his frends who hee hopeth wil not examine that he writeth whether it haue weight or not but will take all for gold that hee giueth if it looke yelow Thus against all truth to affirme Eliachim to be hie priest is too bad And to offer by such proofe as could not but be vncertain euen to himselfe to proue so waighty a matter whereupon so great controuersie in religion hangeth doth not onely proclaime that all may heare it the weaknesse of his cause but also that his indeuour is to keepe vnder the truth that it appeare not And thus much to lay open his falshood in his first reason Now let vs see the weakenesse of his second To binde and loose saieth hee is to commaunde and to punish and to dispence and to remitte But Peter coulde binde and loose What nowe will Maister Bellarmine conclude Therefore saith hee hee is iudge and prince of all that are in the church we will not much stand with him in his maior although it might haue beene vttered in plainer termes For this authoritie of binding and loosing is so committed vnto the church that the power to do it is tied not to the man but to the ministerie not to the materiall church but to the word And therefore wee cannot simply say that to bind and loose is to commaund or punish but to commaund according to the word and to punish according to the direction of it For wee must not imagine that God must be the executioner of our owne decrees or tyed to allowe of our iudgements but that wee are the proclaimers of his iudgements and must pronounce what God in his reueiled word hath already set downe And also the word of dispensing though it may perchaunce haue a good vnderstanding as if thereby we meane the meane the ordering and bestowing of the word in respect whereof the ministers are called stewards or disposers of the secrets of God so must we take heede that thereby we giue not to any man saint Peter or any other libertie to dispense at their pleasure and to order as they will the people of God For as magistrates if they do not gouerne according to law abuse their authoritie and doe degenerate into tyrants so ministers of the word if they swarue from the word are but seducers The maior I say beeing rightly vnderstood wee doe yeld vnto and the minor is also true that Peter could binde and loose But master Bellarmines conclusion doth not agree with these propositions neither can it folow if they be graunted It hangeth no better together then Daniels image of sundrie mettalles that could not long hold together But this must be master Bellarmines conclusion to bind and loose is to commannd punish dispense and remit in such sort as I haue alreadie shewed but saint Peter could binde and loose therefore saint Peter might commaund punish dispense and remit as hath beene shewed This must be master Bellarmines conclusion but this will not serue master Bellarmines turne For euery minister should so doe and not Peter onely And all this is doone by the ministery of the word in euery pastours seuerall charge if the minister be faithfull in his office Seeing his second argument concludeth nothing against vs what doth his third and last argument He promiseth by the fathers to proue that these keis are a soueraigne and chiefe authoritie ouer the whole church What will he bring vs a catholike erposition receaued by all or most of the godly learned at all times in all places agreed vpon with one consent For otherwise it is not catholike No. But hee telleth vs of two of the fathers onely And the one of them being himselfe a pope and in such times as that before his dayes this superioritie ouer all had bin sundrie wayes sought for by the Bishop of Rome his credit is in this point not much worth against vs. As for Chrisostom who is the other witnes that must prooue that by the keies Christ meaneth this vinuersal iurisdiction First he reasoneth in that very place where these words are against the Arrians or some such heretikes as made Christ not equall to the father aud insulteth against them by occasion of this place The father saith hee gaue vnto Peter the reuelation of the sonne But the sonne gaue vnto him partly that hee might sowe through the whole earth this reuelation both of the father and of the sonne partly that he being a mortall man should be indued with heauenly power and haue the keis of the kingdome of heauen And it foloweth there in Chrisostom how then is he lesse that wrought this in Peter So then to proue Christ to be equall vnto the father in power he sheweth that he wrought if not more mightely yet as powerfull in Peter as the father did And vpon this occasion he thus amplifieth this excellency of Peter as also he doth a litle before in respect of that vniuersall church that Christ committed to him which charge the rest also had For all the apostles were generall Preachers wheresoeuer God called them And therefore Chrisostom doth say of them all not of Peter only that they were the teachers of the world And in another place that there were two paires of the apostles that held this headship And yet Peter might better then any of the rest be called the pastour or head of the church that were of the twelue because the charge of the Iewes wheresoeuer they were in any place were cōmitted to him without any limitation of nation or countrie wherein they liued Seeing therefore his proofes whereby he indeuoureth to proue these keis to signifie that vniuersall and soueraigne authoritie ouer the whole church are either so false or faultie that they are not worth alleaging as are his two reasons taken out of scripture or so feeble that they can haue no strength as this out of Chrisostome I see no reason why we should yeld either to scripturs so falsly or foolishly applyed or much lesse to the sayings of men so hardly construed For as before I haue admonished it is one thing to haue an excellency or superioritie among others in some respects of other mens yeldings another thing to haue iurisdiction of his owne right and interest ouer all other The first we confesse was in Peter but that wil nothing at all helpe the Pope or the iurisdiction of the church of Rome Against the interpretation of the popish church thus I reason If these keis belong to all them that haue ovtained that grace of God to be called to the function of a bishop I speake not of the hononr but of the office then is no chiefe authoritie signifieth thereby for where many are equall there is no man chiefe But these keies belong vnto all such as Theaphilact doth testifie therefore no such chiefe authoritie is signified thereby For my minor proposition that euery bishop or pastour hath such authoritie or such
had beene knowen to be sufficient proofe of the supremacy What needed they so notoriously to falsifie the council What needed the fathers to take such paines and to be at such cost as to send for true copies of that council to Constantinople Alexandria and Antioche to trie whether the fathers in that council of Nice had giuen such power to the bishop of Rome if in these words To thee will I giue the keies of the kingdome of heauen Christ had promised or in these feed my sheepe Christ had giuen such fulnes of power ouer all others to the bishop of Rome Seeing therefore that proofe seemed not strong enough in those times the graunt which they had from Phocas did them no great good to shewe what right they had to that supremacy although thereby they got possession thereof For if by his gift they claimed then they confessed this their authority to be from man and that from too wickes and bloudy a murdering man to doe any great good in Christ his church or for setting downe of any order whereby all should be ruled Then also it might haue beene called in question whether he by his authoritie could subiect all men for euer to that church of Rome or not To make their title therefore as good as they could they deuised another helpe They fained this gift to be from Constantine the first emperour that publickly allowed of christian profession And they make him to giue not onely his palace of Lateran and many other temporallties to the bishop of Rome as master Bellarmine would haue it thought but they bring him in speaking these words We decreeing doe ordaine that he the bishop of Rome shall haue the supremacie as well ouer the foure principall seates of Antioch Alexandria Constantinople and Ierusalem as also ouer all churches in the whole earth And that the pope for the time being of that holy church of Rome shall be hier and Prince of all princes in the world Is this onely to giue temporalties But the falshood of the donation of Constantine doth shine more bright then the noone day although the papists make great account of the same Yea Melchior Canus altogether a papist yet he did either see more or dealt plaiulier in this matter then did master Bellarmine For although he be loth to denie it or to diminish the credit of it yet he bringeth moe reasons against it then hee with all his felowes can be able to answere So that we neede not seeke for arguments out of Laurentius Valla or others to confute it For euen hee hath giuen it a more deadly wound then can be healed againe He confesseth that the lawyers take it to be but a fained matter and therfore cal it chaffe for it is indeed so called in their owne distinctions He acknowledgeth that Eusebius Ruffinus Theodoret Socrates Sozomenus Eutropius Victor and other authors of credit who most diligently wrote all that Constantine did haue not onely made no mention of that donation but also doe affirme that he so deuided his empire among his three sonnes as that the one of them had Italie And that Ammianus Marcellinus in his fifteenth booke writeth that Constantius Constantines sonne had the rule of the citie of Rome and made Leontius his liuetenant there And lastly that all Histories record that many Emperours after that time ruled in Italie yea and in Rome What can be more plaine Their owne Lawyeares confesse it to be fained no good story recordeth it but y e contrary Rome after this gift was the imperial citty and seat Therefore either Constantine gaue no such thing from him and his heires or his gift was nothing worth Melchâ— or Canus also doubteth of the very foundation of this fable which is the leprosie whereof they faine that Constantine was healed plainly affirming that in any good author he readeth no such thing But not he only doubteth hereof but long before him it hath beene spied by Anthonius B. of Florence in his history by Volateran writing of Constantine by the cardinal Nicolas Cusam a fast friend and faithful to that Romish church that this donation was not in the old coppies of Grecians decrees And therfore when it was added themselues accompted it but chaffe and no good corne And these and such reasons made Pius the second pope of that name to maruell in a certaine dialogue written by him being a Cardinall that the Lawyers were so mad as to make any question of that matter which neuer was And that wee may see how all things in this donation of Constantine are but fained whereas the donation maketh Siluester the Pope to whome this gift was giuen yet in another place the same thing is said to be giuen vnto Melchiades that was bishop before Siluester And he is made to speake as though it had beene done before his time also And yet this Melchiades was pope about two or three yeares before Constantine was Emperour and died long before he gaue peace and quietnes to Christians as in the Cronicle of Eusebius who lined in those daies it may appeare What needeth this point of their doctrine any aduersary Themselues doe fully confute one another And the prouerb is in this found true when theeues fal out true men come by their goods For these decrees if they be well considered it is not hard to spie falshood in them both And therefore we may take heede how we trust them seeing that in these two we see plainly how the one is contrarie to the other and both contrary to the truth There are also some impossibilities in the said donation which doe sufficiently prooue it to be but a fraudulent deede For the occasion of this gift is there set downe Namely that Constantine beeing baptised is healed of his leprosie and thereupon giueth these things to Siluester of whome he was baptised And yet besids many other ancient histories of good credit Saint Hierom doth plainly write that he was baptised at the latter end of his life and that not of Siluester bishop of Rome for hee was dead and also Marke that succeded him but of Eusebius bishop of Nicomedia some six or seauen yeares after Siluester was dead How then could these things be giuen to Siluester at the baptisme of Constantine Siluester being dead so long before Or howe at his baptisme in Rome when he was baptised in Nicomedia the chiefe citie of Bithinia many hundred miles distant from Rome But it is strange that they are so impudent as to name Constantinople at this time for one of the principall seats of bishops as in this donation they do which was called not by that name before Constantine in the tenth yeare of his raigne did build it but while Siluester and Marke his successor liued it was called Bizance And about twentie or thirty yeares after the death of Constantine was there a councill at Constantinople wherein y t sea of
might attaine to these benefites who would not sell the whole earth to winne heauen Who would not loose his life to saue his soule But the sunne-shine of knowledge would easily driue away all such mists And they who in their blindenesse do esteeme that man of sinne that sitteth at Rome to be more then halfe a god and see nothing but greatnesse in him as the blinde man of Bethsaida who before he saw perfectly saw men walking like trees so great they seemed in his eies yet when God shall take away that veile of blindnesse and heale that infirmitie in them they shall then see the bishop of Rome as he is indeede to be an enemy to God and man a subuerter of estates a foe to princes a snare to subiects and a very corrupter of true christianitie and godlines And thus much of the shifts and sleights that the Bishop of Rome vsed to come to his greatnesse by little and little growing to that that now we see Sometime vsing flattery falshood and forgery yea and afterwards bringing the emperour vnder by plaine force and feare alwaies taking aduantages and oportunities when emperors were either otherwise imployed in affaires or hated for their life or some way so distressed that they could not withstand him and his partakers then would hee most earnestly pursue and persecute them vntill he had his wil which I trust will appeare plainely in the discourse that now I am to enter into which is as it were a trial and search of the doings of the bishop of Rome and of his behauiour after that he beganne to be so mightie Now to take a good and sufficient suruey of the popes Supremacie it is not inough to trie his Title to see his euidence and consider of his proof neither yet to acquaint our selues with his shifts and practises wherby he hath gotten himself into that very high seate and fulnes of power as Sixtus Quintus speaketh which they would seeeme to claime by right and wherein now they play more than rex of which two points I haue spoken before but it is also in my iudgement very necessary that we looke somewhat into his doings and examine how hee hath ruled and raigned what good he hath done to the church what profit he hath brought to the christian common-wealth When God did see the continuall rebellion of his people that they would by no meanes be reclaimed from sinne and howe little good it had wrought in them that they had beene very lately in a grieuous captiuitie he then by his prophet Zachary chapter 11. verse 16. threatneth vnto them this great and grieuous plague that he will raise vp a sheepeheard in the land which shall not looke for the thing that is lost nor seeke the tender lambes nor heale that that is hurt nor feede that that standeth vp but he shall eate the flesh of the fat and teare their clawes in peeces And that there were such sheepeheardes amongst the people of Israel and that wo and destruction belonges to them God by his prophet Ezechiel chapter 34. verses 2 3 4. doeth testifie pronouncing wo to the shepheards that feed themselues eate the fat cloth thēselues with the wooll kil them that are fed but feed them not they strengthen not the weake they heale not the sicke binde not vp the broken bring not againe that which was driuen away seeke not the lost but rule them with crueltie and rigor I neuer reade or thinke of this description of an euill shepheard but I see me thinkes therein a right paterne of popish gouernment Neither doe I at any time earnestly enter into scanning of that regiment that is vnder that most holy father but I remember how the holy ghost painteth out these proude cruel and idoll shepeheards The one seemeth to bee so right a paterne of the other as if they were all one thing and no difference at all betweene them or as if the Spirite of God did both foresee and foreshew the most holy father in that glasse of the most vnholy shepheard But that it may the better appeare that he that would be accounted the herd of Christs flocke doth but seek for to satisfie his own pride profit and pleasure not hauing any due regard either to Gods glorie or the good of them whom he calleth his sheepe let vs consider how violently and impotently his immoderat affection doth carry him to say do as himself liketh best both against God and man and how insolently he beareth sway in Christ his church And first to beginne with his names and titles out of the which M. Bellarmine wil prooue that the Bishop of Rome is Peters successour in the whole or vniuersall church For that he tooke in hand to proue But I on the contrary by those names shall by Gods grace plainely prooue that he robbeth Christ of his ornaments and taketh from him his titles that belong to him onely And first he calleth himselfe head of the vniuersall church which name so properly belongeth vnto Christ that we cannot giue it to any other without great wrong both to the head and the body of the church To the head in that the office which God the father laid vpon Christ in appointing him ouer all things the head to the church shuld be bestowed vpon a sinful man to the body which is Christs church because by that meanes it should haue but an idle head euery way vnable to performe the dueties of a head I deny not but the church of Rome for 4 or 5 hundred yeres after Christ might iustly be called the head of the church that is a ring leader to other churches in respect of religion which remained more sincere there then elsewhere for many yeares neither was that church so troubled with heresies as were others I confes also that som of the bishops of Rome for their forwardnesse learning and paines imployed to the benefit of the church might worthely be called in some sence heads of the church as in the first parte of this treatise I haue shewed Then will some man say what is then the fault which you charge the bishop of Rome withall in calling himselfe the head of the vniuersall church First that he maketh that name proper to him and his seate which many times more iustly belonged vnto others who for their learning and trauel for the church of God deserued much better of Gods church then any pope of them al. Further also that it is not that signification of the name head that will satisfie the popes ambitious humour thereby to be counted a man onely able or fit to guide and direct others but he will so be a head that hee must commaund forbid bind loose retaine remit dispence denie doe and vndoe as his vnbridled affection should carie him Which soueraigne power ouer the church or any parte of the church we cannot find that God gaue vnto any man either Peter or Paul yea or to
but in one place For as concerning those prerogatiues which after he speaketh off they are rather motiues to drawe vs or probable coniectures to perswade vs then strong argumentes to prooue or sufficient reasons to conuince and force vs to beleeue I saie they haue but one authority of Scripture that they rest vpon because that place out of the sixteenth of Saint Matthewes gospel is but a promise as master Bellarmine himselfe confesseth of that which was afterwardes giuen when Christ commaunded him to feede his sheepe so that one is not perfect without the other But let vs see what iurisdiction is promised in the one and then also what is giuen in the other vnto Peter Our Sauiour Christ inquiring of his disciples what opinion other men had of him they answered some saie that thou art Iohn Baptist some Elias some Ieremias or one of the Prophetes and asking of them what they thought of him Simon Peter answered thou art Christ the sonne of the liuing God And Iesus answered and saide vnto him happie art thou Simon the sonne of Iona for flesh and bloud hath not opened that vnto thee but my father which is in heauen And I say also vnto thee that thou art Peter and vpon this rocke I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it And I will giue vnto thee the keies of the kingdome of heauen and whatsoeuer thou shalt bind in earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer thou shalt loose in earth shall bee loosed in heauen These are the wordes that must strengthen and stay this stately building of the popes supremacie or else it is like to fall Out of which master Bellarmine draweth two argumentes First that Saint Peter is the foundation secondly that hee is the key carier of the church and therefore that hee must bee the supreme head of the church The first is taken out of these wordes Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke I will build my church The plaine meaning of which words I take to be this When first I tooke thee to be an Apostle I said thou shouldest bee called Cephas which is by interpretation a stone Thou shalt shew thy selfe so to be indeede and that I haue named thee so truly for in this confession that thou hast made of me thou shalt hereafter continue so cōstant that thou shalt die in it And therefore because thou shalt bee so constant thou art Peter or Cephas indeede As for this confession that thou hast made all my faithfull people shall settle and staie themselues thereupon in all conflictes of conscience so that no terrour of hell shall bee able to discourage or disamaie them But master Bellarmine out of this doth gather that the church is built vpon Peter as vpon a foundation Yet I trust hee will not deny that Christ is such a foundation as there is no other because S. Paul telleth vs that other foundation can no mā lay thē that is laid which is Iesus Christ Of this foundation God speaketh by his prophet Esay behold I wil lay in Sion a stone a tried stone a pretious corner stone a sure foundation Then this being graunted that Christ is this speciall foundation and the onely sure ground-worke in this building I trust it will be the easier to know what place belongeth to Peter but the later of these two places by mee alleaged which is onely verified of Christ and of him onely meant most prophanely doth master Bellarmine apply to saint Peter and so to the church of Rome that very particularly making it thestone tried with persecutions with heresies which the pride of the Greeke church with stiffenesse of some emperors with schismes with wicked popes The corner stone that ioyneth into one church the Iewes and the Gentils The pretious stone because she is rich in ceremonies and sacramentes in pardons in councils in interpretation of scriptures and such like And last of all the sure foundation But here master Bellarmine is forced to graunt that Peter is but a secondary foundation and not the principall foundation for that Christ onely is This discourse of his maketh me remember frier Toittis otherwise called frier Paternoster who vpon a great controuersie that arose in Scotland concerning the lords prayer whether it might be said vnto the Saints or not beeing intreated as a man belike most sufficient to deale in the matter comming into the pulpit at Saint Andrews where this controuersie was began in particular to shew how euery petition might be made vnto the saints vntil he came to the fourth petition wherein hee was faine to confesse that the saints cannot giue vs our daily bread and so with shame bewrayed his owne folly and the feeblenesse or rather the falsnes of his cause Euen so master Bellarmine robbing Christ of his ornaments that hee may decke therewith that whorish synagogue which vntrewly he callet Peters seate hauing besides all learning nay contrarie to the sinceritie of a christian diuine most blasphemously applied vnto that Romish seate that which belongeth vnto Christ onely and is one of his most especiall and peculiar markes whereby hee is set foorth as the promised sauiour that he should be the corner stone tried and precious Yet is he in the end forced to confesse that the sure foundation cannot be found but in Christ although he would seeme to apply that title to that seate also I would hardly haue thought that a man so learned as master Bellarmine in these our dayes wherein knowledge aboundeth would euer haue abused Gods sacred word in such sort That this is only true in Christ our Sauior Christ himselfe out of the Prophet Dauid teacheth S. Paul agreeth to the same not only writing to the Ronanes but also to the Ephesians shewing how he onely can be as a corner stone gathering and knitting together the Iewes and Gentiles S. Peter also himselfe maketh Christ to be this stone It is not a sufficient excuse for master Bellarmine that he acknowledgeth that the prophet Esay speaketh especially of Christ and then to apply it vnto the church of Rome For seeing the scriptures with so great consent do acknowlege Christ to be that tried and and precious corner stone and therefore doe call him the corner stone because he hath made of Iew and Gentile one breaking downe the stop of the partition wall In whom all the building coupled together groweth to a holy temple in the Lord which is a thing that not one but Christ can performe let vs knowe that to giue this title to any other is to rob Christ of his glory And yet as though master Bellarmine had not powred out already blasphemies ynow he prosecuteth wickedly that which absurdly he hath begun adding that this their Romish church is the stone of offence and stumbling blocke vpon which stone he that falleth shall be broken but on whomsoeuer it shall fall it shall grinde him to
Christ himselfe as man onely for he was taught of his father what to doe and what to say much lesse then would his vicar of Rome if he had but one sparke of christian humilitie claime such absolute power ouer the whole earth Seeing therefore by this name head hee chalengeth greater power then either any good man would haue in Gods church for the godly can be content to speake of God as God teacheth them and to doe as hee woulde haue them or is fit for any man to haue as his vnruly doings do sufficiently declare we iustly denie that euer any bishop of Rome was of the godly called the head of the church in that sence that it is now vsed as their doings doe plainly teach vs. As for the name Papa or pope it was a common name to all bishops as is confessed by Baronius yea and graunted also in this place by master Bellarmine himselfe And it signifieth as much as father or grandfather so that it seemeth that it was first giuen vnto bishops by godly christians who did honour and reuerence them for their calling And why may not this name be aptly giuen to any diligent bishoppe or pastour in the church of god No master Bellarmine wil haue this name after a more particular maner to be giuen to the bishop of Rome then to any other Then we must learne of Christ not to call any man our father vpon earth For there is but one our father which is in heauen And therefore if he wil otherwise be our father then man may be our father let him seeke for other children for to such a father we owe no obedience The name of vniuersal bishop was giuen in the councill of Chalcedon to the bishop of Rome maister Bellarmine telleth vs. We deny it not But without a fauourable and good vnderstanding that title may be very odious For euen Gregory himselfe a bishop of Rome and no man more vehemently inueieth against that proud title in many plaids His places are so commonly alleadged that I neede not come to any particular But Bellarmine going about to deliuer this title from all suspition of antichristian ambition telleth vs that this name vniuersall bishop may be taken in two sorts One way that a vniuersall bishop should signifie an only bishop that is such a one as woulde haue none to be bishop but himfelfe onely And such a vniuersall bishop saith master Bellarmine Saint Gregory condemneth And doth he not otherwise condemne Iohn of Constantinople his pride but because he would haue no bishop but himselfe No master Bellarmine the stories are more plaine then that such shifts may go for currant The controuersie was whether the bishop of Constantinople should be as now the bishop of Rome is in his owne account a bishop aboue al bishops Read all the histories and it wil easily appeare his indeuour was only to haue the commanding of other bishops Neither could he be called vniuersal if he were the only bishop but rather the singular bishop But master Bellarmine bringeth two or three testimonies out of Gregory wherein he complaineth that Iohn patriarch of Constantinople would be bishop alone Gregories meaning is plaine enough that he saith he would only be bishop because he only would haue the commanding of all that others should indeede be his suffraganes and at his commandement which reason of Gregory against that title of vniuersall bishop if it be wel marked giueth I thinke a wound vncurable to the church of Rome A soueraigne authoritie in one to commaund all saith he is to take away all bishops but that one onely but such soueraigne authoritie ouer bishops the pope doth chalenge in this name of vniuersall bishop as experience teacheth therefore he maketh him selfe the onely bishop And this is the thing that Gregorie so mislyketh in Iohn bishop of Constantinople therefore I cannot see how it can be tolerable in him of Rome But one may be called a vniuersall bishop saith he in another sence as he hath a care of the whole church and so the Pope may be called a vniuersall Bishop But herein master Bellarmine giueth very litle authoritie to the bishop of Rome For this generall care belongeth not onely to euery Bishop but also to euery Christian as Caesar Paronius doeth plainly confesse of whom master Bellarmine doth write that he is a singular good man and without all doubt most learned And therefore I trust hee will by him be perswaded to let this name of vniuersall bishop be a name that may belong to mo then to him of Rome and so not to make it his peculiar title A fourth name of his is that hee is called most holy And here master Bellarmine doth maruelously insult ouer master Luther for insinuating that the names of most high and most holy had not beene hard of in the dayes of Gregorie Master Luther said not so master Bellarmine onely feared that he ment some such matter and therefore quareleth with him and telleth him that he lieth Well Leo the pope is called most holy in three seuerall titles that three Graecians wrote to him It is true master Bellarmine and in the same action in a great number of places besids the bishops yelding their consent do call him most holy He is there also called holy and why would not that name holy which is there also giuen to him as well content the bishop of Rome now as to be called most holy Or why should that be a peculiare name to him alone that was giuen in that place as well to others as to him For Anatolius the patriarch of Constantinople is often called most holy Yea and the council writeth vnto Dioscorus patriarch of Alexandria whome they depriued of his dignitie because he was a manitainer of Futiches that notable heretick yet I say the conncill writing vnto him doe call him also most holy And whosoeuer marketh that councill shall see no titles more common then most holy most blessed or happie mow beloued of God and such like Neither were these things giuen vnto them as names to continue to them and their seate but onely such titles as they thought well bestowed vpon such persons as they vsed them to As Leo bishop of Rome who although he were not without his infirmiries yet sure he was a man of great gifts And they in aboundance of affection towardes him called him most holy Must it therefore be a name hereditary to that sinfull and shamelesse broode that since hath sprong vp in that place It were absurd to thinke that coniurers inchaunters poyseners adulterers and such ruffians and rakehelles should be called by right of their seat most holy And yet now nothing more common then this title His fauourites must not speake of him but with this tearme of most holy Looke all his bulles and writings and you shall see that hee that is most vnholy before God and men yet by a lying
which hee taketh in hand vnlesse hee haue within him the testimonie of his owne conscience to assure him that hee is called to that function not onely by the outward calling lawfully but also by the inward calling of the spirit effectually And this is the meaning of those Canonists who otherwise are shamelesse in flattering the pope who dare thus affirme as doth Bald. The pope saith he being chosen according to the canons is a God vpon earth but not being chosen canonically is a diuel not hauing the keis of the kingdome of heauen but of hell And as Felinus saith he is not apostolicall but apostaticall which words Felinus hath borrowed out of Gratian his decrees and Gratian out of pope Nicholas the second For pope Nicholas hauing deposed pope Benedict the tenth who as he alleadgeth came in by symony called a councill at Laterane and doeth there ordaine that he shall be accounted apostaticall and not apostolicall who by mony fauour of men tumult of the people or of the soldiers or by any other way then by the agreeing and canonicall election of the cardinals is made pope We see then what manner of election there should be What manner of elections they haue and after what sort they come to be popes it is now to be declared which shall be performed God willing out of auncient histories that the world may see not what Luther or Caluine or any of vs in these our dayes doe say of their wicked practises but what hath beene spoken and written of them that by violence and intrusion haue entered into that seate Platina himselfe no Lutheran telleth vs that when Damasus was chosen pope there was a great schisme in the church for one Vrsicinius or as Socrates calleth him Vrsinus or as Sozomen in his ecclesiasticall historie calleth him Vrsatius being at that time in election gote himselfe to be made pope by the meanes of his frends And whilest neither of them would giue place to the other but both desired that place they fell first to words and after words to blowes in such sort that euen in the church many were slaine on both sides some say to the number of one hundred thirtie seuen And as there was no regarde of the place for this inocent blod was shed in the church so neither spared they the very women or any sexe The disorder was so notorious as that Maximinus at that time gouernour of the citie did for the same put to death many both of the laitie and of the clargie also Howe shall wee find heere the agreeing or consenting election that before I haue spoken of where we see such not dissenting in words onely but also such disorder in blowes yea bloud by striuing to get into that glorious chaire Not long after Boniface the first being chosen by some to be pope another sort did chuse in another church of Rome another pope one Eulalius And so litle agreement there was in that election nay so great dissention and so much discord afterwards that Honorius the emperour for feare of greater inconuenience was forced to turne them both out of the citie Afterwards when Symachus was by some chosen pope other did chuse one Laurence the contention was very great and made a very great diuision betweene the senators of Rome and the people also Theodoricus then being King of the east Gothes and at this time ruler in Italy placed Symachus pope But within four yeares after this Laurence seeking to displace Symachus and to be pope as before he would haue beene Theodorick sent one Peter a bishop to to displace them both and to sit in that chaire himselfe Simachus found meanes that both Laurence and Peter were condemned to be banished Whereupon there was amongst them a great slaughter wherein neither virgines nor priests were spared as the stories report Yea some report namely Rioch a papist a frier and a late writer that this sedition and murder continued three yeares betweene him that was and that other that would haue beene pope Neither was Boniface the second chosen pope by a consonant consent but great contention there was for eight and twentie dayes or as some write for eight and thirtie dayes vntill at length by the death of Dioscorus who was chosen by a contrarie faction the strife was ended Sergius the first was also chosen very hardly as writeth Bergomates and as an other story saith in his election there was great dissention For some would haue Paschalis other would chuse Theodore But the gouernour of the citie and of the souldiers to pretient further mischiefe did appoint Sergius to be pope Constantine the second of that name was by force put into that seate by the helpe of Desiderius king of Lombardy and others who bringing to Rome an army made him pope being a meere lay man and not hauing taken any orders before But perchaunce they will readily except against him because that Platina and others account him not in the number of popes It is true that Platina doeth not reckon him amongest the Popes although he was in that place more than a yeare But it seemed that they did not call in question his manner of chusing for that had beene a thing growen very common before not to haue consent of them that vsed to choose them but as Platina reporteth is was obiected vnto him that he not hauing taken order was content to take vpon him to be pope when he answered that the people forced him thereto the council seemed to pitie him But when the next day he defended himselfe by the examples of Sergius who was made archbishop of Rauenna and Stephan bishop of Naples being meere lay men then they were angry at him and proceeded against him Because therefore we see not any mislike that they had of him but onely that he was not within orders I see not but that he may well enough be reckoned among them that by violence possessed that seate and therefore not lawfully What should I speake of Eugenius the second that in a schisme was made pope Or of Martin the second whome Oniforus calleth Marius who by euil meanes came to be pope and as Platina seemeth to report by mouing sedition against Iohn the ninth Whether he were suspected of the death of the said Iohn or not I knowe not But the Abbat of vrsperg reporteth that the pope had poyson giuen him and also a blowe with a beetle or mall whereof he died Nowe whether these be the euill meanes whereof the histories speake by which pope Martin came to be pope I cannot affirme But many popes haue vsed as had meanes as afterwards God willing shall appeare Not long after pope Christopher thought it was too long before he could get into that proude set For feare therefore lest he might goe quite without it if he quickely got it not he traiterously moued