of the Scriptures Now if I listed to play the Rhetoricien héere I could with many wordes declare that hell gates do not onely preuaile against the Romishe Bishops and their Court the filthiest that euer was but also that the very prince of féendes him selfe obteineth full and onely souereintie in them Which thing I could without trouble shew and proue both by the witnesse and by the complaints of the Bishops them selues But let vs ouerpasse that abhominable filthinesse and make hast to the opening of the residue of this place For there is no man so blockishe that hath not now of late euen felt with his handes that in these wordes of the Lord there is nothing spoken of the vnmeasurable power of the Pope but that there be set out vnto vs farre more heauenly and healthfuller thinges Prayse and thankes be geuen vnto God. ¶ That not euen by the gift of the keyes vnto Peter there is any fulnesse of power deliuered by the Lord either vnto Peter or vnto the Pope for that the keyes are a farre other thing yea and a thing of much greater holinesse then is the sayd fulnesse of the popish power THe Lorde addeth vnto the premisses And I will geue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and whatsoeuer thou byndest vpon earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer thou loosest vppon earth shall be loosed in heauen By which wordes the Lord sheweth againe that this charge concerning blessednesse and eternall life which he hath hetherto layd forth perteineth not onely to Peter or the rest of the Apostles but also vnto all men through the whole world Moreouer he sheweth the meane and maner how men are brought into the Church that is to say how they be builded vpon the Rocke and made members of Christ and the Church and so enter into the kingdome of heauen You Apostles sayth the Lord shall open the way and as it were by reaching out your handes bring men into the company of me and of my Saintes and consequently into the kingdome of heauē and that shall be done by the preaching of the Gospell For by fayth we be graffed into Christ and his Church But fayth commeth by hearing and hearing by the preaching of the Gospell And therfore sayth the Lord I will geue you the keyes of the kingdome of heauen that is I will commit vnto you the charge of preaching the Gospell to this end that you shall go out into the whole world and by declaring vnto all men the remission of sinnes through me set thē loose that be fettered in the chaines of their sinnes and open the kingdome of heauen to them that beleue and on the other side bynde those that shake of the preaching of the Gospell that is to say declare and witnesse vnto them that they be subiect to eternall damnation And this your declaration and witnessing shall be so ratified and assured that whomsoeuer ye loose or binde by my worde vpon earth them will I also account as loosened or bound in heauē And this is the simple meaning of Christes wordes flowing out of the wordes them selues without any racking of the wordes at all Which meaning I will more cléerly enlighten and more assuredly confirme by that which ensueth The worde Keyes are not vttered alwayes in one signification in the Scripture For otherwise there is no man but he knoweth what they be in their proper signification that is to wit tooles wherwithall the lockes of doores chestes and such other thinges are opened or shut And they be conueyed ouer from bodily thinges to spirituall thinges from earthly thinges to heauenly thinges and sometime they be taken for souerein and full power like as when we read in the Apocalips that Christ hath the keyes of Dauid of death and of hell For by that phrase of spéech is betokened that Christ hath the souerein and most absolute power or authoritie to gouerne the kingdome of Dauid and also full power ouer death it self and ouer hell and that he is able to deliuer from death or to thrust down into hell whomsoeuer he listeth These Keyes that is to say this power belongeth onely vnto Christ and no creature is partaker of it Wherupon also in the Apocalips the Lord sayth with a vehemencie I haue the Keyes and he sayth not I haue had but I haue I say I haue them yet still and will haue them euer I resigne them to no man. There is also the Key of knowledge and the Key of the kingdome of heauen whereof we intreate at this present The Key of knowledge is instruction wherby a mans vnderstanding is opened and his want of skill amended And the Key of the kingdome of heauē is a plaine or lightsome declaration or laying forth of thinges whereby men are taught what way they may goe into heauen or how they may be saued I faine nothing of mine owne head in this behalfe in these thinges I followe the Scripture and for mine exposition I alledge the very worde of Christ saying in the Gospell after S. Luke Woe be to you Lawyers whych haue taken away the key of knowledge ye entred not in your selues and them that came in ye forbad Which wordes of the Lord Mathew vttereth in this wise Woe be to you Scrybes and Pharyseys for ye shut vp the kingdome of heauen before men ye your selues goe not in neyther suffer ye them that come to enter in Behold looke what Luke called the taking away of the key of knowledge that doth Matthew call the shuttyng vp of the kingdome of heauen And therefore what els I pray you is it to bring forth the keyes of the kingdome of heauen then to bring forth the keyes of knowledge that is to say the doctrine which cōcerneth the kingdome of heauen through the instruction whereof we may know how to become partakers of the euerlasting saluation Againe to take away the keyes of knowledge or of the kingdome of heauen is nothing els but to withstand the doctrine of the Gospell concerning the kingdome of God or to assault it or to geue commaundement that it be not preached You therfore enter not in sayth the Lorde I meane by harkening to my doctrine ye beleue not that ye might be saued neither suffer ye them to enter which come and are desirous of my doctrine concerning the kingdome of God that is to say which would faine heare and beleue my doctrine that by faith they might be made heires of Gods kingdome while you slaunder my doctrine and my workes as though they procéeded from Sathan and therefore were to be abhorred and eschewed of good men And by these wordes of the Lord it appeareth most manifestly that the keyes wherof he speaketh here in S. Matthew saying and to thee will I geue the keyee of the kingdome of heauen are not any other thing then the charge of preaching the Gospell committed by the Lord to the ministers of his Church that by the sayd
counselling to depose Childericke and to aduaunce Pippin to the kingdome And so was an other horne ouerthrowen by the little horne The third horne which was the kinges of Lombardie was brought lowe at the incensing of the Popes and finally also vtterly wiped away by Pippin and Charles kinges of Fraunce But by the vndoing oppressing of these kinges the wealth of the Bishops of Rome increased and their power waxed strong whom Gods will was to shew by this triple crowne as it were with the fingar to be very Antichristes Thus much concerning the Keyes Armes and Cognisances of the Romane Bishops Now come to my way againe ¶ Of the wordes power and ministery and so is the disputation of the keyes knit vp I Know well inough it offendeth many euen in this discourse that I vse the terme power so seldome and the worde ministerie or ministration so often when notwithstanding the Scripture doth openly geue power to the ministers and it is commonly called the power of the keyes But how small a thing is that I beséech you if it be compared with the fulnesse of power which these men chalenge to them selues openly I graunt in déede that the administration of the Church or if ye like it better of the keyes is called power For the Lord sayth in the Gospell Like as a man that at his going into a straunge countrey left his house and gaue his seruauntes power c. But who knoweth not that the power which is spoken of héere is none other but to do seruice or to minister specially seing that in an other Euangelist it is more effectually opened what maner of power the same is in these wordes to geue his honsholde meate in due season sayth the lord Which thing no man will wrest to the fulnesse of power but he that is past all shame For the Lorde speaketh manifestly of the preaching of the Gospell whereby meate is set before the housholde I meane before the Church of god And when Paule to the Corinthians had termed the preaching of the Gospell the word of attonement by and by expoūding him selfe he addeth that the office or ministration of preaching the attonement was geuen vnto him behold héere he calleth that thing a ministration which he had euen now called the worde And he addeth againe that Christ by the ministers exhorteth men to be at one with god What power I pray you shall the faythfull minister claime by this géere Rightly therefore do some men geue warning that the power by lawe is one thing and the power by ministration is an other The power by lawe is that wherby ech man as an owner hath power ouer the thinges that are his owne subiecte to his owne commaundement and not to an other mans After this sort the Lord hath power ouer the Church who sayth in the Gospell All power is geuen to me in heauen and in earth So is it sayd before that Christ hath the key of Dauid of death and of hell This power is communicated to no creature but remaineth to God alone Therefore except they will be false ministers they will neuer take this power vpon thē But the power of ministration or office is that which the Lord hath committed to the ministers with a certaine limitation and not absolutely For these do not what they list them selues nor as owners of thinges but as their Lord and master hath commaunded them and onely in the same maner that he by his certaine determination hath appointed them to be done and if they do it not or do it otherwise then their master hath commaunded them they shall be but vntrusty seruauntes And so vndoutedly the minister of Christ hath the ministering power of the keyes in the Church to preach the Gospell to the Church and to preach it in such wise as the Lord hath commaunded him to preach and certeinly he shall be a false and vnfaythfull seruaunt to his master if he take vpon him any other power and specially fulnesse of power and preach not the Gospell at all or preach it otherwise then is appointed him Besides this I am not ignorant that Christ gaue the Apostles great power howbeit with limitation and but for the beginning and for a certeine time according as Mathew witnesseth saying And he gaue his twelue Disciples power against vncleane spirites to cast them out and to heale all maner of diseases and infirmities For I thinke not that any man will affirme the same power to be geuen to all ministers of the Church together with the keyes considering that we know how that the Gospell being sufficiently confirmed already by such signes they be now no longer common and vsuall in the rest of the Church no more then the ablenesse and vse of sundry tounges But howsoeuer the case stād with that wonderfull power it is most certeine that the Apostle Paule sayd of all maner of power geuen vnto him by the Lord that the same was geuen him to edifie withall and not to destroy Which thing vnlesse euery minister wey very aduisedly with him selfe not onely in vaine but also to his owne great harme shall he dispute of the power that is geuen him and much more daungerously shall he take it vpon him Hetherto I haue made discourse of the keyes with as much bréefnesse and plainnesse as I could Wherby I trust that such as shut not their eyes of malice may perceaue that the keyes are for an other thing then the Papistes face vs withall doutlesse not an absolute ouer thinges in earth and in heauen but an healthfull ministery of Gods worde or of the Gospell of Iesu Christ and the charge and good ordering of the very Church of God And therefore that whē the Lord sayd I will geue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen he gaue not Peter and the Romane Idoll an infinite power which they call the fulnesse of power For when the Lord promised and gaue the keyes he gaue not the keyes of an earthly kingdome but of the kingdome of heauen Which thing is chéefly to be marked in this discourse And in this kingdome in this his Church Christ is the souerein Lorde and abideth King Bishop and supreme head yea and that alone without any copartener or deputie But his messengers or Ambassadors sent to his Church are the Elders rulers and ministers of the congregations As for all power it is onely Christes the King Préest and Head and is not surrendred to any other For he him selfe caryeth yet still and vnto the very end will cary vpon his shoulders the key of Dauid and he will open and no man shall shut and shut and no man shall open and he alone both looseth and bindeth But his Ambassadors or preachers that are sent and ordeined to gather his Church doe preach this Christ the Lord assuring men by the preaching of the Gospell that Christ forgeueth the sinnes of such as beléeue certeinly and bestoweth eternall life vpon them
vpon Iohn sayth thus Whereas they were all asked the question Peter alone answered Thou art Christ the sonne of the liuing God and it is sayd vnto him Vnto thee will I geue the keyes as though he alone had receaued the power to binde and loose when notwithstanding he both spake it alone for them all and receaued them with them all as bearing the person of vnitie and one did therfore both speake and receaue because there is vnitie in all The same wordes repeateth he againe in his 124. treatise vpon Iohn And in his ▪ 50. treatise he sayth when Peter receaued the keyes he represented the holy Church The same thinges auoucheth the blessed Martyr Cyprian in his little worke concerning the simplicitie of Clerkes Furthermore if we shoulde graunt any thing to be geuen héere singularly vnto Peter what is that to the Pope of Rome He hath not yet proued him selfe to be Peters heire and successor In his owne Decrées in the sentences of Hierom and Chrysostom in the xl distinction he shall finde that which will put him to his trumpe wring him by the eare and cut his combe Neither doth he which sayth that in Peter the keyes were geuen to the whole Church approue the Romish toyes ¶ Here is expounded the mysterie of the Armes cognisances of the Romane Bishops bearing brauely in their scutchions a triple crowne with a payre of Keyes BEfore I depart from hence I will glauncingly and bréefly set forth the thinges which séeme to perteine peculiarly to the keyes not of the kingdome of heauen but the keyes which the Bishops of Rome take to them selues and which they blaze abroad in their Armes that is to wit by painting and stamping them commonly in a scutchion and vnder an helmet yea and by fastening them vnto all their Bulls For vnder those armes and cognisances of theirs after the maner and fashion of scutchions and helmets doe they shadowe the fulnesse of their power and blaze it abroad to the knowledge of all men For the scutchion it selfe beareth the armes of the house of the Bishop that sitteth in the Sea. And ouer the scutchion stand two keyes a crosse so set that in stead of an helmet or crest they beare vp or haue set vpon the shéeld and keyes a triple crowne or cap of mainteinance which according to the interpretation of Austin Steuchus they them selues call their Royaltie The cap of mainteinance it selfe sheddeth out little Labells such as are hanging at Bishops Miters And all these thinges which were vtterly vnknowen to the Apostles and the first Bishops of the Romane Sea are according to the arte of Haraldrie made significatiue to shew forth the puissance or power of this king kingdome of all other the greatest The shéeld it selfe which beareth the armes of the Bishops linage sheweth that the kingdome and the power of the kingdome belongeth to him whose armes those be and which presently sitteth in that Sea. And the two keyes set crosse aloft vpon the shéeld like as also their two swordes doe according to their holy and misticall diuinitie betoken that vnmeasurable power of theirs which extendeth it selfe foreward and backward through the whole earth and aduaunceth it selfe also aboue the very cloudes euen into heauen In the meane while it was Gods good will to teach wise men by such fatall badges who and what maner a one this prince is verely euen the same of whom S. Iohn hath written in his Apocalips saying And I saw an other beast comming out of the earth and hauing two hornes like vnto the Lambes But those two hornes are Préesthood and Princehood and both of them belong to Christ the Lord who is continueth alone both King and Préest for euer For he is that Lābe of god Therfore it is piththely sayd that those hornes which the beast taketh vnto him are not the Lambes hornes for the Lambe kéepeth his still and lendeth them to no man but like the Lambes hornes For the Bishop will haue all men beleue that by Peter Christ hath geuen them equall power with him selfe that is to wit Préesthood and Princehood and so prate they in those tyrannicall Decretalls of theirs which thing for all that is but of their owne making neither haue they receaued any such thing of Christ or yet of Peter Furthermore their Royaltie or Crowne hath Labells hanging at it yea euen bishoply labells flaring about and wrythed with the keyes to the sides of the crowne meaning therby that this prince is no cōmon prince but both a prince and a préest Yea the crowne which this préestly king prince and Emperor beareth is not single and one but triple such as neuer any Monarkes wore that men can read of were they neuer so puissant neither are there any princes liuing at this day that weare the like And who I pray you would dout that there were a great mysterie in these thinges if it were not such a one as knoweth not that the matters of these men are stuffed with mysteries like the holy letters of the Egyptians This triple crowne therfore signifieth that he which beareth it is Lord of Lordes and King of Kinges or rather that he is the only prince vpon earth which hath power in earth in heauē and in purgatory vnder the earth or more verely which is king of heauen of the earth of the vnfortunate Ilandes or of the new found land Purgatory And this crowne is not of lesse value then the crownes of other kinges but much statelyer wrought with wonderfull cunning and garnished and beset with iewels and things of great price that at least wise euen therby they might do men to vnderstand that that power of theirs hath not his match in all the world but in all pointes surmoūteth all others Again it is come to passe by the goodnesse of God that none of all the princes in the world weareth such a crowne but onely the Bishop of Rome For so was it Gods will to shew openly by this peculiar marke that this prince thus capped with a triple crowne is the very same whom Daniell in his vij chapter termeth the little horne For the little horne in déede is the bishop and shepeheard which is bedecked with humilitie and whom God hath forbidden to reigne as a lord This little pretie horne springeth vp among the tenne hornes For whē the Romane Monarchie which is the olde beast was diuided and decayed there appeared vp a little slender horne and a despised one among the rest and swept away thrée of the other hornes By doing wherof he purchased him self power For the Bishops of Rome at the beginning of their créeping vp dispatched thrée princes First Gregory the second of that name pluckt vp Leo the third Emperor of Constantinople one of these thrée hornes by procuring his Exarke to be slaine in a hurlyburly at Rauenna and dispatching the Emperor quite out of Italy Afterward Pope Zachary draue Childericke king of Fraunce to decay by
power giuen them of god Wherby you vnderstād that there is no cause why you should striue among your selues for souereintie For you sée that those which are in office already shall continue still in their charge Thus much sayd the Lord concernyng ciuill gouernemēt Now foloweth also concernyng the ministerie of the Church It shall not be so amōg you For I haue not chosen you to make you princes of landes but rather seruantes of the Churches not Lordes I say but preachers to publish the word of glad tydinges and to shyne before the people in example of holy lyfe Therfore I will not haue you once thinke of bearing rule or wish to reigne like princes of this world it shall not be so among you Howbeit for asmuch as ambitious pride had brought the Disciples this farre here also like as afore he commendeth lowlinesse vnto them saying whosoeuer will be great among you c. Neither is there any cause why the Romish sorte should now a dayes blere our eyes with their stile of Seruant of the seruants of God which the Pope vseth For that style is a forged style and the lowlinesse of these men is but a counterfet or hipocritly lowlinesse For the very experience of many hundred yeares witnesseth that in all the whole world there are none that can worse away with doyng seruice than this kynde of men Nay rather they will be worshipped for soueraines and kynges of kynges Or if they be the seruauntes of Gods seruauntes in déede why offer they their feete to be kissed euen of Gods princes And the Lord to moue them the more euidently addeth his owne example to his foresaid cōmaundement saying Like as the sonne of man is not come to be serued c. This is a notable saying for it is as much as if he had sayd If I which am your Lord and master and the liuyng sonne of the liuing God to and kyng of kynges sue not for ne chalendge not to my selfe any worldly preheminēce vpō earth as who am come into the earth to serue all mens turnes euen with the losse of my lyfe truly you ought to be ashamed of it that you which are but wretched men and no better then thralles are notwithstandyng not afrayd to gape after souereintie These thynges these thynges I say as dreadful thunderboltes not onely shake but also turne vpside downe that seate of the Romishe Byshops which they haue most boldly shamelessely exalted aboue the thrones of all kynges vnder pretence of Peter and of the graunted souereintie and vnmeasurable power which they say they receiued of Christ. And whereas the Lord vttered these thynges to his Disciples once or twise very earnestly and so forcibly as they could not be vttered more forcibly yet had ambition and desire of prerogatiue takē so déepe rootes in the mindes of the Disciples accordyng to the corruption of mās nature that at the Lordes last Supper when they vnderstode he should depart out of this world they fell againe to striuyng for the supremacie and prerogatiue then most of all that is to wit who should be chief vpon earth and preferred before all others in the Church when the Lord was gone away and receiued vp into heauen But the Lord inueyeth not sharply against his Disciples ne casteth them of as they had deserued for renewing their former errour now the third tyme and for by inforcyng it by harping still vpon it after he had so euident instruction and disprofe of their souereintie but salueth the disease of both them and of all other in the church that are atteynted with the same vice And first of all he repeteth the same argument which he had obiected agaynst them in the 20. of Mathew saying There is no reason why you should striue for superioritie For the Princes that reigne at this tyme in the world neither are now nor shall hereafter be put down for me For the Magistrate continueth still in his former state dignitie He shall reigne but so shall not you reigne By the way also and as it were glauncingly he shadoweth out the office of princes saying And they which haue power ouer them are called Good Gracious that is to say they be ordeined of God to the end they should do good to their subiectes For the Apostle sayth The Magistrate is Gods minister for thy welfare For Princes are not a terrour to such as do wel but to such as do ill And what could be sayd more piththily and strongly in this case that which is sayd already or rather now twise repeted but so shal not you By and by he addeth an ordinaunce after what sort the Ministers must behaue themselues in their Ecclesiasticall charge saying He that is an elder among you let him become felow to the yonger That is to say he that hath gotten a greater roome in the Church is endewed both with sundry giftes and also with singular authoritie in respect of his old age and his experience in matters let hym not vaunt himselfe for those singular giftes but let him be wise after a lowly maner as if he were some young man without experience and as yet raw in so great a charge Also he that is a Prince 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Capteine Ruler or Gouerner let him assure himselfe that he hath not gotten a souereintie but a ministerie and therfore let him behaue himselfe as a Minister Unto these he addeth also other reasons whereby to lay forth to the eye that Apostolicke men are called not to reigne but to serue Greater sayth he is the prerogatiue of him that sitteth at the table then of him that serueth him which sitteth But the Church beyng called by the Lord to a spirituall feast sitteth downe And you serue the Church of that spirituall foode Ergo the Church is as your Lady and mistresse and you are the seruauntes of this mistresse but not her maisters and much lesse her souereines Hereunto agayne he ioyneth his owne example I am sayth he as a seruaunt among you Seyng then that I which am your Lord do neuerthelesse serue you it is a shame for you which be but seruauntes to thinke of Lordyng it in the Church considering how my most humble example is dayly before your eyes vtterly abhorryng from all desire of souereintie Furthermore he addeth this also Surely it is straunge that you should striue among your selues for superioritie considering how that I haue hetherto ben subiect to many and sundry afflictions Wherof you your selfe can beare witnesse vnto whom some part of my temptations and afflictions hath redounded Wherefore ye might rightlyer conferre among your selues of bearing the crosse and of patience than of Lordshyp superioritie Notwithstandyng he annexeth here agayne a comfort least their hartes might fayle them at the mention of afflictions And therefore he knitteth vnto it a declaration of heauenly rewardes that shal be liberally giuen vnto those in the euerlasting countrie which get
Persia and the Eastcountreys and Inde and all the barbarous natioÌ„s worshyp one Christ obserue one rule of truth If authoritie be sought the world is greater than a Citie Where soeuer is a Byshop whether he be of Rome or of Eugubie or of Alexandrie or of Tanais he is all one in merite all one in Priesthode The statelinesse of riches or the basenesse of pouertie maketh not a Bishop either higher or lower but all of them are successors of the Apostles And vpon the Epistle of S. Paul vnto Titus An Elder sayth he and a Byshop are both one And before such tyme as by the instinct of the deuill there were sectes in religion and it was sayd among folke I hold of Paule I of Apollo and I of Cephas the Churches were gouerned by the common aduise of the Elders But after the time that euery man imagined those whom he had baptised to be his owne and not Christes it was decréed through the whole world â–ª that one he speaketh not of the bishop of Rome onely but of all other Metropolitanes through the whole world should be chosen from among the Elders and set ouer the rest vnto whom the charge of the whole Church should belong and so the séedes of schismes and variances be taken away Againe when the same Ierome had proued and shewed by many textes of Scripture that Elders and Byshops are all one thing he addeth byanby I haue therfore mencioned these thinges that I might shew how Elders and Bishops were all one thing and that for the plucking vp of the plantes of dissention the charge of all things was by little put vnto one Therfore like as Priests know that by the custome of the Church they be subiect to him that is set ouer them so also let the Bishops vnderstand that they be greater than the Priestes rather by custome than by truth of Christes ordinauÌ„ce and that they ought to gouerne the Church in common And so forth And although I thinke not that any man will looke for plainer fuller matter in this present case than this which I haue rehearsed already out of Ierome yet will I adde somewhat more out of Gregorie who was himselfe a Bishop of Rome placed in that sea the yeare of our Lord. 591. in which he dyed the yeare of our Lord 64. He alone wil be a sufficient able witnesse that in his time the sayd tyrannicall and Popish Monarchie was not yet either placed in that sea nor grauÌ„ted to it Before this Gregorie was chosen to the Byshoprik of Rome he was Pretor or Maior of the Citie of Rome as he himselfe witnesseth in his booke of Epistles the second Epistle Beyng chosen Byshop confirmed in his Bishoprike or sea by the Emperour Morice who kept his residence at Constantinople he calleth him Emperour acknowledgeth him to be his souerein Lord ordeined by God and himselfe to be his subiect seruaunt Yea and he faithfully obeyed his Exarkes and Captaines that were placed through Italie calling them his Lordes He obeyed their lawes yea and their Ecclesiasticall lawes to All which thinges are to be read in his Epistles Lib. 2. Epist. 61. Againe Lib. 4. Epist. 31. Lib. 1. Epist. 43. Also Lib. 7. Epist. 11. Besides this Paulus Diaconus in his 4. booke 9. chap. of the doyngs of the Lombardes witnesseth that Gregorie submitted himselfe to be iudged by the Emperour Maurice for the murther of Malchus a byshop wherof he was appeached And Gregorie him selfe maketh mentioÌ„ of the same matter in the seuenth booke of his Epistles But these thinges will séeme light and small if they be compared with those which he himselfe hath left in writyng For when as one Iohn Bishop of Constantinople would néedes be called oeconomicall Bishop and be acknowledged for vniuersall Bishop to haue supremacie iurisdiction and dominion ouer all Churches and Byshops of Churches in the whole world Gregorie withstode him sharpely and stoutly like as Bishop Pelagius had done afore him He wrate many and sundry Epistles concernyng that matter to Maurice the Emperour to Constance the Empresse to Iohn himselfe the Bishop of Constantinople and to the Bishops of Antioche and Alexandria Among other thinges he denieth that any man ought to be an vniuersall Bishop sauing Christ that any Bishops vsurped that title afore him For he sayth that the title is straunge foolish proude péeuish wicked and heathenish wherunto to consent were euen as much as to renounce the fayth Agayne speakyng of Iohn of Constantinople Out of the same dust sayth he in which he sate and out of the same lowlynesse which he pretended he hath taken presumptuousnesse so as he assayeth to ascribe all thinges to himselfe and by haultinesse of stately spéech indeuereth to subdue all Christes members to himselfe which cleaue alonely to their owne head that is to say to the same christ Anon after comparing with Lucifer he writeth Lucifer sayd I will clymb into heauen I will exalt my throne aboue the starres of the skie For what els are all thy brethren the Byshops of the vniuersall Church but starres of heauen whose life together with their toung shineth among mens sinnes errours as it were in the dareknesse of the night Before whom when thou couetest to preferre thy selfe by title of preheminence and to treade their name vnder foote in comparison of thine owne what els sayest thou but I will clymb vp into heauen c. Finally writing to the same Iohn Byshop of Constantinople all thinges sayth he that were forespoken do come to passe The kyng of pride is néere at hand and which is a shame to be spoken there is an army of Priestes in preparing for him For they which were set to be lodesmen of lowlynesse serue as souldiers vnder the necke of loftinesse And the same man agayne in his 6. booke of Epistles and the xxx Epist. But I say boldly that who soeuer termeth himselfe or desireth to be termed the vniuersall Bishop is in his pride the forerunner of Antichrist bycause he preferreth himselfe by his proudnesse before the residue and by like pryde is led into errour And certes Gregorie hath spoken these thynges most truly For the sayd Iohn Bishop of Constantinople was the very forerunner of Antichrist as who by his wicked and importunate demaund of highest preheminence gaue occasion to the Byshops of Rome to aspire to the top of supremacie Among them after the death of Gregorie Boniface the third obteyned of the Emperour Phocas that he should proclaime the Church of Rome to the head of all other Churches as Bede sayth to be the first Church as Paulus Diaconus sayth or to be the mother Church as Vrspergensis and Crantzius say Whereupon the Bishops of Rome as beyng Byshops of the souerein Sâ—a immediatly proclaymed themselues both souerein and vniuersall Shepheardes of all Churches to whom all ought of dewtie to obey For the Emperour Phocas sayth Nauclerus in his hystorie by the Byshop of
vsurpyng monstruously the place of supreme head And finally which hath presumed to dispose parsons of churches other Catholicke Priestes and to make constitutions in cases Ecclesiasticall deposing and oppressing the Catholike Byshops and aduauncing or restoryng wicked preachers and ministers of vngodlinesse to the roomes of those that be deposed c. This ye may sée is the fayre Helene for the winnyng of whom the Romish Byshops haue made warre in Christendome now these certeine hundred yeares agaynst all Christen Kinges and Princes This is the ground of all their grief verely this is the onely cause for which they haue turmoyled the whole world and cease not to turmoyle it euen at this day that is to wit in so great light of the Gospell which now shyneth bright and triumpheth through the whole world a most assured proofe of inuincible shamelesnesse and wilfulnesse For the Lord without any parable and most manifestly in the Gospell sayth to the pastors of Churches The kings of the Gentiles reigne ouer them but so shall not you Neuerthelesse the Byshop who will séeme to be the Prince of pastors despising or rather trampling that so manifest commaundement of the Lord vnder his féete is not ashamed to take vppon him all power as well in spirituall as temporall matters And what els is that but to wype away all shamefastnesse and openly and wickedly to rebell agaynst God and to outface him with saying to him but we will do so and not simply but also farre further yea and more to But I haue shewed euidently inough afore that all pastors of Churches are called and ordeined by Christ not to beare rule but to serue in all thinges Monstruously therfore doth the seruaunt of seruauntes which is excluded from all Lordship and appointed onely to do seruice vsurpe to him selfe the thyng that is peculiar onely to souereines whom God hath set in authoritie For if the thyng be sayd to be done monstruously which is done either agaynst nature or Gods expresse ordinaunce I pray you what can be deuised more monstruous than that he whom the Lord of all thinges of whom commeth all power and dominion hath cast downe as the basest seruaunt of all and put farre vnderneath the footestooles of all Lordes should not onely take vpon him the chayre of estate which God hath graunted onely to kynges but also moreouer deuise himselfe a throne which he will haue séeme to be exalted aboue the thrones of all kinges and mountyng vp into the same without remembraunce of his own base estate deuilishly vaunt himselfe to the whole world not now as a King or Emperour onely but also as chief Byshop that obteineth both the swordes and all power both in heauen and in earth Here is that dubbleshapped monster here here is séen that deadly and detestable that horrible also and wonderfull monster which is blased in the holy Scriptures by the title of the great whore which fitteth vppon many waters and vppon the scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemie But for a kyng or a Quéene to be called a head as well in spirituall as temporall matters within their owne Realme it is no monstruousnesse at all bycause the Lord hath so ordeined it in Gods word Princes be called the heades of the people so the thing can not be sayd to be done mōstruously agaynst nature which is done according to Gods will word With Kyngs I ioyne Quéenes also and not without cause least the Pope perchaunce might surmyse that women are excluded from reignyng or that it is a monstruous thyng if a woman should reigne For we know that the thinges which the Apostle speaketh concernyng the obedience of wiues and the silence of women in the congregation of God are not to be wrested vnto reigning For it is certein that the Lords Apostles impeached not the successions in kyngdomes ne disordered not the accustomed maner of inherityng in kyngdomes Also we know that mention is made in the Bible of the noble Quéene of Saba to her great prayse for her much conference with Salomon Neither will I now say any thyng of Delbora that Iudged Israell of other Princely Ladyes Truly Esay not onely sayd And Kynges shal be thy foster-fathers but also added And Quéenes shal be their nurces they shall bow downe themselues before thée c. Esay 49. ¶ How it is no monstruousnesse for the Queene of England and consequently for all ciuill Magistrates to determine in cases Ecclesiasticall or to vndertake and beare the charge of Church matters as to depose euill Byshops and to set vp better in their roomes NOw then it is out of dout that the sayd most vertuous Quéene is supreme head or souerein Lady in that her Realme ordeined of God himselfe and set ouer the puissant Realme of Englād except it be false which the Lords Apostle and chosen vessel Paule hath sayd Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers For there is no power but of God and the powers that be are ordeined of god Therfore who soeuer resisteth power resisteth Gods ordinaūce And they that resist shall purchase dānation to themselues Seyng now that all men know these thinges to be most true it foloweth there withal not onely that the Quéene of Englād is Quéene by Gods ordinaūce but also that the byshop that resisteth her setteth himselfe naughtely agaynst her prouoketh Gods greuous iudgemēt agaynst himselfe But forasmuch as the Pope thinkes it a monstruousnesse that a king or a Quéene or any ciuil Magistrate in a cōmō weale should determine of Ecclesiasticall cases put down naughtie Priestes or Bishops aduaunce set vp better in their steddes and take vpon him to beare the charge not onely of temporall affaires but also of spirituall or Ecclesiasticall matters Lo I will proue and shew by euident and inuincible argumentes and examples of holy kynges howbeit briefly that the same thinges are parcell of their dewtie and therfore that the Magistrate doth then by Gods law and accordyng to the commaundement of the euerlastyng God and that the Bishop of Rome snatcheth them to him selfe and to his rable tyrannically and wickedly agaynst God playeth the Antichrist in pluckyng them from those to whom God hath giuen them That God in any wise would and that he hath ordeined from the beginnyng that Kynges in their kyngdomes and Magistrates in their common weales ought to take vpon them the care euen of Religion and to looke faithfully vnto it and to order it diligently accordyng to the rule of Gods woord this is the greatest proofe that God in hys law doth straitly commaund a copie of the law to be deliuered to the Prince of his people therby to dispose all his affaires And in the same law he commaundeth the Magistrate to make examination of doctrines and to restrayne yea and to smyte such as withdraw mē from God and such as teach stubbornly agaynst the law These thinges are to
strongly assault and battre the purpose and indeuer of the Romane Bishop whose gréedy gaping is for nothing els but the destruction of the true seruauntes and worshippers of god His desire is to aduaunce and mainteine Idolaters and to oppresse and destroy the true seruauntes and worshippers of god And to bring this to passe he is not ashamed at all to pretend and dissemble to lye to deceiue and to deale craftely to lay wayt to forsweare yea and in the end to murther cruelly But admit we should graunt that promise is not to be kept with heretikes and infidels that be enemies of our faith yet ought it to be first proued that the Quéene of England is an heretike and such a one as promise is not to be kept vnto But that the Quéene of England is of a right opinion Catholike and no heretike I haue already abundantly euidently and clearely inough declared Therfore promise ought to be kept with her and they that be sworne vnto her can not be released of their oth by any law of God or man. As for the Councell of Constance it hath in many other thinges and specially in the Decrée of the xiij Session set forth Decrées openly against Christ the Lord and against his most holy Gospell And therfore it is of no authoritie among godly and well minded men For not euen S. Austen him self would haue any Councels of what sort so euer they be or haue ben to be had in any estimation if they disagrée with reason right and Scripture And truly about a xxvj yeares after the holding of the Coūcell of Constance those holy fathers according to their owne rule That promise ought not to be kept with heretikes and infidels executed that power of theirs in discharging Ladislaus king of Hungarie and Pooleland from the othe which he had lawfully made of Amurathes the Emperour of Turky For Iulianus Caesarinus the Legate of Eugenie the iiij the Bishop of Rome made a very long oration in the presence of King Ladislay and the Nobilitie of his realme the onely drift whereof was to make the King and hys noble men beleue that the league which they had made with the king of the Turkes being an Infidell was to be broken and the promise made vnto him to be reuersed but in any wise to kéep league with the bishop who representeth the person of God vppon earth Which thing if ye do not sayth he I feare me lest euen as Iudas betrayed Christ so you will séeme to betray Christes vicar and so lest you finde God your vtter enemy herafter whom ye haue alwayes hetherto found helpfull and fauourable in your affayres But harken I pray you how helpfull and fauourable the king and nobilitie found God toward them according as the fals prophet Cesarinus bare them in hand after they had concluded to breake promise with the Turke and to make horrible warre vpon him when he looked for no such thing Truely at the battell of Waray which was the greatest of all others when it was likely that all should haue gone to wracke on both sides Amurathes plucking out of his bosome the booke of the league that was concluded and solemnly sworne opened it and looking earnestly vp into heauen sayd These euen these O Iesu Christ are the couenauntes which thy Christians haue made with me they haue sworne solemnly by thy Goohead and broken theyr promise made in thy name and like fals forsworne persons haue denied their god Now Christ if thou be God as they say and we be borne in hand I pray thée reuenge here the wronges and mine and shew the punishment of promise-breaking to such as know not yet thy holy name ▪ He had scarce sayd these wordes but the battell which had bene vncertaine and doubtfull a long while began to encline like as we read also how it came to pas after the same sort long afore that in the time of Clodeway the first king of France by reason of his calling vpon Christ in a battell against the Almanes fortune turned agaynst the Christians so as being wéeryed and tyred with fighting all the day long they turned theyr backes and were miserably slayne In that battell the King himselfe was slaine who otherwyse was a very good prince and woorthy of commendation and with him were slayne the chiefe of hys nobilitie and stoutest men of war also there was slayne the soothsayer of Tolumne Cesarinus Scarce the third part of the kinges army returned Platina in the life of Eugenye the fourthe numbreth aboue thirtie thousande Christians that were slaine and layeth all the blame of this misfortune vppon Eugenie the pope He that desireth to know the whole story which is vndoubtedly both notable and terrible shall find it set out at large in Antonie Bonfine in the sixt booke of hys third Decade of the matters of Hungarie Also the same author geuth warning aduisedly that God did iustly reuenge the breach of promise vpon the Christians By all which thinges it appeareth manifestly how well God lyketh the decrée of the counsell of Constance That promise is not to be kept with heretikes infidelles Doubtlesse the catholike truth teacheth men expresly to kéep theyr lawfull promise assurance or oth at al times aswell to the bad as to the good that is to wit both to beeleuers and vnbeleuers or infidelles For our Lord in his law commaundeth all and euery person that they lye not ne commit periury by breaking theyr promise But indéed he lyeth which vttereth an vntruth with a purpose to deceiue for commonly men say that to lye is nothing els but to speake against a mans owne knowledge for lyers speake one thing thinke an other And Gelasius in the decréees Lib. 22. Quest. 4. which beginneth with S. Paule c. That man lyeth in committing periurie which knoweth the thing to be vntrue which he sweareth for as Saint Austen sayth a lye is an vntrue vtterance of the voyce with a purpose to beguyle As for example When the pope promiseth safety of lymme and life to such as he estéemeth to be heretikes but in déed are rightheleuers and catholikes and yet purposeth in his minde to deceiue them by opening them the gap of that hope and so to bring them in perill of lyfe lymme and all worldly substance that is to say to destroy them cruelly which was the thing that he purposed when he guilefully promised them safety and therefore promised it to the entent he might destroy them Thys is a shamefull lye and a cursed and abhominable periurye Wherof the Prophet hath spoken saying Lord thou hatest all them that commit iniquity and wilt destroy them that speake lyes The Lord abhorreth a bloudthirsty and deceifull or falseharted man. Therfore when Iosue and the Elders of Israell had made a league of peace with the Gabaointes who came with a false tale and as yée would say beguiled the people of God yet they