may not faile c. For too what purpose this sentence pertayneth the Lord himselfe declareth immediatly by the wordes which he addeth saying And when thou art turned againe strengthen thy bretherne Starke mad and geuen vp into a wilfull wicked mynde must he néedes be that wresteth these sayinges to the maintenance of the Popes most wrongfull power which are most manifestly apparant to be spoken to the admonishment and comforte of such as are falne For that place by warning vs before hand doth simply teach vs the same thing which Peter him selfe hath taught vs afterward saying your aduersarie the deuill walketh about like a roaring Lyon séeking whome he may deuour which thing our Lord expressed by saying He hath craued you to winowe you whome withstande you watching by fayth For the Lord in those his wordes vnto Peter teacheth vs not only that thing but also this namely that our standing out in temptations is not by our own strength but by the defence helpe and benefite of Christe our Lord who doubtlesse geueth increaseth and maintayneth fayth in vs which Iohn in his Epistle calleth the victory that ouercōmeth the world Furthermore it teacheth vs that neither the offences which we haue committed nor the incessant and importunate trauailes of Satan against vs must in any wise make vs dispayre when we be exercised with temptations yea or also falne in our encounters considering how Peter the denier yea and forswearer of Christ obtayned forgeuenesse at Christes handes which was done for an euerlasting assuraunce and witnesse that all sinners although they be beguiled by Sathan shall neuerthelesse be gently receyued into fauour if they returne to the Lorde For this is it that Peter beyng himselfe winowed by Sathan but yet gathered vp againe and set vpon his féete and preserued by the protection of Christ shoulde strengthē his brethrē And what I pray you do these things make for the stablishing of the vnmeasurable and most licentious power of Popes It neuer came in the mynde of Christ nor yet of Peter to thinke any thing therof Full of sacrilege therefore is these most corrupt mens exposition whiche they force vppon vs vtterly against our Lordes wordes But what should it make to the proofe of their souereintie though it were neuer so true which they say that the fayth of the Romain church neuer fayled Yet finde we not that the Lord spake any such thing here I haue prayed for thée Peter sayth he that thy fayth may not fayle And although Peters fayth which he had geuen him which also he preached yea and adde further which he preached at Rome be continuall and such as neuer fayleth as truely through Gods grace it florisheth in places innumerable at this day through the whole world and like as also it was neuer vtterly quenched at any tyme what pertayneth that to the Romish Church in these dayes and to the most arrogant supremacie of the same But it is much more easily spokē then proued that the fayth of the Romane church neuer fayled if by her fayth ye meane that simple and vncorrupted fayth which Peter had and taught For to auoyde multiplieng of wordes goe to let indifferent comparison be made what maner of doctrine and fayth Peters was in old tyme and what maner of doctrine and fayth the Romaine churches is at this day vnder the Romane bishops Go too let comparison also be made betwene the maners whole lyfe of Peter and the maners and lyues of the Romish bishops which will néedes be Peters successors And therupō let iudgement be geuen When the Lord after supper as he was goyng to the garden of mount Oliuet bad his disciples sell euen their garmentes and get them swordes and vpon the answer of his disciples how they had two in redinesse sayd they were enowe he did not then deliuer both the swordes as well spirituall as temporall to be vsed in the Church vnto Peter to whome onely and peculiarly he did not then speake For by and by he addeth the cause of this his commaundement saying I say vnto you yet must this Scripture be fulfilled in mée and he was reckoned among offenders verely meaning thereby that he should vppon mounte Oliuet be bound and led away as a transgressor and that his disciples also should be put in extreme hazarde of their liues from which notwithstanding he would deliuer them not by the terror of any sworde but by his owne only voyce or power The Lord then ment another thing yea and a farre other thing than to yeld the vse of the temporall sword and this endlesse authoritie either to Peter or to any other mā Nay rather whē his disciples were redy armed to fight he ment too set before their eyes euē vpō mount Oliuet that in the persecutions which should come vpon thē for his sake they should not be deliuered by the helpe of temporall swordes but by the ayde and worde of their maister Christ saying if ye séeke me let these go their wayes And to this end did the Lord suffer Peter to draw his sworde and to make assault vpon Malchus the bishops seruaunt But what preuayled Peter by that So little did he with that sworde of his deliuer himselfe or his fellowdisciples and much lesse his maister from the present daungers that he had rather turned the bloudy weapons of his enemies vpon himselfe if his maister had not sayd let these go their wayes Then was it Christes protection and not the sword that saued the disciples and euen at this day also as many as be saued in persecution are saued by the same defence Which thing he ment to shew to the eye by those swordes both to them and to vs warning vs couertly by the way that in persecution we must turne vnto Christ and craue his help who is able euen with a worde to asswage any manner of tempestes be they neuer so outragious And to this purpose serued the swordes at leastwise which were brought at this tyme and to this ende to mount Oliuete at the commaundement of Christ. Besides this the Lord expounding his owne woordes turneth hym vnto Peter and sayth put vp thy sword into the sheathe for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword Thinkest thou not that I can presently pray to my father and he will geue me mo then xij legions of angels But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled for so must it bée Séeing therfore that the Lord commaundeth Peter earnestly to put vp his sworde into the scaberd who séeth not that the Lordes bidding of his disciples to cary out swords with them was to the end that now by this sight he might openly and effectually and without all couerture restraine the vse of the sword both from Peter and frō all ministers yea and to plucke it out of their handes when they had taken it already Considering then how the Lord pulled that temporall sword out of the handes of
many as shal hereafter by Peters example confesse me to be Christ the sonne of the liuing God and by this true fayth settle themselues vpon me the onely foundation all them will I take and acknowledge for my household that is to say for my church And this that is to say Christ the Rocke shall be the only foundation of Gods church in earth and all they shall be members and citizens of this holy church euen as many as beleue as Peter did and settle themselues vpon this foundation of soule health by the same fayth And this is it that the Lord ment by saying And vpon this Rocke will I builde my Church And least any man may doubt of this simple and true exposition of the Lordes wordes considering how diuers wrest them and draw them some one way and some another Behold I will by other places of scripture also confirme and enlighten this exposition aboue recited Surely the scripture doth euery where agréeably witnesse that by fayth onely in Christ we be iustified grafted into Christ and made members of Christ and his church which is the communion of all saintes that is to say of the faythfull resting vpon Christ and that no creature no not euē Peter himselfe much lesse the bishop of Rome cā be the Rocke the head the foundatiō of the Catholike church And least any mā may thinke this thyng hard and varying from the truth forasmuch as it is directly against the decrées of the Romish church Loe I in this case bring in the cleare and vndoubted recordes of the holy Ghost himselfe speaking by the prophetes and Apostles Dauid in the 18. psalme cryeth out saying Who is God besides the Lord and who is the Rocke besides our God And God himselfe in Esay sayth Behold I lay a corner stone in Sion a chosen one a precious one he that beleueth in him and resteth vppon him shall not be ashamed Moreouer also the Apostle Paule sayeth The Rocke was Christ. And agayne Other foundation can none be layde then is layd already which is Iesus Christ. Which thing he expoūdeth yet more fully in his Epistle to the Ephesians Whervnto in all pointes agréeth the witnesse of S. Peter who sheweth out of Dauid that Iesus is that stone or Rocke wherupon it behoueth them to be builded by fayth which will become the house of God or be made pertakers of the churche of christ Which thinges being vndoubtedly so These wordes of the Lord Vpon this Rocke will I build my Church must of necessitie be vnderstoode of Christ alone as who reigneth from heauen in his saintes as the head doth in the members and from whom as the liuely head they be watered with the spirite and sucke lyfe out of hym and through him do liue a lyfe beséeming hym And to be a head as it is most manifestly gathered by the doctrine of the Apostles is to be a Lord and Sauiour and to inspire life into the members that be subiect to the head Neither may the head at any time be from the body without the destruction of the body Seing then that Christ is the onely head of the Church it behoueth him to be alwayes with his Church By reason wherof she hath no néed of any deputie or vicegerent vpon earth For a deputie or vicegerent is the deputie or vicegerent of him that is absent But Christ is euermore present with his Church For he sayth in the Gospell I will be with you euen to the vttermost end of the world will neuer leaue you comfortlesse Our religion therfore willeth vs and the vniforme doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles willeth vs to expound these thinges not of Peter or of the Bishop of Rome but of Christ only Therfore if ye méete with any interpreters be they olde or new that interprete the foresayd wordes of our Lord to be ment of Peter and the Pope the authoritie of the Prophets and Apostles yea and of this selfsame Peter too ought to beare more sway with you than the authoritie of any men els whatsoeuer they be in the world For Christ abideth euerlastingly the foundation of his Church and as for Peter and the rest of the Apostles and the ministers that haue come in their roomes they remaine as workmaisters of this building which build not vpon them selues being mē but vpon this onely and euerlasting foundation according as the Apostle teacheth plainly in the third chapt of the first Epistle to the Corinth And let this be our brazen wall Neither fighteth it against this that in the Apocalips the Citie of God is sayd to haue twelue foundations and the names of the twelue Apostles written in them For sayth Paule there can none other foundation be layd then is layd already notwithstanding forasmuch as in the laying of this foundation that is to say in the preaching of Christ the Apostles were Gods workfellowes bestowed their trauell faythfully theraboutes therfore that Citie is sayd to haue twelue foundations For otherwise the Apostle in his 2. chapt to the Ephesians sayth You are fellow citizens wyth the sainctes and Gods houshold meyny builded vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets whereof the corner stone is Christ Iesus him selfe in whom the whole buildyng beyng semented together groweth to a temple in the Lorde vpon whō you also are builded to be a dwellyng place for God through hys spirite And what man that hath his right wits will after these thinges séeke for manifester Wherfore let all of vs beware of that rotten and tottering foūdation which the Court of Rome striueth to set vnder vs. We will yet héerunto adde the wordes of our Lorde that follow after least any thing of this place may remain vndiscussed And the gates of hell sayth Christ shall not preuayle agaynst it By which wordes is declared the power and victoriousnesse of Christ and of his Church of fayth The gates of hell are all kinde of powers that are against it yea euen the power of Sathan which of all other is the strongest and noysomnest to the faythfull And therfore it is sayd that no force be it neuer so mighty whether it be of Sathan him selfe or of the world or of any other aduersary power vnder heauen or in hell shall preuaile against Christ the Rocke and the Church that is builded vpon the rocke which howsoeuer it be tempted and persecuted must notwithstanding at length ouercome in Christ through fayth For the Lord him selfe hath sayd The prince of this world is already condemned and cast out And againe Be of good cheere I haue ouercome the world And Iohn the Apostle All that is borue of God sayth he ouercommeth the world and the victory that ouercommeth the world is this euen your fayth Also who is he that ouercommeth the world but he whych beleueth that Iesus is the sonne of God So I say this place is opened plainly inough by laying together
of the Scriptures Now if I listed to play the Rhetoricien héere I could with many wordes declare that hell gates do not onely preuaile against the Romishe Bishops and their Court the filthiest that euer was but also that the very prince of féendes him selfe obteineth full and onely souereintie in them Which thing I could without trouble shew and proue both by the witnesse and by the complaints of the Bishops them selues But let vs ouerpasse that abhominable filthinesse and make hast to the opening of the residue of this place For there is no man so blockishe that hath not now of late euen felt with his handes that in these wordes of the Lord there is nothing spoken of the vnmeasurable power of the Pope but that there be set out vnto vs farre more heauenly and healthfuller thinges Prayse and thankes be geuen vnto God. ¶ That not euen by the gift of the keyes vnto Peter there is any fulnesse of power deliuered by the Lord either vnto Peter or vnto the Pope for that the keyes are a farre other thing yea and a thing of much greater holinesse then is the sayd fulnesse of the popish power THe Lorde addeth vnto the premisses And I will geue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and whatsoeuer thou byndest vpon earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer thou loosest vppon earth shall be loosed in heauen By which wordes the Lord sheweth againe that this charge concerning blessednesse and eternall life which he hath hetherto layd forth perteineth not onely to Peter or the rest of the Apostles but also vnto all men through the whole world Moreouer he sheweth the meane and maner how men are brought into the Church that is to say how they be builded vpon the Rocke and made members of Christ and the Church and so enter into the kingdome of heauen You Apostles sayth the Lord shall open the way and as it were by reaching out your handes bring men into the company of me and of my Saintes and consequently into the kingdome of heauē and that shall be done by the preaching of the Gospell For by fayth we be graffed into Christ and his Church But fayth commeth by hearing and hearing by the preaching of the Gospell And therfore sayth the Lord I will geue you the keyes of the kingdome of heauen that is I will commit vnto you the charge of preaching the Gospell to this end that you shall go out into the whole world and by declaring vnto all men the remission of sinnes through me set thē loose that be fettered in the chaines of their sinnes and open the kingdome of heauen to them that beleue and on the other side bynde those that shake of the preaching of the Gospell that is to say declare and witnesse vnto them that they be subiect to eternall damnation And this your declaration and witnessing shall be so ratified and assured that whomsoeuer ye loose or binde by my worde vpon earth them will I also account as loosened or bound in heauē And this is the simple meaning of Christes wordes flowing out of the wordes them selues without any racking of the wordes at all Which meaning I will more cléerly enlighten and more assuredly confirme by that which ensueth The worde Keyes are not vttered alwayes in one signification in the Scripture For otherwise there is no man but he knoweth what they be in their proper signification that is to wit tooles wherwithall the lockes of doores chestes and such other thinges are opened or shut And they be conueyed ouer from bodily thinges to spirituall thinges from earthly thinges to heauenly thinges and sometime they be taken for souerein and full power like as when we read in the Apocalips that Christ hath the keyes of Dauid of death and of hell For by that phrase of spéech is betokened that Christ hath the souerein and most absolute power or authoritie to gouerne the kingdome of Dauid and also full power ouer death it self and ouer hell and that he is able to deliuer from death or to thrust down into hell whomsoeuer he listeth These Keyes that is to say this power belongeth onely vnto Christ and no creature is partaker of it Wherupon also in the Apocalips the Lord sayth with a vehemencie I haue the Keyes and he sayth not I haue had but I haue I say I haue them yet still and will haue them euer I resigne them to no man. There is also the Key of knowledge and the Key of the kingdome of heauen whereof we intreate at this present The Key of knowledge is instruction wherby a mans vnderstanding is opened and his want of skill amended And the Key of the kingdome of heauē is a plaine or lightsome declaration or laying forth of thinges whereby men are taught what way they may goe into heauen or how they may be saued I faine nothing of mine owne head in this behalfe in these thinges I followe the Scripture and for mine exposition I alledge the very worde of Christ saying in the Gospell after S. Luke Woe be to you Lawyers whych haue taken away the key of knowledge ye entred not in your selues and them that came in ye forbad Which wordes of the Lord Mathew vttereth in this wise Woe be to you Scrybes and Pharyseys for ye shut vp the kingdome of heauen before men ye your selues goe not in neyther suffer ye them that come to enter in Behold looke what Luke called the taking away of the key of knowledge that doth Matthew call the shuttyng vp of the kingdome of heauen And therefore what els I pray you is it to bring forth the keyes of the kingdome of heauen then to bring forth the keyes of knowledge that is to say the doctrine which cōcerneth the kingdome of heauen through the instruction whereof we may know how to become partakers of the euerlasting saluation Againe to take away the keyes of knowledge or of the kingdome of heauen is nothing els but to withstand the doctrine of the Gospell concerning the kingdome of God or to assault it or to geue commaundement that it be not preached You therfore enter not in sayth the Lorde I meane by harkening to my doctrine ye beleue not that ye might be saued neither suffer ye them to enter which come and are desirous of my doctrine concerning the kingdome of God that is to say which would faine heare and beleue my doctrine that by faith they might be made heires of Gods kingdome while you slaunder my doctrine and my workes as though they procéeded from Sathan and therefore were to be abhorred and eschewed of good men And by these wordes of the Lord it appeareth most manifestly that the keyes wherof he speaketh here in S. Matthew saying and to thee will I geue the keyee of the kingdome of heauen are not any other thing then the charge of preaching the Gospell committed by the Lord to the ministers of his Church that by the sayd
of sinne releasing them their sinnes that is to say witnessing by the Gospell that their sinnes are released by fayth through christ For the Apostles release not sinne otherwise then by the warrant of the Gospell which auoucheth vnto them that onely Christ by his owne merite forgeueth sinnes For like as the Apostles are not sent to offer them selues in sacrifice for the clensing of the whole world as Christ was the sacrifice of whom alone clenseth away the sinnes of the whole world euē so doutlesse the Apostles were not sent to forgeue sinnes by their owne authoritie as Christ did but to witnesse vnto men that they be forgeuē by faith through christ For we must in these cases aduisedly and with a conscience obserue the matching of the superior with the inferior so as we may yéeld to ech partie that which is his owne and not wickedly attribute that glory vnto seruauntes which is due to the onely sonne of god Certesse Austine behauing him selfe reuerently in these matters sayth peremptorily that Christ worketh these thinges by power and that the disciples do the thinges which they do by seruice or seruauntly Wherof more shall follow anon Also Marke and Luke handling the same story which Iohn hath touched in his xx chapt do witnesse that in the talke which Christ hath in the day of his resurrection there is nothing els betaken to the Disciples but the office of preaching the Gospell For in Marke the Lord sayth Goe into the whole world and preach the Gospell And in Luke he sayth So behoued it Christ to suffer to rise againe from the dead the third day and repentaunce and forgeuenesse of sinnes to be preached to all nations in his name And therefore by laying all these places of Scripture together it is made most manifest and vndouted that the keyes which were geuen to Peter and the other Apostles is nothing els but the ministration of preaching the Gospel wherby the way is opened for the world into heauen wherby to be short is declared most assured release and forgeuenesse of sinnes through fayth in Christ to such as beleue Wherunto also séemeth to perteine this most elegant and fit sentence of the Lord speaking with Paule I will make thee a witnesse and messenger marke how he sayth a witnesse and messenger and will send thee vnto nations and realmes to open their eyes that they may be turned from darknesse to light and from the power of Sathan vnto God so as they may receaue forgeuenesse of sinnes and lot among those that be sanctified by the fayth which is to meward You haue in these wordes a most exacte description of the keyes of the kingdome of heauen Wherunto to adde any more I thinke it but superfluous Now if vnto all these thinges ye will adde the practise of the Apostles as they terme it and diligently search out how they haue vsed the keyes that were deliuered to them and after what sort they haue opened or shut the kingdome of heauen vnto men and also in what wise they haue either bound them or loosed them ye shal no where in all the new Testament finde them to haue exercised the Popishe practise that is to wit that the Apostles haue set thē selues downe in the places where they came to preach the kingdome of God and saluation and commaunded mē to come vnto them and there to crouch or to knéele after the maner of worshippers and to shriue them selues that is to say to poure out all their thoughtes wordes and déedes with all the circumstances of them into the eare or lap of the confessor as he sits and to craue of him the absolution of their sinnes with enioynance of satisfaction and that he on the other side laying his handes vpon the head of the shriftman whispered an absolution of sinnes ouer him in an ordinary forme of wordes and enioyned him a certaine satisfaction by the workes of penance Much lesse shall ye finde that the Apostles installed them selues in thrones and thrust downe sinners into hell by sentence of excommunication c. What then Looke vpon the Actes of the Apostles or rather goe through that booke wherein Luke hath most diligently written the notable sayinges and doinges of the Apostles and specially of Paule without ouerslipping of any thing which tended to soule health or was necessary to be knowen and therwithall hath in xxviii chapters set forth as many yeares that is to wit the things that the Apostles did by the space of xxviii yeares together in the matter of saluation and thou shalt not finde in all that great worke that all and euery of the Apostles did any thing els then agreably and constantly in all places and in euery place preach the Gospell and promise remission of sinnes and euerlasting life to such as beleued in Christ and on the contrary part threaten endlesse and most assured damnation to them that beleued not Thus I say did the Apostles vse the keyes which they receaued of the lord Thus did they binde and loose If they would haue had any other thing or any thing more to haue bene done in the Church by their successors they would not haue dissembled it by the space of xxviii yeares preaching in all their doinges which Luke hath most faythfully written And among other places of the Actes of the Apostles let the godly read the second x. xiii.xvi and xviii chapters and they will beare witnesse that the thinges which I haue spoken héere are most true yea and also thinke them selues satisfied in this case I speake of such as are not contentious for such no man can well satisfie And at this present I say to them also as Paule sayd If any man seeme to be full of contention we haue no such custome neyther the Churches of God. And whereas the aduersaries vrge this singular spéech I wyll geue the keyes of the kingdome of heauen vnto thee I say vnto thee Peter vnto thee singularly and not vnto you plurally and in their vrging do cry out that I haue openly corrupted this place of the Gospell by communicating vnto the rest of the Apostles and to all their successors being ministers of the word the keyes that were geuen to Peter onely they bewray their owne grosse foolishnesse together with their inuincible malice considering how they can not deny but that such synecdoches or figures of putting one for a number and specially in such cases are very vsuall in the Scriptures Againe seing it is sufficiently knowen what the keyes be and that the rest of the Apostles receaued them as well as Peter I pray you what will they proue by their singular number But let them aske their owne fathers why the Lord wheras he gaue equall or one maner of power to them all did neuerthelesse say seuerally vnto Peter I will geue thee and they shall perceaue that therby is betokened and expressed the vnitie of the Church Surely Austine in his 118. treatise
felowshyp yea and also a new head they be Cacodoxi that is to say misbeleuing or Kirtodoxi that is say ouerthwart beleuyng and not Rightbeleuyng and Catholike But now gentle reader wey me throughly within the compasse and vniuersalitie of what body or in what vnitie of doctrine and fayth the Romish sort be who by reason of certeine peculiar and straunge opinions of theirs which they professe and mainteine and for their Popish Church set vp vnder the Pope as head of it call themselues onely Catholike Let them say to vs whether the thynges which these men vrge so sore vpon vs were knowen and generall to the Catholike and Apostolike primitiue Church fayth and doctrine Let these Catholikes then which by their owne iudgement are the onely rightbeleuers vpon earth shew vs whether the aūcient Apostolike Church acknowledged Rome to be the head of all the Churches in the world whether all the faythfull seruauntes of Christ must vppon payne of saluation and damnation be subiect to the Byshop of Rome as who hath both the swordes in his hand iudgeth all men and is to be iudged of no man Whether the primitiue and aunciēt Church did pray vnto dead Saintes Whether it accounted them for patrons and spokesmen to God the father Whether it worshypped them with sacrifices holydayes and such other kynd of seruices Whether they builded them tēples or set vp images to them Whether the images of God and the Saintes he profitable and necessarie in the Churches of the Christians whether the soules that be sindged broyled and rosted in the fire of Purgatory be deliuered by yearemyndes and other satisfactions for the dead Whether Christ be worshypped in the Masse and whether it be to be beleued that Christ himselfe is offered there in sacrifice for the sinnes of the quicke the dead whether our owne workes deserue eternall lyfe and whether they iustifie vs also whether the state of Mōkes be the state of perfection or no And whether there were any cloysters of Monkes Nunnes in the Church afore Paule the Heremite of Thebe Antonie and Benet now if these and many other thynges like these were not séene nor knowen as they were not in déede tell vs wherfore ye boast them to be Catholike or how wil you be called Catholike of thē will ye that I tell you most falsly most vniustly sauyng in that your Antichristian kynd For as for the rites and customes which you call and brag to be Catholicke antiquitie hath registred them among Idolatries Cease therefore to delude the simple with your gentle termes of Catholike and Rightbeleuyng The faythfull know who you be Amend therfore and liue lyke true Catholikes with vs not in the Popish Church of Rome but in the true Catholike Church vnder the head Christ who onely is our saluation To him be glorie for euer Amen ¶ The Queene of England hath iustly cōmaunded her subiectes that they should not acknowledge the Church of Rome or obey the lawes therof Iustly also hath she bound them by othe to abiure the authoritie and obedience of the Romish Byshop The Bull procedeth in his purposed accusation agaynst the Quéene saying She hath forbidden the Clergie and laitie to acknowledge the Church of Rome or to obey the lawes of it Yea and she hath compelled them to renounce the authoritie obedience of the Romane Byshop by othe appointing penalties and punishmentes to such as disobey the which she hath executed vpō those that haue continued in the vnitie of fayth and the obedience aforesayd But the Quéenes Maiestie euen in this case also hath done nothyng but that the Lord God himselfe hath commaunded her to do which all good Princes among the people of God haue done before her For it is alredy manifestly inough shewed and proued before that by Gods ordinaunce it is lawfull for Kinges and Magistrates to take vpon them the care and orderyng both of cases and of persons Ecclesiasticall Therfore looke what the Quéene hath commaunded her subiectes in this behalfe she hath done but that she ought to do by vertue of her office And wheras she hath commaunded that they should not acknowledge the Church of Rome or obey the ordinaunces therof hath she not cōmaunded that thyng by the appiontment of Gods word for truly God commaūdeth his people in his law that they should not giue eare to such as teach thinges contrarie to his law also he commaundeth the Magistrate that he giue no place either to superstitions or to false doctrines but rather that he roote vp these and restreine the others Ieremy like as the rest of the Prophetes also inferreth and vrgeth the same thyng Among other thynges sayth he thus sayth the Lord of hostes hearken not to the woordes of the Prophetes that prophesie vnto you For they teach you vanitie tell you the visions of their owne hart euen their owne inuentions and not out of the mouth of the lord But it is more clearer then the light of noone day that the Romish Doctors and teachers are not onely such but moreouer most cruell enemyes to the sound doctrine of the Gospell or rather persecuters imbrewed with Christian bloud The Lord hymselfe in his Gospell but specially in Mathew the vij and xxiiij chapters and in Luke the vij chapter hath forbydden vs to giue eare to false Prophetes and false Christes specially which shall come in this last perillous ago He chargeth vs that we should neither beleue them nor folow thē And S. Peter with great grauitie sayth kéepe your selues from this generation Which thyng he intreateth of more plenteously and diligently in his latter Epistle Yea and S. Paule also agréeing with the doctrine of S. Peter describeth the corrupt gouerners of the Church in this last age verely froward men not lightes but firebrandes of the Church and he biddeth the faithfull depart from them If any man desire to sée the places he shal find them in 2. Cor. 6. and in 2. Thes. 2. and in 1. Tim. 4. and 6. and in 2. Tim. 3. and 4. chapters Flée ye from Idolatrie sayth the same Apostle And S. Iohn sayth beware of Idols Besides this it is reueled to S. Iohn from heauen and commaundement is giuen thus my people get ye out of Babylon that ye be not partakers of her sinnes and receyue of her plagues also Uery rightly therfore and accordyng to the commaundementes of God hath the Quéenes Maiestie done in chargyng her subiectes that they should not acknowledge the Romane that is to say the Popish Church nor obey the Popes law or ordinaunces as vtterly wicked or fightyng agaynst the word of God. But the thyng that most of all gréeueth and chafeth hym is that the Quéene hath compelled her ▪ subiectes to renoūce the Pope and his authoritie which in very déede is none at all and the Papacie it selfe by othe Neuerthelesse euen in this behalfe also what hath her highnesse done which the
the choosing of a new Emperor he excommunicated Philip. Some therefore of the conspyracie chose Otho duke of Saxonie to be king against him of which doing sprang vp innumerable mischéeues For these two princes maintayned bloudy warres one against an other and oftentimes encountred with excéeding great slaughter But yet had Philip alwayes the vpper hand These calamities ar described by Iohn Auentine in the seuenth booke of hys stories the 458. leafe And yet for all thys Otho could not make the Bishop to lyke so well of him and of his seruice but that he excommunicated him also and depriued him of the Imperiall stile and released the princes of theyr othe which were sworne to him as Emperor With lyke fury were Honorius the third and Gregory the nynth but Gregory with most deadly fewd caryed against Frederik the second which succéeded Otho in the Empyre Gregorie the nynth was Innocent the thirdes nephew whose most stately ambitious and bolde nature bearing hatred ouermuch in mind did singularlye vtter it self in all hys sayinges and doinges Thys Byshop alyeth himself in leage with the greatest part of Italy against the Emperor Afterward he publisheth thrée bulles against him wherin he calleth Gods anoynted king beast heretike and all to naught straightly charging all faythful Christians that they obay not the Emperour as a creature all to cursed There be six bookes of epistles of one Peter Uynes wherein these thinges and other of the same sort are to be read like as they be set out also by Cuspinian in the life of Frederik the second and by other storiwriters and also by Iohn Auentine in the vii booke of his stories No man that séeketh to be brief as I do at this present can in few wordes comprise the miseries slaughters and most bloudy treasons which the popes that bayted thys Frederik the second and specially thys Gregory the nynth styrred vp in Italy and throughout all Germanie and other realmes by those bulles of theyrs like to this Bull for the deuyll is no chaingling which is now put foorth by Pope Pius the fifth against the Quéene of England Truely the partaking of the Gwibelines and Gwelfes which sprang vp vnder Innocent the second were greatly renewed and spread abroad far and wide through all Italy by the practise of thys Gregory the nynth Of which things Nauclerus in his story of pedegrées 42. fol. 826. writeth thus This desire of partaking is at this time crept so far abroad that there is no citie nor people which remayneth vntouched of that most pestilent infection For citie against citie shyre against shyre one part of the people against another parte haue gone together by the eares from thenceforth euen vnto our dayes without any other cause to moue them saue onely these parttakinges Neyther onely are the antesignes deuided that are borne to the féelde but also euen the coloures of thinges the fruites of the earth the fashions of apparell the gate of men the knacking of theyr fingers and the gaping of their mouthes geue an incling or resemblance of whither part they be Thus much sayth he And to warn you hereof also glauncingly by the way by these and many other such like prankes any man may vnderstand how faythfully the Byshops of Rome for all theyr stout and loud bragging haue endeuoured to kéepe christen folke in the vnitie of fayth and christian charitie séeing it appeareth more clearly then the sonne light that there was neuer any man in the world that hath more sowly disseuered cutte of and rent a sunder the vnitie of fayth and of Christes body through parttakinges strifes and factions then the very bishops of Rome themselues But what shall I say of Innocent the fourth whome they call the glory of the Canonistes Thys man strayned himself at leastwise to match hys predecessors if he did not also passe them in persecuting of Frederik Therfore when he had called a Counsel at Lions in Fraunce and summoned the Emperour Frederike thither he read sentence of condemnation against him solemnly in the Counsell that he should be depriued of the Empyre and of all hys kingdomes according as the cause of hys depriuation and the forme of the sentence geuing are written in the chapter ad Ap. de sent re iud Lib. 6. and also reported by Collenutius the storiwriter about the end of Frederikes lyfe and yet the sayd Frederik was on hys way thitherward and had come thither but that he was called backe againe by hys frendes and was faine to returne into Italye by reason of a slaughter that the popes complices had made of the citizens of Parma Immediatly wheruppon certain princes of Germany beying bewitched with the popes hypocrisy and mischéeuous slights did at his appoyntmēt and instigation choose Henry the Lantgraue of Thuring to be Emperour against Friderik And moreouer at the same popes commaundement the Crosse was preached euery where against the Emperour And lest any man might be ignorant what this strange misterie of preaching the Crosse meaneth ye shall vnderstand that the papistes in those dayes had found out a spyke spawne new maner of preachyng the crosse For it declared not the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ that is to say his death which is our life accordyng as the Apostles and their Apostles the disciples of them preached in old time But it published the open defiances and warres which the pope made not at his charges but at other mens accordyng as Daniels prophesie imported And truly this new maner of preachyng the crosse began at the first agaynst the Saracenes vnder Vrbane the ij in the tyme of the Councell of Clermount when the holy warre was Decréed But afterward if the popes had denounced any as heretikes and iudged them to be rooted out by force of armes for the same They sent out their preachers as vaūtcorrours to preach a Croysie to the people that is to wit to blow vp a trumpet persuading yea by the popes authoritie cōmaunding that as many as were able to beare armour should take the signe of the crosse vpon them serue the Bishop of Rome in his warres And if these good felowes behaued themselues māfully that is to say if they slew the heretikes without mercy spoyled all that euer they had there was promised thē full remission of sinnes and euerlasting life All this businesse is by the storywriters of late times called a Croysie Also together with this souldierfare the Bishop like as he doth yet still at this day was wont to inioyne his seruaūts fasting penaunce praying therby to craue good successe of their enterprises at Gods hand In this straunge preaching of the Crosse the begging Friers shewed thēselues stoutest seruauntes of the Popes and of those also the Dominicane Friers commonly called the Friers preachers were sorer felowes then the rest wherin they resembled their founder Dominike very wel For one Bernhard of Lucemborough