over his PA. Bellarmine saith the meaning of the Canon is that the Bishop of Alexandria should have the Provinces there mentioned because the Bishop of Rome was accustomed to permit it so to bee PRO. The words of the Canon are Because the Church of Rome hath the like custome here is not one word of permission They bee indeed as learned Bishop Morton saith words of comparison that the Bishop of Alexandria should injoy his priviledges accordingly as the Bishop of Rome held ancienâ—ly his as if one should say I will give this man a crowne bâ—cause also I gave a crown to his fellow Besides Cardinal Cusanus understandeth the Canon as we doe in this sort As the Bishop of Rome had power and authority over all his Bishops so the Bishop of Alexandria according to custome should have thorowout Lybia and the rest Here by the way the reader may observe that though the Pope should have a large circuit for his Diocesse yet was nâ—t this Iurisdiction given him by the Law of Goâ— but by the custome of men Let old custâ—mes bâ— kâ—pt sâ—ith the Councel heâ—e was no ordinance of Christ acknowledged no Text of Scripture alleadged for it as now a dayâ—s Tu es Petrus and pasce oves and tibi daâ—o claves Thou art Peter fâ—ed my sheepe and unto thee will I give the Keyes of the Church The Pâ—pâ— held it not then as it is now preâ—ended Divinoâ— by divine ordinance but onely by use and custome which may be altered and was upon occasion for when Constantinople became the Imperiall City then was the Bishop thereof equalled with Rome as appearetâ— by the Chalcedon Councel About the yeare 381 the second Generall Councel was held at Constantinople against Macedomus who denyed the Divinity of the Holy Ghost â—t consisted of an hundred and fifty Bishops it was called not by the Pope but by the Emperour Theodosius the elder This Councel confirmed the foresaid sixt Canon of the Nicen which bounded the Bishop of Rome as well as other Bishops within the precincts of his owne Province The third Canon of this Councel of Constantinople speakes in this tenour That the Bishop of Constantines City that is Constantinople hath Pâ—erogatives of honour next after the Bishop of Rome because it is new Rome THE FIFTH CENTVRIE From the yeare of Grace 400. to 500. PAPIST WHat say you of this fifth Age PROTESTANT We are yet within the compasse of the first 500 yeeres next after Christ and so neerer to the time and truth of the Primâ—tive Chuâ—ch now for this present Age it may for choice of Learned men be compared to the Golden Age for now flourished the Golden mouthed Chrysostome the Well languaged Hierome and Saint Austin the very Mall and Hammer of Heretikes Chrisostome was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most copious writer of any of the Greeke Fathers now extant he was an eloquent Preacher full of Rhetoricall figures and amplifications so that his veine and gift lay rather in the Ethique and Moral part of divinity working upon the affections than in the doctrinal and exegetical part for information of judgement By his liberty of speech in Pulpit he drew the hatred of thâ— great ones of the 〈◊〉 and of the Emperour himsâ—lfe but above all of the Empresse Eudoxia upon his head so that she and Theophilus Patriaâ—ke of Alexandria procuâ—ed his deposition and banishment with commandment to â—â—â—â—ney his weakâ— body with excessive Travels from place to place untill he concluded his life about the yeare foure hundred and eleven Hierome was borne in Dalmatia and instructed at Rome He travailed abroad into France and other places of puâ—pose to increase his knowledge at Rome hee acquainted himselfe with Honourable women such as Marcella Sophronia Principia Paula and Eustochium to whom he expounded places of holy Scripture for hee was admitted Presbiter he served Damasus Bishop of Rome in sorting his Papers his gifts were envied at Rome therefore he lâ—ft Rome and tooke his voyage towards Palestina by the way he acquainted himselfe with Epiphanius Nazianzen and Didymus Doctor in the Schoole of Alexandria and sundry other men of note and marke In the end he came to Iudea and made choice of Bethlem the place of the Lords Nativity to bee the place of his death At Bethlem Paula a noblewoman who accompanied Hierome and his brother Paulinianus from Rome upon her owne charges builded foure Monasteries whereof her selfe guided one and Hiâ—rome another Hierome was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well skilled in the tongues but he waâ— a man of a Chollericke and sterne disposition more inclinable to a solitary and Monkish liâ—e then to fâ—llowship and societie neither Heliodorus in the wildernes nor Ruffinus out of the wildernes could keep inviolable friendship with him hee flourished about the yeare 390. but he lived unto the yeare 422 therfore we place him in this fifth Age and so doth Bellarmine Augustine in his younger yeares was infected with the errour of the Manichees his mother Monica prayed to God for his convâ—rsion and God heard her praâ—ers foâ— by the pâ—eacâ—ing of Ambrose bishâ—p of Millaine anâ— by reading the life of Antonius the Heremite hee was wonderfâ—lly moved and beganne to dislâ—ke his former conversation He went into a quiet Garden accoâ—panied with Alipius and there as he was with teares bewayling his former course and desiâ—ing Gods grace for working his câ—nversion hee heard a voice saâ—iâ—g unto him Tolle lege and againe Tolle lege that is to say Take up and reade Take up and reade at the first hearing hee thought it to bee the voyce of boyes or maydes speaking in their play such words one to another but when hee looked about and could see nobody he knew it to bee some heavenly admonition warning him to take up the booke of holy Scripture which he had in the Garden with him and read Now the first place that fell in his hands after the opening of the booke was this Not in gluttony and drunkennesse neither in chambering and wantonnesse nor in strife and envyingâ— but put yee on tâ—e Lord Iesus Christ and take no thought for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it At the reading whereof hee was so fully resolved to forsake the vanities of the world and to become a Christian that immediately thereafter hee was babtized by Saint Ambrose with his companion Alipius and his sonne Adeodatus Hee was afterwards made bishop of Hippo in Africa Hee defended the truth against the Manichees Pelagians Donatists and whatsoever errour else prevailâ—d in this age Hee is to bee commended in that hee revised his owne Writings and wrote his retractations or râ—cognitions When he had lived 76 yeares hee reâ—â—ed from his labours before the Vandales had taken the towne of Hippo which in the time of Augustines sickenesse they had besieged and thus was hee translated and taken away before hee
governement ought not to gad and wander but they should pleade their cause there where both Accusers and Witnesses may bee had except some few desperate and naughty fellowes thinke the authority of the Bishops of Africke which have already judged and condemned them to be lâ—sse meaning lesse than that of Cornelius to whom they fled Here wee finde opposition made to the Sea of Rome by that Catholike Martyr Cyprian and others even in the weighty poynt of Appeales for so Bellarmine makes appealing to Rome and not appealing from thence a mainâ— proofe of the Popes Supremacie Now to close up this age and to looke a little homeward all this time the Christian Religion flourished quietly in Britaine till in Dioclesians dayes which made vp the tenth persecution their Churches were demolished their Bibles burnt their Priests and their flocke murthered for now was Saint Alban beheaded at the City Verulam now called after him Saint Albanes of whom Fortunatus Presbyter an ancient Poet sayth Albanum egregium foecunda Britannia profâ—rt Fruitfull Britaine bringeth forth Alban a Martyr of great worth Hee was the first that in Britaine suffered death for Christ his sake whereupon he is called our Stephen and the Proto-martyr of Britaine In like sort his Teacher or Instructer Amphibalus was cruelly Martyred at the same place being whipped about a stake whereat his entrailes were tyed and thus winding his bowels out of his body was at last stoned to death so also was Iulius and Aaron Martyred at Leicester and in Lichfield so many that the place became another Colgatha or field of dead corps for which cause the City doth beare a field charged with many Martyrs diversly tortured they beare it for their Seale of Armes even unto this day as Master Camden hath recorded Now these Martyrs they suffered for that truth which we at this day hold and not for Popish Tenets which then were not in being We have now Surveyed the Fathers Faith and practice of the Church for the first three hundred yeares next after Christ and by this particular as Hercules whole body was measured by the breadth of his foote the Reader may proportion what were the Churches Creed and her Agends generally and constantly taught and practised in these times and I doubt not but he shall find that for substance of Religion they held as wee doe and not as the moderne Papists doe so that in comparison of Originall and Primitive Antiquity Poperie is but noveltie and this hath beene already shewne when as we drew the Character of the three first Centuries I will now onely give instance in the point of Indulgences and shew that in these best and ancient times there were no such Popes pardons as afterwards were marted For in latter times we find it recorded in the Salisbury Primer that Iohn the two and twentieth for the mumbling over of some short Prayers granted a Pardon of no lesse than a million of yeares Besides these three Prayers be written in the Chappel of the holy Crosse in Rome who that devoutly say them they shall obtaine ten hundred thousand yeares of Pardon for deadly sinne granted by our Holy Father Iohn the two and twentieth Pope of Rome and of another Prayer to be said as one goes thorow a Church-yard the same booke saith as followeth Pope Iohn the twelfth granted to all that shal say the Prayer following as they passe by any Church-yard as many yeeres of Indulgences as there have beene bodyes there buried since the Consecration of the said Church-yard In the same booke there is power given to one little prayer beginning with O bone Iesu to change the paines of Hell into Purgatory and after that againe the paines of Purgatory into the joyes of Heaven This Prayer is written in a Table that hanged at Rome in Saint Peters Church neere to the high Altar there as our holy Father the Pope is wont to say Masse and who so that devoutly with a contrite heart daily say this Orizon if he bee that day in the state of eternall damnation then his eternall paine shall be changed him into temporall paine of Purgatorie and if he have deserved the paine of Purgatorie it shall bee forgotten and forgiven through the infinite mercie of God Now sure I thinke that Antiquitie cannot paralell such presidents as these THE FOVRTH CENTVRIE From the yeare of Grace 400. to 500. PAPIST WHat say you to this fourth Age PROTESTANT This was a learned Age for now there lived Optatus Bishop of Milevis in Africa and in Asia there lived Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus Cyril Bishop of Hierusalem Macharius the Monke Basil the great the Christian Demosthenes as Erasmus calls him Gregory Nazianzene sirnamed the Divine and Grigory Nyssen brother to Saint Basil these three were equall in time deare friends and of neere alliance now also lived the Hammer of the Arrian Heretickes Athanasius the great Bishop of Alexandria great indeed for his learning for his vertue for his labour for his suffering when almost the whole world was set against him but above all great for his Creed the Athanasian Creed He suffered much trouble for the truth but God upheld him so that he dyed in peace full of dayes after he had governed the Church of Alâ—xandria six and forty yeares Nazianzene compared him in time of adversity to the Adamant for that no trouble could breake him and in time of prosperity to the Load-stone for that hee allured the hearts of men more intractable then Iron to imbrace the Truth of God In Europe there lived Hilarie Bishop of Poictiers in France and Ambrose Bishop or Millaine Ambrose was a man of noble parentage under the Emperour Valentinian hee was Governour of Liguria he was chosen from a secular â—udge to bee Bishop of Millaine and was faine to be christened before he could be consecrated he was zealous and resolute hee sharpely reproved Theodosius for the slâ—ughtâ—r of the innocent people of Thessalonica hee was grievously troubled by the Lady Iustina mother to Valentinian the second he said to his friends that were about him at his death I have not so lived that I am ashamed to live longer nor yet feare I death because I have a good Lord. Of the Scriptures sufficiencie Athanasius saith the holy Scriptures given by inspiration of God are of themselves sufficient to the discoverie of truth now if they be as the word signifieth allsufâ—icient to instruction then must they needs be all sufficient to all instruction in the truth intended and not onely sufficient for this or that point as Bellarmine would have it Saint Hilarie commendeth the Emperour Constantius for desiring the Faith to be ordered onely according to those things that be written thâ— same Hilarie assures us that in his dayes the word of God did suffice the beleevers yea what is there saith he concerning mans salvation that is not conteined in the word
when as those Kings caused the Temple to be shut up the Sacrifice to cease and erected Idols in every Towne Besides at our Saviours comming we find but a short Catalogue of true professors mentioned to wit Ioseph and Mary Zacharie and Elizabeth Simeon and Anna the Shepherds in the fields and some others When Christ suffered death his little flocke as hee called it was scattered his disciple â—led and none almost durst shew themselves save Mary and Iohn and some few women with oâ—hers After our Saviours death the Apostles and their followers were glad to meet in Chambers whiles the Priests Scribes and Pharisees bare all the sway in the Temple â—o that as the Treatise of the true Câ—urchâ—s visibilitie haâ—h it if a weâ—ke body had then enquired for the Church it is likely they had beene directed to them In â—he time of those Ten persecutions there could not be any knowne assembly of Christians but foorthwith â—he Tyranâ—s labouâ—ed to root them out but as Tâ—rtullian saith The blood of the Martyrs was the seed of the Church they were peâ—secuted and yet they increased Afâ—erwards when the Arrian Heresie overspread all so that all the world was against Athanasius and he and some few Confesâ—ors stood for the Nicen Faith insomuch as Hierome said The world sighed and groaned marveiling at it selfe how it was become Arrian what a slender appearance did the true professors then make and yet in such dangerous and revolting times even small assemblies of particular congregations wheresoever dispersed serve to make up the universal Church Militant so that the Reader is not to be discouraged if hee find not the Protestant Assemblies so thronged since it was not so with the primative Church and S. Iohn foretold That the woman that is the Church persecuted by the Dragon that old Serpent the Devill and his instruments should flie into the Wildernesse where the Lord promised to hide her till the tempest of persecution were over-blowne wherein God dealt graciously with his Church for had her enemies alwayes seene and knowne her professors they would like cruell beastes have laboured to devoure the damme with her young the mother with her children Now whereas the Papists brag of their Churches Visibilitie their owne Rhemists are driven to confesse that in the raigne of Antichrist the outward state of the Romane Chuâ—ch and the publike entercourse of the faithfull with the same may cease and practise their Religion in secret And Iesuite Suarez thinkes it probable That the Pope shall professe his faith in secret Where is then your Tabernacle in the Sunne your light in the Candlesticke when as your Church and Pope shall walke with a darke Lanterne and say Masse in a corner PA. Why was not the Church alwayes so conspicuous PRO. Because sometimes her best members as Athanasius Hilarie Ambrose and others were persecuted as Heretikes and ungodly men and that by learned persons and such as were powerfull in the world able to draw great troupes after them of such as for hope favour feare or the like respects were ready to follow them In this and the like case when false Priestes broach errours and deceive many Tyrants persecute Gods Saints and cause others to retire then I say when the faithfull want their ordinarie entercourse one with another the number of the Church malignant maybe great in comparison of those that belong to the true Church PA. If the Church were not alwayes so conspicuous in what sort then was it visible a visible Church you grant PRO. In the generall militant Church there have in all ages been some Pastors and people more or lesse that have outwardly taught the truth of Religion in substance though not free from errour in all poynts and these have beene visible by their ordinary standing in some part of Gods Church Besides for the more part there have bin also some that withstood and condemned the grosse errours and superstition of their times and these good men whiles they were suffered taught the truth openly but being persecuted by such as went under the Churches name even then also they taught and administred the Sacraments in private to such faithfull ones as would joyne with them and even in those harder times they manifested their Religion by their Writings Letters Confessions at their Iudgement Martyrdome or otherwise as they could Now as learned Doctor White in his Defence of his Brothers booke hath observed whensoever there bee any Pastors in the world which â—ither in an open view or in the presence of any part thereof doe exercise though in private the actions of true Religion by sound teaching the truth and right administration of the Sacraments this is sufficient to make the Church visible by such a manner of visibilitie as may serve for the gathering and preserving of Gods elect Now such visible Pastors and people the Protestant Church was never utterly destitute of PA. You seeme to make the Church both visible and invisible PRO. May not one bee within and seene with his friends and yet hidden to his enemies visible to the seeing and invisible to the blind Indeed Tyrants Infidells and Heretikes they knew the true beleevers as men of another profession but blinded with malice and unbeliefe they acknowledged them not for true professors as M. Bradford told D. Day Bishop of Chichester the fault why the Church is not seene of you is not because the Church is not visible but because your eyes are not cleare enough to see it and indeed such as put not on the spectacles of the Word to finde out the Church but seeke for her in outward pompe are much mistaken Aelian in his History tels us of one Nicostratus who being a well-skilled Artisan and finding a curious piece of worke drawne by Xeuxis that famous Painter one who stood by wondered at him and asked him what pleasure hee could take to stand as hee did still gazing on the picture to whom hee answered Hadst thou mine eyes my friend thou wouldest not wonder nor aske me that question but rather be ravished as I am at the inimitable art of this rare and admired piece In like manner if our Adversaries had their eyes annoynted with the eye-salve of the holy Spirit they might easily discover the Protestant Church and her visible congregations The Aramites 2 Kings 6. chap. could not discerne the citie of Samaria whither the Prophet led them untill their eyes were opened no more can one discerne or difference the true Church from the malignant and conventicles of the wicked untill his mind bee enlightned And thus Saint Austin told the Donatists They could not see the Church on the hill because their eyes were blinded to wit either with ignorance or malice Saint Austin compares the Church to the Moone which waxeth and waneth is eclipsed and sometime as in the change cannot be seene yet none doubts but still there is a
and he giveth a reason hereof because all merits are Gods gifts and so man is rather a debter to God for them than God to men for what are all merits to so great a glory Bernard indeed elsewhere telleth us of his owne merit but it is the Lords mercy which he calleth his merit Therefore my merit is the mercy of the Lord I am not poore in merit so long as he is not poore in mercy and if the mercies of the Lord be many my merits also are many THE THIRTEENTH CENTVRIE from the yeere of Grace one thousand two hundred to one thousand three hundred PAPIST WHat say you of this Age PROTESTANT In this age Sophistrie began to encroach upon Divinitie Aristotle and the Philoâ—ophers were as much studied as Saint Pauls Epistles Gratian and Lombard were as oft mentioned in the Schooles as the holy Scriptures and hence came so many Summes Sentences Quodlibets Legends Rules Decretals and Decrees for now by the example of Peter Lumbard many devised subtile and intricate disputations calling almost every thing into doubt after the manner of the Skeptiques or Academiques and leaving the plaine and wholesome food of the holy Scripture they began to gnaw on the bones of a controversie doting about questions and strife of words 1 Timoth. 6.4 and yet in this curious and scholastique age when men had almost lost themselves in the maze and mist of distinctions the Lord raised â—â—â—â—ch plaine witnesses as served to testifie his trutâ—â— though not in the words which the wisâ—dome of man teacheth yet in such as the Holy Ghost teachâ—th In this age lived William Bishop of Paris Gulielmus Altâ—ssiodorensis Hugo Cardinalis who made the first Concordance upon the Bible Honorius Augustodunnensis who composed the summe of historie Alexander of Hales an Englishman brought up in Paris he was stiled the Irrefragable Doctor and was tutour to Bonaventure of whom he used to say that He was of such a godly life and behaviour as Adam might seeme not to have sinned in him Now also lived Iohâ— Duns called Scotus because hee was descended of Scottish blood hee was from the subtilitie of his wit stiled the Subtile Doctorâ— he was borne at Emildon in Northumberland and being brought up in Merton Colledge in Oxford as also having heard Alexander Hales reade and professe in the Vniversitie of Paris he became wonderfull well learned in Logicke and in that crabbed and intricate divinitie of those dâ—yes yet as one still doubtfull and unresolved he did overcast the truth of religion with mists of obscurity and with so profound and admirable subtility in a daâ—ke and rude stile he wrote many workes that he deserved the title of the Subtile Doctor and after his owne name erected a new sect of the Scotists That he was boâ—ne here in England is vouched out of his owne Manuscript workes in the Libraâ—ie of Merton Colledge in Oxford which my selfe have seene which concludeth in this manner explicit Lectura c. that is Thus enâ—eth the Lecture of the subtile Doctor in the Vnâ—versity of Paris Iohn Duns borne in a certaine little Village or hamlet within the Parish of Emildon called Dunston in the County of Northumberland pertâ—ining to the house of the Schollers of Merton Hall in Oxford The famousest of all the schoolemen was Saint Thomas of Aquine entitled the Angelique Doctor In this age lived Robert Grosted Doctor of Divinitie in Oxford and Bishop of Lincolne he was termed the Maull and Hammer of the Romanists he wrote a famous letter to the Pope extant in Mathew Paris wherein he proved the Pope by his abhominable soule-murthering actions to be an heritike worthy of death yea to be Antichrist and to sit in the chaire of Pestilence as next to Lucifer himselfe Herewith the Pope was so incensed that he swore by Saint Peter and Paul he could finde in his heart to make the doating Prelate a mirrour of confusion to all the world for his saucinesse but some of the wiser Cardinals disswaded him from such courses telling him that it was true which he sayd that he was holier than any of themselvesâ— and therefore it was best to hush the matter and not to stirre the coales specially sith it was knowne that at length there would be a departure from their Church he prophecied that the Church would never be set free from her Agyptian bondage but by the edge of the sword which we have seene in part accomplished In this age flourished those two learned men Gerardus disciple to Sagarel us of Parma and Dulcinus disciple to one Novarius Hermannus these held and preached that the Pope was Antichrist and the Church of Rome Babilon some thirty of their followers came into England and were there persecuted for preaching that and the like doctrine It is like â—hat this Dulcinus had many followers for Cocâ—lâ—us saith that Iohn Hus coâ—mitted spirituall fornication with the Wiclevists and with the Dulcinists Bergomensis the Chronologer saith that there were some sixe thousand people that foâ—lowed Dulcinus and that in his time the remainders of this profession were living about Trent now he continued his Chronologie unto the yeare of Grace 1503. Prateolus saith that the remainder of the Dulcinists had in his time revived and renewed their opinions in divers places of France and Germanie Platina saith they were called Fratricelli or the Brethren and that Pope Clement the fifth sent out an armie against them into the Alpes where he famished and starved divers of them Nicholas Eymericus in his Directory for the Inquisitours saith that they filled the whole land of Lombardie with their opinions which he calleth erroneous Petrus de vincis Chancellour to Fredericke the Emperour in his letters to the Christian Princes feareth not to call the Pope an Apostata and the Beast rising out of the Sea full of names of blasphemie and like unto a Leopard and againe the Court of Rome may be called non curia sed cura marcam desideraus plusquam Marcum more desirous of a marke of silver than of S. Markes Gospell or of taking of Salmons than of reading of Salomon About this time lived Arnold de nova villa a Spanyard who taught that Satan had then seduced a great part of the world that the faith then taught was but such a faith as the devils might have who beleeve and tremble meaning belike a historicall and not a saving justifying faith as also that the Pope led men to hell that he and his Clergie did falsifie the doctrine of Christ that masses were not to be said for the dead In this age there were great odds betweene William of Saint Amour a Doctor of Paris and the Friers Mendicants or Iacobins he accused them for troubling the peace of the Church in that they preached in Churches against the will of the ordinary Pastours and heard confessions sleighting the parish Priests as men
knowledge of Letters and study of Tongues specially the Greeke Latin began to spread abâ—â—ad thorow divers parts of the West Of this number were Emanuel Chrysoloras of Constantinople Theodorus Gaza of Thessalonica Georgius Trapezuntius Cardinall Bessarion and others in like sort also afterwards Iohn Capâ—io brought the use of the Greeke and Hebrew tongues into Germany as Faber Stapulensis observeth And in the beginning of this age Hebrew was first taught in Oxford as our accurat Chronologer Mr. Isaacson hath observed Now also lived Nicholas de Lyra a converted Iew who commented on all the Bible In this age there were divers both of the Greeke and Latin Church who stood for Regall Iurisdiction against Papall usurpation and namely Barlaam the Monke Nilus Archbishop of Thessalonica Marsilius Patavinus Michael Cesenas Generall of the gray Friers Dante the Italian Poet and William Ockam the English man sometime fellow of Merton Colledge in Oxford surnamed the Invincible Doctor and Scholler to Scotus the subtile Doctor Now also lived Durand de S. Porciano Nilus alleadgeth divers passages out of the generall Councels against the Popes supremacy and thence inferreth as followeth That Rome can not challenge preheminence over other Seas because Rome is named in order before them for by the same reason Constantinople should have the preheminence over Alexandria which yet she hath not From the severall and distinct boundaries of the Patriarchall Seas he argueth that neither is Rome set over other Seas nor others subject to Rome That whereas Rome stands upon the priviledge that other places appeale to Rome he saith That so others appeale to Constantinople which yet hath not thereby Iurisdiction over other places That whereas it is said the Bishop of Rome judgeth others and himselfe is not judged of any other he saith That St. Peter whose successour he pretends himselfe to be suffred himselfe to be reproved by S. Paul and yet the Pope tyrant-like will not have any enquire after his doings Barlaam prooveth out of the Chalcedon Councell Canon 28. That the Pope had not any primacy over other Bishops from Christ or S. Peter but many ages after the Apostles by the gift of holy Fathers and Emperours if the Bishop of Rome sayth hee had anciently the supremacy and that S. Peter had appointed him to be the Pastour of the whole Church what needed those godly Emperours decree the same as a thing within the verge of their owne power and jurisdiction Marsilius Patavinus wrote a booke called Defensor Pacis on the behalfe of Lewis Duke of Baviere and Emperour against the Pope for challenging power to invest and depose Kings Hee held that Christ hath excluded and purposed to exclude himselfe and his Apostles from principality or contentious jurisdiction or regiment or any coactive judgement in this world His other Tenets are reported to be these 1 That the Pope is not superiour to other Bishops much lesse to the Emperour 2. That things are to be decided by Scripture 3. That learned men of the Laiety are to have voyces in Councels 4. That the Cleargy and the Pope himselfe are to be subject to Magistrates 5. That the Church is the whole coÌ„pany of the faithfull 6. That Christ is the Head of the Church and appointâ—d none to be his Vicar 7. That Priests may marry 8. That St. Peter was never at Rome 9. That the popish â—ynagogue is a denne of theeves 10. That the Popes doctrine is not to be followed With this Marsilius of Pâ—dua there joyned in opinioÌ„ Iohn of Gandune and they both held that Clerkes are and should be subject to secular powers both in payment of Tribute and in iudgâ—ments specially not Ecclesiasticall so that they stood against the Exemption of Clerkes Michael Cesenas Generall of the Order of Franciscans stood up in the same quarrell and was therefore deprived of his dignities by Pope Iohn the two and twentieth from whom he appealed to the Catholicke universâ—ll Church and to the next generall Councell About this time also lived the noble Florentine Poet Dante a learned Philosopher and Divine who wrote a booke against the Pope concerning the Monarchy of the Emperour but for taking part with him the Pope banished him But of all the rest our Countrey-man Ockam stucke close to the Emperour to whom he sayd that if he would defend him with the sword he againe would defend him with the Word Ockam argueth the case and inclineth to this opinion that in temporall matters the Pope ought to be subject to the Emperour in as much as Christ himselfe as he was man professeth that Pilate had power to judge him given of God as also that neither Peter nor any of the Apostles had temporall power given them by Christ and hereof he gives testimony from Bernard and Gregory Ockams writings were so displeasing to the Pope as that he excommunicated him for his labour and caused his treatise or worke of ninety dayes as also his Dialogues to be put into the blacke bill of bookes prohibited and forbidden It is true indeed that Ockam submitted his writings to the censure and judgement of the Church but as hee saith to the judgement of the Church Catholike not of the Church malignant The same Ockam spoke excellently in the point of generall Councels Hee held that Councels are not called generall because they are congregated by the authority of the Romane Pope and that if Princes and Lay-men please they may be present have to deale with matters treated in general Councels That a generall Councell or that congregation which is commonly reputed a generall Councell by the world may erre in matters of faith and in case such a generall Councell should erre yet God would not leave his Church destitute of all meanes of saving truth but would raise up spirituall children to Abraham out of the rubbish of the Laiety despised Christians and dispersed Catholikes Wee have heard the judgement of the learned abroad touching Iurisdiction Regall and Papall let us now see the practice of our owne Church and State In the Reigne of King Edward the third sundry expresse Statutes were made that if any procured any Provisions from Rome of any Abbeyes Priories or Benefices in England in destruction of the Realme and holy Religion if any man sued any Processe out of the Court of Rome or procured any personall Citation from Rome upon causes whose cognisance and finall discussion pertained to the Kings Court that they should be put out of the Kings protection and their lands goods and chattels forfeited to the King In the Reigne of King Richard the second it was enacted That no Appeale should thenceforth be made to the Sea of Rome upon the penalty of a Praemunire which extended to perpetuall banishment and losse of all their lands and goods the words of the statute are If any purchase or pursue
the Friars be not liegemen to the King ne subject to his lawes For though they stealen mens Children to enter into their orders it is sayd there goes no law upon them Friars saien apertly that if the King and Lords and other men stonden thus against their begging and other things Friars will goe out of the land and come againe with bright heads and looke whether this be treason or no Friart faynen that though an Abbot and all his Covent ben open traytours yet the king may not take from them an halfe penny Friars also destroyen the Article of Christian faith I beliefe a common or generall Church for they teachen that thâ— men that shall be damned be members of holy Church and thus they wedden Christ and the divel together Friars by hypocrisie binden men to impossible things that they may not doe for they binden them over the commandements of God as they themselves say Friars wast the treasure of the land forgetting Dispensations vaine pardons and priviledges But of the pardon that men usen to day fro the Court of Rome z they have no sikernes that is certainty by holy writ ne reason ne ensample of Christ or his Apostles By this we see that Wickliffe stoutly opposed those Innovatours the Friers who like their successours the Iesuites taught and practised obedience to another Soveraigne than the King persecution for preaching the Gospell exemption of Cleaâ—gy-men the use of Legends in the Church and reading of fables to the people pardons and indulgences the heresie of an accident without a subject singular and blind obedience and lastly workes of Supererogation Now whereas Wickliffe was reputed an Heretike it is likely that this imputation was laid upon him especially by Friars to whose innovations he was a professed enemy PAP Many exceptions are taken against Wickliffe and namely that hee held That God ought to obey the divell PROT. Our learned Antiquary of Oxford Doctour Iames hath made Wickliffes Apology and answered such slanderous objections as are urged by Parsons the Apologists and others Now for the objection made there is neither colour nor savour of truth in it there was no such thing objected to him in the Convocation at Lambeth neither can his adversaries shew any such words out of any booke written by Wickliffe although he wrote very many Indeed wee finde the quite contrary in his workes saith his Apologist for Wickliffe saith That the divel is clepid that is called Gods Angell for he may doe nothing but at Gods suffering and that he serveth God in tormenting of sinfull men The phrase indeed is strange and if either he or any of his Schollers used such speeches their meaning haply was that God not in his owne person but in his creatures yeeldeth obedience to the devill that is sometimes giveth him power over his creatures PAP Wickliffe taught That Magistrates and Masters are not to be obeyed by their subjects and servants so long as they are in deadly sinne PROT. Even as light House-wives lay their bastards at honest mens doores so you falsely father this â—is-begotten opinion on Wickliffe which some of your owne side say belongs to one Iohn Parvi a Doctour of Sorbone And indeed in right it is your owne inasmuch as you upon colour and pretence of heresie in Princes absolve subjects from their Allegeance and raise them up in armes against their lawfull Soveraigne witnesse your bloody massacres in France the death of the two last Henryes in France the untimely death of the Prince of Orange the many attempts and treasons against Queene Elizabeth as also that hellish designe of the Gun-powder treason But supppose Wickliffe said so yet his words might have a tollerable construction to wit that a Prince being in state of mortall sinne ceased to be a Prince any longer he ceased to be so in respect of any spirituall right or title to his place that he could pleade with God if he were pleased to take the advantage of the forfeiture but that in respect of men he had a good title still in the course of mundane justice so that whosoever should lift vp his hand against him offered him wrong Wickliffe indeede admonisheth the King and all other inferiour Officers and Magistrates as elsewhere he doth Bishops That he beareth not the sword in vaine but to doe the office of a King well and truely to see his Lawes rightly executed wherein if hee faile then he telleth him that he is not properly and truely a King that is in effect and operation which words are spoken by way of exhortation but so farre was hee from mutiny himselfe or perswading others to rebellion that never any man of his ranke for the times wherein he lived did more stoutly maintaine the Kings Supremacy in all causes as well as over all persons ecclesiasticall and civill against all usurped and forreine Iurisdiction and one of his reasons was this that otherwise he should not be King over all England but Regulus parvae partis a petty governour of some small parts of the Realme PAP Wickliffe taught that so long as a man is in deadly sinne he is no Bishop nor Prelate neither doth he consecrate or baptize PROT. If Wickliffe said so he sayd no more than the Fathers and a Councell said before him Saint Ambrose saith Vnlesse thou embrace and follow the good-worke of a Bishop a Bishop thou canst not be The Provinciall Councell saith Whosoever after the order of Bishop or Priesthood shall say they have beene defiled with mortall sinne let them be remooved from the foresaid orders The truth is Wickliffe lived in a very corrupt time and this made him so sharpely inveigh against the abuses of the Cleargy but abusus non tollit rei usum and yet Wickliffe writeth against them that will not honour their Prelats And hee elsewhere expresseth his owne meaning that it is not the name but the life that makes a Bishop that if a man have the name of a Prelate and doe not answere the reason thereof in sincerity of doctrine and integrity of life but live scandalously and in mortall sinne that he is but a nomine-tenus Sacerdos a Bishop or Priest in name not in truth Neverthelesse his ministeriall Act may be availeable for thus saith Wickliffe Vnlesse the Christian Priest be united unto Christ by grace Christ cannot be his Saviour nec sine falsitate â—icit verba sacramentalia Neither can he speake the Sacramentall words without lying licèt prosint capacibus Though the worthy receiver be hereby nothing hindred from grace PAP Wickliffe held that it was not lawfull for any Ecclesiasticall persons to have any temporall possessions or property in any thing but should begge PROT. This imputation is untrue for what were the lands and goods of Bishops Cathedrall Churches or otherwise belonging to Religious houses which were given Deo Ecclesiâ— were they
Church holding that shee was a pure Virgin both before the birth of Christ and that shee also continued a Virgin all her life after condemned Helvidius for an Heretike now why were the Helvidians adjudged Heretikes surely because they beleeved more than was reveled in the word and would have thrust that on the Church for an Article of faith which had no ground at all And this is your case you over-â—each in your beliefe as the Helvidian Heretikes did witnesse your tenets of Transubstantiation adoration of Images Invocation of Saints Purgatory the Popes supremacie and the like wherein your faith is monstrous like the Gâ—ant of Gath who had on every hand sixe fingers and on every foote sixe toes and so it is with you who in the new Creed of Pope Pius the fourth have shuffled in more Articles of faith than ever God and his Catholike Church made Neither doe wee fall short in our beliefe for wee measure our faith by the standard and rule of Gods written wordâ— now since it jumpeth with the rule it neither faileth in defect nor over-reacheth in excesse Now by this time I hope I have performed the taske which I undertooke PA. You have indeed given in a Catalogue of visible Professors in some part of Christendome but what is this to the whole universall Church PRO. Very much for these particular congregations serve to make up the whole state of Christ his Church militant here on earth now this Church farre and wide dispersed hath in her particular members for substance of doctrine taught as wee doe To begin with the Easterne Church amongst the Grecians and Armenians The Grecians held that the Romane Church had not any Supremacie of Iurisdiction authoritie and grace above or over all other Churches They celebrated the Sacrament of the Eucharist in both kinds as we doe They denied that there was any Purgatorie fire They denied Extreame unction to bee a Sacrament properly so called They reject the Religious use of Massie Images or Statues admitting yet Pictures or plaine Images in their Churches The Armenians denie the true body of Christ to be really in the Sacrament of the Eucharist under the Species of Bread and Wine They denie the vertue of conferring grace to belong to the Sacraments Ex Opere operato They denie the Popes Supremacie and are subject to two of their owne Patriarches whom they call Catholicks They reject Purgatorie They have their publicke Service in their vulgar language The North-east Church amongst the Russians and Muscovites as they were converted to Christianitie by the Grecians so have they ever since continued of the Greeke Communion and Religion They have their divine Service in their owne vulgar language They reject Purgatorie They communicate in both kinds They denie the spirituall efficacie of Extreame unction To proceede now to the South-Church amongst the Habassines or mid land Aethiopians the Character of their Religion is this as I find it in Maâ—hew Dresser who reports it from Francis Alvarez a Portugal Priest and sometimes Legat into Aethiopia They communicate in both kinds They use no Extreame unction They reverence the Saints but they pray not unto them they doe much honour the mother of Christ but they neither adore her nor crave her mediation They have their Liturgie or Church Service in their owne vulgar language They have a Patriarcke of their owne who is confirmed and consecrated by the Patriarcke of Alexandria on which See they depend and not on the Romane In the Westerne Church we have the consent of the Waldenses in France the Wicklevists in England commonly called Lollards and Thaborites in Bohemia Here be then the Greeke and Latine Church the Churches in the the East West North and South all of them teaching for substance of doctrine as we doe I know indeed that Bellarmine sleighteth these Churches of Graecia Armenia Russia and Aethiopia saying We are no more moved with their examples than with the examples of Lutherans and Calvinists for they bee either Hereticks or Schismaticks So that all Churches be they never so Catholicke and ancient if they subscribe not to the now Romanâ— Faith are either Schismaticall or Hâ—reticall But we may not be so uncharitable to these afflicted Churches For as learned Bishop Vsher saith if wee should take a survey of these Churches and put by the points wherein they did differ one from another and gather into one body the rest of the Articles wherein they all did generally agree we should find that in those propositions which without all controveâ—sie are universally â—eceived in the whole Christian world so much truth is conâ—eined as being joyned with holy obedience may be sufficient to bring a man unto everlasting salvation Object I except against the Greeke Church for that it denieth the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son of God Answer Every errour denieth not Christ the foundation Indeed it would have grated the foundation if they had so denied the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Sonne as that they had made an inequalitie betweene the Persons but since their forme of speech is that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father by the Sonne and is the spirit of the Sonne and since as the Master of the Sentences saith Non est aliud It is not another thing to say the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the Father and the Sonne then that he is or proceeds from the Father and the Sonne in this they seeme to agree with us In eandem fidei sententiam upon the same sentence of Faith though they differ in words Since I say they thus expresse themselves they may continue to bee a true Church though erronious in the point mentioned In like sort Scotus following his Master Lombard saith that The difference betweene the Greekes and the Latines in this point is rather Verball in the manner of speech than Reall and materiall Besides it seemes by the same Scotus that the Greeks held no other Heresie then Saint Basil and Gregory Nazianzene held whom yet no man durst ever yet call Hereticks so that you must give us the famous Greeke Church againe PA. I have yet divers exceptions to take at your Catalogue as also at your English Martyrologie for you have named out of Foxe some for Martyrs who were very meane persons namely Iohn Claydon a Curriar of Leather Richard Howden a Wooll-winder as also some by name Thomas Bagley for a Martyr who was a married Priest PRO. What though some of them were tradesmen did not Peter stay divers daies in Ioppa with one Simon a Tanner Act. 9.43 Was not that godly convert Lydia a seller of Purple Act. 16.14 Hath not God chosen the base things of the world to confound the mighty 1 Cor. 1.27 c. Besides they were no such base people for among others I produced