Popes principality and supremacy which he challengeth from Peters authority is fabulous For it is cleare that if Christ would haue had vnder him any such singular vniuersall head ouer his Church now by reason of this present occasion had been the onely time to haue made it knowne but in that he said in so plaine and expresse words It shall not be so among you he made it plaine to the contrary Hence it was that Saint Bernard applyed these words of Christ and also the words of Peter himselfe against that false challenge of the Pope saying a Bernard 2. Booke of consideration Peter could not giue that he had not did he giue Lordship heare what he saith Not as ouer Gods heritage but being a patterne to the flocke And least said he to the Pope thou thinke it to be spoken onely in humility and not in truth it is the voyce of the Lord in the Gospell The Kings of the nations raigne ouer them but you shall not be so It is plaine saith he the Apostles are forbidden Lordship therefore goe thou and vsurpe greedily vnto thy selfe either Lording it Apostleship or being Apostolike Lordship thou are flatly forbidden either All which most euidently declareth that the Popes vniuersall supremacy which he claimeth from Saint Peter is flat forgery 3 Secondly they say To Peter onely Christ committed the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heauen For the clearing of which point we are first to make knowne what those Keyes are for by that the most ignorant may the more easily iudge whether to the rest of the Apostles Christ did not also giue the Keyes Luke 11.52 Christ himselfe in the 11. Chapter of Saint Lukes Gospell Matthew 16.19 declareth the first key to be Knowledge and in the 16. Chapter of Saint Matthews Gospell the second to be Power For the first key to wit knowledge it is cleare by Saint Iohn in his 17. Iohn 17.8 Chapter of his Gospell that Christ gaue it as well to the other Apostles as to Peter For in praying for them all in generall he vttered these words to his Father I haue giuen thy words vnto them which thou gauest me Iohn 15.15 and they haue receiued them Againe Chapter 15. speaking to all his Apostles in generall he said All things that I haue heard of my Father haue I made knowne vnto you Likewise in the 14. Iohn 14.26 Chapter speaking to them all in generall he said These things haue I spoken vnto you being present with you but the comforter which is the holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance which I haue told you So that hereby it plainly appeareth that Christ gaue this first key to all the Apostles in generall and therefore not to Peter alone 4 Now touching the second key namely the power of binding and loosing remitting and retaining sinnes it is as cleare that Christ gaue it indifferently to all the Apostles Matthew 16.19 For as Saint Matthew in his 16. Chapter sheweth that he said to Peter Whatsoeuer thou bindest on earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer thou loosest in earth shall be loosed in heauen Matth. 18.18 so in the 18. Chapter he declareth that Christ spake these very same words to all the Apostles saying Whatsoeuer ye bind in earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer ye loose in earth shall be loosed in heauen And likewise Saint Iohn in his 20. Chapter witnesseth that he said also to them all in generall Whose sinnes soeuer ye remit they are remitted vnto them Iohn 20.23 whose sinnes ye retaine they are retained Therefore it is manifest that Christ gaue this key also to all the other Apostles as well as to Peter And therefore it is which Saint Origine saith b Orig. in first Treatise on Matthew This saying to thee will I giue the Keyes is common to all the rest of the Apostles and the words that follow as spoken to Peter are common to all Likewise Saint Augustine saith c August 124. Treatise vpon Iohn When they were all asked Peter alone doth make answer and it was said vnto him And I will giue thee the keyes as though he alone had receiued authority to bind and loose whereas he had spoken that for them all and receiued this as bearing in himselfe the person of vnity Wherefore in another place reprouing those Romane heretikes of his time who would needs haue those words to be spoken to Peter alone and him to be the Rocke on which Christ said he would build his Church said d Augustine in his Booke of the troubles of the Christians Wretched men whiles in Peter they vnderstand not Christ that is the Rocke and whiles they will not beleeue that the keyes are giuen to the Church they haue quite lost the Keyes out of their hands e In his Treatise vpon Iohn For said he if this was said onely to Peter to thee will I giue the Keyes thou the Church hath them not And thus much touching the second point But now before I come to the third point I must craue pardon to digresse a little for that because the Pope challengeth from the authority of the keyes to haue an absolute power to forgiue sinne and to giue the kingdome of Heauen I thinke it very needfull to open that mistery of the vse of the Keyes and how farre their powers doe extend 5 Thou knowest Christian Reader that the vse of Keyes are to open and to shut to let in and to keepe out such as are not meete to come in Now from these metaphors and their properties haue the spirituall keyes their titles and resemblances of properties and doe in this manner both open and shut to wit by the sentence of the Law to shut the locke of excommunication against open offenders and by the sentence of the Gospell to open it againe to those that openly repent confesse their sins And this is it which their Haymo saith f Haymo in Homely vpon the feast of Peter and Paul By Keyes we must vnderstand knowledge and power to discerne between good and bad that those whom thou seest to abide in the true faith thou shalt iudge them worthy of Heauen and those whom thou seest to depart from the true faith thou shalt iudge them worthy of hell fire The Bishops saith he g Ibidem binde men when they separate them from the society of the Church and keepe them from receiuing the body and bloud of Christ he looseth them when as after repentance made he receiueth him in againe into the fellowship of the Congregation and admitteth him to the Lords Table And this is now all the power the Church hath by the two Keyes as for sinne Christ himselfe hath said Matthew 16.19 18.18 it is both bound and loosed in heauen by God himselfe Howbeit we denie not that it is done
as we know not he shall purge his Church and to that purpose shall stirre vp the spirits of his Elect. After which things saith she shall ensue such a reformation of the holy Church and such a renouation of the godly Pastors thereof that the very thoughts thereof maketh my spirit to reioyce in the Lord. And as I haue tolde you heretofore saith she the Spouse which is now altogether deformed ragged and â—orne shall then be adorned and decked as it were with precious iewels and chains And all faithfull people shall be glad when they are thus beautified with so holy Pastors Yea the very Infidells being drawne with the sweete smell of Christ shall repaire vnto the Catholike sheepfold and be conuerted to the chiefe Pastor and Bishop of their soules And this is it also which Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome did foresee as may appeare by these his words written in his nineteenth booke the ninth chap. vpon Iob The Church after the dayes of her afflictions shall afterwards notwithstanding be strengthened with great power of preaching And that it may yet more plainely appeare that our Nation of England shall beare some sway in this worke the aforesaid Dominican Frier in his sixt vision declareth that it was reuealed vnto him That the I le of Britaine should proue the chiefe receptacle of the Church of God and euen an Asile or Sanctuary to the Church of Rome in the time of the Turkish Persecution and as it were her nursing mother after she should come to be thus reformed and that the true Christian religion should be maintained especially by the blessed meanes of the people of the aforesaid Isle For As the title of his Vision saith the Translator is of the future state of the Church so the Vision it selfe doth beare how he did seeme to be together with some other persons in a small number in a certaine great ship not well appointed with Ruthers or Oares in the maine Sea and that the shippe came as it were of it selfe vnto a certaine Island whereunto saith he we being but a few had our recourse for refuge and safety Also to the like effect there is this prognosticall verse aledged by Ioannes Wolfius in the second tome of his memorable things in Latine thus Europa genit us terra vir iust us aequus Pastor erit Caeli claues non regna gubernans Pax erit toto surget concordia Mundo Vna Fides vnus regnabit in omnia Princeps In English thus A certaine wight equitable and vpright borne in Europe shall be the chiefe Pastor or Bishop of Christendome such a one as shall mannage and gouerne the Keyes of the kingdome of Heauen and not the Scepters of the kingdomes of the earth There shall be peace and concord in the world one Faith and Religion and once Prince imperially raigning ouer all Also their Paracelsus the German Hermite in his 26. Prediction maketh mention of an English Prince and his issue that shall more fully effect this worke of reformation And in an old Prophesie had out of the Pallace of wisdome in Rome and in another Prophesie of Sauanarola a Dominican Frier mention is made of a Prince of the name of Charles that shall strike a great stroke in this worke and shall bring to passe that in the end according to a Prophesie also of Nostrodamus Rome shall be ruled by her old Britannish head Cant. 5. quadrin 99. Quand Rome aurale chef vieux Britantique And saith Maister Iames Maxwell the Translater As the Italian Iesuite Heronymus Platus in the second booke of Religious life chap. 30. confesseth England to haue beene more fertill of conuerters of Nations and Countries to the Christian faith then any other Land else so is it not vnlikely but that God will haue the same Country to be more fertill of reformers of other corrupt Churches especially of that of Rome then any other Land whatsoeuer And that as there is in no one Country or Nation of the world to be found so many learned and eloquent Preachers nor so many compleat Diuines for Iudiciousnesse Ingenuousnesse and moderation and for fitnesse to deserue well for the peace of the Church as there is in England so it is like that God will honour this Island with the reformation of the Church of Rome and her daughters by sending forth from thence such godly iudicious zealous and moderate men as shall reclaime them from their abuses and restore vnto them their Primitiue puritie and integritie such as it was in the happie daies of Constantine the Great borne in great Britannie For saith hee To the same effect soundeth this prognosticall verse which was found in an old manuscript Iesse Rosa sanguis Bruti Portat Crucem Iesu Christi The Rose of England beareth and bringeth the Crosse of Christ to forraigne Lands Also as their Ioachim the Abbot writing vpon the 4.5.18.22 and 30. Chapter of Ieremy sheweth that there shall be certaine new Preachers of the Gospel in the Catholique or Vniuersall Church strong in faith and true in Doctrine whose Doctrine shall be open and free and that they shall preach Repentance both to the Greekes and Latines and conuert many of them to the truth so is there a certain Prophecie vttered in the yeare of Christ 1119. as writeth Matthew Paris in his 475. Page of this History which saith They that walke in darkenesse shall turne to the light and those things that were diuided and scattered shall be gathered together and vnited Also the same Abbot sheweth how that the Pope and his Prelates will rage against those whom God shall send to conuert them where hee writing vpon the first Chapter of Ieremy saith thus Such Doctors and Prophets are to be sent which shall not onely rebuke the people but also thunder out against the Priests and strike earthly and carnall hearts with all maner of plagues and put to silence the loftie and swelling Maisters who shall fight against the aforesaid Preachers which shall be reuealed as once did Iuda against Israel and the Iewes against Christ and his Apostles By meanes whereof the death of Philip the second King of Spaine in his Sericum mundi filum doth deliuer that The Lyon hauing the Rose and the Lillies in his armes shall vtterly destroy the Pope so as that afterwards there shall neuer be any more Popes And then all Christian Princes being at peace and vnitie it seemeth by a Prediction found in an olde Booke that they shall consent and agree to chuse out of all one excellent Man for learning and good life to be as a chiefe Moderator for the bringing all sorts of people in the whole world to one kinde of Religion and all Churches into one vniforme order For thus it is written in that Prophesie The afflictions of the Church and Clergie being passed and after so many great tribulations by the will of God a most holy man shall be chosen perfect in all manner of perfection
who as appeareth euidently was called of the most godly Prince Constantine God seeing it is manifest God cannot bee iudged of men Another saith r Baldus in c. Eccles vt tit pend The Pope may doe all things aboue Law contrary to Law and without Law Moreouer Å¿ Bonis Distinct. 40. Si Papa If the Pope be found to neglect the saluation of his brethren vnprofitable and slacke in his office silent in that which is good hurtfull to himselfe and all others yea though hee leade with him innumerable soules by heapes to the diuell of hell yet may no mortall man finde fault with him or presume to reprooue him for so doing For as another saith t C. inter in corpor de translat Praela car Paris in conc 63. num 162. vol. 4. Those things hee doth hee doth them as God So that they say little lesse of him then what Saint Paul Rom. 9. saith of God Who art thou that pleadest against God Or that which Iob saith of God chap. 9. Who shall say vnto him What dost thou 5 Thirdly in authorising his Decrees equall with Gods saying thus v Alexander to Philip King of France That which the Pope doth is to be receiued as Canonicall Againe * Adrian caus 25. qâ—â—st i.q. generaâ—â— It is not lawfull to adde or diminish any thing the Pope hath done Also x Ibidem Whosoeuer shall violate or break the Popes Decrees shall be accursed Againe y Ibidem Who so offendeth in breaking the Popes Lawes shall neuer be forgiuen And lastly z Herâ—â—ans de poâ—â—â—â— papa cap. 23. The Pope is by power and vertue the whole Church wee may not swarue from his iudgement neyther to the right hand nor to the left * Iara in Deut. cap. 17. Though hee tell thee that thy right hand is thy left or that thy left hand is thy right hand such a sentence must bee held for good Thus are his Lawes in their account like those of which Christ speaketh in the Gospell Matthew 5. Whosoeuer shall breake one of these least commaundements and teach men so hee shall bee called the least in the Kingdome of Heauen 6 Fourthly in subiecting Gods word and holy Scriptures vnto his censure as thus a Summa Angelan Dist. Pap. The Pope may dispence for any Commaundement of the Old or New Testament b 6. q. 1. Quicunque in glossa The Popes priuiledges may be graunted against the Lawe of God c Nicola Cusan ad Bohaemos epist. 2. There be no commaundements of Christ in the Gospell but such onely as are taken and holden by the Church d Syluester Prierias contra Lutherium The doctrine of the Scriptures take their force and authority of the Pope and his doctrine e Ibidem The authority of the Church of Rome and of the Popes is aboue the authority of the Scriptures Lastly f Pighnus in contro De Ecclesia The Scriptures are a nose of waxe a dead letter and dumbe Iudges Whereupon another sayth g John Maria verracties Editius est Anno 1561. Wee most humbly confesse that the authority of the Church is aboue the authority of the Gospell 7 So that by all these testimonies out of the mouthes of their grauest Writers wee see plainely that the Romish church holdeth and esteemeth the Pope to be not a terrestiall Good but rather a celestiall God For in that they will haue him called God in a diuine sense and taken not for a pure man but for a true God and will haue him to be worshipped with diuine honours as God and to haue power in heauen earth and hell ouer Angells Diuells and men and to be able to deliuer from hell and to giue the kingdome of heauen and free him from all censure and controlement of any and make his Decrees not onely equall with Gods but aboue them they will haue him to bee a celestiall god euen in the highest degree For it is cleare that his Lawes and decrees that are the most highest aboue all lawes and decrees is the most highest aboue all gods And heerein they prooue him to be indeede that great Antichrist The man of sinne mentioned by Saint Paul 2 Thes 2. 2. Thessal 2. That should sit as God in the temple of God shewing himselfe that hee is God and exalting himselfe aboue all that is called God or that is worshipped That is not onely aboue all Princes and Maiestrates which in some sense are called Gods but aboue the three persons vnto whom all diuine worship and honour is only due and so we may conclude but they say no and who then shall be Iudge betweene vs that shall these sixe vnpartiall Iudges Ioacham Abbas Iraeneus Anselmus Saint Hierome Gregory the Great and Erasmus Ioacham saith h Joacham Abbas Hee it is that exalteth himselfe aboue all that is called God or that is worshipped which is called Holy Lord and most Holy Pope Iraeneus sayth i Iraeneus lib. 5. lest chapter saue one Antichrist notwithstanding he be but a slaue yet he will be worshipped as if he were God and proclaimed as a King Anselmus sayth k Anselmus 2. Thessal 2 Antichrist shall faine himselfe to be holy that hee may deceiue men vnder the colour of holinesse Yea and hee shall call himselfe God and shall cause himselfe to be worshipped and shall promise the Kingdome of heauen Saint Hierome sayth l Hierom. in Zachar. 11. This shepheard is so wicked that hee is not called a worshipper of Idols but an Idol it selfe because he calleth himselfe God and will be worshipped of all men Gregory the Great sayth m Gregory in his 25. booke vpon the 34. 14. chapter of Iob. Whereas hee is a damned man and not a spirit liuing he faineth himselfe to be God To conclude Erasmus sayth thus of the Pope n Erasmus vpon the 16. hap of the Râ—u lat 2. Sect. That beast at Rome of whom we spake before is the very right Antichrist which worketh against the Gospell of Christ. And yet for a more full resolution that the Pope is the same great Antichrist which Saint Paul calleth The man of sinne and sonne of perdition that should exalt himselfe aboue God their Saint Hildigard a Nunne o Hildig in her third â—ook the 11. Vision giueth the Pope these very same titles The man of sinne and sonne of perdition And their prophâ—â— Paracelsus in his twelft figured Prediction directed to the Pope prooueth him also to be the same For saith â—â—e p Paras 12. Prediction Thou hast lifted thyselfe on high And a little after Thou hast exalted thy selfe aboue God and he shall returne vnto thee the reward thou hast sought Now then whereas some haue doubted whether the Pope be that great Antichrist for that the great Antichrist should come vnto such an exceeding great height of pride and vaine-glory as that none before him could neyther after
not write soundly For albeit the Law of Nature by the wonders of heauen and earth did teach them that he that was the Authour of them was mightie and to be loued and feared aboue all yet were they ignorant how to loue and feare him aright Also notwithstanding they had learned by the Law of Nature that for those that did loue and feare him he had prepared a place of eternall ioy and for those that did nor a place of perpetual paine and that the pures could neuer ascend into his glorious presence vntill they were made purer by some kinde of purifying yet for want of true knowledge they conceiued of these things but imperfectly and did but meerely coniecture For howsoeuer it be true that God hath prepared a place of ioy for those that loue and feare him and also a place of punishment for those that doe not and that the best and purest can neuer come into his presence vntill they be made purer by a more perfect purging yet they beeing ignorant of the bloud of Christ by which we should be purified dreamed of a third place in which we should be purged 2 Now the chiefe of these Authours as Tertullian writeth a Tertullian in his Booke De praescriptionibus aduersus haereses and in his booke De anima were Pythagoras Empedocles and Plato Hence it was as Irenaeus testifieth b Jrenaeus lib. 1. cap. 24. that Carpocrates hauing learned out of Plato his Philosophie that mens soules after death must be purified inuented a kinde of Purgatory and out of the opinion of Pythagoras sought to proue it by these words of Christ Matth. 5. Thou shalt not come forth till thou haue paid the vtmost farthing By which we see who were the first founders of Purgatory and also the first place of Scripture that was brought to confirme the Doctrine and to proue a third place for the purifying of soules from sinne Now let vs try out the true sense of that Scripture to see if by it such a place can be proued 3 Our Sauiour said Thou shalt not come forth till c. Matth. 5.26 Vpon which word till because the Papists also inferre that Christ meant that in time he should pay the vtmost farthing and then come forth wee will by another like place shew the word till doth not alwaies import a time following wherein the contrary may be affirmed As when the Lord said to Iaakoh Gen. 28.15 Gen. 28. I will not forsake thee till I haue performed that I haue promised thee Now if this word till doth alwaies intimate a time after wherein a contrary may be concluded then after the Lord had performed his promise to Iaacob he forsooke him But as the Scriptures declare God did neuer forsake him so Christs word till doth not import a time when the debter should pay the vtmost farthing and then come forth but that because he could neuer be able to pay it hee should neuer come forth For if Christ had meant that men could pay the vtmost farthing due for sinne and so release their soules this had beene against himselfe for then what need had any of his paying any one farthing for them Therefore it is cleare that by paying the vtmost farthing Christ meant the euerlasting punishment that should neuer be paid And this is it which Saint Hierome vpon the same Scripture saith c Hierome in his first booke chap. 1. vpon the Lamentation of Ieremy Christs meaning is that hee shall neuer come out for that hee must euermore pay the vtmost farthing whilest he suffereth euerlasting punishment And thus Christian Reader thou seest that by the true sense of those words of Christ they cannot proue a third place Howbeit euen after this manner doe they also wrest diuers other places of Scripture to proue if it were possible a third place euen to the confounding of the whole harmony of the Scriptures which by the expresse names of heauen and hell do assigne but two places and by not any where naming Purgatory deny any such purging place to be 4 In the sixteenth Chapter of Saint Lukes Gospel Luke 16.22.23 our Sauiour Christ speaking of the rich Glutton and of the poore Beggar saith And it was so that the Beggar died and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome The rich man also died and beeing in Hell in torments hee lift vp his eyes and saw Abraham a farre off and Lazarus in his bosome By which words wee see there is but onely two places into which the soules doe passe presently after death namely either into hell or into Abrahams Bosome which is a resting place in heauen for the soules of the faithfull and not a place of pleasure in hell as the Papists dreame Matth. 8.11 For as Christ himselfe saith Matth. 8. Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit downe with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdome of heauen Now if Abraham be in heauen Abrahams Bosome must needes bee in heauen Abrahams bosome Therefore there is but onely two places heauen and hell And this is manifestly proued also by these words of Salomon the Wise which saith Eccle. 11. Eccle. 11.3 If the tree fall towards the South or toward the North in the place that the tree falleth there shall it be To wit abide for euer Now as by trees the learned doe agree is meant people so doe they conclude that by South and North is meant heauen and hell therefore there is but two places Wherefore howsoeuer the iudgement of some of the ancient Fathers was confounded in this Heathenish Doctrine of Purgatory and that Saint Augustine himselfe had doubted of a third place yet by these his owne words he sheweth to all men it was but his errour for saith hee d Augustine in his Sermon of time the 232. Sermon Let no man deceiue himselfe there are but two places as for any third there is none at all he that raigneth not with Christ shall perish with the Deuill without any doubt Againe hee saith e In his 18. Sermon of the words of the Apostle There be two habitations or dwelling-places the one in the fire euerlasting the other in the Kingdome of heauen that neuer shall haue end Againe he saith f In his 5. book Hipognostichon The first place the Catholique faith by Gods authoritie beleeueth to be the Kingdome of heauen The second place the same Catholique faith beleeueth to bee hell where all runnagates and whosoeuer is without the faith of Christ shall taste euerlasting punishment as for any third place wee vtterly know none neither shall we finde in the holy Scriptures that there is any such So then by this we see the case is very cleare there is no third place and consequently no Purgatory 5 Secondly to proue yet a third place Reuelation 6.9 they obiect those words of Saint Iohn in his sixt Chapter of the Reuelation where he saith