part which the same Apostle speaketh to wit That the Church is builded vppon the foundation of the Prophetes and Apostles And that which he witnesseth of the holy scriptures 2. Timot. 3.16.17 Moreouer that shall be false to which the same Apostle saith That the Churche is the piller of truth 1. Tim. 3.15 Vnlesse all truth beeing ingrauen in that piller should be manifest Other some more shamelesse suppose there is left vnto these men whom they call the successours of the Apostles I know not what excellent thing and that they doe affirme so assuredly that they hold they can not be deceiued in that matter whose opinion I suppose néedeth not at this time amongst men of sound iudgement any confutation But in the ouerthrow of these two latter and especially of the last point I perceiue that all these men VVhat we ought to think of the vnwritten word are altogether of one opinion against vs. For they vrge I knowe not what vnwritten worde which they call Apostolicall traditions And verely I do not vnwillinglie graunt vnto them that all thinges were not seuerally put downe in wryting according to the circumstances of times place and persons which were obserued either by the Apostles or by their consent in the very forme and order of the seruice of God But who wil graunt that we must thinke the same of the decrees of the verie doctrine it selfe Finally when the aduersaries are bidden to bring forth what these pointes be then that lying spirit bewraieth himselfe because those thinges which they will haue deliuered from hand to hand could neither by word nor writinges haue bene deliuered by the Apostles but they should dissent from themselues But euen al the fathers of sound iudgement haue iudged farre other wise of the most excellent and moste sound perfection of the holy scriptures with whose testimonies being a thousand times alleadged I thought it not good now to fill these leaues There remayneth the question to be handled The interpretation of the vvritten vvord is not else vvhere to be fet then from the vvorde it selfe to wit by comparing of the places one vvith another and out of the analogie or proportion of the articles of our fayth touching the interpretation of the scripture Which truely is so tossed to and fro by these men that they cannot eschew the sinne of blasphemie There be I confesse some places of the scripture partly through the ignorance of tongs partly also throgh other faults of our owne so dark vnto vs euen vntil this day that as yet euen the most learned interpreters and such as be of best cōscience cannot thoroughly agrée what should be the proper natural meaning thereof There be some thinges also in the holy scriptures so profoundly spoken that euery one maye not lawfullye procéede so farre To be short there be some things also written in such terms that as Augustin saith it shold appeare the holy ghost would whet our diligence in the serching and meditating of them And vnlesse the necessarie points of doctrine and Christian religion were so playnely and clearly to be short so familiarly declared in the writings of the Prophetes and Apostles that they may be the holy ghost being presēt amongst them whereby God lightneth all his sayntes manifestly vnderstoode in the Church to what end shoulde the Lorde haue sent his hearers to the scriptures Yea that more is to what ende haue both the Prophets and Christe himselfe also and the Apostles spoken if they would not haue these thinges to be vnderstood which all ought to know I will speake something more boldly which yet I hope I can proue VVe cannot by naturall vnderstanding knovv vvhat the pointes of Christian religion are but by the writinges of the Prophets and Apostles That we may consent vnto the points of Christian religion as vnto true groundes and muche more that wee may applye them vnto our selues it behooueth surely that wee shoulde haue our eares elsewhere opened a fleshly bea rt giuen vs to be short that we should elsewhere be taught tban of flesh and blood because the church is the congregation of them that must be taught of God to whome the arme of the Lord is reuealed Esai 53.1 and that men may vnderstand what the Prophetes and Apostles haue briefly thought and taught concerning euery article of our religion they haue neede not onely of a wit in some measure sharpened but also of the knowledge of tongues and of careful and diligent reading For it is one manner of thing to vnderstande what this or that man sayth then so to vnderstand the things which thou doest perceiue that thou also approue of them Comprehension knowledge and full perswasiō must be distinguished in the holy scriptures of which that to wit comprehension is naturall the other is in deede spiritual but also commō to many reprobates The third is proper to the children of God and not onely that thou vnderstand what the thing is but also wherefore it is and comprehension is another thing than knowledge euen in prophane matters and agayne in matter of diuinity this knowledge is another thing than full perswasion therefore comprehension belongeth vnto all men that are endued with some iudgement and vnto knowledge there is required also an outwarde lightning of Gods spirite by reason of the blindenes of mans iudgment which gift notwithstanding is common as well to many euil as to many good men But ful perswasion doth seperate the chosen children of God from the castawayes and is the proper riches of the Saintes Therefore we require In what points we doe at this day dissent when the question is demaunded touching the interpretation of Gods word the exposition of the worde of God not onely as profitable but also as necessary yet not for the same cause as these mē thinke neither yet wil wee fet it from the place frō whome these men suppose we wil take it for they think that that worde is so darkly deliuered that as thogh it were some darke thing it should neede light fetcht elsewhere then from it selfe and when we demand of them from whence at the length this light should be fet thē they lay vnto vs the vizard or bare shewe of the Catholique Church vnder which name somtimes they lay before the ignorant these or those of the Fathers sometimes the fragments of particular or general counsels to bee short they lay before them very often long custom for an argument that cannot bee refused to which thinges if a man doe not forthwith consent he is now layde open to the slaughter of the outragious people no knowledge of his cause beeing had before as thogh he were guilty of some haynous crime committed against God or man wheras in times past he was condemned to bee burned vnder some certaine colour of law And in deede this is now their zeale But we that we may in one word declare all thinges which belong to this
falsehood although on both sides that personal succession may be found Therfore neither the succession of persons by it selfe neither such maner of consent doth of necessitie prooue a true Church for as much as where both are found yet some times there maye be a false church and there in some sort may be a true church where the pastor dissenteth from the sheepe or the sheepe from the pastor Now that men may by examples both past and present prooue that these things haue too often times fallen out no man I suppose will denie But againe they say that they dispute not of particular Churches which they graunt may fall away but of that Catholique or vniuersall Church 1. Tim. 3.15 which is the piller foundation of truth But how I pray you do they define this catholike Churche Firste by a certayne place as those that will haue catholicke and Roman to be al one Secondly by the multitude Catholique and Roman are not all one as they which vpbraide vs with fewnes Let vs see therfore what manner of arguments these be They be if they be kept within the iust rules of reasoning vnlesse I be deceaued these and such like The church of Rome teacheth so very many in respect of a very few so beleeue and so it was from hand deliuered vnto vs. Therefore this is the catholique truth But who is so far void of all reason that he seeth not here againe Petitio principij and the thing in controuersie to be taken as graunted Shew vs therefore ye Sophisters or at least wise teach vs probablie firste how a part should be the whol that we may graunt vnto you your Romish church to be a principall member of the catholicke church And then from whence I pray you haue ye learned this Romish Church to be ordayned for a perpetuall rule of truth and from whence haue ye drawen that to be true which is approued of the greatest number Verely ye shall neuer proue this out of the bookes of the old or new Testament For those corrupt argumentes Vpon this rocke I haue builded my Church Mat. 16.18 Luk. 22.23 I baue prayed for thee Peter that thy fayth faile not and that saying of Christe thrise repeated feed my sheepe Ioh. 21.15.16 with men not altogether ignorant of these thinges need not any further confutation But happely ye will prooue it out of the writinges of auncient fathers As though for sooth it were the same thing to commende the faith and religion of the church of Rome as long as it was worthy praise and to establish hir for the catholicke church or a perpetuall rule to the catholicke church And seeing that by the name of the church of Rome if these flatterers will speake that they thinke they doe vnderstand no other thing than the byshop of Rome him selfe what madnesse is this I beseech you to haue the deciding of so great a controuersie to depēd vpon that seat in which their own writers being witnes not so much the monsters of men as Sathan himselfe doth seeme to haue sit so many ages together These men replie that the dignitie it selfe and the authoritie of the seate is not taken away by the faults of the persons euen as the Leuiticall high priesthood was true then also when it was exercised by vngracious and wicked high priestes And neither do we thinke that either the dignitie or els the efficacie of the ministerie may be abolished thorowe the faultes of the ministers which thinge these men yet thinke when it pleseth them as they that hang that their transubstantiation vpon the intēt of their sacrificing priestes a very rotten coard surely but this we say that their principle being graunted to wit that the Byshop of Rome is that head that should stand the catholique church as in stead of a soule it must altogether followe that this head be wyse if they will haue all his members that is the particular Churches to be wise And againe if that be frantick that the whole Churche must be franticke also Now that the Romish Bishoppes haue beene franticke many ages together not onely as priuate men but specially also as Bishops that is to say that euerie one of them almost haue bene not onely the most wicked of all men in respecte of their conuersation which thing these men can not denie vnlesse they woulde rather be conuinced by their owne testimonies but also as concerning the points of our religion whilst that partly they haue neglected all true religion and partly also haue set them selues against it so much that which thing two or three ages ago Petrarcha hath written whose verses they commend Rome hath beene a thousande yeeres at the least the temple of heresie and hath vtterly subuerted as much as was in hir all the offices of Christ yea so far forth that shee hath exalted hir selfe aboue Christe him selfe as the Apostles Iohn and Paule greater than all exception haue fore tolde all the beste approoued writers Gréeke Latin being the Byshops of other churches so interpreting the same vnlesse we haue sufficiently heretofore proued it we are ready again to prooue it before all vpright iudges Let this controuersie therefore be firste decided O yea Sophisters before that ye of this fained foundation as it were graunted vnto you But go to let vs graunt that the Byshoppes of Rome were suche whose so great and large succession is alleadged by these men Who yet vnlesse he be vtterly out of his wittes will therefore conclude that the bishop of Rome is the vniuersall head to whome who so euer doth cleaue is to be iudged a true member of the Catholique Church And yet these be the sophistications of these goodly fellowes which will haue catholique and Roman to be one and the selfe same thing to wit because Paule wrote that in his time Rom. 1.18 the faith of the Romans was famous throughout all the world But how much more rightly nowe may we say that the stenche of that whore hath not onely filled the earth but hath ascended also euen to heauen and that excellent epistle of the Apostle written to the olde Romans ought now truely to be written againste the Romans their successors Let vs now come vnto those who esteeme their catholicke churche The Catholike Church must not be esteemed by the multitude by the number and glorious shew of pages or seriaunts Verely if these men speake truth Christ and his flocke shall iustly be pronounced excommunicat and that multitude shal be the catholicke church which so often times cried out Take him away Mat. 26.23 take him away crucifie him The Apostle also shall be found a lyar writing to the Corinthians Brethren yee see your calling 1. Cor. 1.26 that we are not many wise according to the fleshe not many mightie not many noble to be shorte then these men shall be worthie whom to confute we may take paines when either by reason or examples
yet a lawfull succession remayned as it was done against the Donatistes or againste them whiche brought forth new bookes of our religion as were in the beginning almost an infinite nūber as [a] I suppose that he speketh here of Simō Magus mentioned in Act. 8. of whom many thinges are writtē in the old writers specially he affirmed that Christe was not come neither suffered any thing of the Iewes but that he himself was Christ Simon [b] He amongst other things taught that Christ the sonne of God tooke not mans flesh of the virgin but that he had a spirituall or heauēly body which passed thorow the virgin Marie as water thorovv a pipe or Conduit He vvas about the yeere 150. Valentine [c] He affirmed that Christ appeared not in the substance of flesh but in a phantasticall body that one Simon vvas crucified in his steede about the yeare 124. Basilides [d] He taught that Christe vvas not very man and that he ascended into heauen vvithout his flesh and first made lavves for abstinence from meates and marriages hee vvas in the yeare 180. Montane to conclude the whole troup of most shamelesse men After this sort the Fathers of right iudgement gathered and reserued against these Such as pretended to be inspired vvith reuelations The Messalian heretiques vvere so called who affirmed that baptisme and the Lords supper did neither profit nor hurt but that those whiche gaue themselues to prayer onely or sleeping should be inspired vvith the spirite vvhich being once receyued aftervvards they had no need of the word or any other exercise of godlines but that he that vvas so inspired vvas altogether vvithout sinne and did foresee thinges to come and did sometimes behold God with their eies Enthusiasts saying If your doctrine be true eyther there hath not beene euer yet anye churche or the doctrine which you alleage is old and ancient But that both these thinges are false appeareth by that both because the apostles haue gathered together the churche of Christe and you teach your doctrines as taken not out of the writings of the Apostles but as newely reuealed vnto you by the holy ghost And agayne sayd the fathers both these things appeare by that that we count the beginnings of our churches by ascending vpward euen to the Apostles themselues but you could not haue receiued from the Apostles your thinges which ye first deuised Here remained one thing which the moste subtile of those moste fantasticall persons obiected to wit that all things were not reuealed to the apostles and therfore that men ought to beleeue their reuelations also But Tertulian whom I maruail could afterward be deceiued which Montanus holy ghoste most plentifully and strongly confuteth this prescription shewing that the Lord hath neither kept backe any thing from the apostles the chiefe builders of his church nor agayn that the apostles haue concealed any of those things which they had receiued of Christe After this sort I say the fathers vsed the argument of the succession of persons agaynste those heretiques altogether by demonstration as it were But they vsed it not in like sorte against the [a] So called of Paulus Samosatenus vvho denied the sonne of God to haue descended from heauén but that Christ did proceed from Marie in the earth hee was about the yeare 372. Samosatans [b] So called of one Sabellius who taught that there was but onely one person in the godhead confessed that the trinity was distincted in respect of names only not in respecte of persons He was about the yeare 320. Sabellians [c] So called of one Arrius who affirmed that the Son was not truly naturally God neither coeternall with the father but to haue had a beginning to be made of nothing he was about the yere 320 Arrians [d] So called of one Pellagius who held free will and that euery man might obtayne saluation by his owne workes that infants were borne vvithout originall sin and that Adam hurt himselfe onely by his fall He vvas about the yeare 466. Pelagians to be short againste anye with whome the questyon was not of the very bookes but of the meaning because this had beene verie foolishe Briefly therfore I answere these two thinges that the auncient Fathers whose authoritie these men shameleslie abuse haue neither at any time seperated the succession of their bishops from the succession of the Apostolical doctrine nor haue set this succession against any other heretiques but against those of whom some new reuelation was pretended As at this day of the [a] They mayntaine amongest other errors reuelations and take avvay the baptisme of infants Anabaptistes [b] They casting a side all feare of God vvhat so euer hold that men may lyue as they list Libertines [c] So called of one Casper Svvingfeldius vvho held the same matters that the Anabaptistes do Swingfeldians And therefore for as muche as now the controuersie is betwixt the Romanistes and vs for two thinges onely to wit for the interpretation of the Scripture and whether the wrytinges of the Prophetes and Apostles doe most fully contayne what so euer we ought to beleeue it is prooued that they in the first point impudently abuse the example of the fathers in alleadging against vs the argument of succession and in the other is ministred vnto vs a sure weapon to confute them And that this succession also was alleadged against the Donatistes as Schismatickes this nothing toucheth vs whom these men account not properly for Scismatickes but for heretiques of which thing notwithstanding we will say some thing in his proper place a That the false church of Rome is not onely not propped vp by the argument deriued frō the personal succession of the apostles but also ouerthrown although the questiō be not of the doctrine But go to let vs gratify them a litle and which thing may be done without any preiudice of the trueth Let vs graunt vnto these men how much force soeuer they can imagine of that their personall succession What shall this I besech you help their cause b That there vvas neuer any Apostolicall vniuersall ministeriall head and therefore that his succession is not Apostolicall For that we may begin at the highest step of their Hierarchie or priestlike gouernement as they call it that is at that vniuersall mynisteriall head vnto whome they afterwarde appropriated the name of Pope which before was common to all Bishoppes they shal as easely finde the Diuell him selfe in the kingdome of God as any such head either in the bookes of the◠newe Testament or in the auncient church For verie children know this how false folish and absurd arguments they be whatsoeuer they bring out of the scriptures to proue the same And as concerning the history of that auncient purer church that is to say in this behalfe verelie euen to the tymes of that manslaier Phocas they shall finde
lacke this by reason of many letts cast in the way but that to wit the worde it can neuer lacke although he that dispiseth that to wit the Sacrament despiseth both and therefore shall worthily bee iudged out of the Couenant What then truely the Church can neither at any time lack the séeds of the word neither the sowing nor the sowers but yet the sluggishnesse and wickednes of the Pastors chiefly hindereth that we cannot restraine both the sowing and the sowers to an ordinarie succession and calling And this thing falleth out by two meanes By one when the chayres or places be not empty but they which sit in them haue entred in either by the doore or by the window and do either wholly neglect their dutie or mingle cockell with seed or els sowe nothing but poyson as such was the state of the ancient catholique church vnder the moste parte of the vacant gouernments of the iudges afterwards in Iuda vnder the moste of the kings and at the length in the times of Christ being conuersant vpoÌ„ the earth By the other wheÌ„ as that ordinary both sowing and also ordinary calling of sowers ceaseth being for a time as it were more than halfe dead for we doe not acknowledge that these things can all together be abolished before the ende of the worlde and such was as we haue sayd the outwarde forme and face of the Church of the tenne Tribes and of the Catholique Church in the captiuitie of Babylon I say therefore that the very same thing hath some times thorow the iust iudgement of God fallen out in the Churche in respect of the sowing and the sowers which often times falleth out in the times of famine and warre to wit that there is vtterly no place for sowing Which when it coÌ„meth to passe al do not yet die but the hunger staruen that remaine are relieued by the fruits gathered in the haruest of the former yeares euen as heretofore in the times of Ioseph the Egiptians did sow nothing but in the very seuenth yeare of the famine So it behooued Daniell Ezechiell Zorobabell Ezra Nehemia and the remnaunt of the godly in Babylon when an ordinary ministry was wanting to be Prophetes and Pastors vnto themselues ioyning with most feruent praiers the continuall reading and meditation of the holy scriptures as in that story we reade to haue bene done vnlesse we woulde rather say that Moses and the other Prophetes whose wrytinges were then extant although they them selues were dead long a goe were notwithstanding their Pastors in this exile vntill the Lord in his time should haue mercy vpon Syon But amongest these breaches of the Church That the mark of succession and ordinarie vocation is nor abolished by euery fault that may fall out in the minister there is yet muche difference For where the Pastors doe their duties onely negligently or else offend only in manners neuertheles the double mark of the Church which is ordinary and to be séen remayneth By the double mark of the Church I mean the séed and the sowing and also ordination if so bee that these Pastors although negligent bee notwithstanding lawfully called And if they mingle only some leauen The leauen is to be taken beede off but the pastors notwithstanding are to be hard so farre foorth as they sit vppon the chayre not of Peter but of Christ neither doth such a congregation therefore ceasse to bee deemed as a member of the Catholique Churche or els the Catholique visible Church is no where although perhaps no other but negligent Pastors corrupt in maners and mixing some leauen be found throughout all the whole worlde Such were in the times of Christe the Pharisees and Saduces and the Doctors of the Lawe whose Leauen hee teacheth Math. 16.6 must bee auoyded which yet hee commaundeth to bee hearde Mat. 23.2.3 So long as they sit in Moses Chaire But this place peraduenture is not of euery one diligently inoughe marked for it is to bee noted oute of other places that the writinges of Moses and of the Prophetes were reade bee piecemeale in the Synagogues Which thing the Sections noted euen at this daye by a true order in the Hebrewe Bybles doe declare Nowe vnto this pure and sincere reading was added an interpretation full of Leauen of which sorte are these pointes which especiallye in Mathew are plentifully confuted by Christ Therefore Christ commaundeth those thinges to bee heard out of the Pulpit which were by custome syncerely recited out of Moses and the Prophetes in the Synagogues but the Leauen wherewith they did corrupt the puritye of Doctrine to be eschewed So it is not to bee doubted but that that outwarde Worshippe in the Temple was in the times of Christe diligently exercised without Idolatry which also Godly men did diligentlye perfourme although the right vse of the sacrifices and of the whole lawe was vtterly destroyed by the iusticiarie Pharisees and by the Sâ—duces which denied the resurrection that is to say the chiefe ende of sacrifices What maner of marchandize of high priestes office there was then and that againste the prescript of the lawe appeareth by historyes But this fault of persons in so great confusion of thinges did not abolishe the very facts of the priesthoode which did depend not vpon the priest but vpon the ordinance of God For there is some certain mean thing betweene men meerely pryuate and men lawfully called to wit when as some exercising the place of those that be lawfully called are either thorow ignoraunce or thorow winking at them borne with al and in their name execute some publique office as we read that it was ordayned in the lawe of the Romans concerning one Barbarius Philippus of which matter we haue in an other place spoken more fullye Therefore the Church in deed retayned and that in Pharisiisme and Saducisme hir note both of Gods seed and in some sort also of the very sowing thereof although it were some what defaced and yet neyther Pharisijsme nor Saducijsme was a parte of the sound Church But as often as euen openly In the Romish church such a one as now a good while it hath been all the notes of the true Catholique Church are not in some sort defaced onely but euen vtterly taken away as was foretolde by the Apostles the chayre of truth is vtterly destroyed so that on the one side syncere breade is not propounded vnto vs so that a man maye receiue it and on the other side some Leauen is so set before vs that a man may not reiect it but poysons are drunke to men vnwilling of the same who will account the congregation of these Wolues or of those which followe them for the true eyther Catholique or particular Churche Now I affirme that the Popedome that is to saie the Churche of Rome as at this daie they call it hath by little and little growen to be suche a one Seeing that those thinges beeing in deed fulfylled which both
not with their good leaue liking think speak and write But these men wil say although we were nothing lesse than we will séeme to be doth it followe that the name of Catholique Church which yee take frō vs doth agree vnto your Churches No verely Wherefore we haue in vayne now a long time agoe desired triall to be made by the matter it selfe That our Churches haue all the true markes of the Catholique Church and specially the pure vvorde of God if their bare deniall may be accepted We therfore affirme that the three notes of the Catholique Church to wit the seede of the written worde and the right and lawfull Ecclesiasticall calling and succession all which we haue restored are in our possession and stand on our side These things they stoutly deny In déed this controuersie cannot be decided in a few words neither do I at this present goe about it But that which I had taken in hand to prooue I hope I haue perfourmed to wit that the false and counterfeit notes of the Church which they alleaged are sufficiently confuted and the true notes of the Churche set forth and approoued For it is one thing to dispute of those markes which they are and another to dispute who haue them Notwithstanding because I haue in few wordes declared that they haue not those marks this thing also I may now speake that we haue at least two very waighty coniectures which make for vs agaynste them to wit that in discerning and triyng of opinions we stay our selues vppon the only written word of God that is the writings of the Prophets and Apostles and that we require the interpretation of it by the onely conference of places and proportion of the articles of fayth Neither do we refuse the writinges of any either old or new author so that they may be examined by the rules afore sayd by Gods worde and the proportion of faith But what these mē obiect against these vpright requestes it sufficiently appeareth Now in the question of succession and ordination they haue thought that not many yeares agoe they haue found out That our Churches haue the true Apostolicall succession a more certain reason to dispute against vs. For they demaund euen with great loftinesse and pride that we shoulde shew them whom they haue succeeded which in our times haue established our Churches as though we were no better able to shew our original thā the Donatistes coulde theirs We aunswere that the doctrine which we defend hath euen from the time of the Apostles although heresies haue assaulted it the Romish false bishops and others made drunke by the harlot haue by al the means they could and that for the space of certaine yeres polluted it continued notwtstanding euen vntill our times shall continue euen to the end of the world and that about 200 yeeres since this light of the Gospell began againe and that thorow the singular goodnes of God in the west to apeare out of the filth of popery those hiddē places into which these mē had thrust it vntill the cādelsticks which were takē away were set again in their places by that means the elect people of God did from all quarters flow together vnto the sayd truth But as concerning the succession of the holy ministery 2. The. 2.7 we say that that mistery of iniquity which the Apostle witnesseth in his time to haue beene begun was not accomplished but in some processe length of time and therfore that that old Church of Rome became that but by little litle of Apostolical Apostatical that is fallen from the truth and we affirme that other Churches as it is euident by histories did not straightwaies fall away from the foundation but thē verely when as in the church the false bishop 2. The. 2.4 and sonne of perdition in deed calling him selfe the vniuersall head of the Church did at the length exalt himselfe aboue all that is called God And that this was don when the kings and Princes yea and the very Pastors them selues in other countries being bewitched by this harlot had submitted them selues to the feet of Antichrist Now when by what degrees and sleights that hath bene brought to passe cannot else wher be better not only known but euen perceiued almost by the very eyes than by the very liues of the bishops thē selues declared by good and sufficient writers the euents and falling out of things iustlye agrreing with the foretellinges of the Apostles and the expositions of the learned both ancient and also certaine new writers which our very aduersaries dare not refuse in so much that the which the Apostle heretofore spake of his ministry 2. Cor. 4.24 that his Gospell was had in deed frō them that should perish whome the God of this world had blinded that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ should not shine vpon them the same we may now most truely affirme of this wicked Antichristian sinck faining or pretending the name of the Catholique Churche Therefore we haue next after the Apostles for successors those very right iudging pastors not onely of the Roman church but of other churches also whose succession beeing broken of by these wolues tirants we haue begun thorow Gods goodnes at the last to restore so farre of is it either that we are destitute of the lawful argument of succession or that they shoulde bee able to alleage any Apostolicall succession That the Catholique Church hath bene and in some respect as yet is in the Popedome thogh the Popedome be not the Catholique church nor any part thereof Math. 21.33.34 Therefore say these men where was that Catholique visible Church aboute two hundred yeres past Christ himself maketh answere for vs that it hath bin heretofore and as yet in some respecte is in the handes of the wicked busbandemen who themselues slewe the seruauntes of the Lorde being sent vnto them and with all as much as they coulde euen the Sonne himselfe beeing cast oute of the Vineyard and in steede of him they haue placed a Christ in words wherwith thei mocke the people but in deede euerye one euen the wickedst of theire owne sort that they can or could get But it is well that neyther the eternall keeper of that vine can againe in déede be caste out neither could againe be slaine who liueth vnto God and who also nowe againe appearing hath begun to lette out that Vineyard to good and faithfull husbandmen Paule also aunswereth in oure behalfe foretelling that which wee sée fulfilled To wit that that wicked one shoulde vsurpe to him self the Temple of the Lorde 2. Thes 2.4 vntill the Lorde shoulde agayne discouer him Iohn also aunswereth that that woman hauing lately brought foorth hir Childe bath togeather with hir Childe layen hidden in the wildernesse free from the Dragon who trusted to and vsed also and was euen as it were vpholde with the power of
matter say that the Church of Christe is a schoole in which the worde of the Lorde is not onely barely to be read as out of the letter written but also to bee taught that it maye bee rightly vnderstoode and so to be taught that exhortations corrections and consolations both openly and priuately maye bee vsed which in Paul is vnderstoode by the name of Prophecying Rom. 12.6 Moreouer this also wee adde which thing ought here chiefly to bee marked that the interpretation of those scriptures are to be set no where else then out of the scriptures themselues not onely because the word of God is able to giue credite to it selfe but also because that trueth is reuealed vnto vs no where els then in the writings of the Prophetes and Apostles For that saying of Austen is well knowen and is most true That the scripture is to be expounded by the scripture Neither shall it irke me heere to put downe that nonotable place out of the 49. Homelie of the imperfect worke vpon Mathew because it agreeth altogeather with our times He that will know saith he which is the true Church of Christ let him not know it but onely by the scriptures And by and by after Christians therefore beeing willing to receiue the certainetie of true fayth let them flie to nothing but to the scriptures otherwise if they shall haue respect to other thinges they shall stumble perish not vnderstanding which is the true Church and by this meanes they shall fall into the abhomintaion of desolation which standeth in the holy places of the Church But to whom shall belong will these men say the interpretation of scriptures Verily all be not Prophetes all be not teachers But againe Esay Esay as crieth that both Priestes and Prophetes haue erred in their vision neither would Christ haue admonished Math. 16.6 Math. 23.2 That the leauen of the Pharises should be auoyded if we shoulde without exception haue consented vnto them That sit in Moses chayre Neither should the false Prophetes be eschued if all the Prophetes did speake the truth neither would Caiphas and the whole Synode of the Priestes haue condemned Christ if the holy Ghost had beene tried without exception to those that sit in Aarons seat What then Antiquitye or noueltye maketh nothing at all to instruct men to discerne the true interpretation of scripture from the false Let these men therefore heare at length that which we haue so often times cryed out vnto deafe men to wit that we do not simply reiect neither the old nor the new counsels whether they be particular or generall vnlesse they be plainly theeuish that we do not simply refuse neither old nor new writers vnles they be manifestly either superstitious or ridiculous or by cōmon consent abrogated That we doe not simply cast from vs the writings neither of auncient nor new writers whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Laicall as these men call them for God is no accepter of persons and often times euen by the basest sorte he confoundeth the pride of the most wise vnlesse they be plainly wicked superstitious or foolishe But this onely we require which the most learned and euery the most religious of the old writers monish carefully to be don to wit that all these thinges should be diligently examined according to the rule of the written word of God For antiquitie and authoritie of those that wryte may in deed set some collour of truth vpon falshood but that it shoulde be true which disagreeth neuer so little from the writings of the Prophets and Apostles that truely it can neuer bring to passe Furthermore The Creeds of the ancient Synodes the iudgement of the fathers against heretiques are at no hand reiected by vs yea rather they are strongly defended against aduersaries although not as yeelding credite themselues experience it self more than sufficiently declareth that there haue beene long time since builded vpon the foundation layd by the Apostles not onely bay and stubble but also yron and rust to be short lies vppon trueth All which thinges muste at the length be consumed by the light and fire of Gods word Now least these men shoulde agayne complaine that what soeuer hath bene established by counsell after consell in the auncient Churche shoulde by this meanes be called into doubt we confes that we doe acknowledge the Créedes which were alwayes approoued by the common consent of the whole Church to wit the Creed of the Apostles Nice Athanasius his creed the creed of Constantinople Chalcedon togeather with the curses pronounced in the second counsel of Ephesus againste Nestorius And that we both with mouth and hart detest al heresies which either by open or secret consent of the whole Church were out of the word of God condemned in those 4. councels and also ouer throwen in the fifth and sixth councels of Constantinople And all other heresies whatsoeuer which afterwarde eyther newlye sprong vp or are newly polished not that the truth hangeth vpon any Synods or Creedes but because we acknowledge that the thinges which are prescribed and established in them The conclusion of the disputation of the true Christ who is the only true perpetual and absolute necessary note of the true Church may be rightly iudged by the writings of the prophets and Apostles so far of is it that we take away the authority of the church or dispise the consent of the godly either ancient or new writers which thing our aduersaries falsly shamlesly obiect vnto vs. Now the summe of al these things is this that Christ is the true perpetual necessary to be short the onely marke of the Church yea I say the true Christ that is suche a one as he from the beginning hath most perfectly touching the matter and maner of saluation reuealed him selfe both in the writings of the prophets and of the Apostles Mat. 12.13 For that saying standeth sure He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad and that saying 1. Pet. 2.7 that christ is that corner stone of the foundation vppon whome the whole building riseth vp And that onely head which ministreth vnto his body that is vnto the true catholique Church al féeling and mouing To be short Iohn 10.7 Iohn 14.6 Iohn 11.25 he is the dore the way the resurrection and the lyfe Therfore whersoeuer that word is heard as it ought to be there in deed Christe raigneth and where Christe raigneth there in deed we iudge the Catholique visible Churche to be neither tied to any certaine place nor vnto the multitude for where that dead carkas is Mat. 24.28 to wit Christe crucified there be those Egles there is saluation Act. 4.12 where that onely name is in which we must be saued there be the children of light where that sonne shineth there be the true sheepe Where the voyce of that sheepeheard is heard Mat. 18.20 although two or three onely throughout all the world