elegantly penned and so elaborately digested that neither Scipio himself nor any other of that Party durst reply upon him Which Letter the Reader will find in this small piece new translated But this was written some time after the Apology was Printed in England IN the year following Bishop Jewel put out The Apology of the Church of England in Latin which tho written by him was published by the Queens Authority and with the advice of some of the Bishops as the Publick Confession of the Catholick and Christian Faith of the Church of England c. and to give an account of the reasons of our departure from the See of Rome and as an answer to those Calumnies that were then raised against the English Church and Nation for not submitting to the pretended General Council of Trent then sitting SO that it is not to be esteemed as the private work of a single Bishop but as a publick Declaration of that Church whose name it bears Mr. Humfrey seems in this place to confound this and the Epistle together as if they had been written at the same time which it is apparent they were not THIS Apology being published during the very time of the last meeting of the Council of Trent was read there and seriously considered and great threats made that it should be answered and accordingly two Learned Bishops one a Spaniard and the other an Italian undertook that task but neither of them did any thing in it BUT in the mean time the Book spread into all the Countries in Europe and was much applauded in France Flanders Germany Spain Poland Hungary Denmark Sweden and Scotland and found at least a passage into Italy Naples and Rome it self and was soon after translated into the German Italian French Spanish Dutch and last into the Greek Tongue in so great esteem this Book was abroad and at home it was translated into English by the Lady Bacon Wife to Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England IT very well deserves the Character Mr. Humfrey has given of it whose words are these It is so drawn that the first part of it is an Illustration â—and as it were a Paraphrase of the Twelve Articles of the Christian Faith or Creed the second is a short and solid Confutation of whatever is objected against the Church if the Order be considered nothing can be better distributed if the Perspicuity nothing can be fuller of Light if the Stile nothing more terse if the words nothing more splendid if the Arguments nothing stronger THE good Bishop was most encouraged to publish this Apology by Peter Martyr as appears by Martyr's Letter of the 24 th of August with whom he had spent the greatest part of his time in Exile But Martyr only lived to see the Book which he so much longed for dying at Zurick on the twelfth day of November following after he had paid his thanks for and expressed his value of this piece in a Letter which is subjoyned to this Book in all the following Prints And Mr. Camden also in his Annals expresly saith this Apology was printed first in the year 1562. In the year 1564. Mr. Harding put out a pretended Answer to Bishop Jewel's famous Challenge at Paul's Cross mentioned above to which in the year following the Bishop made a very learned Reply the Epistle before which bears date at London the 27 th of October of that year the Bishop is said to have spent two years in that Piece The same year the University of Oxon gave him tho absent the degree of Doctor of Divinity and certainly he well deserved to have that extraordinary respect and Honour shewn him who was so eminently imployed then in the Service and defence of the Church HE had no sooner brought this to a Conclusion but Harding was again upon him and put out an Antapology or answer to his Apology for the Church of England A Defence of which the Bishop forthwith began which he finished as appears by his Epistle to Mr. Harding at the end of it the 27 th of October 1567. THE next year after Mr. Harding put out another piece which he entitled A detection of sundry foul Errors c. which was a cavilling reply to some passages in his defence of the Apology which not seeming to deserve an answer by it self he answered rather by a Preface to a new Impression of his former Defence which he finished the eleventh of December 1569. and dedicated his Works to the Queen Harding having told the World that she was offended with Bishop Jewel for thus troubling the World THE same year Pope Pius the Fourth having published a Bull of Excommunication and Deprivation against the Queen Bishop Jewel undertook the defence of his Soveraign and wrote a learned Examination and Confutation of that Bull which was published by John Garbrand an intimate acquaintance of his together with a short Treatise of the Holy Scriptures both which as he informs us were delivered by the Bishop in his Cathedral Church in the year 1570. BESIDES these he writ several other large pieces as 1. a Paraphrastical Interpretation of the Epistles and Gospels throughout the whole year 2ly Diverse Treatises of the Sacraments and Exhortations to the Readers 3ly Expositions of the Lords Prayer the Creed and Ten Commandments And also 4ly An Exposition upon the Epistle to the Galatians the first of St. Peter and both the Epistles to the Thessalonians which I suppose were his Sermons for he was of opinion that it was a better way of teaching to go through with a Book than to take here and there a Text and that it gave the People a more clear and lasting knowledge IN the beginning of the next year was a Parliament and consequently a Convocation when Tho. Cartwright and others of that Faction having alarmed the Church by their Oppositions to the established Religion it was thought fit to obviate their bold attempts and thereupon command was given by the Arch-bishop That all such of the lower House of Convocation who had not formerly subscribed unto the Articles of Religion agreed upon Anno 1562. should subscribe them now or on their absolute refusal or delay be expelled the House Which occasioned a general and personal Subscription of those Articles And it was also farther ordered That the Book of Articles so approved should be put into Print by the appointment of the Right Reverand Doctor John Jewel then Bishop of Sarum which shews he was there and in great esteem IT was in some part of this year also that he had his Conference and preached his last Sermon at Paul's Cross about the Ceremonies and State of the Church which he mentioned on his Death-bed But I cannot fix the precise time of either of them or give any further account with whom that Conference was But however this Holy man sought nothing but the Peace and Welfare of the Church
ancient Councils and the Scriptures They have not O good God! they have not on their sides what they pretend to have they have neither Antiquity nor Universality nor the consent of either all times or all Nations And of this they are not ignorant themselves tho they craftily dissemble their Knowledge Yea at times they will not obscurely confess it and therefore sometimes they will alledge that the Sanctions of the ancient Councils and Fathers are such as may lawfully be changed for different Decrees say they will best suit the different State of the Church in different times And so they hide themselves under the name of the Church and by a wretched sham delude Mankind And in truth it is a great wonder that Men should be so blind as not to see these things or if they do see them so patient as to bear and indure them with that stupidity and unconcernment they seem to have 9. BUT tho they have abrogated the Canons of the ancient Councils as too old and overworn yet perhaps they have settled neâ— and more useful Rules in their place for they have the confidence to say that if Christ himself or his Apostles should arise from the Dead they could not administer the Affairs of the Church of God better or more piously than it is now administered by them Indeed they have put others in the place of the former but as Jeremias saith Chaff instead of Wheat or as Isaiah saith What God never required at their Hands for they have stopped up all the veins of Living Waters and have hewen for the People of God broken and polluted Cisterns being full of mud and dregs which neither have in them any pure Water nor can hold it if it were put into them They have torn from the People the Holy Communion the word of God from which all true Comfort could only be expected the true Worship of God the right use of the Sacraments and Prayers of the Church and they have given us to please our selves withall in the mean time of their own pure invention consecrated Salts Waters Oyls Spittle Palmes Bulls Jubiles Indulgences Crosses Censings and an infinite number of Ceremonies And as Plautus calls others of the like nature Ludos Ludificabiles Shews and Pageants that are very divertising and good for nothing else In these things they have made all Religion to consist and they have taught the People that by these things God is rightly appeased and that by these things Devils are put to flight and the Consciences of Men quieted and confirmed For these are the Paints and Perfumes of Christianity these are the grateful and acceptable things to the All-seeing God these are to be had in honour that Christ's and his Apostles Institutions may be taken away And as heretofore the wicked King Jeroboam when he had taken away the true Service of God and perswaded the People instead of it to accept the Golden Calves for fear they might change their minds and fall from him and return to the Temple of God at Jerusalem made a long Oration to them exhorting them to Constancy saying to them These are thy Gods O Israel thus did your God command you to worship him But it would be very grievous and troublesome for you to take so long a Journey and to go up every year to worship and adore God at Jerusalem Even so our Adversaries when they had once by their Traditions quash'd the Laws of God lest the People should afterwards open their Eyes and fall off from them and seek a better way of assuring their Salvation O how often have they exclaimed that this is the true Worship of God which he is pleased with and hath required of us and by which he will be appeased when he is angry and that it is grievous and troublesome to the People to have recourse to Christ and the Apostles and Fathers and to attend perpetually what they require of them Is this their way of bringing the People of God off from the weak Elements of the World from the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees and from humane Traditions Are the Commandments of Christ and his Apostles to be taken away that these goodly things may succeed them O most righteous Cause why should an old Doctrine which hath been approved for many Ages be antiquated and a new Form of Religion be brought into the Church of God! Ay but say they be it what it will nothing ought to be changed the minds of Men are wonderous well satisfied with these things the Church of Rome has so decreed and she cannot err for Sylvester Prierias saith That the Church of Rome is the Rule and Model of Truth and that the Holy Scriptures have received from her all their Faith and Authority The Doctrine saith he again of the Church of Rome is the infallible Rule of Faith from whence the Holy Scriptures have all their strength For Indulgences were not made known to us by the Authority of Scriptures but they were made known by the Authority of the Church and Popes of Rome which is greater than the Scriptures Pighius doth not fear to say that without the command of the Church of Rome we are not to believe the most clear place of Scripture Which is just as if one of those who cannot speak good and pure Latin and yet by use and custom has got the faculty readily and fluently to blunder on in the Lawyer 's Latin should therefore stand stoutly to it that all others are bound to speak it after the same manner that was many years since in use with Mammetrectus and the Catholicon which they still use in their Pleadings because by that means men might very easily be understood and their Humours might be gratified but on the other side that it were ridiculous to trouble the World now with a new way of speaking and to reduce into practice again the old Purity and Eloquence of the Latin Tongue used in the times of Cicero and Caesar 10. SO much are they indebted to the Ignorance and blindness of the former times that as one saith Many things are often had in great esteem because they were once dedicated to the Service of the Gods So now we see many things are magnified and applauded by them not because they judge them worthy of this Esteem but only because by Custom they were once received and thereby in a sort dedicated to the Service of God But they pretend that their Church cannot Err. I suppose they speak this in the same sense as the Lacedemonians were wont to say there was no such thing as Adultery in their Common-wealth when in truth they were all Adulterers and used an uncertain sort of Marriages and had their Wives in common Or as the Hungry Canonists now say of the Pope that he being Lord of all Benefices altho he sells Bishopricks Monasteries and Livings and suffers nothing to go from him without Money yet because he claims all
to me by Letters or by Messengers I will discover to man to his Damage I will be a Helper to defend the Papacy of the Church of Rome and the Canons of the Holy Fathers and to retain them against all men Of old when the Priests of Apollo Pythius spoke plainly in favour of Philip King of Macedonia there were some who facetiously said that Apollo began 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Philippize And now we see plainly that nothing is decreed in the Council but by the Will and Consent of the Pope why may we not say that the Oracles of the Councils do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Papize that is speak nothing but what the Pope please Verres of old acted wisely of whom it is reported that being plainly guilty of many Crimes he would not commit his Reputation and Fame to any but confiding men of his own Flock and Party But yet the Pope is many degrees wiser for he will not have any Judges but such as he knows will not determine any thing against his Will because they have the same Interest he hath and esteem all things by the relation they have to their Pleasures and Bellies and yet if they would they could not do otherwise because they are bound to him by an Oath too indeed they place the Bible in the midst of the Council because they would seem not to act any thing against the Prescription thereof and yet they only look upon it at a good distance but never read one word of it in truth they bring with them a prejudicated Sentence and never attend what Christ saith or determine any thing but as it best pleaseth them 24. AND thus is all that Liberty which ought to be in all Consultations and especially in those which concern holy things and which doth best befit the holy Spirit and the Modesty of Christian Men wholly taken away St. Paul saith that if any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his Peace but these men command him to be forthwith taken and hurried to Prison and burnt who shall but mutter any thing to the contrary as the cruel Death of the two holy and stout men John of Hus and Jerome of Prague is an excellent Witness against them which two men they murthered contrary to the publick Faith and were thereby false both to God and Man So the false Prophet Zedechias when he had made himself a pair of iron Horns smote Micaiah the Prophet of the Lord and said hath the Spirit of the Lord left me and come to thee thus having now excluded all others they reign in Councils alone and have the sole Right of Suffrages and so make and divulge such Laws as the Ephesians did of old Let no man said they who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wiser than the rest presume to live here upon pain of Banishment and Transportation for these men will hear none of us About ten years since in the late Council at Trent the Ambassadors of the Princes of Germany and of the free Towns who came thither that they might be heard were excluded out of the Assembly and denied the Liberty of Speech for the Bishops and Abbots said they would suffer no free Debate of the Cause nor would they determine the Controversies by the Word of God and that those of our Side were not to be heard except they would recant which if they refused they were to expect no other terms in the Council but to be condem'd for Julius the III. in his Brief by which he call'd that Council publickly declared that if they did not change their Minds they should be condemned for Hereticks without ever hearing their Cause And Pius the IV. who hath now resolved to call again that Council hath by the prejudice of his own single Judgment commanded all those who have made defection from the Authority of the Church of Rome that is the greatest part of Christendom without ever seeing or hearing them to be taken and reputed Hereticks They are wont to say and that upon all occasions that all things are well and that they will not suffer the least part of their Doctrine and Religion to be altered Albertus Pighius saith that without the Command of the Church of Rome the most plain place of Scripture is not to be believed Now is this their way to restore the Church to her Integrity Is this their seeking Truth Is this the Liberty and Moderation which beâ—its a Council 25. AND altho these things are most unjust and most contrary to the Practice of the ancient Councils and the Usage of modest and good Men in their Deliberations yet it is much more unreasonable that whereas the whole World complains of the Ambition and Tyranny of the Pope of Rome and is perswaded that until he is reduced to a better Order all their Labours for the Reformation of the Church of God will be in vain and nothing will be done yet at last all things are referred to him alone as to the most equal Arbiter and Judge But O good God! to what Man I will not now say any of these things against him that he is an Enemy of the Truth an Ambitious Covetous Proud Man who is already become intolerable to his own But I say that it is the utmost pitch of Folly and Injustice to make him the sole Judge of all Religion who commands all his Dictates to be had in the self same Honour and Esteem as the Words of St. Peter are and saith that in case he should Mislead a thousand Souls and carry them with himself to Hell yet no man ought to reprehend him for it Who saith he can make Injustice to become Justice Whom Camotensis confesseth to have corrupted the Scriptures that he might have a Plenitude of Power And why should I use more words whom his own Companions and Ministers Joachimus Abbas Petrarcha Marsilius Patavinus Laurentius Valla and Hieronymus Savanarola have not obscurly hinted to be the Antichrist To the Judgment and Will I say of this one Man are all things submitted that this very Criminal may be both the Party accused and the Judge of his own very Case that this guilty man may sit aloft upon a Throne and his Accusers stand beneath whilst he gives Sentence for himself for Pope Julius had given us these just and reasonable Laws There is saith he no Council which is valid nor ever shall be unless supported by the Authority of the Church of Rome And Bonifacius the VIII saith that every Creature ought to be subject to the Church of Rome and that as they tender their Salvation And Pope Pascal useth this Expression as if any Councils had given Laws to the Church of Rome when in truth all the Councils have been held and received their Force from the Authority of the Church of Rome and in all their Statutes the Authority of the Pope of Rome is plainly and apparently excepted And another saith
Arts. 12. NOW if we make it appear and that not obseurely and craftily but bona fide before God truly ingeniously clearly and perspicuously that we teach the most holy Gospel of God and that the antient Fathers and the whole Primitive Church are on our side and that we have not without just cause left them and return'd to the Apostles and the antient Catholick Fathers and if they who so much detest our Doctrine and pride themselves in the name of Catholicks shall apparently see that all those Pretences of Antiquity of which they so immoderately glory belong not to them and that there is more strength in our Cause than they thought there was then we hope that none of them will be so careless of his Salvation but he will at some time or other bethink himself which side he ought to joyn with Certainly if a man be not of an hard and obdurate Heart and resolved not to hear he can never repent the having once considered our Defence and the attending what is said by us and whether it be agreeable or no to the Christian Religion 13. FOR whereas they call us Hereticks that is so dreadful a Crime that except it be apparently seen except it be palpable and as it were to be felt with our Hands and Fingers it ought not to be easily believed that a Christian is or can be guilty of it for Heresie is a Renunciation of our Salvation a Rejection of the Grace of God and a departure from the Body and Spirit of Christ But this was ever the Custom and Usage of them and of their Fore-fathers that if any presumed to complain of their Errors and desired the Reformation of Religion they condemn'd them forthwith for Hereticks as Innovators and factious men Christ himself was call'd a Samaritan for no other cause but for that they thought he had made a defection to a new Religion or Heresie And St. Paul the Apostle being call'd in question was accused of Heresie to which he replied After the Way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets 14. In short all that Religion which we Christians now profess in the beginning of Christianity was by the Pagans call'd a Sect or Heresie with these words they fill'd the ears of Princes that when out of prejudice they had once possessed their minds with an Aversion for us and that they were perswaded that whatever we said was Factious and Heretical they might be diverted from reflecting upon the thing it self or ever hearing or considering the Cause but by how much the greater and more grievous this Crime is so much the rather ought it to be proved by clear and strong Arguments especially at this time because men begin now adays a little to distrust the Fidelity of their Oracles and to inquire into their Doctrine with much greater industry than has heretofore been imployed for the People of God in this Age are quite of another Disposition than they were heretofore when all the Responses and Dictates of the Popes of Rome were taken for Gospel and all Religion depended upon their Authority the Holy Scriptures and the Writings of the Apostles and Prophets are every where now to be had out of which all the true and Catholick Doctrine may be proved and all Heresies may be refuted 15. BUT seeing they can produce nothing out of the Scriptures against us it is very injurious and cruel to call us Hereticks who have not revolted from Christ nor from the Apostles nor from the Prophets By the Sword of Scripture Christ overcame the Devil when he was Tempted by him with these Weapons every high thing that exalteth it self against God is to be brought down and dispersed for all Scripture saith St. Paul is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction that the Man of God may be perfect and throughly furnished unto all good Works and accordingly the Holy Fathers have never fought against Hereticks with any other Arms than what the Scriptures have afforded them St. Augustin when he disputed against Petilianus a Donatist Heretick useth these words Let not saith he these words be heard I say or thou sayest but rather let us say thus saith the Lord let us seek the Church there let us judge of our Cause by that And St. Jerom saith Let whatever is pretended to be delivered by the Apostles and cannot be proved by the Testimony of the writen Word be struck with the Sword of God And St. Ambrose to the Emperor Gratian Let the Scriptures saith he let the Apostles let the Prophets let Christ be interrogated The Catholick Fathers and Bishops of those times did not doubt but our Religion might be sufficiently proved by Scripture nor durst they esteem any man an Heretick whose Error they could not perspicuously and clearly prove such by Scripture And as to us we may truly reply with St. Paul After the way which they call HERESIE so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets or the Writings of the Apostles 16. IF therefore we be Hereticks and they as they desire to be call'd be Catholicks why do they not do what they see the Fathers and all other Catholicks have done why do they not convince us out of the Holy Scriptures why do they not try us by them why do they not shew that we have made a defection from Christ from the Prophets from the Apostles and from the Holy Fathers Why do they stand Why do they draw back It is the Cause of God Why then should they fear to commit it to the Arbitriment of the Word of God But if we are Hereticks who submit all ouâ— Controversies to the Holy Scriptures and appeal to those very Words which we know were consigned to writing by God himself and prefer them before all other things which can possibly be excogitated by the Wit of Man what are they or by what Name shall they be call'd who fear and shun the Sentence of the Scriptures that is the Judgment of God himself and prefer their own Dreams and silly Inventions before them and have for some Ages violated the Institutions of Christ and his Apostles for the sake of their Traditions There is a Story of Sophocles the Tragedian that when he was very old he was accused before the Judges by his own Sons for a childish and a silly Person as one that had wasted his Estate by ill managery and stood in need of a Guardian in his old Age to take care of him and it the old Man appeared in Court and instead of a Deâ—ence recied a Tragedy which he had very elaborately and elegantly written just in that time the Suit was depending and thereupon asked the Judges if that Poem were the Work of a childish person 16.
Christ alone and do properly and only belong to him nor was there ever any Bishop of Rome who would suffer so insolent and proud a Title to be given him before the Times of Phocas the Emperor who as we very well know aspired to the Empire by a most detestable Villany the Murther of Mauritius the former Emperor his Soveraign that is till the year of Christ 613. That the Council of Carthage expressly decreed that no Bishop should be called the highest Pâ—ntiff or chief Priest But the Bishop of Rome because he now desires to be so call'd and usurps a Power which belongs not to him besides that he acts directly against the ancient Councils and the Fathers if he dares believe St. Gregory one of his own Predecessors he has taken upon him an arrogant prophane sacrilegious antichristian Title and is therefore the King of Pride Lucifer one that sets himself above his Brethren who has denied the Faith and is thereby become the fore-runner of Antichrist 7. WE say that a Minister ought to have a lawful Call and be duly and orderly preferred in the Church of God and that no Man ought at his own Will and Pleasure to intrude into the sacred Ministry So that a very great Injury is done us by them who so frequently affirm that nothing is done decently and in order with us but all things are managed confusedly and disorderly and that with us all that will are Priests Teachers and Interpreters 8. WE say that Christ has given to his Ministers the Power of Binding and Loosing of Opening and Shutting And we say that the Power of Loosing consists in this that the Minister by the preaching of the Gospel offers to dejected Minds and true Penitents through the Merits of Christ Absolution and doth assure them of a certain Remission of their Sins and the hopes of eternal Salvation Or secondly reconciles restores and receives into the Congregation and Unity of the Faithful those Penitents who by any grievous Scandal or known and publick Offence have offended the Minds of their Brethren and in a sort alienated and separated themselves from the common Society of the Church and the Body of Christ And we say the Minister doth exercise the Power of Binding or Shutting when he shuteth the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven against Unbelievers and obstinate Persons and denounceth to them the Vengeance of God and eternal Punishment or excludeth out of the Bosome of the Church those that are publickly excommunicated and that God himself doth so far approve whatever Sentence his Ministers shall so give that whatsoever is either loosed or bound by their Ministry here on Earth he will in like manner bind or loose and confirm in Heaven The Key with which these Ministers do shut or open the Kingdom of Heaven we say with St. Chrysostom is the Knowledge of the Scripture with Tertullian is the Interpretation of the Law and with Eusebius is the Word of God We say the Disciples of Christ received this Power from him not that they might hear the private Confessions of the People and catch their whispering Murmurs as the Popish Priests every where now do and that in such a manner as if all the force and use of the Keys consisted only in this but that they might go and Preach and Publish the Gospel that so they might be a savour of Life unto Life to them that did believe and that they might be also a savour of Death unto Death to those that did not believe that the Minds of the Pious who were affrighted with the sense of their former ill Lives and Errors after they beheld the Light of the Gospel and believed in Christ might be opened by the Word of God as doors are with a Key And that the wicked and stubborn who would not believe and return into the Way might be left shut up and locked and as St. Paul expresseth it might wax worse and worse this we take to be the meaning of the Keys and that in this manner the Consciences of Men are either bound or loosed We say that the Priest is a Judge but then we say with St. Ambrose that he hath not the Right of any Dominion and therefore Christ reprehended the Scribes and Pharisees with these words that he might reprove their Negligence in teaching Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees for you have taken away the Key of Knowledge and shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men. Seeing then the Key by which a Passage is opened for us into the Kingdom of Heaven is the Word of the Gospel and the Interpretation of the Law and the Scriptures where there is no such Word there is no Key And seeing the same word was given to all and the Key which pertains to all is but one we say that the Power of all Ministers as to binding and loosing is one and the same and we say that even the Pope himself notwithstanding his Flatterers do so sweetly sooth him up with these words I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven as if they belonged to him and to no other Mortal under Heaven except he makes it his Business to bend and subdue the Consciences of Men to the Word of God we deny that even he as I said can either open or shut or hath at all the Keys and altho he â—oth teach and instruct the People which I wish he would sometimes do truly and at last be perswaded to believe it is at least some part of his Duty and Office but yet if he did so his Key would be neither better nor greater than that of others for who made that difference Who taught him to open more learnedly or absolve more powerfully than his Brethren 9. WE say that Marriage is Honorable and Holy in all degrees of Men in Patriarchs in Prophets in Apostles in Holy Martyrs in the Ministers of the Churches and in the Bishops and that as St. Chrysostom saith it is both lawful and just that he should ascend the Episcopal Throne with it and we say as Sozomen did of Spiridion and Nazianzen did oâ— his own Father that a pious and industriouâ— Bishop is nothing the worse for being married buâ— rather much the better and more useful in his Ministery And we say that the Law which by force taketh away this Liberty from Men anâ—ties them to a single Life against their Wills is as St. Paul stiles it the Doctrine of Devils and that from hence as is confessed by thâ— Bishop of Augusta Faber the Abbot of Paleâ—mo Latomus the tripartite Work which 〈◊〉 joyned to the second Tome of the Councilâ— and other defenders of the Papal Party and which is apparent from the thing it self and confessed by all Histories an incredible imâ—purity of Life and Manners and horriblâ— Debaucheries in the Ministers of God havâ— sprung and arisen so that Pius the secondâ— Bishop of Rome was not out when
tho we are silent they may be pleased to hear their own St. Bernard Those Bishops saith he to whom the Church of God is now committed are not Teachers but Seducers not Pastors but Impostors not Prelates but Pilates Thus St. Bernard wrote then of him that call'd himself the Great Pontiff and of the Bishops who then sate at the Helm He was no Heretick he was no Lutheran he never forsook their Church and yet he never stuck at calling those Bishops they then had Seducers Impostors Pilates And now when the People were openly seduced and Christians imposed upon and Pilate mounted the Tribunal and adjudged Christ and his Members to the Fire and Sword O good God! in what condition was the Church then And now of so many and such gross Errors what one Error have they reformed to this day yea what one Error have they at any time acknowledged and confessed 26. BUT now whereas they pretend to be in Possession of the whole Catholick Church and call us Hereticks because we do not agree with them Let us see what Mark that Church hath of the Church of God Nor is the Church of God very difficult to be found if you seriously and diligently seek for it for it is placed in an high and illustrious Place and built on the top of a Mountain and the Foundations of it are laid upon the Apostles and Prophets There saith St. Augustin let us seek the Church there let us try our Cause and in another place he saith the Church is to be shown cut of the sacred Scriptures and whatever Society cannot derive it self from them is not the Church And yet I know not whence it proceeds whether from Reverence or Conscience or a despair of Victory that these men always dread and shun the Word of God as much as a Thief does the Gallows and in truth it is no Wonder for as they say a Beetle is presently extinguished in Opobalsam altho it is a most fragrant Oyntment So they see their Cause is suffocated and ruined when ever it comes near the Scriptures which are a sort of deadly Poyson to it Therefore they accustom themselves to call the Holy Scriptures which our Saviour Jesus Christ did not only cite on all occasions but at the last sealed them with his Blood that they may drive the People from them as if they were dangerous and destructive with the greater facility these very Scriptures I say they call a cold uncertain unprofitable dumb killing dead Letter which seems to us to be the same thing as if they should wholly deny them to be the Word of God And besides all this they commonly add a no very proper Simile too They are say they a Nose of Wax and may be form'd and set all manner of ways and be made to serve all manner of Purposes Does the Pope not know that that these things are said by his Followers Does he not understand what kind of Patrons he has 27. LET the Pope then be pleased to hear how piously and how holily Hosius a certain Polander and a Bishop as he saith himself certainly an eloquent and not unlearned man and a sharp and violent defender of his Interest writes concerning the Scriptures I believe he will admire a pious man could possibly entertain such impious Thoughts or write so contemptuously of those very words which he knew proceeded from the Mouth of God and above all that he should seem to desire that it might not pass for his Sense alone but the common Opinion of the whole Popish Party We saith he have bid adieu to the Scriptures having seen so many not only different but contrary Interpretations given of them let us then rather hear God himself speak then apply our selves and trust our Salvation to those jejune Elements There is no need of being Skilful in the Law and Scriptures but of being taught by God That Labour is ill imployed that is bestowed on the Scriptures for the Scripture is a Creature and a poor kind of Element Thus far Hosius in his Book of the express Word of God in this place craftily under the Person of another Man tho he speaks the same thing in several other places in the same Book as his own Opinion without any disguise which is said with the same Spirit and Affection as the like things were heretofore by Montanus and Marcion who are reported frequently to have said when they contemptuously rejected the Holy Scriptures that they knew more and better things than either Christ or his Apostles ever knew What then shall I say on this Occasion O ye Pillars of Religion O ye Presidents of the Church of Christ is this the Reverence ye pay to the Word of God Do ye bid an Adieu to the Sacred Scriptures which St. Paul saith are divinely inspir'd which the Holy God hath illustrated by so many Miracles in which the certain Footsteps of Jesus Christ are imprinted which were cited as Testimonies by all the Holy Fathers by the Apostles by Christ himself the Son of God when occasion requir'd it do ye I say bid adieu to these as if they were not worthy of your regard that is do ye impose silence upon God who it is that speaks clearly to you in the Scriptures Or will you call that Word a poor and a dead Element by which only as St. Paul saith we are reconcil'd to God and which as the Prophet David saith is Holy and Pure and shall endure for ever Or will you say that all the Pains we spend in that which Christ commanded us to search diligently and to have ever in our Eye is lost and that Christ and the Apostles when they exhorted the People to a careful Perusal of the Scriptures that they might thereby abound in all Knowledge and Wisdom designed only to delude and abuse Men It is no wonder that these men despise us and our Writings who thus undervalue God himself and his Oracles but it was a most foolish Action to offer so great an Affront to the Word of God that they might do us a small mischief 28. AND now as if all this were too little they commit the Holy Scriptures to the Fire as the wicked King Jehojakim and as Antiochus and Maximinus two Heathen Persesecutors did calling them the Books of Hereticks and they seem altogether disposed to imitate Herod the Great in what he did for the establishing of his Power for he being an Idumaean of another Race and Blood then the Jews were and desiring to be thought a Jews that so he might the better settle that his Kingdom over them which he had obtained from Augustus Caesar he commanded all their Genealogies which they kept in their Publick Register and were carefully preserved from Abrahams times by which without any Error it was easie to find of which Tribe any person was descended to be burnt and abolished that there might be nothing to be found for the
qualified for the making of a Church of God for certainly they are neither lawful Abbots nor genuine Bishops But suppose they are the Church suppose they are to be heard in Councils and that they have the sole Right of Voting yet in ancient time when the Church of God was well governed especially if it be compared with their Church as St. Cyprian acquaints us the Presbyters and Deacons and some part also of the Laity were then call'd to assist at the hearing of Ecclesiastical Causes 4. BUT what now if those Abbots and Bishops know nothing What if they know not what Religion is nor what they ought to believe of God What if the Law hath perished from the Priests and Counsel from the Elders What if as Micah saith the Night be unto them instead of a Vision and Darkness instead of a Divination What if as Isaiah saith the Watchmen of the City are all blind they are all ignorant and what if the Salt as Christ saith hath lost its Force and Savour and is become good for nothing not fit even to be cast upon the Dunghil for they defer all to the Pope who cannot err but then this in the first place is ridiculous that the Holy Ghost should be sent by a Carrier from the Holy Council to Rome that if any Doubt or Stop happens which he cannot expedite he may take better Instruction and Counsel from I know not what more learned Spirit for if it must come to this at last what need is there that so many Bishops should with such great Expence be called from very distant places at this time to Trent It had certainly been more prudent and much better a shorter and an easier way to have at first turn'd over all this Business to the Pope and have gone directly to the Oracle of his sacred Brâ—ast besides it is unjust to devolve our Cause from so many Bishops and Abbots to the Judgment of any one man and above all others to the Judgment of the Pope who is accused by us of many very great Crimes and though he hath not answered for his own Misdemeanors yet hath presum'd to condemn us before we were call'd and that without any Tryal Now do we invent all this or is it not now the manner of our late Councils Are not all things referr'd to the Pope by the Council so that as if nothing were done by so many Sentences and Subscriptions he alone may add diminish abrogate approve relax and restrain whatsoever he please Whose Words are these Why did the Bishops and Abbots in the end of the late Council at Trent put in these words as a part of their Decree Saving in in all things the Authority of the Apostolical See Or why did Pope Pascal write thus insolently of himself as if saith he any Councils could prescribe a Law to the Church of Rome when all Councils are held by the Authority of the Church of Rome and derive their Force from it too and whereas they do patiently in their Decrees except the Authority of the Pope of Rome If they will confirm and approve these things why are Councils call'd but if they are indeed repeal'd and abrogated why are they still left in their Books as if they were in force 5. WELL but suppose in the next place that the Pope tho one is above all Councils that is that he is a part greater than the whole has more Power yea and more Wisdom too than all his Party besides and that in spite of St Jeroms Judgment the Authority of this one City is greater than that of the whole World What if he has seen none of these things and has neither read the holy Scriptures nor the ancient Fathers nor so much as any of his own Councils What if like Pope Liberius of old he becomes an Arrian or like Pope John who lived not many years since thinks very leudly and wickedly of the Immortality of the Soul and of the Life to come or as Pope Zosimus heretofore corrupted the Council of Nice so he for the enlarging of his own Power should corrupt the other Councils and aver that those things were deliberated and constituted by the holy Fathers in them which were never so much as thought off and that as Camotensis saith the Popes do frequently he should offer Violence to the holy Scriptures that he may thereby possess himself of a Plenitude of Power What if he renounce the Christian Faith and becomes an Apostate as Lyranus saith many Popes have done What will the holy Spirit for all these things knock at the Cabbin of his Breast and obtrude such a Light upon him contrary to his Inclinations and against his Will that he shall not err though he would Or shall such a Pope as this be the Fountain of all Laws and all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge be notwithstanding found in him as in a Cabinet Or if these things be not in him can he nevertheless judge well and conveniently of things of this great weight Or if he be not qualified to judge of them does he yet desire that all these things should be refer'd to him alone What now if the Popes Advocates the Abbots and Bishops dissemble nothing but declare themselves openly to be the Enemies of the Gospel and will not see what they do see but wrest the Scriptures and knowingly and willingly deprave and adulterate the Word of God and do foully and impiously transfer to the Pope what is perspicuously and properly spoken of Christ and cannot be applied to any other Mortal What if they say the Pope is all and above all or that he can do all those things which Christ can do or that the Tribunal and Consistory of the Pope is the same with Christs or that the Pope is that Light which came into the World which Christ spake of himself only and that he that doth Evil hateth that Light and fleeth from it or that all other Bishops have received of his Fulness Or lastly what if they do without dissimulation or obscurity clearly and manifestly determine contrary to the Word of God Shall whatever they say nevertheless presently become Gospel Shall such as these be the Army God Will Christ be present with such Men Will the Spirit of God move upon their Tongues or may they say truly it seems good to the Holy Ghost and to us 6. Pâ—trus a Soto and his Voucher Hosius make no sâ—ruple to affirm that that very Council which condemn'd our Saviour to death had then the Spirit of Prophesie and Truth and the Holy Ghost with them and that what those High Priests said was not false or vain when they said 〈◊〉 have a Law and by that Law be ought to die that in this according to Hosius they gave a true Judgment and that their Decree was perfectly just by which Christ was adjudged worthy of Death It is a wonder in