that yow must proue The nexte auctoritie that yow alleage to this purpose is taken oute of the first epistle of Anacletus and neuer written as yow ignorantly sayde it was by Calixtus But whose so euer it be yow handle it like youre owne For hauing cut of that which otherwise might haue bewrayed your falsehoode yow bring vs in a piece that semeth without the rest to make for your purpose Truly the ciuile lawes call it inciuile euen in worldly matters to iudge apon the onely bare viewe of some one parte of the lawe what the meaning is of the whole What they wer like to call mangling and hackling tearing and dismembring such as yow vse in goddes matters I referre it to your owne conscience to iudge by the argument of L. Cornelia de Fals. The wordes of Anacletus arre these Episcopus Deo sacrificans testes vt praefixum est secuÌ„ habeat c. The bishop when he doeth sacrifice to god let him as is before saide haue witnesses and mo then an other priest For as his honour is greater so hath he nede of mo witnesses For apon highe and solemne feastes shall he haue with him either seuen or fiue or thre deacons which ar called his eyes besides subdeacons and other ministres Who hauing apon them the holy vestimentes shall stande with humble spirite contrite harte and demure countenaunce before him and behinde him the priestes on the right hande and on the left garding him from euell disposed parsons and giuing their coÌ„sent to the sacrifice It foloweth Peracta consecratione omnes communicent c. The consecration being ended let them all communicate they that will not shalbe suspendid from entring in to the churche For so haue the apostles ordeined and the holy churche of Rome oâ—serueth These arre the wordes of Anacletus which if yow had wholly according to true meaning alleaged euery man shoulde haue easely perceiued how little this place had made for youre purpose euery man could haue saide that the wordes let all communicate shoulde be restreined to the priestes Deacons and other ministres of whome assisting the bishop at Masse he had before spoken and not to be racked as by you they violently arre to all the whole people that they should take place not in euery priestes masse but in euery bishoppes not at all times but at high and solemne feastes But what M. Iuell if as now it appeareth that this place maketh nothing for the prouse of youre assertion that there was not or coulde not within the first six hundred yeares after Christ or now may not any masse be saide without there be â—ome present to communicate with the priest so I make the same place to th' intent yow may not be sayde to haue taken the paines to haue alleaged it in vaine to serue for vs ageinst yow Truly I nothing doubte but that in right and indifferent iudgement I shall be hable to doe it The assistentes to the bishop at his masse should ye wote well as appeareth by this place of Anacletus coÌ„municate peracta consecratione after the consecration But what if they had refused at any time so to doe What should then haue bene done with that which was consecrated To haue reserued it vntill an other time youre doctrine in that point would not haue permitted to haue cast it away or abused it to profanevses your reuerence to those highe misteries could not haue alowed it I put here no case either impossible or vnthought apon For Anacletus him selfe prouided yow see a punishement for those that woulde not receiue which might as well haue bene all as one Thus I hope for this matter we shall not neede to trye the lawe Yow will easely graunte your selfe that the bisshop might haue finished his masse and haue receiued a lone and so either haue song or saide a priuate masse contrary to that which yow haue hetherto affirmed To the place of Chrisostome and that other of S. Gregori by the which it appeareth that such as woulde not receiue with the prieste wer commaunded away although it wer ynough for vs to answere that all this proueth nothing that when they be gone the prieste which came thither for that purpose may not goe forwarde in his Masse and receiue yea alone so that resting on this pointe we might looke for youre replye yeat although these testimonies be not I saye to the purpose forasmuch much neuerthelesse as they goe nearer to vs then any of the other auctorities before alleaged while they seme to barre the people to be present at the masse without they will receaue the sacrament with the prieste I shall thereunto in fewe wordes answere after this sorte First that these fathers of a vehement and earnest zeale that they had to reuoke and call in to vse againe that frequent and common vsage of receauing with the prieste from whence they then sawe the people thorough coldenesse of deuotion which by the cruell and often persecutions of the heathen emperours was wont to be kindled and enflamed in them to be not a little swarued and fallen away vsed a phrase and manner of speche although exactly considered in it selfe not all together simply true yet for that time and those manners very much bothe expedieÌ„t and necessary For euen as no man reprehendeth him that minding to make a crooked wand streight boweth it first to a greate deale more crookednesse on the other side then it had before not that he aloweth that any more then he did the other but onely because he knoweth right well that to make it at all streight this is the onely way euen so these fathers if they commaunded them awaie that being present at the Masse woulde not communicate with the prieste if they threatened them that if they wer not worthy to receiue the communion they wer not worthy to haue any parte of the common praiers yea if they added that excepte they wer worthy euery daie to receiue they shoulde not be worthy once in the yeare we must nedes thinke that here they bowed these crooked pieces as farre an other way and that they ment no more to haue them stande thus then as they did before If you here demaunde of meapoÌ„ what groundes I dare leauing the manifest wordes of these fathers giue this interpretation knowe ye that two causes there arre which haue moued me so to doe The first is for the auoiding of absurdities and inconueniences for which causes they that be learned in the lawes will tell you that it is not vnlaufull to swarue often times and goe froÌ„ euen the plaine wordes of he lawe or statute which otherwise we should of necessitie fall in to and from which of good reason we ought to thinke those holy and learned fathers in all their actes and doinges to haue bene most farre For if they had meÌ„t verely as their bare wordes imporre what coulde haue bene spoken more absurdely then this
emperour yet hath he not thereby gotten auctoritie to depose bishoppes and ordeine newe â–ª which onely bishoppes must doe So strange a thing semed it then good readers in Christes churche which nowe we see so commonly done Long after thiese emperours start vp Leo Isaurus emperour of Constantinople he that made war with images Ageinst him god raised vp also his Azarias one to warn him of his duetie and that was that notable learned man Iohn Damascenus Giue saith he the apostle Paule crieth to euery one his due honor feare pension tribute to eche one that which they ought to haue The charge that kinges haue is to see well to their common weales the ordering of the churches apperteineth to the pastours and teachers This manner of inuading other mennes offices I can terme it no better my brethern then robbery and plaine violence And a little after he hath thiese wordes Tibi ô rex in ijs quae pertinent ad presentis vitae negocia c. As for those thinges ô king which concern onely this presâ—nt life in those we willingly obey the. In ordering thâ— state of the churche we haue shepherdes which haue spoken to vs the worde of god that is to saie taught it vs and haue left vs rites and ordres therefore And in the same place he addeth Non recipio regeÌ„ qui per tyrannidem sibi sacerdotiuÌ„ vsurpat I acknowledge him for no king that vsurpeth by tirany the priestes office And last of all to knit vp the knot in plaine wordes he saith Non assentior vt regum legibus gubernetur ecclesia sed patrum potius traditionibus siue scriptae hae sint siue non scriptae I consent not saith he that the churche of god shalbe gouerned by the lawes of kinges but by the traditions rather of oure fathers be they written or vnwritten And thus much hetherto good readers haue I thought good to reherce that yow may the better vnderstand how the auncient fathers of Christes churche haue not ceased continually from time to time to resist the vnlaufull attempt of such princes as being heretikes or enueigled theretoe by heretikes for of other perdy it was neuer gone about nor of all them neither would contrary to the expresse worde of god the custome of Christes churche from the beginning continued the alowed exaÌ„ples of all ages of all common weales Christian and heathen hetherto practised mingle heauen and earth holie and prophane together by vnlawfull vsurping to them selues the supreme and chief gouernement in causes ecclesiasticall To come nearer home to our owne time and daies if in it any prince haue attempted the like there hath not lacked also stoare of diuerse meÌ„ singuler bothe for their vertuous life and exquisite learning which haue rather chosen to withstand the same with the expence of their bloud and losse of this present life then to the vtter destructioÌ„ of both body and soule and losse of that which must continue for euer to consent thereto But if thiese examples please not the deinty tast of the aduersaries as being ouer stale I shall set before them their owne deare derling the piller while he liued of their religion the very head of their churche if they be not all together headlesse their Idol and their god in earthe whose doctrine and opinions at other times and in other thinges they haue so rauenouslie deuoured Iohn Caluin him self For if kinges and temporall gouernours as our aduersaries affirme ought euerie one of them in their realmes signories and dominions to gouerne in causes ecclesiasticall and matters of religion whie did then that monsterous beaste in his comentaries apon the prophetes Osâ—e and Amos rayl apoÌ„ our late souereigne lorde king Henrie the eight calling him homo belluinus a beastelie maÌ„ and comparing him with Iehû whome he termeth wicked and nought Why termed he theÌ„ blasphemers that first buzzed into his eares that vaine desire to be called chief head of the churche of England for of other yow wot well he neuer attempted to be nor euer was called vnder Christe here in earth If Caluin haue taught the truthe then haue his scholers taught vs and yeat doe feede vs with lies If they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie chief head of the churche of England vnder Christ which is to saie in effect nothing elles but to be chief gouernour in all causes belonging to the same who was yet a man although laie and thereto also of great wisdome and learning in what degree of blasphemie shall we place them that giue this title not to laie men onelie but to women also and children with out respect If Caluin who touching the giuing of this vnlaufull title to our late lord and maister was vtterly innocent coÌ„plained yet that euen his conscience was wounded not a little there withall how much more daungerousely wounded ought they to thinck them selues who of so many horrible and bloudly woundes whereby for the refusall to folow this example in christes churche neuer hard of before so many godly learned and innocent men in this realme haue died some by heading some by hanging some by quartering and tearing peace meale one membre from an other haue by ther false and vntrue suggestions byn the chief and onelie occasion who yet like cruell bloudsuckers and bloudy bourreâ—aus cary about in their murdering aud malicious mouthes the naked knife which wer it laufull for them they would sheathe in the throates of euerie one of vs that thinck not as they doe But if now on the contrarie part their maister Caluin wer deceauid if they be in the right and he in the wrong why steppeth none of them furth to defend and vindicate from perpetuall infamy that prince of famouse memory which by his railing writinges this wretched caytiff goeth about to bring him into why haue they left him so long vndefended who did no other thing then whereof them selues wer the authors and first beginners Or why at the least purge theie not them selues of the horrible crime of blasphemie laied by him to their charges and all such as theie ar for if they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie head of the churche of Englande what priuilege haâ—e thiese that calling not onelie him but his sonne and daughter by the same title in effect they should not incurre the same crime Where is now their spirit of vnitie that they ar wont so much to bragge of which dissent not here in any small poinct or from any meane man but euen from the chiefest caterpiller whyle he liued of their congregatioÌ„ who not onely in thiese places before by me alleaged kepeth as it wer with their proceadings a combat but elles where in his InstitutioÌ„s doeth merueilousâ—y discredit the same And in steede of manie places which might be brought here out of his worckes I shall onely for this time be coÌ„tented to alleage one in such sort as I finde it in the frenche because at the writing hereof
fewe maie not sodenlie be drawen to all the worlde for the gouernment whereof no one man alone can suffise For this grosse errour is bothe by auctoritie and also reason easie to be confuted By the auctoritie of S. Chrisostome who as ye hard before named in the gouernement of the churche as far forwarde the successours of S. Peter as S. Peter him selfe By reason because if there wer such feare of disordre in twelue parsones so small a nombre so well ordered and directed by the spirite of god as the holie apostles wer that euen emongest them for the auoiding thereof there must nedes be had one heade howe much more nede is it to haue one emongest so manie thousandes as the churche consisteth of If a fewe be likelier to agre then a greate nombre if vnitie be named of one because lightelie none iarreth or is at dissention with him selfe if the nearer that all nombres come to that one the lesse confusion and the farder we goe from it the greater is like to folowe then is there no man I trust so blinde but that he maie easelie see that the same cause of schismes and disorder yea so much more greater as the churche is more amplified and encreased to be feared remaining still the remedie which is to haue one heade must also endure and continue still And as for that sory shift of the compase and largenesse of the churche which no one man is hable to rule of what value and force that is he that listeth to cast his eye first to the time passed and gouernement in those daies when nexte vnder god all was gouerned by one and then after to this miserable time of oures in which there be so manie heades one of the churche of England an other of that of Geneua one of VVittemberge an other of Franckford of euerie churche one and in all none euerie one chalenging to him selfe merum imperium absolute iurisdiction out of the checke of anie other and to considre with him selfe in eche of these gouernementes their seuerall effectes the quiet reâ—gne of one truthe in the one the diuerse sectes and heresies in what parte of the worlde so euer theie sprang vp ouerthrowen and repressed the sondrie triumphes that Christes churche hath had ouer them these fiftene hundred yeares in thother scarse yet of forty yeares contâ—nuance the tumultuouse hurliburlie the perniciouse and horrible heresies neuer before hard of the sondrie schismes and sectes so manie as there be heades the arrogancie of the capitaines and maisters while euerie one boasting of the spirite and vaunting as S. Hierom saieth that he hath the churche on his side will submit him selfe to no other the implacable hatred of the scholers and disciples euery one standing apon his maisters honor and reputation with an infinite nombre and whole swarme of euels mo which I reserue to an other place shalbe easelie able without the helpe of anie other him self to iudge I omit here touching this foolishe reason that therefore there can not be nowe one heade of the churche as in S. Peters time there was because the churche is so encreased that no one maÌ„ is able to gouerne the same proceding first from Caluin and patched afterwardes into our englishe apologie that seing he that at the beginning appointed this one heade where he might haue appoincted more and did not neuer chauÌ„ged that ordre sence being all this while not ignoraÌ„t to what greatenes his churche should after growe it can to no man that hath the vse of reason seme other but that either he thought that one ruling by such as he should appointe vnder him might suffise for the gouernement of his churche or suerlie at the leaste that he hath not circumspectly prouided therefore But if all these mere cauillations had bene good and strog reasons yet haue I showed yow ynough in this one B. of Rome S. Peter who hath bene called yow haue hard howe often heade of the churche and chief of all bishoppes to gaine yow if yowe will stande to your worde to our parte M. Iuell Because notwithstanding I would haue yowe with your good will I will yeat showe yow the like titles giueÌ„ by the auncient fathers to other bishoppes of Rome And to frame my selfe the more to your humour although I thinck yow put no difference betwene thiese termes heade of the churche ruler of the churche chief of all other priestes with such like manie other that the fathers and auncient generall councels haue not spared to vse as often as theie had occasion to either write or speake to or of the B. of Rome I will here first alleage vnto yow certeine auctorities where the B. of Rome hathe bene called sence S. Peters time and yet within the first sixe hundred yeares euen in expresse wordes heade of the churche and then after the testimonies of diuerse other who although theie vse not the same wordes affirme yet and confirme the same preeminence and auctoritie Vincentius therefore Lirinensis a man of singuler learning and of the olde age for he florished vnder Theodosius and Valentinian th'emperours writing of the bishoppes that wer assembled at Ephesus in the councell there ageinst the heretike Nestorius maketh mention of two bishoppes of Rome Foelix the martir and Iulius whose epistles after that he had tolde wer there readen in the councell ageinst the saide heretike he addeth immedatlie after thiese wordes Et vt non solum caput orbis verumetiam ipsa latera illi iudicio testimonium perhiberent adhibitus est à meridie B. Cyprianus à Septentrione S. Ambrosius that is to saie And that it might not be saide that the heade of the worlde onelie gaue witnesse to that iudgement ageinst Nestorius but the ribbes also and sides there was present from the Southe blessed Ciprian and from the Northe holie Ambrose In the fourthe generall councell assembled at CalcedoÌ„ we finde that the legates of the B. of Rome writing in a certeine epistle to the emperour what theie had doen in the councell touching Dioscorus had these wordes Vnde sâ—nctissimus beatissimus Papa caput vniuersalis ecclesiae c. whereapoÌ„ the moste holie and blessed pope Leo heade of the vniuersall churche by vs his legates the holie councell consenting thereto hath depriued him Dioscorus of his bishoprick and degraded him of his priestehoode If the B. of Rome had not at that time emongest all men beneso reputed and taken is it credible that they would euer haue bene so boâ—ld nay impudent rather to giue him apon their owne heades anie suche title Or if they woulde haue nedes so called him being not so durst they in their lettres to themperour Wel if they had onely so called him some brable theie might yet perhappes haue made thereabout but seing the whole bodie of the councell the corps of Christendome the churche it selfe for such is euerie generall councell laufullie assembled in that epistle which they sent