pronounced sounding out the voyces and representing the faces of each one of them The next Countrey to you is Achaia There haue you the Church of Corinth If ye be not farre from Macedonia there haue you the Church of Philippi and the Church of Thessalonica If ye may goe ouer into Asia there haue ye the Church of Ephesus If ye border neere to Italie there haue ye the Church of Rome And further to proue Rome but one of the chiefe members of the whole Church he saith thus e Tertul. De praescription contra Haereticos These so many and so great Churches are all that same one first Church planted by the Apostles from whence issued all the rest And so are they all first Churches and all Apostolique in that they follow all one vnitie By which who seeth not but that euen that same Church of Rome which was first was but one of the Daughters of Ierusalem from which the Church Triumphant had her name deriued and not from Rome and yet indeed was shee but the figure of the vniuersall Mother Church For as Saint Paul said Galathians 4.26 Ierusalem which is aboue Galat. 4.26 is the Mother of vs all therefore it is flat blasphemy to say that Rome is the vniuersall Mother of all Christian Churches and the rather for that as her state standeth now the Angell saith Reuelat. 17. Shee is the mother of whoredomes and abominations of the earth 12 Againe The Church triumphant and the church millitant being but one can haue therefore but one head in that the Apostle saith Ierusalem which is aboue is the mother of vs all it sheweth the Church Triumphant and the Church millitant to make both but one Church And therefore whereas the Papists would make these two parts of the Church two seuerall Churches that so they might set vpon the millitant part another head besides Christ what else doe they thereby but make that part an adultresse and consequently the Whore of Babylon For by Saint Pauls doctrine Romans 7.3 Romans 7. shee that hath two Husbands at one time is an Whore And doubtlesse howsoeuer shee is rightly called Babylon for resembling olde Babylon in Tyrany Idolatry and other abominations yet is shee called an Whore chiefly for coupling her selfe to another Husband besides Christ 13 In the time of the Apostles Christ onely is the Head it is cleare by Saint Paul in diuers of his Epistles that both the parts of the Church as well that beneath as that aboue and both together Christ onely is the head had none other head but Christ For first Ephesians 1. cap. verses 20.21.22 he speaking of Christ saith Ephes 1.20.21.22 God set him at his right hand in the heauenly places farre aboue all principalitie and power and might and domination and euery name that is named not in this World onely but also in that that is to come And hath made all things subiect vnder his feete and hath giuen him ouer all things to be the head of the Church which is his body And Colossians 1.18.19 He is the head of the body of the Church Colos 1.18.19 he is the beginning and the first begotten of the dead that in all things hee might haue the preeminence For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell Also to shew that the Church hath onely but this one head hee writing to the Church of Corinth 2 Epistle 11.2 said thus vnto her 2 Cor. 11.2 I haue prepared you for one Husband to present you as a pure Virgin to Christ Which plainly declareth that as the Church vnder the Law had none other Husband but God himselfe Vnder the Law the Church had no husband but God For as the Prophet Esay said to the Church of the Iewes cap. 45.5 He that made thee is thine Husband whose name is the Lord of Hostes so likewise vnder the Gospell that the Church hath none other Husband but onely the Sonne of God 14 And now also that it may as plainely appeare that for 605. yeeres next after Christ this doctrine of one headship was onely approued of euen by the Bishop of Rome himselfe to wit Gregory the Great these his owne words written against the Bishop of Constantinople which sought to be vniuersall head with Christ will make it cleare f Gregory lib. 4. Epist 38. If said he Saint Paul would not haue the members of the Lords body to be subiect to any heads but to Christ no not to the Apostles themselues what wilt thou answer to Christ the head of the vniuersall Church in the last day of iudgement which goeth about to haue all his members subiect to thee by the title of vniuersall Whom doest thou imitate in so peruerse a name but Lucifer So that here we see the case made cleare that the Romish Church with two heads Christ and the Pope as yet had not any being at all neither the name of Pope approued of as wee shewed in
fall before any of the rest tooke the more care of him and paines with him and vsed greater motiues to incourage him to constancie it doth not therefore follow Peter Peter none but Peter Nay we see it most euident to be altogether no such matter onely it was a subtill illusion whereby they did cunningly conueigh all power in the Romish iurisdiction to the Pope and by which they labour still to retaine it and not onely that power which they faine Peter to haue had aboue the other Apostles but euen that also which God himselfe hath aboue all for thus doe they write * See Chap. 1. Sect. 3. In the Pope there is all manner of power aboue all power as well of heauen as of earth Againe * Ibidem The Pope hath power ouer the Angels both good and bad Againe * Ibidem The Pope hath power to commaund the Angels and hath power ouer the dead Againe * Ibidem The Pope hath so great power both in Purgatory and also in Hell that hee may deliuer by his Indulgences and place in the heauen and habitation of the blessed as many soules as he will Againe * Ibidem The Pope is all and aboue all By which what else will they proue but that the Pope is the God of all power and consequently an almighty God Moreouer thus doe they write * Ibidem It is sacriledge to doubt of the Popes power for he is the cause of causes therefore we must make no question about his power seeing there is no cause of the first cause And hereby they will proue him to be an eternall God But forasmuch as they fain the Pope to haue receiued al his power from Peter let them shew vs first in what place of Scripture they find Peter to haue receiued this power froÌ„ Christ secondly where any of all the Apostles haue thus written of Peters power if they can shew none then it is certaine Peter neuer had that power and therefore the Pope could not receiue it from him and yet notwithstanding doe they further write thus * Cha. 1. Sect. â— The Pope hath the place vpon earth not of a pure man but of a true God Againe * Ibidem Our holy Father the Pope is an vndoubted and true God on earth Therefore * Sect. 4. Those things hee doth hee doth them as God * Sect. 2. And is to be taken for God and worshipped with diuine honour as God And to ratifie the truth heereof they close vp the whole with this title * Sect. 2. Our Lord God the Pope Therefore forasmuch as none is to be found in any part of all the Christian Churches in the vniuersall world that doth claime to himselfe the essentiall properties and prerogatiues of God but the Pope it is without all contradiction none but the Pope is that Antichrist The man of sinne and sonne of perdition fore-told by Saint Paul 2 Thessalonians 2. That should sit as God in the Temple of God shewing himselfe to be God To be briefe as they cannot shew any one Scripture by the authoritie whereof the Pope may iustly claime from Peter these essentiall prerogatiues of God or the title of God so can they not shew by any one place of Scripture that Christ cuer gaue to Peter any such titles or dignities as the Pope yet further claimeth from him as to be called the Vicar of Christ Supreame head of the Church or Prince of Priests Nay albeit the contrary may be directly proued in that when as the strife was risen amongst the Apostles about supreame principalitie Luke 22. Christ himselfe tooke in hand the matter and thus resolued them saying Luke 22.24 Matth. 20.25 Marke 10.24 Matth. 20. Marke 10. It shall not be so among you but whosoeuer will be great among you shall be your seruant and whosoeuer will be chiefe of you shall be seruant to all the rest yet will they haue Peter to be the Prince of all the Apostles that so they might deriue that dignitie to the Pope to make him Prince of all Priests Therefore for the knitting vp of all that hitherto we haue intreated of and the manifest opening and clearing of the whole matter and of all that we haue said concerning this point this I say that forasmuch as wee haue proued this maine fundamentall principle not to stand vpon a sound ground whatsoeuer is built thereon can not stand For seeing Christ gaue no greater principalitie to Peter then hee did to any of the other Apostles it was not possible that Peter could be the supreame head of Christs vniuersall Church And that it may also appeare how vnlawfull it was for Peter or any but Christ alone so to be Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome himselfe plainely proueth from Saint Paul as may appeare where hee reprehending Iohn Bishop of Constantinople for attempting to be supreame head of the Church gaue him to vnderstand that therein he declared himselfe to be the fore-runner of Antichrist And to shew him that he was neuer able to answere that iniurie done to Christ he demaunded of him this question saying z Gregor lib. 4. Epist. 38. If Saint Paul would not haue the members of the Lords body to bee subiect to any head but to Christ no not to the Apostles themselues what wilt thou answere to Christ the head of the vuiuersall Church at the last iudgement that thus goeth about by the name of Vniuersall Bishop to make all his members subiect to thee Whom doest thou immitate in this so peruerse a name but Lucifer that would haue beene head ouer all the Angels in heauen By which hee proueth this saying of Cardinall Cusanus a Cusanus ad Bohemos epist 2. The members vmted to the Chaire ioyned to the Pope make the Church to be but an Antichristian delusion and the Pope for taking vpon him to be supreame head of Christs vniuersall Church to be that great Antichrist which the Church of Rome should take for her other husband besides Christ whereby she should proue her selfe to be indeed the whoore of Babylon mentioned by the Angell in the seauenteenth chapter of the Reuelation For it is manifest by Saint Paul Romans 7.2 That she that hath two husbands at once is an whoore And therefore this maketh the case to stand cleare that Rome cannot be the Mother of all Christian Churches vnlesse wee may conclude that all Christian Churches are the children of an whoore which God forbid 13 The Church of God vnder the Law The Church vnder the Law had God onely to her husbaÌ„d as the Church vnder the Gospel hath Christ onely had none other Head or husband but God himselfe as appeareth by the Pâ—ophet Esay 45.5 where hee said to the Church of the Iewes Hee that made thee is thine husband whose name is the Lord of Hostes So by the words of Saint Paul it appeareth as plainely that vnder the Gospell
vnto them on their bare knees lifting vp both eyes and hands vnto them and putting forth their voyces vpon them with many deuout prayers amongst which this prayer to the Image of Christ a In a prayer booke O maker of heauen and earth King of Kings and Lord of Lords which of nothing diddest make me to thine owne similitude and likenesse and didst redeeme mee with thine owne bloud whom I a sinner am not worthy to call vpon I desire thee c. And so forwards for all things needfull both for soule and body And that indeed it may appeare that this prayer is not made vnto Christ by the Image but euen to the very Image it selfe this Title ouer head A prayer to the Image of the body of Christ doth make it most manifest Therefore whether this be no more to take the Image for God then dogges doe take those Images for the creatures themselues or whether it be possible for people to vse greater meanes or to make a more manifest apparence that by a consequence they take it for God Let the vnpartiall Reader iudge But it is cleare by their common practise that they are of that sort of counterfeit Christians who in Saint Augustines time would haue cloaked their Idolatrie with cunning speeches whom notwithstanding he thus reproued for Idolaters saying b Augustine in his Sermon of the words of Christ in Mat. Let them not say to me they take the Image for no diuine power they know it not to be God I would to God saith hee they so knew it as wee know it but what they haue and what they doe about it the Altar beareth witnesse Wherefore let them say what they will and shaddow their damnable idolatrie as closely as they can vnder the mysterie of iniquitie here in this life their practise shall sufficiently prooue at the day of iudgement whether they be Idolaters or no and whether they be not of that sort which Epiphanius speaketh of * Epiphan lib. 3. in oratione de Fide Catholica Which abhorre the sight of Idols and yet fall downe and worship them 4 The second reason whereby they would proue themselues no Idolaters wee heard to be this namely They worship not the Image but God by it to which wee answere To worship God by an Image is flat Idolatrie and a breach of the second Commandement which vtterly forbiddeth any at all to be vsed in any part of Gods worship in that it forbiddeth any at all to be made for Spirituall vse Therefore it is cleare that if God had not accounted it Idolatrie to be worshipped by Images hee would not haue said Exod. 20.4 Exodus 20. Thou shalt make thee no grauen Image Neither would he haue said Deut. 27.15 Deuter. 27. Cursed be the man that shall make any carned or molten Image which is an abomination vnto the Lord. Therefore seeing the Image maker is accursed and the Image it selfe abominable it must needes be an accursed and abominable Idolatrie to worship God by an Image Also forasmuch as the Lord accounteth the Image abominable and the maker accursed they must needes be abominable and accursed that will compell him to be worshipped by it Yea doubtlesse and they also must needes be abominable and accursed which allow accursed and abominable Images to be holy monuments in the Church and profitable as true Teachers of the ignorant seeing the Lord by the Prophet Ieremie chap. Ieremy 10.8 10. hath said thus of those that make any such reckoning of them They altogether dote and are foolish for the stocke is a Doctrine of vanitie And seeing also by the mouth of the Prophet Habakkuk chap. Habak 2.18.19 2. he hath said What profiteth the Image for the maker thereof hath made it an Image and a teacher of lies Nay seeing he hath also by the same Prophet denounced an euerlasting woe against all those that desire such Teachers saying Woe to him that saith to the wood Awake and to the dumbe stone Rise vp it shall teach thee As also seeing their owne Canonicall Scripture the 15. of Wisedome sayth thus of them and their Images Wised 15.5.6 Whose sight stirreth vp the desire of the ignorant so that hee coueteth the forme that hath no life euen of a dead Image they that loue such wicked things are worthy to haue such things to trust vnto and they that make them and they that worship them and they that desire them That is Esay 57.13 they all are worthy to haue no better helpe in the great day of neede then can come from those Images Therefore the Lord by the Prophet Esay chapter 44. Esay 44.11 hath thus denounced the definitiue sentence against the whole fraternitie of them saying All that are of the fellowship thereof shall be confounded To wit all that * Esay 45.16 make Images for spiritual vses all that vse them as Lay mens bookes to stirre vp their deuotion all that worship God by them all that worship them for God or that vse them in any part of Gods worship or doth but desire them liuing and dying in the same minde shall at the last day be confounded together in the Lake of fire burning with brimstone Reuel 19.2.20 and 21.8 and 22.15 as appeareth in the 19. chapter of the Reuelation and also in the 21. and 22. chapter and Psalme 97. Esay 45.16 verse 5 This diuellish deuice Christian Reader of worshipping one by another was both the father and mother of the whole worlds Idolatrie which as the fourteenth chapter of Wisedome sheweth came first vp in this manner Wisd 14.14 15 When a father mourned grieuously for his sonne that was taken away sodainely he made an Image for him that was dead whom now he worshippeth as a God and ordained to his seruants ceremonies and sacrifices thus in processe of time this wicked custome preuailed and was kept as a Lawe and Idoles were worshipped by the commaundement of tyrants So that hereby we see how Idolatry first crept in among the Heathen which afterwards was imitated amongst the Iewes and after them among the new conuerted Christians as we shall prooue heereafter In the meane time as we see by this first deuice how Images came in time to be worshipped for God among the Heathen so let vs see also what good effect the practise thereof hath wrought among the Papists which we shall finde made manifest in the tenure of the Doctrine of the Romish Church in which it is thus written c In the false Councel of the Greekes Citantur inlibro Caroli Magni Hee that feareth God adoreth an Image as hee would adore the Sonne of God Againe d Tho. Aquin. part 3. quest 25. Since Christ is adored with diuine honour it followeth that his Image must be adored with the selfe-same diuine honour And againe e Iacob Nanclantus in Epist. ad Rom. cap. 1. Wee must therefore confesse that the faithfull in
they may after feare or feare those things which they haue framed And then deriding them with the words of their common answere he sayth No forsooth say they we feare not that but them after whose Image they be made and to whose names they beconsecrated Againe whereas they doubted their religion to be void without Images he thus resolueth their doubt p Lactant. lib. 2. cap. 19. Out of all doubt where there is an Image there is no religion If then where an Image is there true religion is not and that in the Popes iurisdiction euery Church is full of Images it is cleare that in all Churches within the Popes iurisdiction true Religion is not and consequently no religion And this is it whereof their Saint Hildegard thus foreshewed would come to passe saying q S. Hilde gard a Nunne lib. 3. Vision 11. Sciuias In the Apostolicall Order to wit saith she of the Romaine Sea no religion shall be found To be briefe Saint Augustine by rendering this reason why that sort of counterfeit Christians were so addicted to Images saying r Augustine in his booke against Admantus the 13. cha They would seeme to fauour Images to make the Heathen to thinke the better of their most miserable and lewd Sect plainely proueth the Papists to be not true Catholiques but most miserable and lewd Sectaries who wee see had rather ioyne themselues with the barbarous Heathen in their damnable idolatrie and superstition then with true Christians in the sinceritie and puritie of the Gospell of saluation And thus much touching the third and last illusion 9 But now forasmuch as they haue induced the ignorant to beleeue that in this their manner of worship they please God well it is our parts and duties to make knowne vnto them how it pleased God in them of olde time that so thereby they may the better iudge how themselues therein please God Exo. 32.27.28 The thirty two chapter of Exodus plainly declareth that the Israelites who acknowledged the true God for worshipping an Image were slaine in one day three thousand The tenth chapter of Hosea Hosea 10.1 to the 8. declareth as plainely that because the peoples hearts were diuided in affection betweene God and Images the Lord caused the Prophet to denounce such and so great desolation to come vpon them as that they should wish the hilles and mountaines to fall vpon them Also the first chapter of Zephaniah declareth Zephan 1. cha 1. to the 5. that because Iuda and Ierusalem had imparted the worship of God to the Hoste of heauen and his glorie to the idol gods in swearing by the Lord and by Malcham as the Papists doe By God and By the Roode By God and By the Masse the Lord threatned to destroy all things vpon the earth all things in the Sea the foules of Heauen and the inhabitants of the Land So then by this the most ignorant may euidently perceiue how in this their manner of idoll worship they please God 10 And now for that the Romanists are found Idolaters in the highest degree in that so directly contrary to the reuealed will of God and knowledge of his expresse Lawe which the Heathen had not make a Stocke and a Stone God in giuing vnto it the same diuine worship and honour that is due to God himselfe who hath sayd by the mouth of the Prophet Esay chap. Esay 42.8 42. I am the Lord and my glory will I not giue to any other neyther my praise to grauen Images and also in praying vnto it for all things needfull both for soule and bodie and that also this idoll-worship was established by Pope Gregorie the third then head of their Church and maintained euer since by his successours Bishops of Rome it is cleare that the Church of Rome is that idolatrous Church professing Christ which in the 17. Reuel 17.4.5 chapter of the Reuelation is said to be the Whore of Babylon offering to the world in a golden Cuppe to wit in the name of Christ the abomination and filthinesse of her fornication Reuel 19.2 And in the nineteenth chapter to be condemned for corrupting the earth with her fornication But lest for all this they should with impudent and brasen faces still face it out and deny it Let them heare how it is confirmed by their owne Writers Ioacham Abbas speaking of the corrupting of doctrine by the Priests of Rome sayth Å¿ Joacham vpon the 37. chapter of Ieremy They neglect Incense and Myrrhe but they seeke after Golde that they may with Babylon the great Lady of the world fill vnto men wine in a golden Cuppe to infect their followers with their abomination And vpon the seuenteenth chapter of the Reuelation hee speaketh yet more plainly and saith t Vpon the 17. chapter of the Reuelation The very Text it selfe doth teach how that the woman beguiled with golde and which committeth spirituall fornication with the Princes of the earth is the very Church of Rome which Babylon-like playeth spiritually the whoore with stockes and stones Againe hee saith of the whole Clergie of Rome v Vpon the 21. chapter of Ieremy They are Idolatrous Pastors and Prelates Againe he saith * Vpon the 1. and 2. chap. of Ieremy As Solomon in his olde age fell into Idolatry so hath the Church of Rome done And therefore it is which Robertus the Dominican Frier saith thus of the Romish Church in the person of Christ x Robertus in his 12. sermon Like an adultresse thou hast forsaken mee and hast ioyned thy selfe vnto strangers And of which their Paracelsus concludeth thus y Paracelsus in his 4. figured Prediction The whoore hath diuided her loue 11 So that the Romanists and Papists being thus so plainly proued Idolaters in worshipping God after the manner of the Heathen which he commanded his people the Iewes they should not doe if they would looke to continue in his fauour and to auoide his iudgements Deuter. 12. this maketh that good which wee affirmed in the beginning of our first Chapter namely that it is not possible that they and wee should be combined and conioyned together in Religion to make one and the same true Church of Christ For as the Apostle Saint Paul saith 2. Corint 6. 2. Cor. 6.16 There can be no agreement betweene the Temple of God and the Temple of Idoles Therefore it behooueth vs to looke warily vnto our selues that we be not deluded by their craftie and subtile arguments to be seduced to their idolatrous religion And thus much for the satisfying the Reader in this point also CHAP. V. Tending to resolue all men that for the first 606. yeeres next after Christ the Papists had no Church neither could haue because till then it had no vniuersall Pope to make it a Popish Church Neither was that first Church of Rome which Saint Peter planted the Mother but one of the Daughters of the Mother Church in which
the fifth Section in that when as Eulogius Bishop of Alexandria offered to Gregory in the superscription of his Letters the title of vniuersall Pope Gregory not onely flowted him for his folly but also besought his holinesse to offer it him no more for that as he said it was a title beyond all reason to be giuen to any 15 The first that I find that went about to arrogate vnto himselfe the Title of Pope The first that souâ—ht to bring in the name Pope was Leo Bishop of Rome as may appeare in that his Legates in the Councell of Chalceden contended both for the title and authority howbeit they were withstood by the whole Councell and decreed against as I shall proue in the 19. Section of the 8. Chapter 16 Well then all things being made cleare that before there was a Church planted at Rome there was a Christian Church which had then none other vniuersall head but Christ and that seeing the Church which wee haue now doth acknowledge none other head who can iustly denie our Church to be a true member of the most ancient Apostolique Church Againe forasmuch as the matter is made as apparant that the Church planted afterwards by Peter and Paul for by both of them was the Romish Church planted to Gregories dayes to wit to the yeere of Christ 605. did not approue nor tollerate any other vniuersall head who can denie the Church of Rome during that time to be a fellow member with our Church of the most ancient Catholique Church 17 But now albeit we haue proued that for want of an vniuersall Pope to be head so many hundred yeeres there could be no body or Popish Church yet forasmuch as we see that there is now such a Church and know also that it hath beene of long continuance it resteth that in the next Chapter we shew both when it first began how far and wide it did extend it selfe and how ignorantly many haue dealt in their writings to giue that title of Popish Gouernours to the successours of Saint Peter calling them Popes and more wickedly the Papists in calling them vniuersall Popes to the horrible deluding of the multitude in making them to beleeue that the Popish Church and the Church which Saint Peter planted in Rome were both one and the same which if it be true then was the founder thereof Antichrist for so saith their Saint Bernard the Pope is And so saith their Ioacham the Abbot And so saith their Auentine and so saith Gregory the Great And so saith their Saint Vincent and proueth Boniface the third to be the head as the other and diuers moe proueth his successours to be his incorporate body as appeareth in our second Chapter and as now in the next Chapter we shall more largely proue CHAP. VI. Tending to resolue all men that the Popish Church and the succession of singular vniuersall Popes had their first beginning but in the yeere of Christ 607. and that also from that time that they had a Church wee had a Church continually among them till about 20. yeeres before Luthers time And as before they had a Church which did extend it selfe farre and wide so euen then and at all times in other parts of Christendome as in Asia Affrica Macedonia Misia Valachia Russia Muschouia c. we had as great a Church as they if not greater Which being proued both their antiquity vniuersality and succession of vniuersall Popes will proue but a fond fable and a meere illusion of Antichrist 1 THE Papists haue of long time borne the World in hand that we had no Church before Luthers time howbeit as we proued in the former Chap. by sufficient testimonies that for the first 606. yeeres next after Christ they had no Church so will we now God willing in this Chapter proue that their Church had her first beginning but in the yeere of Christ 607. Note therefore Christian Reader what their Writer Vrspergensis saith his words be these a Vrspergensis in Phoca At the request and suite of Pope Boniface the Emperour Phocas appointed the Sea of the Apostolike Church of Rome to be head of all Churches Also their Writer Sabellicus saith b Sabellicus Ennead 8. l. 6. Pope Boniface the third at the first enterance into his office was an earnest suâ—ter vnto the Emperour Phocas that the Church of Rome might be head of all Churches which thing hardly and with great labour was granted to the Apostolique Sea of Rome Now Christian Reader iudge thou how true it is like to be that the Church of Rome had preeminence from Saint Peters time seeing it is granted vnto her but now in the yeere of Christ 607. as also the Popes owne Decretall and Platina doth witnesse as we shewed in the former Chapter Wherefore the Bishop of Rome being now in this yeere first made and established vniuersall Father of all Christian Bishops and Rome the mother of all Christian Churches it is cleare that in this yeere of Christ their Church first began For as before Christ was there could be no Christian Church so before there was an vniuersall Pope there could be no Popish Church But now an vniuersall Pope being made and established supreame head of the Church they may be bold to say they haue a Church and we may be as bold to say that from this yeere of Christ and no further they may demand of vs where our Church was to Luthers time and also to answere them The head of Antichrist and the body of Antichrist that so much of it as was comprehended within the Romish iurisdiction was from thence first vnder this head of Antichrist Boniface after him vnder this his incorporate body of Popes Boniface 2. Popes Callender Vitalius 1. Iohn 3. Steuen 2. Dusdedit 1. Deodatus 1. Iohn 4. Hadrian 1. Boniface 3. Domnus 1. Sisinus 1. Leo 2. Honorius 1. Agatho 1. Constantinus 1. Steuen 3. Seuerinus 1. Leo 1. Gregory 1. Paschalis 1. Iohn 1. Benedict 1. Gregory 2. Eugenius 2. Theodore 1. Iohn 2. Zacharie 1. Valentine 1. Martin 1. Cuno 1. Steuen 1. Gregory 3. Eugenius 1. Sergius 1. Paul 1. Sergius 2. Leo 3. Iohn 10. Honorius 2. Bonifacius 6. Benedict 2. Domnus 2. Inocentius 1. Benedict 8. Nicolas 1. Benedict 4. Calestinus 1. Clement 4. Hadrian 2. Boniface 5. Lucius 1. Iohn 18. Iohn 5. Benedict 5. Eugenius 3. Benedict 9. Martinus 2. Iohn 11. Anastatius 2. Clement 5. Hadrian 3. Iohn 12. Hadrian 4. Inocentius 5. Steuen 4. Iohn 13. Alexander 2. Vrbanus 4. Formosus 1. Gregory 4. Lucius 2. Gregory 10. Bonifacius 4. Siluester 1. Vrbanus 2. Vrbanus 5. Steuen 5. Iohn 14. Gregory 7. Boniface 7. Romane 1. Iohn 15. Clement 2. Inocentius 6. Theodore 2. Sergius 4. Calestinus 2. Gregory 11. Iohn 6. Benedict 6. Innocentius 2. Alexander 4. Benedict 3. Iohn 16. Honorius 3. Iohn 19. Leo 4. Benedict 7. Gregory 8. Martin 5. Christopher 1. Gregory 5. Calestinus 3. Eugenius 4. Sergius 3. Clement
the Church hath none other head but Christ yea as well that part that is Millitant as that that is Triumphant and both together because they both make but one Church And therefore writing to the Church of Corinth in his 2 Epistle 11. chapter 2. verse he said thus vnto her I haue prepared you for one husband to present you a pure Virgin to Christ And to the intent that all might know that the Church Triumphant and the Church Millitant hath both but one and the same head hee writing to the Church of Ephesus chapter 1.20.21.22.23 said thus vnto them of Christ God hath set him at his right hand in heauenly places farre aboue all principalitie and power and might and domination and euery Name that is named not in this world onely but also in that that is to come And hath made all things subiect vnder his feete and hath giuen him ouer all things to be the head of the Church which is his body euen the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all things And to the Colossians chapter 1. verses 16.17.18 thus For by him were all things created which are in heauen and which are in earth things visible and inuisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him And hee is before all things and in him all things consist And hee is the head of the body of the Church hee is the beginning and the first begotten of the dead that in all things hee might haue the preeminence for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell By which it is manifest Christ Iesus alone is the head of the whole Church The Pope cannot claime antiquity of Bishopricke from Peter because Peter was not the first bishop but Iames. and not Peter and therefore the Pope cannot rightly claime the vniuersall headship from him If Peter had beene the supreame head of the Church why was hee not then the first Bishop of the Church but agreed with Iames and Iohn to make Iames the Iust the first Bishop as Clement the first witnesseth in these words * Clement lib. 6. Hypotip Ierusalem the most ancient mother church and not Rome Peter Iames and Iohn after the Assumption of our Sauiour challenged not this prerogatiue vnto themselues but appoynted Iames the Iust Bishop of Ierusalem And as these words of Clement proue Peter not to be the first Bishop so doe they proue Rome not to be the first Church where the first Apostolicall Bishop was placed but Ierusalem therefore not Rome but Ierusalem must needes be the most auncient Apostolike Church 14 That must needes be the most auncient Apostolike Church whose ministers Christ himselfe appointed the Apostles first to be which was the Church of Iewrie as appeareth by S. Mathew chap. 10.5.6 where after he had repeated the names of the twelue Apostles which Christ had chosen said These twelue did Iesus send forth and commanded them saying Goe not into the way of the Gentiles and into the Cities of the Samaritans enter yee not but goe yee rather to the lost sheepe of the bouse of Israell Therefore the Church of Ierusalem was the most auncient Apostolike Church and not the Church of Rome which was the chiefe of the Gentiles 15 Againe that Church must needes be the Mother of the most auncient Catholique hâ—urch in which Christ himselfe first planted the Faith and Religion which should be Catholique and by the meanes of whose Ministers the Catholique Church should receiue it which Faith and Religion Saint Mathew chap. 26.55 and Saint Luke chap. 21.37.38 witnesseth Christ taught vnto the people daily in the Temple of Ierusalem and commaunded her Ministers the Apostles to publish the same afterwards to the vniuersall world Mathew 28.19.20 therefore Ierusalem and not Rome is the Mother of the most auncient Catholique Church 16 MoreoueÌ„r There was no Romish Church at all 14. yeeres after Peter was called to be an Apostle Ierusalem must needs be the mother Church of all Christian Nations for that in her all the Apostles receiued the holy Ghost and the gifts of tougues that euery Nation might be taught by them in their owne language what to beleeue and doe to be saued the which they had largely put in practise during well-neere foureteene yeeres immediately after their calling before Peter came to Rome For they cannot denie but that Peter came not to Rome till the second yeere of Cladius the Emperour which was in the yeere of Christ his incarnation 44. Before which time Peter planted many Churches in diuers Coasts For themselues affirme in their Rozarie that before he came to Rome hee spent his time preaching in Iewry Syria Antiochia and other places Many Churches were planted in the world before Peter came to Rome Therefore seeing that besides those other Churches which were planted by the rest of the Apostles Peter planted many before he planted a Church at Rome it is cleare that when as he had planted a Church in Rome shee could be but one of the Daughters and not the Mother of the most ancient Catholique and Apostolike Church 17 Lastly it must needs be the most ancient Church and the Mother of all the Churches Millitant from which the Church Triumphant hath her name deriued but Saint Paul Galathians 4 and Saint Iohn Reuelations 21. sheweth her name to be deriued from Ierusalem therefore Ierusalem and not Rome was the Mother of all Christian Churches Millitant That is to say the onely figure of the vniuersall Mother for as Saint Matthew Chapter 23.9 sheweth the vniuersall Father to be not in earth but in Heauen so Saint Paul Galathians 4.26 sheweth the vniuersall Mother not to be in earth That must needs be the most anâ—iâ—nt Church Millitant troÌ„ which the Church Triumphant hath her name derâ—ued but in Heauen 18 And now Christian Reader as wee shewed thee at large in our fifth Chapter that before the yeere of Christ 607. there was no Popish Church in Rome and here that before the yeere of Christs incarnation 44. there was no Romish Church at all so will we now shew thee more plainly that after there was a Romish Church and that shee was become most famous for her Faith and Religion that yet euen then shee was not the Mother but a Daughter not the head but a chiefe member of the Apostolike and Catholike Church Tertullian who liued in the next age after the Apostles wrote thus b Tertul. de praescription centra Haereticos Runne ouer and behold the Apostolique Churches whereas the Apostles Chaires are yet still continued and whereas the Authenticall writings of the Apostles are pronounced sounding out the voyce and representing the face of each one of them The next Countrey to you is Achaia There haue you the Church of Corinth If ye be not farre from Macedonia there haue you the Church of Philippi and the Church of Thessalonica If ye may goe