Anacletus were chiefe citties Metropoles where were Archiflamines and Protoflamines and therfore Pontianus in Atheneus calleth vinum omnium malorum Metropolin and so say these forged Archiflamines were turned into Archibishoppes Because that the first Emperours were at Rome therefore it was called ta presbeia t is timis that is the chief honour was gyuen to Rome It was the first and Constantinople was the second Of this equalitie or Superioritie or inferioritie read the Councell holden at Chalcedon in the yeare of Christe .453 And Vielerius where it was concluded that Constantinople was of the same authoritie with Rome though it be the second after and Alexandria the third and Hierusalem the fourthe In the yeare of Christ 590. Ihon Bishope of Constantinople ambitiously desired to be Supreme head oikoumenikon pasis t is oikoumenis the Uniuersall Bishoppe of the whole world that was habitable And therefore Gregorie the firste Bishop at Rome of that name called the same Iohn the forerunner of Antichriste Epist. lib. 2. cap. 194. Halfe a score yeare after or little more Boniface the Thirde of that name was made Bishop at Rome and the firste that was ordeined or named Pope or Summus Pontifex the Highe Bishop and this dyd the Emperoure Phocas to haue ayde of the Pope which killed the Emperour Mauritius his wyfe his brother and his sonne with many other and made himselfe Emperour The Pope had this beginning After him euery Pope encreased his authoritie with priuiledges statutes decrées and preceptes tyll that they grewe to such dignitie that they created Emperoures who were wont to create them they deposed them they fought with them they trode on their neckes they rebelled ageynst thē they cursed them with booke bell and candell lighted they pardoned them all that would fight ageinst the Emperour The first Obiection They alledge Scripture for their purpose as the deuill dyd to christ They obiect this place of the Gospell written by Saint Matthew Thou art Peter and vpon this Peter I will buyld my Church Peter saye they is the foundacion of the Church of him it dependeth in him it resteth and hée is the head thereof Let vs aunswere this Obiection with the true Interpretation and Exposition of Chrystes mynde Thou art Peter c. Thy name sayeth Christ is Symon but hencefoorth it shal be Peter a Rocke or stone or rather one depending of the rocke as I promised in the first of Iohn ver 42. that thou shouldest bée called Cephas a stone but I alter it into Peter bycause thy name shal be deryued of mée For I am Petra and thou Peter I Chryst and thou a christian I a Rocke and thou rockye or buylded vpon the rocke The Allusion and affinetie of the Gréeke woord proueth this sense sy ei petros c. Thou arte Peter bicause thou beléeuest in Petra that is in mée the Rocke vpon the which I will buylde my congregation whom I will to bée called Peters as thou arte deriuing their name of mée the rocke bycause who soeuer shal beléeue in mée as thou doest I will gyue him the same name that thou hast Wherefore who so confesseth mée as thou doest shal be called Peter of mée Petra that is a christian of my name Christ. Hierom vpon the 8. of Mathew affirmeth that Peter had his name of Petra which is christ All are Peters which beléeue in this Rocke I will buylde my famelie and congregation vpon it wherfore al my famelie and people are Peters Peter in this place is put for all christians and is a generall woorde signifying all beléeuers and confessoures of Christe Therefore Hierome vppon the sixte of Amose termeth all christes Apostles Peters And the Christ founded not his church vpō Peter as our Romish catholiques cōtend but vpon this rocke which was Peters confession yée shal vnderstand by the text it self What was his cōfession that Iesus christ was the sonne of god Than this fayth of peters is the foundaciō of the church cleauing to Christ which foundacion Paul defineth to be Christ 1. Cor. 3. ver 11. This church congregation bycause it confessed the same Christ that Peter did is very well termed described by Paule to be the establishmēt and piller of truth and by good reason considering it is defined to bée Christes body out of whose head is deriued whatsoeuer nourisheth the body Who soeuer hath this fayth and is a member of Christes body is a Peter As Christ is called a stone so are his people and seruauntes named lyuely stones by participacion as they are the light of the world and salte of the earth bycause the light and salte that they haue is deriued and procéedeth from him as of Petra Peters of Chryst christians That this is the true meaning of this place it is euident hy the 18. chapter of Matthew ver 15. where the same doctrine is applied to all Christians whan hée sayeth If thy brother trespasse ageynst thée tell him his faulte betwéene thée and him If he heare thée thou hast wonne thy brother What is it too winne a mans brother but to loose him from his sinne wherwith hée was bound By the which if hée will not bée corrected lette him bée as an Heathen and a Publicane And thus hée is bound bycause hée wil not repent For sayeth Christ speaking to all christians what soeuer yée binde or loose vpon earth shalbée bound and loosed in heauen Adam and Eue in Paradise were the true church who when they heard the promise how that the séede of the wooman Iesus Christ should burst the Serpentes head beléeued it vpon y which beléefe Christ buylded his congregation and this is the Rocke They did binde themselues in eating of the frute in not obeinge the cōmaundement in offending the lawe They loused themselues in confessing their faulte obeying chrystes voyce lamentinge their facte and beléeuing in him who should bée borne of the séede of a wooman their faith confession of their offence with amendment of lyfe were the keyes of heauen By them they repossessed their felicitie which was lost and reentred into heauen Christ graunted to twoo or thrée gathered togyther in his name their requestes and hée to bée among them If this power and prerogatiue bée equall and particularly gyuen to euery christian and generally to all than is it not onely proper to the Pope If all the congregation may binde and loose then is the Popes authoritie nothing and hée himselfe to be excluded as a reprobate abhorred as a dissembler defaced as an hipocrite reiected as Psichicus in Tertullian was who bragged as the Pope dooth that he had authoritie to forgyue sinnes deposed as an vsurper and condemned as an Antichrist ▪ The congregation is buylded vpon the rock Who is the Rocke Christ not the Pope faith in Iesu Christe not execrable pardones hope in the Lorde not in man. If the Churche
heauen confusion neyther shalbée nombred amonge the seruauntes of god Hierome sayeth that wheresoeuer a man be Bishop whether at Rome Engubie Constantinople Rhegij Alexandria Thebes or Guarmaria the office is all one the merite all one and degrée all one Who soeuer sayeth Gregorie calleth himselfe the vniuersall priest or desireth to bée called so is a foreronner of Antichrist reade Gregorie Epistola 76.78.79.83.92.194 Here endeth the first Discours THE SECOND DISCOVRS wherein is proued that neyther Peter nor the Pope is the head of Christes Church AS wée haâ—e hitherto proued in the former Oration or discourse that Peter was not at Rome So let vs in this seconde Treatise conclude that neyther hée neyther the Pope neyther any of his Successoures is the heade of the Churche neyther the Church or Seate of Rome to bée preferred before others As out of the head and brayne which is the seate of the senses whereof ryseth all knowledge as the Philosophers and Phisitians write and also as of synowes wherewith the partes of the body are knit and coupled togither procéedeth the lyfe vitall and all mouinge Euen so from our head Christ the fountaynes of grace are deryued and flowe to water our soules the synowes and sensible doctrine to instruct the mynde and the spirit of regeneration to renewe the whole man As the heade and brayne minister too the whole body féeling and moouing so is Christ the head of distributing to euery man seuerall gyftes of the Spirit Hée that is the head of the church which is the body of Christ must néedes gyue lyfe spirite moouing bâ—eing senses féeling vnderstanding grace and all gyftes of the holy ghost but the Pope can gyue none of these Therefore the Pope is not the heade of the church Hée that can not forgyue synnes is not the heade of the Churche The Pope cannot forgyue synnes Ergo hée is not the heade of the church â–ª Solus Deus condonat peccata Onely GOD forgyueth sinne The Pope is not God Ergo hée forgyueth no sinne As the man is the head of the Wooman so is Christ the heade of the church This Church are all the faythfull of all ages the faithfull before the floode the faythfull after the floode The Faythefull before Christ the faythfull after christ If a wooman should haue twoo Husbandes to her head were shée an honest woman were shée not an Adultres were shée not to bée diuorced Ergo if the Romishe Churchâ— haue twoo heades Chryste and the Pope Shée is a Strumpette an Harlotre a Curtesane and the Churche of Satan Moreouer Christe is zeleous ouer his congregation hée will haue no fellowes hée is sufficient alone hée néedeth not the Popes ayde The Popes head may be dronke Christes is alwayes sobre his franitique Christes perfect his phantasticall Christes substanciall his feble Christes stronge his mortall Christes immortall Hée that maketh him self the head of the Church hée must make him self her husband but what an husband is the Pope Surely an adulterer if hée presume too take an other mans wyfe Is not the Church Christes wyfe ThaÌ„ is shée not the Popes because that shée can not haue two husbands at once If hée bée an adulterous head ergo hée is Antechrist Howe coulde Peter bée Pope at Roome when as it was not lawfull nor permitted to teache but priuatlie in houses Where was his authoritie where were bothe his swoordes Temporall Spirituall Neyther had hée the Temporall to represse Nero his tyrannie neyther the Spirituall to rule the Clergie Was not Paule as good as Peter Did hée not resist him to his face Was Paule inferiour to any of the Apostles Howe chaunceth it that Peter could not rule them that put him to deathe where was the mightie power of M. Pope Is hée the head of the Church whom Christ calleth Sathan Is not that Satanas church which Satan ruleth But Peter is called Satan Ergo that church which Peter ruleth is the church of Satan But saye the Papistes Our Churche is founded vpon Peter Then is the foundation vitious the buylding odyous the pillers which are the colledge of Cardinalles very rotten and corrupt and the pallace of Prelates pestilent and all that they do beastlie sensuall carnall of Antechrist For Christ sayeth to Peter Awaye Satan hence Dyuell for so signifyeth the Hebrewe woorde thou offendest mée thou sauorest of earthly thinges and not of heauenly If the head be Dyuelish what are the members what is the body The Romishe churche is the body is this churche without spotte or wrincle is this of God is this the piller of truthe is this the Kingdome of God Naye it is as Petrarche writeth the sinke of sinne and pudle of Godes yre A denne of Wolfes Lyons Foxes Dragons and Tigres Peter sauored of earthly thinges and sought earthly thinges and so doo the Popes Did not Peter moue Christ that they might make in the mount where Christ was gloriously transformed thrée tentes hée sauored of none other thing then of earth And did Pope Leo any other thinge when hée answered Peter Bembus a learned Cardinall alledging a sentence out of the Ghospell to him that it was knowen well ynough in all ages how much that fable of Christ did profit the Popes and their successours and adherentes And that ye shall vnderstand that the Church is neyther founded vppon Peter nor of any other man sainct Paule sayeth that Christ is only the foundacion And Christ when the Apostles did stryue for superioritie y preeminencie sayd to them reprouing their ambition that hée that presumed to be highest should be lowest and a minister too the rest Which woordes declare that Christ woulde haue no superioritie amonge his Apostles Did not Peter deny Christ thrée tymes Is hée woorthie too bée the head and steward of his family that denyeth his Master that sweareth that hée neuer knewe him Such are Peters Successors for they sweare that they neuer knew such a beggerly body as Christ was For saye they Christ was poore wee bee riche Christ a begger and had nothing wee haue the whole worlde And it is prophecied by Dauid of vs Omnes subiecisti sub pedibus eius oues boues pecora campi To the Pope God hathe layd all thinges vnder his feete sheepe oxen and all cattell Peter did fyght and cut of Malcus eare the Popes cut of the Emperours heades fyght with them subdue them and treade vppon them Theire foundation is the sword fyre fagotte tyrannie and all iniquitie This sword Christ bad Peter put vp they drawe it and shaketh it ouer all Nations Where proue they that Peter was the cheifest of the Apostles where proue they him too bée the best or such a one as all the other shoulde obey was hee the Uicegerat of Christ can he doo all that Christ can doo who was reproued of Paule the least and lowest of all the
against the hole land against the Preistes Kinges people and the mighty Princes of Iuda and such Tyrauntes Ieremy intreateth of in the end of his fystenth chapter If euery good man bée a lyuely stone as Peter him self writeth and all the congregation a Spirituall howse and the howse of God the piller and ground of truthe and lykewyse Christes own body and the fulnesse of him that filleth all thinges Than is not the Pope Cardinalles and Clergie the church and pillers in whom dwelleth no vertue Neyther Peter had any other keys than Adam Seth Noe Melchisedeck Abraam Iob Moses and all the faythfull had from the beginning The keys of the Kingdome of heauen are the opening and interpretacion of the Scripture What keye sayeth Tertullian in the .iiii. booke against Mar. had the Doctours of the Lawe saue interpretation Tertullian inuehing ageinst the Eustix affirmeth the keys to bée gyuen generally to all the which euery man whan hée departeth hence carieth with him Wherfore who so euer confesseth his sinnes repenteth and beléeueth in Christ hath these keyes wherwith hée openeth the locke and entereth intoo heauenly felicitie Euery man may bynde and loase him self Augustinus de doctrina lib. 1. cap. 8. sayeth Too binde is too perseuer in errour too procede in vyce too louse too repente him of his sinne beléeue that here in earth his sinnes shall bée forgiuen him And this is too bynd and louse The second Obiection Hée that giueth authoritie too the Church is supreme head But the Pope giueth authoritie to the church ergo hée is supreme head I deny your assumption called otherwyse the Minor. Wée proue it say they by S. Augustine who sayeth I wold not beléeue the Scriptures if the catholique church should not moue mée I answer This church that Augustine speaketh of is not the church of Rome and therfore the Pope giueth no authoritie to the church If Augustine had meaned the church of Rome then their argumeÌ„t myght haue semed to haue had a good ground But Augustine meaned the church of Christ as the Crede it self expoundeth it What is the Catholique Church The Crede answereth and interpreteth in these words A communion societie or companie of all Saincts and Godly men Nowe if Rome bée all the world and a communion of Saincts only then is it the only Church but it is neyther all the world neyther a communion of Saincts therfore it is not the Church Are shamefull synners Saincts horrible offenders Holy Augustine meaned by the Catholique Church Christ and his Disciples and the consent of all them which sawe Christ which heard him and his Disciples and therfore is it called in the common Crede of Nice the Apostolique church If Augustine did imagine that the Scriptures should take authoritie of the church it had bin an absurditie considering that there is no congregation so perfect no company so holy no men so pure which do not dayly desire God too forgyue them their offences as they forgyue them that offend against them If wée saye wée sinne not wée are lyers and there is no truth in vs. Let vs proue both by Reason which is the Lawe of Nature infixed in man Naturally and by Scripture that the Church doth take her authoritie of the Woord and not the Woord of the Church If Cleantes and other Philosophers as Tullie testifieth affirme partly by the Naturall motions of their myndes no doubt moued by inspiration that there is a GOD partly by the presciencie and foreknowledge of the thinges to comme partly by the commodities which proceede of the temperature of the ayer the plenty abundance of all thinges necessary for mans vse partly by tempestes thunder inundacions hayle lightening earthquakes stormes wonders miracles blasing starres eclipses of Sonne and Moone of the reuolution of the heauens of the constant and certein course of the fixed Starres and Planettes Than must wée confirme with Dauid and Paule that Gods power nature and diuinitie is knowen by visible thinges subiected to our senses If Dauid and Paule proue by the naturall courses of the heauens that there is a God neyther any people to bée so ignorant any Natiâ—n so rude any country so Barbarous which haue not heard their voyces for Dauid sayeth Their sound are gone through all the world Or as it is in the Hebrew Their rule course is knoweÌ„ through all the world By a figure the sound voyce is attributed in the .19 Psal. to the heauens bycause they declare vntoo vs with their constant course mouing and other meruelous dispositions constellations and influences that there is a god And by this meanes Paule proueth the Gentyles to bée without excuse bycause they might haue knowen God by his creatures and dyd knowe but dyd not glorifye him as god By these it is euident that the heauens and Gods woounderous workes are not the causes why there is a God but God is the cause of them and they are as witnesses and testimonies that there must néedes bée a god And bycause al the Scriptures teache nothing else but God to bée the maker defender and gouerner of all wée are assured that they are the true scriptures bycause they agrée with this lawe of Nature wyth this Heauenly description and celestiall disposition wherby there is vnderstand to bée a god If Dauid and Paule prooue the diuinitie power and prouidence of God by his creatures so must wée allowe the scriptures by the same meanes bycause they differ not from the discourse Wherefore the church taketh no authoritie of it selfe but of God nor the scriptures any power of men whiche are full of erroures Wée knowe Moses Danyels Salomons Iobs woorkes and the rest of the scriptures to bée of force bycause they agrée with the rule of nature They are witnesses but no authours If a Lawyer aunswere by the Lawe hée dooth his dutie but if hée aunswere of his own brayne it is nought neyther will any man beléeue him Hée is a wicked Iudge that attributeth more to hys owne witte and will than to the lawe This doth the Pope contrarie to all the auncient Doctours and vertuous writers who affirme no man to bée beléeued onlesse hée alleadge the scriptures If an Ambassadour goe from one Prince to an other and be commaunded neyther to adde to his commission nor diminishe hée is a traytour if hée doo How much more the Pope who by his false embassage dooth not onely adde and diminishe where hee lusteth but also chaungeth peruerteth correcteth depraueth and abolissheth the Scriptures setting vppe hys owne constitutions and braynelesse Decréees The Prince to whome this Embassadour is sent cannot tell whether his commission is true or no but by conferring of the other Princes letters out of the which he must haue the truthe So must wée runne to the scriptures and trye by them whether the Pope and other impure spirits doo well in vsurping such authoritie The Church may bée a
witnesse that these are the Scriptures as the heauenly bodyes that there is a God are the scriptures any better although they bée as testimonialles The church may bée witnesse the faythefull people may testifie that these are the scriptures and yet the scriptures perfect constant and certayne of them selues Augustine lib. 2. cap. 14.32 willeth Cresconius to omitte the authoritie of Cyprian and alledge the scripture the which if hée could hée would gyue place Ageynst Maximinus hée willeth him to let the councelles alone and bring scripture that thereby th◠truth myght be tryed The third Obiection The Pope is called in the first chapter of the Gospell of Iohn ver 42. Cephas and Cepha in the Gréeke toung is Caput a head Ergo the Pope is head of the church Your ignorance is intollerable you despise the tunges yée will rather cleaue to your olde errours and gloses then to séeke for the truthe You forsake the fountaynes and digge and drinke of pudles and kennelles You wrest and turne the scriptures from the meaning of Christe too satisfie your own opinions Your reading in the Texte Cephas which is a Syrian woorde thought that it had ben Cephale a gréeke woorde For saye you Cephas is an head in gréeke and commeth of Cephale and therefore you saye that Peter who was called Cephas is the head of the church when as Cepha the Syrian word which signifyeth a stone being turned into Gréeke soundeth Cephas Thus yée turned whyte into blacke y ée choppe ye chaunge ye turne ye peruerte and depraue all for lacke of knowledge For Christ sayeth that wheras Peter was called before Symon his name should be chaunged and called Cephas which is a stone as Iohn himselfe interpreteth it Bycause that not onely Peter but also all they that beléeue in Christ are lyuely stones As out of a stone commeth fyre so dooth burning charitie out of godly men As a stone or Rocke is stronge stedfast and firme so is euery Peter I meane euery Christian ageynst whose fayth no Tyrannie no Hell gates no persecution no affliction can preuayle What doo I saye doo they not preueyle yea they preuayle ageynst the bodye the Soule they cannot kyll The fourth Obiection Is not hée the chief and head that is firste named Is not a King named afore his subiectes The husbande before the wyfe Peter was first named I aunswere Is Priscilla better then hir husbande bycause that shée is first named in the text and Aquila after her But that cannot bée for S. Paule sayth that the man is the woomans head This woord Protos as Theophilacte interpreteth hath hys respect onely to his brother Andrewe who was called before and Peter after for they twoo were protokleti And notwithstanding that Peter is named first in some places yit is Andrewe named before him as in the first of Iohn ver 44. Philip sayeth Iohn was of the same Citie that Andrewe Peter were of And in the 24. ver of the 20. chaptes of Mathew the other 10. were offended with Iames Iohn In the which text Peter was not named the first but only with the rest We are forbidden to giue Supremacie too any Bishop Esoitai oi eschatoi protoi Kai oi protoi eschatoi oi eschatoi The fyfte Obiection The Popes may lawfully depose Emperoures For as the Moone taketh light of the Sunne so dooth the Emperour of the Pope And the Pope maye treade vppon the Emperoures necke as Pope Alexander dyd vppon the necke of Fredericke the seconde Emperour of that name And that was prophecied longe before by Dauid a friend of ours in these woordes Super Aspidem Basyliscum ambulabis conculcabis Draconem Leonem Thou shalt walke vppon the Adder and Basyliske and shalt tread vppon the Dragon and Lyon. O you Tyrauntes O you rebelles Where is your Truthe where is your Obedience Was it not spoken of Christe and so generally to all good men ageynst whome the force of the Deuill should not preuayle Doo you so intreat your Kinge and Prince Howe dare you bée so bolde as to call your Emperoure Aspis Basylick Lyon and Dragon much lesse ought you to tread vppon them too putte them too deathe and too depose them They haue authoritie by Gods woord too rule ouer you too haue you in subiection and not you them You alledge Scripture as though the Dyuell did too Christ and the next verse too that which the Dyuell alledged as though the Dyuell and the Pope were saying Matynes toogether The sixth Obiection Well say what ye will our holy Father may do what hée list What if hee should sell the whole world perhaps ye will say that it were Symonie but I will sweare vppon a booke that it were no Symonie though hée solde the whole world bycause that hée selleth but his owne for so our olde freind Dauid prophecied vppon him Omnia subiecisti sub pedibus eius oues boues pecora campi Thou hast put all thinges vnder his féete all shéepe and oxen yea all the beastes of the field O heauen O earth the Dyuell alledged Scripture more probably Surely Dauid speaketh of man too whom God hath giuen all thinges for his vse commoditie and Allegorically too Christ whom hée hath made Lorde and King ouer all The seuenth Obiection Did not Pope Agatho write in an Epistle to the Emperours in the fourth Action of the Synode at Constantinople that the church of Roome did neuer erre neyther was possible that it should erre Is not this ynough Is it not a goodly saying Is it not woorthy too bée embraced O what a goulden sentence is this Where can you read the lyke I assure you it is not possible too bée answered I answer that I am able too proue that euery Pope hath erred if synne bée errour Moreouer the most iust man sinneth seuen tymes and hée that sayeth that hée hath no sinne is a lyer there is no truth in him The eight Obiection Panormitane an Archebishoppe did affirme and reason in a Councell at Basile in the .xxxix. Session that the Pope ought too bée aboue all Bishoppes I answer that the sayd Panormitane made an Oration too that effect and made the Pope Lorde ouer the Church notwithstanding the Bishoppe of Argens Iohn Segouius and Fraunces de Funx Diuines confuted that errour in the said Councell proued Pope Eugenius the fourth of that name to bée a relapse and an heretique bycause that hée tooke vpon him too dissolue transporte prorogue that Councell Can hée bée Lorde ouer the Church that should bée a minister and as hée wryteth him self Seruus seruorum Peter willeth no man no Bishoppe too rule ouer the Chuch but too bée ruled by the Church The ninth Obiection Oraui pro te Petre ne deficiat fides tua I haue prayed for thée Peter that thy fayth should not fayl thée Hée can not erre whom Christ prayeth for