was once a Priest yet as now he hath resigned that office vnto others The Apostle testifyeth that he is a Priest still and euer shall be saying thus of him Thou art a high Priest for euer after the order of Melchizedech And because we shold not thinke that there should be any other priest thā he the Apostle teacheth vs that there may be none other in that he saith that no man may take the honor of high priest vnto himselfe except he be called of God as Christ was called to that office by his Father These be his very words No man may take that honor vpon him but he shall enioy it which is called of God as was Aaron Neyther hath Christ presumed of himselfe to be made high Preest but he hath bestowed that dignity vpon him which fayde vnto him Thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thee Now as we are taught by this text that neyther there is nor ought to be any mo then one Sacrifice for the forgeuenes of sins that is to wit Iesus Christ which is and shal be the high preest for euer So are we taught also by other texts that there is but one only Sacrifice once offered for all sinnes and to obtayn euerlasting life which is the death and passion of Iesus Christ our Saviour And that we need none other Sacrifice for the remission of our sinnes but only that This is the very text of the Apostle which is so playn and cleere as nothing can be more By the which will we are made holy euen by the offering of the body of Christ once for all For by that one offering hath he made them perfect for euer which are to be sanctified where remission of sinnes is there needes no more Sacrifice for sinne Which words of the Apostle are a very definitiue sentence pronounced against the Masse For if there be no more offering for sinne what shall become of the masse seeing it is no other thing in substance as the very words of the consecration doe declare but a Sacrifice and an offering for the forgeuenes of the sinnes of the quick and the dead And in very deede the Catholick Schoolemē not being able by any meanes to rid themselues of these textes which are so playne and cleere do say for their refuge that the Mas is not a very Sacrifice in deed but a remembrance of the only and true Sacrifice of our Lord Iesus Christ But the answere to this shift of descant is very easie For seeing they doe maintayne that the very body of Christ is in the mas and that the bread of the singingcake is changed into his very body and the wine into his very bloud And that they breake his body in peeces and offer vp both the body and the bloud in Sacrifice vnto God It followeth of necessitie that their opinion is that it is a very Sacrifice and not a remembrance only On the other side the protestants doe say that the remembrance of the true Sacrifice of Iesus Christ ought to be done by celebrating his holy supper after the same maner that he hath appointed it For he hath ordayned that his Supper should be celebrated by many at once because it is a sacramentall communion of the body and bloud of our Sauiour by the which we are made one body and as it were one loafe in Iesus Christ become partakers of one selfesame bread of euerlasting life These are the wordes of S. Paule vpon the same matter Is not the cup of blessing which we blesse a partaking of the bloud of Christ And is not the bread which we breake a partaking of the body of Christ For we that are many are one loafe and one body because we be al partakers of one bread By which text it appeareth euidently that the remembrance of the Sacrifice of our Sauiour ought to be vsed in celebrating the holy Supper by many together accordingly as when he did institute and celebrate it with his Disciples they were many together And so consequently it followeth that the Mas neither is nor can be a true remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ seeing that none taketh part of it but the priest him selfe Now let vs come to the Canones The Canons which we haue alleaged in the former Chapter when we spake of the Lordes Supper doe sufficiently confute this Transubstātiation which is the very principall parte and foundation of the Masse And therfore we will speake no more of that point But I will speake of certain difficulties into the which the Transubstantiatiō hath led the schole diuines as it hapneth commonly according to the saying of the Logicians that in admitting one absurditie there follow many moe The schole doctors hauing once graunted that the bread and wine in the Masse are Transubstantiated into the very body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ are greately troubled how to resolue diuers other questions which haue growen vpon the same matter Pope Innocent the third reciteth one of them which he sayth was greatly debated amongst the sayd Scholedoctors howbeit in such sort as they knew not how to determine it That is to witt whether the water which the preest putteth into the chalice with the wine be transubstātiated into bloud or not for they imagine that water must nedes be put into the chalice where the wine is bicause it is written that out of the side of our Lord Iesus Christ there did issue both bloud and water Notwithstanding their opinion is that there ought to be more wine than water For Pope Honorius the third did sharply checke a certayne Bishop who in singing masse did put more water in his chalice then wine wherupon grew a great disputation amongst the Scholediuines as Pope Innocent reporteth For some of thē held opinion that the water was not Transubstantiated into wine but remayned naturall water still bicause say they there was water in the bloud which issued out of the side of our Lord Iesus Christ when he was vpon the Crosse And therfore seeing that the wine in the Chalice at the masse tyme is Transubstantiated into the very bloud it must needes be that the water remayneth water still to the ende that there be an answerable resemblance aswell of the water as of the bloud Others sayd that although it were graunted that water must needes remayne still in the Chalice with the bloud yet notwithstanding it must alwayes be beleeued that the water which the priest putteth into the Challice is turned into the selfe same water which issued out of the side of our Lord Iesus Christ Which opinion seemeth to haue most shew of wit and most proportionble resemblance agreeing to the matter though at the first sight it might seeme an absurde thinge to saye that water is turned into other water For looke by what reason the wine is trāsubstantiated into the very bloud by the same reason is the water changed into the
it appeareth by the canons that the saluatiō of men doth doth not depend wholly vpon Baptisme but principallye vpon fayth These be the very wordes of the Canon S. Ciprian to proue that the torment of death may stād in stead of Baptisme hath grounded his argument vpon these wordes of Christ spoken to the vnbaptised theefe This day shalt thou bee with me in Paradise In the examining whereof more narrowly I fynde that not onely the suffering of death for the name of Christ but also the harty beleuing in him and the confessing of him may supply the want of baptisme when the party is so distressed by some extremity of tyme as he cannot haue the sacrament of batisme ministred vnto him And there followeth an other Canon which sayth that if a learner of the Catechisme that is to say such a one as is but newly entred into the doctrine of the faith and is not yet baptised do suffer marterdome for the name of Christ he fayleth not to be saued although hee want Baptisme And the reasō herof as sayth the same canons is because that in this case such as haue not receiued the sacrament of Baptisme haue not wanted it through pride or disdayne but through inforcement of necessity In likewise it is forbidden by the Canons that women how wise so euer they bee shall either preach or baptise It is true that hereunto they do ioyn this one exception which is if it be not in case of necessity But if it be graūted according to the truth that the Infants which dye vnbaptised be not therfore excluded from saluation It followeth well that no necessity can be great inough to dispēse with women for intermedling themselues with the administration of the Sacramentes And truely in old time as the canons do witnes Baptisme was not ministred ordinarily but only at two tymes in the yeare namely at Easter and at Whittesontyde which well bewrayeth that they vsed no such haste as that women shoulde bee fayne to meddle with the matter Likewise it doth also appeare by the Canōs that Baptisme was not ministred to the infidels but only to such as had faith and did make confession therof when they were of age to do it And as touching the forementioned Ceremonies in deed there are some Canons how be it of the worst stamp which do allow thē But the best and most auntient canons do vtterly dissallow thē For by the auntient Canons men are permitted to baptise in Riuers in the Sea in fountaynes and in euery other place commodious for that purpose These be the wordes of a Canon taken out of the decrees of Pope Victor Let the Gentiles that are come to the faith be baptised in all seasons and all places fit for them be it in Riuer sea or Spring as being made cleane by confession of the Christian fayth And by an other Canon it is well shewed that wee ought rather to rest vpon the Baptisme of the couenaunt of fayth than vpon the Baptisme of water For it sayth thus The true baptisme doth not consist so much in the washing of the bodie as in the beleife of the hart as the apostolicke doctrine doth teach vs saying They make cleane their hartes through fayth And in an other Canon going before it is sayed that a catholicke not Baptised for it presupposeth that one may be a catholick without being baptised whiche hath an ardent zeale of deuine charity is to be preferred before a wicked man that is baptised As for example sayth the Canon Cornelius the Centener who was filled with the holy ghost before he was baptised is to be preferred before Simon Magus who was possessed with an vncleane Spirit after he had bene Baptised But if Cornelius hauing receiued the holy ghost had not bene willing to be baptised he had bene greuously guiltye of the despising of so excellent a sacrament By which canon it is easy to iudge that wee ought altogether to depend vpon that which the sacrament doth signifie vnto vs and vpon the graces which god doth thereby geue vnto vs and not to set our mindes vpon a sort of superstitious and vayn ceremonies as the Romish catholicks do in these dayes For they may easely perceiue by the things aforesayd that the doctrine of the reformed religion touching the sacrament of baptisme is better more auncient furder from heresy than theirs is according to our three maximes here before set downe to proue the points which are in question Let vs now speak of the supper of the Lord. ⧠Of the Sacrament of the holy supper The vii chapter THe difference betwixt the Romish Catholickes and the Protestantes concerning the Supper of the Lord doth consist in three points The one in the naming therof for the Catholickes call that the keeping of Easter which the Protestantes doe name the Supper of the lord But this diuersitie of speaking importeth not much for both of them are still a celebrating of the mistery of our redemtion True it is that the Catholickes vse the maner of speaking of the old Testament according to the phrase whereof the feast of Easter that is to say the passeouer was celebrated by the eating of a Lambe which did represent Christ in remembrance of the deliuerance of the people of Israell whom God had brought out of the thraldome of Egipt But the Protestantes vse the manner of speaking of the new Testament whereby the holy institution which our Lord Iesus Christ ordayned to celebrate the remembrance of his death and passion and to make vs partakers of his body and bloud is called the supper of the lord But we must not striue about words so it be knowen that to keepe the Easter and to celebrate the Lords Supper are at this day one selfe same thing The second difference which is much greater consisteth in the substance of the Sacrament For the Catholickes at leastwise the schoolmen vphold that assoone as the priest hath spoaken the words of consecration ouer one hoaste or ouer many they change their nature presently and are transubstantiated into the very body and bloud of Iesus Christ in the selfe-same greatnes bignes that it was vpon the crosse so as the bread of the hoast is thē no longer bread although the color and the tast of bread remayn still therin Their proofe of this doctrine is that when our Lord Iesus Christ did institute his supper as he gaue the bread to his disciples he said vnto them This is my body And in geuing them the cup he said vnto them This is my bloud They proue it also by a Canon which beginneth thus I Beringarius c. which Canon saith in expresse wordes that after the consecration the bread and wine become not only sacraments but also the very body and the very blo ud of Christ And that the priest doth sensibly handle the same very bodye and breake it And that the faithful in eating the Sacrament with
eyes and tast with our mouthes to be bread and wine should be flesh and bloud No nor that neither which is contrary to the order of Nature namely that accidents should haue an abyding without a substance fitte and conuenient for them to be in or that a naturall body of a man may be inclosed in so small roome as the bignes or roundnes of an hoast for these things are contrary to nature And if the Catholicks reply that God is almighty and able to doe these things the Protestants doe answere that doutlesse he is of power to doe whatsoeuer he listeth In so much that because God will neither sinne nor lie we say he can neither lie nor sin But our Lord meant so litle that his body after his glorification should receaue vnnaturall qualities that cleane contrarywise he would haue his Apostles to iudge by the sence of their sight and feeling that his body was a true and perfect naturall body and not an imagined body And although the effects of the Sacrament be thinges diuine and supernaturall yet are they not contrary to nature as those are which depend vpon the doctrine of Transubstantiation Neither can it be proued by the word of God that the Sacraments or any other of the ordinances of God conteine any thing contrary to nature This doctrine of the Protestantes touching this Sacrament is also euidently grounded vpon the word of god For first of all we doe say and beleue according to the articles of our faith that Iesus Christ is ascended into heauen from whence he shall come not ten thousand times a dry but only once at the last day when he shall come to iudge both the quick and the dead Which thing S. Peter declareth very openly when in speaking of the last comming of our Lord he sayth thus Whom the heauens shall contein vntill the full setting of all things in perfecte state which God hath foretold by the mouthes of all his holy Prophetes that haue beene since the beginning of the world And Iesus Christ himselfe also did wel geue vs to vnderstand that we should not beleue that his body after his ascention should euery day return hither on the earth nor remayne shut vp in boxes when he said to his disciples which found themselues greeued at the shedding of a little ointmēt vpon his body You shall not haue me alwayes with you And yet notwithstanding we must beleeue that by the efficacie of his grace he will alway be with vs as he declared to his Apostles in sending them throughout the world to preach the doctrine of his grace saying vnto them Behold I am alwayes with you euen vnto the end of the world And we must furthermore consider that the body of Christ was made in all points like vnto the bodies of other men except sinne as the scriptures do witnes In so much that it hath euer had and still hath at this present a certain measure of greatnes and thicknes as the bodies of other men haue Wherupon it followeth of consequence that his body neither is nor euer hath been in any mo places than one at one time And therefore when he celebrated hys holy supper with hys Disciples the day before he suffered hys death passion his body which sate at the table was not in the bread which he gaue thē for the nature of a true body doth not permit it to be in any moe places than one at one tyme And if they reply that a glorified body may be in many places at one instaunt the aunswere thereunto is that the body of Christ was not thē glorified but mortall at the tyme when hee celebrated hys holy supper was put to death the day after and that the wordes of the holy supper cānot as now be true in any other sort than they were whē he spake them and instituted the Sacrament And therefore this replication is impertinent and besides that it is vntrue for the body of Christ hath not through his glorification lost the qualities of a perfect body whiche is to be felt to haue flesh and bones and to be contayned within the compasse of certayne bowndes And therefore when hee celebrated the holy supper hys body was not in the bread which he gaue to hys Disciples and much les was the bread transubstantiated into hys body Whereof it followeth that these words of Iesus Christ This is my body This is my bloud ought to be vnderstood sacramētally as if he had said This is the sacrament of my body of my bloud because that as is aforesayd the nature of a very true body in deede permitteth vs not to vnderstand that euery morsell of the bread which he gaue to his disciples was his owne natural body Also the words which S. Luke and S. Paul vse in speaking of the Sacrament of his bloud do well declare that it is so to bee vnderstood For they say not that Christ sayd This is my bloud but rather this cup is the newe couenaunt in my bloud Neuerthelesse wee must thinke it all one with the other speach where it is sayd this is my bloud or els should S. Luke and S. Paule be contrary to S. Mathew and S. Marke which were vngodly to beleue So that if it be graūted as truth is that to say this is my bloud is asmuch as to say this cup is the couenant in my bloud It followeth playnely that this manner of speaking ought to be vnderstoode of the sacrament of his bloud or of the sacrament of the new couenant of his bloud which is all one and commeth all to one sense For the bread and the wine of the supper are the sacramentes of the body and bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christe and of the newe couenaunt which he maketh with vs because that in receiuing this sacrament with our mouthes our soules do also participate and receiue spiritually and really the thing signified which is the body and bloud of Christ in whiche participation consisteth the couenant which he maketh with vs. And in very deed Iesus Christ him selfe in speaking to his disciples of the eating of his flesh and of the drinking of his bloud yea and of the supper it selfe as the Catholickes expound it perceiuing them to be offended thereat tolde them that it ought to be vnderstood of a spirituall feeding and not of a crusshing of his flesh and hys bones betwixt their teeth nor of a cāniballike kinde of drinking of mans bloud as the catholicke scholemen of these dayes do vnderstand it Neither ought it to seeme a more straunge interpretation of these wordes this is my body to say this is the sacrament of my body thā to make the same interpretation of a great sort of other figuratiue speaches conteined in the scripture As for example where Christ sayth I am the vine and my Father is the husbandman I am the gate And agayne it is sayd the rocke was
whoredome and bawdry which is amongst the most parte of Priests And moreouer the Canons denounce those persons to be Idolaters which heare the Masse of any Priest or Deacon that is a Fornicator For thus saith a Canon taken out of S. Gregory If any Priest Deacon or Subdeacon be stayned with the sinne of fornication we in the name of the father almighty by the authoritie of S. Peter doe vtterly forbid bim to come into the Church vntill he haue done penance and made amendes And if they continue in their sinne let no mā presume to heare their diuine seruice for their blessings shall be turned into cursings their prayer into sinne And this doth the Lord himselfe witnesse where he saith by his Prophet I will curse your blessings And as many as disobay this holesome commaundement shall fall into the sinne of Idolatry Were this Canon wel vnderstood of the infinite number of pore ignorant soules that hold of the Romish Religion and doe ordinarily hear the Masses and other Church seruices of lecherous priestes I beleeue they would rather forbeare it vtterly than defile themselues so wretchedly with Idolatrie And as saith this Canon receiue the curse of God in receiuing the blessing of such a priest But ignorance accompanied with error which hath been long bred and rooted in the Romain Church doe cause the poore people to be content to heare the masses of these Fornicators But if a maryed Priest should sing them a Mas they would stone him to death and not allow his masse to be good Behold what power long forgrowen error hath ouer poore ignorant people and how strangely the tirany therof causeth their wretched consciences to goe astray For by the auncient Canons it is a cursed thing to shun the offering of a maryed priest or to beleeue that the same is to be despised because he is marryed These be the very words of a Canon taken out of the councell of Gangra If any man make difference of a marryed Priest in forbearing to come to his offering as though he might not doe it because he is marryed Cursed be he And there is yet another Canon which saith that no Priest hath power to consecrate singingcakes except he be a man of good life Which thing should make the Romish Catholicks to thinke that they put them selues in great danger of Idolatry when they worship the singing cake although it were admitted that their doctrine of Transubstantiation were true which thing the Protestants doe still deny For questionles by this Canon all be Idolaters which worship the singing bread that is consecrated by priests of euill life as the most part of them be These be the very wordes of the Canon The priestes which minister the body and bloud of the Lord vnto the people doe wickedly in beleeuing that by the law of Christ it is the wordes which the priest speaketh and not his good life which make the consecration of the Sacrament And that to doe the same there nedeth but only the solemne pronouncing of the prayer without any merit of the priest for it is written that the Prieste which hath any blemish in him may not approch to the Lord to offer any Sacrifice vnto him So then by this Canon it may be well said that in these dayes there are very few Priestes which haue power to consecrate Moreouer in these dayes they obserue no parte of the Ceremonies appointed by the Canons in the saying of their Masse For they ought to sing the Masse in single linnen cloth and not in silks of colors These are the expresse words of the Canon By the opinion of vs all we ordain that no man presume to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Altar in cloth of silke nor in any other cloth of color but in linnen cloth only consecrated by the Bishop That is to say made and wouen of flax which groweth vpon the earth Euen in such like sorte as the bodye of our Lord Iesus Christ was buried and wrapped in a simple white sheete made of flax Neither ought they to sing or say Masse without two assistantes least they should offend in the congruity of Grammer in hauing but one when they said Dominus vobiscum and Orate pro me fratres speaking in the plurall number But yet this notwithstanding the most part of Masses are said nowadayes but with one Clarke to accompany the priest yea and often times the Priest is constrayned to answere himselfe as it is sayd by a common prouerbe of a priest named Martin These be the very wordes of the Canō It is also ordayned that no priest shal presume to say masse except he haue two assistants so as he himselfe may be the third For when he saith in the plurall number the Lord be with you these words of the Memento Brethren pray for me it is very conuenient that other folks should answere of themselues to his salutation So as if all these Canons be well considered euery man may well perceiue that the Romish Catholicks haue no great reason to make so great account of their Mas or to thinke the Protestants to be in error in that they will neither come at it nor allow of it Of Maryage The ix Chapter AS cōcering marriage the doctrine of the Protestauntes differeth not much from the doctrine of the romish catholickes In deed the Catholickes do terme it a sacrament and the protestantes say it is a holy institution of God but not a sacrament because that in euery sacramēt there must be an outward signe to bee discerned with the eie and an inward thing signified which is inuisible as I haue sayed of Baptisme heretofore shewing that in that sacrament the water is the outward signe and the washing of the soule is the inward inuisible thing signified And in the supper of our lord the bread and the wine are the outward signes and the body and the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ bee the things signified which our soules do receiue inwardly and spiritually But it cannot be sayd that in marriage ther is an outward visible signe and an inward inuisible thing signified And therfore it is not a Sacrament Agayne the Protestants affirm that marriage is honorable amongst all sorts of people be they lay men or men of the church noble or vnnoble rich or poore because God hath instituted it and hath permitted the vse thereof to all persons of what quality soeuer they be and to celebrate the same at all seasons And that to make gloses and limitations or restrayntes of the which God hath set at liberty is to goe about to be wiser than God which in deede is starke foolishnesse beastly presumption and heddy trayterousnesse Contrarywise the romish Catholickes holde opinion that it is not lawfull for men of the church to be married at all nor to celebrate any marriage in Lent in Aduent and in the foure ember weeks And the reason whereupon they haue
through his great eloquence sought to inflame their desiers thereunto Truely both the one and the other haue sore rebuked those women which goe about to grace or rather to disgrace themselues with painting of their faces against which sort Ciprian amongst other things saith thus If an excellent painter had well and liuely counterfayted a mans face and body afterwards another vnskilfull paynter would needes take vpon him to ouerpainte the same agayne vndoutedly the former paynter should haue great cause to finde himselfe greeued and iniuryed And thinkest thou daughter to escape the punishment of God who hath fashioned thee when thy damnable rashnes dareth presume to controll Gods paynting by thy paynting For be it that thou art not vnchast whorish to the worldward yet notwithstāding thou through the whorish intisements of thy paynting art wors than the very strumpet and adulteres forasmuch as thou hast corrupted and marred Gods workmanship in thy selfe Wheras thou doest it to beutefie and to trim thy selfe it is nothing els but a corrupting of Gods workmanship and a defacing of the truth Harken here to the voyce of the Apostle who warneth thee thus Purge your old leauen that you may be made new dough without leauen For Christ our Easter Lambe is offered vp for vs Let vs therfore make good chere not with old leauen nor with the leauen of naughtines and malice But with vnleauened bred that is to say with the bread of sinceritie and truth For what continuance in sinceritie and truth is there when the thing that was pure is defiled and when the truth is changed into vntruth by false culler and painting with slabersauces Thy Lord doth say vnto thee Thou canst not make one of thy heares either black or white And yet thou to ouermaster the word of thy Lord wilt thou needes seeke to clime aboue him by thy trecherous contempt and ouerbold dealing Thou paintest thy heare and by euil hāsel of the thing that shal happē vnto thee doest frizel thy head with fire Ambrose also doth speake thus against these counterfaite paintings From thence saith he spring intisements to vice namely that women doe paint their faces with color made for the nonce In so much that by the coloring of their countenances with the filth of their painting for feare to displease men they purchase to themselues the stayning of their chastitie What a folly is it to change a naturall face for a painted face For in fearing the iudgement of their husbands they lose their own iudgement because that such as will needes change the shape and fashion which God hath geuen them by creation doe condemne themselues and in seeking to be well lyked of others doe first of all mislike of themselues What better iudge of thy foulnes thou woman can there be than thy selfe that art so loth to be seene in thy own naturall likenes If thou beest fayre why doest thou hide thy selfe If thou beest foule why doest thou bely thy selfe in desiring to seeme fayr and by thine own fault make thy self worthy of blame as well in thine own conscience as in the opinion of others The same Ambrose speaking of virgines doth set down vnto them vnder example of a perfect virgin of what behauior our virgins ought to be saying There was a virgin which was a virgine not only in body but also in minde who by no outwarde shew did at any time corrupt the sinceritie of her affection She was humble of hart sober in speach wise in vnderstanding of few words geuen to reading not putting her trust in the vncertainty of riches but in the prayers of the poore earnest in her worke shamefast in her talke seeking God and not man to be the iudge of her hart not doing wrong to any wishing well to euery body honoring all her elders not enuying her equals void of boasting folowing reason and louing vertue Hath this virgin at any time offended her Parents in word or deede when hath she beene seene to be at any iarre with her neighbors when despised she the poore when mocked she the lame or when shrunke she away from the nedy Her only care hath beene to haunte the company of such men as are accompanied with mercy and honest shamefastnes There hath not passed her one suspicious looke nor dallying word nor any vnshamefast iesture Her pace hath not been vncomely nor her voice loud or ouer shrill But to be short her outward behauiour hath alwayes beene the representer and Image of the goodnesse of her minde for a good house ought to be known by his entry make shew at the first that there is no darcknesse in it but that the Lampe which is within doth shead forth his light to the outer partes What shall I say of her moderate feeding and of the great aboūdance of her duetifull doings In the one she passeth Nature and by the other she oppresseth it She letteth no time slip without doing some good And her sobrietie is such that she doubleth her fasting daies and when she hath desire to eate she maketh her meale of the first meat that she meeteth with which she taketh alonly to keep her selfe aliue and not to pamper her selfe for pleasure By these words the meaning of Ambrose is not to incourage maydens to vow virginitie but to shew of what behauiour they ought to be which haue already vowed it Hetherto I haue rehearsed the very words of S. Augustine who doth alleage the forewritten sentences of S. Ciprian and S. Ambrose to shew that they esteeme not so much the vow of virginity as the good behauior which ought to be in both those which be vowed and in the others also And it is to be noted that in the saying of S. Ambrose aboue written which speaketh of the manners dueties and behauiors of the virgines which haue vowed virginitie there is no mention made of any of the hipocritical and superstitious Ceremonies which in these dayes are obserued by the Nūs He descrybeth them at large and as it were by peecemeale what they ought to be in what sort they ought to busie themselues and wherein they ought to spend their time and yet in all this there is not one word spoken of their Popeholines But contrarywise wheras he saith that the vowed virgins which now a daies be called professed ought to be diligent in working to beware of disagreeing with their frendes and Neighbors not to withdraw themselues from the nedy to frequent only such men as are mercifull and shamefast and to be of coūtenance and behauiour sober and not nice or wanton It appeareth therby euidently that in those dayes they were not shut vp in Monasteries but kept their vow of virginitie in liuing in houses of their own or els with their kinsefolk exercising themselues in all good works of godlinesse and vertue And now that we haue spoaken sufficiently of Nunnes let vs returne againe to the Monkes It is to be noted
god For a true virgine maye wel be misused but she cānot be made a whore because the godly virgine is the church of God and her chastity cannot be defiled by the brothelhouse For the chastity of the minde abolisheth the infamy of the place For the vnderstanding of the which Canon we must haue an eye to the time of the primitiue Church when diuers among the heathen men did put their bondslaues whether they were wiues or maydens into brothel houses and common stewes to rayse gayne of the shamefull abuse of their bodies And it fel out oftentimes that their poore slaues were Christians and yet full ill against their willes they were faine to suffer that shamefull abuse in their bodies and to become as it were open brothels and harlots to make gaine to their Masters wherof they are excused by this Canon as hauing only their bodies abused by a forcible constrainte and not their mindes by consent of their willes Now therfore it may wel be discerned by these Canones whether this doctrine of the Protestants concerning mariage ought to be reputed erroneous or not and whether it be not more agreable to Gods word and the auncient Cannons than the doctrine of the Romish Catholickes And now let vs proceed on ¶ Of princes and Magistrates The x chapter THe Protestants hold opinion that all such as dwel within the lands Dominions or Prouinces of any Prince be they naturall subiectes or free Denizens ought to yeald faithful obedience to him and also to all Magistrates vnder him without any exception of persons or of their goods And that they ought to acknowledge and to honor him as Gods Lieutenant vpon earth hauing the sword in his hand to minister iustice to al men and to be the defender and maintayner of Gods commaundements and to cause his Subiectes to obay them Also they hold opinion that all folke ought to pray to God for the preseruation and prosperitie of the Prince and of all other Magistrates And they beleeue that to disobay the prince is a disobaying of God who hath set him vp And that mē must obay him not only for feare but also for the duety of conscience which doth binde vs to obay God and so consequently the Prince whom God hath commaūded vs to obay But the opinion of the Romish Catholicks is that such as are of the clergie be exempted from this generall rule and that they be not the subiects of temporall Princes but of the pope And that so by consequence the prince neither may nor ought to leuy any tribute beneuolēce loane or subsedy of the Cleargie of his Countreis nor of their goods Accordingly as Pope Boniface the eight in one of his decrees expresly forbiddeth all Kings Princes Dukes Earles Barons Potentates Captaines Officers Gouerners of Cities and Castles and all other persons of what estate degree or condition so euer they be to doe the like vpon paine of present interditing and excommunication whereof none other but only the Pope himselfe can geue absolution Also they hold opinion that the Prince whom they tearme secular hath no authoritie in matters of Tenthes nor in matters of Matrimony among the lay people nor in many other such like things Thirdly they hold opinion that the Pope hath power to put down kings and Princes and to depriue them of their Realmes and Principalities as Pope Gelasius vaunteth himselfe in an epistle sent to the Emperor Anastasius wherin he alleadgeth the example of Pope Zachary who deposed king Chelderike of Fraunce from his kingdome not for any wicked doings sayth he but because he was vnfitte to be a king And did set vp king Pipin the father of Charlemaine in his place Also by reason of this great authoritie which the Popes tooke to themselues ouer kinges they be puffed vp with such pride that they compare themselues to the Sun and to Golde and kinges and Emperors to the Moon and to leade tearming themselues the masters of them as the same Pope Gelasius did write to the sayd Emperor Anastasius Euery man therefore may iudge whether doctrine is the better either that of the romish Catholicks which doth so limmit cut short the authoritie of kinges and Princes to augment the greatnes of the Popes and Prelats Or that of the Protestants which doe not challenge but disalow such limitations affirming that the Pope hath no such iurisdiction ouer the Subiects of kings and Princes And seeing that Princes be the Lieutenantes of God here on earth holding their Scepters and Crowne of him No doute but the honor which is done to them is done to God himselfe And so consequently God is better honored by the doctrine of the Protestantes than by the doctrine of the Romish Catholicks The doctrine of the Protestantes is groūded euidently vpon the word of God which commaundeth all men without exception of any person to obay the Prince vnder whose Dominion they dwell not only for feare of his sword but also for conscience sake These be the words of S. Paule who speaketh generally Let euery man be subiect to the higher powers for there is no power but of God and the authorities that be are ordayned of God and therefore we ought not to be subiect for fear of displeasure only but for conscience sake also And hereupon S. Chrisostome saith that this rule is so generall that there is neither Apostle nor Euangelist nor Bishop nor other person that is exempted from the obedience of the Prince And likewise S. Peter speaking to al Christians and to al Gods chosen flock sayth thus Submitte your selues to all ordinance of man for the loue of God whether it be to the king as to the chief or to the gouernors as to those which be sent and oppointed by the Prince to punish malefactors and to prayse the well doers And the reason why euery one ought to yeald obedience to the Prince is because the charge and estate which Princes take vpon them is of God For the Scripture doth call Princes Gods because they are the Lieuetenants of God. And therfore next after God we ought to feare and honor the Prince as sayeth S. Peter Feare God and honor the king And as Salomon doth also teach vs saying My Sonne feare the Lord and the king And it is to be noted that in these textes the king is put next after god as his Lieuetenant presenting God himselfe And we ought not onely to honor and feare the prince but also to pray to God for him and for all those which are in authoritie vnder him that their gouernment may be in peace and tranquility and that we may liue vnder their obedience in the seruing of God with all godlines and goodnes These be the very wordes of S. Paule I warne you therfore that before all other thinges you make intercessions prayers supplications and thankesgeuinge for all men and specially for kings and for al such as are
word of God then the doctrine of the Romish Catholicks For S. Paule doth teach vs that Christ is the head of the church not a head separated or set away frō it but surely knit and ioyned fast vnto it with all manner of fastninges knittinges that a well vnited and well cōpacted bodye should haue These be his wordes To th end that by following the truth with charitie wee should in all poyntes atteyne to full growth in him which is our head that is to say in Christ vnto whome the whole bodye being throughly knitted and fastned together by all manner of fastninges that may furnish it out doth take bodilye increase of the power that worketh within it according to the capacitye of euery mēber to the full perfecting vp of it self in loue By which wordes euery man may easely iudge that S. Paule ment to portray out vnto vs the great and singular cōiunctiō of the head which is Christ vnto his church in that he sayth that he is knit and fastened to the same by all manner of fastenings requisite to the full furnishing out of a bodye And in an other place he sayth likewise that Christ is the head of the church working all thinges fully in all the members of his bodye which is the church Whereupon it followeth very well that we ought to haue no other head in the church to execute and performe the office of Christ forasmuch as the sayd performance is reseruid to Christ him selfe These be the very wordes of S. paule And he hath put all thinges vnder his feete set him aboue all things to be the hed of the church which is his bodye and the ful furnishing out of him who furnisheth out all thinges fully in all men Also in an other text of S. Paule it is well declared that that church needeth not a liuetenant to hold the place of Iesus Christ her hed For he sayth that lyke as the husband is the hed of his wife so is Christ also the hed of his church And were it meet that a wife should haue a nother man in her husbandes stead would not men say that the wyfe which would needs haue another man to supply her husbāds roome were a whore yes and euē in lyke wise the chast and honest-minded church ought to content herselfe with her hed which is Christ who is well inough able to gouerne the same without a liuetenant specially seing it should be but ill gouerned by such liuetennants as the most part of the Popes haue bene This is the very text of S. Paule For the husband is the hed of the wyfe euen as Christ is the hed of the Church who is also the preseruer of hir bodye Therfore as the church is subiect vnto Christ so lykewise let women be subiect to their husbandes Moreouer when S. Paule maketh reckening of the diuers offices which are in the Church he saith that for the gathering together and building vp of the same Christ hath ordayned Apostles Prophets Euangelistes Shepherds and Teachers and not that he hath appointed a Pope or an vniuersall Shepheard to haue supremacie ouer the vniuersal Church which is dispersed throughout all the world And yet it is very certain that S. Paule would not haue forgotten to haue spoaken of him yea and to haue reckned him in the first place if Iesus Christ had ordayned that there should haue bene a pope in his church to haue bene his lieutenāt These be the very wordes of S. Paul Therefore he hath appoynted some to be Appostles some to be Prophets some to be Euangelists some to be Shepheards some to be Teachers to gather together the Sayntes through their working in the ministery and to build vp the body of Christ And so it appeareth by this text that there needeth no pope for the building vp of the church nor for the work of the ministery but that the offices before named by S. Paule are sufficient for that purpose And as touching the text of Saint Mathew before alleadged whereon the Romish Cotholickes doe build theyr doctrine concerning the Pope saying that Iesus Chryst hath builded his Church vpon S. Peeter the first Pope and geuen him all power ouer the vniuersall Church The Protestances aunswere that the Petra that is to say the rocke which is spoken of there is the fayth whereby S. Peter had most stoutly confessed that Iesus was that Christ the sonne of the liuing god For S. Paule doth teach vs that Iesus Christ is the head corner stone whereon we ought to build And S. Peter himselfe doth witnes that the true beleuers which haue their fayth builded vpon this corner stone christ are as liuing stones conched and cemented together vpon it to fynish vp the building of the lords church And as for the authority which Iesus Christ gaue vnto Peter as it is sayd in the same text They sayd also that he gaue the like to all the rest of his Apostles as S. Iohn witnesseth So as it cannot be inferred vpon this text that S. Peter was ordained to be the onely Soueraygn gouernor of the Christian Church any more then the rest of the Apostles And in an other place S. Paule doth wel declare that S. Peter had no more authority then the other Apostles for hee putteth himselfe in the same degree of apostleship that Peter was And whē he reckneth vp the chiefest Apostles he reckneth first S. Iames then Saynt Peter and in the third place S. Iohn wherein he had greatly ouershot him selfe which cannot be sayd without blaming the holy ghost if the saying of the Romish Catholickes be trew who affirme that S. Peter was the Prince of the Apostles and had soueraygne authority ouer them and ouer the whole vniuersall church These be the uery wordes of S. Paule For he which hath wrought by peter in the office of Apostleship among the circumcised hath like wise wrought by me among the Gentiles and Iames Cephas and Iohn who are esteemed to be the pillers haue knowne the grace which was geuen me Neither doth S. Peeter in his Epistles name himselfe Pope or prince of Apostles or head of the church or Christs vickar but simply an Apostle as the others And when his companions did geue him charge to go preach in Samaria he was so far of from pretēding to haue any princely authority ouer them that he obayd them without gayneseing as it is written in the Actes of the Apostles And therefore it appeareth playnelye by all these sayings that the doctrine of the protestantes is better grounded vpon the word of God then the doctrine of the Romish Catholickes and consequently that it is the most auncient and true according to our second Maxime Let vs now come to the Canons Truely when I read these Canons which I wil reherse hereafter I maruel that pope Engenie the third who authorised the decres of Gratian and commanded that they should be openly red