is named Apostolicke Sea or Chayre I would not haue any man amased at the termes of Sea Chayre and surmyse and imagine any Popishnesse by them Men in old time gaue the termes of Sea and Chayre not onely to the Church of Rome but to any of the notable Churches I meane which the Apostles them selues founded and in which the traditions or the doctrine of the Apostles and of the Gospell sounded or was preached florished still vncorrupted For Tertullian in his prescriptions of heretikes saith Peruse the Apostolik Churches among which the very chayres of the Apostles are yet still sytin in their places among which their authenticall letters are still read resounding the voyce and resembling the face of euery of them If Achaya be next thée thou hast Corinth if thou be not farre from Macedonie thou hast Philippos and thou hast Thessalonice If thou list to go into Asia thou hast Ephesus And if thou border vpon Italy thou hast Rome from whence also we haue authoritie at hand O happy Church wherupon the Apostles bestowed their whole doctrine together with their bloud where Peter was matched with his Lord in passion where Paule was crowned with the end of Iohn Baptist and where the Apostle Iohn after he had ben plundged in scalding oyle felt no harme at all was banished into the I le of Patmos Thus saith he Otherwise the Chayre is properly a hygh place in the Church furnished for the ministers to teach out of the more commodiously as from whence they may the better be séen and heard of their audience that is assembled in the Church Such as the men of old time are knowē to haue had as appeareth by the doynges of Achaz kyng of Iuda and by the viij chapter of Nehemias It is commonly called a Pulpit or preaching stoole It is not a cloth of estate or a Salomons throne or a kynges chayre of estate Neither did men in old tyme by the Apostolike chayre or sea meane reigning or souereintie and I wote not what greater thyng as they meane at this day But rather the chayre is taken for the very Apostolike doctrine which was preached out of those chayres or pulpites and to fit in the Apostolike sea is to preach the Apostolike doctrine For it is well knowen to all men what the Lord ment by the chayre of Moses in the Gospell when he sayd The Scribes and Pharisies sit in Moses chayre What soeuer they bid you obserue that obserue and do ye For what els is it to sit in Moses chayre than to professe Moses and to teach the things that Moses taught If any had taught any thing besides that or contrarie to that they had ben of neuer the more authoritie for the chaire like as at this day also they that preach not Apostolicall doctrine haue none authoritie by the Apostolike chayre or sea of Rome of Antioche or of Philippos neither are they in any wise to be regarded although they sit in the same seas Uery well knowen is this Canon reported in the 40. Distinction of the Decrées out of the writings of Ierome It is hard to stand in the roome of Peter and Paule and to kéepe the chayre of those that reigne with christ For hereupon it is sayd They are not the Saintes children which possesse the Saintes places but they that fulfill the workes of the Saintes They thē which had the charge of the Romane Church after that Peter was put to death were ministers pastors and teachers or preachers and not princes or Lordes Irenaeus placeth Linus immediatly after Peter Tertullian placeth Clemēt Eusebius puts Anacletus in the middes betwixt Linus and Clement Some register one Cletus betwixt Clement Anacletus which Cletus is notwithstanding quite ouerskipped and omitted by diuerse Others also dispose the succession or Register of the first Byshops of the Romane Church some after one sort and some after another so as it may séeme straunge that antiquitie varieth so in the succession of them hath almost nothing certein assured in that behalf But howsoeuer the case standeth this is most certein that such as held the Apostolik sea of Rome after Clement were vtterly ignoraūt of that supreme power and the authoritie of both the swordes which those men presumptuously boast of that thinke themselues possesse the same seate at this day They were lowely and poore ministers of the Church preached the Gospell and the doctrine of the Apostles to the Church wherof they had the charge and therewithall ministred Christes Sacramentes to the Church and beautified their doctrine with example of lyfe in the end sealed it vp with Martyrdome For all those Byshops or pastors of Rome became Christs Martyrs and were put to death for mainteynyng the pure faith and doctrine and for preaching against Idolatrie and the vncleane conuersation of the heathen And whereas in other Churches there spring vp sundry heresies and greuous debates The Romane Church aboue the rest did faithfully at that time and in the begynning kéepe still the purenesse of doctrine and the consent and agréemēt of faith And this was the cause why the men of old time did worthely make so great account of the succession of those men in the Church and of their consent in the faith who otherwise would vndoubtedly haue made no reckening at all of the succession in the Sea onlesse the pastors and the Church of Rome had continued in pure doctrine and vnappayred faith Truly there arose dissention euen in this Church also betwixt Anicetus Bishop of Rome and Polycarpus the minister of the Church of Smyrna the Disciple of Iohn the Apostle howbeit not for any Articles of faith but for kéeping of the Easter day Neuerthelesse the contention endured not long For they agréed well and brotherly agayne and willed that euery man should obserue and kéepe still his owne custome that was admitted in his owne Church that the concord of the Churches might not be broken for the diuersitie of ceremonies But yet agayne Victor the Byshop of the Romane Church takyng more vppon him than became him and stepping aside from the modestie and simplicitie of his predecessours aduentured to breake the agréement that was begon betwene Anicetus and Polycarpus excommunicated the Easterne people that kept the Easter day vpon the xiiii day of the moneth Yet for all that the pastors of the residew of the Churches acknowledged not Victor for a commaunder of the Churches or for such a one as by right might take vpon him authority ouer other Churches For his ouerbold and rash enterprise was reproued by the Bishops as well of the East as of the West that is to wit by the holyest and best learned and by such as were had in chief estimation in that age namely by Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus and by Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons And so was Victor brought agayne into the right way Which thing Eusebius declareth at large in his historie of the Church matters And
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 Pope And if he obey not he commaundeth all his Lordes temporall and spirituall to forsake their Prince and to compell him to obey the Pope This Bull was published the xv day of October the yeare of our Lord God. 1323. But Lewes asked the aduise of all the Clerkes that were best séene in the lawes as well of God as man through Germanie Italie and Fraunce at Paris Bononie Padua and other Uniuersities who gaue an agreable aunswere That the Popes doinges against the Emperour are contrarie to Christian doctrine that the Pope was out of his wittes and made hauocke of Christes people for desire of dominion and that the Emperour was not subiect to the Pope but the Pope to the Emperour For the seruaunt of seruauntes ought not to beare rule but rather to do seruice to such as sit at the table But the Bishop cryes out that all these which gaue the Emperour this aunswere are heretickes and he excommunicateth them all with the Emperour and burneth their bookes The Emperour for all this called a Parlament about the matter and sommoning a Counceil deposed the Pope For he was openly proclaymed for an heretike a tyraunt of the Church and a troubler of the common peace and thereunto his image was burned in the Marketsted Neuerthelesse when Iohn the xxij was dead Clement the sixth continewed the displeasure still agaynst Lewes commaunding him likewise to depose himselfe from the Empyre Yea he proceded yet further and reuiuyng all Iohn the xxij processes denounced the Emperour to be an heretike and a schismatike moreouer commaundyng the Electors to chuse another king by a tyme appointed except they had leuer that the Bishop himself should giue them a king They therfore obeying his manaces chose Charles Marques of Morania But for asmuch as the better part of the Empyre was displeased both with the Pope with Charles and sticked still to Lewes their true souerein Lord and Emperour it came agayne to swordes drawyng on both sides and there was burning wasting and sleayng the accustomed frutes of the Byshops of Rome which neuer brought tydinges of peace but alwayes blew vp the trumpet to battell And least Italie and Naples might take breath any while from their slaughters and wastinges Vrbane the sixth of that name made sute to Lewes the puissant king of Hungarie that he should send Charles Duke of Durace into Italie with an host of Hungarians for he would bestow the kingdome of Sicilie vpon him Therfore when he came to Rome he crowned him king of Sicilie howbeit in such wise as he departed with certeine of the best Earledomes in the Realme to the Bishops neuew Againe least Clement the Antipope might séeme of lesse authoritie then Pope Turbane he crowned Lewes Duke of Angeow a sideman of his kyng of Sicilie who immediatly enters into Italie with threescorethousand mē Then folowed spoilyng burning and sleaing againe and all maner of crueltie was exercised on either side verely by the instigation of these good and peaceable Apostles the souerein Shepeherdes of the Church of Rome I wittingly passe ouer here many outrageous doynges of the Bishops which the storywriter Theodoriche of Nyem prosecuteth very largely and truly in his thrée bookes of the Schisme Now come I to Martine the fifth that was created Bishop at the Councell of Constance who being nothing vnlike his predecessors gaue Sicilie in Fee to one Aloyse of Sicilie against Alphons king of Spayne Wherupon rose againe not a few nor small calamities The same Byshop was the cause of the Ciuill warre in Beame and that the Germanes that went into Beame with a great power brought nothing thence but dishonour very great losse I will not pursue the slaughters burninges wastringes miseries of that warre They be described at large by Aenaeas Syluius in his Historie of Beame The same author setteth out the horrible and blouddy practises that Eugenie the fourth and his successor Martine the fifth vsed to ouerthrow the Councel of Basill And it hath ben shewed already how great mischief the same Eugenie the fourth brought vpon Christendome when he inforced kyng Ladislaus vnto vnhappie warre contrarie to his othe made vnto Amurathes Prince of Turkye Pius the second and Sixtus the fourth were forewarder to feates of armes then to peace and preaching of the Gospell They neuer yelded an inche to any Prince but indeuered most scoutly not onely to maynteine but also by hooke and by crooke to increase the maiestie of their sea The histories beare witnesse hereof abundantly I will not any further report what the Byshops of Rome haue committed in our age and within the remembraunce of man least I trouble the gentle reader to much for they be better knowen then that they néede to be rehearsed For who knoweth not how great lawlesnesse they haue abused in transposing kingdomes in dischargyng subiectes from their dew faithfulnesse and obedience in putting downe and settyng vp of kynges and in hatching of most blouddy and mortall warres The horrible trecherie of Alexander the sixth agaynst Charles kyng of Fraunce is well inough knowen in that he made him take armes vppon him and called him into the kyngdome of Naples agaynst the kyng of Spayne and yet for all that did byanby after most trayterously take part with the Spanyardes agaynst him Iulius the second a Lombard practised the Uenetian warre which being the greatest and sorest of all others continewed eight yeares with excedyng great bloushed before it could be ended and stirred vp Lewes kyng of Fraunce agaynst the Uenetians and byanby after led not onely the Uenetians but also all the puissantest Princes and people of Europe agaynst Lewes Also he behaued himselfe after such a sort in the matter of calling a Councell that euen the Papistes themselues do greatly blame him and finde fault with him in that behalfe Yea and euen Onuphrius Panuinius hath blamed this dealing in Iulius the second Leo the tenth not onely appeased not the troubles styrred vp by Iulius but also continewed them doubblyng mischief vppon mischief armyng nation agaynst nation and kéepyng promise neither with Germanes nor with Frenchmen Clement the seuenth passed Leo and some of his predocessours For first he tooke part with the Emperour and afterward slipt away to Fraunces the French king to whom he was the occasion of a very great losse For in the kyngdome of Naples whether Lawtreche had brought his army very well appointed by the instigation of the Pope he lost the greater part of his armye by reason of an vnmercyfull plague that fell vpon them The storie of Frijndsperg Captein of the Almaine souldyers auoucheth in the eighth booke and the hundred and thréescor the leafe that of fourescore thousand there remained alyue scarcely one thousand and seuen hundred What troubles Paule the third the Romish Byshop wrought vnto Germanie the warre that
the Colossians and finally with the histories which openly beare record that euen the laymen receiued handled the bread and cup of the Lord with their bare handes certein hundred yeares after this Sixtus Besides this in the same Epistles there is open manifest mention made of Clementes iourney which booke neuerthelesse euē the very Decrées of Gratian do reiect among the authenticall writynges Yea and Thelesphorus commendeth the seuen wéekes fast before Easter forbidding also the eating of flesh Which thing againe how well it agréeth with the doctrine of the Apostles and with the doinges it is to be knowen by the thinges which S. Paul hath written in the 2. chapter to the Colossians and in the 4. chapter of the first Epistle to Timothie and which Socrates hath left written in his Ecclesiasticall historie in the 5. booke and xxii chap. but most of all which are taken out of Irenaeus by Eusebius in the 5. booke and xxvi chapter of his Ecclesiasticall historie Moreouer in those Epistles Calixtus is reported to haue ordeined the imber fast at foure seasons of the yeare Which thing others referre to other authors or founders And among this stuffe this is a thing that can not be read without laughter that Eusebius the predecessour of Melciades doth with so great statelinesse commaund the feast of the finding of the holy crosse to be solemnized the vi day of May. For some declare that the crosse was not yet found at this time but a xx yeares after by Helene the mother of the Emperour Constantine Agayne how superstitious péeuishe and fond géere are commaunded in the same Epistles namely that Nonnes should not touche the holy vessels As who should say there had ben any Nunnes as yet in those dayes the first comming vp of whom is referred to farre later times Many other thinges of this sort do I passe ouer willingly least I might make my readers to cast vp their stomakes For in these Epistles there be very many thinges so foolish so farre agaynst reason so full of superstition and so full of ambition that all men which haue eyes may gather therby that they be counterfettes and specially for asmuch as there is very seldome or no mention at all made in all the booke through out of vncorrupted fayth in Christ yea or of Christ himselfe our redemer of the treasures which the father hath giuen vs in him which thinges are the naturall markes of Apostolicall writinges Now although there be many thinges in them not vnprofitable to be read yet are the same thinges to be found in other men set forth more purely and without any paringes cankerfretted with the filthinesse of mans traditiōs Furthermore it is very well knowen that those first most pure tymes of the Church were not acquaynted with so many ceremonies so many decrées and so many constitutions as are found vrged vpon Gods Church in those Epistles For the holy and deuout folke of old time had not yet forgotten the Apostolicke Counsell that was held at Hierusalem wherin not onely Peter playnly would not there should be any yoke layd vppon the frée neckes of the faythfull but also moreouer it séemed good to the holy Ghost and to the whole primitiue Church of the Apostles that there should not any burthen be layd hereafter vppon the faithfull This story is knowen to be writtē in the xv chapter of the Actes of the Apostles But if our aduersaries will nedes procede to mainteine that these are the very Epistles of those men vppon whom they be fathered we haue aunswered a little afore how they be of no authoritie against the doctrine of the Gospell and the Apostles and therfore we admit them not in disputation Notwithstanding by the way we haue better opinion thā so of so great learned men and of so holy Martyrs of Christ neither will we in any wise stayne and deface their honorable names and blessed memoriall with such maner of gewgawes wherof out of all doubt there neuer came any in their mindes no not euen in their dreames ¶ Also that the latter Byshops of Rome vntill Gregorie the first vaunted not of any fulnesse of power nor of their supremacie ouer beyng aduaunced aboue kinges and kingdomes NEuerthelesse we must néedes graunt that from the tyme of Constantine the great who did set the Churches in peace not onely the Bishops of Rome but also the Bishops of other Churches through the worlde began to step aside from the playne footesteppes of their predecessors and claue not so carefully to the simple doctrine of the Apostles and therfore admitted mo ceremonies into the Church then beséemed and furthermore intermeddled them selues in worldly affaires and applyed them selues to much vnto them yea inuēted new names and offices of dignitie and brought such other thinges of the same sort into the Church which made way for worser thinges This saw that famous Poet Baptista Mātuanus who intreatyng of the times of Constantine the great among other thinges wrate thus Most noysom poyson sprang of honny sweete A right faire word is Rest a pleasaunt name is peace But yet from peace shall flowe more losse Dishonour shame reproche and miserie Then could from cruell warre For out of kynde the auncient vertue shall degenerate c. But howsoeuer the Bishops as well of Rome as of other Churches began to grow worse and worse yet were they still ignorant of that Romish Monarchie or rather tyrannie which is defended at this day For that I may alledge nothing hether out of the aunciēter writers of Gods Church doth not S. Hierome in his Epistle to Euagrius and in his Commentaries vpon S. Paules Epistle to Titus most manisfestly make the Bishop of Rome and the very Church of Rome it selfe equall with all other Byshops and Chuches in the world Doth he not openly say that the Churches in old time were gouerned by the common aduise of the elders Doth he not most piththely shew out of the Scriptures that elders and bishops be all one thing and that the one is not the name of age and the other of office Doth he not playnly say that Bishops were preferred before elders elders made subiect to Bishops by custome of the Church and not by appointment of God Wherfore it were truly a wonder why Epiphanius agaynst the Arrians should recken vp this thing for an heresie which Ierome vrgeth with so many and so piththy wordes but that others giue me warnyng that Epiphanius was to gentle in charging other folkes with heresie Truly in this case to speake with reuerence of so great a learned mā he wrongfully misreported the giltlesse contrarie without authoritie of the holy Scripture But if any man list to heare Ieromes owne wordes behold I will briefly rehearse the thinges that make to this purpose We must not sayth he to Euagrius esteme the Church of Rome to be one the Church of the whole world to be another Both Fraunce and Britaine and Affrike and
Peter or of any other Apostle hath spoken and written a false and an open lye agaynst the manifest opinion of Christ and of his Apostles Peter Paule Iames. But such power is was and shal be forbidden by Christ vnto the Byshop of Rome and all others in the person of any of the Apostles accordyng as we haue vndoubtedly certified you by the Scripture and the authorities of holy men in the 4.5 9. Dist. hereof This farre Marsilius ¶ This discourse is concluded and here is shewed that the sentence of Pope Pius the fifth published against the most vertuous Queene of England and all her whole noble Realme is vtterly fond and of none effect BUt to what purpose serueth so déepe repetyng of these thinges will some man say Surely all these thinges serue to this purpose that it may appeare manifestly by them yea be perceiued euē of the most simplest sort of all that this fulnesse of power souereintie ouer all kings kyngdomes which the sayd Pope Pius the fifth braggeth of in hys Bull to be giuen vnto himselfe and to all Byshops of Rome is nothyng els but Bullyng or Bublyng that is to say nothyng els but a most vayne forgerie or rather a deuilish and cursed lye deuised found out and forced vpon the people of God by the Popes themselues and by flattering clawbackes of their owne stamp For Christ neuer gaue any such thyng either to Peter or to the other Apostles Neyther did Peter leaue any whit thereof to his successors so as I may well say that the Popes are nothing lesse than the successors of Simon Peter but rather the successors of Simon Magnus Moreouer the Lord in his Gospell not once nor darckely but most openly commaundeth byshops to obey kinges and not to raigne ouer them And therefore the Apostles and the first byshops of the Romane Church were ministers of the Church yea and martyrs but not Princes of nacions and they yelded due obedience vnto Princes What maner of men the latter byshops of Rome be and haue bene who stepping aside from the footsteppes of the fathers haue both vniustly vsurped and cruelly executed the sayd fulnesse of power wherof they now make their boast they are knowen to all men not by their vertues but by their unspeakeble outrages What els remayneth then but that the sentence of Pope Pius the fift who as he sayth himselfe is mounted vp into the throne of Iustice to geue iudgement which he by the fulnesse of his power hath geuen and pronounced definitiuely by publishing it against the most vertuous Quéene of England and the noble Realme of England is vtterly nothing and of none effect because it is but a vayne a fained and counterfet power by force wherof this disguised Iudge hath geuen sentence not as a Iudge but as a tyraunt and Antichrst Therefore O England happie euen in the same resspect when thou séest the Romish thunderbolts which the Bull spreddeth into the whole world to be throwen and darted agaynst thée thou must thinke it is but a new Italian Cacus that puffeth out again his vaine flashes of fire from those his shadie dennes of meant Auentine blinded with much mist and dazeleth the sight of blearied folke with black fogginesse and darcknes mixt with fire They that haue receiued their eysight by the grace of God know well inough what that fond Salmonean lightener is namely euen the man of sinne the child of damnation as the Apostle saith which is lifted vp against all that is called God or the power of God in so much as he sitteth in the temple of God boasting himselfe to be god Therfore the godly and those that be enlightened beleue that God blesseth their curssages and curseth their blessinges ▪ and therefore that his excommunications are nothing to be feared Surely from the time that these men executed that vnmeasurable power of theirs in the Church they haue bene so farre from holding Gods people together in the vnitie of the spirit or from bringing them to their Sauiour that they rather dispersed them pulled them away from them their Sauiour Which thing the matter it self bewrayeth ¶ Here are perused the articles as well of the accusation as also of the slaunders alleadged by the Byshop of Rome in his Bull agaynst the most vertuous Queene of England NOw let vs also come downe to the chiefe pointes of the accusation which Pius the fift the byshop of Rome bendeth against the most vertuous Quéene of England For by confuting them and by mainteining the godlinesse and innocency of that vertuous Quéene and her noble Realme it will appeare againe to the whole world that the Popes curse is but a very flimflaw and a filme of a nutshell as they say in the prouerbe Least he might not resemble the reuiling blasphemous mouth of Antichrist he beginneth these thinges with rayling and slaundring for he termeth the noble Prince kyng Henry the eight father of this good Quéene an Apostata as who turned away the Church of England from the Church of Rome he termeth his daughter Elizabeth by the grace of God now Quéene of England a thrall of wickednes as who by his saying hath plucked backe and called againe into miserable destruction the Realme of England which had bene brought to the catholike faith by Queene Marie lately deceased and also is become the refuge of heretickes If the beast should not speake so he could not be beleued to be the same that he is For so doth he trimly fulfill the things that are written of Antichrist For Saint Peter speaking of Antichrist and of Antichristes household saith that God knoweth how to reserue the wicked to be punished at the day of iudgement and specially such as folowing the flesh that is to say such as being led by lust of the flesh and not by inspiration of the spirit walke in vncleane concupiscence and despise Lordship that is to say the order of dominion soueraintie such as malapertly standyng in their own conceit that is to wit such as being stubburne ouer-wilfull in their owne opinions are not afrayd to rayle reuile the higher powers wheras the very angels which are greater in power and strength than they geue not rayling sentence against them before the Lord and so forth as foloweth in the second chapter of Saint Peters second Epistle Herewithall agrée the thinges which the blessed Apostle Iudas Thaddaeus hath left written concerning the same matter saying these defyle the flesh despise rulers and rayle vpon them that be in authoritie But in the law of God commaundemēt is geuen that thou shalt not raile vppon the Gods nor blaspheme the Prince of thy people A man may sée that the Byshops of Rome make great account of these thinges when they raile vppon Princes openly But what I pray you haue kinges committed whereby they should deserue to be ouerwhelmed with so many so great reproches and with so foule raylinges In
to determine of ecclesiasticall cases deposing and oppressing the catholicke Bishops and aduauncing and putting in their roomes leawd preachers and ministers of vngodlinesse Moreouer sayth the Bull she hath abolished the sacrifice of the Masse prayers fasting choice of meates single life and all catholicke rites and commaunded bookes that conteine open heresie to be set forth to the whole Realme and wicked mysteries and ordinances receiued and obserued by her selfe according to the appointment of Caluine to be also obserued of her subiectes She hath forbidden the Clergie and laitie to acknowledge the Romane Church or to obey the commaundementes therof yea and she hath compelled them to renounce by othe the authoritie and obedience of the Bishop of Rome She hath layd penalties and punishmentes vpon such as shall disobey and hath executed the same vpon such as haue continued in the vnitie of faith and obedience aforesayd and therwithall also she hath cast the catholicke bishops in prison where they haue ended their daies miserably pyned in much and long languishing and dayly sorow All which thinges are so notorious as there is no roome left for any excuse defence or shift to serue in the matter Wherfore rising now out of the throne of his with sword drawen and pronouncing the extremest sentence against the most vertuous Quéene yea and against all her complices through the whole Realme he denounceth and declareth her an hereticke and a fauourer of heretickes and therfore most proudly determineth her to be strickē through with his curse and cut of from the vnitie of Christes body and moreouer to be depriued of her kingdome and of all right of her crowne of all maner of other preheminence dignitie and priuiledge And not content with this he procéedeth yet further and geueth charge to all and singular the Quéenes Nobilitie and other her subiectes that vnder paine of the sayd curse they obey not hereafter the lawes and commaundementes of their pretensed or supposed Quéene as he termeth her Yea and in what sort soeuer they were sworne vnto the Quéene he assoileth them all of such othe and vtterly dischargeth them of all duetie of subiection fealtie and allegeance Upon all which thinges it followeth most manifestly that by setting that most vertuous Quéene and the noble Realme of England and other nations at oddes among thē selues he doth most cruelly and wickedly put her in hazard both of her foes and of her frendes yea and which is horrible to be heard of her owne subiectes to be trayterously torne in péeces through ciuill warres and most outragious seditions if there were any so mad and so voyde of all godlinesse and manhood as to suffer such that is to wit so deuilishe and hellish furie to be so inspired into them by the inchauntmentes of this venemous beast Hitherto I haue declared what thinges are conteined and set forth in that wicked slaunderous seditious and bloudy Bull. Of which thinges if any man be desirous to haue a more compendious abridgment and yet neuerthelesse as fully presumptuous and shamelesse as that which hath béen shewed already let him heare what maner of title the Bull hath set before it to the face of the world The sentence declaratorie of our most holy father Pope Pius the fifth against Elizabeth the pretensed Queene of England and the heretickes that cleaue vnto her Wherby also all her subiectes are declared assoiled of their othe of allegeance and of all other duties whatsoeuer and those that obey her heerafter are wrapped in the same curse ¶ That the foresayd vnmeasurable power of the Romish Bishop is not proued by these wordes of the Lord vnto Peter Peter louest thou me feede my sheepe HItherto you haue patiently heard the Popes sentence or declaration by his Bull against the most vertuous Quéene of England c. and now I pray you be so good as gently to heare me also I will bréefly and plainly shew how there is no truth substance or soundnesse in this Bull and that the cause which the Hope maintaineth and pleadeth against the most noble Quéene is euill and vniust but the case on the Quéenes side very good and rightfull And I will begin at that vnmeasurable power of the Pope which he boasteth of and by force whereof he taketh vpon him to be iudge in this case For that being once ouerthrowen all the whole Bull falleth to the ground together with the iudgement builded vpon this ruinous foundation and so shall the Pope sit in that seate of his not a terrible or iust iudge but an Idoll to be despised yea and to be spit at of all good men and his sentences shall be no more the thunderboltes of Iupiter but counterfait flashes glistering out of a basen in no wise worthy to be regarded Then let that most holy or rather most prophane father tell vs where or by what wordes our Lord deliuered vnto Peter alone and vnto Peters successor the Bishop of Rome that his fulnesse of power that is to say his supreme and most absolute power as well in spirituall as in temporall matters Let him tell vs where or by what wordes the Lord created the Bishop of Rome prince ouer all nations and ouer all kingdomes I am not ignorant of your stincking and vnsauerie fables in this behalfe I am not ignorant what Decretalls haue béene put forth by Gregory the ix Boniface the viij Innocent the 4. Clement the v. Iohn the xxij and such other like to these cōspirators Catilines companions As for me I will not heare those decrées or Decretalls which the famous Lawyer Marsilius of Padwa no lesse aptly than truely sayd to be neither Gods lawes nor mans lawes but proclamations of plaine vniuersall souereintie You say that without any parable at all Christ our Lord gaue the fulnesse of power which ye brag of to Peter and to Peters successor the Pope Bring forth therfore some euident record of this your allegation out of the new Testament Truely ye be not able to bring forth one tittle or one iote of this your allegation And therfore with most wicked lyes and forgeries haue both you and your predecessors now certaine hundred yeares scared and seduced good men that leaned too much vnto you through too light beléef and ouermuch fearfulnesse For where as they haue alledged the wordes which our Lord after his Resurrection did thrise repeate and vrge vpon Peter namely Peter louest thou me feede my sheepe Certes I wonder that both they and you are so past all shame that ye dare bring these thinges for the stablishing of your kingdome or rather your tyranny As who would say we be all of vs blind or blockes voyde of common reason and not able to perceaue how those wordes perteine not to souereintie but to seruice Peter was by this meane to be comforted by the Lord and to be restored to the name and office of Apostle which he séemed to haue lost at the Lordes passion chéefly in this respect because
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
king yet notwithstādyng he laid aside the gouernement of temporall and worldly thyngs and tooke him selfe to the charge onely of spirituall thynges By reason wherof when Pylate asked hym whether hee were the kyng of Israell or no He denyed not him self to be a kyng but hee addeth an exposition and méekely aunswered my kyngdome is not of this world Whereupon in another place of the Gospell he sayd he came not to be serued that is to wit as a worldly prince but to serue or to do seruice him selfe and to giue his life for the raunsome of the whole multitude For that cause he vtterly refused the iudgyng or diuidyng of the heritage that was desired at his hand and put it ouer from himself to the lawfull iudges not without displeasure saying mā who hath made me a iudge or vmper betwene you And therfore when the people were purposed to haue made him a temporall kyng he fled and by that flight of his shewed that those his ministers must not séeke for worldly souereintie in the Church and much lesse possesse it or by any meanes claime it no nor receiue it or take it vpon them if it be offered Besides this he not onely commaunded to giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars but also furthermore when the tribute that was wont to be payd to the Magistrate was demaunded of him he commaunded a penny that was taken out of a fishes mouth to be payd for him least he might be an offence vnto others Finally by the space of whole iij. yeares together in which he most faithfully went through with the charge that his heauenly father had put him in trust with accomplished all things enioyned him to the full he neuer gaue any inclyng no not the least that could be of any souereintie or worldly dominiō Unto this holy and most humble example of the Lord there is also further added his most modest doctrine For when he perceiued that his disciples beyng caught and led away with ambition burned altogether with desire of souereintie and striue among themselues for supremacie or prerogatiue or as the Romane Bishops terme it for greaternesse as surely this maladie sticketh fast to the ribbes of them that are atteinted neuer so litle with ambitiousnesse which thyng appeareth by the Romish sort them selues he gaue them a very sore checke and withdrew them from that desire of souereintie beating lowlinesse into them therwithall also mainteinyng the right of the Magistrate ordeined of God and finally committyng the ministration of the word to his disciples without any hope or mention of souereintie at all Therfore when in the xvii of Mathew Peter had payd a péece of twentie pence for the Lord and himselfe to those that demaunded but ten pence and that therby he had put the rest of the disciples in suspicion as though Peter should be aduaunced aboue all the rest of them or be made primate among them in the kyngdome of heauen or in the gouernement of the Church they began to dispute of the matter among them selues and eche of them accordyng to mans infirmitie gaped after that hyghest degrée of souereintie But what sayd the Lord and what did he in that debate of his disciples He tooke a child vnto him and setting him in the middes of them sayd Uerely I say vnto you except ye turne and become like children ye shall not enter into the kyngdome of heauen Therfore whosoeuer humbleth himselfe as this child he is greatest in the kyngdome of heauen Which is all one as if the Lord had sayd vnto them ye striue for preheminence which of you should be gréeted as greatest of all But I tell you for a certeintie except ye turne your myndes from such ambitious disputations that sauour of nothyng but pride and pompe and turne your selues in lowlinesse vnto me and my example yea and vnto the simplenesse of this little boy whom you sée here ye shal be so farre from greatnesse and gloriousnes in that kyngdome of myne that I will not so much as take you for my Disciples Uery truly sayth S. Chrisostome in his 59. Homely vpon Mathew litle childrē know not how to enuy nor how to gape for vaineglorie nor how to desire preheminence of dignitie neither are they any whit the statelyer if ye prayse them or honor them What then aunswereth the Lord to the question of his Disciples Who soeuer sayth he becommeth like a child by puttyng away naughtie affections but chiefly ambition and desirousnesse to beare rule truly the same is greatest in the kingdome of heauē Upon which place Chrisostome sayth agayn Thou séest how he hath taught that preheminence of dignitie is not to be coueted in any case And so forth Agayne in the 20. chapter of Mathew when the mother of Zebedies children came vnto the Lord with her sonnes Iames and Iohn and made sute for them that they might haue the highest roome and chief authoritie about him in his kingdome so as he should place them next him selfe the one on his right hand and the other on his left for looke who they be that are next about a kyng and garde his person in sittyng on either side of him those are counted chief men in the Realme like as at this day those be called Legates a latere or from the Popes side whō the Byshop sendeth from Rome with full power and authoritie The Disciples hauyng forgotten the thynges which the Lord had taught them afore mistrusted eftsoone that those two brothers should be preferred before them all By reason wherof enuying them they began to take pritch at it and to contend agayne among themselues for the preheminēce The Lord therfore calling them to him sayd ye know that the kynges of nations reigne ouer them and they that be great exercise authoritie vpon them It shall not be so among you but he that will be great among you let him become your seruaunt and he that wil be chief among you let him be your vnderlyng like as the sonne of mā is come not to be serued but to serue and to giue his life for the redemption of many Most trimly and effectually hath the Lord herein seuered the Ecclesiasticall ministerie from the ciuill authoritie And iustly doth he challendge and yeld to the Magistrate that which belongeth to the Magistrate without derogatyng or takyng any thyng from him and conueying it to him selfe and his and likewise shew the ministers what they also ought to do Ye know sayth he that there be Princes or Magistrates ordeined among people and among the Gentiles so as there is no neede that you also should be made rulers ouer nations I mynde not to make warres with the Romanes and to put downe their presidentes and Tetrarkes to set you vp in theyr roomes which thyng notwithstandyng the Iewes beleued that Christ should haue done and therfore when he aunswered not their expectation they acknowledged him not to be the Messias Princes haue their
Persia and the Eastcountreys and Inde and all the barbarous natioÌ„s worshyp one Christ obserue one rule of truth If authoritie be sought the world is greater than a Citie Where soeuer is a Byshop whether he be of Rome or of Eugubie or of Alexandrie or of Tanais he is all one in merite all one in Priesthode The statelinesse of riches or the basenesse of pouertie maketh not a Bishop either higher or lower but all of them are successors of the Apostles And vpon the Epistle of S. Paul vnto Titus An Elder sayth he and a Byshop are both one And before such tyme as by the instinct of the deuill there were sectes in religion and it was sayd among folke I hold of Paule I of Apollo and I of Cephas the Churches were gouerned by the common aduise of the Elders But after the time that euery man imagined those whom he had baptised to be his owne and not Christes it was decréed through the whole world â–ª that one he speaketh not of the bishop of Rome onely but of all other Metropolitanes through the whole world should be chosen from among the Elders and set ouer the rest vnto whom the charge of the whole Church should belong and so the séedes of schismes and variances be taken away Againe when the same Ierome had proued and shewed by many textes of Scripture that Elders and Byshops are all one thing he addeth byanby I haue therfore mencioned these thinges that I might shew how Elders and Bishops were all one thing and that for the plucking vp of the plantes of dissention the charge of all things was by little put vnto one Therfore like as Priests know that by the custome of the Church they be subiect to him that is set ouer them so also let the Bishops vnderstand that they be greater than the Priestes rather by custome than by truth of Christes ordinauÌ„ce and that they ought to gouerne the Church in common And so forth And although I thinke not that any man will looke for plainer fuller matter in this present case than this which I haue rehearsed already out of Ierome yet will I adde somewhat more out of Gregorie who was himselfe a Bishop of Rome placed in that sea the yeare of our Lord. 591. in which he dyed the yeare of our Lord 64. He alone wil be a sufficient able witnesse that in his time the sayd tyrannicall and Popish Monarchie was not yet either placed in that sea nor grauÌ„ted to it Before this Gregorie was chosen to the Byshoprik of Rome he was Pretor or Maior of the Citie of Rome as he himselfe witnesseth in his booke of Epistles the second Epistle Beyng chosen Byshop confirmed in his Bishoprike or sea by the Emperour Morice who kept his residence at Constantinople he calleth him Emperour acknowledgeth him to be his souerein Lord ordeined by God and himselfe to be his subiect seruaunt Yea and he faithfully obeyed his Exarkes and Captaines that were placed through Italie calling them his Lordes He obeyed their lawes yea and their Ecclesiasticall lawes to All which thinges are to be read in his Epistles Lib. 2. Epist. 61. Againe Lib. 4. Epist. 31. Lib. 1. Epist. 43. Also Lib. 7. Epist. 11. Besides this Paulus Diaconus in his 4. booke 9. chap. of the doyngs of the Lombardes witnesseth that Gregorie submitted himselfe to be iudged by the Emperour Maurice for the murther of Malchus a byshop wherof he was appeached And Gregorie him selfe maketh mentioÌ„ of the same matter in the seuenth booke of his Epistles But these thinges will séeme light and small if they be compared with those which he himselfe hath left in writyng For when as one Iohn Bishop of Constantinople would néedes be called oeconomicall Bishop and be acknowledged for vniuersall Bishop to haue supremacie iurisdiction and dominion ouer all Churches and Byshops of Churches in the whole world Gregorie withstode him sharpely and stoutly like as Bishop Pelagius had done afore him He wrate many and sundry Epistles concernyng that matter to Maurice the Emperour to Constance the Empresse to Iohn himselfe the Bishop of Constantinople and to the Bishops of Antioche and Alexandria Among other thinges he denieth that any man ought to be an vniuersall Bishop sauing Christ that any Bishops vsurped that title afore him For he sayth that the title is straunge foolish proude péeuish wicked and heathenish wherunto to consent were euen as much as to renounce the fayth Agayne speakyng of Iohn of Constantinople Out of the same dust sayth he in which he sate and out of the same lowlynesse which he pretended he hath taken presumptuousnesse so as he assayeth to ascribe all thinges to himselfe and by haultinesse of stately spéech indeuereth to subdue all Christes members to himselfe which cleaue alonely to their owne head that is to say to the same christ Anon after comparing with Lucifer he writeth Lucifer sayd I will clymb into heauen I will exalt my throne aboue the starres of the skie For what els are all thy brethren the Byshops of the vniuersall Church but starres of heauen whose life together with their toung shineth among mens sinnes errours as it were in the dareknesse of the night Before whom when thou couetest to preferre thy selfe by title of preheminence and to treade their name vnder foote in comparison of thine owne what els sayest thou but I will clymb vp into heauen c. Finally writing to the same Iohn Byshop of Constantinople all thinges sayth he that were forespoken do come to passe The kyng of pride is néere at hand and which is a shame to be spoken there is an army of Priestes in preparing for him For they which were set to be lodesmen of lowlynesse serue as souldiers vnder the necke of loftinesse And the same man agayne in his 6. booke of Epistles and the xxx Epist. But I say boldly that who soeuer termeth himselfe or desireth to be termed the vniuersall Bishop is in his pride the forerunner of Antichrist bycause he preferreth himselfe by his proudnesse before the residue and by like pryde is led into errour And certes Gregorie hath spoken these thynges most truly For the sayd Iohn Bishop of Constantinople was the very forerunner of Antichrist as who by his wicked and importunate demaund of highest preheminence gaue occasion to the Byshops of Rome to aspire to the top of supremacie Among them after the death of Gregorie Boniface the third obteyned of the Emperour Phocas that he should proclaime the Church of Rome to the head of all other Churches as Bede sayth to be the first Church as Paulus Diaconus sayth or to be the mother Church as Vrspergensis and Crantzius say Whereupon the Bishops of Rome as beyng Byshops of the souerein Sâ—a immediatly proclaymed themselues both souerein and vniuersall Shepheardes of all Churches to whom all ought of dewtie to obey For the Emperour Phocas sayth Nauclerus in his hystorie by the Byshop of
good and thou shalt receaue prayse of him for he is Gods minister for thy welfare but if thou do the thing that is euyll then be affrayde for he beareth not the sworde in vaine for he is the minister of God to take vengeance on them that do euyll Why then did not these men well whome the Bull bewayleth for so should they doubtlesse haue receyued both prayse reward at the Quéenes hand being a gracious and bountifull prince The Quéene hath done nothing in this behalf which God hath not commaūded to be done afore in his law yea and also which is not ordayned in the lawes of the emperors Arcadius and Honorius L. Quicunque C. concerning Bishops and clerkes as hath bene sayd heretofore Yet will I not here sing the prayses of those that are set vp in the places of them that be deposed by Gods grace do their seruice at this day to the Churches of England peaceably and healthfully Their owne vertue commendeth them sufficiently so as they haue no néed of my prayse ¶ That the Queene of England hath not chosen mens opinions for herself and hir realme to follow but Gods pure word hertofore sought out and receyued by King Edward the sixth nor yet sette foorth bookes of heresie or forced her realme to receiue them THe goodly Bull a Gods name proceedeth on still to lay together the rest of the articles of his accusation against the Quéenes Maiestie in these wordes She hath sayth he commaunded hir subiectes to obserue the wicked misteries and ordinaunces which she hir selfe hath taken vp and obserued according to Caluins setting forth Also she hath set out bookes to hir whole Realme contayning manifest heresie But the lying and slaunderous Bull shooteth wide al the féeld ouer Perchance the Romish sort measure al men by themselues and because they them selues hang wholy vpon men in so much as there be many thousandes to be found among them which both will be called haue a plesure to be called Benedictines of Benet Franciscanes of Frauncis and diuersly and sunderly after many others and will both séeme to séeme to liue and glorie to liue according to these mens ordinances rules or appointmentes therefore they imagine that we also woulde be called Lutherans of Luther Zuinglians of Zuinglius and Caluinistes of Caluine and that we hang wholy vpon these mens ordinaunces but it is not so Paule the Apostle of Christ hath forbidden any such thing to be done in the Church saying to the Corrinthians Euery of you sayth I hold of Apollo I of Cephas and I of christ Is Christ deuided was Paule crucifyed for you or were you baptized in Paules name And againe when one sayth I hold of Paule and an other I holde of Apollo are ye not fleshly Therefore the true Christians will be named but onely after christ As for the names of men be they neuer so excellent we acknowledge them not in this case neither do we regard or receyue theyr ordinances furtherfoorth then they agree in all poyntes with Gods woorde and when we receiue them we receiue thē not for their sakes but for Gods wordes sake And the Quéene of Englands Maiestie neuer receiued of Caluin or of any other excellent and well learned men any ordinaunces to follow nor neuer regarded them and yet by the way if any of them haue taught any thing out of Gods pure woord no godly man can take scorn of for the Quéene in that reformation of hirs had an eye onely to the liuely woord of God deliuered vnto vs by the holy scriptures and so she setled all matters of religion vppon the very woord of God and not vpon any men Dauid speaking of Gods woord sayth in the 119. Psalme Thy woord O Lord endureth for euer in heauen Thy woord is a lanterne to my féet and a light vnto my paths Lord thou art righteous and thy iudgement is rightfull Princes sit together and rayle vpon me because thy seruaunt talketh of thy statutes and because thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors Princes haue persecuted me without cause but my hart standeth in awe of thy woord And Lord seing I stick to thy testimonies bring me not to shame c. That godly prince of blessed memorie and woorthy of immortall glorie King Edward the sixth folowing the examples of Iosias and Constantine the great two of the excellentest princes that euer were in the world began the reformation of the English church For like as Iosias calling a parlament or Couusell of his noble men Priestes and Commons did first cause the law of God to be read openly before them and then obediently refourmed hys whole realme woord for word according to the law that was read And like as Constantine summoned a generall counsell of the teachers and Ministers of the Churches through the whole worlde and sitting downe among them sayd The bookes of the Gospelles and the Apostles together with the oracles of the auncient Prophets do plainly entruct vs of Gods meaning and will and therefore laying aside all enemylike discord let vs take the exposition of our questions out of the sayinges of the Holie Ghost Euen so King Edward summoning a parlament at London of all the Nobilitie Bishoppes and notablest learned men through hys whole realme admitting also the famousest clarkes of other realmes being Gods seruauntes commaunded them to shew by the holy scriptures what was to be followed of him and his realme in so great diuersity of opinions And they executing faythfully the charge which the King had enioyned them did the same time with one consent and according to Gods woord agrée vpon certaine articles which the King did both receiue and publish without delay wyth this title set afore them Articles agréeed vpon by the Bishops and other learned men in the Parlament holden at London in the yeare of our Lord 1552. for the taking away of the diuersitie of opinions and the stablishing of consente in the true religion published by authoritie of the Kinges maiestie Therefore by the labour and endeuor of that godly prince King Edward the English Church was refourmed according to the rule and appointment of the holy scriptures After King Edwardes decease Quéene Marie repealing the same reformation abrogated it for a time And Queene Elizabeth hauing receiued it againe by Gods grace hath eftsoones set it vp in perfect estate And therefore nothing els hath she receiued and deliuered to be kept of hir whole Realme then that hir brother of blessed memorie King Edward héertofore most godlily and wisely thought méet to be receiued and beleued of himself and to be conueighed ouer to his subiectes out of the liuely woord of God as hath bene sayd already whereby it appeareth now most manifestly that the thinges are false and forged which the lying Bull hath bruted concerning wicked misteries with spightfull interlacing the name of Caluine receyued by the Quéenes Maiestie and enioyned to the Realme of England
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