to euery one of them their Churches and wrote to the Bishops of the East blaming them and gaue commaundement that some in the name of the rest should appeare before him at a day prefixed Many other excellent men and great Saintes of God appealed to the Pope as S. Chrysostome and Flauianus Chryst ep ad Innoc. Theod. ep ad Leon. Bishops of Constantinople So did Theodoret Bishop of Cyrus who was also restored by him as testy fieth the great Councell of Chalcedon saying The most holy Archbishop Leo restoreth to him his Bishoprick And Gregory the great Gregor l. 2. cap. 6. did excommunicate a B. of Greece called Iohn for that he had presumed to iudge another Bishop that had appealed to the sea Apostolike To this might be added their censures and excommunications of Kings and Emperous In a word Philip Euseb lib. 6. cap. 25. the first Christian Emperour was excluded from the Cōmunion of the Sacrament of the Altar vpon Easter day for some publick sinnes of his Niceph l. 3. cap. 34. by Pope Fabianus neither could he be admitted before he had purged himselfe by Confession and Pennance Innoc ep 17. ad Arcad. Imp. Innocentius the first hauing hard of the death of S. Chrysastome excommunicated the Emperour Arcadius and his Wife Eudoxia for not permitting S. Chrysostome to be restored to his seat as Innocentius commaunded which he did in these words I the least a sinner to whom the Throne of the great Apostle Peter is commended in charge do segregate thee and her from receiuing the immaculate Misteryes of Christ our God c. The exercise of the Popes authority is yet more confirmed and euidently proued by the authority of the Common Lawes which for the most part are nothing els but the decrees of Popes and of Councells confirmed by the Pope which hauing byn alwayes receiued and practised among all Catholike Nations professing the name of Christ do make an inuincible argument for the Popes Supremacy and which is most especially to be noted in all ages since Christ there cānot be found one Catholike Doctor or Deuyne that euer opposed himself either against the doctrine or against the practise of this authority as vnlawfull or vsurped by the Popes of Rome In so much that albeit the Popes haue been sometymes admonished and accused to haue proceeded with much rigour Cypr. l. 1. ep 3. 4. Euseb l. 5. hist c. 24. or with too little information in their censures as by S. Cyprian for example and S. Irenaeus and others yet none haue euer doubted of the lawfulnes of their authority And as you haue heard Epist ad Martian Valēt Imp. ep ad Leonē Con. Chal. act 3. in the Calcedon Councell it was accompted no lesse their fury and madnes of presumption in Eutiches that attempted to call a generall Councell and to excommunicate the Pope thereby SECTION XV. The Conclusion of this discourse of the Popes Supremacy I Haue shewed vnto you as orderly as clerely and as breifly as I could some of those euident proofes which the Catholikes are wont to bring for the Popes Supremacy deducing the same from manifest places of Scripture which conuince the continuance and perpetuall duration thereof in the Church of God from the lineall descent therof vpon those that succeded S. Peter in the Church of Rome abundantly testifyed by tradition and by the Fathers from the definitions of the foure first generall Councells from the authorityes of the ancient Fathers in the poynt of the Popes infallable doctrine grounded vpon the words and promises of our Saniour from the sentences of the Popes themselues iustly clayming their Supremacy not only in teaching and admonishing but also in ruling and gouerning the Church of God and lastly from the ancient continuall and vncontrolled practise of their authority which whether you respect the diuine Law or the vtility and necessity of the matter it selfe or the opinions of Lawyers and Sages or the auouchement of most lawfull witnesses or the sentences of most venerable Iudges or the Iudgment of Supreme Iudiciall Courts or the practise experience and custome of the whole world make the euidence so strong the proofe so full and the demonstration so cleare as the like in no sort can euer be brought before any Iudicial Bench for the proofe of any matter whatsoeuer may come in question And therfore no doubt all those shall be inexcusable before God that continuing obstinate in their owne opinions do either reiect or contemne it And truly if it might be permitted vnto vs to plead the statute of the first yeare of Queene Elizabeth whereby the foure first generall Councells were approued and made to be Law and that we might vpon those points of learning contayned in them which I haue before recited confirming them not only by the opinions of the Fathers which are the Doctors and Aduocates but also by so many decrees and sentences of the Popes which are the iudges of the Church concluding and bynding all those proofes aforsayd with the practise custome of the Church tyme out of mynd which is the best interpreter of all Lawes both humane and diuine And if we might be suffered withal to plead the Statute of Magna Charta for the exemption of Priests from temporall iurisdiction which is the most ancient written Law of England and continueth still in force and vnrepealed and to omit that King Henry the 8. is now commonly reputed a Tyrant as is testyfied in your owne historyes which is sufficient to make all his acts and Lawes vnlawfull that concerne not the interest of particuler persons If we might shew that those branches of the statutes made against vs in the first yeare of the Queene are of no force or validity being enacted by the Lords temporall alone against the ancient for me of Parliament and the priuiledges of our Kingdome and therefore that the confirmation of them in the tyme of our gracious King that now raigneth ought to be of no effect And lastly if our complaints might be heard that in the execution of those bloudy Lawes against vs so many wayes vniust in themselues no forme of Iustice is obserued the Iudges condemning vs without any sufficient witnesses produced against vs that can affirme according to the words of the statute wherupon we are indited that we are Priests and that we were made Priests in the Seminaryes beyond the seas whereby so much innocent bloud hath been so vnchristianly shed vnder the cloake of Iustice in our peacefull Countrey I say if we might be permitted to plead all this though it were in West minster Hall before the Iudges themselues that are so cruelly bent against vs and in the audience of those Puritan Lawyers and common Iustices who as being most ignorant of our cause are more our enemyes then the Ministers themselues that we might set before their eyes how vngently dishonourably vnciuilly and vnnaturally they haue persecuted many
confesseth That he also was a long tyme very much troubled with these cogitations Melancthon also spared not say Melāclhon Cōc theol part 1. p. 249. Mirror for Martinists pag. 24. The same hath And. Duditius vbi supra Castal in his preface to his Latin Bible Geor. Ma. orat de cōfusio dog Bull. Firmam part 1. cap. 1. Powell grounds of the new religiō part 2. cap. 1. Perks ep dedic before bis Apology That nothing did so much terrify others from the Ghospell as their own discord was wont to complaine with others that they knew whome they should auoyd meaning the Papists but whome they might follow they did not vnderstand This that learned Sebastianus Castalio tooke for a signe that the Protestants being thus deuided were stil drowned inextreme darknes and most grosse ignorance This sayth Georgius Maior a principall Lutheran did so much tempt and trouble the minds of the simple as they altogeather doubted where to find the truth and whether any true Church of God were remayning in the world This vehement and implacable dissention sayth Bullinger maketh many as it were in despayre to giue out that from hence forward they will beleeue nothing exclayming What credit should we giue to that fayth which is distracted into so many factions Many thereby sayth M. Powell do not call vpon God but fly from God many fall into an Epicurean contention of Religion and are oppressed with despaire These contentions sayth M. Perks are no small preparatiues to Atheisme c. in so much as many are brought to their wits end not knowing what to do Amidst all which miseryes and mischiefs the Papists insult and triumph to see those that professe themselues brethren Relatiō of Rel sect 45.6 Whitaker defensio tract 3. c. 6. p. 278. to be at such deadly iarres amongst themselues Syr Edwyn Sands affirmeth that the contentiōs of Protestants tend maynly to the increase of Atheisme within Mahometisme abroad And D. Whitaker complayneth that the Church of England is replenished with Atheists whome no doubt since his tyme are much increased This therfore is a vehement perswasion to draw any man from the Protestant Religion and on the contrary side men of iudgment that behold so many sundry Nations and people so different or rather so opposite in many other respects of clymate language complexion lawes and customs vnder so many seuerall Kings and Gouernours alwayes in warres more or lesse one against the other to conspyre in the vnity of one Fayth for so many ages togeather subiecting thēselues voluntarily to one head who hath no temporall force to cōpell them and beleeuing so many things aboue the reach of human vnderstanding so contrary to flesh and bloud and to the vehement motions of mans peruerted Nature must needs confesse acknowledge that it is a supernaturall worke and a most miraculous effect of the Spirit of God who is the God of peace and not of contention SECTION XXV Of the authority of the Catholike Church in generall THE last generall argument which I intend to propound for the euidence and truth of the Christian and which is al one of our Catholike religion shall be the great authority of the Catholike Church to the end it may serue as well for a further explication and confirmation as also for a full conclusion of all the former motiues For the capacity of the best vnderstandings amongst vs miserable men being but small and shallow and there being a greater difference betweene man and man in the parts of the mynd then in the sharpnes of sense or strength of body and the mynd of man being of it owne nature but like a fayre table or a lease of white paper which at the first contayneth nothing and by little and little receiueth the pictures or the writings for the which it was ordayned more or lesse better or worse according to the skill and industry of the Paynter or Writer and the aptnes of the matter and the goodnes of the instruments wherewith they worke Hence it is that as Nature inclineth the poore to depend of the rich and the weake to defend thēselues by those that are strong and the blind or bad sighted to be guided and directed in discerning by those that are endued with more perfect sense so by the same law and voyce of Nature all men are taught and obliged to rest their minds and to rely their vnderstandings vpon the authority of those that are generally most approued for their vertue and wisdome aboue the rest and alwayse ceteris paribus other circumstances being equall the fewer in number to yeild submit themselues to the iudgment and opinion of the greater party And so in all speculatiue sciences where our end is nothing els but the delightfull aspect fayr sight of truth the authority of Maisters and skillfull men in those facultyes is necessarily required for our direction to teach vs which way we ought to bend and whereupon to sixe the eye of our vnderstanding to shew how to proceed from poynt to poynt and to giue vs the print of those markes whereby we may best discouer the forme of that truth which we seeke to find or labour to conceiue or comprehend And if the sight of our wit be so short as that we cānot perfectly discerne the same yet it is better to see with another mans eye or as it were by the candle of another then altogeather either to be ignorant of it or els which is far worse to be deceiued therein And as this is true in science so in those arts and facultyes where our end is the doing or the attayning of something which is necessary or profitable for mans life the benefit of authority is much more apparent For in extremity of sicknes or in law matters of great importance or in deliberations about the preseruation or gouernement of Commonwealths to contemne the direction of Phisitians the aduice of Lawyers and the counsell of men experienced in matter of State or not to admit therof in some cases nor to suffer our selues to be oueruled thereby albeit it seeme neuer so much contrary to the sense or imagination of our owne priuate iudgment were to be esteemed rather obstinate madnes then any other errour within the degree of human weaknes But especially the necessity and vtility of the approbation of other mens assertions either of all or of such as are wise and honest appeareth in those things which we can neuer know or make vse of but from the report of others As for example historyes of former ages Relations of the present state and condition of forrayne Countreys or constant reports of such things as were sayd or done in our absence or as S. Augustine noteth that we are the sonnes of such Parents borne in this Countrey or that which is the beginning and foundation of all permanent societyes and the like In which respect this kind of knowledge is properly called beliefe
tymes their own bloud their friends and nearest kynred to whome in vertue piety they were not comparable against whome no other cryme could be proued but the ancient religion of Christendome commonly either iustified or not condemned euen in the consciences of those that apprehended them prosecuted and executed the former lawes vpon them and if we might shew vnto them how by this means they haue crucifyed our Sauiour not once or twise but againe and againe for so many yeares togeather in his holy members I cannot but thinke that representing these things vnto them in vertue of that Word which deuideth betweene the soule the spirit the ioints and the marrow awaking in them the guilt of their owne consciences and the feare of Gods iugments we should inforce them to knock their breasts with the Iewes conuerted at the Sermon of S. Peter and to cry out vnto vs with teares of repentance Act. 2.17 Quid faciemus viri fratres men and brethren what shal we do SECTION XVI The absurd and pernicious grounds of the Bishops 10. Bookes and his Christian Commonwealth are further discouered and confuted AND now to returne to our Bishop I thinke by this tyme you perceiue that albeit this little booke of his be great bellyed like the Father yet his other ten bookes conceaued therin are but like so many bladders full of wind which if euer they come forth are like to shame not only himselfe but you also Not only because the former proofes of the Popes Supremacy are in themselues vnanswerable especially admitting as he doth the authority of the Councells Canons and Fathers of the Church but also in respect of that most absurd and most pernicious Position which he maketh the argument of his fifth booke and is indeed the very foundation of his Christian Commonwealth and the mayne ground of his Diuinity wherein he professeth to hold that there is no Iurisdiction in the Church of Christ Iurisdictionem omnem ab Ecclesia procul reijcio all Iurisdiction sayth he I cast far away from the Church that is to say all power and authority to commaund or to make spiritual lawes or to impose any punishment for the transgression of them A miserable deuise no lesse furious then dangerous and no more repugnant to the Popes Supremacy then directly contrary to the Councells Fathers and to the practise of the Primitiue Church in making lawes Canons and imposing censures vpon transgressours directly contrary as well to the institution of Christ in the authority which he gaue to S. Peter as you haue seene as also to the doctrine and proceeding of the Apostles themselues wherof no man that can read the Scriptures should be ignorant Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers sayth S. Paul for there is no power Rom. 13.1 but of God c. Therefore he that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist purchase to themselues damnation Rom. 13.5 And a little after Therefore be yee subiect of necessity not only for auoyding wrath but also for Conscience sake Out of which place we may argue thus The Church hath receiued power and authority from God and therefore they that resist the same resist and disobey the ordinance of God and purchast to themselues damnation That the Church hath receiued power and authority to gouerne from Almighty God is to too manifest for so all the Fathers expound the words of our Sauiour to S. Peter Whatsoeuer thou shalt bind c. and to the Apostles Matt. 16.19 Matt. 18.18 whatsoeuer you shall bind c. And that binding signifieth the imposing of some law or commaundment we find in the 23. Matt. 23.4 of S. Matthew They bind sayth our Sauiour burdens heauy and importable vpon the shoulders of men but they with their finger will not moue them and in the same manner the Fathers expound those other words Ioan. 21.11.16.17 feed my sheep of the gouernment of Christs sheep as you haue heard And our Sauiour signifying how much we are bound in conscience to obey our Prelates sayd vnto them Luc. 1◠16 He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me And againe as my Father sent me Ioā 20.21 so send I you and he that will not heare the Church let him be to thee as an heathen and Publican Act. 16.4 According whereunto it is sayd of S. Paul S. Timothy that passing through the Gittyes they deliuered vnto them to keep the precept of the Apostles and of the Elders 1. Thes 2.23 And to the Thessalonians he sayth You know what commaundments I haue giuen vnto you he that despiseth them despiseth not man but God that gaue his holy spirit vnto vs and if any do not obey our word note him by an epistle 1. Tim. 5. and do not accompany with him that he may be confounded So he writeth to Timothy not to receiue my accusation against a Priest vnder 2. or 3. witnesses And to the Corinthians the weapons of our warrefare sayth he are not carnall but mighty to God 1. Cor. 10.7 vnto the destruction of munitions destroying Councells and all loftynes extolling it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringing into captiuity all vnderstanding vnto the obedience of Christ Act. 15.20 and hauing in a readynesse to reuenge all disobedience c. And in the first Coūcell the Church of Hierusalem made this Decree It seemeth good to the holy Ghost and to vs not to impose any other burthen vpon you but only these necessary things to abstayne from meats offered to Idolls from strangled meats from bloud Can. Apost Can. 62. and fornication And the punishment of those that did eate bloud or strangled meat afterward was so great in the Primitiue Church as that Clarks were deposed and lay men were excommunicated for the same Neither is this most pestilent assertion of the Bishop contrary to Scripture alone and to the Fathers and Councells as hath been shewed but also to the practise and doctrine of the Church of England For I would aske this wild Bishop whether the authority the English Bishops in their spirituall Courts be from God or no If it be then according to S. Paul all men are bound to obey them in that which is iust vpon paine of damnation If it be not then it is no small vsurpation in them to take vpon them such authority whereof the Bishop should do well to admonish them as his friends before he go about to reforme the Catholike Bishops whome he supposeth to be his enemyes In conclusion the necessity of Iurisdiction is so euident in it selfe and the institution thereof so palpable in Scripture that the Puritans themselues who deny the same to Bishops are inforced notwithstanding to challenge so much to themselues as may suffice to excommunicate all those who are obstinatly disobedient in their Congregations And therefore I thinke there is