these summes which they got by ecclesiasticall liuings they had many other wayes to picke mens purses Purgatorie was a gainfull deuise the fire therof did much good to the popes kitchin Pardons were good to no vse but to make them rich that gaue them or carried them Especially those pardons which Leo the the tenth sent abroad They which caried them made the world beleeue that whosoeuer would giue tenne shillings for a pardon should for the same deliuer what soule soeuer he would out of purgatorie Vnder pretence also of fighting against the Turke and recouering the holy land they gathered great summes What should I speake of licenses qualifications dispensations and such like meanes to get money If I should but out of our English histories paint out the greedie worme of that church of Rome you would thinke it were a gulf vnsatiable both the horsleaches daughters in one that alwayes crieth giue giue and can neuer haue enough It is a bitter and grieuous complaint that Frederick the second emperour of that name maketh against the church of Rome shewing how the fire of her auarice is so kindled that the goods of the clargie not being able to suffice they feare not to disinherit and make to pay tribute to them emperours kings and princes Whose words hee saith are sweete as hony and as soft as oyle but they are insatiable bloudsuckers He doth put our countrimen in rememberance of that which Innocent the third a pope had done swalowing after the Romish fashion with an vntoward gaping whatsoeuer was fattest And with many such words hee setteth forth the miserable estate of England which was saith he the prince of all prouinces He speaketh of the time of king Iohn as himselfe sheweth of the which dayes also did the nobles of England complaine bitterly because he did subiect himselfe to the pope and so brought their land into a miserable slauerie And as it were speaking vnto the pope they charge him that he beareth with king Iohn to the ende that all things might be swallowed vp of the gulfe of the Romish auarice Neither is the pope Honorius the third ashamed to confesse this fault by his Otho For in his letters hee confesseth that there can be no dispatch in the court of Rome without great expences and gifts and acknowledgeth that this is an old staine to that church And for to take away this slaunder he his cardinals had deuised a good way as he thought which is that he might haue in euery cathedrall church two prebends and such like of abbeis And this is an other way that the pope hath to inrich himselfe by And very often did the bishoppes of Rome seeke by such means to prouide for their friends or such as would buy their letters So did Innocent the fourth write to the abbat of S. Albans for a kinsman of his for a benefice in Lincolne diocesse belonging to the gift of that church of saint Albans called Wengraue and for the next besides it that shuld fall Yea he did sometime write for children Whereupon there grew a great contention betweene the bishop of Lincolne Robert Grosted and the pope Innocent the fourth whome Alexander the fourth his next successour called the seller of benefices Pope Innocent was so offended with this Bishop of Lincolne for withstanding his lewd and wicked couetousnesse that when he heard that the Bishop of Lincolne was dead hee purposed presently to write to the king of England not to suffer him to be buried in the church but to be cast out thereby to disgrace him as much as he possibly could Besides these they haue yet other wayes to get money They send in their ambassadours or legates which when they are once well setled within the land they send to bishops abbates or such as they knew to be of wealth for so much money as they thought good to get But the least gaine came not to the church of Rome by that vniust decree of Innocent the fourth whereby it was prouided that the goods of clarkes that died intestate should go to the bishop of Rome But it were too tedious a matter to come particularly to euery point of the popes greedines It was a thing generally misliked and spoken against yea this their miserable greedinesse as Mat. of Paris witnesseth was the chiefe cause why the Greeke church departed from the Latine church For an archbishop of the Greeke church comming to pope Gregory the ninth to be confirmed in his archbishopricke by him coulde not obtaine his desire vnlesse he would promise much money He seeing that detesting their greedinesse departed and tolde this to sundry of the nobilitie There were other also that reported as euill or worse of that they had seene and knowen at Rome and so they would haue no more to do with the west church In like manner did the same pope behaue himselfe in hearing the matter betweene Walter elect archbishop of Canterbury on the one side and the king and sundry bishops on the other side And although it were obiected against the archbishop by the king and the bishops that in sundry respectes hee was vnfit namely that hee had defloured a Nunne and gotten children by her and the king was very earnestly bent against him the pope also confessed that he was vnlearned yet coulde not the king and the bishops get the pope to be fauorable in that good cause vntill such time as the kings embassadors fearing lest the pope would make him archbishop of Canterbury that was altogether vnworthy of such a place promised to the pope the tenth of all moueables through England Whereupon the pope being so well hired was content not to place a wicked man in the sea of Canterbury And the pope to shew that it was the reward that made him and that he looked for perfourmance thereof he sent into England to demaund the same and it was graunted according to the promise that was made vnto him These and such other corruptions and extortions of the Bishops of Rome made them so odious to the king of England and his nobles that they thought be defiled and polluted the place where he dwelt And therefore when pope Innocentius the fourth requested the king that hee woulde permit him to lie at Burdeaur in Gascoigne which then belonged to the king of England he and his Nobles thought that it was too neere to England and that corruptions would come thence into England And Robert Grosted B. of Lincolne durst boldly say to the pope and in his hearing O money money how much canst thou doe especially in the court of Rome which as it is said in another place is alwaies gaping alwaies greedie But indeed great sums haue him gathered out of this realme which haue gone to the pope insomuch that king Iohn did affirme to the pope Innocent the third almost threatning him for
of kings and Lord of lords whom God hath appointed to be the head of the church of whose kingdome there shall be no end whose dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the riuer to the ends of the land so that no continuance of time no distance of place shall hinder his gouernment An inuisible head of an inuisible body Or else in particular churches let him behold a visible pastor ouer a visible flocke which is also a kinde of Monarchy But this one head which is Christ cannot content the church of Rome although notwithstanding his absence from vs in the flesh there is no want either in his will or might but that he is able and readie at all times to direct and defend his flocke But as the children of Israel not contenting themselues with that forme of gouernment whereby God gouerned them would needes haue a king as other nations had euen so will the papists haue a visible monarche one ruler of the whole church as one King is ruler ouer a whole Kingdome And if we tell them that it is a monster in nature that the church which is but one should haue two heades that is to say Christ whome we all acknowledg to be the head thereof and the pope whom they make their visible and ministeriall head then they reply that in that Christ is head of the church it doth no more hinder the supremacie of the bishop of Rome then it taketh away the bishop and ministers out of the church For so master Bellarmine affirmeâ— as if bishops and ministers were vniuersall heads as the pope would be And can master Bellarmine see no difference betweene the calling of pastors and teachers and of the pope Is hee so blinde or bleareied in beholding the brightnesse of their glorious Bishoppe that hee can see no difference betweene these two pastors we are sure are ordained of God euen of him that apointed Christ to be head of the church But that the bishop of Rome is head of the church by Gods word master Belarmine himselfe denieth Secondly the pastor contenteth himselfe with the ministrie of the word and sacraments and such ecclesiasticall censures as the word affordeth him But the bishop of Rome despiseth all power abuseth all magistrates yea almost treadeth vnder foote the maiestie of the mightiest monarches As for the sword of the word either he thinkes it not sharp enough or else he is too proude to drawe it for preaching is too base a thing for so proude a prelate but with his temporall sword he florisheth lustily Againe the pastor hath his flock in a litle compasse so that he may in some measure discharge his dutie amongst them he may feede with the bread of life the hungrie soules he may strengthen the feeble comfort the weake seeke the lost and bring whom the wandring sheep But the bishop of Rome in chalenging authoritie ouer all places and persons and seeking to bee head ouer all churches doth both meddle with other mens charges and laieth vpon his owne shoulders an importable burthen Thus I trust it appeareth that this argument standeth still vnanswered Christ is the head of his church Christ I say whom God the father appointed to that office and who is able to vndergoe this charge because he hath the holy ghost to be his Housband man to dresse his vine his Vicar or leieutenant to looke to his charge the pope therefore who is neither appointed to it nor able to doe it is not Now for that which master Bellarmine affirmeth of the heauenly host that they haue in heauen another head besides Christ and therefore that the church vpon earth ought so to haue his proofe is more vncertaine and hard to be knowen then that he should seeke thereupon to ground any argument But the church in the old Testament had one high priest therefore saith master Bellarmine the church of Christ must haue so For that church was a figure of Christs church If master Bellarmine his argument shall goe for currant wee must also haue but one Temple for they might not haue any moe they might offer but in one place and many such things were commaunded vnto them vnto which it were absurd to tie christians Whereby we may see that in all things that church was not a figure of ours Then also the leuiticall priest was a figure not of any ministeriall head of Christs church but of Christ himselfe as the apostle to the Hebrews doth proue in sondrie chapters And here master Bellarmine sheweth rather a desire to maintain his errors then to yeld to the truth For without all reason hee affirmeth that Aaron was not onely a figure of Christ but of Peter also and his successors sauing that to auouch his vntruth hee setteth downe another namely that the leuiticall sacrifices were figurs not of Christ onely but also of that which they call the sacrifice of the masse which how vntrue it is I haue shewed elsewhere But if it were true that those sacrifices were figures of both must it needs follow that Aaron also must be the figure of Christ and Peter It hath no necessitie And moreouer to answere both this and his fifth argument The church was at that time contained within the bonds of Iewry or at the least hee was but hie priest vnto them that were circumcised As also in Christ his time the church consisted but of a few persons and therefore it cannot be necessarily concluded that if the church then was gouerned by one when it was in a small corner of the world it should now be so likewise when it is scattered in many places vpon the earth But what if I should denie to Bellarmine that this was the gouernment of the church before Christ or that they were not at that time all vnder one hie priest For more then 2500. yeares the church was not gouerned by one hie priest which master Bellarmine himselfe doth not greatly denie in this place especially limiting this hie priest vnto that time when there was some forme of gouernment established amongst them after they were come out of Egypt For vntill that time as himselfe confesseth the heads of their houses were priests And although there were many good men at one time as Seth Enosh and others yet master Bellarmine cannot shew that there was amongst them a hie priest but euery one was chiefe in his owne familie But what if it appeare that then when there was a hie priest yet al Gods people were not bound to be vnder him The widow of Sarepta as appeareth by her story had a sure faith in God so that wee may say shee might well be accounted the child of God Naaman also the syrian did belong to the church of God And no doubt but God had many people among the Niniuites who repented at the preaching of Ionah And yet none of these
Cardinals to please the people promised to do what they could and asking aduise of one Bartholomew bishop of Bar he gaue counsel that they should choose one for the present to pacifie them that they might haue the name And then going to another place they should chuse another that should be pope in deede Whereupon they chose him to be pope in name Which when they had done hee kept it in deed And therefore Stella and others call him craftie But in craft Paul the third was not inferiour to any who as is reported by Francis Guicciardine a papist too in his historie of Italie that the Cardinals might be the more willing to chuse him to be pope in hope that he would soone be dead did by art iucrease the opinion of weaknesse which by reason of his age for he was lxvii yeares olde they had conceiued of him But for all his feigned weakenesse he liued pope more then xv yeares A longer time then commonly the popes of these latter times are suffered to liue An other kind of cunning also there is when by bribery and gifts they will buy that which their desert can neuer procure vnto them And this symonicall subtiltie was sometime their ladder whereby they must climbe vp into that chaire which is set higher then they otherwise would be able to get into Platina writeth that Formosus gâ—t to be pope by bribery rather then vertue But what speake I of Formosus Bergomates and Stella writing vpon Romanus that was pope soone after Formosus doe shew the practise of popes of those times to get the popedome For of Romanus they say that he came not to it by ambition and briberie as did many of the popes of those dayes I haue spoken before of Boniface the seuenth who stole the treasure and most precious iewels out of S. Peters church that he might be the better able to bride as all stories report As for Benedict the ninth if he solde the popedome Gregorie the sixth bought it In deed Platina and other doe say that he sold it or gaue it ouer let the indifferent reader iudge whether is more likely that he did But Sigebert doeth psaiulie say that this Benedict was a Symoniacke or got the popedome by simonie And in Eusebius his Chronicle it is written that Theophylact belike that was Benedicts name did sell the Papacie to Iohn a Priest And this bargaining and badde dealing made plentie of Popes at this good time For some write that Henrie the Emperour deposed at this time fiue Popes and made a sixth And that the world may see howe good choise they made It is written that one of them Sigebert saith Benedict but Fasciculus temporuÌ„ saith Gregorie the sixt was so vnlearned that hee was faine to get one chosen to say Masse and play the Pope in the church while himselfe might play the pope abroad Now I pray you which of these popes was the heade of the church the praying pope or the playing pope The church that hath so bad heades must needes be sicke of the headach and troubled with a phrensie or gidiâ—es as indeede the Romish church is For it would not otherwise so manifestly oppose it selfe against Christ as it doth By what meanes Clement the third came to be pope I cannot tell But Richard the first king of England made a great complaint of the pope and his court for their symonie And Mathew of Paris reporteth how he emptied the bags and lightned the cariages of Iohn the bishop of Norwich who sought to him to be dispensed withall for a vowe as it seemeth that he had made to go to the holy land But of that kinde of symonie that author complaineth bitterly in many places against many popes I might also speake of the euil entrance of Iulius the second who by his great power which men feared and his bribes that he gaue and promises of bishopricks and such other promotions which he made got to be pope although otherwise a man for sturdie and surly nature loued of none misliked of all But let vs see what other meanes they haue when violence craft and simonie will not serue They haue an Italian figge to hasten them that are popes to giue place to them that would be It is reported by the writers of histories that Damasus the second sent such a hastie messenger to call away Clement the second his predecessour For he thought he taried too long and yet he stayed in that seat scarse nine monthes A litle before Clement was Iohn the ninteenth sommoned in such sort when he had beene pope litle more then three monethes But for Clement Benno the cardinall writeth that hee was rather poysoned by Brazutus that godlesse wretch and that Heldebrand that firebrand of much mischiefe procured to doe many such feats For within thirteene yeares he poisoned six popes Clement the second Damasus the second Leo the ninth Victor the second Steuen the tenth and Nicolas the second So that if any but Gregorie were chosen this Gerard Brazutus was readie straight way to giue him a drinke that did them litle good So â—hat poysoning seemeth at that time to be but a popelike practise if wee will beleeue Cardinall Benno But master Bellarmine endeuoureth as much as hee can to impaire the credit of that history And to that end he gathereth all that he can find out of other histories either in disprayse of Henry the fourth the emperour against whom pope Gregory the seuenth did vndutifully and vnchristianly oppose himselfe And also picketh out all the prayses of Gregory the seuenth to make him seeme another manner of man then Benno reporteth him to be But Benno liued in the time of Gregorie and therefore he could be an eye-witnes of many things He was a cardinall and therefore by likelihood howsoeuer he misliked of the doings of the man yet he would not vntrewly report any thing that might be a staine to that church But if he had written any thing falsly it is not to be thought but that some or other historiographer of those times would haue proued that cardinall Benno had but slaundered and would haue written against him Which master Bellarmine hath not shewed there And therefore that which he hath said doth onely prooue that the emperour had his faults and that the writers of those times would rather lay the cause of Gregories immoderate pride and tyrannie vpon the wicked doings of the emperour then vpon the proud and vnruly affections of the pope Pope Alexander the sixth a sea and sincke of sinne and as it were nothing but a masse of wickednesse was belike very skilfull in this tricke And yet I neuer heard that euer he poysoned any popes but one onely and that was himselfe He came to be pope as other in those dayes by indirect and euill meanes For he bought with mony and obtained by promising the