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
king yet notwithstādyng he laid aside the gouernement of temporall and worldly thyngs and tooke him selfe to the charge onely of spirituall thynges By reason wherof when Pylate asked hym whether hee were the kyng of Israell or no He denyed not him self to be a kyng but hee addeth an exposition and méekely aunswered my kyngdome is not of this world Whereupon in another place of the Gospell he sayd he came not to be serued that is to wit as a worldly prince but to serue or to do seruice him selfe and to giue his life for the raunsome of the whole multitude For that cause he vtterly refused the iudgyng or diuidyng of the heritage that was desired at his hand and put it ouer from himself to the lawfull iudges not without displeasure saying mā who hath made me a iudge or vmper betwene you And therfore when the people were purposed to haue made him a temporall kyng he fled and by that flight of his shewed that those his ministers must not séeke for worldly souereintie in the Church and much lesse possesse it or by any meanes claime it no nor receiue it or take it vpon them if it be offered Besides this he not onely commaunded to giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars but also furthermore when the tribute that was wont to be payd to the Magistrate was demaunded of him he commaunded a penny that was taken out of a fishes mouth to be payd for him least he might be an offence vnto others Finally by the space of whole iij. yeares together in which he most faithfully went through with the charge that his heauenly father had put him in trust with accomplished all things enioyned him to the full he neuer gaue any inclyng no not the least that could be of any souereintie or worldly dominiō Unto this holy and most humble example of the Lord there is also further added his most modest doctrine For when he perceiued that his disciples beyng caught and led away with ambition burned altogether with desire of souereintie and striue among themselues for supremacie or prerogatiue or as the Romane Bishops terme it for greaternesse as surely this maladie sticketh fast to the ribbes of them that are atteinted neuer so litle with ambitiousnesse which thyng appeareth by the Romish sort them selues he gaue them a very sore checke and withdrew them from that desire of souereintie beating lowlinesse into them therwithall also mainteinyng the right of the Magistrate ordeined of God and finally committyng the ministration of the word to his disciples without any hope or mention of souereintie at all Therfore when in the xvii of Mathew Peter had payd a péece of twentie pence for the Lord and himselfe to those that demaunded but ten pence and that therby he had put the rest of the disciples in suspicion as though Peter should be aduaunced aboue all the rest of them or be made primate among them in the kyngdome of heauen or in the gouernement of the Church they began to dispute of the matter among them selues and eche of them accordyng to mans infirmitie gaped after that hyghest degrée of souereintie But what sayd the Lord and what did he in that debate of his disciples He tooke a child vnto him and setting him in the middes of them sayd Uerely I say vnto you except ye turne and become like children ye shall not enter into the kyngdome of heauen Therfore whosoeuer humbleth himselfe as this child he is greatest in the kyngdome of heauen Which is all one as if the Lord had sayd vnto them ye striue for preheminence which of you should be gréeted as greatest of all But I tell you for a certeintie except ye turne your myndes from such ambitious disputations that sauour of nothyng but pride and pompe and turne your selues in lowlinesse vnto me and my example yea and vnto the simplenesse of this little boy whom you sée here ye shal be so farre from greatnesse and gloriousnes in that kyngdome of myne that I will not so much as take you for my Disciples Uery truly sayth S. Chrisostome in his 59. Homely vpon Mathew litle childrē know not how to enuy nor how to gape for vaineglorie nor how to desire preheminence of dignitie neither are they any whit the statelyer if ye prayse them or honor them What then aunswereth the Lord to the question of his Disciples Who soeuer sayth he becommeth like a child by puttyng away naughtie affections but chiefly ambition and desirousnesse to beare rule truly the same is greatest in the kingdome of heauē Upon which place Chrisostome sayth agayn Thou séest how he hath taught that preheminence of dignitie is not to be coueted in any case And so forth Agayne in the 20. chapter of Mathew when the mother of Zebedies children came vnto the Lord with her sonnes Iames and Iohn and made sute for them that they might haue the highest roome and chief authoritie about him in his kingdome so as he should place them next him selfe the one on his right hand and the other on his left for looke who they be that are next about a kyng and garde his person in sittyng on either side of him those are counted chief men in the Realme like as at this day those be called Legates a latere or from the Popes side whō the Byshop sendeth from Rome with full power and authoritie The Disciples hauyng forgotten the thynges which the Lord had taught them afore mistrusted eftsoone that those two brothers should be preferred before them all By reason wherof enuying them they began to take pritch at it and to contend agayne among themselues for the preheminēce The Lord therfore calling them to him sayd ye know that the kynges of nations reigne ouer them and they that be great exercise authoritie vpon them It shall not be so among you but he that will be great among you let him become your seruaunt and he that wil be chief among you let him be your vnderlyng like as the sonne of mā is come not to be serued but to serue and to giue his life for the redemption of many Most trimly and effectually hath the Lord herein seuered the Ecclesiasticall ministerie from the ciuill authoritie And iustly doth he challendge and yeld to the Magistrate that which belongeth to the Magistrate without derogatyng or takyng any thyng from him and conueying it to him selfe and his and likewise shew the ministers what they also ought to do Ye know sayth he that there be Princes or Magistrates ordeined among people and among the Gentiles so as there is no neede that you also should be made rulers ouer nations I mynde not to make warres with the Romanes and to put downe their presidentes and Tetrarkes to set you vp in theyr roomes which thyng notwithstandyng the Iewes beleued that Christ should haue done and therfore when he aunswered not their expectation they acknowledged him not to be the Messias Princes haue their
Ministers seruing for the same purpose Therfore render vnto euery mā his dew tribute to whom tribute is due Custome to whom custome is due awe to whom awe is due honour to whom honour is due The same Apostle willeth subiectes also to obey their Princes that is to wit their lawes and ordinaunces not onely that they may by their due obedience escape the punishments which Princes execute vpon the disobedient but bycause it is Gods will we should do so and we must yeld obedience to his commaundement except we had leuer to fall into the hand of Gods vengeance although princes punish vs not And this is it that the Prophet ment by saying ye must obey not onely for feare but also for conscience Also they that resist the Magistrate procure themselues damnation And truly this obedience stretcheth so farre that if the Prince néede thy seruice in the warres for the defence of his Realme against inuasions thou owest euen thy body to thy Prince yea and thy life and therefore much more thy goodes These are the thinges these I say are the thinges that all subiectes owe to their souereines by the allowance and commaundement of God and therfore the Englishmen also owe the same thinges to their Quéene True it is in déede that S. Peter sayd we must obey God rather then men howbeit that is in such things as are commaunded expresly against God and his word But the politike or ciuill gouernement is stablished and not infringed by Gods word And most of all it is stablished if the Princes be godly For the Princes that gouerne their people quietly and enforce not their subiectes to any wicked thinges but honour Gods seruice spread it abroad more more are well liked of God and helped by him And truly this obedience of the subiectes which God hath inioyned them kepeth them in their dewtie and perswadeth them that they attempt not any thing against their Prince or Magistrate As for those that rise against their Prince either by priuie practise or open force and breake the common peace they are not onely disobedient but also traytors and hated of god And yet it is the thing that the Pope in his Bull not so much teacheth as by his manaces indeuereth to inforce the noblemen and commons of England vnto The noble Realme of England through Gods grace cleaueth well together in lawes spirituall and temporall and the subiectes therof enioy peace and publike profite by the benefite of their most gracious Quéene Therfore not to be willing hence forth to obey her as the Pope would haue it what els is it then to trouble the state of the whole Realme and consequētly to stirre vp rebellion and sedition wickedly and to procure themselues assured and greuous damnation at Gods hand But heare how God hath alwayes hated seditious persons and how greuously also he hath euermore punished seditiōs Chore Dathan and Abyron with their complices raised a sedition against Moses the chaplein of Gods people But the earth opened and swallowed them vp with their housholdes and all that euer they had A right dreadfull example surely to the intent that none should hereafter ryse agaynst their Princes any more The Israelites also raysed an insurrection agaynst the same Moses in the wildernesse But for their so doing they were shet out of the land of promise and by the space of xxxviij yeares together ouerwhelmed with sundry calamities tyred and forspent with dayly trauelyng in the desert and at length also in sundry times consumed and made away with horrible kindes of death Also in the booke of Iudges the Ephraemites made an vprore against Iephthe who had deserued well at their handes But through the vengeance of God for their vngracious rebellion and vnthankefulnesse there were slaine of them about a xlij thousand What befell in Dauids time to Absolon Seba the sonne of Bithri when they rebelled seditiously against their lawfull king Dauid it is better knowen then that if may séeme requisite to be setforth in many wordes There are in the holy Scriptures and the wordly histories of sundry kingdomes many exāples to be seene no lesse horrible then these of seditious persons that were most greuously confoūded by the lord For the Lord being rightuous and a louer of order and peace neuer spared any such And to the intent I may also bring somewhat out of latter tunes there is a notable example of the punishment of traiterous rebellion and disobedience and periurie in king Rafe of Rinfield chosen king of Romanes at the cōmaundemēt of pope Gregorie the vij against the Emperour Henry the iiij lawfully ordeined of God and succeding in the Empire by descent from his aunceters who were very good Princes The said Gregorie had prophesied out of that chayre of his in the Easter wéeke that the same yeare which was the yeare of our Lord .1080 the false Emperor should dye adding this protestation further neuer take me more for Pope but plucke me from the Altar if the false Emperour be not dead betwene this and Whitsontyde Which prophesie like as was the prophesie of Caiaphas was fulfilled in déede howbeit after another meaning then the Pope thought of For the false Emperour Rafe who was created Emperour by the Pope against Henry whom the Pope had deposed discharging all his subiectes of their faith and obedience towardes him was wounded to death the selfe same yeare Thrise before had he traiterously fought with Henry to his owne losse and now trusting to the prophesie of his blessed dad Pope Gregorie the vij he repayred his power againe the fourth tyme and in the moneth of October encountered with the army of Henry in the fieldes of Misnia where he was put to shamefull flight agayne and receiued a very great losse and blouddy slaughter In the same battell the right hand of the sayd Rafe was striken of of the which wound he dyed within a few dayes after leauing the Empyre which he had receiued of the Pope fulfilling the prophesie of the Pope his creator It is reported sayth Abbas Vspurgēsis in the 238. leafe of his Chronicles that Rafe now drawing towardes his end and beholding his right hand cut of gaue a sore sigh and said to the Bishops which by chaunce were present Lo this is the hand wherwith I tooke mine othe of allegeance to my Lord Henry the Emperour And behold now I leaue both his kingdome and this present life Sée whether you that made me mount vp into his chayre of estate haue led me a right way which thing other storywriters report in these wordes it was by your impulsion that I haue fought so often vnluckely Looke you to it whether you haue led me a right way or no. Ge your wayes performe your first faith plighted to your king for I shall go to my fathers Now ye honorable Péeres of England and thou noble Realme of England in generall learne ye by all these
thinges to kéepe your faith plighted to your gracious souereine Lady by othe and to obey her faithfully to mainteine the peace of the Realme and to abhorre eschew the trechrie and traiterousnesse leawdly wound in or rather wickedly commaūded by the father of sedition the Bishop of Rome that sinnefull man to the intent you may also eschew the sore punishmentes of God. ¶ How great calamities and how great mischieues the Bishop of Rome hath brought vpō kyngdomes and nations in Christendome these foure hundred yeares and more in putting downe kinges and remouyng kingdomes and discharging subiectes of theyr dew fealtie and allegeance by the fulnesse of their power a brief historicall declaration or wyndyng vp VPon occasion of the fore mentioned storie of Gregorie the vij and kyng Rafe I will procede from the tyme of the said Gregorie almost vnto our age by the space of foure hundred yeares and odde briefly compyling and knitting together how great calamities and how great mischieues the Bishops of Rome haue wrought to kingdomes and nations in Christēdome these foure hundred yeares and more in deposing kings transposing kingdomes and discharging subiectes from their faith and allegeance by the fulnesse of their power to the intent that euē by this horrible butcherie and confusion of all thinges and the sorowfull rehearsall of most lamentable aduentures all people in Christendome may learne to know in déede what the Bishops of Rome be whom they still honour and with all aduisednesse and constancie to beware of those Romish Prelates as of a dispatching plague both to kingdomes and common weales the poyson of peace and welfare the authors and firebrandes of treasons warres ciuill slaughters and all most miserable calamities and worthely hated of God and all good men In the yeare of our Lord .1045 there arose a very great and noysome schisme in the Citie of Rome betwene thrée Bishops Benet the ix Siluester the iij. and Gregorie the vj. which turmoyled the Church of Rome very daungerously and outrageously Of this schisme Otho Frisingensis writeth thus About this tyme there was a shamefull confusion of the Church of God in the Citie of Rome by reason of three Intruders that sealed vpō that sea at once who as I my selfe being in the Citie haue heard the Romanes report led there a beastly and shamefull life And Beno the Cardinall in the life of Hildebrand the Church saith he by these mēs meanes meaning the iij. Bishops was torne a sunder with a sore schisme mortall warres and vnmeasurable slaughters and almost choked with horrible heresies by giuing men poyson to drinke vnder colour of hony And Platina in the life of Siluester the iij. sayth The Bishoprike was come to that point that who soeuer could do most by bryberie and ambition I say not by holinesse and doctrine he onely obteined the state of dignitie the good mē beyng borne downe and reiected and the rest that is written fréely inough agaynst the most corrupt maners of the Court of Rome But the Emperour Henry the third of that name surnamed the Blacke a godly and stout Prince gathered a chosen armye in Germanye and enteryng into Rome called a Councell and deposed those three Byshops placing in their roome one Swigger the Byshop of Bamberg whom they call Clement the second Hereunto Cardinall Beno addeth Which thinges beyng stoutly accomplished the Emperour Henry condemned Gregorie the sixth and his disciple Hildebrand who afterward was Byshop of Rome by the name of Gregorie the seuenth and would not forsake his master but folowed him euen in his vttermost aduersitie to be banished into the partes of Dutcheland Notwithstandyng beyng deceiued with ouermuch gentlenesse and by meanes therof looking neither to the Church nor to himselfe nor to mankind he gaue the new Idolaters to much scope whom he ought rather to haue shet vp in continuall prison that they might not haue infected men nor neuer bene heard of any more But after the sayd Gregorie the sixth was dead in exile Hildebrand became his heyre as well of his wickednesse as also of his money Thus much saith Beno But Hildebrand beyng vnthankfull the Emperour for his deliueraunce kept still the hatred which he had once conceiued agaynst him in Germanie For after he had by violence and euill slightes thrust himselfe into the Bishoprike by the name of Gregorie the vij he bent himselfe wholly to oppresse Henry the fourth the sonne of Henry the third of purpose to reuēge the carying away of his maister Gregorie the sixth and of himselfe into Germanie and to confirme and stablish the souerein power of his Bishops sea that the Popes might not hence forth stand in feare of the Emperours And truly Henry the third is reported to be the last Emperour that was able to bridle the Romane Byshops and to kéepe them vnder coram For although there succeded many noble and valyant Emperours in the Empyre which did set themselues stoutly against the Bishops and cast some of them downe from their seate yet had none of them so good lucke in bridlyng them as had Hēry the third For the rebellion that was begon by this Gregorie the vij and anone after continued by his scholers and stubbornely increased by their successours did so breake through by mayne force that the Emperours were able to do litle were they neuer so earnest and stoute Yea and the time was now come that the foresayinges of the Prophetes and Apostles must be fulfilled Therfore Gregorie the vij hauing inuaded the seate trusting that occasion was giuen him to oppresse the Emperour Hēry the iiij and to bring to passe the thing that he had purposed in his minde now many yeares afore first putteth forth a Bull against the Emperour wherein he layeth sore to his charge burtheneth him with greuous crimes by spreading those letters of his ouer all Italie Germanie Fraunce Also he assayth to besotte the mindes of certeine Princes of Germanie and to draw them to his side Which thing folowed his hand a litle to luckely Afterward becomming more bold by reason of the fauour of the Princes he aduentureth to excommunicate the Emperour to giue sentēce agaynst him the he should be deposed frō his Empyre or kingdome and to discharge all his subiectes of their faith obedience that they ought vnto him He had learned this not of the Prophetes or Apostles nor yet out of the holy Scriptures but of his predecessors Zacharie the first Steuen the second Adrian the first and Leo the third Furthermore he cōmaundeth the Princes to chose another kyng in stede of Hēry that was excommunicated least they might not know whom he would haue chosen he sendes them a crowne with this Antichristly verse ingrauen in it As Christ the Rocke the Crowne to Peter gaue So Peter would that Rafe the same should haue Certeine princes therfore which had conspired among thēselues chose Rafe of Rhynefild duke of Sweueland that
to determine of ecclesiasticall cases deposing and oppressing the catholicke Bishops and aduauncing and putting in their roomes leawd preachers and ministers of vngodlinesse Moreouer sayth the Bull she hath abolished the sacrifice of the Masse prayers fasting choice of meates single life and all catholicke rites and commaunded bookes that conteine open heresie to be set forth to the whole Realme and wicked mysteries and ordinances receiued and obserued by her selfe according to the appointment of Caluine to be also obserued of her subiectes She hath forbidden the Clergie and laitie to acknowledge the Romane Church or to obey the commaundementes therof yea and she hath compelled them to renounce by othe the authoritie and obedience of the Bishop of Rome She hath layd penalties and punishmentes vpon such as shall disobey and hath executed the same vpon such as haue continued in the vnitie of faith and obedience aforesayd and therwithall also she hath cast the catholicke bishops in prison where they haue ended their daies miserably pyned in much and long languishing and dayly sorow All which thinges are so notorious as there is no roome left for any excuse defence or shift to serue in the matter Wherfore rising now out of the throne of his with sword drawen and pronouncing the extremest sentence against the most vertuous Quéene yea and against all her complices through the whole Realme he denounceth and declareth her an hereticke and a fauourer of heretickes and therfore most proudly determineth her to be strickē through with his curse and cut of from the vnitie of Christes body and moreouer to be depriued of her kingdome and of all right of her crowne of all maner of other preheminence dignitie and priuiledge And not content with this he procéedeth yet further and geueth charge to all and singular the Quéenes Nobilitie and other her subiectes that vnder paine of the sayd curse they obey not hereafter the lawes and commaundementes of their pretensed or supposed Quéene as he termeth her Yea and in what sort soeuer they were sworne vnto the Quéene he assoileth them all of such othe and vtterly dischargeth them of all duetie of subiection fealtie and allegeance Upon all which thinges it followeth most manifestly that by setting that most vertuous Quéene and the noble Realme of England and other nations at oddes among thē selues he doth most cruelly and wickedly put her in hazard both of her foes and of her frendes yea and which is horrible to be heard of her owne subiectes to be trayterously torne in péeces through ciuill warres and most outragious seditions if there were any so mad and so voyde of all godlinesse and manhood as to suffer such that is to wit so deuilishe and hellish furie to be so inspired into them by the inchauntmentes of this venemous beast Hitherto I haue declared what thinges are conteined and set forth in that wicked slaunderous seditious and bloudy Bull. Of which thinges if any man be desirous to haue a more compendious abridgment and yet neuerthelesse as fully presumptuous and shamelesse as that which hath béen shewed already let him heare what maner of title the Bull hath set before it to the face of the world The sentence declaratorie of our most holy father Pope Pius the fifth against Elizabeth the pretensed Queene of England and the heretickes that cleaue vnto her Wherby also all her subiectes are declared assoiled of their othe of allegeance and of all other duties whatsoeuer and those that obey her heerafter are wrapped in the same curse ¶ That the foresayd vnmeasurable power of the Romish Bishop is not proued by these wordes of the Lord vnto Peter Peter louest thou me feede my sheepe HItherto you haue patiently heard the Popes sentence or declaration by his Bull against the most vertuous Quéene of England c. and now I pray you be so good as gently to heare me also I will bréefly and plainly shew how there is no truth substance or soundnesse in this Bull and that the cause which the Hope maintaineth and pleadeth against the most noble Quéene is euill and vniust but the case on the Quéenes side very good and rightfull And I will begin at that vnmeasurable power of the Pope which he boasteth of and by force whereof he taketh vpon him to be iudge in this case For that being once ouerthrowen all the whole Bull falleth to the ground together with the iudgement builded vpon this ruinous foundation and so shall the Pope sit in that seate of his not a terrible or iust iudge but an Idoll to be despised yea and to be spit at of all good men and his sentences shall be no more the thunderboltes of Iupiter but counterfait flashes glistering out of a basen in no wise worthy to be regarded Then let that most holy or rather most prophane father tell vs where or by what wordes our Lord deliuered vnto Peter alone and vnto Peters successor the Bishop of Rome that his fulnesse of power that is to say his supreme and most absolute power as well in spirituall as in temporall matters Let him tell vs where or by what wordes the Lord created the Bishop of Rome prince ouer all nations and ouer all kingdomes I am not ignorant of your stincking and vnsauerie fables in this behalfe I am not ignorant what Decretalls haue béene put forth by Gregory the ix Boniface the viij Innocent the 4. Clement the v. Iohn the xxij and such other like to these cōspirators Catilines companions As for me I will not heare those decrées or Decretalls which the famous Lawyer Marsilius of Padwa no lesse aptly than truely sayd to be neither Gods lawes nor mans lawes but proclamations of plaine vniuersall souereintie You say that without any parable at all Christ our Lord gaue the fulnesse of power which ye brag of to Peter and to Peters successor the Pope Bring forth therfore some euident record of this your allegation out of the new Testament Truely ye be not able to bring forth one tittle or one iote of this your allegation And therfore with most wicked lyes and forgeries haue both you and your predecessors now certaine hundred yeares scared and seduced good men that leaned too much vnto you through too light beléef and ouermuch fearfulnesse For where as they haue alledged the wordes which our Lord after his Resurrection did thrise repeate and vrge vpon Peter namely Peter louest thou me feede my sheepe Certes I wonder that both they and you are so past all shame that ye dare bring these thinges for the stablishing of your kingdome or rather your tyranny As who would say we be all of vs blind or blockes voyde of common reason and not able to perceaue how those wordes perteine not to souereintie but to seruice Peter was by this meane to be comforted by the Lord and to be restored to the name and office of Apostle which he séemed to haue lost at the Lordes passion chéefly in this respect because
publishing of the Gospell they might open the kingdome of heauen to the beleuers and shut it against the vnbeleuers But if these thinges which notwithstāding if I be not deceaued I take to be euident strong inough do not yet satisfie you beholde I will vnfolde this whole matter of the keyes yet an other way though nothing differing from the interpretation which I haue set downe already as in respect of the pith of the matter The worde keyes are also vsed in the Scripture for the care ordering of an householde For the seruauntes whom the master of any house setteth in office haue keyes deliuered vnto thē wherewith to open and shut and to order all the house which thing is wont to be done by the Stewardes or Comptrollers that haue the chéef charge of the house By meanes wherof the keyes also are taken for the very charge the ordering or the gouerning of the house Héere againe I faine nothing of my self I follow the holy Scriptures For in Esay the Lord sayth I wyll lay the key of the house of Dauid vpon the shoulder of Eliachim which shall open and no man shall shut and shall shut and no man shall open And what els is this then if he had said without figure I wil put Sobna out of office and make Eliachim Lord Treasurer and commit the gouernement of the Realme or of king Ezechias palace which charge he shall performe with so great faithfulnesse and authoritie that whatsoeuer he ordaineth shall stand sure and inuiolable and whatsoeuer he disanulleth no mā shall attempt to ratifie In like respect are the keyes of the kingdome of heauen sayd to be geuen to the Apostles and other ministers I meane the gouerning or housholdly ordering of the Church therby to bring mē to the kingdome of heauen or to shut them out of the partenership thereof Which surely can be none other then that which it accoūteth as the chéef namely the message of Gods worde I meane the preaching of the Gospell of Iesu Christ concerning the remission of sinnes and euerlasting life The which truely is so certaine and sure that looke whom the ministers absolue from their sinnes by it they are also assuredly acquit before God and whom the ministers condemne by the worde for their vnbeléefes sake those remain also condemned to destruction before God. And as for these thinges which I haue layd forth concerning the ordering of a housholde by Stewardes that is to say concerning the ordering of the Church by the ministers they are not differing from the worde of god For the Lord in his Gospell rehearseth a parable of a man that went from home and committed the charge of his house to his seruauntes which should be as Stewardes to order his house Which Parable certesse is applyed to the Church the house of God and to the ministers placed in the same that in gouerning it they may chéefly beautifie it with the preaching of the Gospell For in the same Gospell the Lord sayth againe Who thinkest thou is that faythfull and wise seruaunt whom his Lord hath set ouer his housholde to geue them meate in due season But who knoweth not what the meate of the Church is Truely Paule writing to a Bishop that is to say to an ouerséer or steward of the Church sayth Indeuour to yeeld thy selfe an allowable workman vnto God not to be ashamed of and rightly distributing the worde of truth And the same Apostle speaking yet more manifestly of the ministers and the housholde order of the Church sayth Let a man so esteeme you as the ministers of Christ and housholde guides or stewardes of the mysteries of God. Then the which I pray you what can be spoken more fully and plainly in this our case Christ our Lord ordained in his Church ministers and not Lordes ministers or seruauntes I say to be stewardes or dealers forth of Gods mysteries in the Church that is to say of the Gospell and of the thinges that are annexed to the Gospell For so doth the Lord him selfe expound the worde Mysterie in the xiii chapt of Mathew and so doth Paule also in the third to the Ephesians These keyes that is to say this charge houshold order of gouerning the Church which is executed according to the appointment of the Gospell of Iesus Christ did the Apostles receaue and after them all ministers of Churches that be lawfully called to the same office ¶ What is ment in the Gospell by loosing and binding and how Christes Apostles did loose and binde NOw although our Lorde sayd I will geue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and that by the way he made no mention in the processe following of opening and shutting which are the properties of keyes yet did he set down other termes in their stead that is to wit to loose and to binde by which doutlesse he ment to shew the power of the keyes and after what maner the Apostles doe either open or shut heauen with the keyes They open when they vnbinde or let loose for both those thinges come to one point and they shut whē they binde To let loose therefore is to open and to shut is to binde Otherwise to binde is a word of knowen signification For the officer bindeth which at the cōmaundement of his lord casteth a man in prison or by some other way hampereth him in bondes And he looseth which dischargeth a man from bondes or bringeth him out of prison This thing is conueyed ouer from the body to the minde For bondes in the Scripture betoken as well spirituall as bodily imprisonment To loose therefore is to open the prison of sinnes by preaching forgeuenesse of sinnes through Christ who onely releaseth sinnes and bringeth out of prison Which thing shall be the rightlyer vnderstood if we vewe and consider more néerly this saying of the Prophet which the Lord Iesus him selfe expoundeth in the Synagog of Nazareth in S. Luke saying The spirite of the Lord is vpon me meaning vpon Christ because he hath annointed me and hath sent me to bring glad tidynges to the poore to heale them that be hart broken to preach release to the prisoners and recouery of sight to the blynd and to set the broosed at lybertie Héerunto adde also that which the same Lord said in Iohn Like as the father hath sent me so send I you Whose sinnes soeuer you release they are released vnto them and whose sinnes soeuer you retayne they be retayned The sonne of God then sent out his disciples after the same maner that he him self was sent out by the father But the sonne of God according as the Prophet hath auouched was sent to bring glad tidinges to the poore to preach deliueraunce to prisoners Ergo the Apostles also were sent forth to shew glad tidinges and to preach deliueraunce to prisoners Which thing when they do then open they heauen by the keyes and let loose them that were tyde in the bondes
tyme vnto Moses when he drew backe and would haue shunned the Lordes callyng But in those wordes there is no speakyng at all of souereintie but of the charge of preachyng Whereupon it ensueth that Ieremie is instructed how to teach and not how to reigne And there foloweth in the Lordes wordes behold this day haue I set the ouer natiōs kyngdomes to plucke vp roote out destroy and ouerthrow to build vp and to plant By which wordes the Lord sheweth vnto Ieremy to whom he sendeth him what his office should be or what should be end of his ambassade He is sent vnto nacions and kyngdomes as a preacher of Gods word and not set ouer them as a prince or a king For there foloweth to plucke vp c. Which is the office of a teacher and the end of the Lordes ambassade And a Prophet plucketh vp ouerthroweth buildeth vp and planteth two wayes First when by Gods word he declareth to people nacions and kyngdomes that the Lord which hath planted the nations kyngdomes will roote out the same for their outrageous sinnes vnlesse they amend For Ieremy of himselfe did not ouerthrow or build vp kyngdomes but the Lord alone did it But Ieremy beyng Gods minister and messenger told them out of the Lordes mouth or by his word that the Lord would do it And this sence is ministred and furthered by the thynges that folow in the 45. chapter where the Lord sayth behold I pull downe the thynges that I haue builded and I plucke vp the thynges that I haue planted And agayne in the 42. chapter I will build you vp and not pull you downe I will plant you and not plucke you vp Besides this to plucke vp and to plant are termes of husbandry like as to build and to pull down are termes of masonry and carpentry Hereupon now the Prophet is by an allegoricall speach informed what he must do and wherunto his commission extendeth Like as husbandmē and builders do first prepare their ground and cut it vp with the plough and afterward sow it with séede or first pull downe the decayed buildynges and clense the floore and then afterward build vpon it So is it the dewtie of a Prophet or preacher first and formest to confute by Gods word to pull downe and plucke vp wicked opinions Idolatrie and whatsoeuer thynges els are raysed vp agaynst God and afterward in place of the thynges that be rooted out to plant agayne sound doctrine the true worshyppyng of God and all maner of godlinesse and finally to kéepe the Lordes field in tilth and to decke Gods house with all diligence These thynges wil be the more enlightned if ye compare them with the Lordes owne wordes in the 13. and 15. of Mathew and with the wordes of the Apostle Paule in the third chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthiās and in the tenth chapter of the second Epistle Once againe therfore by the cleare natural and right construed interpretation of this place of Ieremye we haue wonne that the Pope by that Bull of his hath wickedly and trayterously to the Lord Godward corrupted and inuerted his wordes and wrested them to his own souereintie or rather to his owne tyranny which the Lord hath not ordeined or defended by his word neither here nor in any place els And if they be not yet ashamed of their wicked wrestyng and corruptyng of this place of the Prophetes Let them tell vs what maner of souereintie Ieremy bare in Hierusalem the chief Citie of Iewry or ouer what nation or kyngdome he reigned From the death of kyng Iosias he liued vnder the wicked kynges Ioachaz Ioachim Iechonias Zedechias The horrible déedes of these princes are described both in the holy stories of the Bible also in the same Ieremyes booke let them tell vs then in what wise Ieremy by the vertue of these the Lordes wordes I haue set thee this day ouer nations and kyngdomes c. dyd roote out or plant and which of those vngodly kynges he plucked vp and excommunicated or where he taught that bycause of the wickednesse of these kynges their people ought to yeld no obedience vnto them Let them tell vs where or when he discharged the noblemen and commons of the Realme of their othe made vnto the sayd kinges yea or vnto Nabuchodonosor which was a heathen kyng Or which of the kinges Ieremy cast downe frō his throne and afterward aduaunced another to it at his owne pleasure Tell me tell me I say Why are ye thus dumine Bicause ye be neuer able to proue by any Scriptures the thyng that you take vpon ye For the truth witnesseth manifestly that Ieremy was the humble seruaunt of the Lord God a poore Minister and therewithall a faithfull Prophet of the Lord God and that he was pitifull vexed imprisoned and persecuted by those kynges agaynst whom for all that he ment so litle to draw any sword at all that in all ciuill cases he willyngly obeyed them and taught all the people yea the nobilitie also to obey them and finally acknowledged and reuerēced them as his soueraine Lordes In déede he did sharply rebuke the wicked offences of these kynges and preached Gods greuous iudgementes not so much to them as to the Priestes and to the whole people vtterly after the same maner that the Lord had commaunded him to do it But in the meane while he made no commotions in the Realme but rather patiently suffered persecution at their handes prayed earnestly for their welfare Yea and this selfe same Prophet dyd diligently carefully teach the very people of God to obey euen the kyngs of Babylon Nabuchodonosor Euilmerodach and Baltazar Like as Ezechiel also blameth Zedechias very sore for falsifying his othe and breakyng his fayth geuen vnto Nabuchodonosor Therefore there is no reason why the Byshop of Rome should cloke his tyranny with Ieremyes wordes consideryng that Ieremyes wordes fight agaynst hym and that he in no poynt resembleth Ieremyes patterne ¶ That the Bishop of Romes vsurpyng of supremacie ouer kynges and nacions is agaynst the open example and expresse commaundemēt of our Lord Christ. NAy rather to the intent the matter may appeare yet more euidently vnto all men so little did our Lord Iesus Christ mynde to ordeine either Peter or any other of his Apostles souereines ouer kynges and kyngdomes in the Church that I am able presently to set the euident example of the Lord him selfe and his doctrine or expresse commaūdement agaynst the tyranny wrongfull dealyng of the Pope and as it were to shew with my finger that his vsurping of soueraintie ouer kynges and kyngdomes in the Church is extreme iniurie and vngodlynes This matter is of it selfe right plentifull in the holy Scriptures but I will as much as may be comprehend thē in a brief Therefore although our Lord Iesus Christ was by his almightie father ordeined both kyng and priest in his kingdome and that he manifestly auouched himselfe to be a
the vpper hand in persecutiōs aduauncyng his maner of spéech from bodily and earthly thinges to spirituall and heauenly thinges Yet notwithstandyng after all these thinges which surely may séeme a wonder to the whole world yea euen after thrise most earnest warning and euident instruction the Disciples dare byanby vpon Christes Resurrectiō and at the verie instant of his Ascension into heauen make mētion yet agayne of reigning yea and to cloy the Lord again with their desirousnesse of superioritie saying Wilt thou at this time that is to say before thou depart from vs into heauen restore the kingdome vnto Israell Unto which question the mercyfull Lord bearing with the weakenesse of his Disciples aunswereth méekely agayne and biddeth them referre the seasonable doing of it vnto god In the meane while he repeteth and beateth into them agayne what they should do and what he requireth at their hands saying After that the holy Ghost is come downe into you you shall receiue power and you shal beare witnesse of me not onely at Hierusalem but euen to the vttermost costes of the earth also And what els is this then if he had sayd The holie Ghost shall teach you to vnderstād what maner of kingdome mine shal be doutlesse spirituall not worldly wherin I shall sit and reigne the chief onely souerein And in this my kingdome that is to wit in the very Church of the saintes you shal be witnesses not kinges preachers and not princes For by preachyng of the Gospell you shall gather me a Church out of the whole world This I say is Christes doctrine concerning supremacie and reigning concernyng the ministerie of Christ in the Church more lightsome thē the sunne Wherby also it appeareth more clearely then the day light that the Byshop of Romes vsurping of souereintie in the Church and his bosting of himselfe to be ordeined head ouer all kinges and Realmes contrarie to Christes example and doctrine is not by the lowlie spirite of Christ but by the proude spirite of Lucifer ¶ Nor that the Apostles of Christ tooke vppon them any souereintie in Christes Church but onely the ministerie ANd when the Apostles had receiued the holy Ghost they vtterly displaced all ambition and desire of souereintie out of their hartes perceiuyng now that no such thing as they and the Iewes had hitherto surmised was to be sought or looked for in the kyngdome and Church of Christ but farre greater and diuiner thinges namely spirituall thynges And therfore accordyng to their Lord maisters cōmaundement traueling ouer the whole world they so behaued them selues that in all thinges they were sound to be the very Disciples and folowers of their maister endewed with lowlinesse not with Lordlinesse renowmed for their faithfull seruice not for stately superioritie For they not onely preached the Gospell purely without mens forgeries and traditiōs but also were wont to reuerence kynges as next vnto God in earth and chief of all men and to call them their Lordes and to pay them tribute and to obey them faithfully and to pray for their welfare without ceasing yea and to threaten Gods vengeance to such as refused obedience to the Magistrate commaunding no wickednesse They no where intermedled them selues in worldly affaires in somuch as they cast euē the care of the poore which otherwise is most holy vpon the shoulders of the Deacons verely to the end they might the earnestlyer apply them selues to the preaching of the word They no where vsurped to them selues the benches of iudges or the thrones of princes and much lesse did they depose any kyng or prince from his kingdome were he neuer so wicked and yet there is no man ignoraunt what the Romane presidentes were that liued in the time of the Apostles full of couetousenesse lechery and pride and the posteritie of Herode euen venemouse slippes yea and the Emperours them selues most filthie and vngracious persons as the Tyberiusses the Caligulaze the Claudiusses and the Neroes or discharge his people of their allegeāce or contend with any prince for the souereintie and much lesse did they euer purpose or practise to place exalt them selues aboue him Nay rather they suffered sore persecutiō the which they ouercame by patience and not by violent withstanding nor by practises and pollicies of malicious wylinesse and gathered verie great Churches vnto Christ out of the whole world by preaching the Gospell ouer all the earth S. Luke the Euangelist describeth these thynges diligently and plenteously in his booke of the Actes of the Apostles wherin although he pursue their doinges by the space of xxviii yeares together Yet doth he no where giue any little incling of that supremacie and fulnesse of power which they at this day do boast of that call them selues Apostolick and crake of the fulnesse of their power But if any man desire to here some singular thyng of S. Peter he is alwayes set first in the register of the holie Apostles But all men know that this formershyp of Peters is not in ouer ruling but in order for accordyng to the doctrine of the Gospell all the Apostles were indewed with like dignitie and power and the Churches were gouerned by their trauell in common In the meane while it was requisite that there should be order both in speakyng and doing for the auoydance of disordered confusion they that had obteined greater giftes were more honored and had in more estimation and authoritie than the residew Like as Paule speaking of Iames Peter and Iohn sayth that they séemed to be pillars in the Church Not for that they were preferred afore all the rest or had obteined a larger Commission but bicause that hauing obteined greater giftes they did more luckely and easly go through with all pointes of their charge wherin otherwise the residew had as good part as they and therfore were had in greater price and estimation among the faithfull So also were the Apostolike Churches which were first founded by the Apostles worthely had in great price and estimation in old time For their authoritie was of great credit with other Churches not that they were beleued to haue superioritie ouer them but bicause that being the first that were conuerted to the faith they kept still vnappaired the faith which they had once learned of the Apostles and gaue light to other Churches by their purenesse and constācie These thinges are set forth more at large by a very auncient writer called Tertullian in the prescriptions of heretickes In which place also he not onely calleth Rome an Apostolike Church but Ephesus also and Corinth and Thessalonica and other Churches founded by the Apostles And it is not to be douted but that the men of old tyme called Peter and Paule the princes of the Apostles not that they were secular or worldly princes or that they had dominion ouer the rest or that they had obteined a larger commission but bicause that being endewed by God with most
excellent giftes both in their sayinges and doinges yea and finally in their writings and vertewes they shyned as most bright Cressets among the rest of the Starres For S. Peter neuer chalendged to him selfe any superioritie no not euen ouer the basest sort of men and much lesse ouer princes he neuer aduaunced his throne which he had not aboue all kinges and all kingdomes Cornelius the Centurion a knight of Rome fell down at his féete and it was no small cause that made him so to do For the aungell of the Lord had set a great commendation vpon this Peter vnto him wherupon he fell downe before Peter But Peter liftes him vp agayne and humbly sayth that he him selfe is a man also So also when he had lifted vp the lame man and made him whole and sound at the temple of Ierusalem and that the people stode wondering and worshipping of him he gaue all the glorie vnto Christ and told them that he him selfe was but a Minister Neither doth he in his Epistles aduaunce him selfe with any prelacie but simply calles him selfe an Apostle and felowelder forbidding the elders to vsurpe any Lordship ouer the Clergie Neither sitteth he still in his chayre at Hierusalem and sendes abroad his Legates a latere but he is contented to let the cōgregation send him with Iohn into Samaria Yea and in the Counsell of Ierusalem he chalendgeth no preheminence to him selfe All thinges were done in that Counsell by common aduise and consent And the Apostle Paule who in all thinges euen of the smallest sort was a most diligent obseruer of the ordinaūces of his maister Christ no where acknowledgeth S. Peter as preferred before all other men by any prerogatiue neither would he in any wise haue neglected it if he had euer thought him to haue ben preferred afore the rest by the lord Nay rather he fréely reproued Peter in the Church of Antioche accordyng as he himselfe declareth in the 2. to the Galathians In the same place in déede he calleth Peter a Piller but not Peter aboue and therfore much lesse the piller of all pillers greatest and most excellent For with Peter he matcheth two other Apostles whom he termeth pillers as well as him euen Iames and Iohn yea and he putteth Iames afore Peter He had sayd heretofore that the same were had in reputation to the end we might know wherfore he called them pillers Meaning that they were in authoritie as men that by their common and faithful trauell séemed as it were to vphold the Church which els was like to fall if it had not ben vnderpropped and stayed vp through the grace of God in their faithfull teachyng And yet Paule affirmeth that those pillers added nothyng vnto him But rather comparing him selfe with Peter The same sayth he which was mighty in Peter in the Apostleship ouer the Circumcision was mighty in me also among the Gentiles And the same Paule speakyng of the plurall nomber saith he was nothing inferiour to the chief Apostles And in the 3. chapter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians what is Paule sayth he what is Apollo and in this place is Peter or Cephas to be implyed also as of whō he had made mention in the first chapter vsing the same maner of speaking Neither is there any reason why the opinion of those should hold vs in a mamering which surmise that here is not ment Peter but some other disciple whom Paul calleth by the name of Cephas For the truth of the Gospell crieth out against them in the first of Iohn and so doth Paules owne declaration in the second to the Galathians What are they saith he but onely ministers by whom you haue beleued euen as the Lord gaue vnto euery man I haue planted Apollo hath watred but God gaue the increase Therfore neither is he any thing which planteth nor he which watereth but God which giueth the increase And anone after speakyng of all the Apostles yea and euen of Peter or Cephas to Let a man sayth he in such wise esteme vs as the Ministers of Christ and the disposers of the secretes of God. These lightsome and euident textes of Scripture are sufficient for men that be curable as for vncurable quareling men we leaue them to God the iust iudge and doe witnesse manifestly enough that neither Christes Apostles no nor the Apostle Peter him selfe vsurped so much as one iote of souereintie in the Church but onely tooke vpon them ministration of the glad tydinges of saluation and of Christes holy Church all their life long euen vnto the last gaspe of their liues And therfore there is no reason why the Bishop of Rome should hereafter in maintenance of himselfe his supremacie alledge any more the supremacie of Peter which is now sufficiētly apparant to be vtterly none and alwayes to haue ben none at all in déede ¶ That the first Bishops of Rome vsurped not any souereintie at all in the church but were lowly shepeheardes teachers and ministers of the Church of Rome yea and besides that also Martyrs of Christ. I Will not now dispute whether Peter came at Rome or no. Wherof I sée learned men to dout not without cause Surely it may be proued by substantiall argumentes that Peter sate not in that seate at that tyme and so long a tyme as he is commonly sayd to haue sit continually together If he came to Rome at all certes it was late ere he came and peraduēture not long afore his death For all the old writers euen those that were néere the Apostles time do agreably and stedfastly affirme that Peter was crucified at Rome vnder the Emperour Nero for preaching Christ and his Gospell the same time that Paul was beheaded Which thing I can easly graunt But from this Peter vnto Siluester there be registred 33. Byshops or pastors of Rome Of whom notwithstandyng none tooke vpon him any souereintie either ouer the Citie it selfe or ouer the Church of Rome and therfore much lesse aduaūced they them selues ouer kynges and kyngdomes Yet am I not afrayd to say thus much more of them that if they might be found to haue attempted any whit of this preheminence or to haue sewed for souereintie it is certein that they started aside from the way of their predecessours yea and from their maister Christ and grew out of kynd from their owne Peter Wherfore their sayinges and doinges being against the expresse testimonies of Christ and the Apostles aboue rehearsed could proue nothing Howbeit like as in other Churches as of Antioche Alexandria Corinth Philippos Ephesus Cesarea and the rest there were pastors or teachers which were called Bishops set ouer the Church of God which by their holy ministerie serued seuerally their owne shéepe that were committed to them and not other mens shéepe or in many places at once for at the begynnyng euery pastor had his slocke appointed and committed vnto him So also was done in the Church of Rome which
truly in processe of tyme the vices that had euery where occupyed and corrupted other Churches began also to enter into the Church of Rome for there arose a great schisme in the Church of Rome some chosing S. Cornelius to be their pastors and some choosing Nouatus from whom sprong the heresie or sect of the Nouatians which became very noysome to the Church But Cornelius got the gouernement vnder whom certein of Aphrike began to put the decidyng of their controuersies to the sea of Rome Neuerthelesse the blessed Martyr Byshop of Carthage Cyprian did set himselfe agaynst them also and in his 3. booke of Epistles in his first Epistle to Cornelius Byshop of Rome whom he calleth his brother he sayth among other thinges how it is decréed by all men yea and also that it is right and reason that eche mans case should be there heard where the fault is committed Also he sayth that vnto euery pastor is allotted a portiō of the slocke for euery of them to rule and gouerne and he shall render an account of his doing vnto the lord Among these thinges marke that as yet at that tyme the Byshop of Rome was not taken for the vniuersall shepheard to whom all the other Churches should be subiect Nay rather he sayth that euery shepheard had his seuerall Church committed to him to gouerne for which he should render account to the Lord God and not to the Pope And S. Cornelius himself did not either allow such as appealed out of Affricke to Rome or desire to rule ouer all other Churches and to be called the souerein Lord of all kinges and kingdomes To be bréef these Byshops of the Romane Church were all put to death for the sound doctrine and the professing of Christes name by the Emperours of Rome So farre were they of from taking vpon them full and absolute power ouer any Princes and least of all ouer the princes of Rome For which of so many vngodly bloudy manquellyng princes being mo then xl in nomber did they depose from his souereintie or which of them I pray you did they excōmunicate Or which of these bishops assoyled the people of their othe made to the Emperours Or which of all these said wrate or thought himself to haue receiued fulnesse of power at the handes of Christ our Lord by Peter to be set ouer kinges and kingdomes Therfore it is most certein that these first ministers of the Romane Church were ignoraunt of the thinges which the Romish Bishops of this last and forworne age haue vsurped to themselues and which they haue now a long tyme in vayne indeuered to stablish by the Epistles of those mē ¶ That the Decretall Epistles of the first Byshops of Rome are but counterfettes VErely I am not ignorant how there fly abroad many Epistles of these holy Romane Bishops Martyrs which they call decretals But they ouerthrow themselues with their owne absurdities and shew themselues to be but counterfettes in asmuch as many thinges be so light so triflyng and so vtterly vnlike that auncient simplicitie purenesse and maiestie that not with out good cause they séeme vnto godly and learned men to haue ben deuised long since by others Neither do I greatly regard that the same are fathered vpon the gatheryng of Damasus and Isidorus seyng that there want not some men which put ouer certeine of these kynd of thinges euen to the time of Gregorie the 7. But howsoeuer the case stād for the tyme I pray yon what can be more fond then the fathering of these wordes vpon Anacletus This holy holy and Apostolike Church of Rome obteined the supremacie and preheminence of power ouer all Churches not frō the Apostles but from the very Lord himselfe our Sauiour And again There was a difference euen betwene the blessed Apostles and albeit that all of them were Apostles yet did the Lord graunt and the Apostles determined among them selues that Peter should haue preheminence afore all the rest of the Apostles and be Cephas that is to say a head and hold the souereintie of Apostleship Thus sayth he But who knoweth not though he be but meanely séene in histories that after full fiue hūdred yeares it was obteined and ordeined not by Christ or his Apostles but by loytering lozels or rather by traiterous persōs that Rome should be called the head of all Churches that is to wit that it should obteine supremacie prerogatiue of power ouer all Churches Or who would beleue that Anacletus exercised himselfe so little in readyng of the Gospell that he knew not how Cephas signifieth not a head but a stone or a Rocke according as it is interpreted by Iohn the Apostle in the first chapter And which interpreter should a man rather beleue Iohn the Apostle or the coūterfet Anaclete The lewd packing then of the lewd lozelles is detected both in these and in many other thinges The same partie maketh very often mention of Archbyshops and metropolitanes neither omitteth he primates But it is most manifest that those titles were vtterly vnknowen to the primitiue Church and were afterward inuented and vsurped in times folowyng And at their first comming vp the maner of vsing them was after a sort méetly tolerable till their posteritie did afterward vse them or rather misuse them more proudly Besides this the sayd counterfet Anaclete maketh a Bishop greater than an Elder whereas Ierome himselfe sheweth by Scriptures that Elders and Bishops are all one and that in processe of time Byshops were preferred before Elders not by the ordinaunce of God but by the ordinaunce of man Moreouer this Anacletus alloweth the Appeales that are made to the sea of Rome saying that all questions and matters of weight ought to be referred to the Apostolike sea for so had the Apostles decréed But this selfe same thing is manifestly disallowed by the holy maister of Christ Cyprian writyng to Cornelius the Pope Many other thinges prateth he concerning the priuiledges and iudgementes of the Church which who soeuer séeth not to disagrés with these first tymes of the primitiue Church he seeth nothyng but is blynder then a béetle Furthermore there is a decrée fathered vpon Pope Alexander wherby he commaundeth that water should be halowed with salt to clense the people and to put away the secret slightes of the deuill But who is so light headed to beleue that so great men in so great light of the Gospell published so filthy decrées concerning such baggagely gewgawes so openly fighting agaynst the Gospell and doctrine of the Apostles These thinges sauour not that Apostolike and auncient purenesse and maiestie which entierly attributeth all saluation to the onely bloud of the sonne of God and not to water and salt Pope Sixtus in the sayd decretall Epistles commaundeth that no man els should touch the holy vesselles but he that is halowed Ye may perceiue that this stuffe agréeth trimly with the Apostolicall doctrine deliuered by Paul in the 2. to
déede that wise Prince king Henry the viii turned the Church that is in England away from many Romish superstitions that were very fowle And what offended he therin Nay rather he deserued prayse and his fallyng away is counted among wise men a vertue and not a vyce Moreouer the renowme of this Prince is so famous among all good and godly men as it can not be defaced by the raylinges of these rascals of the Romish sink He was of singular learnyng of notable wisedome and experience of excellent corage and adorned with all heroicall vertues and feates méete for a Prince And it is not I alone that thinke thus of this Kyng there be other graue personages which haue commended the same thinges in hym This Prince departyng blessedly out of this lyfe in the xxxviii yeare of his reigne about the end of Ianuary in the yeare of our Lord .1547 and hauyng erst by his will intayled the succession of his Crowne first vnto his sonne Edward a young child of ix yeares of age and successiuely after hym vnto his daughters Marie and Elizabeth was succeded by the sayd Edward the vi of that name whose ample commendations that notable Historiographer Sleidan hath comprised in few wordes in the xxv booke of his Comentaries saying Edward the vi the kyng of England doutlesse a Prince of singular towardnesse departed out of this lyfe the vi day of Iuly in the yeare of our Lord. 1553. beyng about the age of xvi yeares truly to the grief of all godly men For after his decease there folowed a very great alteration of thinges in England Surely Europe hath not had any kyng of so great hope now these certein hundred yeares Beyng very well trayned vp in godlinesse and instructed in learnyng euen from his tender yeares he was séene not onely in the Latin toung but also in the Gréeke the Frēch tounges and he had an earnest loue to the doctrine of the Gospell and gaue interteinement and defence to all learned men Germaines Italiās Frenchmen Scottes Spanyardes and Polonians Thus much saith he furthermore Iohn Bale Byshop of Ossoria in Ireland reporteth that this King did also exercise himselfe in writing and among other thinges wrate a Comedie of the whore of Babylon Concernyng the gouernaunce of Quéene Mary and her bringyng of the Church backe agayne to the Sea of Rome I will say nothing at this present bycause the declaration therof would be very sorowfull and lamentable and to say truth it sticketh yet still more fresher is all mēs myndes thou that it néedeth to be ripped vp agayne This onely will I say further that the Bishops of Rome were euen then also heauie frendes to the Realme of England as they had ben oft afore accordyng as they had alwayes wrought mischief vnto other kingdomes also in Christendome for these fiue hūdred yeares and more But God will iudge them when he séeth tyme. After Quéene Marie succeded Quéene Elizabeth in the kyngdome not a thrall of wickednesse as the Popes rayling mouth doth slaunderously reuile her but the seruaunt yea and the faithful seruaunt of Iesus Christ our redemer and Lord as by him set at libertie from the thraldome of sinne and made his fréewomā so as she is now the daughter of God and an enemie of all wickednesse yea euē of the Popes for their wickednesse sake For she cleaueth entierly to her onely Redemer Christ to him onely doth she with singular faithfulnesse and diligence indeuer to knit the people of her Realme and the subiectes that be vnder her charge Her owne selfe liueth a lyfe beséemyng a Christian princesse commendyng holy and honest conuersation to all folkes through her Realme and as much as in her lyeth forbidding restreining all wickednesse Which thing truly is not to draw backe her subiectes to destructiō but to plucke them from destruction and to restore them to assured saluation They that know this Quéene know also that I feyne nothing here to curry fauour And I touche these things the more sparely least I may séeme to purpose in any wise to flatter Neither hath her maiestie any néede of my defence considering that her owne godlinesse and innocencie defend her Surely her Maiestie like as also her brother of most blessed memorie Kyng Edward the vi did opened a Sanctuarie to outlawes I meane mē that fled their countryes and banished men that is to wit which were driuen out of the Popish common weales not for committyng wicked crymes but for castyng away of Idolatrie and for professing the healthfull Gospell of Iesu Christ. I graunt that these folke are enemyes or angry in their hartes howbeit not against Christ and his most holy Gospell but against the Pope and his most lewde practises cursed superstitions I graūt that the pope termeth these mē heretikes howbeit wrongfully for in very déede they be right Catholikes abhorryng all heresie fightyng agaynst it He that receiueth these receiueth Christ accordyng as Christ himselfe witnesseth who also promiseth most ample reward to such as giue enterteinemēt to his outcastes Therfore let that gracious Quéene reioyce let her reioyce I say in openyng refuge to the miserable outcastes that are driuen out of their countrie for the true Religion for she shall assuredly receiue those most ample rewardes at the Lordes hand And let not her Maiestie passe at all for that abhominable barbarousnesse and crueltie of Rome which both persecuteth the innocentes most outrageously it selfe and also cruelly commaundeth others to persecute oppresse and murther them That these men should so do S. Peter hath foretold in his Epistle where he matcheth them with wyld beastes Let that vertuous Quéene then shunne these cruell and beastly examples and let her rather hearken to Esay the holy Prophet of God speaking in the name of his God and saying Set thy shadow as a night in the midday hyde the chased and bewray not them that be fled Let my banished people dwell with thée Moab be thou their refuge agaynst the destroyer To impeach the right of hospitalitie hath alwayes ben reputed as one of the heynousest crymes that could be euen among the heathen But to giue harbrough to the afflicted and to the Church of Christ it hath alwayes and specially in Christes Church bene reckened among the cheefest vertues and allowed of all good men ¶ That it is no monstruousnesse at all for the Queene of England to be called supreme head of the Realme of England vpon earth ANone after among the haynous offences neuer able to be purged with any sacrifice and which most of all moueth the choler that boyleth inwardly in the brest of the vniuersal bishop and souerein Lord as he him selfe will séeme to be as well in cases spirituall as temporall bycause that power can abyde no partnershyp the foresayd thyng is bitterly recited in the Bull euen in these wordes Which will haue her selfe acknowledged alone for souerein Lady in cases spirituall and tēporall by
man ought to be compelled to rightuousnesse when you read that the householder sayd to his seruauntes whomsoeuer ye finde make them to come in or when you read that he which was first Saule and afterward Paule was with great violence and compulsion enforced by Christ to know the truth and to hold it whether he would or no The same Austen agayne in his v. Epistle to Earle Boniface sayth where is the fréedome of beleuyng or not beleuyng which these men are wont to blase abroad saying whom hath Christ enforced whom hath Christ compelled Behold they haue the Apostle Paule in him they may sée Christ first compelling and afterward teachyng first beating and afterward comforting And it is a wonder to sée how he that came in vnto the Gospell by compulsion of bodily punishment hath labored more in the Gospell then all they did that were called in by the onely word and that his perfect charitie hath driuen feare out of doores whom greatest feare compelled to charitie Why then should not the Church compel the vnthriftie children to returne if the vnthriftie children haue compelled others to perish Agayne in the same Epistle the same Austen sayth whereas they that would not haue any iust lawes ordeined agaynst their wicked heresies auouch that the Apostles demaunded no such thinges of the kinges of the earth they consider not that the state of that tyme was other then it is now and that all thynges are to be done in their times For what Emperour beleued in Christ at those dayes that he might haue done him seruice by making lawes in defence of godlinesse agaynst vngodlinesse when as yet this prophesie was in fulfilling why did the Gentyles rage and why did the people imagine vayne thinges The kinges of the earth stode vp and the princes assembled together against the Lord against his christ For as yet the world was not come to that point which is spokē of anone after in the same Psalme And now ye kinges bethinke your selues be learned ye that iudge the earth do seruice vnto him in feare and reioyse with trembling How then do kynges serue God in feare but by godly seueritie of prohibiting punishing the thinges that are done agaynst the cōmaundementes of the Lord for he serueth in one sort as he is a mā in another sort also as he is a king In that he is a mā he serueth him by liuing faithfully in that he is also a king hée serueth by stablishing with conuenient rigour such lawes as commaund rightfull thinges and forbid the contrarie So serued Ezechias by beating downe the groues and temples of the Idols and the high places that had bene builded agaynst Gods commaundement So serued Iosias by doing the like thinges So serued the king of Niniuie by compelling the whole Citie to pacifie Gods displeasure So serued Darius by breaking the Idoll and giuing it into the power of Daniell and by casting his enemies in to the Lyons So serued Nabuchodonosor by making a terrible law to all that were vnder his dominion from blaspheming God by a terrible law Kinges therfore in asmuch as they are kinges do then serue God when they do that thing to serue God withall which they could not do if they were not kinges Considering then that kinges serued not the Lord in the time of the Apostles but as yet imagined vaine thinges against God and against his annointed that the sayinges of the Prophetes might be fulfilled truly vngodlinesse could not thē be prohibited but rather it was executed by lawes For the state of those tymes was so far out of order that euen the Iewes slew them that preached Christ thinking themselues to do God high seruice according as Christ had prophesied afore the Genttles raged against the Christians and yet the strength of Martyrs ouercome them all But after the thing began to be fulfilled which is written All the kinges of the earth shall worship him All natiōs shall serue him what is he that is in his right wits that will say vnto kinges Take you no care in your kyngdome who defēdeth or assaulteth the Church of your Lord it makes no matter to you who be chast who be vnchast in your Realme For seing that God hath giuen vnto mā frée choise why should aduoutrie be punished by lawes apostasie be let slip Is it a lighter matter for the soule to breake her faith plighted vnto God thē for a womā to breake her troth plighted vnto mā Or if the thinges that be cōmitted through ignoraūce not through contēpt of religiō be to be punished more gently are they therfore to be neglected In déede it is better who doutes that mē should be brought by gentlenesse to serue God then to be compelled to it by feare of punishment and smart But bycause they that be gētly allured be the better it foloweth not that those which are otherwise should be neglected For it hath done many men good which thing is euident by experience to be first compelled by feare or smart that they might afterward be taught or accomplish the thing in worke which they had learned already by word Thus much haue I hetherto rehearsed out of the bookes of Austen which I suppose do satisfie such as are not giuen to contention in this case Furthermore that euery man should not haue leaue to chuse at his own pleasure and to folow what likes him best in the case of faith and Religion it is forbidden long ago in Gods law accordyng as is read to this effect ye shall not do euery one of you what seemeth right in his owne eyes Marke and heare all that I cōmaund thée that thou mayest fare well and the children after thée when thou doest the thing that is good and acceptable in the sight of thy god Therfore looke what I commaund thée that onely do thou vnto the Lord neither put thou any thing to it nor take thou any thing away Nay truly it is the welspring and originall of all mischief errour heresie schisme dissention and troubles if it were frée for euery man to folow the fancies of his owne head and the imaginations and deuises of his owne hart Which thing is proued by the stories of all ages and by the experience of our time also And ye shall read often in the Prophetes depart ye or turne ye from your owne wayes and you haue chosen in your wayes the thinges that displease me Also walke ye in my wayes and it shall be for your weale And what els is the Popish Religiō but a way deuised set vp by the will and pleasure of man cōtrarie to the rule of Gods word From the which God willeth the Magistrate to turne away his seruaunts and to bring them backe agayne into the way of the lord Dauid the king and Prophet pleased the high God singularly in this respect though in many things he defiled him selfe shamefully that he
thūderbolt and no more to be feared then the thunderclappes smokes and mistes of Cacus were to be feared of Hercules as hath bene sayd already afore The blind mā to whom Christ had giuen eye sight was in old tyme cast out of the Synagoge of the Pharisies But that excommunication was so farre from hurting him that from thence forth he was receiued into Christes houshold by the Lord Christ himselfe who in his Gospell prophesying of the thinges that are now accomplished by the Pope sayd They shall thrust you out of their Synagoges Yea and the tyme commeth that who soeuer killeth you he shall thinke he doth God seruice And these thinges shall they do vnto you bycause they haue not knowē the father nor yet me But I haue told these things vnto you to the intent that whē that time is come ye may remember what I haue sayd vnto you Wherfore it hurteth not the Queenes Maiestie a whit that she is sayd to be cut of truly not from the vnitie of Christes body but from the felowshyp of the Popish corporation For were she not cut of from this verely she could not be reckened among the true and liuely members of Christes body neither could she haue God to be her father if she could finde in her hart to be an obedient daughter to the Syr that sitteth vppon mount Tarpey deuouring his owne sonnes and daughters like Saturne For the Lord willeth hys children to get them out of Babylon if they minde to escape the plagues of God and to atteine true saluation And we be not kept in the vnitie of Christes body which is the Church of the liuing God by obeying and reuerencing the Romane Church and the Bishop therof but by true faith in Christ according to the Gospell of god He that wanteth this or he that impugneth this hath no communion at all neither with Christ nor with the Church how much soeuer he pratle of the vnitie of Christes body ¶ That the Pope of Rome doth falsly and tyrannously giue sentence that the Queene of England is depriued of her kingdome and of all right of her crowne AFterward the Pope in his sayd definitiue sentence determineth peremptorily that the Quéene of England is depriued of her crowne and of all right of her crowne and of all other authoritie dominion dignitie and priuilege whatsoeuer But who hath made the Pope a souerein Monarche ouer the whole world to reigne alone and to haue all kingdomes vnder him and to hold all kynges and princes vnder his allegeance as his vassals or tenauntes at wil so as he might set them vp or thrust them out of their kyngdomes at his pleasure Heretofore when I discoursed vpon Ieremies wordes I haue set thee ouer kynges and kyngdomes c. I haue shewed openly and sufficiently inough so as there néedeth no more at this tyme that the Pope is not set ouer kynges and kyngdomes by God but rather vsurpeth superioritie and power ouer kynges and nations contrarie both to the open example and commaundement of the lord Therfore as now I wil adde no more but this that the Pope doth falsly or rather through mere tyranny without any right or regard of shame chalenge to him selfe this power which the Lord neuer deliuered to any man For the wise Prophet Daniel sayth Wisedome and power belong vnto the lord He it is that altereth the tymes and chaunges of tymes He it is that putteth downe kinges and setteth vp kinges The same thyng also haue Iob and Dauid in his Psalmes affirmed afore him Yea and the holy histories setting forth the same thyng most plenteously declare that God ordeined Saule kyng of the Israelites by the Prophet Samuel and by the message of the same Prophet deposed him agayne for his disobedience and rebellion aduauncing Dauid to his roome a man accordyng to Gods owne hart Agayne vnder Salomon Dauides sonne the kyngdome was rent a sunder and God by the message of his Prophet Ahia gaue ten partes of the kyngdome to Ieroboam and those ten partes of the kyngdome were not taken away from Salomon and his posteritie for any other cause then for that Salomon him selfe had withdrawen his hart from God and allowed his outlandish wiues wherewith to set vp and exercise their Idolatrie But the same Ieroboam is deposed agayne and none other cause of hys deposing by the report of the same Ahia the Prophet then for that he hearkened not to the word of the Lord but according to mans policie vpon a good intent of his owne made him straunge Gods and set vp the same for the children of Israel to worship and cleaued not vncorruptly to the word of the Lord. Other kinges of Israel also were deposed from from their kingdome by God as Baasa Ela Achab such other like and for none other cause then that they had leuer to folow the Idolatrie of Ieroboam then the word of the Lord. Furthermore when Iehu had destroyed Iezabell king Achabs wife and all his posteritie and therewithall made cleane riddance of all the Priestes of Baal yea beaten downe the Temple of Baal and made a draught of it the Lord said vnto him for asmuch as thou hast earnestly executed the thing that is right in mine eyes and done vnto the house of Achab according to all that was in my hart thy sonnes shall sit vppon the seate of Israell to the fourth generatiō I could rehearse many other thinges of this sort no lesse notable then these but that I séeke to be brief as far as the matter giueth leaue And I haue rehearsed these thinges to the end that all men may manifestly perceiue how it is God himselfe and not the pope that createth kinges and displaceth them yea and which remoueth shaketh ouerthroweth repaireth and stablisheth all kingdomes vniuersally and seuerally Now although he haue disposed it by his messengers the Prophetes as by Samuell Ahias Eliseus and others yet is not the Pope called to these matters as those men were neither hath he receiued any commission from God in this case so much as by one little word but rather is commaūded to attempt no such thing Besides this God deposed kinges as it were extraordinarily by the Prophetes not by the high Priestes which were ordeined by God to be in Israell with the kinges least the kingdome and the Priest hode might be set at oddes betwene them selues Therfore although the Pope were the souerein Bishop yet should not the disposing and ordering of kinges belong to his charge Moreouer if a man consider wherefore God deposed those kinges by the meane of his Prophetes the Quéene of England hath wherwith to comfort and confirme her and the Pope hath that which graffeth him into the nomber of false prophetes discorageth him and vtterly ouerthroweth him For Ahias said out of the mouth of the Lord vnto Ieroboam if thou wilt hearken to my commaundementes and walke in my wayes as
to make clayme to thē being none of his And whē the Earle would not surrēder them Pope Nicolas the 4. layd his curse vppon him By meanes wherof he inforced the Earle to write an Apologie wherin amōg other thinges he sayth who is so stelyharted or to speake more truly so blockish a beast that he cā with quyet minde suffer the pride statelynesse trecherie craft outrage wickednesse prodigalitie and couetousenesse of these rakehelles Is the séeking of othermens riches and kingdomes is fighting for glorie and dignitie is oppressing of silly shéepe is sleaing is warring is this géere I say is this to féede shéepe and to loue the flocke And seing that they being our seruauntes will against the right of all Realmes be our maisters yea and make their Lordes serue them contrarie to the lawes and word of God if they be not Antichristes what els I pray you be they And so forth as is to be read in Auentine in the vij booke of his Chronicles the 720. and 721. leaues Boniface the viij euen by the record of Platina the arrogātest Bishop one of them that euer was and the author of the vj. booke of Decretals wherof somwhat hath ben said afore bare very sore grudge against Philip K. of Fraunce and at last breaking forth sent a Legate with his Buls to Paris commaundyng the king to resigne the Realme of Fraunce to the Apostolike sea But the king would suffer no such Buls to be published in his Citie kingdome Yea rather the Frechmen tooke them from the Legate burnt them in the fire and draue the Legate out of the Realme as a trouble of the state Furthermore the king greatly accused Boniface and charged him with so heynous and vgly crymes as the storywriters for the foulenesse of them are ashamed to report Yet procedeth he for all that to rayse vp troubles in Fraunce to commaund the king to depose him selfe from his kingdome and to resigne it to the Church of Rome and to assoyle the Lordes and gentlemē of their othe of fealtie wherby they were boūd to the king But the king being no whit abashed at those fond cursinges gaue streight charge to all his subiectes that none of them should come at Rome or send any money thether And at the lēght he foūd the meanes to haue the most proud and stubborne Prelate himselfe cast in prison where he dyed within xxxv dayes after being as he deserued consumed with frettyng for sorrow and spight Clement the v. being as proud and as great a troubler of Realmes as his predecessours Cursed the Uenetiās and certein other notable commō weales and abandoned them to the spoile of all men onlesse they returned to the obediēce of his sea and so he compelled the Uenetiās to send Ambassadours with submission vnto him The Ambassadour that was sent was Fraunces Dandalus who afterward was made Duke of Uenice Much a do he had to come to the Popes presence At length he had a cheyne of yron clapt about his necke was fayne to lye couched at the pope Clementes table too too basely and filthily so long till the popes displeasure was with much ado ouercome and then he assoyled the Uenetians from his excōmunication Afterward Dandalus bare the name of Dog bicause he had couched at the Popes table like a dog The reporter hereof is Sabellicus about the end of the vij booke of his ix Enneade But who could haue looked vpon this orped sight without grief vnméete for the cruell Turke much more for a mercyfull Apostle With wisedome therfore must they be mad who soeuer they be that after so many horrible examples of wicked and shamelesse vilanie and tyrannie do stil reuerence and worship the bishops of Rome recouer not their sight ne learne to know them by their vertues to shunne thē They be sore deceiued which hearing these and such lyke thinges say stil that the Apostolike sea must not be iudged by the liues of the wicked vnthriftes that sit in it and that the same is holy and to be obeyed neuerthelesse For if by the sea Apostolike they meane the Apostolike doctrine and ministerie of the Church these thinges are alwayes holy and vnspotted and although those that be in the ministerie preach the Gospell be vncleane yet neuerthelesse the sea Apostolike that is to wit the Apostolike doctrine must be obeyed still according also as it hath ben sayd afore But if by the sea Apostolike they meane the Popish kingdome or rather tyrannie wherby they chalenge to themselues absolute souereintie in matters perteinyng to God aud man as well in Ciuill as in Ecclesiastical matters through the fulnesse of their power then is it no lesse a pestilent seate and vncommended vnto vs by any word of God then they that sit in it be most deadly and pestilent plagues And therfore they that sit in it are to be eschewed and the seate it selfe is to be lothed as an abhomination of all good men But now I returne agayne to my abridgement of stories which I haue broken of The same Bishop to the exceding great domage of Italie called thether the Emperour Henry of Lucembrough the vij of that name agaynst the faction of the Vrsines who were of the Gwelfes and against Robert king of Puell with whō he encountered twise with reasonable good lucke Wherupon the Bishop began to feare least the Emperour should grow too great Therfore according to the crabbednesse of the Bishops began to fall to the byasse of his predecessours and shanke aside to Robert of Puell whom the Emperour had condemned as traytor to the Empire reuersed the Emperors sayd sentence giuen by law And whē the Emperour hasted to sease vppon the kingdome of Sicilie for which he had ben called out of Germanie at the first one Bernard of Mount Polician as Fasciculus Temporum reporteth a Frier of S. Dominikes order or a Frier preacher dispatched him at Bonconuent by putting poyson into the Sacrament of the body and bloud of our Lord giuing it vnto him surely a straunge horrible example And they alledge that the Frier was corrupted with promises brybes by the Emperours enemyes or els he durst not haue attempted this so horrible a déede Iohn the xxij after many attemptes against the Emperour Lewes the iiij disfeated him of the Empyre and vsurped it wholly to himselfe For he published a Bull and in open wordes named himselfe father and Prince of all Christendome through the whole world the high Gods lieuetenaunt in whom rested the highest power and souereine dominion of the Empyre to be disposed by his commaūdement iurisdiction and authoritie and to be bestowed as his frée gift vpō whom he listed And about the end of the Bull he commaūdeth Lewes to resigne vp the Empyre and title of king within thrée monethes and neuer after to take that dignitie vpon him but by the leaue and appointment of