to be proclaymed vniuersal Bishop in a certain Sinode or Counsell wheragainst S. Gregory who was then bishop of old Rome did set himselfe very manfullye And therefore writing againe to the same Emperor Maurice he saith amongst other thinges there written that the name of vniuersal Bishop is a title of pride and pompe which troubleth the church the lawes and the sinodes and the commaundements of Christ And that S. Peter neuer was ne neuer called himselfe vniuersall Apostle And that it was the Emperors duty if he meant that God should long preserue his empire to cut of that sore and to bridle the disease by his authoritie if it could not otherwise be healed Afterward he addeth these words worthy to be noted If any man saith he doe attribute vnto himselfe the name of vniuersall Bishop in the church what will al honest men iudge of him For the estat of the vniuersall Church must nedes fall which God forbid if he fall which is called the vniuersall Bishop Therfore let this blasphemous name be banished from the harts of all Christians whereby the honor of all Priestes is taken away and wrongfully vsurped by one alone And in the Epistle following S. Gregory maketh his mone to the Empresse Constance that the said Emperor Maurice her husband went about to perswade him to leaue of his setting of himselfe against it which I cannot doe saith he for I defend the cause of the Gospell and the Canons and the truth of equitie and humilitie And it is to greeuous intollerable a thing that the sayd Iohn our fellow brother and bishop should seeke to haue the name of bishop to himself alone But what other thing doth he geue vs to vnderstand by this his pride but that the time of Antichrist draweth neare For he followeth the steps of the wicked feend who despising the ioy which he had in common amongst the legions of other Aungels dyd seeke to set himselfe in the hyghest roome to raigne as soueraigne all alone And in an other Epistle the same S. Gregory answering to the whiche the sayd Emperour Maurice had written vnto him which was that hee ought not to bee so precisely wedded to his own will for the terme of vniuersall Bishop for such strife about termes hinder the vnion and peace of the church did disproue his reasons with very good grace saying thus But I beseech your maiestie of your goodnes to consider that of words fondly spoken some doe no harme at all other some doe great harme As for example when Antichrist shall come and call himselfe God that speech is very fond neuertheles as it is fonde so is it also very pernicious If you looke no further thā to the wordes there are but two sillables but if you way the meaning of the wordes it is the full importance of all iniquitie And I dare boldlye say vnto you that whosoeuer calleth himselfe or causeth himselfe to be called the vniuersal priest the same partie through his vaingloryousnes is the foreronner of Antichrist because that by his pride he exalteth himselfe aboue all others I besech you therefore of your good zeale to God-ward to commaund that no cause of offence be geuen by taking vp such a fond title See how S. Gregorye declareth and denowceth him to be the foreronner of Antichrist which doth name himselfe vniuersall Byshop forasmuch as he taketh vpon him the aucthoritye of all other Byshops as wel neere all the Popes of Rome haue done which haue bene since his time And yet to confirme this his sentence better I wil adde the warning which he gaue by his letters to the Byshops of Greece to be well ware that they gaue not the title of vniuersall Byshop to Siriacke Byshop of Constantinople next successor of the said Iohn after his decease good brethren quoth he yee shall vnderstand that the late Iohn who not long since was prelate Passing the bondes of modestie and of the measure of his calling did wrongfully in a Synode vsurpe the proud and pestilent title of Oycumenicall that is to say vniuersall Byshop agaynst God and the Church and to the despight derogatiō of the whole order of Preesthode Wherupon wee wrote twise vnto him that he should not omit any thing which might concerne the peace of the Church exhorting him to leaue that proud name and to submit his hart to the humilitye which our Lord and master hath taught vs Whereof forasmuch as he held scorne we haue vsed the lyke admonitions vnto our brother Siriacke his successor But sith wee see that Antichrist the enemy of mankinde beginneth to shew himselfe opēly by his foreronners in this latter tyme and that the preestes themselues which ought to resist him by their holy humblelyfe be the partyes that serue him for his foreronners by intitling thēselues with his proud name of vniuersall I beseech yee yea and charge ye that none of you at any tyme receyue admit write allow written or subscribe vnto that title But that as becommeth the seruauntes of the almighty God euery of you keepe himselfe pure and cleare from this venemous infection without yelding of him selfe to the deceitfull craftines of the enemy for surely that title tendeth to no other end but to the hurt and diuision of the Church and to the slaunder of you all as I haue sayd before because that if he onely as he imagineth is the vniuersall Byshop it followeth that you be no Byshops There are yet diuers other like sayings in the writings of S. Gregory which I could here alleadge but these which I haue here before set downe may suffice in mine opinion to declare and shew vnto the Romish Catholicks by the authority of that god doctor whom they themselues take to haue beene one of the greatest worthiest of all the Popes in respect whereof they haue surnamed him the great S. Gregory that the name and office of the Pope which is nothing else but an vniuersall and supreme Byshop or shepheard ouer all other Byshops and Priestes is condemned as the name and office of Antichrist or of his forerunner and as a title and estate full of pride iniury diuision and contempt of Gods commaundemēts and of the holy decrees and counsels which haue bene holde before that tyme. But now that we haue made S. Gregory to fight sufficiētly against the popes that were his successors let vs returne to our Canons to shew that S. Peter was neuer pope that is to say prince or soueraine ouer the Apostles I will only alleadge one Canon which saith that S. Paule and S. Peter were equal yea euen at the same time that they were both at Rome and that the one was no way greater than the other whereof it followeth that S. Peter was no more pope than was S. Paule Now S. Paule was neuer pope nor euer reputed so to be by the very maintayners of the popedome themselves For these be the very words of the Canon
of touching this matter namelye the personall succession amongst those of the Romain Clergy wherof they doe so greatly brag thēselues against the Protestantes and their discipline As touching the first point they say they haue as it were a lineall succession from age to age of Bishops and Shepheards from the Primitiue Church and therefore that they be the true Shepheards that by the contrary reason the Ministers of the gospell which haue had no such succession be false Shepheards But this matter of succession is very easie to be answered For if you looke well into the histories of the Popes and conferre them with the canons both of late yeres and of olde time you shal finde that the most part of the Popes and Bishops came in at the window and not at the dore And that they haue been intruders and vsurpers not lawfull successors And to begin at the beginning the canons doe teach vs as truth is that Bishopricks and Ecclesiasticall offices ought to be bestowed by lawfull election and that it is not lawfull for Bishops and Shepheards to appoint in their latter dayes who shall succeede them but only to geue their opinion to their Churches concerning such as they deeme in their consciences to be most meete to succeede them Thus saith a Canon taken out of the Counsell of Antioch It is not lawful for a Bishop to choose or appoint who shall be his Successor though he be neere his death and whatsoeuer he doth in that case is nothing nor nothinge worth By which Canon it followeth that Pope Clement whom they vouch to be the Successor of S. Peter was no lawfull Pope For there is another Canon which saith if it be worthy to be beleued that S. Peter drawing nie the end of his life tooke S. Clement by the hand and betooke vnto him the Church of Rome choosing him to be his successor Also Pope Damasus who was about the yere of our Lord 371. in the time of the Emperor Valentiniā was made Bishop or Pope of Rome by great hurliburlies wherein there were a hundred and seuen and thirty men slaine in the streetes as Marcillinus doth witnes Pope Iohn the eightth being a woman and therfore not capable of the Popedome was borne in England held the Papacie about two yeres and a halfe Pope Siluester the second was a great Negromanser and came to be Pope by the help of the deuill to whom he gaue both body and soule as it is written in his history and he raigned foure yeares and certaine Monethes Pope Siluester the third was made Pope by tumults and factions For in those dayes as sayeth the history the popedome was growen to such a state that it was geuen to him that would geue most for it or which made most frends and fauour Pope Boniface the eightth was made Pope by faction and bribery hauing first by suttle practises gotten the resignation of his predecessor Pope Celestine a man of a simple Wit whom he caused to be straitly shut vp in prison where he dyed for grief of mind when he saw himself so deceiued and il handeled Wherupon it was sayd by this Boniface a good witnesse of his calling that he entered into the Popedome like a fox raigned like a Lion and died like a dog for he dyed mad Pope Iohn the four and twentieth vsurped the Papacie by force and violence and maintayned himselfe in it by the same meanes and was found to erre in the Christian faith in moe than in fortie Articles so holy was his holines To be short the histories of the popes are full of the wicked dealings and practises which the Popes did vse to attaine to that degree Now therefore I aske you whether these ought to be called lawfull successors of S. Peter and whether those Bishoppes which were consecrated by them were lawfully called or not or ought to be reputed the lawfull successors of the primitiue church whether the Curates and other Priestes that were promoted to holy order and to benefices by such Bishops may be reckned as lawfull successors of the Shepheards and Elders of the Primitiue Church It is very ceataine that they were not For then were the Canons vntrue which say that in all prouisions for persons meete for Benefices there ought to be a lawfull election wherein consideration is to be had of the fitnes of the parties age which is to be chosen and of the grauitie of his manners and of his learning and that as many as haue voyces in the election should be heard vpon paine of making the election of no force and that the party be denoūced as vnworthy and vnmeet to haue a benefice which is furthered or preferred therunto by the fauor or power of the world Neither are such diuelish seruings inforcementes subtilties and fauors to be called lawfull vocations but intrusions inuations vsurpations and wicked and damnable practises The Canons also doe confirme it to be Simonie to geue mony or ought els to be promoted to Orders or to be prouided of a Benefice or to obtayn a benefice in recompence of any temporall seruice And that al aduowsions and presētations made by Popes or Bishops in way of Simonye be naught and of no valure or authoritie Now I leaue it to al people of any discretion to cōclude how the Bishops the priestes of these dayes may be called the lawfull successors of those of the primatiue Church For shall a man find any which geueth no mony for his orders or for the bulles of hys benefice Are not the Bishoprickes Abbyes Pryoryes and other Benefices geuen away now adayes and of long tyme agoe in recompence of temporall seruice yea and sometime for such vnworthy vile seruices as deserue rather punishement than recompence And seeing that the Popes and Byshops thēselues clymbe vp into their high degrees by Symonye must it not needes be that the collations which they make in bestowing the benefices of the patronages vpō other inferior priestes are Simonicall and so consequently voyd according to the foresayd Canons If the Romish Catholickes deny this they must also disauow their own Canons and deny the sonne to haue light And therefore the Romish Clergy are farre from the lawful and continuall successiō of the Shepherds and Priests of the primatiue Church wherein they imagine themselues to to remayn For sure Brybery Simonie and such other like practises are not the doore whereby they ought to enter into the succession of the auncient shepheardes and Elders as they doe But they ought to enter by lawful election made by calling vpon the name of God after dew examination of the party that is to be promotid that he be found meet for that charge who beyng so chosen must thenceforth haue the tokens of the auncient Shepheardes whiche are to preach Gods word purely to minister the Sacraments to mayntayn good discipline and to visite and comfort the sicke as the
amōgest the Romayne Catholickes the pilgrimage to Ierusalem to visit the holy Sepulchre is highlye esteemed as most holy denoute paynefull and meritorious And yet for all this a certayne Canon sayth It is nothing worth to haue bene at Ierusalem but to haue liued well there These be the very wordes of the Canon taken out of S. Ierom. It is not a thing worthy praise sayth he to haue bene at Ierusalem but to haue liued well at Ierusalem And as touching contemplation whereby the Moonkes woulde cullour and mayntayne their idle life their owne Canons do openly condemne them saying that Moonkes ought to exercise themselues in tilling the land in dressing of gardens in graffing of fruit trees in making of nettes to catch fish in copying of bookes and finally in following the example of the Bee which neuer ceaseth to be doing of somewhat And the same Canons do also witnes that in the monasteries of Egipt they neuer receaued any Moonk but vpon condition that he should labor Not so much for his owne necessitye that he might haue wherof to liue as to keepe their minds from wandring about euill Imaginations In so much that we reade that in old tyme there was in Egypte a good Abbot named Serapion which had vnder hys charge ten thousand moonks which is so little allowed and lyked of pouerty as that they be very ful of husbādly ordinances for the well gouerning of the goods and riches belonging to the Monasteries Insomuch that there is a Canon which condemneth a certayne kinde of people for heretickes which tearmed themselues Apostolicall as followers of the examples of the Apostles in making profession to haue nothing priuat of their owne And therfore by this Canon a man might say that all beggers are heretickes And who doth not see the infinite number of abuses which are crept into the order of Monkes in protes of time against the ordinances of the Canones For saith the Canon if thou desire to be a Monke that is to say a solitary person as thou doest name thy selfe What doest thou in the Citie which is no place for solitary people but for such as should haunt company And another Canon following saith thus Let the Monke be contented with his Cloister For like as a fish doth die as soone as he is out of the water euen so doth a Monke when he is out of his Cloyster Therfore let him be solitary and hold his peace for he is dead to the world but aliue vnto God. But yet for all this doe we not see how the Monks are planted in the best and greatest Cities and in the fairest places of them and in exceding Princely and stately houses whereas in auncyent time they were contented to dwell in wild fields and Forrestes and in little Cabonets builded in the corner of some Rock Shal not a man meet them now at all houres in euery streete in markets and pleading places in Innes in fields in townes and in Castles in stead of being within their Cloisters Furthermore the Monkes in olde time of what sort so euer they were did eate no flesh at all but followed the ordinance of the Canon which sayth thus It is not lawefull for anye Monkes eyther to eate or to tast of flesh Not for that we esteeme the creature of God to be ill but for that wee iudge it meete and necessary that Monkes shold abstayne frō flesh excepting onely those which be sick Nowe then if it happen that any Monkes breaking the ordināce of this auncient rule and custome dare presume to eate flesh let him be shut vp and kept as a close prisoner by the space of sixe moneths to do his pennance See now how the Monkes were brideled by their own Canons but the most part of them haue since that time broaken their bittes For now there are none but the Monkes of the charterhouse the Celestines and these new come Capusmes and Smoke Monkes which will obserue that canon and yet their obseruing of it is for the most part but in outward shew and Ipocrisie Truely if there were no more but this to be found fault with in the order of monkery the matter were not great For christian libertie geueth euery man leaue to vse all kinde of meates which God hath created for mannes vse so that he take it moderatly with thankes geuing But the cause that led me to speake of this point among the rest is to shew that the Monkes of these dayes doe not obserue their auncient Canons And by the Canons also in auncient time it was vnlawfull for any Nun to take the vaile and to professe her selfe a Nun vnles she were aboue forty yeres of age But in these daies they be forced to take it vpon them being but thirteene or fourteen yeres olde whereof the world seeth what good huswifery insueth And as touching the pouling of their heads whē they cause thē to take the black veile it is not so small a fault as many esteeme it to be For by the word of God women are commanded to preserue their heire in token of subiection And according hereunto it is forbidden by a Canon taken out of the Councell of Gangra that any woman should poule her head vnder pretence of Religion These are the wordes of the Canon If any woman cause her head to be pouled in respect of Religiō cursed be she as a breaker of the Law of subiection because long heare is geuen vnto women to couer them withal and to put them in minde of their subiectiō And whereas in these dayes it is thought so strange a thing amongest the Romish Catholicks that a monk or a Nun should marry because it seemeth that in their so doing they breake the vow of virginitie which they haue made vnto God they declare herein that they haue not well read their own Canones by the which such mariages are allowed Namely by one Canon taken out of S. Augustine as a witnesse of the Councell which saith thus Some say that those which marry after the taking of the vow be adulterers But I say vnto you that those doe sinne right greeuously which doe seperate such marryed folks Yet notwithstanding we haue seene many Lawes here in Fraunce which haue disanulled the maryages of priestes Monks and Nuns and constrained them to returne to their Cloysters a thing quite contrary to this Canon The selfe same doctor S. Augustine doth also shew that they haue done greatly amisse which haue so highly commended virginitie as to preferre it before mariage saying that virginitie did fill the heauens and mariage the earth which was the cause of the sounding of so many Nunries For he excuseth S. Ciprian and S. Ambr. of their so great praysing and exalting of virginitie saying thus Wheras Ciprian the martir hath written of the behauiour which ought to be in virgines he did it not to intise thē to make vowes of virginitie but Ambrose the Bishoppe
that in the year 1273. in the time of Pope Gregory the tenth there was a Counsell holden at Lyon whereby was confirmed the prohibition made in the Councell of Lateran vnder Pope Innocent the third in the yeare 1215 which forbad the deuising of any moe new orders of mōks or habites of new religion whereof there had sprong vp a maruelous sort since that time and all new religions which had been inuented after the said Councell of Laterane were disanulled and forbidden What shall we then say of the smokymonkes the Iesuits and the Capussins which are growen since that time To conclude neither the Monkes of old time nor those which haue been deuised alate nor their vowes nor their works haue any ground in the word of God neither doe they behaue themselues according to their own Canons ⧠Of the commaundementes of God. The v. chapter THe difference betwixt the Romish Catholicks and that protestants touching the commaundementes of god is not small For the protestantes accuse them or els the Pope to haue wiped out the second commaundement which forbiddeth Images and to haue cut the last commaundement into twaine to make vp stil the number of tenne And truely it is a great trechery a presumption vtterly intollerable to haue bene so bold as to rase a whole commaundemēt out of the law of the liuing god For if ye marke well the commaundements which the priests pronounce in the saying of their common Masse ye shal finde that Immediately after the first commandement which is Thou shalt honor but the one God and loue him perfectly they haue put the third commaundement which is Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vayne and haue wiped out and ouerskipped the second commaundement which doth forbid to haue Images or to honor them Whiche thing hath beene done of purpose by the Pope and his Adherentes that they might the more easily fill the temples of the Christians vnawares with Idols and Sayntes of both kindes to draw vnto themselues offeringes and obuensions and other like thinges as may be seene by the sequel therof So as in this point the doctrine of the Romish catholicks is contrary to Gods word and commaundement for God sayth Thou shalt make to thy selfe no grauen Image nor the likenes of any thing nether shalt thou doe any honour vnto them Contrariwise the Romish catholicks vphold that it is lawful to haue Images in Churches as they haue and to knele before them and to offer vp candles and incēse to them and to put of their Cappes vnto them Is not this I pray you a direct encountering of Gods ordinaunce and a trāplinge of it vnder foote and a robbing of the creator of his due honour to bestow the same vpon stones and stocks For if they say that they worshyp none but onely God and that the thinges which they do to the Saints and to their Images is but a seruing of thē according to their own distinction of worshiping and seruing The aunswere herunto is both ready and very easy namely that first their own canons which alow the honoring and seruinge of Images doe vse the selfe same terme of worshipping sayinge that Christians ought to honor and worship Images And as for their distinction of worshipping and seruing it canne in no wise serue to excuse thē First because it doth not followe by force of that distinction that it is lawfull for them vnder that pretence to wipe out one of the commaundements of God. Secondlye because this distinction of worshipping and seruing is fond foolishe chieflye in the Application which they make therof For they say that they honor God with the honor that belongeth to worshipping and that they honor the Saynts with the honor that belōgeth to seruing Now who is so very a foole that he doth not perceyue how by this meanes they humble themselues more in their honoring of Sayntes than in theyr honoring of god For he doth more imbase himselfe which serueth than hee which worshippeth or honoreth For as we commonly see great lords can find in their hartes to honour meane personages to whome notwithstanding they will not vouchsafe to submitte themselues to doe them any seruice But yet moreouer this distinction is false As S. Augustine proueth who sayth that worshipping is alwayes taken in the Scriptures for seruice So as by that reckning worshipping and seruing are all one thing And in very deed both in the Scripture and also in the books of the auncient doctors those two wordes are names of one selfe same thing and signify bothe one thing without difference And as for the honoring of Images the same doctor who neuer hard of the distinctiō of worshipping and seruing doth vtterly condemne it saying that those be greater Idolaters which worship the Images that are made by the handes of men Than those which do worship the Sonne the heauen the sea and the other creatures which are made by the hand of God. Agayne the Protestantes say also that the Romish Catholickes haue corrupted the third commaundemēt For by the same god doth forbid men to take his name in vayne But yet doth he not forbidde to sweare by hys name when the othe is not in vayne as when a mā is brought to affirme a trueth before the Magistrate But doth commaund that in such case a man should sweare by his name And truly when in such an earnest matter men affirme the trueth it is an honoring of God who is the truth it selfe to take him to witnes and it is a dishonoring of God and a despising of him if they sweare by any of the creatures Yet notwithstanding the Romishe Catholickes permitte men to sweare in iudgementes vpon the reliques of S. Anthony and by the heesayntes and sheesayntes and other creatures which thing their own canons doe condemne Consider sayth a Canon that our Sauiour hath not forbidden vs to sweare by God but forbiddeth vs to sweare by the heauens by the earth by Ierusalem or by thy head An other Canon sayth thus Thou doost not amisse in vsing an othe well for although that of it selfe it be not good to sweare yet neuerthelesse it is necessary whē a man is to be perswaded in a truth There is an other canon which punisheth those that rēd god in peeces by their strāge othes which now a daies are but to much vsed saying thus If any man sweare by the heares or by the head of God or do vse any such like blasphemy If he be of the cleargy let him be deposed and if he bee a lay man let him be accursed The Protestantes say farther that the catholickes haue so corrupted the fourth commaundement as that by all likelihood their meaning was to haue made it quite away as they dyd the Seconde For God sayeth in his Law sixe dayes shalt thou labor and do all that thou hast to doe but the seseuenth day is the sabaoth of
Augustine who in expounding the texte of S. Paule where it is said that he which resisteth the Prince resisteth the ordinance of God speaketh in these termes He that resisteth the higher power doth resist the ordinance of god Yea but what if he commaund vnlawfull thinges truly in that case thou must not obay him Consider the degrees euen of mens lawes If the ordinary iudge commaund a thing he ough to be obayed but not if the gouernour command the contrary And in this case thou despisest not the inferior maiestrate but of the two thou chosest rather to obay the superior wher in the inferior maiestrate ought not too find himselfe greued for that his superior is preferred before him Moreouer If the gouernour commaunde one thing and the Prince an other or rather if the Prince commaund one thing and God commaund the contrary what will you say to that God is the highest power O my soueraine Lord I beseech you to pardon me you may cause me to bee put in prison but god hath power to put me in hell fire In this case thou must arme thy selfe with the buckler of fayth whereby thou shalt be able to beat back all the firy dartes of the deuill Now then these Canons maynetaine the doctrine of the Protestants which affirme that next vnder God we ought to yeeld all obedience to the Prince yea although he were an Infidell or a Runeagate as Iulian the Apostata was of whom the canō speaketh thus Albeit that Iulian the Emperour was an Apostota or backslider yet had he christen souldiers that serued vnder him whom whensoeuer he commāded to march forward in battaile for the defence of the common weale they obayed him But when he commaunded them to marche agaynst the Christians thē they acknowledged the Emperour of heauen And in good soothe so little is the Pope in abled by the auncient Canons to bereaue kinges and princes of their Realmes and principalities that he cannot so much as geue away a Bishopricke in any Realme without the consent of the pruste vnder whose dominion the same is as it appeareth by an Epistle of Pope Leo the fourth sent to the Emperours Lotharius and Lewes by the which he doth intreat thē to consent to bestow the Bishopricke of Rets vpon one named Colon. These be the very wordes of the Canon Seing the church of Rets hath bene so lōg tyme without a Shepheard it is requisite that it should bee ayded by your maiesties authority and maintained by the power of your gouernement Wherfore after our most hūble salutatiō vnto you we beseech your clemency to vouchsafe to graunt the gouernement of the sayed church vnto Colon your humble deacon that by your maiesties licence we may with Gods helpe consecrate him Byshop of the same And if it stād not with your liking that he should be Bishop of that church then we beseech your highnesse that he may haue the Churche of Tusculan which is now vacant so that being by vs consecrated Byshop he may geue thankes to almighty God and to your jmperiall maiesty And it is not to be doubted but the both in the time of the same Pope Leo and before his tyme also it was the ordinary custome not to receiue any Byshop without the consent of the prince vnder whose dominion the bishoprick was According whereunto it is sayd thus in an other canon speaking of the same matter in these termes Forasmuch as we know that the church of God cannot be maintained without Shepheardes we beseech your maiestye as we are bound to do to vouchsafe of your imperiall wisedome according to the custome in all auncient time obserued to geue vs licēce by your maiesties letters patentes to prouide one and we will therein obay your will and by Gods helpe consecrate him that shal be chosen To be short not onely these foresayd canons but also many others do witnes vnto vs that nother any Byshoprick nor yet the Papacy it selfe may be geuen to any without consent of the Prince so farre off is the Pope frō hauing authority aboue the Prince And whosoeuer will read S. Gregory especially in the Epistle which hee wrote to Mawrice the Emperoure shall finde that he doth often tymes geue the Emperoure thanks for prouiding such such a church of a good and meete shepheard and how he declareth in diuers places that hee is and will be obedient to the lawes and cōmaundementes of the Emperoure as we haue towched here before ⧠Of the authoritie of the Pope and of the succession and discipline in the order of the cleargy The xi Chapter THe Romish Catholickes hold opinion that the Pope is the supreme head chiefe Shepheard and vniuersall gouernor of all the churches of Chistendome as vicar generall of our Lord Iesus Christ And this doctrine they build vpon a likelihood of great conueniency that Iesus Christ which is in heauen should haue a liuetenant here below vpon earth to pardon the sinnes of the repentant to prouide Curats and Shepheardes for the perticuler churches when they happen to be vacant and to make lawes and Canons to rule all christēdome in matters of religion ecclesiastical pollicy They say also that this authority ouer all the churches of the world was geuē to S. Peter the first pope of Rome and so consequently to to his successors for because our Lord Iesus Christ sayd vnto him Thou art Peeter and vpon this rocke will I build my church and the gates of hell shall haue no power agaynst it And I will geue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and whom soeuer thou bindest vpon earth he shall bee bound in heauen and whomsoeuer thou losest vpon earth shabbe losed in heauen But contrarywise the Protestants affirme that Iesus Christ alone is the supreme head chiefe shepheard and vniuersall gouernor of the vniuersall Church whiche is disparsed throughout the world and that when he went vp into heauē he did not appoint any vickar or liuetennant to keepe his place nother in deede was it needefull For he that is absēt himselfe hath need of a liuetenant but as for him he is neuer absent from his church but is and alwayes will be with it by his spirite deuine power vnto the end of the world So as to say that Christ hath neede of a liuetēnaunt vpō yearth as though he could not execute his office vpon yearth for all his being in heauen is as much as to bereue him of his Godhead which of it owne nature hath no lesse power and abilitie on earth and in hell then in heauen where his manhode is resident Wherof it inseweth according to our first maxime that the doctrine of the Protestantes in this poynte is better thē the doctrine of the Romish Catholicke because the honor that belongeth to Iesus Christ is better yelded vnto him by that then by the other Lykewise the doctrine of the protestantes is much better grounded vpon the
the Imperiall Crown of pure golde inriched with precious stones his Scepter his mantell of Purple and his other Imperiall Robes and the Imperiall dignitie of commaunding the men of warre with all other things concerning the glory maiestie of the Empire Geuing also to others of the Romain Cleargie the dignitie preheminēce and authoritie of Senators Lords of the Empire and Consuls willing them to ride on horseback with white footeclothes apparrayled like Senators to the end that the Cleargie should be furnished with the like titles of honor in all poynts as the Lordes and men of warre of the Imperiall Court were Also they make the same Emperor to acknowledge himself to be Pope Siluestars Footeman or Lackay in holding his stirrop and his bridle when he moūted on horseback And moreouer to declare that he would remoue his Imperial seate to the Citie of Bizance which he was thē purposed to builde and to name it after his own name that is to say Constantinople to geue place to the Pope because it was vnmeet that where the seate of the Priestly kingdome and of the supreme head of christen Religion was set by the Emperor of heauen there also should be set the seate of the Emperor of the earth And therfore that he willed and commaunded that the same donation should stand in force and be inuiolablye obserued vntill the ende of the world beseeching and adiuring all the Emperors Lords of estate Princes Senators and People that should come after him euen before the dreadfull iudgement seate of God neuer to breake the same vpon payne of euerlasting damnation And to haue both S. Peter and S. Paule their enemies both in this world and in the world to come and to be burned and consumed in the deepe pit of hell amongst the deuils and the vngodly folke And the date of this pretensed donation is this Geuen at Rome the third of the Kalends of April in the yere of the fourth Consulship of Constantine Augustus And also in the fourth Consulship ot Gallicanus This in few words is the whole sūme of the pretended donation made by the Emperor to the Pope and to the Cleargie of Rome Wherupō the doctors of the Ciuill Law take maruailous paines in discussing whether it be auaileable or not and whether Constantine might so greatly diminish the Empire seeing that say they the title of Augustus is geuen vnto him to the intent he should increase and not diminish the Empire And whether he could geue greater authoritie to the Pope than he himselfe had seeing that by the rules of the law no mā can graunt to another more right than he hath in himselfe And whether he could force or constraine his successors to obserue this donation considering that by the Ciuill Law like against like hath no power These doctors say I haue taken great paynes to resolue this question and diuers such like vpon that matter but all in vaine for it ought first to be prooued that there was such a gifte made before they disputed whether it be lawfull and auaileable or not But we may easely gather by the histories that it is but a surmised and a forged graunt and that there was neuer any such But the holy order of the Cleargie hath alwayes taken it to be a holy kinde of fraude to enter vpon the goods of the lay people by such meanes Therfore to resolue the sayd dout by the history you must vnderstand that this donation is reported to haue beene graunted in the time of Constantines fourth Consulship after his baptisme as if they had been both at one time when as those times were farre asunder For his fourth Consulship was in the yeare of our Lord three hundred and eighteene and his baptisme was more than twenty yeares after and therfore the diuersitie of the times doth discouer the falsenes of the donation Besides this it could not be done in any of both those times for afore the time of his baptisme Pope Siluester was already dead as the histories do well proue which doe witnesse that for the great desire which Constantine had to be baptised in the Riuer of Iordaine in Iury he deferred his Christning by reason of the great affayres wherwith he was continually kepte occupied vntill the latter ende of his life at which time perceiuing himselfe to be very ill at ease out of all hope of being able to trauaile into Iury to be baptised in the Riuer of Iordaine he caused himselfe to be christened in Nicomedia And therfore this pretended graūt could not be made by constantine after his Baptisme as the donation it selfe doth beare men in hand to pope Siluester who was dead before that tyme Neither could it be done in the tyme of constantines fourth consulship For at that tyme and moe than ten yeres after he had a fellow in the Empire named Licinius who held the East part of the Empire and Constantine himselfe held the west partes according to the custome of the Romain Empire then receiued which was to haue two Emperors at once as were Dioclesian and Maximian and also Galerius Maximinus and Constantius Chorus the one commaunding in the East parts and the other in the West And therof as some thinke did grow the custome of paynting the Imperiall Eagle with two heads Now then in asmuch as Licinius remayning at that time in the East countreys as in his own parte of gouernement was a Heathen man and a deadly enemy to Constantine who was a Christian It followeth in reason that if Constantine should haue geuen vp the Empire of the West to the Pope he could not haue made his account to haue remoued his Imperiall seate by and by into the East for he had reckned without his hoast but it would haue behooued him first to haue put down Licinius ere he could assure himselfe of the Empire of the East as in deed he did afterward by force of armes But that was more than ten yeares after his fourth Consulshippe But who would thinke Constantine to haue been such a foole as to spoyl himselfe of the West Empire to geue it to the Pope and to content himselfe with the East Empire which he had not nor could assure himselfe to haue considering how vncertaine the issue of waar is Moreouer about the same time of Constantines fourth Consulship there was Ciuill warres in Rome betwixt Constantine himself and Maxentius who had set vp himselfe as an vsurper in the Citie of Rome through the ayde of the Pretorian Soldiars By reason whereof considering that Maxentius was a great enemy to the Christians and had on his side an infinite number of the greatest men within the Citie It doth well appeare that that time was vtterly vnmeet for Constantine to aduance Pope Siluester and the Romaine Clergie so greatly as this pretended donation would make vs beleeue And truely in the very same yeres of this fourth Consulship the Senate of Rome did canonise and inrowle