I had not nor could getanie other copie The place is thus Pour tant ceulx qui despouillenâ— l' Eglise de ceste puisance pour exalter be magistrate ou la iustice terriene non seulemeÌ„t corroÌ„pent le sens des paroles de Christe par faulse interpretation mais aussi accusent d' une grande vice les sainctz euesques qui ont estè en grand nombre depuis be temps des Apostres comme â—iilz eussent vsurpè la dignitè office du magistrate subz fauls se couerture That is to saie in englishe Those therefore which to exalt the magistrat or earthely iustice doe spoile the churche of this power he meaneth and speakith of the ordre touching churche matters doe corrupt not onelie the sense of Christes owne wordes by false interpretation but doe also accuse of a heynouse faulte the holie bishops whereof the nombre is not small which haue bin sence the apostles time as though they had vsurped by false colouring the matter the office and dignitie of the magistrate Nowe choose good readers whether ye had rather beleue Caluin mainteining the auctoritie and iurisdiction of the churche or our clawebackes and parasites which impugne the same The one hath scripture to defende it The other hath nothing to assaulte it The scripture saeith that in doutefull questions we should resort to the priestes that at their word should all matters be decided that they should iudge that at their handes we should demaunde knowlege that their lippes be the kepers thereof because they ar our lordes angells Nowe coÌ„meth the heretike the peruerter of scripture he telleth vs that we must seke it at the princes handes that he is goddes chiefest ministre in thinges and causes aswel ecclesiasticall as temporall The scripture reaconeth in the first place in Christes churche apostles that is to say priestes for we maie not thinck that in that place the apostle described a forme of the churche to endure but for that onelie age The heretike will haue princes placed aboue and priestes benethe The holie ghost appointed bishoppes and priestes to gouern the flock of Christ that is the churche The diuell in his meÌ„bres appointeth ciuile magistrates to rule and priestes to obey So that herebie we maie most euidentlie see how manifestly they peruert and corrupt the true sense and meaning of gods worde As for the other poinct which Caluin also laieth to their charge of accusing of a most heynouse and grieuouse fault the auncient bishoppes that haue bin sence th'apostles time as though they had by vnlaufull meanes vsurped to them selues the office and dignitie of the Magistrate it is also if their doctrine wer true most plaine and euident eueÌ„ at the eye For first if kinges must be the chiefe gouernours in matters of religion and bishoppes their vnderlinges who seeth not then how far Ignatius that holy martyr abused bothe him self and vs to bid all men without exception euen th'emperor him self by name to the obedient to the bishop to tell vs that after him next the king is to be honored If this be true which they teache who is he that can excuse Liberius that holie father who for the determining of matters coÌ„cerning the cuhrche would haue a sinode kept where the emperour should not so much as be present Or that reuerend father Hosius who willed th'emperour not to entremedle in ecclesiasticall causes nor to comptroll or commaunde the bishoppes therein but to learne of the in those thinges to whose charge they wer committed not to his Or Athanasius that strong piller of Christes churche who when he saw that wicked emperour Constantius doe that which the heretikes of this our time perswade the Kinges and Emperours that now arre to doe as the Arrians did those of their age that is to take apon him the determination of matters ecclesiasticall to make him selfe chief iudge bothe of the bishoppes and causes belonging to the churche called him that abhomination of desolatioÌ„ spoken of by Daniel the prophet and pronounced that for his so doing his impietie was such as Antichrist when he should comme him self should not be able to goe beyond termed it a newe deuise brought in by the Arrians and finally demaunded but one example ab oeuo condito from the beginning of the world where by it might appeare that the doinges of the churche should take their auctoritie from th'emperour till Arrius his time Or Gregorius Nazianzenus who told th'emperour that by the lawe of Christ his power was subiect to his consistory and that although he wer an emperour yeat was he not withstanding a shepe of his flock Or S. Ambrose that bad the emperour set his hart at rest and not to thinke that he had by the right of his crowne any auctoritie in those matters that concerned religion that his palaice belonged to him and the churche to the priestes Or Chrisostom who comparing the power of a King with the auctoritie of a priest calleth the one a prince aswell as the other and greater theÌ„ he toe by so much as heauen is greater then the earth and addeth that god him self to witnesse the same hath brought vnder the handes of the priest the head of the prince For that saith he that is lesser is blessed of the greater Who in an other place saieth that the power which is geuen to priestes is such as the like thereto was neuer giuen to Angels or Archangels seing that to none of them it was euer said what so euer yow binde in earthe shalbe bound in heauen or what so euer yow loose in earthe shalbe loosed in heauen Or how wer it possible if this doctrine of our aduersaries wer true to excuse Damascenus for reprehending Leo Isaurus as yow haue hard before the emperour and many a one more of the holie fathers which for breuities sake I am here constreined to passe ouer in silence Leauing therefore our aduersaries thus at square both with the old fathers and their newe doctours it is high time good readers that I remembre to discharge my self of my promise which was to laie before your eyes such euidence as in this matter ether part had to bring for theÌ„ selfe Which as I haue for the catholikes according to my simple wit and pooer knowledge allreadie done so shall I by goddes grace on the contrary parte for the protestaÌ„tes and Huguenotes faithefully endeuor to doe the like And because for that aswell of all the poisoned reasons touching either this matter or almost any other at this day in question the late apologie of the churche of EnglaÌ„d for so is it by th' authors termed may well be called as it wer the some or abridgemeÌ„t as also for that there is as it should seme and sence hath byn coÌ„fessed in it comoÌ„ consent of all the fantasticall congregation I meane of them that trouble Christes churche in our countrie
hereafter In the meane season that theie will haue of Christes church here in earthe no other head but Christ him self therein they fare me thincketh not much vnlike to a certein â—elon of whome I haue harde that being areigued 〈◊〉 â—he bar for a felonie when he had pleadid to the 〈◊〉 not guilty and was after the manner demaunded how he would be tried he would suspecting his own case and knowing that if he satisfied the law in putting him self apon the tryall of the country there wer no moe waies with him but one make thereto no other answer but onely that he would put him self apon god the righteous iudge of all who although he saide truely that god was the chief iudge of all as the protestants doe in calling Christ the head of the churche yet was there in his case an other iudge here in this worlde vnder god by whom he must haue byn tried as there is in theirs an other head here in the churche to ordre them and kepe them vnder and in whom Christ the chief head of all vseth in all necessary knowledge to giue answer And as the felon knewe well that there was an other iudge beside god and appealed not to him as though before him he should haue ben acquitted and proued not guilty but onelie to gaine a longer time of life and libertie so doe I dout not our aduersaries the protestants And trulie to both thiese kynde of men being bothe theeues th'one sort doing violence to the body the other to the soule if such pleas might be allowed howe so euer they be coloured with the name of Christ betwene them both they would freelie robbe the body and murther the soule But let vs now examine this reason of theirs whereof they ar wont so much to triumphe Christ is head of the church Ergo the pope is not Ergo it câ—a haue no other head That Christ is the head of the church we graunted before and none of our syde did euer yet deny yt But as it is most manifest that Christ him self is the worcker of all his sacraments for he baptizeth he forgiueth sinnes he consecrateth his blessed body and bloud he ioineth together in matrimony the man and his wife and yet forasmuch as he should nedes departe out of this worlde and could not alwaies dwell with vs after a corporall manner he hath chosen ministres to dispense those his giftes by And we saye and no fault found therewith that the priest his ministre baptizeth that he forgiueth sinnes that he consecrateâ—h his most preâ—ious body and bloud So after the same manner and for the same cause that is to say because he could not be alwayes present with vs in such sort as we might see him and speake with him face to face to be resolued at his mouth of such doubtes and questions as should arâ—se emongest vs he left vs also one that in that his absence should gouern and rule his whole churche He remaineth neuerthelesse head thereof he ruleth he reigneth he exerciseth his power and authorite in the same but yet by man his ministre whome for that cause most aptly the Scholasticall writers haue termed caâ—â—â— minâ—â—â—eriale that is to saye a head but yeat by the reason of his seruice and ministerie vnder an other that is Christ â—ho is onelie absolutely simply and without all relation to any other the head thereof Not as though he wer not hable to rule the same without any such help or instrument which he could haue doen also in the olde lawe where his pleasure was that the people should resort to the chief priest to be resolued in all doutes arising apon the lawe and had no more nede of help then then he hath now but for that this waye it hath pleased hym to 〈◊〉 his exâ—eding great loue towards mankind 〈…〉 of emongest men such as he will execute 〈…〉 worlde 〈◊〉 as he will vse as his mouth to 〈◊〉 the secretes of his holâ—e pleasure to vs and fâ—â—ally such as should represent to vs his owne parson Because Châ—â—stâ—s king of all kinges and lord of all lordâ—â— because if it so pleased him he could rule all this worlde much better then it is ruled without the help of any other whereof he hath his absolute power considered no nedeâ— shall we therefore say that there be not nor nede to be any kynges here in â—â—â—the When S. Paule called the man the head of the woman denied he therefore Christ to be her head Kinge Saul when he was called by the prophet Samuel caput in tribubus Israël the head of the tribues of Israel was god thinck you excluded that he should not be their head To vse examples more familier th'archebishop of Cauntorbury is the head of the bishoprick and diocesse of London as he is of all the bishoprickes within his prouince and yet can not a man infer apon this that therefore the B. of London is not the head of that his diocesse But Christ hath no suche nede our aduersaries crye still to haue any man to be in his stede to succede him in the whole enheritance Nam Christum semper adesse eccle siae suae vicario homine qui ex asse in integrum â—uccedat non â—gere these be their very wordes in their apologie Here would I like a frinde aduertise them that for ther pooer honesties sake they harp not to much on this string left by their so doing they comme as nere to the heresie of Suenkfeldius as he whom in their apologie they falselie sclaunder therewith is far bothe from that and all other For Suenkfeldius emongest other his abhominable heresies hath also this in my opinioÌ„ the chiefest that we ought to banish vtterly from emongest vs all scripture and as Hosius writeth of him thys heresie of hys to derogate from the scriptures all auctoritie he went also about to proue bi scripture But howe I praie you good readers By what reason thinck you would he haue proued this diuelish and most absurde doctrine Beleue me or rather your owne iudgements seing and perceiuing most plainely that I lie not by the self same reasons that our aduersareis doe vse to proue that Christes churche here in earth can haue vnder him no head or chief gouernour to gouern the same Thow must not be parfect in the scriptures saith this stincking heretike Swenckfield But whie because forsooth we must be taught at gods mouth because his worde teacheth truly the scripture is not his worde but dead lettres and no more accompte to be made of them then of other creatures emongest the which they ar to be reconed We must loke to be taught froÌ„ heauen not out of bookes The holie ghost vseth to coÌ„me froÌ„ aboue without the help of meanes as hearing preaching or reading the scriptures Thieâ—e be that wicked heretike his folish and vnsauery persuasions And what other thing is it I praie you good readers
to them thiese perniciouse persuasioÌ„s that they be here in earth by almighty god placed in his churche to be the heads thereof and not membres to be fathers and not children to rule in causes of religion and not to be ruled that to them it belongeth in the right of their crowune to approue doctrine or to condemne it to alter at their pleasure the state of religion by actes of parliament without the consent of their cleargie to depose bishops and put other in their places in their stiles and titles boldely to write them selues gouernours in their realmes in all things and causes aswell ecclesiasticall as temporall and yet no ordre all this while broken because forsoth theie be such as theie beare them in hand they ar that is to say the heades the rulers the shepherdes the fathers maisters and guides in religion Thiese be theie therefore good readers that as the prophete saith call bonum malum malum bonum tenebras lucem lucem â—enebras good euel and euel good darckenes light and light darckenes Thiese be they that as their Idol of Geneua in this poinct trulie giueth answer goe about to make princes iustle with god Finally thiese ar those lowsy brokers that leading as it wer by the hand their good and vertuous princes after this sweete poysoned bait from the most pleasaunt and fertile valeis of humilitie to the toppe of the highe barren and craggy mountaines of pryde and arrogaÌ„cie showing them when they haue them there the riches and ornaments of the churche the landes and reuenues thereof by good and vertuous princes their predecessors and auncestors long time before for this entent especially thereto giuen that the ministres of Christes most holy word and blessed sacraments being by hauing of their owne deliuered from that comberouse care of prouisioÌ„ for them selues that afterward the holy ghost who was the procuror of such almoise and stirred from time to time the deuocion of good men thereto forsaw thorough the decay of pietie and coldenes of charitie towardes the latter ende of the world they wer likelie to fall into might thereby the more quietlie folow their vocation promise of all the same to make them the lordes and maisters if they will doe them homage and fall down and worship them that is to say harckeÌ„ to their doctrine submit them selues thereto and graunt to it within their realmes and dominions fauorable entreteinement And that this is true good readers that they haue thus shamefully abused and deceiued their princes and not surmised or imagined by me to bring them in to hatred whome god I take to recorde I pity much and hate nothing I hope by his assistaÌ„ce who is the giuer of all good thinges â—o plainely to proue that yow your selues shall at the eye see it and they if there remain yet in them anie sparcle of grace shall not be hable to denie it The which that I may the better perform I shall truly bring furth as it wer into the face of the open courte all such euidence of importance as either parte hath to alleage for them selfe so truely Itrust that the councel of th'other side shall haue no cause to complaine that either I haue suppressed and coÌ„cealed their necessary proofes one waie or obscured their beauty in the bringing of theÌ„ furth on th' other But because an indifferent and vpright iudge must alwaies haue an earnest eye to the issue which is betwene vs who should gouerne in ecclesiasticall causes the prince or the priest it shall not be amisse because to be chief gouernour in thinges and causes ecclesiasticall is nothing elles but to haue the supreme iurisdiction thereto belonging to examine first in what poinctes that consisteth that so by conferring our euidence wyth the same whether it agre with euery parte with none with some and with which we maie at the length by good scanning comme to the knowledge of euery mans owne Iurisdiction therefore ecclesiasticall consisteth especially in thre poinctes in auctoritie to iudge ouer doctrine whych is sound and which is other in the power of the keyes that is to say as our sauiour him self hath expounded it in loosing and binding excommunicating and absoluing in making rules and lawes for the gouernement of the church and in the ministery of the word and the sacraments To the first of thiese three what title Kinges and princes haue it shall if theie haue anie be seene hereafter But for priestes yow shall see to begin withall an auncient commission out of the scriptures where almighty god speking to Aaron vsed thiese wordes Praeceptum sempiternum eâ—t in gener ationes vestra vt habeatis scientiam discernendi inter sanctum prophanum inter pollutum mundum docâ—atisqué filios Israel omnia â—egitima mea that is to say it is a precept that shall euer endure thorough all your generations to haue the knowledge to discern and put difference betwene holy thinges and prophane betwene cleane and polluted and that yow teache the children of Israel all my commaundements To whome gaue almightie god here the power to iudge of doctrine whome commaunded he to teache anie other then Aaron and his race which wer priestes In the booke of DeuteroÌ„ saieth he not also that if there arise any hard or doutefull question the priest must be consulted that he that of pride will spurn ageinst his ordinance shall suffer death therefore and agein in the same booke in an other place that apon the priestes word all causes shall hang. Ezechiel the prophete doeth he not witnesse the same â–ª and when there is anie controuersy sayth he they shall stay in my iudgements and giue iudgement Aggeus and Malachias prophetes bothe bid they vs enquier for the law of god at the priestes handes or at the kinges No assuredlie they send vs not to kinges which had they bene the chiefe gouernours in those matters without faile they would haue doen but to the priestes whose lippes they promise shall not misse to kepe the true knowledge because theie ar our lordes angels Haue we any such warrant of worldely princes No trulie And wer it not more theÌ„ necessary that we should if princes should rule them in matters of religion of whom thiese wordes be spoken But to procede is this auctoritie giue to them onely in the olde testamentâ—ar they not put trow yow in as greate trust in the newe Or ar they thinck yow excluded and kinges admitted theâ—eâ—â—â— If it had bene so neuer would S. Paule tâ—at blesâ—ed aposâ—le haue made his accopte that god had placed in his churche first apostles next to them prophetes then doctours and so furth Emongest all the which although that frantick foole that preaching not many yeaâ—eâ— sence at Powles crosse went about with his rayling Rhetoricke to make his audience as foolish as he was maâ—de in beleâ—ing that this place should make ageinst the auctoritie of the pope because
He made psalmes and wrote himnes to the glory and praise of god And who is there I praie yow that at this day forbiddeth anie prince or king to doe the like He appoincted and established to serue the temple for euer some to sing some to plaie on the organes some and a greate some the scripture hath fower thousande to kepe the dores And what conclude they hereof if Dauid had appointed plaiers and singing men as he did not but willed the chief of the Leuites to appoint some of their brethern thereto that therefore he was chief gouernour in all causes ecclesiasticall O what newe logick is sodenly sprong vp with their newe diuinitie How manie notable Kinges hath our littell countrie had which in their daies haue established for the like purposes like fundations by our aduersaries at this daie almost all ouerthrowen of whom no one euer by this meanes thought him selfe anie thing the more auctorised to gouerne in matters of religion the cleargie of his countrie But for this example that which I haue allreadie saide maie suffise bothe because I thincke they leane not much theretoe for that theie can showe no greate store of Kinges yea I maie be bould to say none at all by them persuaded to builde anie churches or to establish anie fundacions of such as shoulde there continually serue god and also for that the place it selfe howe euer in the apologie the conclusion conteine more then the premisses semeth not to be brought in directly to proue any such thinge For our apologie which alleageth it hath onely quodammodo praefuit sacerdotibus that is and in a māner or after a sort he was aboue the priestes And therefore will I procede to their other examples Salomon they say builded and dedicated to god a churche made to the people an oration concerning religion and worshiping of god deposed Abiathar the bishop placing Sadoc in his roome Ezechias purged the temple commaunded the lightes to be kindled encense to be doen and sacrifice offred after the old accustomed manner finally the brasen serpēt which was then worshipped by the people to be vtterlie taken awaie and broken all to fitters Iosaphat toke awaie the hilles and wooddes whereby the people was hindred from the common temple of Ierusalem Iosias warned the priestes and bishops of their duties Ioas restreined their riot and insolency and last of all Iehu put the wicked prophetes to deathe These be th'examples good readers which the aduersaries to the truthe bring for the maintenaunce of the contrarie out of the old Testament Which manner of reasoning from examples in that age vsed if it might be at these daies in all poinctes laufull to folow what and how houge a nombre of inconueniences might by iust consequence thereapon be easelie grounded and brought in I nede not here to reherse anie man but meanelie exercised in the holie scriptures may with him self easely conceiue If the miracles examples significatiue and singuler priuileages doē practised and graunted in that age might without any daunger aswell be to the present esta te of the churche which now is drawen applied and accomodate as the morall preceptes of that lawe maie and ar whie haue not then the Kinges now a daies as many wiues as had King Dauid then why should it not be as laufull for the cleargie I will not onely say to admonishe and reprehend to put Kinges doing amisse at this tyme to death as it was at that for Samuel to cut in pieces with his owne hādes the body of Agag king of Amalech why not for thē to depose kinges aswell as kinges to depriue them For if they bring to vs th'example of Salomon who deposed Abiathar the priest and placed Sadoc in his roume they shall heare of vs again that Samuel by gods own cōmaundemēt pronoūced Saul depriued of his king dome and settled Dauid in the same Phinees being a priest killed with his dagger the Israelite and the Madianite as they filthely abused thēselues and haue priestes therefore at this day thinck we like iurisdiction Or woulde god is it likely praise him for the doing that would nowe doe the like as he then did him No no good readers they treade not vprightely that so interprete the scriptures And thus yow see howe generally all these examples and auctorities being euen after this sort answered make no more for kinges to rule in matters of religion then other places doe for the cleargy to depose kinges or to kill them or other doing amisse But to descend nowe more particulerly to the seuerall examination of these examples I would gladly aske this question of some of these our newe Rabbines that being graunted to them by the way of reasoning which theie presuppose that is that king Dauid entremedled in th' affaires of religion how this argument holdeth not withstanding Dauid being bothe a king and a prophete had the rule of religion Therefore the kinges of our tyme must haue the like And in deede thus must they reason if they will reason trulie For so was king Dauid they can not all deny it And as well am I able to proue that if he had any such power it was because he was a prophe te and not in respect of his kingedome as they shall euer be to proue the contrary So that to make this reason of theirs haue yea seeme to haue some apparence of truthe of two thinges must they nedes doe one that is either proue our kinges nowe a daies prophetes also or Dauid in his daies to haue bene but a king simply In Salomon also is the case trowe ye all so cleare as they make it For touching the depriuation of Abiathar the priest to that I answer that as in breaking the wicked packe of Adonias Abiathar and other their complices who had conspired to haue put Salomon beside his kingdom he vsed the councell of Sadoc and Nathan to defeat them so vsed he their auctoritie and ministery to punishe them Nor it forceth not that the scripture saieth Eiecit ergo Salomon Abiathar vt non esset sacerdos domini therefore cast Salomon Abiathar out that he should no lenger be our lordes priest as though that therefore it wer his own deede and could be doen by no other seing that that is a phrase of speche common not in the scriptures onelie but in common talck also as if for example a man should say that Quene Mary whose soule god assoile depriued Thomas Cranmer of the archebishoprick of Cantorburie whose treason also ageinst her was no lesse then that of Abiathar ageinst Salomon he should not say a misse And yet was not she god wot the chief doer thereof but an instrument ioining with the pope in the execution of his determination touching the rooting out of that wicked membre So saie we in like manner that the prince hath made such a man bishop when in very dede he onely commended him by his
shape but in nature that by a spirituall meanes the same fleshe and bloud is daily made by the handes of the priest apon the altar that before the consecration there is bread and wyne that after there is the body and bloud of Christe with such like that yet I say for all this I haue proued no thing because forsooth I haue not vouched your termes Really substantially corporally carnally or naturally If yow flee to this bare and miserable shift then shall yow doe all men to vnderstand that yow ar driueÌ„ to an Exigent when to defend your diuelish doctrine yow ar faine to cauill apoÌ„ wordes and termes which also you shall but wrangle about in vaine the thing it self being most euidently proued which those termes and wordes could doe no more then signify Besides that yow shall well showe your selues to be muâ—h either more foolishe or maliciouse then wer those faithelesse Capernaites Of whome there was yet no one emongest them all so voide of wit or fraight with malice who hearing our sauiour coÌ„mend to them the eating of his fleshe and drincking of his bloud beleued not streight waies thoroughly that he ment as he said of his true and naturall fleshe and bloud all wer it so that he neuer mencioned your termes Really naturally substantially corporally or carnally And truly to say the truthe I see no cause why yowe might not also if yow listed renew Marcion his heresie again and say with him that Christ suffered not in a true but in a fantasticall body if such pleas on your parte may be allowed that except certein termes such as yow list to demaunde can be founde otherwise let the truthe be vttred in wordes neuer so apt or propre yow will neuer graunt theretoe For the Euangelistes I pray you M. Iuell which of them euer told vs in describing Christes death and passion that his body was nailed on the crosse Really substantially with the rest of your termes And will you therefore with Marcion deny that he suffred in a trewe body onlesse we can finde to yow such termes as you demaunde Or if yow saie that in this article of our faithe you make no such demaunde but that yowe holde your selues fully contented with such wordes as you finde vttred in the scriptures for the expressing thereof Why then beleue you not as well the veritie of this article being by Christes owne mouthe first by the voice of his churche sence in all ages confirmed as you doe the Euangelistes touching the suffring of his blessed body Or why might not Marcion denieng Christes body on the crosse then haue bidden Tertullian and other that stroue against him proue it by these termes Really substantially corporally carnally or naturally aswell as you denieng it nowe on the altar driue vs to the prouing the presence thereof there by the same Especially the wordes vttered by the Euangelistes to ascerteine vs of the true suffring of Christes body on the crosse being no more manifest to that effect then ar the wordes of Christ to the other that is to giue vs to vnderstand of the true being of the same apon the altar Well yet shall I euen in this point assay to satisfie if it may be your deintie and delicat appetite Although this must I nedes by the way confesse that the auncient wryters vsed not thiese termes so commonly as the latter haue doen. For in that pure and vnspotted age of the primitiue churche when no heretike durst once open his mouthe to impugne this veritie there was not to say the truthe like occasion as sence Berengarius his time hath bin ministred Or rather the innocency and parfect simplicitie of those dayes thought it not necessary for them to vse your termes corporally carnally with the rest which had said the same body that suffred death on the crosse the same that walcked here on the earth whereas it might probably be thought that they whom such wordes should not persuade to yelde in this point to the truthe would not faile also in such wise to cauill and wraÌ„gle about the other that had they bene vsed neuer so often they would yet by one shift or other seme to auoid them and so coÌ„tinue in their olde heresie still And this I feare me will hereafter appeare by your doinges how euer for the time yow dally with your dilatory exceptions which being brought to wise meÌ„nes scanning be not all worth a blew point or a rotten rushe But nowe I come to your termes The first which is realiter Really is a barbarouse word and therefore of likelihod not to be founde in the learned eloqueÌ„t worckes of the auncient fathers Which thing maketh me to thinck that if in your chalenge M. Iuell yow ment good faith yow will not take it in euell parte if for that which caÌ„ not be had I giue you an other as good I meane for this terme really the word truly or verely For in right iudgement they signifie I dout not all one thing This being presupposed your chalenge touching this term may be answered by the words of our Sauiour where he entreateth of this most blessed sacrameÌ„t and in expresse wordes taught his disciples that his flesh which he would giue them and they should eate should be truly meate and his blood truly drinck Which if it be so then is it not by fiction or imagination as yowe and your companions dreame but in true and to speake after your manner in reall existence If yow say that the wordes of Christ be here by me racked and violently wresteâ— to a far other sense then him self had in them then turne I yow ouer to trye that matter to Hilarius that worthy Bishop of Poyctiers in Fraunce Who reasoning ageinst the heresy of Arrius as I doe now ageinst yours applieth them after this sort to the same purpose De naturali in nobis Christi veritate quae dicimus nisi ab eo discimus stultè atque impiè dicimus Ipse enim ait Caro mea verè estesca sanguis meus verè est potus De veritate carnis sanguinis non est relictus ambigendi locus Nunc enim ipsius domini professione fide nostra verè caro est verè sanguis est The which wordes in our English tongue sound thus Of the naturall veritie of Christ in vs what so euer it be that we teache except we learne it of him we teache bothe foolishly and wickedly For he saith him self my flesh is truly meate and my blood is truly driÌ„ck Of the truthe of his flesh and bloud there is not any place left to dout For now both by the testimony of our lord hiÌ„ self and by our faith it is truly his flesh and truly his bloud Hetherto Hilarius by whom in this place may be gathered good readers first that in the primitiue churche apon these wordes of Christ my flesh is truly meat c. the fathers and bishops of that age
churche permitteth to baptise at all times And your congregation M. Iuell is content also to goe from the olde manner and to baptise on the Sundayes and holie daies whether there be anie necessitie or none If all this satisfie yow not but the churche must nedes appeare coram vobis in youre L. consistorie to giue a reason whie she forbiddeth not all men now to be present at the masse sauing those that will communicate as once yow saie she did although he shoulde offre yow no wronge that should first bidde yowe proue that she were subiect to youre iurisdiction and then afterwarde to propose youre interrogatories yet will she not deale with yow after that sorte but is contented because she is illustris persona and can not be compelled by the lawe personallie to appeare to send yowe her aduocate S. Austen who answereth for her in this sorte Sicut aeger non debet reprehâ—ndere medicinalem doctrinam c Euen as the sicke man ought not to reprehend the phisicions prescriptes commaunding him one thing to daye an other to more we yea forbidding that which before he coÌ„maunded for so required the healthe of his bodie to haue it Euen so man kinde from Adam vnto the ende of the worlde so long as the corruptible carcas being sicke and wounded annoieth the soule maie not finde faulte with goddes phisike if in this it commaunde one thinge in that an other one thinge first the contrarie after Lo M. Iuell I trust yowe see that lawes maie be in the churche altered and changed as the time and manners of meÌ„ require and that no maÌ„ ought to grudge or murmure at the change thereof And by this also I trust it appeare vnto you that it was not so vnhandsome a coÌ„parison as yow saide it was that M.D. Cole made when he resembled the state of the churche in the apostles time to the age of infancie The which because yow sawe your selfe yow coulde not well denie and that by the graunting thereof your parte woulde be the worse yow turne his wordes an other waie because yow woulde seme to saie somwhat and impudentlie father apon him that he shoulde call Christe and his apostles enfantes But I praie yow good sir by the waie let me be so bolde to aske yow being a marchant of logicke and sent from the wisdom of your father to scoffe at all other mennes reasons that went before yowe emongest whome yow haue not spared S. Austen although either of malice or of ignoraÌ„ce yowe attribute his reason of Peters primacy and so by a consequent the B. of Rome his to Roffensis what price bare logike which at other times was yowe saye so good cheape when yowe made this argument he saith the churche vvas in Christes and in his apostles time in her enfancie Ergo he calleth Christe and the apostles enfantes Trulie I thincke the marcket was risen and good stuffe verie deare when my L. bishop thought to vtter such homelie ware as this is If a man had saide of the famouse vniuersitie of Paris in Charles the greate his time when it was first erected that it was then in her enfancie had he called Alcuinus that greate clercke and all the rest of the learned doctours called thither to plant good learning babes and infantes If of your scattred congregation one shoulde saie that it were yet vnder that age of infancie I wene no man woulde thincke that Iohn Caluin if he now liued wer called a babe No he wer like to kepe his olde name still for all that I warrant yow and the rest of your pillers to But here it is a worlde to see howe thorough ignorance yow be shamefullie deceauid in taking one for an other If yow had readen S. Austen so diligently as reason woulde yow shoulde bothe him and the rest of the doctours toe before yow had made your chalenge Yow shoulde haue founde that yow reprehended not so muâ—h M. Cole as yow did vnwares S. Austen Whose wordes agreing with his I haue thought good here to alleage that all men maye see how ignorance hath deceiued yow The wordes arre these Dominus enimipse in corpore suo quod est ecclesia iunior fuit primis temporibus ecceiam senuit For oure lorde that is to saye him selfe was in his body that is the church yonge at the first and now lo beholde he is becomen olde And a little after autem Christi quod est ecclesia tanquâm vnus quid am homo primâ—o iunior fuit ecce iam in fine seculi est in senecta pingui The body of Christ which is his churche was as it wer a man at the beginning yong and now beholde in the ende of the worlde it is in a ripe or fâ—ll age But leauing this as wide of my purpose I shall returne thither from whence I haue digressed Well let it be graunted yow wil saye that the churche hath power to alter and chaunge thinges indifferent apon occasion and as necessitie requireth what such occasion was there here to reuoke that olde commaundement that all that wer presente at the masse shoulde receiue with the prieste or elles departe Will yowe know I shall shewe yowe an occasion If the churche then when although all woulde not some yet there were that failed not dailie to communicate with the prieste forbad those that would not so much as to be present with other that did thinking therebie to drawe the worse to the imitation of the better founde at the length by experience that not onelie by this restreinte theie were nothinge amendid but by absteining from that communion in the which oftentimes before theie were wont spirituallie by the swete remembraunce of Christes deathe and passion in those holie misteries to ioyne with the prieste in their manners and liues not a littell empaired If the churche I saie apon these considerations bearing like a good mother with the infirmities of her children willing rather to holde her selfe contented with a littell with their good willes then to leese all deuotion with their euell released the former coÌ„maundement was it not trowe yowe cause sufficient But all this M. Iuell I must desire yowe to take as spoken vnder an if that if yow can be hable to proue anie such commaundement of the churche yowe maie haue a reason whie the same hath bene abrogate and taken a waie To make an ende and to knit vp the knot of this present article I haue here thought good M. Iuell that if yow minde to write againe yow maye finde in fewe wordes couched together the some of all that hath bene saide touching this matter before briefelie to showe the catholike doctrine in this pointe which is this First the catholikes forbid no man meete for the holie misteries to receiue with the prieste when and as often as he listeth but wishe and hartelye praie that all men woulde so put theÌ„selues in ordre as at euerie masse there mighte be that
of your owne coÌ„science where fifty yeares a goe that schismaticall churche which yow call the true churche and boaste your self to be of was in the coÌ„passe of all the wide worlde to be seene or hard of where your bishoppes had their consistories where your pastours and doctours were resident where youre religion was preached and SacrameÌ„tes ministred in such sorte as yow preache and ministre theÌ„ S. HieroÌ„ saieth where is no priest there is no churche S. Paule teacheth vs that in Christes churche be placed apostles prophetes EuaÌ„gelistes pastours and doctours Bring furth your priestes shewe where were your doctours and preachers If yow can not as in deede by the confessioÌ„ of youre apologie where yow confesse that forty yeares a goe the truthe which yow teache began first to spring that theÌ„ it was by Martin Luther and Hulderick Zuinglius first as neuer before hard of for yow call it inauditam veritateÌ„ brought to the knowledge of men yow ar not able confesse then at the length that yow had at all no churche ioine youre self to them which can of all times and of all ages bring furth good testimonies and euideÌ„t proufes where the religion which they professe the doctrine which they preache hath byn preached and taught and the sacramentes which they ministre ministred in such sort and manner as by them they presently arre Thus much if you graunte to vs that Christes churche according to his promise hath prospered hath preuayled ageinst all enemies and backe frindes hath alwaies sence his departure hence byn visible and to be seene of all men But if now on the coÌ„trary parte you saye not thus but for the citie that should staÌ„d on the toppe of the mountaine to be sene of all meÌ„ you will leade vs to a ragged cotage standing in some darcke hole and obscure caue able to be sene of no man or very fewe if for the tabernacle placed in the bright sonne you point vs to a doghole in some cloudy cellar or rotten barne and tell vs that there youre church hath lurcked and all this long while lien hidden for feare of persecution then must we tell yow in plaine Englishe that although yow were able to finde out some such luskes coâ—ner where youre coÌ„uenticles had bene assembled as if a man should aske yow but of the yeare before Luthers time you can not yet this would in no wise serue youre turne as being the strange voice of those false prophetes of whome in the gospell our sauiour gaue vs a watche worde to beware and take heede For Christ and so by a consequeÌ„t the body which must folow the head the chuâ—che I meane is not in partes here or there and therefore yow deserue no credit when yow so saye He dwelleth not in the desert of singularitie but in that well peopled citie cuius participatio eius in idipsum which is at vnitie with it self and whither the multitude ascendith not by one and one alone but by whole tribues and companies together And therefore when yowe tell vs that his abiding is in deserto in the desert or wildrenes we maye not goe out of that populouse citie nor step oute of the common beaten way there to seeke him no more then we maye beleue yow when yow crye in penetralibus that he is in the secrete and priuey places of the house Thus tolde S. Austen then whome the churche had neuer yeat a champion more exercised or better practised and acquainted with the manners and fasshions of heretikes Petilian that heretike his wordes ar thiese Sed haec interim sepono tu ostende ecclesiam I am vox illa mihi sonabit quam in pseudoprophetis Dominus vitandam praemonuit ostendentibuâ— partes ab vniuer so alienare conantibus Ecce hic est Câ—ristus Ecceillic Sed vsque adeò putas veras oues Christi cor non habere quibus dictum est nolite credere vt lupum audiant dicentem hic est Christus pastorem non audiant dicentem per omnes gentes incipientibus ab Hierusalem That is to saye But thiese thinges I lay all a syde and slip ouer showe me the churche Here will that voice sounde in my eares which our lorde warned vs to beware of in false prophetes showing vs partes and going about to drawe vs from the whole saing Lo here is Christ and there is Christ. But thinckest thow PetiliaÌ„ that the true sheepe of Christ to whome it is saide beleue them not ar so hartelesse that they will harckeÌ„ to the wolfe howling that here is Christ and will giue no eare to the shepherd sayeng thorough out all nations beginning at Hierusalem Thus taught he vs in an other place to discerne true preachers from false Si quis tibi Christum praedicat attende considera qualem praedicet vbi praedicet Christus enim veritas est per scriptur as sanctas praedicatur non in angulis non occultè sed palam publicè In sole posuit tabernaculum suum hoc est in manifesto collocauit ecclesiam suam If any man that is to saie preache vnto the Christ marcke and considre what maÌ„ner of Christ he preacheth and where he preacheth him For Christ is truthe he is preached by the holy scriptures not in corners not in hocker mocker but openly and publikely He hath pitched his tabernacle in the sonne that is to saye he hath placed his churche in the open sight of all men The same S. Austen told Seuerinus a kinsman of his that the churche was ciuitas supra montem posita a citie buylt on the top of a hill and that therefore it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greke because it was diffunded thorough out the whole world and finally that for that cause according to the worde of god it could not be hidden To this that hath byn alleaged maye be added that if euer Christes church should haue bene brought to such extremitie at any time after the fundation thereof once layed that a man might haue sought for it and not haue founde it that no one duâ—sâ— put furth his head to kepe the possession and right thereof that then it had byn vtterly ouerthroweÌ„ that hell gates had preuailed ageinst it And how had then Dauids prophecy bene true spokeÌ„ before hand of the churche Dominabitur a mari vsâ—ue ad ma re à flumine vsâ—ue ad terminos terrae It shall rule from sea to sea and from the floud to the ende of the world How had the churche ruled and gouerned that shoulde haue byn so brought vnder and vanquished Or how could Daniel haue called it the greate stone that grew and becam a houge mountayne and filled the whole worlde Yea how had Christ acquitâ—ed him self of his promise to be alwaies present with his churche if it had euer byn brought to thiese termes Greate persecutions the churche we confesse of Christ hath suffred but
thereto and some iniury to hym also whose liberalitie to the hynderance perhapps of some I should by thys meanes abuse Thus much thought I necessary good Readers to sygnyfye to you concernyng thys enterpryse of myne Where in yf happely I seeme to some ouer sclenderly to haue excused my self them referre I to hys iudgement for my meanyng herein who shall once iudge both me yf I haue not gonne vpryghtly but troden a wrye and them yf they haue not iudged syncerlye but demed amysse Fare ye well at Antwerp the. 26. of Iuly Anno â—564 Thom. Dorman THE ARTYCLES VVHICH THE AVTHOR HATH TAKEN APON HYM TO PROVE AGAYNST M. IVELLES NEGATYVE THat the Bishop of Rome is the head of Christes vniuersal churche here in earth and that within the first six hundred yeares after Christes departure hence he was so called and taken That the people was then taught to beleue that Christes body is really substantially corporally carnally or naturally in the Sacrament That the communion was then ministred vnder one kinde That there was Masse saide at that tyme although there wer none to receaue with the priest A PRAEFACE OR INTRODVCTION TO THE FIRST PROPOSITION THe blessed Martyr of God S. Cyprian wryting to one Rogatianus a Bishop of his prouince hath thiese wordes Iâ—tia hae reticorum ortus atque conatus schisâ—aticorum malâ—e cogitantium haec sunt vâ— sibi placeant vt praepositum superbo tuâ—ore contemnant Sic de ecclesia receditur sic altare prophanum foris collocatur sic contra paâ—em Christi ordinationâ—m atque vnitatem Dei rebellatur Which is in englishe thus much to say The beginning of heretikes the first springing vp and enterprise of schismatikes thinking amisse in matters of faithe groweth of pleasure that they take in them selues and of that that being puffed vp with pride they contemne ther head and gouernour appointed ouer them By this meanes stray they from the churche Thus is a prophane altar placed wythout the dores and thus rebell they agaynst Christes peace gods ordinaunce and vnitie And agayn in an other place he writeth thus Vndâ—e enim schismata haereses obortae sunt nisi dum episcopus qui vâ—us est ecclesiae praeest superba quorundam praesumptione conteÌ„nitur homo dignatione dei honoratus ab indignis hominibus iudicatur Where of sayeth he doe heresies and schysmâ—s spring but of this that the bishop which is one and gouerneth the church is thorough the proude and arrogaÌ„t presumption of certeine contemned and set at nought and being the man by goddes approbation alowed and honored is of vnworthy men iudged The very same thing although in other wordes doeth S. Basile in an epistle written by him to the bishoppes of Italie and Fraunce bewailing there in the estate of his time most plainelie declare Whose wordes because they doe liuely represent vnto vs the most miserable face of this our age I haue thought good to alleage and set before your eyes Ambitiones eorum qui dominum non timent praesidentias inuadunt in propatulo de caetero impietatis praemium proposita est prima sedes Quare qui grauiores blasphemias protulit ad populi episcopum potior habetur Periit authoritas sacerdotalis populi admoneri nolunt praesides dicendi libertatem non habent Silent piorum ora permissum est autem dicere omni blasphemae linguae Prophanata sunt sacra that is to say The pride and ambition of them whych feare not our lorde doeth inuade and set apon ther heads and openly the chiefest place is proposed as a rewarde for wyckednes And therefore he that can vtter against the bishop of the people most grieuouse and slaunderouse blasphemies is accompted of gretest price and had in moste estimation The authorite of priestehood is lost The layte will not be admonished The rulers be restreined of liberte to speake The mouthes of good men kepe silence Euery blasphemouse tongue is set at libertie All holie thinges ar made prophane Hetherto S. Basil. To be short there was neuer yet any heretike emongest so many as from time to time haue continually troubled the churche of god that made not his first entry into his heresies by the proclaiming as it wer of open war against the beautiful ordre of the churche which they haue alwaies forsene to be to them terribilis vt castrorum acies ordinata terrible as is the froont of a battell well set in ordre and ageinst the bishop of Rome appointed by god to be here in earthe the laufull gouernour and head thereof not lacking also therein greate poliâ—ie that by striking the shepherde they might the easelier scatter the flock Thus did in the time of S. Cyprian Nouatus that greate herety k who as Nicephorus reporteth of him holding betwene his hands the handes of such as minded to receiue of him the blessed sacrament of th' altar vsed to them these wordes Adiura mihi per corpus sanguinem domini Iesu Christi nunquam te a me discessurum ad Cornelium Romanus is Episcopus fuit rediturum esse Sweare to me quoth he by the body and bloud of our lorde Iesus Christ that thow wilt neuer forsake me nor return to Cornelius who was then bishop of Rome So did in our time the scholers and folowers of Martin luther So did Iohn Caluin with his congregation at Geneua So doe euen at this time in oure infortunate countrey those wicked men apon whome I beseche almightie god to extende his mercie who occupieng the places and 〈◊〉 mes of catholike bishops being them selues indurat heretikes ceasse not daily most cruelly to practise that lesson learned of ther auncestor Nouatus For what man admit they to any liuing of whome they exact not first this othe Whome suffer they to continue in his liuing if he giue not this othe For the onely refusall hereof how many notable men of the cleargie bothe for life and learning suffer they to pyne away in prison I remembre not heare the greate nombre of gentlemen and other mere laye men not included in the statute of pooer yong scholers of bothe th' vniuersites who witheout all face of lawe for for th' other theie pretended a colour being not so much them selues spoiled of ther colleages as ther colleages vniuersitees yea ther country self which had of the most parte of them byn likely to hauereceiued bothe help and comfort spoyled and robbed of them wander now abroade in dispersion lamenting th' estate of ther miserable countrie Of the whych they maye and we all iustlie now say much more then did S. Basil of the persecution in his time He onely complained that the churche dores wer shut vp that th' altars lacked that spirituall worship that should haue byn doen apon them that there wer no assembles of Christian men that lerned men bare no sway that there was no wholesom doctrine taught that the feastes and holidaies wer not
kept that the praiers in the night wer vtterly ceassed To that holy father it seemed a great outerage that the churches wer shut vppe what would he thinck we then say wer he aliue in these dayes when of our churches he should see some made the dwelling houses of priuat men other some turned into barnes or stables other cleane ouer throwen and made euen wyth the grounde and those that remain whole so moch worse then if they had byn alltogether shut vp left open for heretikes to pollute with schismaticall seruice and diuelysh doctrine It grieued S. Basil that th' altars should lack the spirituall seruâ—ce whych was not nether for any mislike that men had therein but because in that grieuouse persecution of the Christians theie could not be founde that durst doe it And could he haue taken it well to haue seene theÌ„ broken defaced and quite ouer throwen yea whiche is a crime so horrible that to write it I tremble in those places in which the altars stood whereon was wont in that spirituall sacrifice to be offered vp the most pretious body and bloud of Christ Oxen and beastes more vncleane to befedde He lamented that learned men wer not estemed that they wer not prouided of lyuings and would he not much more lament to see them depriued of those whych they had and shoemakers weuers tinckers coweherdes broome men Russians forfelonies burned in the haÌ„ds to be put in ther places Then was no holsom doctrine taught nowe is ther nothing elles taught but poisoned and vnholsom Then wer there no holidaies kepte nor hymnes vsed in the night Nowe ar they accompted to be superstition Nowe as we felt none of all thiese miseries besides a thousand moe so long as we kept our selues wythin the vnite of one heade so is euery man able to beare me witnesse that as soone as the diuel the author of all heresies had once obteined and brought about the banishmeÌ„t in our countrye of that one bishop wyth the whych as you haue hard out of S. Cyprian before he vseth alwayes to begin all these russhed in apon vs as the dore that should haue kept them out being set wide open And as this is confessed by the most auncient fathers that haue wrytten sence Christes tyme that by this meanes we first reuolt from the churche by contemning and not acknowleging the head so muâ—t our return thyther again be by the contrary that is by reuerencing him by acknowleging him by humble submission of our self to him So did those that after ther fall with Nouatus S. Cyprian receiued into the churche again apon ther submission testified in these wordes Nos Cornelium episcopum sanctissmum Catholicae Ecclesiae erectum à deo omnipotente Christo D. nostro scimus Nos errorem nostrum confitemur Circumuenti sumus perfidiae loquacitate factiosa amentes videbamur qua si quandam communicationem cum homine schismatico habuisse Syncera tamen mens nostra in ecclesia semper fuit Nec ignoramus vnum deum esse vnum Christum esse dominum quem confessi â—umus vnum spiritum S vnum Episcopum in ecclesia catholica esse debere We say they acknowledge Cornelius to be erected by god almighty and Christe our lorde to be the holie bishop of the catholike churche We confesse our error we haue byn circumuented ronning madde by the factious babbling of treachery we semed to haue communicated as it wer with that schismaticall man Nouatus yet was our sincere minde alwaies in the churche Nor we ar not ignorant that there is one onlie god and one Christ our lorde and that in the catholike churche there must be one holie ghost and one bishop So did Vrsatius and Valens forsaking the heresy of Arrius offer vp ther recantation to Iulius then bishop of Rome By thys meanes good Christian readers returned they to the churche by this must you return that haue straied what so euer you be if you will be saued Seing now as I haue declared the going out of the churche is by the contempt of the head thereof and the return home again by th' acknowleging and reuerencing of the same persuade your selfe that it hath not byn for nothing that good men in all ages haue byn and at this time ar no lesse busyed in defence thereof then heretikes myssecreantâ— and enemies to our faithe ar readie wyth all ther power to assault the same The consideration whereof hath caused also me in this enterprise of mine to begin first wyth the fortifieng of that whereunto our enemies as the very fundacion of all true religion the comfort and stay of the catholikes the terror and vtter vndoing of all heretikes doe most direct ther battery In the handling where of I purpose god willing to take this ordre First before I comme to the principall poinct thatlieth in question betwene vs which is of the bishop of Romes supremacie to proue to you by most plaine and euident reasons that the churche of Christ here militant in earth must of necessitie for diuerse and sondrie vrgent causes haue one chief head and ruler vnder Christ to rule and gouerne the same Secondarily that that one head must nedes be a priest Thirdly and so last of all that of all priests the bishop of Rome is he whych must supply that place and that for so that is head and ruler of the church he hath byn of th' auncient councels and old fathers wyth in the first six hundred yeares after Christes de parture taken THAT CHRISTES CHVRCH HERE IN EARTH MVST OF NECESSITIE HAVE ONE CHIEF HEAD AND GOVERNER VNDER CHRIST TO RVLE THE SAME THe truthe of thys proposition good Christian readers is not onely by the whole ordre and forme of the estate of gods people in th' olde lawe whych was also the true churche of god long before the comming of our sauiour in to this world but by the dailie experience also of ciuile and polytike gouuernenement most manifestly confirmed For who is there so blynde that he seeth not that in the whole frame of this worlde there is no kingdom so mighty no realm so puysant no cytie so populous no towne so welthy yea on the coÌ„trary part also no village so littell no family so small finally no societe of men no not of those that haue wrapped them selues in league to robbe and spoile that can anie while continue wythout a head to gouern them If therefore to lyue vnder the gouuernement of a head be a matter of such importance as wythout the whych neyther great nor little riche nor pooer good nor bad can stande how much more necessary shall we thinck it in Christes churche here militant in earthe where the diuell in hys membres is continually occupied in raysing of schismes in stirring vp discord to vex and molest the people of god to haue thys wholesom prouision for th' appeasing thereof and the restoring of the same being troubled to quietnes
again And because good Christian readers you shall well perceaue that this is no nowe deuise or fantasie imagined by mâ— I will here lay before your eyes the iudgement of certein notable men whom god gaue to his churche to serue for a wall for the same ageinst the incursions of the wicked Phylistins his enemyes In whom you shal most plainely perceiue this ordre in Christes churche to be so necessarie that the onely breache or lack thâ—râ—of hath byn by them taken to be the highe way and very path that leadeth to all heresies And first to begyn wyth that blessed martyr of god S. Cyprian hath he not coÌ„cerning this matter in an epistle by hym written to Corâ—elius then bishop of Rome thiese wordes Neque enim aliunde obortae sunt haereses aut natâ—â— sunt schismata quà m indé quâ—â—d sacerdoti dei non obtemperatur necvnus in ecclesia ad tempus sacerdos et ad tempus iudex vice Christicogitatur that is neyther yet truely doe heresies aryse or schismes growe of any other cause then thereof that men obey not the priest of god neyther doe thinck that there is in the churche in the steed and place of Christ one prieste and one iudge for the time Hetherto S. Cyprian By the whych wordes good christian readers it is so euident that there must be one priest in the churche whom all other must obey that the same must be taken of vs for iudge here in earthe in the stede of Christe that you see I nothing doubt great cause to condeÌ„ne the grosse ignorance of our late apologie Wher in the authors contrary to thys doctrine of S. Cyprian most impudently pronounce that in hys church Christ our lord vseth not the help of any one man alone to gouern the same in his absence as he that standeth in neede of no such help and that if he did no mortall man could be found hable alone to doe the same and finally wyth the same S. Cyprian who dyed a holy martir and is no dout a saincte in heauen to whome the belief of both these two articles seemed not onely not impossible but also very necessary to lyue and dye in th' obedience of this priest and vnder such a iudge then wyth a sort of lewd losels in whose churche being a certein secret scattred congregation vnknowen to all the world beside and to their own fellowes toe is nother head ordre obedience neyther yet certein rules or groundes where on to stay to runne hedlong ye wot no more then your guides whither But S. Cyprian was he trow yow of this minde alone No verilie for S. Hierom is of the same as by thiese his wordes it is most euident Ecclesiae salus in summi sacerdotis pendet dignitate cui si non exors ab omnibus eminens detur poteâ—tas tot in ecclesâ—a efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes The health sayth he and welfare of the churche dependeth apoÌ„ the estimatioÌ„ of the chief priest who if he haue not auctoritie pearelesâ—e and aboue all other ye shall haue in the churche so many schismes as there be priestes And again in an other place speaking of the apostles he writeth thus Quòd vnus poâ—teà electus est qui caeteris praeponere tur in schismatis remedium factum est ne vnusquisque ad se trabens ecclesiane rumperet that is That one was afterward chosen to rule the rest that was donne for a remedy ageynst schismes least while euery man would chalenge to hym self the churche by such halyng and pullyng they might brâ—ake the same Leo of whom the whole councell of Calcedon as one of the greatest for nombre so of all men accoÌ„pted emongest the fower general for auctoritie reported so honorably that they did not onely wyth one voice all openly professe them selues to beleue as he did but called him also by the name of Sanctissimus beatissimus that is most holy and blessed of all other speaking of the mysticall body of Christes church writeth after this sort Haec conâ—exio totius quidem corporis vnanimitatem requirit c. This combination and ioining together he speaketh of the body of Christes church requireth an vnitie of the whole body but especîally of the priestes emongest whom although there be one dignitie common to them all yet is there not one generall ordre emongest them all For euen emongest the blessed apostles in that similitude of honor was there yet a differeÌ„ce of power and whereas in ther election they wer all lyke yet was yt giuen to one to be aboue all the rest Out of whych forme is taken our difference of bishops and by merueylouse ordre and disposition ys yt prouided that euery one should not chalenge to him self euery thing but that in euery prouince there should be one whose iudgement emongest the rest of his brethern should be chief and of most auctoritie And agein certein appoincted in greater cityes whose care should be greater by whome to the onely seate of Peter the charge of the vniuersal churche might haue recourse that nothing might at any time dissent from the head Hetherto haue yowe hard good readers beside th' experience that we haue of ciuile policy and worldly gouernement the opinions also of S. Cyprian S. Hierom and holy Leo all three agreiâ—g in one that there must nedes be one iudge in Christes churche in his steede that the health of the churche dependeth apon the auctoritie of the chief priest that if his auctoritie be not aboue all the rest there will so many schismes breake in apon vs as there be priestes that for th' auoyding of that mischief there was one chosen euen emongest th' apostles to gouern the rest Last of all that that vsage in christes churche to haue one head is no newe inuention as some men falsely report but taken from th' example of th' apostles them selues I can not heare stay to examyne curiously euery word in these auncient fathers but leauing that good readers to your discretion and not douting but that in these graue witnesses in a matter of such weight and importance as whereapon dependeth the health of the whole churche you wilbe no lesse diligent then you would be in examining the depositions of your owne witnesses or your aduersaries in a triall of landes or other temporall commoditie I shall procede to the coÌ„sideration of the second reason which before I touched of the people of Israel if I fyrst warne you to considre but this by the way that ye may trust those auncient fathers by ther word the better an other time how many schismes be burst in apoÌ„ vs in our country of England for one common receiued truthe in the dayes of our fathers when we remained in the obedience of one chief priest and iudge which shake now so myserably the same howe quietly in one loue in one truthe in one
doctrine in one churche in one head thereof god almighty and his ministre vnder him appointed ouer the same we liued then and other in other places doe nowe But to procede For the estate of the Iues god by his seruant moses did so prouide to take away schismes that apoÌ„ the doutefull wordes of the lawe might arise that he appointed them a place to resort unto and aiudge to flee vnto in all such ambiguites and doutes For so is it written in the booke of Deuteronomium And shall we not by good reason thinck that he hath prouided as well for his churche except we will say that he hath byn lesse carefull of it then he was of that Which must necessaryly folow if he prouyded for them one chief iudge to haue recourse vnto in hard and doutefull questions and to vs hauing no lesse yea farr much more neede then they he left ether at all none or many to make the matter more doutefull For I remeÌ„bre a sayeng of Gregorius Nazianzenâ—s Vbi nullum est imperium nullus ordo vbi multoruÌ„ ibi seditio vt sic nullum imperium nullus ordo existat Vtrumque â—nimeódem absurditatis perducit Where is none to rule there is no ordre Where manie rule there is sedition so that after that manner of gouernemeÌ„t also there ys no gouernement there is no ordre for bothe to haue none to rule and to haue many leade vs to lyke inconuenience How shall we then say Diligiâ— dominus Syon super omniâ— tabernacula Iacob Our lord loueth Syon aboue all the tabernacles of Iacob There is no dout therefore but that Christ hath prouided for his churche which he redemed so dearely as wyth thexpence of his own most preciouse bloud a iudge and chief ruler to end and determine so many controuersies as he knewe should molâ—st and infest the same They can not say that aâ— aduersaries and kyck ageinst this truthe that thys which I alleage was in the old lawe and in a shadowe that these daiâ—s and this tyme requier other manners For that argument hath ther english apologie soluted and pronounced that so to saie wer plusquaâ— ridiculum seing there was then idem deus idem spiritus idem Christus eadem fides eadem doctrina eadem spes eadem â—aerâ—ditas idem fâ—edus â–ª eadem vis verbi dei the same god the same holie gost the same Christ the same faithe the same doctrine the same hope the same heritage the same couenaunt the same strenght of gods worde But yet this I protest that apon the auctoritie of ther apologie which with me is in that coÌ„ceit that it is with all honest and learned men that is to say taken as in deede it is for a fardle of lies I am no whytt the bolder to reason thus But because I haue perceiued that god in that people in ther lawe and priesthood shadowed out vnto vs like a cunnyng worckeman the whole forme and proportion of his churche as witnesseth S. Paule Lex vmbram habet futurorâ—m bonorum non ipsam imaginem rerum The lawe conteineth a shadowe of the good thinges to come but expresseth not manifestlie the truthe of things therefore I thought I might well reason from the shadow to the body froÌ„ the resemblaunce and image to the truthe thereto answering From the whych kinde of reasoning S. Paule sometimes absteined not as when he laboured to proue that the lawe of the gospel would beare that they whych preached the gospell should liuâ— thereby he reasoned after this sort Nunquid secunduÌ„ hoiÌ„em haec dico Speake I this as a maÌ„ that is to say proue I this by wordly reasons An lex haec noÌ„ dicit Sayth not the lawe so toe and so goeth he forward and proueth yt by this text of the old lawe Thow shalt not moosell or binde vp the mouthe of the labouring Oxe as though he should haue saide it was so in the shadow therefore yt must be so in the body and in the truth signified by that shadow Thus ye see good readers that I maâ—e say wyth S. Paule haue I proued onely by reasons fetched from the doings of men by examples of all common welthes and societes well goâ—erned that in Christes coÌ„mon weale there must be also one to rule haue I affirmed this because S. Cyprian S. Hierom blessed and holy Leo so said Who yet were while they liued here but men although now sayntes in heauen Nunquid non Lex haec dâ—â—it sayth not the lawe so toe But here I knowe our aduersaries will say that these proofes neded not to proue that Châ—istes church must haue a head and a iudge to ordre and determine doutefull questions whych happen â—mongest vs and where of the world is now so full For that will they say they know as well as Cyprian Hierom Leo or any of them all although they will not admit the same iudge or the same head that they doe But what head thinck you good readers appoynt they to gouern christes churche here in earthe what iudge to determine controuersies Forsooth the head of the churche theie saie wherein we finde no faulte but saye the same our selues is Iesus Christ and the iudge of all controuersies arisinge therein they call the scriptures Here suffer me a littell I beseche you to shake these mâ—â—â—kers owâ—e of there cloutes and to make open to the â—orld ther great dissimulation and sottelty whereby vnder the name of Christ and his most holy word so glittring at the first showe in the eyes of the simple yea perhappes of some of the wiser sorte also that it is to be feared lest yt strike them blinde alltogether they seme to haue purchased to them selues a double benefite at once fyrst greate credit by pretâ—nding and vsing nay rather abusing the name of Christ and his word next great securite both for ther owne pâ—â—sones and also for all such dyuelish doctrine as they or any other heretikes lyst to vtter Whilest on thone side they take them selues to be out of all check of man and maie be controlled of none as thei saye but of god onely who if he let them alone till that time that they thinck he will then bid thei vs let them shift for them selues theie shall haue time enough in the meane season to preache and teache wythout controllment what they lift and on the other syde whilest by prouoking to the scriptures as ther iudge they thâ—nk them selues to stand apoâ— a suer grounde seing they ar already wyth theâ— selues at a poinct to receiue no other interpretaty on thereof then shal make for ther purpose and they also see that emongest so many heresies as haue hetherto troubled the churche of god there was neuer yet any one so horrible and absurd that the author thereof hath not by this meanes in his owne indgement byn right wel able to sustein and defend But of this I will entreate more largely
their meaning is that no man can because Christ is head of the vniuersall church be vnder him head of the whole but may well be of some particuler churche as Kinge Henrie was and the Quenes maiestie now is then demaund of them what reason they haue to leade them to say that a particuler membre of the churche as the churche of England can be no more may haue an other head beside Christ and the whole bodie maie not and why one mēbre maie haue two heads more then one bodie Finally if at that time they flattred the king and gaue him that which neither they could giue nor he receiue and abused his good nature to the destruction of so manie notable men as for th' onelie refusall to saie as they said by most exquisite and painefull tormentes lost ther liues saie vnto them that they yet at lenght acknowledge their fault and admonish that good ladie our maistres that she consent not to vse that title which because it belongeth to Christ she may not haue or if theie thinck and will stand in it that she may without offence that they doe yet at the least confesse that reason of theirs to be very weake and of no strenght Christ is head of the churche therefore it maie haue no other Except they will perhappes say that he is head of all other churches and hath onelie lest oures headles so that because he is not head thereof we ar out of the feare of falling into that inconuenience of hauing manie and maie therefore choose some one emongest our selues whome we list Thus I trust good readers you see sufficiently proued that Christes pleasure is for the repressing of heresies and calming of tempestuouse schismes that there be one head of his churche here in earthe supplieng his corporall absence for the time his honor in the meane season nothing thereby the more diminished then it is in other thinges wherein he also vseth the ministerie and seruice of men It foloweth now that I show to yow who is and of right ought to be that head if first I doe yow to vnderstand that it must necessarilie be a priest and that so by iust consequence neither laye man woman nor childe can be capable of that office THAT THE HEAD OF CHRISTES CHVRCHE HERE IN EARTH MVST NEEDES BE A PRIEST GRegorius Nazianzenus that auncient father and maister to S. Hierom in a certein oration that he made of the femelie ordre that ought to be in Christes churche hath thiese wordes Nemo delphinum vidit terram sulcantem neque bouem in vnda laborantem quemadmodum nec solem in nocte crescentem aut decrescentem siue lunam interdiu ignis flammam emittentem whych is in englishe to saie thus much There is no man that euer sawe the dolphin forsaking the sea plowe the lande or the oxe leaue the earth to swymme and labour in the water no more then the sonne in the night rising or falling or the moone in the day shining And as thiese kepe the ordre and course to them by god and nature appoincted the dolphin the water the oxe the land the sonne the daie the moone the night without entremedling them selues ether in others function so is there saith he in christes churche an ordre taken that one shalbe a head to rule and giue councell some other in place of feete to goe some handes to worcke other some eares to heare and eyes to see some shepherds to feede other some shepe to be fedde some in one office some in an other This most bewtifull order in Christes churche is on our behalfes as many as wilbe accompted membres thereof inuiolably to be obserued onlesse in obedience towardes our creator we will by brute beastes suffer our selues to be vanquished and ouercome This is that ordre whereapon dependeth the welfare or illfare of the whole worlde This is that ordre which so long as it remaineth whole and not broken so long common wealthes florishe so long vnitie and peace ar norished so long Christes true religion triumpheth as contrary wise the breache thereof when the feete that should goe will vsurping th'office of the head presume to giue councell the eyes wil heare the eares wilbe eyes the head wil goe the shepe feede their sheppherds the scholer teache his maister is in verie dede the breakeneck of all good ordre and common quiet This is that orderly cōiunction of one membre with an other and euerie one in his owne place which although it be and euer hath byn a greate mote in Satans eye yet neuer durst he or any of his directly impugne it And therefore hath he by those his ministres whome in thiese our daies he hath sturred vp ageinst Christ and his truthe found out such a bie waie as wherebie he maie bothe remoue this let whych hindreth so much his course and seeme yet neuertheles to stād stoutelie in the defence thereof For what doe our aduersaries trow yow expressely mainteine that ordre is naught that the scholer should teache the maister the shepe feede ther shepherd that thinges should be so iumbled together and such a hochepot made of all estates that it should be lawfull for euerie man to comptroll one an other in his of fice No no they be wiser then so I warrant you For although in deede all their driftes tend to that ende yet couet they to make men beleue that they minde nothing lesse For if they should openly pretend so much then wer the matter at an end and ther credit vtterlie lost And therefore for the sauegard thereof they would cast before our eyes such a mist that we should beleue those that be in very dede scholers to be maisters shepe to be shepherdes the feete to be the head and the head to be the feete and that vnder such gouernement there wer of ordre no breache at all This is no newe or strange practise good christian readers but vsed euen from the beginning and continued dailie by that old enemie to mankinde and wily serpent the Diuel to set vp vice and ouerthrow vertue Thus cloketh he pride with the name of clenlinesse couetousnes he termeth frugalitie prodigalitie liberalitie adulterie in other men solace in priestes and such as haue uowed the contrary he couereth it with the honorable title of matrimonie although the auncient fathers of Christes churche haue not doubted some of them to call it not as doe the diuels ministres mariage but adulterie as dothe S. Ambrose S. Basil and Theophilactus some of them as S. Hierom S. Austen and Chrisostom not adulterie onelie as doe th' other but sacrilege and incest This practise I say of the diuel their fathers doe those his ministres most diligentlie imitate those clawebacks and princes parasites whose fauour when they labour to winne that vnder the shadow thereof their heresie may finde the better entreteinement and to the poysoning of the worlde the freer passage they vse
forsoth he could he saide finde no roume for him there and therefore of his charitie 〈◊〉 that if any good fellow emongest his audieâ—ce wer weâ—rie of his roume he might be placed the re as verilie â— both thinck and knowe there wer manie that wished bothe them selues away and him in Bedlem emongest his compagnions neuer to come more in pulpit especiallie in that place to dishonor the vniuersitie his mother from whence he cam by such vnreasonable not reasoning but rayling although he I say could finde there no place for the pope he might yet haue wyth his yong sight founde at the least that which Iohn Caluin could before with his old and dimme eies espie out that is that the chiefest place of gouernement in Christes churche belonged to the apostles and so to the bishops and priestes their successors Except his braine would serue him to say that Christes churche died with his apostles But if a man should aske this great clercke that hath so narowely scanned the texte what roome he found there for Kinges I maruâ—ll what his wisdome would answer There is but one word in all the texte that should seeme to make place for any temporaâ—l magistrate and that hath Caluin watred with such a glose that it can in no wise serue his purpose The worde is gubernationes gouernements placed beside so far from the chiefest and first place if it wer to be vnderstand of temporal magistrates that it occupieth the seuenth But Caluin saieth it may not so be vnderstand but that the apostle ment by that word such spirituall men as wer ioined to the preachers for the better ordre in spirituall gouernement And he addeth a reason why it may not be vnderstande of ciuile magistrates because saith he there wer at that time none of them christians By which wordes this mery man maie see that if he will nedes daunce after his maister Caluin his pipe he muste saie that there is not not onelie no roume in this place for ciuile magistrates but that he is excluded alâ—o from the hope of finding for them anie I meane in the gouernement in ecclesiasticall causes in any other place of the newe testament But not in this place onely was S. Paule of that minde that priestes should gouern the churche of christ but in that notable sermon of his also that he made to the priestes of Ephesus at his departure from thence where he giueth them this exhortation Attendite vobis vniuerso gregi in quo vos spiritus sanctus posuit episcopos regere ecclesiam dei Looke saith he to your selues and to your flock in the which the holie ghost hath placed yow to rule and gouern the church of god Can there be any plainer euidence then is this Let them therefore eyther rule as S. Paule saith they ar appointed thereto and that by the holie ghost or if princes must let vs deny sainct Paule his auctoritie and say that the spirite failed him for surelie bothe maie not And thus for the scriptures good readers ye see to whom of right that parte of ecclesiasticall gouernement which standeth in the alowing and condemning of doctrine dothe apperteine For that doe the auctorites by me out of the old testament alleaged expressely proue as also doe those brought out of the newe by a necessarie consequence in that they giue to them the whole gouernement and chief souereintie of which this is as is before saide a parte The nexte membre of spirituall gouernement is thepower as Christ him self calleth it of binding and loosing Which power to excomunicate and to absolue our sauiour gaue to his apostles when he saied to them what so euer yow binde in earth shalbe bound in heaueÌ„ and what so euer yow loose on the earthe shall be loosed in heauen Wherein and in the last which is to preache and ministre the sacramentes because thiese peuish proctours pretend not as yet any greate title for princes but seeme rather to ground their action in the first I will leauing them bothe as either by the scriptures in all mennes iudgements sufficiently defended or by our aduersaries them selues not assaulted examine of what minde touching this controuersie the holy doctours of Christes churche from time to time haue byn Not as though maÌ„nes word should haue with vs more auctoritie then goddes or that it nedeth to be boulstred vp there with but for this causeonelie that if it happen theÌ„ to wrangle as their manner is about the true interpretacion thereof all men may perceiue that we giue no other then the fathers of christes churche before vs haue giuen And here to begin with Ignatius that holy martir who for the faithe of Christ was with the teethe of wild beastes torn and as he writeth him selfe sawe our sauiour in fleshe coÌ„sidre I beseche yow in the prescribing of such ordre for obedience in Christes churche as wherebie vnitie might be preserued what place of preeminence he giueth to Emperours who ar of the laietie the greatest estates and what to bishops his wordes ar thiese Principes obedite Caesari milites principibus diaconi praesbiteris sacrorum prefectis praesbiteri diaconi reliquus clerus vnâ cum omni populo militibus principibus Caesa re episcopo episcopus Christo sicut Christus patri vt ita vnitas per omnia seruetur Princes saith he obey your emperour souldiors your princes deacons the priestes which haue the charge of religion priestes deacons all the rest of the cleargie with the people what so euer they ar souldiors princes yea the emperor him self be yow obedient to your bishop the bishop to Christ as Christ is obedient to his father that so vnitie maie in all poinctes be obserued Here may we see good readers that euen in the daies of this holie martir Ignatiâ—s it was then thought necessary and expedient that for the better obseruing of vnitie the emperour him self should obey the bishop well I wot our aduersaries will not restreine this obeâ—ience to temporall gouernement and therefore it must nedes be vnderstand of spirituall and in causes ecclesiasticall But if th'obseruing of this obedience be the way to conserue vnitie what shall we alas thinck of them that laboure to violat and breake the same as doe all they that trauail to make princes in matters of religion to rule and bishoppes to obeye The same worthy bishop and constant martâ— Ignatius writing in an other place ad Smirnenses biddeth he them not to honor first god next the bishop as bering his image and then after the king Policarpus disciple to saincte Iohn theuangelist of priestes and deacons writeth thus Subiecti estote praesbiteris diaconis sicut deo Christo. Be ye subiect to the priestes and deacons as to god and Christ. Is this any other to say then as thapostle said before him Obedite ijs qui vigilant pro animabus vestris Obey yow them which kepe the watche
for your soules Here considre I beseche yow that S. Paules placing of th'apostels and in them the bishops and priestes their successors in the first and chiefest place in Christes churche his calling of them the rulers thereof and appoincted so to be not by man but by the holie gost was not to deceiue vs. Remembre that if in matters of religioÌ„ the â—ishoppes and priestes should haue solowed the ciuile magistrates ordinaunces it had byn in vaine that Ignatius and Policarpus bad the people emperours and Kinges none excepted to be obedient and subiect to them For wherein should they be subiect or in what thing should they obey if not in religion and matters thereunto apperteining Reade ouer the auncient histories aswell of the Griekes as of the Latines peruse the doinges of Iues and Gentiles paganes heathen or what so euer people or nation yow list and yow shall neuer finde any to haue byn so barbarouse or far out of ordre that first they had not their religion and next their bishoppes and priestes to whome they wholie referred th'ordre and disposition thereof But to procede Chrisostom calleth the priestes the hart and stomack of the churche his reason is quia in rebus Spiritualibus per eos totus popâ—lus gubernatur because in spirituall gouernement all the people is gouerned by them Lo good readers here may yow see that in Chrisostomes time in that pure state of the primitiue churche all the people was in matters spirituall gouerned by not the kinges or other ciuile magistrates but the bisshoppes and priestes Then wer the priestes in those matters iudges and emperours them selues subiectes Then had emperours and kinges this persuasion that they could garnish their stile with none more excellent title or name more honorable then to be called the children of the churche Thus thought Constantinus the greate the first empâ—rour that is reported to haue openly professed Christ. who as Ruffinus witnesseth of him being present at the first generall councel of Nice which was assembled aboue twelue hundred yeares agoe had there deliuered vnto him certein libelles and billes of complaintes that the bishoppes had one of them put vp ageinst an other The which all as he receiued and put vp into his bosom so after that he had refused to be iudge in their causes affirming that it becaÌ„ not him to iudge them to whome god had giuen power to iudge him and that therefore their querels what so euer they wer they should referre to the iudgement of almighty god as hauing no other iudge emongest men he caused without once opening them to see the contentes to be throwen into the fier that the brawle and discord he said of priestes might neuer goe farder into the knowledge of men But here our aduersaries as blame theÌ„ I can not seing they will nedes be patrones to desperat causes if theie be glad to catche holde of a little will perhappes â—ay that I haue vndiscretely behaued my self in alleaging this auctoritie which fardereth me not so much one waie as it hindreth me an other in that by the historie it apâ—eareth that th'emperour sat in the councell with the bishoppes Well of th' alleaging of this place who is like to get shame and who honestie who to winne and who to lose therebie for our aduersaries also I am not ignorant thereof ar wont to bring this example for them the triall thereof I leaue till such time as it shalbe laied more whotly to my charge which shalbe hereafter in bringing to light such simple store as they haue gathered together for the confirmation of their parte from th' examples of such emperours as sence christes time haue reigned Yeat this may I be bould to say in the meane season that as Constantinus sat in the councell with the bishoppes there was neuer yet emperour nor kinge for bidden I dare well say to sitte nor neuer I trowe shall And ouer this that in there being it is not very likely that he encroched any thing apon the spirituall iurisdiction bothe by that which yow haue hard before and also for this that being on a time as S. Austen reporteth of him required by the Donatistes to take apon him the hearing of the cause which depended betwene them and Cecilian th'archebishop of Carthage he refused to meddle there with all because saith he non est ausus de causaeepiscopi iudicare because he durst not be iudge in a bisshops cause But leauing this for the while let vs examine the doings of other good and catholike emperours Valentinianus th'emperour was from that desire of gouerning in churche matters and ecclesiasticall causes so far that as Sozomenus writeth of him being required on the behalf of the bishoppes that inhabited the partes of Hellespontus and Bithinia that he would vouchesauf to be present with them to entreat of certein pointes in religion to be refourmed he made them this asnwer To me being one of the people it is not laufull to search out such thinges But the priestes to whome the charge thereof belongeth let them assemble them selues where they list This is the same ValentiniaÌ„ who willing the bishoppes to chose a meete man to the see of Millain being by the deathe of Auxentius then voide vsed to theâ— thiese wordes Talem in pontificali constituite sede cui nos qui guberâ—amus imperium sincerâ— nostra capita submittamus cuius â—onita dum tanquam homines deliquerimus necessariò velut curantis medicamenta suscipiamus that is to say Choose yow such a bishop as to whome eueÌ„ we which gouerne the empire may syncerely submit our selues and whose monicions while like men we fall as pacients doe the phisicions receiptes we may necessarily receiue This to be short is he which would not so much as be present wheÌ„ Sixtus the B. of Rome was charged with certein accusations but rising from the councel left him to be iudged of him self His sonne also Valentinian succeding his father in th'empire proclaymed he him self chief gouernor in causes ecclesiasticall True it is that being yet a childe and seduced by his wicked mother Iustina to fauour the horrible heresie of the Arrians he began to affect that title But after S. Ambrose like a true bishop and faithefull councelor had tolde him that it apperteigned not to him to pretend any auctoritâ—e or right to meddle with the ouersight of gods matters that to him belonged his palaces and to the priestes the churches that he should not auaunce him self but be subiect to god and giue to hiÌ„ that wich was his reseruing to Cesar that which was Cesars after that he had proposed to him the example of his father who not onelie in wordes saide that it was not his parte to iudge emongest the bishoppes but established also a lawe that in causes of faithe and religion yea in th'examination of the maners of bishoppes and priestes onelie â—ishoppes
emperour yet hath he not thereby gotten auctoritie to depose bishoppes and ordeine newe â–ª which onely bishoppes must doe So strange a thing semed it then good readers in Christes churche which nowe we see so commonly done Long after thiese emperours start vp Leo Isaurus emperour of Constantinople he that made war with images Ageinst him god raised vp also his Azarias one to warn him of his duetie and that was that notable learned man Iohn Damascenus Giue saith he the apostle Paule crieth to euery one his due honor feare pension tribute to eche one that which they ought to haue The charge that kinges haue is to see well to their common weales the ordering of the churches apperteineth to the pastours and teachers This manner of inuading other mennes offices I can terme it no better my brethern then robbery and plaine violence And a little after he hath thiese wordes Tibi ô rex in ijs quae pertinent ad presentis vitae negocia c. As for those thinges ô king which concern onely this presâ—nt life in those we willingly obey the. In ordering thâ— state of the churche we haue shepherdes which haue spoken to vs the worde of god that is to saie taught it vs and haue left vs rites and ordres therefore And in the same place he addeth Non recipio regeÌ„ qui per tyrannidem sibi sacerdotiuÌ„ vsurpat I acknowledge him for no king that vsurpeth by tirany the priestes office And last of all to knit vp the knot in plaine wordes he saith Non assentior vt regum legibus gubernetur ecclesia sed patrum potius traditionibus siue scriptae hae sint siue non scriptae I consent not saith he that the churche of god shalbe gouerned by the lawes of kinges but by the traditions rather of oure fathers be they written or vnwritten And thus much hetherto good readers haue I thought good to reherce that yow may the better vnderstand how the auncient fathers of Christes churche haue not ceased continually from time to time to resist the vnlaufull attempt of such princes as being heretikes or enueigled theretoe by heretikes for of other perdy it was neuer gone about nor of all them neither would contrary to the expresse worde of god the custome of Christes churche from the beginning continued the alowed exaÌ„ples of all ages of all common weales Christian and heathen hetherto practised mingle heauen and earth holie and prophane together by vnlawfull vsurping to them selues the supreme and chief gouernement in causes ecclesiasticall To come nearer home to our owne time and daies if in it any prince haue attempted the like there hath not lacked also stoare of diuerse meÌ„ singuler bothe for their vertuous life and exquisite learning which haue rather chosen to withstand the same with the expence of their bloud and losse of this present life then to the vtter destructioÌ„ of both body and soule and losse of that which must continue for euer to consent thereto But if thiese examples please not the deinty tast of the aduersaries as being ouer stale I shall set before them their owne deare derling the piller while he liued of their religion the very head of their churche if they be not all together headlesse their Idol and their god in earthe whose doctrine and opinions at other times and in other thinges they haue so rauenouslie deuoured Iohn Caluin him self For if kinges and temporall gouernours as our aduersaries affirme ought euerie one of them in their realmes signories and dominions to gouerne in causes ecclesiasticall and matters of religion whie did then that monsterous beaste in his comentaries apon the prophetes Osâ—e and Amos rayl apoÌ„ our late souereigne lorde king Henrie the eight calling him homo belluinus a beastelie maÌ„ and comparing him with Iehû whome he termeth wicked and nought Why termed he theÌ„ blasphemers that first buzzed into his eares that vaine desire to be called chief head of the churche of England for of other yow wot well he neuer attempted to be nor euer was called vnder Christe here in earth If Caluin haue taught the truthe then haue his scholers taught vs and yeat doe feede vs with lies If they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie chief head of the churche of England vnder Christ which is to saie in effect nothing elles but to be chief gouernour in all causes belonging to the same who was yet a man although laie and thereto also of great wisdome and learning in what degree of blasphemie shall we place them that giue this title not to laie men onelie but to women also and children with out respect If Caluin who touching the giuing of this vnlaufull title to our late lord and maister was vtterly innocent coÌ„plained yet that euen his conscience was wounded not a little there withall how much more daungerousely wounded ought they to thinck them selues who of so many horrible and bloudly woundes whereby for the refusall to folow this example in christes churche neuer hard of before so many godly learned and innocent men in this realme haue died some by heading some by hanging some by quartering and tearing peace meale one membre from an other haue by ther false and vntrue suggestions byn the chief and onelie occasion who yet like cruell bloudsuckers and bloudy bourreâ—aus cary about in their murdering aud malicious mouthes the naked knife which wer it laufull for them they would sheathe in the throates of euerie one of vs that thinck not as they doe But if now on the contrarie part their maister Caluin wer deceauid if they be in the right and he in the wrong why steppeth none of them furth to defend and vindicate from perpetuall infamy that prince of famouse memory which by his railing writinges this wretched caytiff goeth about to bring him into why haue they left him so long vndefended who did no other thing then whereof them selues wer the authors and first beginners Or why at the least purge theie not them selues of the horrible crime of blasphemie laied by him to their charges and all such as theie ar for if they wer blasphemers that called king Henrie head of the churche of Englande what priuilege haâ—e thiese that calling not onelie him but his sonne and daughter by the same title in effect they should not incurre the same crime Where is now their spirit of vnitie that they ar wont so much to bragge of which dissent not here in any small poinct or from any meane man but euen from the chiefest caterpiller whyle he liued of their congregatioÌ„ who not onely in thiese places before by me alleaged kepeth as it wer with their proceadings a combat but elles where in his InstitutioÌ„s doeth merueilousâ—y discredit the same And in steede of manie places which might be brought here out of his worckes I shall onely for this time be coÌ„tented to alleage one in such sort as I finde it in the frenche because at the writing hereof
of emperours and kinges ouer bishoppes and priestes Trulie that Iustinian did this it is but barelie affirmed nor any place in th'apologie is there coated where a maÌ„ that doubted might see it proued And therefore with the same auctoritie might it be denied with the which it is proposed to be beleued True it is that Theodora th'empresse as some write being alltogether giuen to the heresie of Eutiches after she had long trauailed first with Siluerius and after Vigilius bothe bishops of Rome to haue Menna the catholike archebishop of Constantinople depriued of his bishoprick and the heretike Anthimius remoued by Agapetus before restored again and could not obteine at their handes her wicked purpose did apon displeasure conceiued by this repulse â— procure by the meanes of Belisarius Iustinians chief â—apitaine the banishement first of th'one and after of th'other Who so euer deposed them or who so euer banâ—shed them true is it that this was the cause thereof and no other Which being as in dede it is most true let vs nowe graunte to our aduersaries that it was not the empresse but the emperour him self that deposed them and let vs see how they be hable to proue thereby that emperours and kinges may degrade priestes and depose bishoppes If they will deale vprightely they must to proue it â—eason thus Iustinian otherwise a Christian emperour but in this point a cruell heretike tirannously deposed two popes Siluerius and Vigilius onely because they would not doe wrong that is depriue him of his bishoprick to a catholike bishop and restore an heretike laufully before depriued Ergo th'emperour is aboue the pope Ergo kinges be aboue bishoppes Is not this a propre kinde of reasoning trowe yow Might they not haue reasoned after this sort that Nero deposed S. Petre that Traian put downe Clement with a nombre of such like examples For to saie that Iustinian was a christian whereas thiese wer infidelles is but a mist cast in to th'obiection to desell our eyes For who seeth not if he be not allreadie blinde that this deede if it should haue bene Iustinians to mainteine and defend an open heretike ageinst a faithefull and true catholyke had bene the act of a tyrant and infidell not of a Christian and good prince and that it is no better reason to say and conclude that he deposed them and therefore iustlie then it should be to say that he defended the heretike Anthimius and therefore rightefullie But seing this example will not serue our aduersaries turn let vs assaie to make it serue ours And first let vs examine what should be the cause why Iustinian should be so earnest with these two bishoppes of Rome to depose the B. of Constantinople and to restore the heretike that stoode depriued was he not emperour of all the worlde had he not by the meanes thereof as our newe doctours beare vs in hande the chief gouernement ouer all matters spirituall and temporall was on the other side the auctoritie of the bishoppes of Rome at that time such that it extended I will not saie out of their owne diocesse to any other bishoppes in the Latine churche but to Constantinople the chief of the Grieke Here ar they taken how so euer they answer For first if th'emperour had bene of that auctoritie that they saie the laie magistrates arre why did he not then by his owne mere and absolute power displace the one and place the other Might he not as well haue deposed one bisshop at Constantinople as two at Rome But if on the contrarie parte they answer that the pope was he that must necessarilie place and displace euen at that time and in the Grieke churche and not the emperour whie then should it be laufull at this time for emperours or kinges to doe that which was not laufull to be done then Or why should it not now be laufull for the B. of Rome which at those daies was not vnlaufull Thus may yowe see good Readers howe this history wholly and truly alleaged maketh not onely not against vs but also much with vs if it had bene true that th'apologie saieth that Iustinian had deposed those two popes Yea but say they yowe can not denie that the emperour made lawes of matters of religion that he absteined not euen in matters of the churche froÌ„ thiese termes Sancimus iubemus we ordeine we commaunde with such like Trulie this can I not denie and if I would there be whole constitutions of his ready to be brought againste me as that where he commaundeth that none be made bisshop that hath a wife and of them that haue had such as haue had oneâ—ie one the same no widowe neither deuorced from her husband neither forbidden by the holie canons and also that where he commaundeth that of priestes no other be receiued to that ordre but such as vel coelibem vitam agunt vel vxorem habuerunt aut habent legitimam eam vnam primam nequé viduam nequé diuortio separatam à viro aut alioquiî legibus aut sacris interdictam canonibus that is to saie as either leade a single life or haue had a laufull wife or presently haue and that one and the first no widowe none diuorsed from her husband or otherwise by the lawes or holie canons forbidden and that of deacons also where he giueth coÌ„maundement that if he that should be deacon haue no wife presently he be not otherwise promoted except being first asked of him which giueth the ordres whether he caÌ„ from thence furth liue without a wife he answer yea In somuch that th'emperour plainely pronounceth that he that ministreth to him the ordres can not dispence with him to mary after and that if he should so doe the bishop which suffred it should be deposed But although this be true that th'emperour Iustinian not onelie in thiese matters which touched the cleargie but in manie other also hath entremedled yet hath he alwaies so tempered the matter as he hath showed him selfe to be a folower not a leader a ministre to execute not a gouerner to prescribe The which thing his owne wordes in all such places where he entreateth of such matters placed as it wer for the nones to take awaie all such sinistre suspicioÌ„ doe manifestlie declare For either he hath these wordes Sequentes ea quae sacris definita sunt canonibus folowing the definition of the holy canons or thiese Sacras per omnia sequentes regulas in all poinctes folowing the holie rules or such like wherebi he would haue testified to the worlde that he meaneth by his penall lawes seuerelie to execute the canons of the churche and nothing lesse then to make newe him selfe In this sense vsed he the worde Sancimus we ordeine Where speaking of the first fower generall councels and the B. of Rome he hath thiese wordes Sancimus vt secundum eorum definitiones sanctissimus veteris Romae papa primus omniâ—m
by Ado who beareth witnesse that he was bishop there 25. yeares vntil the last yeare of Nero his reigne by Tertullian who in teaching vs howe to trie out heretikes which he saieth is if they be not able to deriue their doctrine from some churche where the apostles haue planted first the faithe either from Rome where Peter was or Smirna where S. Ihon the euangelist taught doeth most manifestly giue vs to vnderstand that they wer both bishoppes in those places What shall I here remembre S. Ciprian who had called Rome in vaine S. Peters chaire if he had neuer bene bishop there Or S. Hierom who in one place reconeth howe manie yeares he possessed the bishoprike there and in diuerse other calleth Damasus the B. of Rome successor in Peters faith and seate Or Optatus B. of Miliuetum in Africa who told Parmenian the Donatist that he could not alleage ignorance knowing right well that the bishoppes chaire was first giuen to Peter in the citie of Rome in the which he sate being head of all the apostles And to conclude woulde trowâ— we in skirmishing with the Donatistes S. Austen haue bidden them viewe the bishoppes of Rome sence S. Peters time if he had neuer bene bishop there This therefore standing as manifestlie true it remaineth that I proue the second parte which is that S. Peter being bishop of Rome was called head of the churche The which thing is easie to be proued by the testimony of diuers auncient writers and first of S. Austen Who in a certeine sermon of his entreating of Peters deniall of Christe hath thiese wordes Totius corporis morbum in ipso capite curat ecclesiae inipso vertice componit membroruÌ„ omnium sanitatem that is to saie In the head of the churche it selfe he meaneth of S. Peter hath he cured the disease of the whole bodie and in the chief parte thereof the very top doeth he set in ordre the health of all the membres Leo the B. of Rome the first of that name whome although Caluin because he sawe in his doinges so manie tokens and signes of chief gouernement ouer the churche as by no meanes he coulde auoide but that he so was calleth proude and orgulouse the substance yet of the world for learning and vertue gathered together at Calcedon honored with the name of ter beatus thrise happie or blessed whome Martianus the emperour called Sanctissimus most holie he I saie nameth Peter to be not onelie bishop of the see of Rome but primate also and chief of all other bishoppes Chrisostome a doctour of the grieke churche affirmeth the same in moste plaine and euident wordes saing Petrus futurae ecclesiae pastor constituitur ac caput piscator homo Hunc vniuerso terrarum orbi Christus praeposuit Peter a fissher man is appoincted to be the shepherd and head of Christes churche that he will builde Him hath Christ made ruler ouer all the worlde And in an other place he saieth Christus Petro ecclesiae primatum gubernationemque per vniuersum â—â—undum tradidit Christ deliuered vnto Peter the primacie of the churche and rule thereof thorough out all the worlde Last of all note I beseche yowe to this purpose out of Chrisostome thiese wordes Quanam item de causa Christus sanguinem effudit suum Certé vt pecudes eas acquireret quarum curam tuÌ„ Petro tuÌ„ Petri successoribus committebat Which is in english to saie thus much For what cause I praie yow did Christ shed bis bloud Truelie to redeme those shepe whose charge he committed to Peter and to Peters successors Here would I aske of yow M. Iuel this question whether yow thincke that Christ died for all his churche or for some parte thereof onelie Chrisostome in answering to this question for whome he shed his bloude answereth as hath bene saide for them whome he committed to Peters charge and his successors If the whole churche be not committed to Peter and his successors but onelie one parte thereof then foloweth it that either Chrisostome thought he died for no other or elles did he euel solute his owne question But for so vndoubted a truthe was it taken with Chrisostome and in his time with all other that S. Peter and the popes after him had the vniuersall charge of Christes churche that he was not a fearde by suche a periphrasis or circumlocution to vtter his minde as euery man he wyst as sone as he hard would easelie vnderstande Yow haue here harde M. Iuell for the confirmation of the minor of mine argument or second proposition not one but three substantiall witnesses that haue called S. Peter heade of the churche bishop not of Rome onelie but of all other bishops the chief that haue affirmed that to him was committed by Christ the gouernement and superioritie ouer the churche thorough out all the worlde that he and his successors haue the charge of those shepe for whome Christ died So that apon the coÌ„clusioÌ„ which necessarilie foloweth Ergo the bishoppe of Rome was of one auncient doctour in the firste sixe hundred yeares after christ called head of the churche I might M. Iuell if I wouâ—d eueÌ„ out of hande if yow haue allready yealded to none other chalenge yowe for my prisonier your importune request being as yowe see sufficientlie satisfied For yowe caÌ„ not say pardy that although yowe graunte with the auncieÌ„t fathers that S. Peter was heade of the churche that the bishoppes yeat of Rome his successors wer not First because that wer as much in effect to saie as that Christ would that there should be a heade of his churche and no heade a head while Peter liued and after none And if that be your answer I praie yowe tell vs a cause whie and showe vs some scripture where our Sauiour Christ so taught or his apostles deliuered or the auncient councels and holie fathers haue so affirmed Secondarily yow ar barred of this plea because the verie nature of succession is such that excepte he or some other hauing auctoritie into whose place an other succedeth expresselie prouide for the contrary which yet remaineth to be proued that euer Christ or S. Peter did he coÌ„meth directly in to all the righte and interest what so euer it be that his author had before him Last of all yowe can not vse this friuolouse exception that this title of heade of the churche began and ended alltogether with Peter as most foolishely Iohn Caluin doeth who graunting that Peter was in dede the heade and chief of the apostles because he saieth the verie ordre of nature requireth that in all companies there be one to gouerne the rest denieth yet that the B. of Rome succeding in Peters office should be heade of the churche nowe as S. Peter was of the apostles which represented the same then and that for so the because that which had place emongest a
fewe maie not sodenlie be drawen to all the worlde for the gouernment whereof no one man alone can suffise For this grosse errour is bothe by auctoritie and also reason easie to be confuted By the auctoritie of S. Chrisostome who as ye hard before named in the gouernement of the churche as far forwarde the successours of S. Peter as S. Peter him selfe By reason because if there wer such feare of disordre in twelue parsones so small a nombre so well ordered and directed by the spirite of god as the holie apostles wer that euen emongest them for the auoiding thereof there must nedes be had one heade howe much more nede is it to haue one emongest so manie thousandes as the churche consisteth of If a fewe be likelier to agre then a greate nombre if vnitie be named of one because lightelie none iarreth or is at dissention with him selfe if the nearer that all nombres come to that one the lesse confusion and the farder we goe from it the greater is like to folowe then is there no man I trust so blinde but that he maie easelie see that the same cause of schismes and disorder yea so much more greater as the churche is more amplified and encreased to be feared remaining still the remedie which is to haue one heade must also endure and continue still And as for that sory shift of the compase and largenesse of the churche which no one man is hable to rule of what value and force that is he that listeth to cast his eye first to the time passed and gouernement in those daies when nexte vnder god all was gouerned by one and then after to this miserable time of oures in which there be so manie heades one of the churche of England an other of that of Geneua one of VVittemberge an other of Franckford of euerie churche one and in all none euerie one chalenging to him selfe merum imperium absolute iurisdiction out of the checke of anie other and to considre with him selfe in eche of these gouernementes their seuerall effectes the quiet reâ—gne of one truthe in the one the diuerse sectes and heresies in what parte of the worlde so euer theie sprang vp ouerthrowen and repressed the sondrie triumphes that Christes churche hath had ouer them these fiftene hundred yeares in thother scarse yet of forty yeares contâ—nuance the tumultuouse hurliburlie the perniciouse and horrible heresies neuer before hard of the sondrie schismes and sectes so manie as there be heades the arrogancie of the capitaines and maisters while euerie one boasting of the spirite and vaunting as S. Hierom saieth that he hath the churche on his side will submit him selfe to no other the implacable hatred of the scholers and disciples euery one standing apon his maisters honor and reputation with an infinite nombre and whole swarme of euels mo which I reserue to an other place shalbe easelie able without the helpe of anie other him self to iudge I omit here touching this foolishe reason that therefore there can not be nowe one heade of the churche as in S. Peters time there was because the churche is so encreased that no one maÌ„ is able to gouerne the same proceding first from Caluin and patched afterwardes into our englishe apologie that seing he that at the beginning appointed this one heade where he might haue appoincted more and did not neuer chauÌ„ged that ordre sence being all this while not ignoraÌ„t to what greatenes his churche should after growe it can to no man that hath the vse of reason seme other but that either he thought that one ruling by such as he should appointe vnder him might suffise for the gouernement of his churche or suerlie at the leaste that he hath not circumspectly prouided therefore But if all these mere cauillations had bene good and strog reasons yet haue I showed yow ynough in this one B. of Rome S. Peter who hath bene called yow haue hard howe often heade of the churche and chief of all bishoppes to gaine yow if yowe will stande to your worde to our parte M. Iuell Because notwithstanding I would haue yowe with your good will I will yeat showe yow the like titles giueÌ„ by the auncient fathers to other bishoppes of Rome And to frame my selfe the more to your humour although I thinck yow put no difference betwene thiese termes heade of the churche ruler of the churche chief of all other priestes with such like manie other that the fathers and auncient generall councels haue not spared to vse as often as theie had occasion to either write or speake to or of the B. of Rome I will here first alleage vnto yow certeine auctorities where the B. of Rome hathe bene called sence S. Peters time and yet within the first sixe hundred yeares euen in expresse wordes heade of the churche and then after the testimonies of diuerse other who although theie vse not the same wordes affirme yet and confirme the same preeminence and auctoritie Vincentius therefore Lirinensis a man of singuler learning and of the olde age for he florished vnder Theodosius and Valentinian th'emperours writing of the bishoppes that wer assembled at Ephesus in the councell there ageinst the heretike Nestorius maketh mention of two bishoppes of Rome Foelix the martir and Iulius whose epistles after that he had tolde wer there readen in the councell ageinst the saide heretike he addeth immedatlie after thiese wordes Et vt non solum caput orbis verumetiam ipsa latera illi iudicio testimonium perhiberent adhibitus est à meridie B. Cyprianus à Septentrione S. Ambrosius that is to saie And that it might not be saide that the heade of the worlde onelie gaue witnesse to that iudgement ageinst Nestorius but the ribbes also and sides there was present from the Southe blessed Ciprian and from the Northe holie Ambrose In the fourthe generall councell assembled at CalcedoÌ„ we finde that the legates of the B. of Rome writing in a certeine epistle to the emperour what theie had doen in the councell touching Dioscorus had these wordes Vnde sâ—nctissimus beatissimus Papa caput vniuersalis ecclesiae c. whereapoÌ„ the moste holie and blessed pope Leo heade of the vniuersall churche by vs his legates the holie councell consenting thereto hath depriued him Dioscorus of his bishoprick and degraded him of his priestehoode If the B. of Rome had not at that time emongest all men beneso reputed and taken is it credible that they would euer haue bene so boâ—ld nay impudent rather to giue him apon their owne heades anie suche title Or if they woulde haue nedes so called him being not so durst they in their lettres to themperour Wel if they had onely so called him some brable theie might yet perhappes haue made thereabout but seing the whole bodie of the councell the corps of Christendome the churche it selfe for such is euerie generall councell laufullie assembled in that epistle which they sent
aunâ—ieÌ„t fathers ar good groundes to builde apon Irinaeus S. Ambrose S. Austen and Theodoritus affirme that the churche of Rome is the chief of all other churches Ergo the B. and heade of that churche is chief and heade ouer all other bishoppes and heades of all other churches And thus much by the occasion offred Stephan to return from whence we haue digressed the archebishop of Carthage with three councels of Africa called the B. of Rome pater patrum summus omnium praesulum pontifex that is to saie father of fathers and chief B. of all bishoppes Constantinus the emperour in one place calleth him summus pontifex the chief bishop and in an other vniuersalis papa vniuersall pope In which place he also commaunded that the churche of Rome should be called the heade of all other in the worlde and for so reputed and taken Hetherto haue I proued vnto yow that the B. of Rome hath bene of the auncient fathers of Christes churche within the firste sixe hundred yeares after Christes departure hence called heade of the churche ruler of the churche chief prieste chief of all other bishoppes bishop of the vniuersall churche and vniuersall bishop Nowe will I showe that the doctours and fathers in the primitiue churche haue not onelie in wordes which yet proceding from the mouthes of such men as they wer might to anie honest man seme sufficient so termed him but by seuerall actes also of theirs well witnessed to the worlde that in their consciences for so theie tooke him And euen as in the lawe to proue the possession of a lordshippe or manor it is a sufficient proufe to bring in euideÌ„ce that he who is disturbed therein hath quietlie without interruption or contradiction maâ—ured and tylled the grounde reaped and receauid the fruites or in a controuersie of iurisdiction to proue the doing of such actes as properlie belong thereunto euen so in this case if I proue vnto yow that the auncient fathers of Christes churche the same whome I named to yowe before haue some of them from the fardest parte of the Easte churche complained to the B. oâ— Rome of wronges don to them some of them required him to confirme their actes and ratifie their doinges other some sente to him their worckes by him to be examined and iudged I nothing doubte but yow will easelie graunte that these ar to induce and proue his iurisdiction ouer the whole churche argumentes moste strong and inuincible To performâ— this the better call to your remembrance I beseche yowe that which a littell before I alleaged to yow out of S Chrisostome where he witnessed that Peter and his successors had the charge of those shepe for whome Christ shed his bloud and then iudge I praie yowe whether of likelihood he thought not as he saide when being chased from his folde and flocke at Constantinople where he was archebishop and vniustlie driuen into banishement he wrote vnto Innocentius then being pope and the chief shepherd for helpe after this manner Obsecro scribas quôd haec tam iniquâ— facta absentibus nobis non declinantibus iudicium non habeant robur sicut neque sua natura habent illi autem qui iniquè egerunt poenaeecclesiâ—sticarum legum subiaceant that is to saie I praie yow saith this holie father to the pope addresse furth your lettres to signifie that those thinges which haue so vniustly bene decreed ageinst me in my absence not proceding of contumacy maie be of no force as of their owne nature theie ar not and that they which haue giuen this vniust sentence maie suffer the smart of the ecclesiasticall lawes Beholde here good readers a moste manifest place to proue in those daies the vniuersall auctoritie of the pope Two thinges there ar here to be noted which Chrisostome desireth the pope to doe first to declare that all that was doen ageinst him should be of no force nexte that he would write that they might be punished which had thus misused him Nowe if the pope had had nothing to doe out of his owne churche then had wote yow well Chrisostome bene a mad man to make labour to him to sende his commaundementes to the Grieke churche to entremeddle in the affaires thereof who might easely haue receiued of the doers of those iniuries which wer membres thereof as Chrisostome was this short answer to meddle with his owne matters and to let theÌ„ alone with theirs Or if he had had nothing to doe in that cause which was concerning the archebishoprike of Constantinople woulde he is it like haue excommunicate Arcadius th'emperour with Eudoxia th'empresse for not permitting Chrisostom quietly to enioye his said bishoprike as Nicephorus reporteth of him that he did by thiese wordes Itaquè ego minimus indignus peccator cui thronus magni apostoli Petri creditus est segrego reijcio te illam à perceptione immaculatorum mysteriorum Christi Dei nostri Episcopum etiam omnem aâ—t clericum ordinis sanctae dei ecclesiae qui administrare aut exhibere ea vobis ausus fuerit ab ea hora qua praesentes vinculi mei legeritis literas dignitate sua excidisse dâ—cerno That is to say I therefore Innocentius the pope of all other the leaste and an vnworthy sinner to whome the throne of the greate apostle Peter is committed doe sequestre and reiect both the and her the Empresse he meaneth from the receauing of the immaculate misteries of Christ our god The bishop or clerck within the ordre of the holye churche of god which shall presume what so euer he be from the time that these letters conteining the band of our â—xcommunication shall come to your knowledge to ministre the sacrameÌ„tes vnto yow him pronounce I depriued of his dignitie Nowe if he had then auctoritie ouer Constantinople in the Grieke churche whie doe yowe at thiese dayes M. Iuell thrust him out of Englande in the Latine churche S. Hierom as yow harde before called the B. of Rome chief prieste and successor to Peter If he had not thought as he saide would he euer haue penned his faithe and sent it to him to be allowed with thiese wordes Haec est fides beatissime papa quaÌ„ in ecclesia Catholica didicimus quamque semper tenuimus tenemus In qua si minus perité aut paruÌ„ cauté aliquid forté posituÌ„ est â–ª emendari a te cupimus qui Petri fideÌ„ fedeÌ„ tenes c. This is that faithe most blessed pope which I haue learned in the catholike churche and which I haue euer hetherto mainteined and still doe In to the which if anie thing by me be either not cunningly or without due circumspection infarsed or put in that desire I by yow to be corrected who possesse bothe the faithe and seate of Peter And if this confession of my faithe be by the iudgement of your apostleship alowed who so euer he be
that will afterwardes carpe and reproue the same proue he maie wel him selfe a foole or maliciouse or not catholike but me an heretike shall he neuer proue Hetherto S. Hierome with whome if one would after this sorte expostulate What meane yowe S. HieroÌ„ to boaste so much apon the iudgemeÌ„t of one who as he is a maÌ„ although learned yet not the learnedest in the world so maie he both dâ—ceaue and be deceauid Whie saie yow that who so euer â—â—ndeth faulte with your faithe â–ª after Damasus the popes approbation and allowance thereof shall neuer be hable to proue yowe an heretike Maie not many heades finde out that wherein one hath failed Me thincketh I saie to him that should thus question with him I heare him expounding his owne wordes and answering for him selfe in this wise What arte thow man that findest faulte with my wordes and vnderstaÌ„dest not my meaning Am I thinckest thow he that will pinne my faithe to anie mans backe what so euer he be Doe not I knowe as well as thow that Damasus is a man that he maie deceaue and be deceauid yea truelie But on thother side as I knowe all this rightwell so am I not ignoraÌ„t that he that sitteth in Peters chaire that the B. of Rome in matters of faithe can not giue wrong iudgement And therefore cease to maruell if apon the trust of this priuileage I chalenge all the whole worlde and saie that of them all there is no one that can proue me an heretike whome Damasus being thus qualified hath alowed for a good christian It is not Damasus so hath this qualitie to be the chief gouernour of Christes churche altered him that I stay my self apon It is Peter it is Christ him self If apon anie other persuasion I had vsed thiese wordes â–ª well might I haue bene saide to haue abused my self But that this was euen from the beginning my meaning and not inueÌ„ted sence for my defence loke once again to my wordes where I saie not simplie I desire to be corrected of the but of the which holdest Peters faithe and seate nor yeat spake of the alowing of my faithe by Damasus but apostolatus sui iudicio by the iudgement of his seate of his apostleship Thus much touching S. Hierom. of whose minde if any man yeat doubte in this coÌ„trouersy him shall I praie to take the paines for his better instruction to reade a certeine other epistle of his to Damasus and apon these wordes which he vttred of Peters chaire Quicunque extra hanc domuÌ„ agnuÌ„ comederit prophanus est who so euer eateth the lambe he meaneth receiueth the blessed body and bloud of Christ out of this house he is prophane to serche for the iudgement of Erasmus where he shall finde in expresse wordes that S. Hieromes opinion was that all churches should be subiect to the churche of Rome S. Austen as before yow hard called Peter B. of Rome heade of the churche he tolde Bonifacius his successor that he was placed in Christes churche aboue the rest of the bishoppes And did he not well de clare by sending to the same Bonifacius his boke written ageinst the two epistles of the PelagiaÌ„s to be iudged and examined by him that he tooke him for no lesse in deede then he had pronounced of him in wordes For trulie S. Austens learning being such as in his age there liued not his matche for the perusing of his worckes bothe had he had little neede oâ— his helpe and if he had had much there liued yet manie to haue bene consulted thereapon better learned then he and more nearer to him toe then was Rome to the place where he had his abiding had it not bene that persuading him selfe as did S. Hierome in the like case before he had made his full and sure account first that his iudgement in that that he was Peters successor and heade of the churche was by the verie mouthe of Christ him selfe warranted in matters of faithe neuer to erre and nexte that his worcke being confirmed by auctoritie such as was his should so quell and beate downe to the grounde the heretikes his aduersaries as with the worlde they should neither be hable to susteine their credite gotten nor after that gaine newe Theodoritus saide of the B. of Rome Vos enim summosesse conuenit for yow must be the chiefest of all other and of the churche it selfe that it was the greatest the noblest of all other and that which gouerned all the worlde It is euideÌ„t that he wrote as he thought wheÌ„ being vniustly deposed he appealed to the B. of Rome desired his helpe and that he would coÌ„maunde him to appeare before him there to pleade his cause and showe his righte as he did in dede and was restored by him By these auctorities it appeareth M. Iuell that the fathers of Christes churche be not so thinne soweÌ„ on our side as yow beare the worlde in hande theie ar seing that I haue here brought yow not one alone as yow demaunded but manie not their bare wordes which although of theÌ„ selfe moste plaine and manifest might perhappes haue bene subiect to your wrangling interpretations but their seuerall actes and deedes the best expositors of their owne mindes confirming most manifestly the same Will yow haue nowe some allowed example of the primitiue churche to testifie the same What better examples can yowe haue then that in all controuersies arising either betwene bishop and bishop priuatelie or in the whole churche publickelie sence the beginning the B. of Rome hath bene onelie he to whome the parties grieued wer they catholikes or heretikes good or bad haue had recourse for helpe What better examples then that emongest so manie appeales made vnto him there is not so much as one instance to be giuen of some one that laufullie and orderly appealed from him and whose such appeale toke effect Who hath cited to his coÌ„sistorie euen from the fardest parte of the Easte churche and as Theodoritus writeth ecclesiasticam secutus regulâ—â— folowing the rule of the churche offenders and transgressors of the holie canons The B. of Rome Who is it without whose licence and consent the primitiue churche forbad councels to be holden or bisshoppes to be condemned Trulie the pope The whole councell of Nice affirming the same if we will giue credite to Athanasius who was present thereat and affirmeth it to be so although the canon thereof for of 70. there agree apon we haue onelie at this daie 20. be perished and not nowe to be had Where I can not but note by the waye the circumspect manner of writing vsed by Athanasius who saieth not that the councell of Nice decreed or ordeined this but onelie that by their iudgemeÌ„tes they coÌ„firmed and renewed the same His wordes ar these In Nicena synodo 318. episcoporuÌ„ concorditer ab omnibus roboratum â–ª it was in the councell holden at Nice by ful consent of all the
apon D. Coles wor des in the margeÌ„t of your boke that no B. of Rome before S. Gregories time would euer be called vniuersall biâ—shop finallie then would yowe not so ignorantlie haue confounded together these termes vniuersall bishop and heade of the churche as though theie had in that place signified all one thing The which that theie doe not no maÌ„ doeth more plainelie expresse then S. Gregorie him selfe who writeth of S. Peter after this maÌ„ner The charge saith he and supremacie of all the whole churche was committed to him and yeat was he not called vniuersall apostle Lo M. Iâ—ell if you had taken the paines to haue scanned the place of S. Gregorie alleaged by yow by this and such other would yow euer haue brought in to the lighte this deade mouse this false argument and vntrue consequent There was neuer anie B. of Rome called or that would be called by the name of vniuersall bishop therefore â–ª theie be not or ought not to be heades of the churche Seing that S. Peter as saithe S. Gregorie had the charge of the whole churche although he wer neuer called by the name of vniuersall apostle If S. Peter might be heade of the churche and without anie absurditie haue the charge thereof as S. Gregorie thought although he wer not called vniuersall apostle whie should yow thicke it now anie more impossible for the pope to be called head of the churche although he be not called vniuersall bishoppe And so haue yowe by the waie an answer to your wise demaunde also that is if no B. of Rome would euer take apon him to be called th'vniuersall bishoppe or heade of the whole churche for the space of six hundred yeares after Christe where then was the heade of the vniuersall churche all that while or howe it coulde then continue without a heade more theÌ„ nowe For we saie vnto yow that that is moste false and vntrue which yowe lay for a grounded truthe that is that no B. of Rome woulde euer be called by the name of heade of the churche within the first six hundred yeares after Christe as hath bene sufficientlie proued before and that also as we haue declared yowe abuse your selfe in the framing of your saide questioÌ„ in taking for all one the heade of the churche and the vniuersall bishoppe And thus haue yow one cause whie this place of S. Gregorie maketh nothing ageinst the supremacie of the B. of Rome And other cause is for that that Iohn the B. of Constantinople by this name or title of vniuersall bishoppe vnderstoode him selfe onelie to be a bishoppe and none elles Which meaning neither in the first six hundred yeares nor at anie time sence anie B. of Rome that I could yeat heare of euer had And that this is the true meaning of S. Gregorie and not forced by me the verie wordes of the same man written to Iohn archebishop of Constantinople doe well witnesse with me Qui enim indignum te esse fatebaris vt episcopus dici debuisses ad hoc quandoque perductusâ— es â–ª vt despectis fratribus episcopus appetas solus vocari that is to saie for thow Iohn B. of Constantinople which once grauntedst thy selfe to be vnworthie the name of a bishoppe art nowe at the length comme to that passe that thowe labourest to be called a bishop alone And a little after Thow goest about saieth he to take awaie that honour from all other which by singularitie thow desirest vnlaufullie to vsurpe to thy selfe Thus maie yowe see M. Iuell howe this place being by th'author him selfe expounded fardereth yow nothing at all and also by suche auctorities and reasons as haue for our parâ—e bene before alleaged vnderstand howe vnaduisedlie it was saide of yowe that the catholikes as sure as god is god if theie would haue vouchesaufed to folowe either the scriptures either the auncieÌ„t Doctours and couÌ„cels would neuer haue restored again the supremacie of the B. of Rome after it was once abolished Doe yow not hereby giue occasioÌ„ to meÌ„ to thinke that your lacke of faithe and mistrust in goddes omnipotency in other thinges groweth euen thereof that yow thincke god is not god For towching the supremacie hauing in the scriptures nothing in the councels as little in the fathers writinges onelie thiese fewe wordes that might se me to impugne the same and yet doe not howe will yow be able to discharge so manie auctorities of the fathers such consent of councels such conformitie of examples and force of reasons as haue bene and maie be brought ageinst yow howe will you satisfie your owne conscience which telleth yowe that so manie ceremonies so manie ordonances so manie decrees of bishoppes of Rome as Thomas Beacon otherwise called Theodore Basile or by what name so euer he be elles termed hath heaped together deliuered by them to the worlde some of them as emongest a nombre that which of all other yowe make lest account of holie water within little more then a hundred yeares after Christe and the most parte in the pure state of the primitiue churche would neuer haue bene by such common and generall confent without contradiction of anie receiued by the whole worlde vsed and frequented in all the churches scattred and dispersed thorough out the same onlesse the authors thereof had had vniuersall auctoritie to establishe that which hath bene vniuersallie receiued Thus hauing hetherto touching the supremacie saide so much as maie presently serue for your chalenge leauing the rest for a whole booke either by me when god shall sende better laisure or some other better able when he shall thincke best to be thereof made I shall nowe passe to the nexte article in question THAT THE PEOPLE VVAS TAVGHT VVITHIN THE FIRST SIX HVNDRED YEARES AFTER CHRISTE TO BELEVE that in the Sacrament of the altar for so dothe S. Austen terme it is conteined Christes bodie reallie substantiallie corporalie and carnallie TErtullian an auncient writer of Christes churche reporteth of heresie that the nature thereof is either when it is pressed with the auctoritie of scripture to denie it platlie to be scripture or if she receiue it with additions and detractions to the framing of her purpose to peruert it or finally with false gloses and vntrue expositions in such sorte to water it that it maie seme to haue a far other sense then had euer the holie ghost the author thereof This lesson and manner of olde heretikes was neuer I trowe more diligently put in execution or earnestlie practised theÌ„ in this our most miserable and wretched time nor in anie controuersie more perspicuouse and easie euen at the eye to be perceiued then in this of the moste blessed sacrament of Christes owne bodie and bloude For when our aduersaries demaunde of vs scripture for the confirmation of our parte and we bring them the wordes not of Peter not of Paule not of anie of thother apostles but of Christe him selfe that
saieth This is my bodie and not contented there with least some man might otherwise construe his wordes because he had at other times spoken by figures addeth the selfe same which shalbe betraied for yowe then which wordes if all the worlde would lay their heades together to deuise howe he might haue spoken more plainelie theie shall neuer finde the waie they bring vs a glose cleane contrarie to the texte that it signifieth his bodie that it is a figure thereof But what seing as S. Ambrose saieth oure lorde Iesus witnesseth vnto vs that we truly receaue his body and bloud shall we dout of his credite and witnes Naie we haue other councell and better by Cirillus who biddeth vs not to doute whether this be true or no but to embrace in faith the wordes of our Sauior who for as much as he is the truthe it selfe we maie well be suer can not lie Thus maie yowe see good Readers what it is to deale with heretikes whose propertie is alwaies to crie for scripture and in whose mouthe there is nothing so coÌ„mon as verbum domini verbum domini the worde of the lorde the worde of the lorde and yet when all is done and their request satisfied that is scripture brought to them theie ar not asshamed such is their impudencie either to saie that it is at all no scripture or that it maketh nothing ageinst them or to call that euident for them that in the iudgement of as manie as either ar wise or learned is moste euident ageinst them And of this disease if yowe had not M. Iuell bene daungerouslie sicke yowe would neuer haue put me or anie man elles to the paine to labour anie farder in the boulting oute of that truthe wherein Christe hath so plainelie opened him selfe as neither hath he nede by anie other to be expounded nor easelie can anie such I trowe be founde as shalbe hable more plainelie to expresse the same then hath Christe him selfe our maister allreadie doen. Notwithstanding because bothe yowe and your compaignions like cauilling Capernaites stande apon Christes meaning which as yowe saie was not all one with his wordes and also on this that we haue no olde writers to mainteine as it pleaseth yowe to terme it oure newe doctrine of Christes reall presence in the sacrament I shall assaie to make yow vnderstande at the least those good people whome yow haue so far abused that we haue agreate sorte more that saie with vs that Christes blessed bodie after the wordes of consecration duelie by the priest pronounced is reallie substantiallie and corporallie the same that was borne of the virgin Marie the same that he walcked in here in earthe the same that as him selfe witnesseth was deliuered for vs to be crucified on the crosse present in the sacrament then euer yow or the best that taketh your parte shall in susteining the contrarie be hable of them all to giue a right answer to anie one And here I shall first alleage that auncient writer Tertullian in whome writing aboue thirtene hundred yeares sence I finde to this purpose these wordes Caro corpore sanguine Christi vescitur vt anima de Deo saginetur non possunt ergo separ ari in mercede quas opera coniungit that is to saie Our fleshe feedeth on the bodie and bloude of Christe that the soule also maie be made fat by feading on god theie can not therefore be separated in rewarde which haue bene ioined and coupled together in worcking Note here I beseche yow good readers ageinst our aduersaries that would shift of this place with their olde accustomed answer that the breade is called his bodie for that it signifieth and representeth no lesse vnto vs those wordes of Tertullian where he saieth that the bodie and the soule can not be seuered in receauing their rewarde whome one office oâ— ministerie ioineth together If the bodie fede apon bare breade as our aduersaries affirme and not apon Christes blessed bodie and blood as Tertullian saieth howe then caÌ„ theie be saide to concurre in one ministerie where as either of them fedeth diuerâ—lie on diuerse thinges Or will yowe saie M. Iuell that flesh can fede apon signes or figures Trulie whether it can or no I durst referre the resolution hereof to your selfe if being shut vp without meate or drincke two or thre daies in some close roume it might be my chauÌ„ce to come to your speâ—he at the last I thincke yow would beâ—hrowe him that would râ—ake yow such an aâ—gument Yowe haue thought earnestlie apon meate all this while therefore yowe haue eaten your fill And would con him but little more thancke that would painte on the walles of your chambre the signe of a fat capon and bid yow eate and spare not But was Tertullian thincke we of this minde alone No trulie For besides him we haue to confirme the faithe of the churche in this pointe all the auncient writers as manie as by occasion make anie mention of this moste blessed Sacrament Emongest whome I â—hall next alleage S. CipriaÌ„ that holie and blessed martir Who in his worcke De duplici martyrio touching this matter hath these wordes Reliquit nobis edendam carnem suam Reliquit biâ—â—nduÌ„ sanguinem vt per eadem alâ—remur per quae sumus redempti Christ hath left vs his fleshe to eate â–ª and his bloude to drincke to the entent we might be noorished by the same thinges by the which we wer redemed Trulie if we be noorished by the same thinges by the which we haue bene redemed then ar we not noorished we maie be bolde to saie with a signe or figure of his bodie which onelie and nothing elles these newe founde vpstartes would make vs beleue to be in this Sacrament The same holie martyr in an other place hath to the same purpose these wordes The breade which our lorde deliuered to his disciples being changed not in forme or shape but in nature by the omnipotencie of the worde is made fleshe This place of S. Cyprian serueth me to double vse For bothe it manifestle proueth the reall presence and which yowe also denie and call a newe inuention vâ—knowen to thauncient fathers and first harde of in the councell holden at Laâ—er 〈◊〉 vnder Innocentius the thirde the transubstantiation of the breade into Christes naturall fleshe Your coÌ„mon answer that the base creatures of breade and wine be after the consecration changed and transmuted from common breade to be a Sacrament to be a signe a remembraâ—nce a signification of Christes bodie and bloude yea to be in the steade of his bodie it selfe whereas before the consecration it was no such thing can serue yowe no longer For all this induceth no change in the nature or substance of the breade no more then if a cartar to daye should be turned into a kinge to morowe or placed in his seate of maiestie to represent his parson he coulde be saide to be
infirmities sake to auoide that horror and feare which if we should receaue theÌ„ in their owne likenes and not vnder the for me of thiÌ„ges wherewith we ar better acquainted we wer of all likelihood suer to fall into I caÌ„ not here passe ouer in sileÌ„ce that notable and euident testimony of this worthy bishop and learned father vttred to this purpose by him in an other place in thiese wordes Antequâm coÌ„secretur panis est vbi auteÌ„ verba Christi accesserint corpus est Christi Ante verba Christi calix est vini et aquae plaenus vbi verba Christi operata fuerint ibi sanguis efficitur qui plaebeÌ„ redemit that is to say before that it be coÌ„secrate it is breade but wheÌ„ the wordes of christ ar come vnto it it is christes body Before the wordes of Christ there is a cup filled with wine and water as sone as Christes wordes haue wrought their effect there is made that bloud which redemed the people If these auctorities alleaged out of S. Ambrose be not able to stop the mouthes of our aduersaries if they will yeat nedes presse vs with their faithelesse howes and whies and will deale with almightie god so streightly that they will graunt him to be hable to doe no more theÌ„ their simple wittes caÌ„ atteine to the maÌ„ner of the doing whereof I shall yeat moste humblie desier them to beare with me if I alleage once againe the same excellent and learned bishop S. Ambrose I meane most plainely refelling all such faitheles Caparnaites as leaning more to fraile reason then firme faithe haue their doubtefull mindes euer waltering and tottering in the truthe of this sacrameÌ„t His wordes ar these Nunquid naturae vsus praecessit quum Iesus dominus ex Maria nasceretur Si ordinem quaerimus viro mixta foemina generare consueuerat Liquet igitur quôd praeter naturae ordineÌ„ virgo gener auit hoc quod coÌ„ficimus corpus ex virgine est Quid hic quaeris naturae ordinem in Christi corpore cum praeter naturam sit ipse D. Iesus partus ex virigine That is when our lorde Iesus was borne of the virgin Marie was naturâ—s vsage practised If we seke after her ordre women haue first the companie of men and then so conceiue and bring furth after It is manifest therefore that the virgin brought furth besides the course of nature and this bodie which we doe consecrate is the same that was borne of the virgin Whie demaundest thow here in the sacrament the order of nature to be kepte in Christes bodie where as besides nature oure lorde Iesus him selfe was borne of the virgin Hetherto haue yowe harde of what minde holye S. Ambrose was touching the controuersie moued in these our infortunate daies about the moste blessed sacrament of Christes bodie and bloud In whome I haue taried somewhat the longer for that that bothe he proueth moste manifestlie the presence when he affirmeth that Chrstes fleshe in the sacrament is so verilie his true fleshe as Christe was the true sonne of his father and excludeth all figures all signes all representation when Christ was in none of these senses his fathers sonne and also the chaÌ„ge and alteration of the breade and wine in to the true substaÌ„ce of Christes fleshe and bloud by alleaging th'examples which had otherwise bene in vaine of Moses rodde turned in to a serpeÌ„t the yron flotting aboue the water the bitternes of the waters of Marath turned into swetenes and such like with answer to such carnall obiections as ar wont to be commonlie made ageinst this truthe and last of all for that of all other he giueth moste plainelie vnto vs the cause whie in this greate miracle our lorde god chaungeth not the accideÌ„ts but onelie the substance By all which thinges he giueth vs moste manifestly to vnderstaÌ„d that he ment no lesse theÌ„ he spake For otherwise if Christes bodie had not bene trulie there but a signe thereof not in veritie but in imagination all his proufes to proue the same had bene nedeles whereas he might and for his greate wisdome and learning no doubte would to all such as either had doubted of the presence or traÌ„substantiatioÌ„ with much more facilitie haue answered with our aduersaries that there was no chaÌ„ge at all in nature or substance nor no presence there of Christes true bodie then to haue heaped together a nombre of examples whereof euerie one conteined a true chaunge in nature to haue proued that which was not or to haue alleaged the miraculouse conception of Christe or to giue anie cause why his bodie appeareth not like a bodie wherebie to bring the simple people in to a perniciouse and damnable errour But forasmuch as his greate trauailes taken in the defence of Christes church ageinst the wicked Arrians doe well witnes to his posteritie how far he was from all such impietie we must nedes conclude that S. Ambrose did not onelie so write but also beleue that in the blessed sacrament after the wordes of consecration is the verie true and naturall bodie of our lorde Iesus Christe the substance of breade and wine passing into the substance of his fleshe and his bloud From S. Ambrose let vs goe one steppe farder to S. Austen He in a certeine place examining these wordes of the Prophete A dor ate scabellum pedum eius worshippe ye his fotestole psalm 98. hath these wordes Suscepit enim de terra terram quia caro de terra est de carne Mariae carnem accepit Et quia in ipsâ— carne hiâ— ambulauit ipsam carnem ad manducandum ad salutem dedit nemo autem illam carneÌ„ manducat nisi prius adorauerit inuentuÌ„ est queÌ„admoduÌ„ ado retur tale scabelluÌ„ non solum non peccemus adoraÌ„do sed peccemus noÌ„ adoraÌ„do That is to saie for he toke earthe of earthe because fleshe coÌ„meth of earthe and of Maries fleshe he toke fleshe And forasmuch as he walcked here in that fleshe and hath giuen to vs the same fleshe to be eaten to our saluation and no man eateth it but he first worshippeth it the meanes is founde how such a fotestole of our lordes maie be worshipped and we not onelie not sinne in worshipping it but sinne in not worshipping it Heare yow M. Iuell S. Austen telling yow that Christes fleshe is here giuen to vs to be eaten the same that he toke of the virgin Marie the same that he caried about with him in this worlde Heare yow not your selfe vanquished which take from it all manner of worship in the sacrament and violentlie wrest these wordes of S. Austen to Christes bodie in heauen which interpretation how far it goeth from the minde of the author to omit all other proufes your owne selfe haue well declared when you graunte that there he must be worshipped where he is eaten which seing it is here in earthe what moued
owne handes to Cleophas and his companion And Paule as he sayled did not onely blesse the breade but he deliuered it also to Luke and the other disciples And within a fewe wordes after he addeth This breade is holinesse it selfe and maketh holy the receiuor therof By the testimonie of thiese twoo notable pillers of the Grieke and Latine churche it appeareth how this historie of the ghospell is to be vnderstande not of common breade but of the blessed sacrament and so withall that Christ the author of this sacrament ministred the same vnder one kinde which our aduersaries so stoutely denie and yow especially emongest the rest with termes moste odiouse ageinst the whole councell of Constance M. Iuell That th' apostles did the like and practised the same in such wise as Christe their maister did before thereof if there be any maÌ„ that doubteth him sende I to S. Luke in whome he shall finde that as many as receiued the apostles doctrine Eranâ— perseueraÌ„tes in doctrina apostâ—loruÌ„ coÌ„municatione fractionis panis orationibus wer coÌ„tinuing in the doctrine of the apostles the communion of breaking of breade and praiers In which wordes you can vnderstaÌ„de M. Iuell no other breade then the sacramentall breade if yow pondre reuerently the text For truly the writer of that historie making there mention of such spirituall exercises as the faithefull spenâ— their time in it is not likely that betwene the doctrine of the apostles which he remembred in the first place and their paiers which he placed in the last he woulde euer haue couched the breaking of prophane breade in the middest Of this breaking of breade haue we also mention in an other place where it is sayde Vna autem sabbaâ—i cùm conuenissemus ad frangendum panem The morow after the Saboth day when we came together to breake breade What remaineth now M. Iuell seing that the scriptures beare so manifestly witâ—esse of the communion ministred first by Christ and after by his apostles vnder the kinde of breade but that either yow yealde and ioyne with vs or flee to youre olde and last refuge the help of some fauorable figure as before yow Melanchton being sore pressed with these auctorities was forced to doe This figure for soothe is yow saye Syneâ—doche by which S. Luke would by naming the one parte of this sacrament signifie the whole But truly whereas euen in them that take in hande to write prophane histories such figures ar nothing commendable where the truthe ought wholly and truly without concealing or dissembling any parte thereof to be expressed but that the same lawe ought of all other especially in holy histories and those that coÌ„teine the actes and doinges of Christe hym selfe inuiolably to be obserued there is no man I thincke that douteth And yeat of all other if any of the Euangelistes would so haue written of them all S. Luke was moste vnlikely as the man who by the common veredict of the learned was not of his wordes scarse or pinching but plentifull and liberall Or if he woulde nedes vse figures where was no nede yeat ought euery good man to thincke that the holy ghost the director of his penne to whome being god and hauing all thinges present before his eyes this troubelouse hurliburly that should afterwardes happeÌ„ in the churche aboute the receauing of this sacrameÌ„t either in one kinde alone or bothe together coulde not be vnknowen would so haue prouided that so little a worde whereby so greate troubles might be raised should not by any figure in this place in this high mysterie in this pretiouse iewell where all thinges ought most perspicuously to be expressed haue bene omitted And thus much touching the apostles ministring of this sacrament Now that the churche long after the apostles continued the same manner what better proufe can yow haue then maye be deduced from that worde so well knowen to the fathers so frequent and common in the olde generall councelles Laica communio the laye mans communion Of this communion of the laye men maketh mention the blessed martyr S. Cyprian in an epistle written by him to Antonianus where he telleth of one Trophimus that hauing bene a bishop and an heretike was then returned from his heresies and become a catholike and receiued thereapon by him in to the churche and admitted also to the communion but so that he shoulde communicate vt laicus non vt sacerdos as the laye man vseth to doe not as the priest Of this communion reade we first in the councell holden at Sardica vnder Iulius then pope aboue 12. hundred yeares sence next in the couÌ„cell kept at Agatha in Fraunce in the yeare of our lorde 430. and in diuerse other which might be here alleaged What can we here thincke M. Iuell but that there was a difference in the laye mannes coÌ„munion and the priestes And what other difference can yow giue then this that the one receiued bothe the kindes the other but one For of all other it is moste ridiculouse that for answere hereunto you ar wont to alleage that the priestes vsed to receiue the sacrameÌ„t in a place of the churche appointed therefore by them selues alone and the laytie in some other place a parte also and that hereof rose the worde Laica communio For admitting this to be true how doeth yet the place make a difference in the communion Betwene his dinner that sitteth at the vpper ende of a table and his that is placed at the neither if there be the same meates like courses of seruice semblable arte of cookery can yow put any differeÌ„ce Beside this the auncient councell of Sardica maketh in such wise mention of the laye mannes communion that the wordes will in no wise admit your wrangling interpretation For there in the seconde canon is it decreed ageinst such bishoppes as chaunging their bishoprikes be translated to other that they shalbe excluded from euer receiuing the communion ita vt nec Laicam in fine communionem talis accipiat so excluded that such a one shall not be admitted so much as to the laye mannes communion no not in the ende of his life not at the houre of his deathe Thus haue we here plaine euideÌ„ce that the laye mannes communion is not to be vnderstande of difference of places in the churche whereas the canoÌ„ of this councell hath that at the houre of his deathe he shall not be admitted thereunto At which time euery man will I suppose thincke him to be at home in his chambre not out of his house at the churche After this sorte appeareth it by S. Austen that his mother Monica receiued this sacrament When as he saieth being on witsonday refresshed with that breade that came downe from heauen she continued by the space of a whole daie and a night without all corporall foode Thus much semed he also to signifie to vs in an other place where he hath these wordes Si
th'apostles time there was priuate masse in the church although there wer none to receiue with the priest That this learned doctour with other priestes saide Masse when none did communicate for that I am suer yow will denie by this coÌ„plaint of his vttred in these wordes it may moste euidently appeare Frustraâ—â—betur quotidiana oblaâ—io frustra 〈◊〉 ad altare Nemo est qui communicat thâ— daily offering is had in vaine we stand at th'altar in vaine There is none that receiueth with vs. Yf there wer daily oblation yea when none receiued why beare yow vs in hand M. Iuell thâ—t for that long space of six hundred yeares the priest might neuer offer the same without company to coÌ„municate with him Yf that were true how did Chrisostome and the other priestes of Antioche offer yt and that daily that yow may vnderstand a necessitie that enforced them thereto whether the people came or no Yf they receiued not them selues how could he haue said that there was none that did receiue with them But here yow will aske me perhapps how I dare alleage this place which saieth that the oblation was had in vaine because there was none to communicate To this I answere that being first taken for graunted which in no wise you can denie that is that daily this oblatioÌ„ was had whether any came or no that this holy doctour in this place is not to be vnderstand as though simply he ment the oblation to be in vaine but in a respect forasmuch as they came not who wer loked for to haue byn partakers thereof concerning this expectation it was had in vaine and the priestes stode in their churches not at the table but at the altar in vaine Aâ—d that this was the very â–ª meaning of Chrisostomes wordes and not as you falâ—lie surmise there nedeth no other reason to perswade any reasonable man then the learning the vertue and great wisedomâ— of the man him selfe For if the sacrifice had byn offered by him in vaine so often as there was none to be partaker thereof with him what a heynouse act had this bene of him especially staÌ„ding at liberty without any more necessitie to offer theÌ„ the laie man hath to receiue if it were true that yow and your compani affirme Shall we not rather thinck if he had so ment that he would vtterly haue absteined before he would by celebrating and receiuing practise the abuse of so preciouse a iewell Woulde he not rather when he came to the altar haue sent the people awaie with a drie communion when he sawe none redie to receiue Would he not at the least haue bene as circumspect in procuring warning to be giuen to him by them that were disposed to receiue if offering without communicants he should haue offered in vaine as yow and yours our new Rabbins ar about your apishe communion No no Let no man thinck but that he was well ware that to offer the bodie and bloud of Christ in vaine had bin a fault nothing inferior to the receiuing of it vnworthily whereuÌ„to he was not ignoraÌ„t that S. Paule threateneth damnation If he would giue his owne life as he saide him selfe before he would giue our lordes bodie to an vnworthy man and that he would haue his blood shedd out of his bodie rather then he would giue to the vnworthy oure lordes blood we may easely coniecture how hardlie he would haue bin brought to haue offred the same in vaine To this testimony of Chrisostom shall I adde one more and so after come to those obiections which yow bring for the maintenaunce of the contrary Leontius a bishop of the Grieke church writing almost a thousand yeares sence the life of that vertuouse Patriarke of Alexandria Iohn the almoisner or almoise geuer for that name obteined he for his charitie towardes the pooer reporteth emongest other thinges of him how that he being on a certeine time at Masse perceiuing after the reading of the ghospell that the people went out of the churche and fell to talking and babbling in the churcheyarde went also out of the churche after them and spake to them being all amased in this wise Filioli vbi oues illic pastor aut intrate intro ingrediemur aut manete hic ego quo que manebo Ego propter vos descendo in sanctaÌ„ ecclesiam nam poteram facere mihi Missam in Episcopio Children that is to say where the shepe ar there is the shepherde either therefore get yow into the churche and we will goe to gether or bide yow still here and I will tarie with yow It is for your sakes that I come to the holy churche for to my selfe coulde I haue saide Masse in my house at home Here I trust you will at the length yealde and graunte M. Iuell that priuate Masses wer laufull and in vse in the primitiue churche For first that the Masse here spoken of was priuate the worde mihi missam facere say or ceâ—ebrate Masse to my selfe doeth well declare He saide not I might say Masse to my frindes to my kinsfolckes to my household seruauntes but mihi to mine owne selfe And when you heare him sâ—ie that he might doe it I trust yow thincke it was not vnlaufull But now I come to your obiections ageinst the priestes sole or alone receauing of the sacrament After yow haue taken your pleasure in triumphing ouer oure pouertie as yow thinck yow bring furth your store And because yow will make the matter sure and out of all doubte yow vse our owne friend as a witnesse against vs the Masse booke forsothe where yow saie the priest according to the direction of that booke turning him self to the people saith Dominus vobiscum item Oremus Orate pro me fratres sorores what then M. Iuell Ergo what so euer praiâ—rs be vsed about the ministracioÌ„ of the sacrament ought to be the coÌ„mon requestes of all the people What inferre yow hereapon Ergo the priest maie not saie Masse without he haue some to communicate with him That ergo is false M. Iuell and not trulie deduced out of the premisses But I crie yow mercy this is yow saie but by the waie before yow entre into the matter Here yow did but dribb and flurt your other arrowes taken oute of the same quiuer Accipite edite Habete vinculum charitatis vt apti sitis sacrosanctis misteriâ—s that is take eate haue ye the band of charitie that ye maie be mete for the holie misteries And last of all other those wordes that ar spoken by the priest after the Agnus dei Haec sacrosancta commixtio c. This holie commixtion and consecration of the bodie and blood of our lorde Iesus Christ be vnto yow and to all that receiue it health of bodie and soule these ar they that paye home and cleaue as a man would saie the verie face of the white I shall now rehearse first your wordes as in
your sermon printed they ar to be sene that all men maie vnderstand how handsomely my L. of Salesburie can plaie hiâ—k scornersparte and then after shape thereto such an answere as I trust shall to all reasonable men be sufficient Moreouer the priest by the masse booke is taught to saie accipite edite Take ye eate ye and habete vinculum charitatis c. that is Haue ye the band of charitie that ye maie be mete for the hoâ—e misteries And to vvhome shall vve thinke the priest speaketh these vvordes It vver a vaine thing for him in the open congregation to speake to him selfe and specially in the plurall numbre yet vver it a greate deale more vaine for him to speake the same vvordes to the bread and vvine and to saie to them Take ye eate ye or haue ye the band of charitie that ye may be meâ—e for the holie misteries Therefore it is euident that these vvordes should be spoken to the people I haue good hope M. Iuell bothe by these testimonies alleaged out of the Masse booke so far from the purpose and also by your chalenge wherein yowe promise being ouercome to yelde that yowe will at the length doe as honest soldiours pressed against their mindes to serue in an euell cause ar wont to doe that is when it commeth to the push either cast awaie their weapons and suffer them selues to be taken or keping them in their handes fight verie weaklie For suerlie M. Iuell if this be not your meaning beare with me if I tell yow as the truthe is and as I beleue it must nedes be a greate deale worse and such as declareth inuinciblie to the worlde your cankred stomack and maliciouse minde towardes your mother the catholike church For standing the case so as yow meane nothing lesse then that good which I conceiue of yow what true dealing is this of youres to proue that no Masse maie be saide without there be company to receiue with the priest to alleage these wordes Take eate as spoken by the priest to the people Whereas your owne conscience if yow haue any telleth yow I dare saie that they ar a parte of other wordes going before cutt by you from the rest to serue your scoffing spirit and that they ar not nor euer were any more taken for the priestes owne wordes then ar those that immediatlie followe This is my bodie And as yow would I nothing doute laughe at his simplicitie that hearing the priest say This is my bodie would take the consecrated host to be the priestes bodie because he repeteth the same wordes at the altar that Christ spake at his supper So perswade your self that other men cease not to lament from the bottom of their hartes to se yow not of simplicitie but of malice willfullie to do the like But I shall here whollie alleage the wordes as they ar in the canon of the Masse that yowe maie if it be possible be deliuered of that greate scruple that so troubleth your minde whether those wordes Take eate should be spoken by the priest to him self in false latin which yow thinck were to greate an ouersighte or to the bread and wine which yow thinke and I would yow neuer might thinck worse were a farre greater The wordes ar these Qui pridie quâm pateretuâ— c. who the daie before that he suffred toke bread in to his holie and venerable handes and lifting vp his eyes into heauen to the o god his father allmightie geuing to the thanckes blessed brake and gaue it to his disciples saieng Take eate this is my bodie By these wordes if yow doe not euery man I trust elles doth moste manifestlie perceiue that these ar not the priestes wordes and therefore neither spokeÌ„ to him self neither yet to the bread or wine But because I doubte not but yow ar werie to heare so much of your owne follie therefore I will dwell no longer in the aggrauating of that which as in the eyes of all men is brimme ynough so would I to god that yow had neuer geuen occasion to me or to anie other once to haue mencioned it To your other obiection that yow make of these wordes habete vinculum charitatis haue yow the band of peace that yowe maie be mete for the holie mysteries I answere that if there be any such place in the masse booke as hauing sought therefore I finde none such that such wordes first forbidde not the priest to saie masse if none be disposed to communicate with him then that they do not necessarilie prouoke the people to the sacramentall receiuing but maie well be vnderstand of the spirituall communicating with the priest in those holie misteries by earnest meditacion of Christes death and passion the which the more effectually to doe they ar exhorted to be one with an other in loue and charitie And thus vnderstand we that other place where the priest after the Agnus praieth that that holie commixtion of Christes bodie and bloude maie be bothe to him and to all that receiue it healthe of bodie and soule For we saie that as many as being present at the masse doe hartely ioine with the priest in the swete remeÌ„brance of Christes bitter death and passion doe all receiue with the priest Christes bodie and bloud they spirituallie and he corporallie And this call we a true communion But what if now in euery leafe of the masse booke M. Iuell you had fouÌ„de exhortacions to the people to coÌ„municate Verely except yow had founde withall that vnlesse they would the priest should not all would not helpe yea it would hinder yow thus much that where as you and your mates haue borne the worlde in hand that the cleargie hath kepte the laitie from communicating now it woulde appeare by this that the priest loketh for them and their owne defaulte kepeth them awaie Well if the masse booke haue failed yow M. Iuell as it was neuer other like but that it would yow haue yet I dare saie other witnesses Yea verely yow vauÌ„te to haue the helpe of the canons of the apostles of Clemens of Dionisius of Calixtus of Iustinus of Leo of Chrisostome of S. Gregorie yea of S. Paule and of Christ him selfe Which be suerly good witnesses and such as in lawe maie be called omni exceptionâ— maiores and for the better abeling of theÌ„ of whose credite might most be doubted your selfe haue saide so much as no man I trow can saie more For you call theÌ„ good growndes to builde apon So that now there remaineth no more but to consider how they proue your entent The which that I maie the better doe I shall alleage your owne wordes as they ar in your sermon touching this matter to be founde that so the reader maie be the more able to iudge whether your euidence be to the yssue or no. In the .xxxv. leafe of your saide sermon yow haue these wordes And I trust yovv shall clearlie see that for
heretikes Which they haue so done within these fewe yeares with such spirituall fruite and encrease with such exceding greate gaine of lost soules not sparing their owne bloud and liues in Christes cause in Africa in India in Persia and elles where that god hath well testified by sundry miracles wrought now by them in those parties no lesse then once in the primitiue churche by his apostles how highly he estemeth their labour loke I saie apon them whose vertuouse life and godly conuersatioÌ„ shall once I trust be the bane and vtter ruine of all heresiesâ— and yow shall finde it to be true that bothe at Colein at Augusta at Treuires at Cambray at Tournay and in other places of their abode there passeth no Sonday or holie day in the yeare in which there communicate not with the priest bothe of men and women greate store And yet arre they it is well knowen as farre all this while from yowe in your heresies as yow be from them in perfection of life and true religion Well although the testimonies of Clemens Dionisius Iustinus martir with the rest sarue not your purpose yeat yow haue other that touche vs more neere you will saie as fivst the. 10. canon of the apostles which yowe alleage in this manner Fideles qui in ecâ—lesiam ingrediuntur scripturas audiunt communionem sanctam non recipiunt tanquâm ecclesiasticae pacis perturbatores a communione arceantur that is to say Such christian men as come to the churche heare the scriptures and receiue not the holy communioÌ„ let them be excommunicated as men that trouble the peace and quietnes of the churche To this I answere that this canon being truly alleaged according to the Greke the founteine from whence it was taken first hath no such thing in it that all that be present at the Masse or holy communion shoulde communicate but onely continue there to the ende that by their either often whipping in and oute either ouer hasty departure from thence they might not trouble the churche or be scandulouse to any Secondarily that if it wer to be vnderstand as yow say that yeat yow must adde some more force thereto before it well will serue your turne seing there is neuer a worde there that forbiddeth which is the thing that yow must proue the prieste to receiue alone if none will receiue with him And for the first that yowe maie perceiue how this translation hath deceiued yow and how euell it squareth with the grieke knowe yow that the founteine and originall copie hath thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which wordes Haloander a birde of the same wing that yow arre translateth after this sorte neque apud praeces sanctam coÌ„munionem permanent that is they that abide not out or continue not to the ende of the praiers and holy communion This translation beside that the wordes in the greke doe beare it 〈◊〉 for the other there is neuer a worde to signifie or â—â—â—resse the receauing of the communion it hath also to â—â—inteine it the auctoritie of Theodorus Balsamon the grieke writer and Patâ—â—â—ke of Antioche who in his commentaries apon the canon next before this hath these wordes Dicere fideles laicos consecratos qui sacra non tractant oportere quâ—â—â—die sanctis commâ—â—â—care alioqui segregari nec est ex senteÌ„tia canonis nec potest fieri Eâ— ideo nonus canon dixit puniri 〈◊〉 qui non 〈◊〉 that is To saie that the faithefull laie men and those that be not laie but yeat handle 〈◊〉 the holy misteries ought daily to communicate 〈◊〉 to be excommunicate it is neither the meaning of the canon nor it can sâ— be and therefore the. 9. canon the next which in some bookes is noted for the. 9. in some other for the. 10. hath that the faithefull not continuing to the ende shalbe punished Thus vnderstandeth he the seconde canon of the councell holden at Antioche in the daies of Aureliaenus the emperour Where examining those wordes of the canon by which all they arre excoÌ„municated who comming to the churche refuse the holy participation of the sacrament propter aliquam insolentiam for some insolency he writeth thus Diâ— quôd iâ— non existimabuntur sacram participationeÌ„ auersari qui â—am odio habent abominantur velqui vt nonnulli dicebant propter pietateÌ„ humilitateÌ„â—am fugiunt Illi enim non solum segregabuntur fed etiam vt haeretici extermin abuntur hi vero propter pietatem venia digni habebuntur Sed illi qui prae contemptu arrogantia ex ecclesia ante sanctam participationem inordinatè exeunt nec intueri sustinent That is in effect to say thus much Thincke not that the canon here speaking of theÌ„ which shoonne the participation of the blessed sacrament is to be vnderstand of them that haue it in hatred or abhomination or of them as some saied that of a certeine pietie and humilitie absteine from it For of these two kinde of men the first shall not onely be segregate for a time but as heretikes rooted out for euer the other for their deuotion and worthy reuerence towardes the sacrameÌ„tes shalbe thought worthy pardon But those ar they whome this canon noteth who of contempte and arrogancie departe ageinst ordre out of the churche before the holy participation not so much as vouchesausing to beholde the same Thus yow see M. Iuell how this patriarke and learned Grecian expoundeth the canon by yow alleaged not as to signifie a precise necessitie in all that be present at the Masse to receiue with the prieste but to continue there onely to the ende that by that meanes although they did not sacrameÌ„tally they might year at the leaste in ioining their praiers with the priestes and by holy meditating apon Christes deathe and passion together with him communicate the one with the other spiritually He addeth in his saide commentaries apon the aboue named seconde canon of the councell of Antioche that he thinketh the distribution of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which name I iudge he calleth oure holy breade to haue bene taken oute of this canon that they which wer not partakers of the liuely and holie misteries shoulde be bouÌ„de to tarito the ende of the diuine ministery and to receiue the same at the priestes handes ad sanctificationem to sanctifie them Thus vnderstandeth this greke canon Ioannes Monachus Zonoras him selfe a Grieke borne also as in his commentaries extant thereapon to him that listeth to searche maye be more at large seene But let the canon be expounded euen as oure aduersaries would haue it let it be so that the primitiue churche appointed greate penalties for them that being present at the Masse woulde not receiue with the priest Yeat is there all this while nothing brought ageinst the priestes receuing the sacrament alone why he may not take it being so disposed if other will not And yet is this the point ye wote well
that yow must proue The nexte auctoritie that yow alleage to this purpose is taken oute of the first epistle of Anacletus and neuer written as yow ignorantly sayde it was by Calixtus But whose so euer it be yow handle it like youre owne For hauing cut of that which otherwise might haue bewrayed your falsehoode yow bring vs in a piece that semeth without the rest to make for your purpose Truly the ciuile lawes call it inciuile euen in worldly matters to iudge apon the onely bare viewe of some one parte of the lawe what the meaning is of the whole What they wer like to call mangling and hackling tearing and dismembring such as yow vse in goddes matters I referre it to your owne conscience to iudge by the argument of L. Cornelia de Fals. The wordes of Anacletus arre these Episcopus Deo sacrificans testes vt praefixum est secuÌ„ habeat c. The bishop when he doeth sacrifice to god let him as is before saide haue witnesses and mo then an other priest For as his honour is greater so hath he nede of mo witnesses For apon highe and solemne feastes shall he haue with him either seuen or fiue or thre deacons which ar called his eyes besides subdeacons and other ministres Who hauing apon them the holy vestimentes shall stande with humble spirite contrite harte and demure countenaunce before him and behinde him the priestes on the right hande and on the left garding him from euell disposed parsons and giuing their coÌ„sent to the sacrifice It foloweth Peracta consecratione omnes communicent c. The consecration being ended let them all communicate they that will not shalbe suspendid from entring in to the churche For so haue the apostles ordeined and the holy churche of Rome oâ—serueth These arre the wordes of Anacletus which if yow had wholly according to true meaning alleaged euery man shoulde haue easely perceiued how little this place had made for youre purpose euery man could haue saide that the wordes let all communicate shoulde be restreined to the priestes Deacons and other ministres of whome assisting the bishop at Masse he had before spoken and not to be racked as by you they violently arre to all the whole people that they should take place not in euery priestes masse but in euery bishoppes not at all times but at high and solemne feastes But what M. Iuell if as now it appeareth that this place maketh nothing for the prouse of youre assertion that there was not or coulde not within the first six hundred yeares after Christ or now may not any masse be saide without there be â—ome present to communicate with the priest so I make the same place to th' intent yow may not be sayde to haue taken the paines to haue alleaged it in vaine to serue for vs ageinst yow Truly I nothing doubte but that in right and indifferent iudgement I shall be hable to doe it The assistentes to the bishop at his masse should ye wote well as appeareth by this place of Anacletus coÌ„municate peracta consecratione after the consecration But what if they had refused at any time so to doe What should then haue bene done with that which was consecrated To haue reserued it vntill an other time youre doctrine in that point would not haue permitted to haue cast it away or abused it to profanevses your reuerence to those highe misteries could not haue alowed it I put here no case either impossible or vnthought apon For Anacletus him selfe prouided yow see a punishement for those that woulde not receiue which might as well haue bene all as one Thus I hope for this matter we shall not neede to trye the lawe Yow will easely graunte your selfe that the bisshop might haue finished his masse and haue receiued a lone and so either haue song or saide a priuate masse contrary to that which yow haue hetherto affirmed To the place of Chrisostome and that other of S. Gregori by the which it appeareth that such as woulde not receiue with the prieste wer commaunded away although it wer ynough for vs to answere that all this proueth nothing that when they be gone the prieste which came thither for that purpose may not goe forwarde in his Masse and receiue yea alone so that resting on this pointe we might looke for youre replye yeat although these testimonies be not I saye to the purpose forasmuch much neuerthelesse as they goe nearer to vs then any of the other auctorities before alleaged while they seme to barre the people to be present at the masse without they will receaue the sacrament with the prieste I shall thereunto in fewe wordes answere after this sorte First that these fathers of a vehement and earnest zeale that they had to reuoke and call in to vse againe that frequent and common vsage of receauing with the prieste from whence they then sawe the people thorough coldenesse of deuotion which by the cruell and often persecutions of the heathen emperours was wont to be kindled and enflamed in them to be not a little swarued and fallen away vsed a phrase and manner of speche although exactly considered in it selfe not all together simply true yet for that time and those manners very much bothe expedieÌ„t and necessary For euen as no man reprehendeth him that minding to make a crooked wand streight boweth it first to a greate deale more crookednesse on the other side then it had before not that he aloweth that any more then he did the other but onely because he knoweth right well that to make it at all streight this is the onely way euen so these fathers if they commaunded them awaie that being present at the Masse woulde not communicate with the prieste if they threatened them that if they wer not worthy to receiue the communion they wer not worthy to haue any parte of the common praiers yea if they added that excepte they wer worthy euery daie to receiue they shoulde not be worthy once in the yeare we must nedes thinke that here they bowed these crooked pieces as farre an other way and that they ment no more to haue them stande thus then as they did before If you here demaunde of meapoÌ„ what groundes I dare leauing the manifest wordes of these fathers giue this interpretation knowe ye that two causes there arre which haue moued me so to doe The first is for the auoiding of absurdities and inconueniences for which causes they that be learned in the lawes will tell you that it is not vnlaufull to swarue often times and goe froÌ„ euen the plaine wordes of he lawe or statute which otherwise we should of necessitie fall in to and from which of good reason we ought to thinke those holy and learned fathers in all their actes and doinges to haue bene most farre For if they had meÌ„t verely as their bare wordes imporre what coulde haue bene spoken more absurdely then this
that he that is not worthy to receiue the blessed body of Christe in the sacrament is not worthy also to be praied for Whereas all men knowe that theÌ„ more vnworthy he is of the one the more worthy he is of the other if the sicke be worthy to haue a phisicioÌ„ and not the hole that by the meanes thereof he maie become worthy to receiue that of which he was before vnworthy If we so sticke in the barcke and rinde and come no nearer to the pith what sense will yow make S. Ambrose to haue in saieng that he that is not worthy to receiue the sacrament daily is not worthy to rceiue the same once in the yeare Might it not so happen that many a good man which now receiueth worthily once in the yeare shoulde by this meanes not receiue worthily once in his life But of this maÌ„ner vsed in speaking or writing haue we not in some of these fathers expresse testimonies namely in Chrisostome who trauailing in a certeine place of his worckes to persuade the true and reall presence of Christes body in the sacrameÌ„t vseth these wordes Seest thow not thy lorde offred vp the prieste doing his priestly office pouring oute his praiers the people rounde aboute him imbrued and made redde with that pretiouse bloud which wordes I knowe yow will easely graunte with vs to be not in all pointes simply true but yet not discommendable or vnsemely being spokeÌ„ as sensibly as might be the more firmely to persuade the truthe of that which although it be there as truely as though it had bene sene was yet hidde and to carnall eyes inuisible But what needeth it here to alleage the manner of speaking of the auncient and olde fathers seing that yow M. Iuell and your coÌ„panions oure newe maisters and yong fathers vse the same or not much vnlike in your cisguised communion And yeat for all your terrible thundre boultes shotte ageinst them that being present receiue not yow see neuer a one the more for feare thereof departe oute of the churche yea he that I thinke should wer well like perhappes to heare thereof to his coste before his Ordinary But there is not the simplest in a parishe but he knoweth that youre meaning is not to driue theÌ„ oute of the churche as youre wordes sounde but to stirre theÌ„ vp thereby the oftener to come to youre schismaticall communion and therefore they tarrie still Or elles if this be not youre minde of so many that be present coÌ„tinually thereat and be not partakers thereof why haue yow punished all this while noâ—â—e An other cause that hath moued me thus to vnderstand these fathers is for that the practise of the churche appeareth to haue bene in their time such as that the people was willed euen then to be present at the church and to heare Masse at the leaste on the Sundaies when they stoode neuerthelesse at libertie touching the receauing of the sacrament any oftener then thrise in the yeare as appeareth by the councell holden at Agatha in Fraunce aboute Chrisostomes daies and by S. AusteÌ„ neere also vnto the same time S. Austens wordes arre these In die verò nullus se a sacra Missarum celebratione separet neâ—ue otiosus quis domi remaneat On the Sunday let no man absente him selfe from the holy celebration of the Masse nor remaine within the doores idle And alittle after he addeth Adhuc quoâ—ue quod detestabilius est ad ecclesiam aliqui venientes non intrant non insistunt praecibus non expectant cum silentio sanctarum MissaruÌ„ celebrationem that is to say Besides all this which is a thing more to be detested some coÌ„ming to the church entre not in they praie not they tarie not out with silence the celebrating of the holie Masses And thus it appeareth the vse of the churche being at that time such as the people was by ordre bounde to heare Masse on the SuÌ„day whether they receuid or no that in no wise these fathers can be so vnderstande as though they ment to driue them vttrely from the Masse whither the churche had bounde them to come but onely to put them in remembraunce so to come and so to be present thereat as in times past in that olde feruency of deuotion they had bene wont Thus much for the first answere Secondarily to the places before alleaged I saie that â—â—â—ing graunted which denied by vs yow shall neuer be able to proue that in the primitiue churche such as woulde not receiue with the priest wer not suffred to be present at the mass Year is it no good reason to saie that therefore it must necessarily be so now Seing that in those thinges which haue by Christ bene left indifferent of which this is one the spirituall gouernours haue power to change and alter as occasion giueth Will yow see it proued by examples There was a time when to absteine from bloud and straÌ„gled meates was a thing so necessary to be obserued that it was by a solemne decree of the apostles enacted and as light a matter as some will perhappes make thereof yeat added the apostles thereto this weight and poise of wordes Visum est Spiritui sancto nobis it hath semed good to the holy ghost and to vs. Yea the text hath that they accounted such abstinence inter necessaria in the nombre of those thinges that were necessary to be obserued euen as to absteine from fornication Of the continuance of this decree in his force the place mencioneth nothing so that thereof can be gathered no other but that it was a lawe made to endure for euer although at this daye it be not practised well yow wote pardye Were it well done thincke yowe now to reason thus In the apostles time the churche absteined from bloudinges and stiffled meates Therefore we must in these dayes doe the like Yeat wer this truly a stronger reason drawen from an ordonaunce and commaundement of the apostles then is youres leaning apon examples if yow had any such which as they neuer had their beginning of any commaundement or precept of the holie scriptures but by them lefâ—e at libertie were by the spirituall gouernours as the present time required drawen to a necessitie so by the same apon contrary occasion maie at all times be released But yow haue at all no such commaundement in the whole scripture that soundeth that waies that the prieste maie not saie Masse and receiue the sacrament alone without companie or that no man maie be present with the prieste at his Masse there with him to communicate spiritually onlesse the same will also communicate sacramentally For that yow alleage most fondly for the proufe of the contrary that Christ gaue this holy sacrament not to one alone but to many being together and that he saide farder by the waie of charge Doe this that is yow saie Practise this that I haue here done and that in such ordre and
yeat neuer was there any so vehement that could make all to hide their heades that some there were not who euen to the teethe of the proudest tyrants of them all standing at defence apon the walles defended not stoutely Christ and his churche For if it had bene otherwise then had the diuell as before hath bene sayed gotten the victorie and Christ taken the foile then had the churche which at Christes departure hence was bothe seene and knowen whereas by this meanes it should be neither not onely haue bene nothing at all auaunced but also in deede much abased By this that hath bene alleaged I trust you see M. Iuell and will easely confesse if not with me with Caluin yeat your late capitaine that Christes church◠must needes be visible that as his reason is we may knowe it to ioyne our selues thereto For a pooer piller shoulde it elles be to leane vnto and as homely a house for succour to flie to if when a man should stand in distresse and neede thereof he wer suer neuer to see it or knowe it by which meanes he should finde it Next after this yow will graunte I hope that this churche of Christ hath alwayes kept with it the truthe of gods worde and right vse of his sacramentes and in fewe wordes to comprehend all that it neuer yeat erred in any necessarie point of doctrine For if it haue as in your apologie yow labour in vaine to proue it maye then shall yow heare once again and as often as yow so saie yow must not thinck much to heare that Christ hath not kepte touche with his churche that he was from home when the diuell was there that hell gates by which one right well vnderstandeth heresies haue preuailed against it the contrary whereof after the scriptures S. Austen emongest the auncient writers most plainely affirmeth Thirdly it hath bene proued that this churche of Christ is not in partes but dispersed ouer the whole and therefore called catholike as much to saye as vniuersall Last of all the truthe will compell yow to confesse that there is no certein nombre of yeares limited or prefixed for the churche to be visible after which time it should be darckened and not be seene no more thē Christes promise made to aide it for euer can berestreined to any such certeine or determinate time Which being true then foloweth it that the churche hath bene aswell visible and preserued from errours thiese nine hundred yeares last past as it was in the six hundred before And then if it be so in what a plight yow be which confesse for vs that for nine hundred yeares the practise of the churche hath ronne on oure side we prouing for oure selues that for the six hundred yeares before it hath doen the like I praye you well to considre to laie youre hand apon youre hart and thincke apon it seriously This fundation layed let now yow and me imagine together which I haue oftentimes doen with my self alone that we were fiftie yeares agoe bothe mē liuing together in this worlde of good yeares and discretion that beginning then to mislike and suspect the religion thorough all the worlde vsed we sought for the churche of Christe which we were persuaded not to be emongest them who preached the worde and ministred the sacramentes as they did such a church for example as nowe is in England to be seene where the head should be a laie man a womā or a childe in no wise a priest where should be but two sacramentes where there should be no sacrifice yea the very name should be odiouse where in the sacrament of the altar should be saied to be nothing but bread and wine in the which there should be no inuocation of sainctes no prayeng for the dead no abstinence from meates on prescript daies where onely faithe should be taught to iustifie good worckes to be nothing auaileable or meritoriouse to the doers and finally in all pointes qualified according to the directiō of youre cōmunion booke Let vs I saie imagine that all waies presupposed that such a churche as I haue described is the true churche of Christ where we should in those daies haue sought after it where we should after long seeking to ioine our selues thereto to harbour our selues therein to rest oure backes thereat being all forweried with wādring from opinions to errours from errours to heresies haue at the length foūde it Or let vs discourse with oure selues whē after all this busie searche and diligēt enquiry therefore it appeared in no place what we had bene likely to haue saied the one to the other Truly what we would haue saied I know not but what we bothe should I know right well We should first haue entred in to a merueilouse mislike with oure owne wittes who being in nombre but two in learning and wisdome not the most excellent in a country on th' one side ageinst the whole wisdom of the world on the other had euer fallē in to any such foolishe fantasy or furiouse frenesy as to condēne the doings of all the rest to bring in place oure doltish dreames to thincke our selues onely to see and all other mē to be blinde to beleue that the moste learned the moste vertuouse should erre and we onely priuileaged that we might not We should haue remēbred our selues and with S. Austen haue saied Qui nō vult sedere in consilio vanitatis nō euanescat typo superbiae quaerens conuenticula iustorum totius orbis vnitate separata quae non potest inuenire Iusti autem sunt per vniuersam ciuitatē quae abscondi non potest quia supra montē constituta est montē illum dico Danielis in quo lapis ille praecisus sine manibus creuit impleuit vniuersam terrā He that will not sitte in the coūcell of vanitie let him not vanishe away with the shadowe of pride seeking after conuenticles of iust men the vnitie of all the world being seuered which he shall neuer be able to finde For the iust ar dispersed thorough out that vniuersall citie which can not be hiddē because it is founded apō a hill euē that hill that Daniel speaketh of in the which that stone that was cut forth without handes grew and filled the whole worlde Besides this we should haue iudged our selues men altogether faithelesse that giuing no more credite to Christes promise we would thincke his churche to haue byn by him at any time forsakē and the whole world inuolued and wrapped in an vniuersall darckenesse Whereas true faithe and good reason ought on the contrary part to haue persuaded vs that we had our selues rather bene starcke blinde not hable to see then that conspicuouse citie on the top of the hill sene of all other men should be remoued or quite ouerthrowen and Christ false in his promise If we should haue thought and saied thus then M. Iuell as I see no cause why we should haue
omitted so much as one worde ▪ let vs nowe I beseche yow as yow tendre the common quiet of the churche as yow regarde the health of youre owne soule doe the like Youre owne selues confesse within the terme of yeares by me mencioned of the beginning and continuance of youre religion youre Apologie alleaging 40. yeares for all the vniuersall worlde M. Haddō to Hieronimus Osorius standing more stoutely then wisely apon the quiet possessiō of thirty yeares six excepted in which the course thereof was interrupted within oure realme of England So that yow can not say that I haue here imagined a case impossible but by youre owne selues confessed and by manie a man aliue if yow would denie it easy to be proued To conclude if all that hath byn allready saied satisfie yow not let yet Tertullian persuade yow in this poinct whose wordes touching this matter written ageinst the heretikes of his time folow in english after this sorte Well let it be graunted that all haue erred Hath the holie ghost yet all this while regarded no churche to leade it into the truthe being sent for that purpose by Christ being therefore expressely demaunded of his father to be the teacher of all truthe Let it be so that goddes bailif and Christes vicair haue suffered the churches to vnderstand otherwise then he taught by his apostles Is it yeat likely that so many and famouse churches should erre in one faithe And a littell after he addeth thiese wordes The truthe belike looked for some Marcionites and Valentiniās the heretikes against whome he wrote to deliuer it in the meane season till whose comming the ghospel was not rightely preached so many thousand thousands baptized amisse so many worckes of faithe euell ministred so many vertuouse cures and giftes wrongfully wrought so many priesthodes and ministrations naughtely executed so manie martirdome to make an ende suffred in vaine Thus far Tertullian To whome it seemed a thing absurd and vnlikely that the holie ghost should faile the churche in the reuealing and opening to the same of any wholesom and necessary truthe that gods bailiff and Christes vicair should suffer so many churches to fall in to an erroniouse and wrong belief that so many agreing all in one faithe should erre that no chaunce should at one time or an other haue varied the ordre had it byn nought of that doctrine which so many churches taught This wrote he when Christes churche was yet in herba when it had continued little aboue two hundred yeares What would he haue saied were he now aliue in oure time to heare that all the churches in the wide worlde the same where the apostles them selues gouerned from whence as from a spring all scripture all true religion next after god flowed in to the reast of Christendome should be noted agreing all in one faithe to haue perniciously erred not one hundred yeares or two but by the continuall space of fiftene hundred Or if that cōfession fell from yow in youre Apologie vnwares as in a booke set furth with such publike consent first commendid to the world next as the common and certeine pledge of youre religiō and last of all vaunted to be placed openly in the eyes of all the world and such as no one of youre aduersaries wer able to refell it is not easi to be presumed yeat for the terme of nine hundred yeares at the least For for so long continuance the moste parte of yow graunt that we ar able to bring proufes and witnesses of oure religion and therefore yow chalenge all the writers that haue written within that compasse Would he not now haue cried out and haue asked where was become the holie ghost apppointed by Christ demaunded of the father to leade the churche in to all truthe Whether it were likely that so many and notable churches agreing all in one faithe should erre would he not thincke we take vp oure newe doctours yow and youre cōpanions telling yow that the truthe laie euer bounde and could neuer be losed till frier Luther and his brother Zuinglius cam and set it at libertie and that in the meane season the ghospel was neuer preached aright baptesme euel ministred with such like functions in the churche But leauing Tertullian and comming nearer to oure owne time will not thinck yow Hieronimus Osorius laughe in his sleeue whē of thirteene hundred yeares for so long is it and more sence we Englishe men first receiued the faithe at the handes of pope Eleutherius M. Haddon his aduersary after so much turning and tossing troubling and vexing of Cicero his maister and chiefest author of his diuinitie could at the length with much ado finde but .24 yeares that our countrie had continued in the doctrine of the gospell Is he not like thinke yow to serue him again with this tennis ball Hoc est tuū Gualtere nescio stupidius an improbius ad Hieronimi epist. respōsum And will not some other trowe you cut him shorte of this accounte eleuen yeares and bid him for .30 lacking six to write .30 lacking .17 Except he will flie to this to iustifie his reaconing that as soone as the pope was once banished although Masse Mattins and all other seruice cōtinued till the deathe of king Henry that yeat was all as it shoulde be and according to the doctrine of their gospell How euer it be fower and twenty or .13 yeares hath not the Quene our gratiouse lady trow yow and the whole realme good cause to decree and appoint a perpetuall salary out of the common coffers to such a patrone But because Osorius is well knowen to be man good ynough for M. Haddon and therefore bothe cā and will if he thincke it needefull to reply apon so fond an answere defend him selfe I will leauing to write any more thereof as perteining not principally but incidently to my purpose conclude here this first cause with my earnest request to yow once again that yow considre it diligently and seriously not lightely or scornefully THE second cause that hath weighed much with me and maie also iustly doe the like with yowe is the same that S. Austen disputing with the Maniches affirmed to haue kept him in the lappe of the catholike churche that is the auctoritie of the same churche by which we ar taught to giue credite vnto the ghospell For as he reasoned thus ageinst Manichaeus Quibus ergo obtemperaui dicentibus c. Those therefore whome I beleuid bidding me beleue the ghospell why shoulde I not giue credite to the same men warning me not to beleue Manichaeus so maie yow or I saie to all such factiouse men as labour to bring vs from the obedience of the catholike churche of Rome to their parte The churche of Rome the mother and chief of all other taught vs Englishe men first to beleue the gospell and other knowledge the reof then which we had from that church we haue none Why should we
so odiouse a thinge was in his eares the name of the churche that for the worde churche he gaue the worde Reipub. coÌ„mon welthe Much like honestie showed an other of youre coÌ„panions in translating the Grieke writer of the ecclesiasticall historie Socrates Who making mention of certeine lettres sent by Iulius then pope to the bishoppes assembled at Antioche wherein he repreheÌ„deth them that contrarie to the canons and rules of the churche theie had holden a Councell not calling him thither whereas by the order of the churche there maie be no Councell kepte withoute the auctoritie of the B of Rome He turned the wordes there maie be no lawes made or no councell holden into these there maie be no churches consecrate without the B. of Romes auctoritie Which wordes if they had bene so had giueÌ„ yet no small preeminence to the B. of Rome for whose licence to consecrate a churche theie shoulde be faine to runne from the fardest parte of the Easte churche to Rome in the west But seing this coulde by no meanes be the minde of the author who in that chapitre mencioneth not one worde of the dedicating of anie churche and that the complaint of the bishop had bene moste childishe and without all witte to haue saide that theie had done euel in not calling him to their councell because by the canons without his auctoritie there mighte be no churches consecrate and that also thereof he him selfe coulde not be ignorant it must necessarilie folowe that he did it of wicked malice In your doinges and allegations M. Iuell is your faithe the 〈◊〉 yowe and dealing any better No truly For if it had neuer woulde yow so falsely and vntruly haue alleaged the wordes of that excellent and learned bishop of blessed memory Steuin Gardiner B. of winchestre vpon whome in youre replie to M. Doctour Cole yow father these wordes as writteÌ„ by him in his booke called Marcus Anton. Constantius Quôd ait panem in sua substantia vel natura manere vel substantiam sentit Accidente vel naturâ— proprietatem and calle it a strange phrase of speache to say Substantiam accidente as truly it had bene if he had either so saide or written But because he did neither yow haue well signified to the worlde that it is no newe or straunge thing with yow to carie aboute in youre vnquiet heade a lieng sclaunderouse tongue The wordes of the bishop entreating of the place obiected by the heretike out of Gelasius arre these Quòd addit in sua substantia vel natura manere he meaneth panem vinum which wordes go before vel subsistentiam sentit accidentium vel naturae proprietatem The which how farre they differ from youres all men may see and youre selfe can not be ignorant This manner of dealing to laie to the catholikes charges wordes that they neuer spake vsed long ago Celsus the heretike as Origene reporteth of him But to let this passe if yow had ment which of all other in goddes matters especially yow ought to haue done to deale plainely simply and vprightely woulde yow euer haue brought ageinst the reading of sainctes liues in the churche the third councell of Carthage Woulde you haue alleaged the first parte of the canon Placuit vt praeter scriptur as canonic as nihil in ecclesia legatur that is we haue agreed that nothing be reade in the churche besides the canonicall scriptures and haue lefte oute the last Sub nomine diuinarum scripturarum vnder the name of holie scripture Wherebie might haue appeared that the scope of those fathers gathered together in that councell was not to banishe oute of the churche the legendes of sainctes liues but to agree vpon such bookes of holie scripture as the auctoritie whereof being oute of doubte theie woulde haue to be readen in the churche for scripture and no other And therefore in that canon we finde named for canonicall scripture to be reade in the churche the bookes of the Machabees the epistle of S. Paule to the Hebrues and also that of S. Iames all though theie be not enrolled in youre registâ—r of Genâ—ua And that this councell ment nothing lesse then to forbid the reading of sainctes liues in the churche the other wordes that folowe if yowe had not guilefullie suppressed them woulde well haue declared where the same councell by expresse wordes permitteth that yearelie on the martirs daies their liues maie be reade in the churche Thus plaide yow before with the decree of Anacletus excepte yowe will saie that there yowe cut of the first parte and here yowe left oute the last Thus alleaged yow corruptelie the wordes of Leo his epistle which being that the prieste maie celebrate Masse offer the sacrifice because yowe woulde not haue those wordes sticke in youre readers teethe yowe wer so bolde to change with him and as the englishe prouerbe hath to steale a goose and sticke in her place a fether Whereas for those wordes yowe saie that Leo permitteth the prieste to ministre two or three communions in one daie Thus till yowe coate the place where yowe finde those wordes will we saie that yowe haue sarued Theophilus Alexandrinus as before in the article of communion vnder one kinde I haue noted Thus alleaged yow once in a sermon that yow made in S. Peters churche in Oxford in the Lent a saing of S. Austen for the mariage of votaries then which neither he nor all the other fathers that euer wrote haue or can speake more directlie ageinst them And yet yow so cunning a Maister yow ar in youre arte made it iust to serue youre purpose For whereas S. Austens wordes ar these Quapropter non possum dicere a proposito meliori lapsas si nupserint foeminas adulteria esse non coniugia Sed planè non dubitauerim dicere lapsus ruinas à castitate sanctiori quae vouetur Deo adulterijs esse peiores that is wherefore I can not saie that such women if theie fall from their better purpose and marie that this is adulterie and not mariage but this I dare be bolde to saie that the falling and sliding awaie from holie chastite vowed to god is worse then adulterie yow deuide the senteÌ„ce iust in the middest and where he saithe that he caÌ„not calle such mariages adulterie that swete soppe yowe keepe for youre owne toothe but that which foloweth that he dareth be bolde to call such manner of dealing worse then adulterie that sower sauce yow make no mention of at all but leaue it to such scrupulouse consciences as will not breake their fast with youre deintie delicates Thus much touching youre vneuen dealing in Christes cause Whereof I can saie no more but hartelie praie to god that bothe yowe and as manie take youre parte maie earnestlie repent and be hartely sorie therefore YOVRE rebellion and open war proclaimed agenst youre prince your sacking his townes your robbing his treasour your
1. Reg. 15. 1. Reg. 15. 16 Numer Cap. 25. 3. Regum cap. 1. Ecclesiastici cap. 48. 4. Reg. Cap. 9. Cap. 22. 4. Reg. Cap. 22. Exod. 3. 12. Psalm 109. 1. cap. 2. That kinges should be subiect to priestes no absurditie at all Lucae 10. Lib. 4. histor suae Iosepus lib. antiq 11. cap. 16. Origin contra Celsum lib. 5. AlexaÌ„ders reuerence tovvards the high priest Examples brought by the protestants A similitude Libro 3. de vita Constantini CoÌ„stantinê° vvould not fit in the councel vvith the bisshops before he had asked leaue of them so to doe Lib. 1. Capâ— te 8 Hist. ecclestrip lib. 2â— Cap. 5. The church gouerned before Constantinus time either by priestes or by infidelles or by none Histor. eccles trip libro 9. cap. 18. Concilium Aquileien se. Lib. 5. â—pist 32. Actio 3. Act. 3. Euagâ—ius Lib. 2. cap. 4. Constantinus The difference be tvvene the bisshops subscribing in the Councel and the Emperours Ex relatioÌ„ Sinod Calcedon ad B. papam Leon. Hovv the Emperours gouernemeÌ„t in the councel is to be vnderstand Concilio Constantinopolit 3. Act. 18. Note the difference betvvene the bisshops and the Emperour Subscriptions in the old councels Act. 15. Concil 2 Aurasiâ—anum Hovv the laie men subscribed in the councel Aurasican The protestaÌ„ts example taken out of the councel Aurasican maketh ageinst them Iustiniâ—â— The aduersaries obiection turned against him self Bishoppes and priestes forbidden to marie by Iustinians Constitution Chastitie vovved in IustiniaÌ„s time Hovv Iustinian made lavves in matters of the churche The first fovver general councelles defined the popes superioritie not Phocas as the protestaÌ„ts maliciouly affirme a Constit. 131. Epistola inter claras C. de sum tri fid cathol The. pope confessed by Iustinian the emperour to be the head of all churches Ro. 13. 1. Cap. 2. Hobr. 13. That S. Petre vvas B. of Rome Lib. 1. hist. apostol Lib. 7. cap. 6. Ado. Lib. de praescript aduers haer Tertulliâ—Ì„s rule to knovve an heretike Lib. 1. Epistol 3. In Catalogo Epist. 42. Lib. 2. contra Doâ—atistas Sermoâ— 124. de teÌ„pore Sermon 1. 3. Homil. in Math. 55. Cap. 16. Homil in Math. 59. Lib. 2. de Sacerdot Au inuincible argument that by ChrisostoÌ„ the charge of the vvhole churche vvas coÌ„mitted to the BB. of Ro. Peters successors Augustin Leo. Chrisost. Lib. 4. Inst cap. 6. Sectione 8. Lib. 2. de Sacerdotio Hiâ—ron â–ª ad Euagrium Secundo commonito rio The B. of Rome heade of all the vvorlde Ex Epist. Paschâ—sini alioruÌ„ collegarum de damâ— natione Dioscoâ—â— Epist. inter claras â—desum triuit fid Cath. Athanasius The pope called the B. of the vniuersall churche of Christ. The first councell of Nice alleaged by Athanasius for the Popes auctoritie In praefat in 4. euaÌ„g Chief prieste 1. Tim. 3. Ruler of the churche Ad Bonifac contraduas epist. Pelagian lib. 1. cap. 1 Placed aboue all Bishoppâ—s Lib. 2. de Baptismat Cap. 1. Epist. commentar in Pauli epist. prâ—â—fix The churche of Rome ruleth all the vvorlde Lib. 3. Cap. 3. De vocat gentium lib. 2. cap. 6. Epist. 162. A reason to proue the pope head of the churche Chief bisshoppe of all bishoppes In confessione sua In aedicto Epist. ad Innoâ—â—â— tium 〈◊〉 5. Nicephâ— lib. 11 cap. 17. The tenor of the excoÌ„munication pronounced by Innocentiê° the pope ageinst Arcadius the Emperour This vvas aboue a thousand yeares agoe To. 1. 〈◊〉 42. Tom. 2. Epist. 41. Erasmus iudgemeÌ„t against the Protestants Examples of the primitiue churche to proue the B. of Rome his supremacy Tripart hist. lib. 4 cap. 6. The odorit lib. 2. cap. 4. Triparti histor lib 4. cap. 9. Epist. ad Felicem Eusebius lib. 5. cap. 24. He liued in the yeare of our lorde 193. ConciliuÌ„ Constan. about the yeare of our lorde 369. ca. 5. Concil EphesinuÌ„ in the yeare of our lorde 433. CounciliuÌ„ CalcedoÌ„ The yeare 453. Act. 8. Sessione 1. Act. 16. The CoÌ„clusion of the CouÌ„cel of Calcedon tovvching the Popes superioritie Concilium Carthag MileuitanuÌ„ Apud August epist. 90. August epistlaÌ„ 92. August epist. 9â— Not man but god hath refer ued to the pope the determi nation of all doubtes August epist. 93. The yeare or our lord 470 Epist. 106 Epist. 95 Epiphâ— heresi 68. Athan. â—apolog 2. Histor. trip lib. 4. cap. 34. Socrates Lib. 2. cap. 15. Epist. 85. 83. 89. Lib. 2. Epist. 4. lib. epist. 1. epist. 75. S. Gregories place brought by the ProtestaÌ„ts ageinst the Popes supremacy examined The vvord vniuersall B. not taken vvith S. Gregorie to signifie the head of the churche Lib. 4. cap. 76. S. Gregorie expouÌ„ded to make nothiÌ„g for the protestaÌ„ts by his ovvne vvordes In vvhat sence it is true that no B. of Rome vvould euer be called vniuersall bisshop lib. epist. 4. Epist. 4. In the. 2. ansvvere to D. Coles 2. letttres The antiquitie of holie vvater Lib. 10. de ciuitatâ— dei cap. 6. Lib. de prescript ad â—ersus haer Lib. 4. de SacrameÌ„t Cap. 5. Super illud Lucae Hoc est corpus TertulliaÌ„ in the yeare of our lord 200 Lib. de Resur carnis Ciprian â–ª The yeare 349. Sermon de 〈◊〉 dâ—Ì„i TransubstantiatioÌ„ Athâ—nas the yeare 379. Lib. de passione imagiâ—is Christi Cap. vlâ— Homil. 5. de Paschâ—â— Transubstantiatio To alleage the oÌ„nipotency of god vvhat had it neded if there had bene no other chaunge in the bread and vvine theÌ„ the Protestants saie there is Ambrosius The yeare of our lorde 380 Lib. 4. de Sacrament cap. 4. Note that of breade the fleshe of Christ is made De ijs qui init myster cap. 9 In responad quaest 172. A Protestants faithe Lib. 1. 〈◊〉 15. Esaiae 40 Rom. 11. De Sacrâ—mentis Lib. 6. Cap. 1. Christâ—s true fleshe in the Sacrament 〈◊〉 6. VVhie in the Sacrament the accidents be not changed Lib. 4. de Sacraâ— Cap. 5. De his qui initiantur mystâ— râ—js Cap. vlâ—i The bodie consecrate by the priest the same that vvas borne of the virgin Lib. 6. de Sacram Cap. 1. Christes true flesh in the Sacrament euen as Christ vvas the true sonne of his father It had bene in vaine to haue brought examples of thingest urned in substance to proue the same in the sacrament if there had bene no such chaÌ„ge there Augustinan 400. in psal 98 A sinne not to vvorship Christes bodie in the Sacrament Adoratio Homiâ— 24 in 1. Cor. 10. Christe to be vvorshipped on the altar Ibidem Hovv Chrâ—steâ— bâ—die is vvorshipped in the SacrameÌ„t Psalm 33. Chrisostomus Ad populuÌ„ Antiochen homil 2. Christes cloke his fleshe Epist. 1. ad InnoceÌ„tium papam Nicephor lib. 13. cap. 19. Tertullian Oyprianus Athanas. Eusebiusâ— Ambrosi Really Ioan. 6. He liued Anno dnÌ„i 371. Naturally Concilium EphesinuÌ„ â— Anno domini 433. 1. Cor. 11. Lib. 5. Contrahaereses Valeâ— tini aliorum Substantially Vbi supra An absurditie in Irenaeus time to graunt that in â—he
grounded the doctrine of Christes true presence in the sacrament and so consequently that I deserue no blame who vse this auctoritie no otherwise then I finde by good and laufull recordes that the learned fathers of Christes church haue doen before me next that apon this doctrine once settled they buylded an other that Christ dwelled naturally and truly in vs against the Arrians who denied it And for so vndouted a truthe was this true and reall presence of Christ taken to be with Hilarius that blessed bishop that a littell before the place euen now alleaged to proue that Christ dwelled naturally in vs he vsed this argument or reason The word was truly made flesh in Christes incarnation we receaue the same word truly made flesh in our lordes foode Therefore he dwelleth naturally in vs. To this auncient father for the better iustifieng of this terme truly or verely I shall here adde the auncient councell holden at Ephesus one of the first 4. generall and therefore allowed with vs at home for good by act of parliament The fathers in this councell assembled to Nestorius who as by that councell it may appeare beleued the bread in the sacrament to be so turned in to flesh as that it should haue no manner of coniunction at all with the godhead nor be any other thing then the flesh of a pure and holy man wrote after this sort that we should thinck that we receiue flesh in the sacrament non vt hominis vnius ex nobis sed vt verè propriam eius factam qui propter nos filius hominis est factus vocatus that is to say not as the flesh of a man one such as we ar but such as was truly made his owne propre flesh who for our sakes was made and called the sonne of man Can there be any plainer proufe to show that Christes flesh is truly present in the sacrament then this M. Iuell You can not here shift of this place with Oecâ—lampadius and say as he most impudently did that this auctoritie is no part of th'actes of the councell For if yow so say the inscription of the epistle out of the which these wordes ar taken â–ª sent by the councell to Nestorius will ouerthrow you and proue yow bothe liers The wordes ar these Religioso amabili consacerdoti Nestorio Cyrillus quicuque sunt apud Ephesi synodum To the religiouse and welbeloued of god our fellow priest Nestorius Cyrillus and as many as ar gathered together at the synode of Ephesus By the which it appeareth that there was in the sending of this epistle common consent and agrement of them all which is ynough to sober wyttes and honeâ—t iudgements to proue that this epistle is and so ought of all men to be taken laufull and authentike But what labour I to proue by the auncient fathers this terme verely or which is all one therewith Really which in Iohn Caluin him self is to be founde in his coÌ„mentaryes apoÌ„ S. Paules epistles where he writeth thus Concludo nobis realiter in coena dari Christi corpus vt sit animis nostris in cibum salutarem I conclude saith he that in the supper is giuen to vs really the body of Christ to be to our mindes a wholsom meate Thus haue yowe had proued to yowe M. Iuell that Christes body is in the sacrameÌ„t truly and that we may not so much as doubte thereof that it is there naturally for that was Hilarius meaning when he prooued that Christ dwelled naturally in vs and last of all as Caluin hath and yow haue hard really Here I feare not a little least after the manner of children that whine and whimper till they haue gotten at their mothers handes some trifling thing such as their childishe appetite listeth after which so soone as they haue once fingred they streight way cast in the durt and traÌ„ple vnder their feete You will play the like part with her that of right ought to be your mother the Catholike church of Christ. And whereas to satisfy your waÌ„ton request not for any necessitie that she knewe you stood in thereof she showeth you by good and laufull recordes and some other such as your self in times past haue accoÌ„pted for sound and worthy credit where the body of Christ hath bene said to haue bene in the sacrament truly naturally and really and myndeth to doe the like in your other termes demaunded hereafter I feare me I say least when yow haue all your asking yow handel them in such homely manner as was said before by casting them in to the mire of your distinctions as you vse them to subuert the truthe not durty but poysoned Symbolice Sacramentaliter Spiritualiter and such other Which if yow doe thincking that to such places as expressely mencion that Christes fleshe and bloud is truly present in the sacrament may be answered that it is there truly by a figure by a signe Sacramentally or Spiritually then how euer this seeme to be a childishe guise yeat will it prooue in the ende an old knauish practise of Valentinus the heretike and his mates who liued almost fourtien hundred yeares ago For he and his as yowe ar not I am suer ignorant denied that Christ had any true or naturall body such as mans nature consisteth of graunting neuerthelesse that he suffred in true fleshe on the crosse as yow will perhappes cleaâ—ing to your distinctions not denie that he hath fleshe and bloud truly in the sacrament Now euen as Irenaeus told them when they so said Neque enimesset verè sanguinem carnem haâ—ens per quam nos redemit nisi antiquam plasmationem Adae inse recapitulasset Christ should not truly haue had bloud and fleshe by the which he redemed vs onlesse he had renewed in him self the old shape of Adam so may we tell yow M. Iuell saing that Christes flesh and bloud is truly in the sacrament but yet in a figure in a signe onely and spiritually that then he is not there at all hauing true fleshe and blouâ—â— the same that the scriptures and fathers say he redemed vs with all except he be in that old shape of Adam And thus much of the termes verily or Really and naturally or by nature The next of your termes is substaÌ„tially after the which manner of being I prooue Christes body to be present in the sacrament by Irenaeus Who after many vaine opinions of Valentinus and his compagnions by him rehersed as that Christ had a certein fleshe brought with him from heauen not true or naturall such as oures is with other like inferreth thereapon these wordes Sic autem secundum haec videlicet nec dominus sanguine suo redemit nos neque panis quem frangimus communicatio corporis eius est Sanguis enim non est nisi a venis carnibus a reliqua que est secundum hominem substantia that is to say By this meanes neither did our
the actes of heretikes theues paganes Iewes and diuelles yow yeat chalenge the gloriouse title of true Christians and good catholikes THE nexte cause hathe bene for that I finde in youre religion no certeine rules or principles to builde vpon but such as hauing hetherto bene chalenged by all the auncient heretikes for theirs maie welbe called starting holes for youre foxishe generation being sore pressed to flee vnto For proufe whereof graunte to an heretike those principles which yow demaunde to be graunted to yow of which these arre parte that nothing is necessarily to be beleuid and folowed as a truthe but thaâ— which maie expressely be founde in the lettre of the scrip ture that of the sence of goâ—des worde and true meaning thereof there is no other iudge then the scripture it â—elf as of the which one place faileth not to expounde an other that Christes churche is inuisible with such like and there was neuer yeat heresie so absurde but that he wilbe able ageinst yow and all youre companions to defenâ—e it Whereas the catholikes on the other side haue for theire parte such contrary groundes as wherewith the auncient writers haue alwaies contended ageinst the olde and auncient heretikes For they saie with S. Basile that many thinges haue bene deliuered to vs necessary to be beleâ—ed by Christ and his apostles whereof the scripture maketh no mention at all They teache with S. Austen as yow harde before in the first cause that the churche of Christ is visible And with him also they arre bolde to saie that in doutefull questions arising apon the vnderstanding of the lettre we must appeale to the churches determination AN other reason in the prosecuting whereof also I must craue pardon at youre haÌ„des if perhappes it chauÌ„ce me to touche youre parson more neerer then yow woulde I should remembring alwaies that eae maximè sunt salutaria remedia quae acerbissimeÌ„ doloruÌ„ faciunt is for that yourâ— doctrine being first grounded and then continually after supported and mainteined by lies it can by no meanes be that it euer should procede from the spirite of god Which being the spirite of all truthe hath no nede of the helpe of lyes to be vnderpropped withall Be not your lyes M. Iuell in slaundring of men in false translations in wronge allegations vttred the rather to deceaue without cotatioÌ„s in mangling and tearing of the Doctours and Councells as it pleaseth yowe and best maie make for your purpose so manifest and to the worlde so well knowen that theie can be concealed no longer What opinion might thinke yow the Councell of late assembled the moste vertuouse learned and wisest heades of the worlde haue of yow and youre doinges when in youre Apologie emongest so manie lies â—heie founde that of all other moste grosse and impudent in which yow sclaundred so wickedlie the flower of this age Hosius the Cardinall What maie youre owne countrie men thinke of youre religion when to place it the more easely there yow feined as I noted before in comparing yow with the Donatistes that the catholike bisshoppes had consented to the banishing out of the realme the pope and his auctoritie But hereof I forbeare to write anie more forasmuch as it hath by me allready benâ— sufficiently vrged Onely of this I can not but warne yow mine owne deare countrie men to take good hede to haue alwaies a diligent eye to this lieng and suttell generation and to thincke euer with youre selues that they who in thinges so euident and manifest done at home euen at youre owne noses haue not refreined so impudently to abuse yow will make no curtosie or haue any conscience in thinges more more secrete or priuey to do the same And therefore maruell not by the waie that M. Haddon hath borne Hieronimus Osorius a straungier a Portugall a man ignorant of oure affaires in hande that religion was not altered in this realme nisi conspirantibus ecclesiae proceribus but by the consente of the bishoppes or that he made him of oure abbayes this accounte that they were distâ—ibuted pios ad vsus scholarum A cademiarum Zenodochiorum to the godlye vses that is to saie of scholes of vniuâ—rsities and hospitalles That the pope for a certeine ordinarie tribute to be to him yearelie paied giueth his priestes free licences and dispensations vnder his greate seale openly to kepe concubines without controllemeÌ„t is it not an abhominable lie Of that reuerende olde man and greate learned clerke M. Doctour Clement whome in youre Apologye yow haue also to the worlde moste shamefully sclaundred what shall I heare speake seing that he religiously denieâ—h that fact which yow barely without proufes without witnesses layâ— to his charge Which deniall of his I doubte not shall emongest the better sorte be taken to be of as greate force against youre false and vntrue reporte as was the answere of Aemilius Scaurus that noble Romaine made in fewe wordes to the long and odiouse oration of his infamouse accuser Varius Sucronensis vttred before the people of Rome in these wordes Quiâ—â—tes Varius Sucronensis ait Aemilius Scaurus negat vtri crediâ—â—â— That is to saie Varius Sucronensis O ye Romaines affirmeth Aemilius Scaurus denieth whether thincke you it best to beleue The which wordes were no soner spoken so well werâ— their honesties bothe knowen to the people but he was with greate applause of the commons pronounced innocent and his aduersarie coÌ„demned in his owne action If to establishe youre doctrine yow vse thus to sclaunder and belie the aduersaries thereof two thinges will folowe thereapon First that yow shall take from vs all manner of merueile why yow so falselie reporte the olde fathers who were to this worlde so manie a hundred yeare sence deade seing that euen of them who be yeat a liue whose bookes and tongues whose bodies and whole liues manifestlie beare witnesse of the contrarie yow doe the like And secondarily yow shall giue men occasion to thincke that such doctrine is verie weake the which to be vnderpropped must haue such staies What shoulde we iudge of youre translation of the holie scriptures who turn the worde idolum or simulachrum in to the worde imago an image and this forsothe to make vs beleue that all the passages of scripture that speake ageinst the heathen and Gentils Idols speake also ageinst the Christians images as though betwene an idoll and an image there were no difference at all What ment yow but to bring the ordre of priestehode in hatred when in all places of youre Englishe bibles where priestes haue bene praised where anie thing soundeth to their commendation yowe call them ministres absteining vtterlie from the name of priestes whereas contrarie wise where their behaueor hathe bene euell yow spare not that name but vse it frelie Castalio whose translation of the bible is so well liked by youre parte when he cam to that place in the ghospell Dic ecclâ—siae tell the churche