HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE royal English blazon or coat of arms A NOTABLE TREATISE OF THE CHURCH, IN which are handled all the principal questions, that have been moved in our time concerning that matter. BY PHILIP OF MORNAY, Lord of Plessis Marlyn, Gentleman of France. ¶ And translated out of French into English by Io. field. APOCAL. 18.4.5. Go out of Babylon my people, that you be not partakers in her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins are come up into heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. ¶ Imprinted at London by Christopher Barker, Printer to the Queen's Majesty. ANNO. DOM. 1579. decorated border THE BRIEF CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS OF this present treatise. 1 WHat the visible Church is, and what are the divers states thereof. 2 That of the visible and universal Church, some parts are pure, and other some impure, and what are the infallible marks of the pure Churches. 3 That the other marks which our adversaries allege, are common both to the pure and impure Churches, and which are they that most commonly deceive us. 4 That the holy Scripture is the undoubted touchstone, to prove the purity of doctrine, which doctrine is the mark of the pure Churches. 5 That there can be no other judge of the controversies of this time, but the holy Scripture, and how every one may judge them by it. 6 That the visible Church may err, yea and that in matters of Faith and salvation, and that is proved in every of her particular states. 7 That the Pope or bishop of Rome is not head of the visible and universal Church, by God's Law. 8 That the Pope or Bishop of Rome is not head of the visible universal Church by man's law, and how he hath usurped this power. 9 That the Pope in calling himself head of the Church, and not being head, is the Antichrist in the Church, and that Antichrist cannot be received into the Church with any other than the Popish doctrine. 10 That every one is bound to separate himself from the communion of Antichrist, and that the Romanists are schismatics, and not they which separate themselves from the same. 11 That the Ministers of the reformed Churches have a lawful vocation to redress and reform the Church. 12 The recapitulation or brief rehearsal of the principal conclusions of this treatise. To the right honourable, and my very good Lord, the Lord Robert Dudley, Earl of Leycester, Baron of Denbigh, Knight of the most noble order of the Garter, Master of the Queen's majesties Horses, and one of her Grace's most honourable privy Council: Io. Field wisheth increase of grace, and all spiritual gifts by jesus Christ our Lord BEing willing (Right Honourable, and my very good Lord) in the sight of all the world, to leave some public testimony of my humble duty & unfeigned good will towards your Honour: I thought I could no better way perform it, then by dedicating these poor labours of mine to be shrouded and harboured under your good and favourable protection. And albeit I must confess that my translation is not worthy such a Patron, yet this I must needs say, that the work itself, both in respect of the Author that wrote it, and also of the matter, is worthy not only of your honours defence, but also of the defence of all noble men, yea of the greatest Princes in the world, if they will answer their calling, and hold of God to maintain his Church and truth, and will set greatest price upon things that are most precious. For concerning the Author, though I be not acquainted with his person, yet this is sufficient, that I know him by his virtue, and by this excellent work: who as he is a Gentleman of a noble house, and employed in weighty affairs, which sufficiently commendeth his credit and wisdom to the world, so, which is a thing to be marveled at, amidst all his business, whilst he lay here, he set forth this notable treatise, wherein he hath showed such learning and reading, with judgement and sincerity to the Church of God, as I know not whether from a man of his place any hath ever been more learnedly and pithily published, and that more may make to the edifying of the Church of God, and confuting the adversary. The Lord sand many such Ambassadors, that evermore their policy may be guided by divinity. And thus much both for the person and the work. Now touching the translation. In very deed, I have therein studied to be plain & simple, keeping myself to mine Author, both in words and meaning, so far forth as the propriety of the tongue would suffer me. Wherefore (good my Lord) I most humbly beseech your Honour to accept this my humble and bounden duty: and as by your Honour I dedicated it to the Church of England, so I humbly crave that it may be defended: for hereunto is your Honour called of God, and therefore hath he given you your authority, that you should maintain his Church, love his religion, set yourself against Popery, and live and die to his glory. He hath honoured you, that you should honour him, and hath set you up, that you should maintain him. And wholly to trust in him, and to live to him, is a stay that can never fail, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. All other things shall fail, for all flesh is grass, and the glory of man is as the flower of the field: but God is everlasting, his word is everlasting, and they that are begotten to him by the immortal seed of his word, shall live for ever. And this life beginneth and groweth in us, as we grow and increase in the true knowledge of God, to the increasing of our faith, and working in us, as the seal of our adoption, that true sanctification, that maketh us to live unto God by righteousness, purely to worship him according to his word: and with brotherly love devoid of all hypocrisy, from a pure heart to love our neighbours. This (my Lord) is true religion, whereunto as God in great mercy hath called your Honour, so go cheerfully forward: beware of this vain world, and of that vain trust that wicked men are wont to put in it. Lean not upon it, but stop your ears against the enchanting and fawning whisperings of hollow hearted Papists, and dissolute professors: for there can be no greater trespass against the Lord, then to lean upon Assyria, to rest in the strength of Egypt, to go down into Ethiopia. Cursed is that man that putteth his trust in man, and maketh flesh his arm, he shallbe like the heath that groweth in the wilderness: but contrariwise, he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall embrace him on every side, he shall never be confounded, he shallbe as Mount Zion, and shall never be removed: For the Lord is his secret place, and is with him, therefore who can be against him? what is a man's bow? what are his legs? what is the swiftness of Horses, or the strength of an host, or the favour of all the princes of the world in comparison of God, in whom is only the assurance of that everlasting inheritance? It is the God of jacob that must be our defence, our strong tower and rock, the Chariot and horsemen of Israel, the testimony of his presence and favour, that only can make us glad. Wherefore, again and again I most humbly beseech your Honour, beware of the vain trust & confidence of men in men, and in things that are less worth than men. And as God hath in mercy bestowed upon your Honour great wisdom, so pray that you may have a discerning spirit, that the deceivable glory of your prosperity and high authority, make you not forget your greatest duty: that you may shine in Christ's Church to the benefit of the whole body, defending Christ his poor members, to the uttermost of your power, and punishing all his adversaries: that Agag, upon whom God hath given sentence, may not be spared, nor good jeremy buffeted: that Michee may be preferred, yea though there be four hundred false prophets against him. O (my Lord) God asketh this at your honours hands, and this Church of England craves it, that his ministery may be maintained, his truth may be preserved and continued, the poor people may be taught and instructed, wicked heretics may be confuted and abandoned, which (alas) increase and grow to infinite numbers daily amongst us. For where through impunity men may profess what they list, and no trial and examination is had, according to God his word: there is it any marvel if Papists, Arrians, Anabaptists, Libertines, and other heretics of all sorts do daily multiphe and increase? Will they not creep in there, where they may have greatest rest and quietness? Who seeth not that after the preaching of the Gospel of Christ so many years, amidst the great peace and blessings God in mercy hath bestowed upon us, because we have been negligent to answer our callings, to put in practice that we have learned, with bringing forth the fruits of faith and true repentance, and making conscience of our knowledge, that the Papists, those enemies of God, and of her royal Majesty, are now more in number, more obstinate and froward, more malicious, than they were at her majesties most joyful & happy entrance to her sceptre & crown? Did not many more go to Church, & show their conformity (as they call it) sixteen years ago, then now? And whereto may all this be attributed, but to impunity, for that they have been winked at, favoured, and spared? which with what meaning soever it hath been done, yet how they have profited thereby, all the world may see, and their treasonable practices may sufficiently witness. And surely, had not the only hand of God, in mercy been our defence against them, they had long ere this put us to our shifts, if not prevailed against us. And though they have been from time to time confuted by such learned and notable works as this is, against which they are not able once to hiss with any colour of reason: though they have been (I say) courteously and gently entreated, yet are they never the better, but the worse, only like frogs that keep a great crooking, and stir against the light of the Sun: so do they against the glorious and comfortable beams of Christ his Gospel. Seeing therefore they will not be satisfied with truth, but abuse the merciful lenity of their gracious Sovereign, it is more than high time (my Lord) that the lord's discipline be restored, & that their spreading poison be restrained, lest it be to the hazard, not only of the Church of God amongst us, which can not thrive amidst such pestilent and cumbersome weeds, but even to the endangering (which the Lord of glory turn from us) this flourishing common weal, and her majesties most royal person, crown and dignity. Your Lordship, I am sure, for your wisdom and great experience, which you have had this long time, can not but know what dangers their cursed practices, as Cocatrises, have brought forth and hatched. Their holy league of Trident, for the dispatch of all Christians, what lamentable effects it hath wrought in France, Spain, Flaunders, and divers parts in Germany, as also in Scotland, and even in England amongst ourselves, and amidst our own bowels, I need not to declare. What hath thrust forth unto us from our English fugitives such pestiferous and traitorous books, defacing Gods holy truth, the Queen her royal Majesty, many of her honourable Council, and sundry of her loving and faithful subjects, but the hope of bringing that to pass, which that holy league had before determined? Have they not discharged (if their discharge might have been credited) her highness subjects from their loyalty and obedience to her Majesty their natural prince? have not their Bulls pronounced her Majesty to be no lawful Queen, whom God hath placed over us? have not their attempts been the seed of rebellion, and caused many to practise her Grace's destruction? Let the rebellion in the North speak for them, and seal the truth hereof. Let Felton, Story, Madder, Wodhouse, and one Main lately executed in Devonshire (amongst whose papers mention was made of certain hallowed grains, to be given to timeserving Papists, as tokens for a Passeover, in the day of our general execution, when we should have been all slain and murdered) bear witness. I say nothing of their divinations for their golden day, of their sorceries, witchcrafts, charms, and conferences they have had with the devil their great master, lest I should be to tedious to your Honour: only let this witness their loyalty and fidelity to their natural prince, that to have their superstitious idolatry and cursed religion, their pompous glory and proud Hierarchy, they would have her majesties life, and adventure not only their bodies, goods and lands, but even their souls, to bring about their malicious purposes. Of Arrians I would not willingly writ any thing, nor of the other Heretics (I mean) Anabaptists, Libertines, (which are in deed at this day all shrouded & fostered under that name of the family of love) but that I know all these heresies do mischievously increase amongst us. But I will leave them, and their pestilent positions, which both by reading their books, and by the confession of some that have returned from their errors, I have observed and gathered, and will reserve them to a more fit treatise: praying your Honour by all means, both to procure me that favour, that I loose not my labours by Satan's malice, and also specially to be careful for the preservation of the Church of GOD, that his Gospel having a free course amongst us, these Dagons may fall down, and break their necks, by the power of his presence, and your Lordship be discharged before God: which if your Honour do not, and that to the uttermost of your power, your sin lieth before the door ready to devour you. The Lord jesus bless your Honour, and make you zealous and faithful for the Gospel, that the canker of these heresies fret no farther, but may in time be stayed, that God may be glorified, his poor Church preserved, and his gracious blessings sealed amongst us, not only in our days, but in the days of our children's children after us. Amen. Your good Lordships most bounden and faithful, Io. Field. To the most excellent Prince Henry King of Navarre, Prince and Sovereign Lord of Bearne, etc. Peer and chief Prince of the blood royal of France. THIS little book which I presume to offer to your majesty (my very good Lord) belongeth unto you by a double right. First in respect of the matter: for it entreateth of the Church, whereof it hath pleased God to raise you up to be a defender in our country of France. Then in respect of the Author himself: for seeing that he hath vowed and given himself to your majesty, with all that by God's grace he is able to bring forth, the propriety and right is in you. Wherefore, if it shall please you to read, you shall find herein a little after, what aught to be the right condition of the Church of God, and what now at this present it is under the tyranny of the Pope, in the Church of Rome, and consequently, what honour God hath showed unto you in our time, choosing you out from amongst so many great Princes, to deliver it from such a bondage. The world will make no account of these honours: neither is it of the world. But to a Christian Prince, who will consider that God doth hold his Church so dear, that he hath given his dearly beloved son to the death, and to the contempt of the world for her sake, this honour shallbe more precious in his sight, than the whole world. This undoubtedly is a great work, & wherein verily there is much toil: for the word of God is certain, that the nations and kings of the earth for the most part, will band themselves together, to maintain and underprop the kingdom of Antichrist. But beyond this, as in all great things, so in this there remaineth at the end of this toil, a most assured victory. For this thing the word of God telleth us, that it must needs be that that kingdom must fall, and that Christ must be acknowledged through all, to be the King of kings, and Lord of lords, yea that they themselves which shall have maintained Antichrist, shall hew him in pieces. Of this travel the worst and greatest brunt is already past, God having for the comfort of his children, divided it amongst so many great and notable personages, which in our time have travailed therein, and now have rested themselves from their travails, in that same blessed happiness. And if so be any thing yet remain, it behoveth that you take good courage: For God who hath crowned you, will also crown this good work by you, and as for the forces which now they do seem to make, what are they else but the gry●ng wring of Antichrist? And these griping, ●●●gings are evident and undoubted tokens that hi●●●●●h draweth near. God hath made you (my very good lord) to know his truth even from your childhood, and he hath employed you in his work in your first youth. He hath beautified you with great gifts to this end, as strength of body, quickens of spirit, valiancy of courage. And employing these in his service, he will crown them in you with happiness, honour, riches, and high advavancements. For these are no other than accessories, and he who hath given you the principal, can give you these: and by him alone also it is that king's reign, and that princes Judge the earth. And (Sir) this is that which he requireth of you. This is it, that Christendom looketh for at your hands. This is that, which all good men do promise' themselves. This then is the alone and only mark that your majesty must aim at. And therefore (Sir) as one of your most lowly servants, I make this humble petition, that day and night you may lively represent and keep before your presence, the dignity and greatness of this charge, to which God hath called you: that you may employ those rare gifts which he hath given unto you for the establishing of his kingdom, that you may think then to reign most safely, when he shall reign by his word in the midst of you. This is the most sure and short way, that your trusty servants can direct you in for the establishing of your highness. I beseech God therefore (Sir) that it will please him to assist you through his spirit, in this work, to govern your heart, and all your actions, and to heap upon you his blessings both spiritual and temporal, to his own glory, and the benefit of his Church. Your most humble, obedient, and faithful servant. Du Plessis. To the Reader. I Pray thee (gentle Reader) to read this treatise, not as having already found the truth, but seeking for it likewise, and I pray thee to read it out before thou judge of it. And if it accord as the doctrine of the truth, I adjure thee in the name of God, & by thine own salvation, that thou openly declare it. For it behoveth that we wait no longer to speak, seeing once, that winking at the kingdom of Antichrist, our kingdom falleth to ruin, in the ruin whereof is the danger of us all. If yet there be found any doubt, they showing it by writing, we shall by the grace of God endeavour to make it clear. But if there be any, which will improve the whole, I pray them that they will answer point by point, and reason by reason, in the spirit of sincerity and gentleness, seeking in stead of the prize of victory, the salvation of the people, and not the glory of this world. For I protest before God, that in this treatise, I have aimed at no thing else but their salvation. What the visible Church is, and what are the sundry states thereof. CHAP. I GOD, through his might the Creator of mankind, vouchsafing of his own good will, to be the Father thereof, would that the Church should be honoured & acknowledged as mother of all those, of whom he vouchsafeth to be Father, in his Son jesus Christ our Lord: And forasmuch as we are not saved, but in this that God hath allowed us for his children, and that he hath allowed none to be such, but those that are regenerated, and nourished up in his Church: if we desire our salvation, it is necessary that we acknowledge her, in whose lap we have it. And if we will be heirs of the Father, we must be united in the family of the mother, in which it hath pleased him to beget those again, whom he hath ordained to be heirs of his kingdom, and coheirs of his dearly beloved son jesus Christ our Lord All they that are knit and incorporated into this Church in true faith & charity, are partakers of this inheritance, because they are members of the body of Christ: and without her, as there is no true faith, nor charity, nor Christ, so also we aught not to seek any salvation, but in her. And therefore if a man would speak properly, we should call the Church, a company only of those, whom God hath chosen to everlasting life, in all times & places, which is to man invisible, who can not enter so far as to know God's will, neither the heart of man himself, but is only visible to God, 2. Tim. 2.19. who knoweth those that are his (as the Apostle saith) & hath sealed them with his own seal. Notwithstanding, forasmuch as charity hath commanded us to presume particularly of all those that are called the Church of Christ, that they are of the number of his elect, & that as they are bodily there assembled together, so also that they are there spiritually incorporated, albeit on the contrary part the doctrine of faith generally teacheth us, that the wicked to the end of the world, are mingled with the good, the Goats with the Sheep, the chaff with the grain, & the tars with the good corn: yet will we commit unto God, the searcher of hearts, the knowledge of the invisible Church, & will content ourselves to search for the visible in his word, into which all they must retire themselves in this world, which will be gathered into the invisible Church in the world to come. Notwithstanding, by the way we will note the differences that are between these two. The invisible Church containeth none but the good. The visible Church containeth both the good and the bad, to wit, that only the elect, this all those indifferently, which are brought into her by the preaching of the truth. And for this cause S. Augustine saith of that, August. vp●● the 64. Psal. that she took her beginning by Abel and not by Cain, who was the elder: and contrariwise of the other he saith, August. lib. 1 de Baptism. contra Donatist cap. 16 that the self same begat Abel & Enoch, Simon Peter, & all Christians etc. as one people, having also begotten Cain and Cham, Ishmael and Esau, and Simon the sorcerer with his confederates. The invisible Church is partly considered in heaven, & partly in earth, comprehending aswell those which triumph already with their head jesus Christ our Lord, as those which yet fight here beneath in the earth for his name, against the world & against themselves, & which shall fight in the same church after us. The visible church is considered properly to consist in them, who not only fight here in earth for the name of Christ, but as well those that fight under his name, with false marks & standards & ensigns. And for this cause, that is considered even from the first faithful unto the last, bringing all the states & ages of the church into one: this according to certain places & times, forasmuch as she is not universally visible (and to be seen) at one push, but according to the ages, and in her degrees. In the invisible, there is a great many sheep, which never were gathered into the visible, and contrariwise in the visible, a great many wolves which never shallbe received into the invisible. And therefore S. Augustine saith, August. homil. in joan. 45. & ca 20. lib. 5. de bapt. etc. Rom. 9.6. that there are a great many sheep without, and a great many wolves within: and S. Paul saith also they are not all Israel which are of Israel. For to be in the church, or rather to say, of the church, is to be united with Christ, & incorporated in the company of the faithful, through true faith towards God, and charity towards our neighbour. And there is no doubt, but that many here and there under Paganism itself, had this desire, which yet bodily they could not accomplish, the which notwithstanding they are bound to do with all their power: as contrariwise, to be separated from the church, is not only to be without the assembly, but to have no participation of Christ, nor union of faith and charity with his faithful. Of the invisible it is said, Mat. 16. Mat. 24.11 that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. Of the visible, that she shallbe so troubled, that a man shall not find faith on the earth, Luke. 8.8. that charity shallbe as it were quenched, insomuch that the elect themselves, if it were possible, should utterly quail. And therefore it is not without cause that we say in our Creed, that we believe the church. For if we aught to hold nothing for certain, but that which we see with these carnal eyes, there is no doubt, but that in all the states & ages of the church, there should many times be found such a confusion, as the good grain should be altogether hid under the chaff, without any appearance of the Church, and yet notwithstanding this was then, when God said to Elias, that he had reserved in the same 7000. whereof the chariot of Israel, the Seer of the Lord, I say, he to whom the good people aught especially to have been known, could not outwardly know one: and even then & there when the state of the Church was such, as God could not be served visibly, but in jewrie. All these differences notwithstanding, we do not believe two Churches, nor two espouses of Christ, but we believe one only considered diversely: one in the blade, and the other in the grain, one in the threshing floor, another in the garner, one in the mine, another now already fyned, the one enwrapped yet in the minglings of the world, the other before her husband without spot or wrinkle. Altogether like as by a family, we properly understand the children only, although speaking more generally we comprehend the servants themselves, & by a City we understand the union of Citizens, albeit many times one part be at contention, & considered apart by itself, deserveth not but to be rooted out. Returning then to our purpose we will call the visible church, the company of those, which make profession to serve the true God in Christ, of which we have presently to entreat. This Church hath had three principal states or ages, one without the law, than (say some of the ancient Fathers) when man was but in some sort corrupted by the sin of the first, when he was notwithstanding in some sort a law to himself, & naturally felt himself convinced of his sin, that is to say, he felt his evil, to seek for remedy for the same: although in very truth this state and age of the Church, found itself no less corrupted then the rest. The second was under the law, when it began in such sort to accustom itself to sin, that it grew into a natural habit through the same: and then for to show the sin thereof, the law was given as a glass, in which she might consider her filthiness, and how far of she was from that she presumed, to the end she might return again to be cleansed. The third was under grace, in jesus Christ promised to our first parents by & by after their fall, and who, when the fullness of time was come, was sent of the Father, who brought remedy to all them, that before either had, or presently did feel their evil, and sought remedy in his merit. Under the first, the Church was visible amongst men, but if you compare those which served God in purity, with the others, we shall find that they were entangled in a wonderful confusion. Under the second, the Church was visible in one people, issued from the loins of Abraham, to wit, the people of Israel, but not so eminent, if we consider not so much what the country, as the people themselves were, in comparison of the rest of the whole world, and the great Empires that flourished at that time. Under the third, is comprehended all peoples & nations without any exception or acception whatsoever, being now visible in one Country, or other, few or many, and therefore we call her Catholic, or universal, to wit, which is to ●●ore tied to the family of jacob, nor to jerusalem: as under the second estate or age (for from all parts it aught to be gathered there) but who adopteth for children of Israel & of Abraham, in all places those that have the faith of Abraham, and for citizens of jerusalem, all the citizens of the world, which serve God in spirit and truth. Mat. 28. Galat. 3.28 This is that which Christ hath taught us, when he sent forth his Apostles into all the world, and S. Paul, when he saith, that the wall is broken down, Ephe. 2.14 that there is no more jew nor Greek, but that all are one in jesus Christ: Apo. 21 13 & that which is noted unto us in the Apocalypse, by the City having xii. gates, three into every quarter of the world. In which also, after the Prophets and Apostles, the ancient doctors of the Church agreed: that after the vocation of the Gentiles, there is not any nation or city more privileged than another, but that all the world is the threshing floor, Cypri. de simplicitate prelatorum. August. passim contra Don atistas. the field and inheritance of the Lord. All people's is juda and Israel, all cities jerusalem, all houses the house of God, so that he be there worshipped & served: so far is it of that at this day, any place what soever it be, may attribute any spiritual prerogative more to itself, than to another. This universal Church comprehendeth under her, all the particular Churches, gathered together in divers parts of the world, the which likewise we call the Christian Churches, that is to say, assemblies which call upon one only God by jesus Christ, as the East Church & West Church, the Greek Church, and the Latin Church, the Church of Corinth, the Church of Galatia, of Ephesus, of Rome, of Carthage: notwithstanding to speak properly, not Catholic or universal, but parts of the Catholic or universal. Not more than when we speak of some parts of the Ocean sea, we call all those the sea, as the South sea, the North sea, the Athlantique sea, the Cantabrique sea, and the Britannique sea, etc. and we say of all these, it is the Ocean sea. And yet notwithstanding we know that there is but one Ocean, and not many, whereof by these names we make many distinctions, seeing it is but one body & uniform, from which the union cannot be severed, but only distinguished, as we aught also to acknowledge in the Church. And therefore he that saith that the Church of Rome, & the Catholic Church is all one, he speaketh no less improperly, than he that should say, that the Britannique sea were the whole Ocean sea, or the Tyrrhene sea itself, which yet is but a part of the Mediterraneun sea. Now the visible Church is in the world, and the world as we may feel in ourselves, is an unclean world, & therefore living under such an infected air, it is impossible, but that she should be defiled, and draw unto her much corruption. It is also compounded of men, and outwardly governed by men, and all men are flesh and blood, and by a consequent corrupt and imperfect, subject to ignorance and malice. It is then possible that sometimes she be corrupted, and impossible that in this world she appear in any sound perfection. Notwithstanding, because the Scripture sometimes in speaking, having regard to that which is reputed unto her (in consideration of jesus Christ her husband) before God, and sometimes also not according to that she is, but according to that she aught to be, not so much to praise her, as to provoke her to make herself worthy of that praise, she is granted these titles of the Church, to which she is not always conformed: be it that we consider her in the men, whereof she is composed, or the doctrine itself that is taught in her. She is called the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of Christ: Mat. 13.47 but Christ jesus, which is the king himself that reigneth in her, compareth her unto a net cast into the sea, which draweth up to him both good and bad fish. This then is as much to say, as in this kingdom of heaven the devil hath his subjects, which pertain to his tyranny. Saint Paul also there calleth us the house of God, 1 Tim. 3.15. and exhorteth us to take heed how we there behave ourselves: but the self same Paul would not hide this from us, 1. Tim. 2.20. that in the same house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, the one (I say) to honour, and the other to dishonour: whereof Saint Augustine hath taken his distinction of those that are in the house, August. lib. 7. cap. 51. de Baptismate, & libro de unitate ecclesiae cap. 4. and yet are not of the house. And this that we confess in our Creed itself, that the Church is the Communion of Saints, it is not meant that all they which are there assembled, are sanctified by the spirit of God in Christ, but rather that there is no true Communion, no true holiness, but in the Church, calling it, as we are always accustomed, by the best part. And thus much of the corruption of the persons. Concerning the doctrine she is called his spouse, Cant. 4.6. Isa. 1.21. 1. Tim. 3. altogether fair and without spot, the faithful City, the City of righteousness, the temple of God, and the pillar of truth. By these goodly titles she should be stirred up to please him, who vouchsafeth to call her by these names, and to be obedient unto him. In mean time it oftentimes falleth out, that the Church governed by naughty Pastors, presumeth to be such, as her titles set her forth to be, and that she can never be any other, so that she dareth to say, I am a Queen, and can be no widow, and so maketh void the goodness of God, through which alone she is decked with all these titles. she neglecteth the voice of her husband, and maketh laws at her own pleasure: her governors will govern her after their guise, thinking that they are wise enough of them ●●ies. And hereupon the Prophets have have constrained to change their speech, according as she changeth her government. This is the cause why they have called her strumpet and adulteress, that they have reproached her, that she hath played the harlot under every bushy & green tree, that they call her Princes the Princes of Sodom, jer. 3.12. Ezech. 18.23. and her people the people of Gomorrhe: to be short, that they threaten her that God will remove his tabernacle from thence to others. 2. Thess. 2. And Saint Paul sayeth that they should be so deceived, for having neglected the truth of God, that they shall worship Antichrist in the Church. The reason hereof is very clear, that the Church is as the moon, a body thick & cloudy, which hath no light but from Christ the sun thereof. By means that she looketh towards him, she is bright and clear, and the more she turneth away from him, the less brightness she hath, & sometimes she withdraweth herself so far from him, & so great a mass of earth setteth itself between them, that she seemeth altogether eclipsed. Hereof it is, that of this universal Church dispersed throughout the whole world, and gathered together into particular Churches of all the nations thereof, we may see some utterly rooted out by the just judgement of God, as the Philippians, Colossians, & many others of the East, which were erected by the Apostles themselves: others to be erected else where, through the everlasting goodness of God towards mankind: Some by the corruption of men, to be corrupted both in manners and doctrine, as those of Greece, of Egypt, of Africa, etc. Others by the presumption of their leaders, having nothing left sound, as the Church of Rome at this day. To be short, some other gone from heresy to infidelity, as in the countries where Mahomet begun his sect, which are altogether the fruits of the first sin of man, who of himself turned away from God to himself, and was blinded in his own love, thinking to be wise enough to guide himself without the word of God. Thus much in few words, concerning the parts of this visible Church, now universal. But let it suffice for this time, that we resolve ourselves, that this Church is the Assembly or Congregation of all those which make profession of Christ, throughout the whole world: that under her are comprehended all the particular churches, to which the promises of Christ, made to this universal Church, belong equally: That of the same some are pure, and some impure, according as they are turned away from God to themselves: to be short, that the purer churches are impure before God, seeing he hath not found purity in his angels, saving that he supporteth them in mercy, in jesus Christ his son our Lord. That of the visible & Catholic Church, some parts of it are pure, and some impure, and which be the infallible marks of the pure Churches. CHAP. II THe Catholic or universal visible Church is the assembly of all those which make profession of the Gospel of jesus Christ throughout the whole world, distinguished (as we have said) into many particular Churches, all which do make but one body. Of all these particular, as members and parts of one & the self same body, some are pure, other some are impure, some more, & some less sound, and some at this day are sick even unto death, which in times past were more healthful, according as all are composed of men, and therefore are subject to be partakers with their faults. Those that are of the purer and sounder Churches, we call them sound and true Churches, consenting to the true doctrine, which is the name, that for the most part, the ancient fathers have given them. The others we call the erring, heretical or schismatical Churches, according as they err, either in faith or in charity, against the square and right rule of Christ, or against the rule of his Church, either in the one or in the other, notwithstanding every one in his degree. And yet for all this, both the one and the other are truly Churches, that is to say assemblies, that make profession of Christ: but they are not pure Churches, that is to say, serving God in Christ only, in purity and verity: even like as a lying person is truly a man, albeit he be not a true man, & a man ceaseth not to be a man, howsoever he be disfigured without, and inwardly infected with leprosy, and in such sort benumbed of his members, or else troubled in his senses, that he is deprived of the principal actions of a man, yea, and of those things also, in outward appearance, that make difference between a man & a beast, I mean, speech and reason. I know very well that the ancient fathers, and principally the Latins, they commonly call the pure Church Catholic, by excellency, to distinguish it from the congregation of heretics: but to speak properly, there is no particular Church, how pure & sound soever it be, that can be called universal: And if we give them their name, because they are parts of the universal Church, by the self same reason, it should agreed aswell to the most impure Churches themselves. And in deed this word (Catholic) was not put in our Creed, for to distinguish a pure Church from an impure, but to distinguish the jewish Church, in times past tied to jerusalem, from the Christian Church, which by the coming of jesus Christ, was spread throughout the whole world, that is to say, to authorize the vocation of the Gentiles against the pretended prerogatives of the jews, Rom. 9.10.11. cap. against which S. Paul hath written in the three first whole chapters of the Epistle to the romans: and to show that according to that, that was foretold by all the Prophets, that all people were made one in jesus Christ, which was the principal controversy that made greatest broil in the primitive Church. And if a man shall deeply way this thing, he shall find that this manner of speaking used of the ancient fathers, calling the sound and true Church Catholic, came of the reasoning they had against the Schismatics, as against the novatians, Donatists and others, who took upon them to bind the whole Church to themselves, and shut out all the rest of the world beside: as namely the Donatists, who tied it to a little corner of Africa, Augustin. pastin. contra Donatist. under the colour that they presumed that they themselves were more holy than the rest, against whom, to the end to stop their mouths, they opposed the Catholic or universal Church according to the Scripture, spread throughout the whole world. Now it followeth that we search out the true marks of this Church, which we call the true & pure Church, or if we like better, the Catholic Church, to distinguish it from the impure & erroneous Church. We have said already that God, vouchsafing through his goodness to be the father of one sort of men, would also that his Church should be the mother, and we know very well, that it belongeth not to the mother alone, to bring furth children into the world, but she is a true mother who also nourisheth them, and careth for them, after she hath brought them forth. Now through Baptism we are avowed to be the children of God, and of children of wrath which we were, we are through his word cherished & nourished up in the faith: and she at the first giving us suck, and afterwards more fast and strong meat, through the Communion of Christ his body in the Supper, we are more and more united to him, and by this mean invested into that heavenly inheritance. It followeth then, that she is the pure Church and true mother, who bringeth: forth us her children through Baptism, regenerateth & nourisheth us through the word, knitteth us to Christ, and so amongst ourselves one to another, through the Sacrament of his Supper: that is to say, she is the true mother, in which the word of God is purely preached, and the Sacraments according to the same word duly administered. In the Church of juda and Israel, Circumcision occupied the place of Baptism, & the Passeover of the Supper, the word of God always keeping his place, as the ordinary nourishment of the children of God: and therefore we see, that after their entry into the land of Canaan, joshua being admonished by the Lord, to repair those faults committed in the desert, joshua. 1.18 & 19 cap. made the people to be circumcised, and bound them by an oath (if they would be his people) to keep the word of God, that is to say, if they would be his Church. Likewise josias, after so great confusions and mingle mangles, when he would reform the Church, in which there was not so much as that visible mark, which circumcision had left in the flesh, we see that he began there, first digging up as it were the law, which had been buried, & published the same, and made the people to swear solemnly unto it. And consequently he caused a Passeover to be proclaimed in these words: Celebrated the passover of the Lord your God, 2. King. 23. 2. Chr. 34. 2. Chro. 35 as it is written in the book of this covenant, that is to say, according to the ordinance of the Lord your God. Esdras also after he was returned from Babylon, for to re-edify the temple, and to restore the Church, he began at these foundations: he expoundeth the law unto the people, and maketh them to swear in the form of that covenant, and after to nourish and fortify them in the hope of their salvation to come, he restoreth again the true use of the Paschall, according to those things (sayeth he) which were written in the book of Moses. To be short, all the true servants of God, after that there came any great scattering of the Church, Nehem. 8. & 9.3. Esdras. 7.6 & being willing to redress it, they have always before all other things restored these marks, no otherwise then a good Captain, who after a great slaughter & confusion, rangeth his men into an array, and planteth his standards in some high place, to the end they may show themselves to all sides. jesus Christ, who is the true husband, hath given us no other marks, to know his espouse by. For this cause that he calleth the Church his wife, he teacheth her her duty, which is to obey his word, and not to harken to the voice of a stranger, not to loose the tokens, nor to defile the jewels and pledges of her marriage: but mark how he speaketh in express words, He that is of the truth heareth my voice. And again, joh. 18.37. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and in another place, You hear not, joh. 8.47. because you are not of God. The pure wife and Church then of the truth, is only she which heareth the voice of Christ. Not a voice in the air, or an imaginative voice, but that voice which hath it Echo out of the scriptures, and which will resound until the end, to wit, the same that is pronounced by the mouth of his Prophets & Apostles, upon which Saint Paul teacheth us, Ephe. 2.20 that the Church is founded, Christ jesus being the chief corner stone. This is the cause why sending forth his Apostles to erect the Christian Churches, he saith unto them, Matth. 28.19. Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Mark. 16.15. etc. and teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you. And in the Acts we read, that the faithful continued in the doctrine of the Apostles, Acts. 2.42. in the Communion, & breaking of bread, & in prayers, which is no other thing but a brief description of the true Church of Christ, instructed by the word, in true faith, and knit together in true charity, through the Communion that is in him. The which thing S. Ambrose teacheth us, Ambros. lib. de salubr. cap. 7. saying, that the Catholic Church is that, where God speaketh with his servants: and S. Augustine also, August. contra Cresco. Grammat. lib. ●. cap. 11 etc. when he placeth the ministery of ministers & pastors of the Church, in the word of God & Sacraments. Let us yet add hereunto the third mark of this church, albeit it be not of the substance, but outward, to wit, the lawful vocation of pastors & ministers of the Church, which have the administration of the things aforesaid. For seeing that there is question of preaching, be it by the word, or by the Sacraments, which are unto us as a word that may be felt, Rom. 10.15. and that to preach, it behoveth that the ministers be sent: it is very necessary that the Church of God have an order, to sand forth their pastors. But more shallbe seen of this point in another place. We will call then the true & pure Churches all those, wherein we find the word of God, and Sacraments purely and lawfully administered, that is to say, (as Cyprian saith) according to the institution of the Lord. And we nothing doubt to communicate with them, & that God is there precedent, howsoever in some certain points of doctrine there have been some error, and in the outward policy some abuse, and corruption, and impurity in manners: for it behoveth that always we resort thither, when the chief points of the foundation of our salvation be there truly taught, seeing we are men, & the Churches are compounded of men, as speech and language consist of syllables and letters: of the qualities of which men, as long as the Church is in this world, she is always a partaker. As concerning the false and impure Churches, they are not so easily to be defined. Truth, soundness and right, are but of one sort: but errors, diseases, & crookednesses are without number. Again, there are many kinds & degrees of impure Churches: notwithstanding, we can say in one word, that all those Churches are impure, in which the word of the Lord, and his Sacraments are impurely ministered, that is, are administered both against the honour of God, and the salvation of our neighbour: and because that the whole Gospel is nothing else but faith and charity, and whole Christ, nothing but head and body, we may make two principal kinds thereof, calling those Heretics which err in the faith & doctrine of Christ, & those schismatics, which sunder themselves from charity, and from the communion of his body which is the Church, yea although they agreed otherwise to the truth of doctrine in all points. Now as there are many points, in the Christian doctrine, so also there are many kinds of heresies, some in one point, and some in another, and some in one point more heinous and grievous than another, and furthermore, some in one point alone, and others in more points than one. Not otherwise then in a natural body, some sickness is in the vital part thereof, another in the instrumental, one a simple heat of the liver, another a burning in all parts of the body alike: to be short, one a distemperance in some one part, another distemperature, or evil disposition of all the body. Such a Church then, as hath played the harlot with false gods, and hath believed the noughty counsel of men, may be in such sort infected with heresy, that even from the crown of the head, to the sole of the foot, a man shall not see one sound place. Notwithstanding, these cease no more to be the Churches of Christ, because they are heretics, than a man that is diseased, ceaseth therefore to be a man: but in this that they are Heretics in the doctrine of Christ, this showeth unto us that they are yet Churches, howsoever we distinguish the disease from the body, altogether like as we know that a sick man is a man, and not yet the carcase of a man. But then they are not any more Churches, when they come to the heresy of infidelity, when Christ, who is the soul of the Church is no more accounted for a Saviour an● Mediator, when this mediation which joineth Christ to his Church, as the neck doth the head to the body, is cut of: as for example. When the Christians of Asia in many places, of Nestorians become Mahomites, that is to say, of Heretics become Infidels (what praise soever the Alcoran giveth to jesus Christ) because then the soul is out of the body, and the wind pipe is cut, and the bill of divorce is published betwixt Christ and them, after they have once openly married themselves to another, and have sought their happiness and salvation, without him. This is to come again to that I have before spoken of, that the marks of the true Church are these, that of a pure and chaste wife of Christ, and the mother of the heirs of the father, she engender children to God, that she nourish them up unto him, and that she unite them unto Christ: for one of these points alone, maketh her not worthy of this title, but all together: for she is not a true mother, who engendereth children, and afterwards leaveth them at random, and yet she is truly a mother. Ezech. 16.20. Now such a one was the Church of Samaria, or the Church of Israel, Ezech. 23.37. in which there was remaining circumcision and also the law, but this was in name only. She was (saith the Lord) an adulteress, and played the harlot with every one that came, that is, there was no idolatry which was not welcome thither: and yet a little after, he saith she engendered children unto him. She engendered (I say) children to God, who accounted them his own through circumcision (although she had deserved by these adulteries to be rejected) forasmuch as the divorce was not yet made with her, and they as yet were in the covenant: but having brought forth children to God, she offereth them up to Moloch, she maketh them to pass through the fire, she instructeth them in all idolatry, that is to say, she giveth them to the devil, and made them inheritors of hell, as much as lay in her. Now it is said in the self same places, that jerusalem, sister unto Aholibah, in which also God had chosen his tabernacle, had done much worse, in such sort that she was made lower than Sodom. This then is that, Mat. 23.15 that jesus Christ saith to the pharisees, You travel by sea & by land to make a proselyte, that is, to the end you may circumcise a Painime, and bring him into the Church, and when this is done, ye make a double child of hell: for ye teach him as ill, that circumcision is worse to him then uncircumcision, because that his knowledge which he hath of the true God, turneth to his condemnation. That the like should come to pass to the Church of Christ, there is no doubt at all: for in the beginning there have been heresies in the chief articles of our faith, that is, diseases in the principal and vital parts of the body, as namely, in the doctrine of the God head and eternity of jesus Christ. The sin of man deserved death: It must needs be then, that the mediator was very God and very man, Man, for to die the death, and God, to overcome death. And therefore they which deny the divinity of Christ, they deny the principal quality of the mediator, through which we obtain salvation. Now the divinity is made nothing, when the eternity is made voided. For where we find the beginning, there naturally we need not doubt of an end. This heresy and many such like were scattered throughout many notable Churches: Notwithstanding, forasmuch as the ancient Church hath judged that their baptism aught not therefore to be rejected, she hath showed by consequence, that she hath holden them for Churches, for all their deadly diseases, forasmuch as Christ, from whom true Baptism and the efficacy thereof is, baptizeth not but in the Church, showing thereby, that there may be found Christian Churches which bring forth their children as mothers, and yet nourrish and instruct their children worse than stepmothers. And therefore they add, that this Baptism which profited them in their infancy, falleth out to their further hurt, when they come to years of discretion, when they come to taste on these heresies, whereof they had no sense or feeling. The Latin Church, as jerusalem to Samaria, set itself then very courageously against such errors, and healed many of them, whereupon it got great authority amongst all: but afterwards, a worse evil came unto it, and that was this, that having through God's goodness, (who always preserveth his truth in some place) been exempted from the foresaid heresy and sickness, she was borne in hand that it came of her own strength, and that she could not any more be deceived, as he, who for having his health one year, giveth himself to all disorder, thinking that it can nothing hurt him, whereupon we say, that she is fallen into a general distemperance, and is so laden with heresies, that she is not only thoroughly sick, but she is as it were sickness itself, not feeling her evil at all. We say then of her, the same that the Prophet Ezechiel said of jerusalem, who was the only seat of the Lord: Samaria hath not offended to the one half of thy sins: Ezech. 15.48. Sodom thy sister hath not done, neither she nor her daughters, as thou hast done and thy daughters. Thou hast justified thy sisters, in all the abominations which thou hast done, and therefore I will bring again thy captivity, and thou shalt bear thy villainy. The word of God is the only meat which God hath given for the ordinary nourishment of his children. The Latin Church, to the end she might nourish them with husks and shells, hath hidden it from them, & buried it in the earth, or if for shame she hau● sometimes delivered it unto them, it hath been altogether covered with poison. In stead that this word should have directed us to God for our salvation, she hath sent us to men, which are nothing but perdition, yea to the son of perdition himself. Whereas she should have assured us in the infinite merits of one Christ the infinite God, the papacy hath turned us to our own merits, which merit nothing but hell and death. The whole law was given to no other end, but to make us feel our sins, & to search the remedy thereof in the grace of Christ: but contrariwise the Roman Church maketh us to play the jews, more than the jews, promising us salvation of ourselves, to the end that making us to search for it that ways more fervently, she might therein show us hell. She hath received the devil into the lords house, she hath mingled in his bread of life, death, and into his cup she hath put poison: to conclude, if through Baptism, which she hath notwithstanding many ways profaned, she enrouleth children to God as a mother, yet is it certain on the contrary part, that through her false worships, she nourisheth them up to the devil. And as concerning salvation in jesus Christ, which is the neck that joineth the head with the body, jesus Christ with his Church, it is so cut of by man's merits, by the merits of Saints, by the Pope's pardons, and such other wickednesses, that the life of the Church holdeth but by a very little thread, the which had been straightway quite cut off (Antichrist had so well laboured therein) had not God through his great mercy sent his servants in time to repress him. As long then as this thread remained there, we deny it not the name of the Church, no more then unto a man, the name of a man, as long as he liveth, what sickness soever he have: yea, we are content to call her the spouse, so that therewithal she suffer us in like manner to call her an adulteress. But we say that she is an heretical Church worse than all the Churches that ever have been, a wife which provoketh God to a divorce, a mother which nourisheth up her children to the devil, and we pray God, that he will vouchsafe to take her in childhood, being defiled in her blood, Ezech. 16. and that he will wash her in her old age in the blood of his son, & that he will remember, as he promiseth to jerusalem & Samaria, the covenant made with her from her youth, and that as he hath done already in a good part of her members, it would please him to restore her again to her first purity and integrity. See then as concerning the heretical and impure Churches in doctrine, whereof we maintain the Roman and Latin Church to be in the chiefest degree. Concerning the Schismatical Churches, whether they are plainly schismatical, or whether heresy followeth after a schism, as a fever doth after a wound, heretics & schismatics in this sense are all one. Of Heretics we have spoken as before. Of Schismatics we make here two distinctions. The cause (saith the Canon) maketh a schismatic, & not the separation: & therefore we say, that they which have given others a just occasion to separate themselves from their corruptions, are the schismatics, & not they who have taken it. For this cause, the Apostles were not schismatics, although they separated themselves from the Scribes & pharisees, & cut themselves of from their assemblies: But rather the Priests & Scribes, which put them to death, when they submitted themselves to verify the coming of Christ amidst the Church: & we shall prove in his proper place, that the self same in like manner is come to pass in our time, of those which have verified Antichrist in an open council. For the second, we say, that we must distinguish betwixt the author of a schism, & those which follow it. That the authors of Schism, forasmuch as they rend themselves from charity, & so by consequence from the body of Christ, they may be compared to Dathan, Core, & Abiram, cutting themselves (as much as in them lieth) out of the book of life. Concerning the others, we say that they are the flock of Christ, but evil governed by their pastors, and principally those which are borne under the Schism, forasmuch as neither of both are without blame, neither can in any wise excuse themselves. And therefore Dathan and his companions were swallowed up, Nomb. 16. and the congregation which cleaved unto him was spared: but in that it saw the horrible punishment of those whom it had followed, it was warned to separate itself for fear of the like. In like manner jeroboam & his successors, which through ambition had made a schism in the Church, were accursed, and yet Samaria ceased not therefore at the lest to be in the covenant of God, neither by reason of her false worships, half jewish & half heathenish. To be short, ambition & the want of charity whereof it proceedeth, these make schismatics, & therefore the poor people which do not hold thereof, but are carried away with the faction of the mightiest, as it were with a stream, this although it be a separation, yet properly it is not a schism. And even as in factions which are made in a kingdom against the common wealth, a good prince punisheth the Captains, & through his clemency pardoneth the people, who were let alone either to go through ignorance, or in respect of their authority etc. even so it is to be presumed that the father of mercy doth towards his poor children, which for the most part do mourn under the ambition of the prelate's, & are not partakers of their subtle counsels. This be simply spoken of the Schismatical Churches, that is to say, which have no notable heresies joined with their schisms. The like thing also may be found in the Churches of the heretics: for oftentimes the leaders of the Church are heretics by their subtleties in certain things, & not the people who understand then not, contenting themselves with the simplicity of the word which always is most true. But we will speak of this more amply in another place. We will conclude then that the works of the pure Church are faith and charity, the word and the Sacraments purely & lawfully administered. August. contra Faustum, lib. 19 ca 11. The marks of the impure Churches are, when therein they fail in part, or be impure: the which thing many times falleth out ordinarily together. To be short, howsoever it be, when it hath no religion, nor no doctrine, nor no visible signs, to distinguish it from others. We say that the Christian Churches have their doctrine comprised in the old & new Testament, & their Sacraments, which are Baptism & the Supper, that those which minister the one & the other purely, are that pure Churches: that those which minister them impurely, are the impure Churches, & the Church of Rome, the most impure of all others, which hath so villainously defiled both the one and the other, that there remaineth not any more so much as any show of the institution of Christ. That the other marks which our adversaries allege, are common both to the pure and the impure Church, & such as for the most part hold not. CHAP. III THey that perceive themselves vanquished in this, that they have not the essential marks of the pure & sound Church, they would quite contrary make us believe, that the true Church can not be known by the pure & sincere administration of the word & Sacraments, but by certain outward marks, to wit, by antiquity, multitude, succession of places and persons, by miracles & revelations: not otherwise then false coiners, which will not have men to know their money by the fineness of Gold, and by the touchstone, but by the weight, by the sound, & by the coin & the colour, which they may easily falsify. They allege therefore unto us antiquity, Antiquity. following that which is said unto job of one of his friends, job. 8.8. job. 32.7. Ask for the ancient generation, & prepare thyself to seek after the fathers. Again days shall speak, or the multitude of years shall teach wisdom. To whom I could answer by job himself, even in the verse next following: The masters are not always wise, neither do that old men always understand judgement. Also it is the spirit of God, & not years that aught to speak in man. But forasmuch as they make an instance so low, it behoveth that we give them a more full answer. The question is here of the purity of the Church. Now the Church is compared to a little bark or ship, and the more she is upon the Sea, the more she leaketh: and unto a house, which with age decayeth, and falleth to ruin: and to a City, and the policy of it corrupted, if once a man draw it to any other beginning: and to a man's body, to which years do bring an heap of all kind of evils. To be short, to the most healthful and temperate body in the world, age is even as sickness itself. I say then that antiquity alone, aught to make us think that in the Church there is a great sickness and much filthiness, and that even for this cause alone without any longer confutation, it behoveth us to bring a broom to purge it, and to call for a Physician: so far is it of, that for these things a man should maintain that she is pure and sound, as they do. Furthermore I demand how they will answer unto the heathen, yea to Saint Austin himself, August. super Psal. 64. who sayeth that jerusalem began by Abel, and Babylon by Rain. Also that the promise was by Isaac, and the bastardise by Ishmael which was the elder. Consequently what would they have answered unto the jews in the time of our Saviour jesus Christ, if that antiquity had been a true mark of the Church? They said that they were the children of Abraham. Now he was called the Father of the believers. For they had their genealogy from the creation of the first man. They could have alleged the covenants that were made of old between God and them. And after that Christ was sent unto them according to these promises, under the shadow of this antiquity, they called him the Carpenter's son, a Samaritan, one that hath the devil, a Preacher of novelty: and there is great likelihood, that if our masters had been then there in that time (seeing that they keep the self same arguments) they would have holpen to have crucified him. Now we say likewise that Antichrist who was foretold unto us, entered into this ruinous house, whiles the most part was a sleep in this dead sleep of antiquity, in stead of that was said unto them, Watch & pray: & that the subtilest lent him their hand till he had turned all topsy-turvy, and yet men would not know him. Furthermore I demand what they will answer unto the Greek Churches, the Armenians, Ethiopians etc. founded by the Apostles, & as old as the Church of Rome, yea and elder too, seeing that the Church of Christ, as we know, took her beginning from the East to the West? If antiquity be a mark of purity, they are pure: & if they be pure, the Latin Church in comparison & to their judgement, is most impure. If they be heretics & impure, as the Latin Church doth hold them, than it followeth that antiquity is not a mark to prove the purity or verity of the Church. How then? shall we reject antiquity? nay rather we embrace it with all our hearts, & a great deal better than our adversaries: but in such fort we embrace it, as the ancientest of times be asked, Dan. 8. & heard before all our fathers, and always according to this most certain rule, that Primum quodque verissimum, that the first things are truest, that is to say, that when there shallbe any question of a pure Church, we look into the word of God what she hath been of old time, & that we draw her from the rust of our evils which she hath gotten through age, & so restore her unto the beauty & integrity of her youth. See then how we aught to honour antiquity, to reform ourselves according unto it, and not to suffer ourselves to be corrupted with the rust, and so to perish under the shadow of it. This is the rule which our master hath given us. When there was question concerning divorce, that Moses had agreed unto the people for the hardness of their hearts, they had a prescription long enough, if prescription might have had place against the institution of God: Notwithstanding he answereth in one word, It was not so from the beginning: Mar. 10.4. that is to say, there was no such ordinance of god. Tertullian saith, Prescription is nothing against the truth, neither time, Yert. de virginibus velandis. nor authority of persons, nor privileges of kingdoms. For there is no foolish custom which can have authority against the truth. Now Christ is called the truth, and not custom. And if Christ be always, & more ancient than all, then also is truth more ancient than all customs. Heresies have always been vanquished by the truth, & not by novelty, and whatsoever is contrary to this truth, it is heresy, although it be never so old a custom. Cyprian saith we must not regard that, Cipr. lib. 2. epist. 3. which any other hath done before us, but we must regard that which Christ hath done, De seipso ad Pompeian. episto. 9 & in episto. ad Quirin. in sentent, episco. & in▪ August de Bapt. lib. 5. cap. 23. Ignatius ad Philadelph. canon. Consuetud. dist. 11. which is before all, for we must not follow the custom of men, but the truth of God. Again he saith, custom without truth is an old error, & the Lord hath said, I am the truth, and not, I am custom. Ignatius saith; all my antiquity is jesus Christ, whom not to hear is manifest perdition. See then how the most ancient send us always to say hold upon the truth, which is most ancient of all. For this is always a right rule, L. Quae ab initio. D. de regulis juris. and to be received, that those things which are naught worth in the beginning, are no whit better in the continuance of time, and if a man cannot prescribe against kings, and against the Church in their possessions, much less he can do it against God and against the truth, which is the only treasure of the Church. Now let us come to multitude, Multitude Exod. 23. it is said expressly, thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. Mat. 7.13. Luk. 12.32. Also the gate is wide that leadeth to perdition. Contrary wise, fear not my little flock: for it is my father's pleasure, to give you a kingdom. Deut. 4. 2● &. 7.17. &. 9.1. &. 11.23. Moreover we see that all the world was brought to one only Noah, and afterwards to Abraham. Then God chose one people of Israel, the lest, as he hath said, of all peoples, and finally of all people's the lest part, to wit, Christendom, which for this cause he calleth a little flock. According to which S. Austin saith, Augustin. super. psal. 128. that the Church was sometimes in one Abel, and in one Enoch. Multitude then should be rather a presumption of the false then of the true Church, of impurity rather than of purity, for as much also as man in all things is prove by nature to evil, and tendeth not unto good, unless he be as it were drawn by force unto it. If we look to the number of paynim, they will set against us in all nations almost, many against one, and again all nations against one only nation, yea, and in that nation itself all the families of one time against one or two: as namely in the time of Noah, those which were called the children of God, Gen. 6. mocked him & his religion. Likewise amongst this chosen people of God, 1. Reg. 29.10. the Samaritans bore themselves against juda, for there were ten tribes against two, 1. Kin. 22.8 and in juda & Israel the idolaters gained against the people of God, for Elias complaineth that he was left alone, jere. 4. & against the good Prophet Micheas, there arose up four hundred false, & the Prophets cry that all the people were deceived, even from the Kings, jere. 18.18. to the Priests & Prophets. In the Christian Church also there shall be as few in that place, for even at the beginning it was said, Isai. 53. Who hath believed our word, & to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? & we read that it was brought to a small number of persons, & the schoolmen themselves hold, that after the death of our Saviour, in one instant it consisted in the virgin Marie alone. In the greatest flower of it, we read that after the death of Constantine, Thedoret. lib. 2. cap. 16. his son being of the same name, favouring the Arrians, there were so few sound professors amongst the Christians, that the Emperor reproached them, that four or five persons with their Athanasius, would trouble the peace of the whole world, to whom Liberius the Bishop of Rome answered, that his solitude or fewness did no whit diminish the word of faith. In the end we are advertised that when that son of man shall come (before which that son of perdition must seduce the world) he shall find neither faith nor charity on the earth, Mat. 24. and that those days shall be as the days of Noah, & Lot etc. The eclipse them of this Moon shallbe as it were universal, all the whole earth being put between the Church and the Sun: & therefore if we have no other direction in these darknesses, than the multitude, we shall have no part with that little number. Moreover, the Christians which reject the Pope in Asia, and in Africa, are a great many more in number then the others. If the Pope hold them for pure Churches, then is the Roman Church an heretic, for she condemneth them, and excommunicateth them for divers points of doctrine. If not, than multitude, which is a common argument to the impure Churches themselves, can not be alleged for a mark of purity. And yet for all this, we cease not to praise GOD, for the blessing which he hath given unto his word, making the same to fructify, and increase to hundreds and to thousands: likewise we pray, that as he hath already drawn a part of Christendom from under the yoke of Antichrist, so it will please him to continued it more & more. But we say that if in certain places it seem that God do retire but few, Amos. 3.12. as the Pastor that saveth from the mouth of the Lion, an ear of his sheep, as saith the Prophet Amos, or according to jeremy, jere. 3.16. taking one of one town, & two of one tribe, for to retire them into the restoration of his Church, yet for this cause we must not call the truth into doubt, for as much as the self same truth hath foretold us this, & the great number is no mark of purity & verity, nor the little number of falsehood and heresy. Succession of place. Now followeth the succession of place and of persons, which they allege against the succession of true doctrine which we require in the Church. As concerning the place, there is no doubt but that this is to play the jews, to enclose Orbem in Vrbe, that is, the whole world in one city. For the Church is not any longer tied to jerusalem, but we see every day that God calleth his people, even those which seemed not to be his people, and contrariwise he hath permitted by his righteous will, that many Christian Churches have been turned into the Temples of the Turks, Apo. 12.6. etc. as that of Ephesus founded by S. Paul and S. john, and that of Bonne in Barbary where S. Austin preached etc. And further that is said expressly, Glossa communis in esi versiculum. that the Church of God for a long time by reason of the persecution of Antichrist, shall retire herself into the wilderness, as the common gloze itself doth expound. Moreover the Church is a city, that is to say, one union of Citizens under the just government of Christ. Now between a city and a town there is this difference, that the one consisteth in walls, & the other in the union of the people governed under the same laws, & therefore the city of Rome was at Veies with Camillus being a banished man, Deies was a little town not far from Rome. Plutarch. in Themist. Dion lib. 41. Appian in libic. Plorus. cap. 49. though the town of Rome was in the hand of the enemy. And Themistocles said that Athens was in ships which the Romans had taught the poor Carthagians to their cost, when they made their City to be carried out of their town. To be short, the Pope's themselves have maintained for lxxx. years together, that the Romish Church had her sea in Auignion although they had forsaken Rome. Moreover this argument is common to the Churches, greeks, Syrians, Armenians, Ethiopians, etc. whom the Pope condemneth in many points of doctrine. To conclude, if ever there were Church that might allege succession of place, it was jerusalem. For of it was said, The Lord will evermore dwell in this Temple: 2. Chro. 33 Psal. 33. 2. Chro. 7. Also I have chosen, and sanctified this house, to the end that my name may devil there for ever. And therefore the priests had no other answer to all the prophets that reproved them, but this: jere. 7. &. 26. The Temple, the Temple, the Temple of the Lord. But see what the Lord himself answereth unto them: Go saith he, & see Shiloh, I have chosen it from the beginning, for my house. Now see what I have done unto it for the wickedness of my people, I will do even so to the place, which I have given unto you and to your fathers. But if you will that I devil there, amend your ways, & turn from your evil deeds. Now if he have forsaken his own temple for the iniquity of the priests, besides which he had none erected in the whole world, must we tie ourselves to the Church of Rome, or to any other place, seeing that all the Elimates of the world are equally his temple? Succession of persons. Concerning the succession of persons, that is no less frivolous than the other. In all estates & common weals, there is one perpetual sequel of magistrates, either by succession or by election. Now if there be any question of reforming the estate according to the laws, there is no way so ill, as to use these arguments, I am a magistrate as was my predecessor, or from the father to the son, ergo the common wealth hath not to make any reformation. None ever doubted, but that Nero was a tyrant although he was descended from Augustus, neither would any man affirm that Commodus was a good prince, although Marcus Aurelius was his father. In like manner every one will accord that Manasses defiled the church, & violated all justice, Zackar. in tractatu de regimine principum. Bald. de Schism. albeit he was the son of good Ezechias: and josias, he reformed the Church & the laws, who was the son of Manasses himself. And the civil lawyers themselves which make two sorts of tyrants, the one sort without title, & the other of exercise, that is, one sort unjust usurpers, the other unjust governors, so we also make two kinds of Pope's playing the tyrants over the Church, one sort which they call intruders, which are thrust in there unlawfully, the other abusers, abusing their authority, showing thereby, that that which may fall out in the succession of magistrates in the common wealth, may also fall out in the succession of prelate's in the Church. Furthermore if ever any might allege the succession of pastors, they were the jews: for they were of the house of Aaron from the father to the son, & besides them none might sacrifice. Moreover to them it was promised, that they should so continued for ever. And hereof it was, that when the Prophets exhorted them to reformation, they had no other thing in their mouth, The law shall not perish from the Priest, nor the council from the wise, nor the word from the Prophet. But the spirit of the Lord answered them, jerem. 8.8. Say not, We are wise, & the law of the Lord is with us. For it is in vain, that the pen is made, and that there is a scribe. The wisemen are confounded. And seeing that they have rejected the word of the Lord, what shall be their wisdom any more? Likewise when they boasted to jesus Christ, Io. 8.44. that they were the seed of Abraham. I know it well (saith he) but the devil is your father. And in very deed this successive & hereditary wisdom crucified Christ, and rejected it salvation, as also this self same succession, but yet only pretended, worshippeth Antichrist & entertaineth it own perdition. Moreover I demand what these allegers of succession would have answered to the Samositans, Nestorians, Arrians, etc. who had their beginning continued from the first Bishops, even to themselves, & namely from Nestorius, & Samosatenus, both which were lawfully called to the patriarchal churches, the one to Constantinople, & the other to Antioch. Also what will they answer to the succession alleged by all the Greek & East Churches? to be short, to the reformed churches of England, Denmark, Swethen, a great part of Almaigne etc. through all which, there is at this day this succession from Bishop to Bishop, & from pastor to pastor. If they will allege the Pope's supremacy, a man may deny it them, & this is another question. If simply succession, than they have lost their cause: If that doctrine, them we gain this point, that the simple succession of persons without the succession of doctrine, is nothing worth. They allege that the ancient Doctors have used this argument, & we deny it not. But they must mark therein either that this was against heretics that denied the holy scriptures, or else there was always adjoining the succession of doctrine. S. Augustine enferreth it against the Manichees: but they rejected the greatest part of the scriptures, and manifestly the book of the Acts of the Apostles, to the end to deny the descending of the holy Ghost, and to establish Manichee in his place. He alleged also unto them miracles, antiquity etc. but he addeth immediately after. You on your part allege nothing like, but only you hold a promise of the truth amongst you. notwithstanding if you could evidently prove it, August. contra Epist. fundam. cap. 4. Idem contra petib. ca 16. I suppose it aught to be preferred before succession, antiquity, miracles and all things else. This is as we dispute against them that deny the scriptures, by probable reasons & by authorities of profane books, albeit we hold them not for rules of the truth. Against the Donatists, Arrians, Pelagians & others, who accept the scriptures, August. Epist. 156. he disputeth by the scriptures. In a certain place he allegeth amongst other things the succession of 39 Bishops of Rome, but this was with this caveat. In all this company there was not one Donatist, that is, there was not one that held any such doctrine as you do. Iren. lib. 4. cap. 44. Irenee saith, that they are not always true priests, which seem so to be: but they which keep the doctrine of the Apostles. Tertull. de prescript. adversus hereticos. Tertullian presseth the heretics of his time, who for the most part denied the Scriptures, to show that their predecessors were the Apostles or the Apostles scholars: but by and by afterwards he requireth consanguinitatem doctrinae, the consanguinity or kindred of doctrine, & preferreth it before all succession, that is to say, that they only were not the sons of the Apostles, but also their doctrines were the daughters of the Apostolical doctrine, Chrysostome saith, that the pulpit maketh not a priest, but a priest the pulpit. To be short, a man shall not find any which hath spoken in any other sense. And now seeing that none can transfer that to his successor, which of right doth not belong unto him, & that S. Paul hath forbidden us to hear the Apostles, & the Angels themselves, preaching any other Gospel than his own, doth it not follow that the successors of the Apostles are rejected if they preach otherwise? It followeth then that the succession neither of place nor of persons is any thing worth, but only the succession of doctrine, which we have said before, to be the true & infallible mark of the pure Church. Concerning miracles, if a man speak of those which were wrought either in the publication of the law by Moses, Miracles. or in the confirmation of the Gospel by jesus Christ & his Apostles, it is certain that they were generally wrought, aswell for the Samaritans as for the jews, for heretics as for sincere & sound professors, for the pure churches, as for the impure, forasmuch as the only question is towards one to show the true God giving forth the law, & towards the others, the true Christ promised in the law, whom both the one & the other make profession to receive & worship. And therefore this argument is common to both two. Concerning the other which they allege, specially in that same state in which we say Antichrist heareth dominion, I say they are false in effect, Titus Livius in many places. because they hear witness to falsehood: but if they had any true, yet they are not therefore sure testimonies of the truth. The heathen had their devilish miracles in the temples of their false gods, & some in effect true, as may appear by all their histories. Simon Magus, who would be acknowledged for Christ, wrought miracles. So likewise did Apollonius Tianeus and Apuleus of Madaure. But these for the most part might be illusions, the which the devil wrought to abuse fools, having nothing (as S. Augustine saith) more agreeable to this, Augustine de utilitate credend. cap. 16. 2. Kin. 18.24. than their outward senses. But God wrought those great miracles among the Samaritans, in their strongest Idolatry, as when he made the Assyrians to be eaten of Lions, for to revenge his contempt among his enemies, & not to authorize the faults & abuses of the people. He wrought some in the time of those heresies next before the coming of Christ, to show the power of his name to all nations. Yea it should not seem strange, when he will work such in lands newly found, for to vanquish the devils which reigned there. All this then is too little to be a mark of the pure Church, unless the churches of the Samaritans', & the heretics of the former times had been pure churches. This is that which S. Augustine answered to the Donatists, August. lib. de unitate Ecclesiae. cap. 46. which would prove their doctrine by miracles. You allege (saith he) miracles, in which a man is not to be heard in respect of the place, but in regard of his desire. We will not prove our church, neither by succession of Bishops, neither by the authority of counsels, nor by the number of miracles, nor by visions nor dreams. All such things are to be allowed so far forth as they are done in the Catholic Church, but they prove not that the Church is Catholic, for that dependeth upon the scriptures. Our Saviour Christ hideth not this from us, that he will cast into everlasting fire those that have wrought miracles in his name. Mat. 7. This is not then as our adversaries say, a gift that sanctifieth them that do them. It is also foretold us that many false Christ's shall come with miracles, Mat. 24. to seduce if it were possible, even the elect. 2. Thess. 2. And S. Paul saith, that Antichrist shall come according to the efficacy of Satan, in all power, & signs & miracles of deceit. This then is as little, Hierom. upon the 7. of Mat. Chrisost. upon the 1. Epist. 2. Thess. August. lib. 20. cap. 19 De civitate Dei. a gift of the spirit sanctifying and purifying the Church. This is more: for some of these miracles shall not be altogether false in effect, but only in their end, that is, because they tend to a false end, to establish the seat of Antichrist, as saint Augustine hath taught us upon this place: and Saint john Chrysostome, when he saith, that there are miracles not only of illusion, August. super. psal. 9 but true and effectual, tending to bring in falsehood. Now if miracles approve the purity of the Church, and the truth of doctrine, than Antichrist hath gained his cause, if not, it is so far of that the miracles wrought under the Papal sea, aught to be alleged for confirmation of purity, that rather quite contrary, seeing that no other miracles are promised before the coming of Christ but his own, we should suspect, that the Roman Sea is that prodigious sea of Antichrist, which was before foretold us. Let us follow them amidst these difficulties, Luk. 24. the instruction that jesus Christ hath given to all Christians in the person of his Disciples. There were miracles wrought before his birth, but none were near accompanying his own birth, & therefore there could be no abuse in it. In his life time there were an infinite sort wrought, of which they were made eye witnesses: he being fastened to the cross, dead, & buried, & afterwards they saw him eat and drink with them. But of all those famous Magicians, their enchantments died with them, neither was there ever one raised up again. For it was enough for him to say unto them at his departure, You have seen the singular miracles which I have wrought. You aught therefore no more to doubt, that I am that same anointed, which was promised unto you. Contrariwise, he sendeth them to the Prophets, to Moses, to the Psalms, and to be short, to the holy Scriptures, to the end they may there mark what they have seen, and what was therefore told them by the Spirit of God, and that what he had foretold them, was now also accomplished. Touching revelations and visions which are a kind of miracles, Revelations. we have the plain text which decideth this matter. Deut. 13. If there shall arise (saith the Lord) amidst thee, a false prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and that the sign or miracle which he hath told thee come to pass, saying, Let us follow strange gods, etc. hearken not to the words of this Prophet etc. There are then both Prophets, and visions, true in effect, and yet false in their end and trial: which trial is doctrine, as is to be seen in this place. Likewise when Saint john, to the end to keep us from false prophets, exhorteth us to prove the Spirits, by and by he addeth, 1. john. 4. Hereby shall you know the Spirit of God: Every Spirit that confesseth that jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God etc. that is to say, prove the spirits by the doctrine which they preach. Therefore Saul & Cayphas have prophesied, but as S. Augustine saith, August. lib. 2 add Simplic. quae. 1. as balaan's Ass once spoke, and yet for all that, they might have once spoken the truth. For the devil himself to colour his lying, some times speaketh truth. We conclude then that all the foresaid marks are not the infallible marks of the sound and pure Church. First, because they be not substantial but outward. Secondly, because they are common, aswell to falsehood as to truth. But that they may be marks, they aught to put a difference. Thirdly, they need to be proved and approved by another mark, to wit, doetrine: to be short, seeing it is said, that in the end Antichrist shall come, and seduce the greatest part of the people, and that he shall sit in the Temple of GOD, that is to say, in the Church itself, and in one of the most famous places, and that be shall work strange signs and wonders: we conclude on the contrary part that antiquity, multitude, succession, and miracles, are rather at this day the marks of the seat of Antichrist, & of that whore, then of Christ and of his chaste spouse, of whom Christ hath given us this one mark, He that is of the truth, heareth my voice. He that is my Disciple, abideth in my word. That the holy scripture is the undoubted touchstone, to try the purity of doctrine, which is the mark of the pure Churches. CHAP. 4. Our adversaries do thereupon object unto us, that doctrine as a common argument, and that every one saith, that he hath the pure doctrine on his side, and therefore that it can not be alleged as a mark of the pure Churches. I answer, that this is in deed a common brag of all heretics, but it is not always a common mark, but peculiar and proper to the pure Churches. For both the true Christians and heretics, may have antiquity, multitude, succession, and miracles, as we have already proved: but there is none but the sound and Catholic Church that can have truth, & true doctrine, which consisteth in faith and charity, forasmuch as she is one, and if the other boast of it, they have nothing else but the sound, the which by and by vanisheth, if it be once put to the touch. Likewise we see commonly that they which plead together, pretend every one that right is on their side. In mean time who will say, that seeing both twain say they have right, that there is no question to dispute of the right but only that he which is in possession should keep it. He that should say so, he should make himself a laughing stock, & should often times give authority, & title to the unjust possessor against the right owner: For besides the opinions of parties, there are advocates to debate the right, & law that must judge thereof. Now for to decide the matter whereof there is question, thanks be to God we have a good judge. The question between us is of the pure service of God. Now it is not in man's power to judge, how God must be served, much less for a poor peasant to make books, how Princes should be dutifully served. For between man & man there is always a proportion, but between man and God there can be none. For it is God alone which aught only to be heard in this matter, & not men, whose ordinances of the service towards god is for their own turn, & serve only for their own fantasies. This is the cause why God himself would be the only law giver unto his people, jere. 33.22 jam. 4.12. Deut. 12.8 &. 32. jere. 7.21. giving them a law which containeth whatsoever he requireth of men, aswell in general as in particular. And to cut of all man's inventions, he expressly forbiddeth them to add any thing thereto, or to take any thing therefrom: for he saith, that he will be served according to his pleasure, and not according to that which is good in men's eyes, which he hath knit up for us in one word, 1. San. 15.22 Prou. 30. I will obedience, & not sacrifice. The Priests were men, & very oftentimes they could not content themselves with this: but the example of the sons of Aaron may be an horror unto every one, who for offering strange fire unto the Lord, & not being commanded, they were consumed with fire sent from heaven. And whilst men have loved their own inventions, they have laden the people with traditions, ceremonies, and gloss, and whereas the law was given to convince them of sin, to the end they might seek mercy in Christ, they have found out other means for their salvation. But God by his Prophets, which he hath sent from time to time, between the publishing of the law & the Gospel, hath always held them to the law. To the law and the testimony saith Esai: jere. 7.21. Isai. 8.20. hide my law amongst my Disciples. And if they speak not according to this word, the morning light shall not be given unto them. And because they observed not this sacrifice, it was turned to them into a curse, & God was ready to make a divorce with his people, & therefore to cut of at one blow all their madnesses, Mal. 2. &. 4 Osc. 2. Malachi recommendeth to the Church, the observation of the law, and the ordinances given from Moses, until the coming of Elias, that is, of john the forerunner of jesus Christ. See then the law of the Church, even until the Gospel of grace was given, whereof the Prophets were expositors: by which a man may distinguish the false service from the true, without having any recourse to the long possession thereof, which had but small authority to give power to Ishmael himself against Israel. To be short, he, of whom it is only said, Hear him, to teach us by his example, hath given so great authority to the law, that he will have the people thereby to judge whether he be Christ or no: Mat. 17. Search (saith he) diligently the Scriptures: for you think that by them you shall have everlasting life, and they are they, which bear witness of me. The judge of the world attributeth so much to the lanws, joh. 5.39. Luk. 16.16. Luk. 24. that he will have the world to judge by the same law, whether he be the true Messiah, a deceiver of the people or the saviour of the world. And why so? because it is not the word of Moses nor of Esai, nor of any men, but even his, who sent him. Now by the coming of our Saviour Christ, the holy scriptures have lost nothing, but rather have the greater authority, Hebr. 2. God which hath spoken to our fathers (saith the Apostle) sundry times & in divers manners, hath in these last times spoken unto us, by his own son. This son is God himself, this is that essential word, this is he by whose coming the Church waiteth for the manifestation of all things. john. 4.25. The word then that proceedeth from him, aught to have an infinite & absolute authority, & thereunto must men add nothing. For it is the infinite wisdom of the infinite father, and can teach us whatsoever is necessary for our salvation. And seeing he hath so loved us, that he came into the world to die for us, he would not then hide from us the word of life. To be short, he came to lighten us in darkness, and hath promised never to forsake us. He hath then left us some light to guide us, and seeing he is that same light itself, it is such a light, as we following it, we cannot be deceived. Now this then is that same written word of God, which is the true image of that essential word, in which he hath imprinted all that is necessary for us to the glory of God, and all that is expedient for our salvation. The Apostles received this word from his mouth, to preach the same to all the world, and herein they were true and faithful Ambassadors. Again, the spirit of God, through which they preached, indicted it, and taught them what they should say, to the end it should be delivered unto the posterity, so as we have it there registered by four sworn Notaries of the holy Ghost, and expounded in many Epistles of the Apostles. Finally, these Registers of the kingdom of heaven, have gathered them together by the common care of the Churches, wherein they have been kept, the which have witnessed, that this word proceeded from them, and thereto have put to their seal: and to the end that no Scripture might be made equal unto them, and to take away also the foundation of all heretics, which every where allege it, and bring in, to serve every turn, the traditions of the Apostles, the Churches have brought them into one book, which they call the Canon, that is, the rule, and the Canonical Scriptures. See then that in the Christian Church, we have now as was under the law, one rule to judge the right from the crooked, a squire to direct our building, a compass to guide our bark, a law to judge controversies, and a God in his word to determine all matters which shall arise in the Churches. All that is agreeable to this word of God, is of God, for that it is his own word. All that is not agreeable to this word, is of man, and no man hath any voice in the Church, to make any laws concerning the service of God. The son of man alone, God and man, hath only this power, of whom it is only said, Hear him. Matth. 17. Albina then that is over and beside this, aught to have no place in the Church. By this word thus limited within the books of the Canonical Scripture, the primative Church hath taken away an infinite number of traditions, which heretics have made to pass under the name of the Apostles, allowing nothing but that which they have found contained in the foresaid books. By the same also they have stopped the mouth of heresies, which sprung up of the noughty and unsound interpretations thereof: to be short, they never complained, when they had any thing to do with heretics, who agreed of this judge, accounting their matter won, but rather when they vanquished them which refused the same word: forasmuch as it is impossible to find a judge, to them that refuse to be judged of God. Our adversaries always cry with open mouth, The Fathers, Fathers, Fathers: but behold whereby the Fathers would be judged, and before whom they would plead. This controversy (sayeth S. August. Augu. epist. 166. & lib. de unit. Eccles. cap 3. & 16. per totum adversus Donatistas'. ) requireth a judge: let Christ then be judge himself, and tell us himself, wherefore he died. Let the Apostle also be judge together with him: for in the Apostle also Christ himself speaketh. It is said, that he hath not spared his own son, etc. but hath given him to the death for us. See then the judge before whom he calleth the Pelagians, from whom our adversaries have borrowed their doctrine. Against the Donatists his ordinary words are, August. de pastoribus cap. 4. We have found Christ in the scriptures, there also must we find the Church. Also let it not be heard any more between us, I say this, thou sayest that, but rather see what the Lord saith, for we have (saith he) the books of the Lord, to which we both give consent, we both believe and keep. Again, the canonical Scripture is the rule of all. The epistles of Bishops give place one to an other, and Counsels are amended and corrected one by an other, but that must correct all. Also where shall we feed the sheep of the Lord? Upon the mountains of Israel: these mountains of Israel, are the altars of the Scriptures of God. When any man shall preach according to that, from thence take taste thereof, and all that is not from thence, cast it away, for fear of straying in the mists. And when the Donatists alleged Saint Cyprian unto him, of whom notwithstanding he maketh a great account in all his works, and specially through whom he might have overcome them in many matters, I (sayeth he) allow not the writings of Saint Cyprian for canonical. And yet herein I do him no wrong: for not in vain was this so healthful a Canon made, August. contra Cresconium lib. 2. cap. 21.32.38. lib. 5. cap. 17. de baptism. contra Donatist. in which are comprehended the books which we dare not judge, and through which notwithstanding we judge of all books, as well of infidels as of Christians. That which I find there agreeable with Scripture, I accept it with praise, that which I find not agreeable to the Scripture, by his good leave I reject it. And there is no doubt, sayeth he in another place, but that now he seeth all more clear and bright then when he was conversant in darkness, that he will rather be glad to know how comfortable it is for us, that in the writings of Christian orators and learned preachers, a man may find things to be reproved, and that in the writings of those poor fishers, that is to say, of the Apostles, a man shall find no such thing in them. Allege not therefore to me, sayeth he, in this case their writings, but the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Apostle. For from hence it is, that I hold the Church is spread over all, and is not tied unto any certain place. And the rule which he giveth us out of the books of Cyprian, August. 13. ad Hieron. in prolog. lib. 3. de Trinitat. distin. lib. Canoni. he hath also given out of his own, and out of all the rest, and the places also repeated by Gratian in his decretals. I know very well, that Gratian, to get credit to himself, giveth no less authority to the decretal Epistles of the Pope, then to the Canonical books of the scripture, impudently corrupting a place taken out of the books of Christian doctrine, Lib de doct. Christ. 2.18. where he speaketh the quite contrary. But this is not worth the confutation. And Alfonsus de Castro himself, who is one of the chief pillars of the Papacy, doth acknowledge this fault, & very lively reproveth him for it. The Arrians in a more high matter of the Christian faith, would escape by the councils: but he always draweth them to this. Let us not allege (saith he, disputing against Maximine their Bish.) neither thou the Council of Ariminium, nor I the Council of Nicee: August. contra Maximinum Arrianun, lib. 3 cap. 14. for neither I am bound to the authority of that there, nor thou to the authority of this here: but let us dispute by the authority of the Scriptures, which are common witnesses to us both, cause against cause, and reason against reason, etc. All his books are full of such places, especially against the Manichees, who denied one part of the Scriptures: following the example of Christ, August. contra Faustum Manich. lib. 11. cap. 5. who vanquished the saducees in the matter of the resurrection, specially by the books of Moses, because they rejected all the others. And yet this is he, that so astonished all the heretics of his time, that he put them to utter silence. But to the end that they condemn him not for an heretic, whom they have already so sore suspected, it is necessary to see what others do hold concerning this matter. Basilius contra Eunom. Apol epist. lib. 2. Idem epist. 8. Basil the great would that we examine all doctrines by the Scriptures, which were given unto us by the holy Ghost, rejecting whatsoever is not agreeable to them, as enemy to our salvation. And against all heretics he demandeth that only the Scripture be umpire. Chrysostom calleth it the most exact balance, Chrisost. in 2. Cor. homi. 13 in fine. Idem in ferm. de sancto. & ader. spiri. the squire, the rule, and judge of all doctrine. And in a certain other place the same sayeth, that the Scripture is the accomplishment of the holy Ghost, as Christ is of the law, and that without it we may not allege the spirit. Irenaeus lib. 5. cap 1. Irence calleth it the foundation and pillar of our faith. Tertullian sayeth, Take from heretics the books of ethnics, and win so much of them, that they will rest upon the Scriptures, and they can not stand. Also let the shop of Hermogenes show that it is written: if they cannot, let them fear the curse which is appointed for them that add to or diminish. To be short, they all drive to this point, that to examine all doctrine, to maintain the true, Concil. Carthag. 3. L. Cunctos populos. C. de summa Trinit. & side Catholic. to vanquish the false, we must have no other touchstone, no other Buckler or sword, but this. And this was the cause in the third Council of Carthage, it was forbidden to read any thing in the Church, but the Canonical Scriptures. And the Imperial law distinguisheth Catholics from heretics, Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 8. Hist. tripar. lib. 2. cap 5. lib. 1. cap. 14. by the Apostolical and evangelical doctrine: and Constantine the great the first Christian Emperor, having assembled that famous Council of Nicee, wherein there were three hundredth and eighteen Fathers, to dispute against the heresy of Arrius, he prescribed them this rule. We have (sayeth he) the books of the Evangelists, Apostles and Prophets, which instruct us in the holy law. By these books than it behoveth us to resolve all doubts and questions: And this rule also was there so exactly kept, that one Minister alone, Paphnutius by name, alleging the Scripture, made all the rest to change their opinion, who without any ground of the Scripture, for certain politic and human considerations, were ready to have abolished the marriage of Ministers. To be short, Gerson and Panormitane, L. Abbas Panormitanus in cap. signif. extrauag. de electis. Gerson part. 1. de exami. doctr. even when the Pope's thunderbolts and lightning excommunications were most hot, durst yet say and writ, that one poor lay man alleging a text of the old or new Testament, aught to be preferred before the Pope, yea and before a general Council, erring through ignorance, or of malice, against the text of God's word: which aught to be thought no more strange, then if they had said, that the word of God alone hath more weight, than all the Doctors of the world together, who are nothing else with all their knowledge, but ignorance and vanity. I have been long in this point, because now a days, they always speak unto us of the fathers, and I pray the readers to take a little pain, to read the places themselves, because they shall find them yet more plain and full, than the desire that I have to be short, suffereth me to writ at large. Isa. 8.20. With isaiah the Prophet therefore we call our adversaries to the Law, Luk. 16. john. 5.39. with Abraham to Moses and the Prophets, with Christ to the Scriptures, with all the fathers and Christian Doctors to the old and new Testament. If this judge then, which heretofore hath decided all controversies, & which hath been so reverently accepted even of the greatest part of heretics themselves, can not please them, either they must allege great causes of refusal against it, or else all the world will hold their doctrine more suspect, than the doctrine of all the heretics that ever were. The scripture is perfect & sufficient to salvation. Their first cause of refusing the holy Scriptures, is for that they are imperfect. But I demand of them, if they will require any other perfection, than a doctrine sufficient to salvation. If they content themselves to be saved, Saint john hath told us, that, Ioh 20. 3●. And Augustine upon that place. that which he hath written, is sufficient to believe in Christ, and to have life in his name: and as concerning the things which are omitted, S. Augustine pronounceth that he is rash, which presumeth to guess what they are. Saint Paul also saith, 2. Tim. 3. Marsil. lib. intitul defensor pacis. part. 1. cap 9 that the holy Scriptures are sufficient to make the man of God perfect, and wise to salvation. That they comprehend sufficiently the rule of faith, and whatsoever belongeth to the service of God. Behold then sufficiently wherewithal to save them. If they will not content themselves with salvation, but call the Scriptures imperfect, because they find not there the determination of certain curious questions which they handle in their schools, and yet they do the Scriptures wrong, for there they shall find their condemnation. Moreover I demand of them, from whence this imperfection can come: Is this of Christ: nay rather he is perfection itself. And seeing he came to accomplish our salvation, it must needs be he, of whom the Church must wait for the revelation of all things. He then could being perfectly wise, and would being perfectly good, teach his Church whatsoever might belong unto her salvation. Or is this imperfection of the Apostles: but they received this word of life from his mouth, and after he sent unto them his holy Spirit, joh. 16.13. Iren. lib. 3. cap. 2. to record it, and to put them in mind thereof, in such sort that they preached salvation to all nations, and as Ireneus sayeth, that which they preached by mouth, they have left unto us by writing, to be the pillar and foundation of our faith. The whole fault than cometh not that ways: it remaineth then that the whole imperfection be in men, who not finding in the Scriptures their imperfections, they esteem it imperfect, as they that have swilled in the snow waters from the mountains, call those imperfect, which have not wide and hanging throats like themselves, for that they have not their superfluous imperfection. We find in the Scriptures the invocation of one God alone, by means of jesus Christ alone, but they would found there the invocation of Saints. We there find, that purgatory cleansing is in the only blood of jesus Christ, they would find there that purgatory, which they have taken out of Virgil and Plato. We there find one only Mediator: but they would find as many there, as there are saints in their calendar. They call these things imperfections in the Scripture, which are rather so many infections in their Church. Furthermore I demand, be it that a man think that there wanteth something, who shall be so hardy, after such a workman, to put to his hand to make it perfect? If a man say the Doctors, why then quite contrary find it only perfect, & in it as in a glass they acknowledge the imperfections both of others, and of themselves. Mat. 15.9. john. 8. If they will bring in the Church through her traditions, why it is she that hath taught us to cut of by the books of this Canon, all that we find not therein, and further she is forbidden to serve God according to her traditions, and commanded to be a scholar of this word, and we know that this is not the part of a scholar, to usurp above the master. If the Pope do it, he is no longer a scholar of Christ, but in this point he declareth himself to be Antichrist, lifting up himself above all that is God, and by such a like gate the Alcoran of Mahomet hath entered into the world. The more safe way then, is to follow this word, and to believe that that perfect lawgiver hath given unto us a perfect law by the mouth of his Son, to the which we aught a great deal less to presume to add any thing of our own, then to that which was delivered to Moses. And if there were never found Painter, which durst take upon him to finish the image of Apelles, nor Poet the Aeneides of Virgil, which were but the works of vain men, what man shall be so arrogant, unless it be that son of perdition, which dareth put to his hand to the work of him which hath made man, and all that which a man loveth and beholdeth in this world: The scripture is plain and manifest to salvation. Their second refufall is, that the holy Scripture is obscure, and thereupon they call it doubtful, a dead letter, a letter which killeth, a matter of contention, and not the voice of the judge, riddles or dark speeches, and such other like names whereof their books are full: yea one of the great Masters of this time, Xanctes in lib. 1. de Atheist. could not abstain from saying, that Paul went so far beyond himself, that he entangled himself with many matters. But the holy Ghost calleth the Scripture the Testament & covenant. And we know that a good prince, dealing with his subjects, will not have them to be circumvented and caught in words: as also a good father making his last will, endeavoureth to set his children at one, and not to sow discord, and to give occasion of going to law, & quarrels amongst them. The presumption than aught to be on the contrary, to wit, that he which hath vouchsafed to save his people so mercifully, and which only may be called a true father, hath also delivered his covenant in as clear terms and express clauses as he could. And in deed in all our Scriptures the ethnics have not blamed any thing so much as to great plainness of them, which is far otherwise than that they would make men believe, that they are riddles or dark speeches. Again I demand of them, whether the obscurity of Christian doctrine be in the matter itself, or in the manner of handling it: In the matter they dare not say, for there is nothing more clear and more simple than the doctrine of salvation, and this is the answer of Origen to Celsus, who blamed the simplicity of it, Origen contra Celsum. because that it must be such as it was, because it was not such a philosophy as was brought to a little number of men, as that of Pythagoras, of Plato, or of Aristotle, but a salvation taught and preached to the whole world, which the whole world great & small, learned and unlearned might easily comprehend. If it be in the manner of handling, such obscurity of any author must arise either of ignorance or of malice. Of ignorance, because that, that which a man understandeth but darkly, a man can not teach plainly. Of malice, when we will boast our cunning, and not teach it, as Aristotle sayeth that he did expressly, in those same books of his natural philosophy, which yet notwithstanding all the world boast to understand, and as also certain other authors of profound Sciences in our time, have done, of set purpose. Now of ignorance there can be none, in that wisdom which hath spoken to the Apostles, nor in that spirit which hath inspired them. Of envious malice, there can be as little in him which died to accomplish our salvation, and in them which have published the same, even unto their suffering after him. It remaineth then, for to avoid these blasphemies, that either ignorance, or much rather malice be in our adversaries, and not in him which is wisdom, and goodness itself. Again I demand, whether in their judgement is more obscure, the Gospel or the Prophets: They will not say, I am sure, that it is the Gospel, for then little children would laugh them to scorn. And moreover Saint Peter sayeth, 2. Pet. 1.19 The Prophets were as shining candles in a dark place, in stead whereof Christ is the true Sun, john. 1.9. and that light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world. Moreover both in the one and the other we find Christ, in the one promised, in the other given, in the one to come, in the other come, in the one foretold, in the other speaking himself of himself. It is therefore sure, that the doctrine of salvation in jesus Christ, is less dark in the Gospel then in the Prophets, in the New Testament, then in the Old, which is expounded and declared by the New. Psal. 119. Now David sayeth that this word is unto him as a lantern for his feet, and not only a lantern, but which serveth to lead him in the path, yea in the path itself which can not lead astray. That by the same he is more wise than they that are elder. Contrariwise Esaye pronounceth, that the watchmen of the house of GOD, Isa. 56.10.11. who thought themselves very clear sighted, were blind, because they had no regard thereto. Moreover Christ sendeth not his hearers to the gloss of the Rabbins, to traditions, john. 5.39. to the Thalmud, to the Law not written, wherewith the pharisees were puffed up: but to the Scriptures, Luke. 24. to the Law written, and he never allegeth Testimonies from any other place. Saint Luke also praiseth those of Beroa, which searched them, Acts. 17. and they which searched them, found there their salvation, whereas they which gave themselves eagerly to the speculations of men, crucified him. It followeth then that by a more strong reason, we aught at this day, to search our salvation in the Scriptures, having the Old and New Testament together, the shadow and the body, the stars and the sun, the messages of salvation, and salvation itself. If any man yet find obscurity in the doctrine of salvation, I leave it to be judged of all, which of the two is more plain, either that which is in the word of him which is the light of light, john. 1 & 8. & 12. or in the blindness of those, whose spirits naturally are nothing else but darkness. But putting the case there were such great obscurity as they say, let us see a little by whom they would make it brighter. Shall it be by the doctors? Nay rather contrariwise, as we shall see hereafter, they rejoice not but in the brightness of this sun. What then: shall it be by the Church: But the Church is the moon, a body shadowed and dark of itself, which hath no light, but that which it giveth her. What then: shall it be Thomas: shall it be Scotus: shall it be Bricot and a rabblement of such like? I report me to all men of judgement, whether they darken, or make more bright the word of God. It remaineth then that we search in this light, the light of all our thoughts, and that we conclude that if we see nothing, the fault thereof is in our eyes, and not in the light. They allege that the Scripture is doubtful, because that Satan alleged it unto jesus Christ. I answer, that there is no law that a man may not reject by this argument: for all laws are subject to be alleged both by good & bad. But let them also mark, that by the same jesus Christ stopped his mouth. Also, your Saviour Christ hath spoken in parables and similitudes: we know that similitudes are to make clear, and not to darken: and I make their own consciences judges, whether those parables of Christ, so expounded as we have them in the scriptures, tend to any other end. When he would teach us who is our neighbour, he maketh it plain by the similitude of the man descending from jericho: what the kingdom of heaven is, by the similitude of the sour: Luke. 10. Luke. 8. Mat. 13. Luke. 15. what the vocation of the Gentiles is, by the prodigal child, and so likewise of other. I ask if by these parables we may judge more clearly or more darkly, & whether all the gloss or long commentaries of the pharisees, were able so clearly to expound this matter: But they will say, you cannot deny, but the there are many dark places: for S. Peter himself saith, 2. Pet. 3.16. that there are such in the epistles of S. Paul: nay but rather we may say, that forasmuch as there are only certain places dark, it followeth contrariwise that the Scripture is not dark. For this is an evil argument, to reason from some to all, and he that sayeth that upon a garment there are black spots, he sayeth by consequence that that garment is not all black. And as concerning those, we say that the light of the Scripture, is sufficient for to give them such light, as they need not devil any more in darkness: unless it be those whom the God of this world hath blinded in their understanding, as Saint Paul saith, 1. Cor. 4. to the end they should perish, & that the light of the Gospel should not shine unto them, 2. Pet. 3.16 or as Saint Peter sayeth, in the self same place which they allege, to the unstable and unlearned, which pervert the Scriptures to their own destruction. This is the sentence of all the ancient fathers, with whom we conclude this point. There are (sayeth Saint Augustine) handling this matter, August. libr. 2. de doctr. Christ. cap. 2, & libr. 2. cap. 9 certain hard places in the Scripture, and yet notwithstanding there is no other thing, but that which is expounded in most express words in other places, whereby the holy Ghost hath wonderfully measured, and tempered the holy Scriptures, to the end that those clear places should serve healthfully to satisfy the hunger of the readers, and those darker places should increase their appetite, to take away all contempt: but in that that is spoken clearly in the Scriptures, they shall find all things which contain faith and the way to live well, to wit, hope and charity. And he that will have more examples hereof, in the foresaid places he allegeth more. Saint Ambrose: There is (saith he) much obscurity in the Prophetical writings, Ambro. in Psal. 119. serm. 8. (he speaketh namely of the Prophets) but if thou knock at the door of the Scriptures, with the hand of thine own understanding, thou shalt gather the sense of the dark places, and the word of God itself shall be that, that shall open it unto thee. The most obscure and dark then that is therein, may be made plain by itself. S. Basill: If we be commanded to do any thing, and we know not how, Basil. lib. 2. de Baptism, quest. 4. let us take the LORD for our guide, who sayeth unto us, Search the Scriptures: and let us follow the Apostles who asked himself of the interpretation of those things, which he had spoken unto them: and of those things which he hath spoken to us in one place, let us learn to understand those things which he hath spoken in another. Marsilius de Milan, in. lib. defence. pacis part 1. cap 9 This is that which Marsilius of Milan disputed against the Pope 300. years ago: that the Law of the Gospel is sufficient, perfect and plain of itself, immediately to direct us to everlasting salvation, and to turn us away from the path of misery. But to them which find nothing in the light but darkness, I fear that it is to no purpose to allege plain places out of the ancient doctors. The mischief is, that we find not in the Scriptures in any place, neither the Mass, nor Purgatory, neither the papacy, nor the power of one man alone over the whole Church, and such other inventions of the prince of darkness: and therefore we accuse God's word to be dark, to the end we may fetch these goodly doctrines from thence by mean of some cold Allegory, that wheresoever this light shineth not unto us in the Church, we should know that there is nothing but darkness. But yet see a farther matter than the former: for it is so far of, that they will accept the Scriptures for their judge, that they themselves will be judges over the Scripture. If the Church (say they) had not kept the Scriptures, The church is not judge over the Scripture. and witnessed of them, they had been of no more authority than any other writing. Therefore the Church is judge over the Scripture, and not the Scripture over the Church. First, I demand what that Church is, which hath kept the Scriptures, whether this be only the Christian Church, or the jewish Church also? Now we know that the Old Testament was delivered from hand to hand unto us by the jews, and therefore the ancient doctors called them the book keepers of the Church. For they were so curious, that they would enter every tittle, and point, both the accents and letters, and made a Register of them. Therefore the jewish Church was judge of the Old Testament when jesus Christ came, and therefore to very evil purpose our Saviour Christ sendeth the people to the Scriptures, who might more safely have been sent to the high Priests and Pharisees. But these judges of the Scriptures, they judged Christ to death, & the Scholars and Students of the Scriptures acknowledged him for their life. And at this day, even by this argument, the jews should win the victory. It followeth then, whether they renounce this sophistry, or whether they will maintain it, that they renounce their Salvation. consequently I demand of them, Whether the Church of Rome alone have kept the Scriptures, or other Churches also: They can not say that it was the Church of Rome, or the Latin Church alone: For the Ecclesiastical story witnesseth, that the Primitive Church gathered the Canon of the Registers, of those Churches which were founded by the Apostles, and to which the same Apostles had written. Now there is but one Epistle written to the romans, and all the rest are written to the east Churches. In like manner the Gospel of john was kept at Ephesits, and that of Saint Mark at Alexandria, etc. If then the east Churches had a greater part in keeping the Scriptures, than the Roman, and therefore by this argument as much, or more authority over the Scriptures than it: I ask of the indifferentest amongst them, who shall judge but the Scriptures? And if they judge the Scriptures, who shall pronounce sentence over them: If the east Churches shall, than the romish Church hath lost her Cause. If the Church of Rome, than this shall he in another respect, then of keeping the Scriptures. If they say it be by their pretended prerogative of Saint Peter's Seat, it is meet that they prove it by the Scriptures. And therefore mark Peter's Sea, which doth take upon it to judge the Scriptures, being yet subject to the Scripture itself. Furthermore I pray every man to examine this conclusion. The Church of GOD hath kept the Scripture: The Church beareth witness of the Scripture: Ergo she is above the Scripture. The edicts of a Prince are registered in all his Countries. The laws are gathered together and written by Clerks. All Contracts and bargains are subsigned by witnesses. And yet for all that, he that would say, that they were above the Kings, above the laws & contracts, he should make himself a laughing stock. If they say that the Laws of God have no place, neither more nor less than edicts of some Princes, except they be agreeable to the word of God: I answer them, that it is not the Church of God that hath this privilege: for she is the Spouse of Christ, and hath learned to obey her husband without any examination of his commandment, and must by and by hold her peace, assoon as she heareth his word. For she knoweth also, that the wisdom of her husband (whose will is the rule of doctrine) is not like that of Princes, which it is necessary to examine, whether it be honest and profitable, Civil or uncivil: but if they be so stiff for the obtaining of this privilege, yet let them agreed with me herein: that this is that assembly, which hath lifted up itself above all that is called GOD, which fearing to be discomfited by the Spirit of his mouth, would therefore moussell and stop up his mouth, all that it might. The place of Saint Augustine which they allege, maketh nothing against that which hath been said before. I would not (sayeth he) believe the Gospel, unless the authority of the Church constrained or moved me. Ni me Ecclesiae Catholicae commoveret authoritas: where it is specially to be noted, that according to the style of Africa, Commoveret is taken for commovisset, that is to say, I had not believed the Gospel, unless the consent of the universal Church had moved me thereto: he meaneth not that the holy Ghost had not such a style, Contra epist funda. cap 5. as might make itself sufficiently known from other writings of men: For he himself instructeth us in this matter, in many places. Much less meaneth he, that the Church should be above the Gospel. For it is by the Gospel that he examineth all the Churches of his time: but rather that the universal consent of the Churches, the which received such & such books for the Gospels of Christ, made that he could not doubt, but that they were so, and that the apostles, whose names they did bear, were true authors of them. Not otherwise than as the consent of many ages, acknowledging such and such books to be Cicero's, Hypocrates and Plato's, do assure us that they were theirs. These were his very words against the Manichees themselves, who denied part of the holy scriptures in another place: O unhappy enemies (saith he) of your own souls! August. lib. ●3. contra Manich. & ●ib. 28. cap. 2. What Scriptures shallbe had in price, if the evangelical and Apostolical be not? Of what book shall men hold the certain author, if a man doubt that those holy books, which the Church holdeth were of the Apostles, should not be theirs? Who shall know whether the books of Plato, Hypocrates, Aristotle & Cicero, were theirs, unless it be for that from their time even unto ours, always men have been persuaded that they came from hand to hand? etc. Like as then I believe that the books of Manichee are his, because men have believed that they came thence from hand to hand: so also I believe the book of S. Matth. because even until us the church hath so held. The question is not then in this place, whether the writings of the Apostles have any voice to determine matters in the church: for as we have already showed, S. Aug. teacheth us that, in a M. places: but only whether such and such scriptures were the Apostles, yea or no. For the heretics denied not, but that the books of the Apostles had such authority, as they must be obeyed, but they denied that they were theirs, because that if they had once allowed them, they knew, that they must of necessity rest in them: And yet they pretended that they were never a whit less the church, than the Roman church doth. For they held that Manichee the chief of their sect, was the holy Ghost himself. But this was a blasphemy, not yet known to the most damnablest heretics that ever were: that the holy Scripture was subject to the Church, and that without her (as one of the Pope's Champions of our time saith), Wolffgang. Herman. it hath no more authority than Esop's fables. The jews have taught the Gentiles, that the Old Testament was the word of God, and many of the Gentiles believed it better than the jews. The Gentiles have kept for the Christians many good and ancient books, and have taught them that such and such were the authors of them, and yet for all that, they have not given any credit unto them. The bookeseller will teach us that such a book is Hypocrates work, and yet for all that, he shall not be a physician as Hypocrates was. For it is one thing to believe the word of any some man, & an other thing to be the author of a book. This is that which was said long ago by a great learned man: Marsil. de Milan part. 2. cap. 19 That the Church is true or undoubted, but as we say, by occasion, because she believeth the truth of the Scripture: but the holy Scripture is simply true, & of itself. For it is the truth itself. There followeth another argument, that the Church is before the Scripture: Whether the Church be before the Scripture. Ergo it is above the Scripture. When we speak of the Scripture, we understand the word of God, the which at the first was not written, and afterward was written aswell by Gods own finger, as by the pens of his servants, inspired by his holy spirit, as we have before declared. But now I would demand of them, from whence they fetch the beginning of the Church. If from the creation of man, and before sin entered: immediately after they were created, God gave them a commandment, that they should not touch the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and we must not dispute whether they had authority above this word, for why, they having disobeyed it, all the world from man to beasts sighs and groans for it. But will they not deny that the old and new testament had equal authority with this commandment? If they take it after sin entered, God blameth and convinceth our first parents of their fault: and this is the Law. And after he promiseth unto them the seed, which shall bruise the head of the serpent: & this is the Gospel. Behold them then dead in sin by the Law, and as it were new borne by the promise of Christ to come, in whom, they hoping after this word, were made the beginning of the Church, & without this they had been lost with all their posterity. Wherefore whether we fetch the Church from before the fall of man, she hath no power above the word of God, but is judged by it, and therefore the conclusion is false: Or whether we derive it after, yet the word is before the regeneration of the Church, that is to say, before the Church, and that antecedent itself shallbe false. Moreover this is an ill argument. It was the first in time, Ergo the first in authority. For we have a hundred Cities in France more ancient than our first kings, and yet notwithstanding without any gainsaying they obey their laws. And the word of God of itself is given to command, whereas the Church is placed in the world but to obey. And though it be so that the word of God be in power eternal, yet it is most certain that it must be last in this action, because that before he command, it must needs be, that it should first created some men whom it might command. This then is nothing but plain sophistry, which is not worthy to be heard in the Church. Moreover I demand of them when they make this argument, whether they mean to speak of the whole Church, comprehending all the states and particulars of the Church into one, or whether they speak of particular Churches, or of the church of Rome alone: If they understand the whole Church, as it is like they do: then they speak nothing that makes for them: for the church of Rome & the whole Church, are things far differing, & before that Rome was, or any Wolf there gave suck, more than 700. years the law of Moses was published in the Church. If they speak of particular Churches, the Cast churches will demand the same prerogative, and by the self same argument, they will set themselves above the church of Rome. For they are before them in time, as every man knoweth. If the church of Rome alone, by the virtue of the institution of Christ, yet they are to bring forth the titles and right thereof, and then they cannot bring forth one, that hath so much as any outward show. To be short, all this is nothing else, but a manifest dotage: for if they look to the beginning of the Church, they shall find neither Rome, nor the Pope, neither the See of S. Peter, nor consequently any authority above the word of God. If they look to the beginning of Rome, they shall there find the word, the law, the prophet's expositors of long time before: and therefore an authority far above their church. But in this a man may see the poor defence of their Church, when for the establishing thereof, the word of God must fall down, which is the foundation of the pure Church. Now in this whole disputation, they can not find one only word out of the ancient doctors, for there was never yet any heretic so monstrous, which durst set it forth, till the Council of Constance, where it was first set out by the doctors of the Church of Rome. There was the question moved concerning the taking away of the cup of our Lord from the people, expressly against the institution of the Son of God. There could not one place be found out in the Scriptures, which might favour directly or indirectly, plainly or darkly so damnable a sacrilege. john Hus called them to the holy Scripture, and they knew well that that was full against them. Then first they began to advise of those goodly Maxims or grounds, Nicol. Cusan. Cardin. epist. 2. de usu Communion. ad Bohem. which they have maintained even until this day: that the Church is above the holy Scripture: that the Scripture hath no other authority, then that which the Church giveth it: that the Scripture is, as they say, De bene esse, of the well being, Hossius Cardin. in Petroco. confess. but not of the essence or being of the Church: that such should be the interpretation as seemeth good to the Church: to be short, that the word of God was more long and large than the word written, and that the Church is more worthy than it: to which some have sithence added, that the Church should be in better case, if there were no Gospel written. These are the intolerable blasphemies which sprang up in this council, Concil. Trident. session. 5. cap. 2. who also were authors of one other goodly canon forsooth, that overthroweth all christianity, That we must not keep faith or promise with heretics. john Hus notwithstanding presseth them yet somewhat more nearly. Though it were so (saith he) that the Church should be above the word of God, to which you shall never have me to agreed: Show me yet that the mind of the ancient Church was ever so, that it ever so ordained, or so interpreted: Name me one only ancient doctor, which is not wholly and plainly against it. That it is so, yea our own canons do excommunicate all those which communicate not under both kinds: & therefore to communicate under one, is not to be partaker of the communion, Cardinal. Cusan. Epist. 2. & 3. and Bohem. but of excommunication. To this argument they yet found another shift more mischievous than the former: that albeit that of one commandment of the Gospel, there be at this day another interpretation, than was in the ancient Church: notwithstanding that, that meaning which is received in the Church, must be accepted as the way to salvation, in as much as the holy Ghost hath inspired it to the Church: That is to say, that the Pope & his maintainers, according to their good pleasure, may cry down all the ancient interpretations of the Scripture, as coins are, and put them into the Mint, to make theirs currant. Also that as the judgement of the Church is changed in the Scripture, so we must presume that the judgement of God is changed. And therefore when that good man john Hus could not content himself with these horrible blasphemies, their last argument was the halter & the hung man to cast him into the fire. To make God's spirit changeable, his word a nose of wax, God himself inconstant in his purpose, & changing himself according to the vanity & ambition of men: will there be found in the traditions of the Pharisees, in the speculations of the Cabalists and Thalmud, in the Alcoran of Mahomet, any such execrable blasphennes as these are? I leave to the judgement of every one, whether the spirit of God, or the spirit of Satan ruled there in those councils. That there can be found no other judge of the controversies of this time, but the holy Scripture, and how every one may judge them by the same. CHAP. V. NOw seeing then that they do doubt that the Scripture is not on their side, let us bear at their hands that they refuse it, and that they slander it as much as they can: let us also see now whether they can allow of any other judge besides it. I would demand of them, if of all the ancient doctors they would choose any one, which hath been free from those refusals, which they propound against the word of God, or else whether they will allow all? Concerning any one alone they cannot, for in every one of them, there may easily be found either one error or an other: but they have so many errors to defend, that to defend all, all the errors of all times & ages would not suffice. Moreover they would be ashamed to deny, that their style is more obscure than the style of the Scripture. Also they know in their own conscience, that in the most principal points they are on our side, and yet there is not any one of them, which they will accept in & through all things, for as much as they condemn in Irenee the error of the Chiliasts, and the interpretation which he made of the Apocalypse concerning the church of Rome, in Cyprian Anabaptisine, in Tertullian the heresy of Montanus, in S. Austin predestination, and so like wise of others. Will they then receive all alike for judges? but than who shall be precedent in the contrarieties of their doctrine and interpretations? For every one knoweth that there shall be found some every where. If it be the holy Scripture, that is the thing which we desire. But if they refuse the Scripture as party or partial, by a more strong reason then, we will not accept them for judges, which are parties against us. In like manner shall it be with the schoolmen, if they take them for judges, although that they be the principal authors of the errors of the Church of Rome: for between Thomas, and Scotus, and their armies set in battle ray, and fight one against an other, who shall be judge? It remaineth then that they choose either one of the Councils, or else all the Councils together. If they choose one, we know that in every one lightly, there is handled as yet but one thing, as for example: in the Council of Nice, the matter of Arrius: in the Council of Ephesus, and of Chalcedon, the matter of Nestorius, and Eutyches, and so likewise of others: but of these points, there is no contention between us. If they will have all, I demand who shall be precedent in the errors which the ancient fathers confess, August. in the 2. book of Baptism against the Donatists. and in the contrarieties which they number, who shall redress them? The second Council of Ephesus approveth Eutyches, the Council of Chalcedon condemneth him. The second Council of Nice maintaineth the worshipping of Images, but that of Frankford, assembled about the same time by Charles the great, pulleth them down. The first Council of Nice, according to the use of the primitive Church, permitteth the marriage of ministers, the councils of Neocesaria, Mentz, and the second of Carthage forbiddeth it. The Councils of Constance, and of Basill, do subject the Pope under the Church, yea they make him equal with other Bishops: those of Florence and of Trent, upon pain of the black curse, have set him above all. To be short, the Council of Carthage excommunicateth and curseth him to the devil that calleth himself universal Bishop, or chief Priest: and the Council of Trident, excommunicateth all those which hold not the Bishop of Rome for such a one. I demand then in these contrarieties, and a thousand others of like consequence, who shall determine the matter? shall it be the Church? Now the Church is that which hath said sometimes one thing, and sometimes another: for they hold that the Church is represented by general Councils, and those for the most part are such as we have spoken of. These are then Churches contrarying one an other, or rather one contrary to itself. Moreover, if it be the Church, yet we deny that it should be the Church of Rome: for it doth not belong (say they) to a particular Church, to judge of the universal, which is represented by general Councils. It remaineth then that they prove the supremacy of the Church of Rome, above the universal Church of Christ: but if they cannot prove it by the holy Scripture, none of the other Churches will believe them: for they did not believe Christ himself, bearing witness of himself, but God whom they by the holy Scriptures knew to have sent him. And seeing other Churches have their Doctors, Councils, and Traditions, aswell as the Church of Rome: It must follow, that the Church of Rome must prove her proud prerogative & title by the Scriptures. And if the Scriptures must be judges of the Church of Rome, and her prerogative, the which pretendeth & beareth men in hand to judge all other Churches, than there can not be a more competent judge, than the holy Scripture, without which the Church of Rome is nothing more than others, and from whom, whatsoever she hath, she must, will she nill she, fetch her pretended pre-eminence and authority. Now if they object, that there is no more need to judge of our controversies, and that they have been oftentimes judged already by Councils: August. cap. 3. & 16. de unitat. etc. Saint Augustine teacheth us, that Councils may err, and that the former Councils were amended by the latter, and therefore he presseth not the Arrians with Councils. Secondly, if this point have any place, what will they say then unto us, why they have derogated from the first Council of Nice, which is the first ecumenical Council, in the marriage of Ministers, and in the supremacy of the Pope, who there was made equal with the other patriarchs? And wherefore after the matter was so decided, would they have it yet pleaded again in the Council of Carthage? etc. Why would they have the Pope to be declared the Vicar of God in earth, in the Council of Trent, seeing that the Council of Carthage had already pronounced him excommunicated out of the Church, which would call himself the chief Bishop and head thereof? Moreover in the most approved Councils, the greatest part of the points which we dispute of, were not yet set out: for errors were not hatched, but by little and little, and they began to grow and increase, after that the tyranny of the Pope was brought into the Church, who in like manner also played the tyrant over the Councils. Moreover, we make a great difference between Councils and Councils: for we willingly accept the first Council of Nice and such like, because that the word of God governed there, the which word God always accompanieth with his Spirit. But we do not so receive the second Council of Nice, where Idols were established, were the holy Scripture was alleged as it were in mockery, and which by consequent could not be accompanied with any other than the spirit of Satan. It is said (say they) God created man to his own image, therefore we aught to have Images. Also no man lighteth a candle, for to hide it under a bushel: Therefore we aught to set Images upon altars. Also God is named marvelous in his Saints: therefore we aught to behold his glory in Images. I ask of them what man he is, that will rest himself upon a sentence given upon these proofs for Images? Now there are an infruite number of the like, where a man may plainly see the style of the spirit of Antichrist, alleging the Scriptures much worse than Satan did to our Lord jesus Christ. To be short, if a man will not judge in a Court, by former sentences, is there any reason to refuse the self same order in matters of conscience, and against the sentences themselves, that a man knoweth to have been given, the parties being therein neither heard nor called: But admit, that the holy Scriptures be the rule to compass all doctrines: they will yet ask me foran end, in so great contrariety which is amongst us, who he shallbe that shall expound and apply them: Concerning us, we are parties against them, and as couching them, they are parties against us, who shall be judge here then: for say they, Let the Scripture be so great a judge as men would have it, yet it speaketh not for to determine and pronounce the sentence. To this I answer, first that when a man is assured of the squeere in the measure, or of the compass in the ship, there is no Mason so slender witted, which doth not know in applying it, which is strait, and which is crooked: nor Mariner so unskilful, that doth not perceive, whether the ship keep her right course or Noah. And therefore let them only grant us, to guide the precepts of our salvation, according to the rule of salvation, contained in the old and new Testament, and we will therein submit ourselves, not only to a free and lawful Council, but also to learned and unlearned, to the ministers and common people, and to all Christians, for whose salvation it was written, who by themselves shall find in this word, the judgement of the word, and shall pronounce definitive sentence for the same. Furthermore, in every art there are certain principles and grounds, whereupon undoubtedly depend all the rest. Geometry hath her Axioms, Physic her Aphorisms, and the Evil and Canon law their general rules, by which they will scan all difficulties, which shall arise in their laws. Now, say I, that divinity also hath her rules & grounds, and the law of God, hath her certain principles, able to decide all controversies which are amongst us: yea and those so much the more strong and easy, as we are most assured, that there is no kind of doubt, contradiction, or contrariety in them, to make them void or unstable. Now we have three sorts of differences, or controversies with the Church of Rome: the one sort consisteth in things plainly forbidden in the word of God, the other in things which are not commanded, and the last in the interpretation of certain points, which are either forbidden or commanded, which both of us receive, but diversly. Concerning the first kind, Acts. 4.19. we have a rule in the law of God, that we must rather obey God then man. This is so easy, that even little children may comprehend it. When then we shall see that men command one thing, and God another, we cannot doubt which we aught to obey. By this rule we cut of images, relics, and all kinds of idolatry which are committed in the Papacy, which are expressly forbidden in an hundred places of the word of God. Concerning the second we have an other rule, God is the only lawgiver unto his people. Deut. 4. joh. 20. 2. Tim. 3. Matth. 15. jer. 16.12. Thou shalt not (saith he) neither add, nor diminish from my law. Christ saith, God will not be served according to our traditions, but according to his commandments. S. john and S. Paul say, that the holy Scripture is sufficient for our salvation. Chrysostom saith, Where the Scripture holds it peace, Chrysost. in sermo. de sancto & adora▪ spirit. there man must hold his peace. S. Hierome, Prattling without proof of the Scripture aught to be of no credit. This is a rule commonly given to all peoples, and whereof also the people are capable. Let the people now read the old & new testament, and let them mark if they find any one word directly or indirectly, secretly or plainly, which speaketh nigh or far of, of the sacrifice of the Mass, of Purgatory, of the invocation of Saintes, and such other points, which are in controversy between us: Contrary wise if they shall not find therein from line to line, that Christ is the only sacrifice once offered up for all, that there is one only washing in the blood of Christ, that there is one only God to be called upon in the name of jesus Christ. If they find there the doctrines which we condemn, then let them condemn us, and cry faggot and fire against us. If not, then let them be judged by the rule which is afore touched, which they have abused, and have caused men to search their salvation in those things, which the Doctor of their salvation hath not taught them, & consequently wherein they can find nothing but destruction. Yea I say more, that if the learned would take pains to read (after the holy Scripture) the doctors of the primitive Church, they shall not found there any one word thereof, or if they do found any such place, it shallbe in such sort, that they shallbe in more doubt than if they had spoken nothing. Whereof then they will of themselves conclude, (forasmuch as Christ & his Apostles have taught nothing thereof, nor the primitive Church hath believed nothing, nor they that came long after have written any thing but that which is doubtful) that these are such things, whereof we aught not only to doubt with the doctors, but also whereof the Church aught to keep silence with jesus Christ. As for example, 400. years after the death of Christ, the Church knew not what it was to call upon Saintes, there was not found one word in the ancient writers, vulesse it were for the condemnation of those, which did it according to the imitation of the paynim, in serving their gods. August. de cura pro mortuis gerendo. August in euchirid. ad Laurentium cap. 67. & 68 lib. de side & operibus si ad Dulc. q. 1. & passim. Of Purgatory the first doctors of the Church speak not one word. S. Augustine, who was long after, sometimes saith that there was one, sometime that there might well be one, sometime that it was no great matter whether there were one, or whether there were none. And S. Gregory, who was after him, he began to believe by certain visions that there was one, and this was 500 years after the death of Christ. Of the Mass it was altogether like, for we may mark the beginnings, proceedings and increase, piece by piece even until our time: and yet forsooth these were made articles of our faith, and for these, men burned the Christians, for which even by as good reason, they might have burned all the primitive Church. By this one only rule therefore comprised in a few words, and easy for every one to understand, we cut of the Mass, Purgatory, prayers for the dead, invocation of Saints, the Pope, his pardons, indulgences, and almost all that hath troubled Christendom for this long time. But to defeat this rule, they would draw certain places by the hair, to the end, to make us to find therein their lewd inventions. As for example, It shall not be forgiven in this world, Matth. 12.31. Mark. 3.28 Luk. 12.10 nor in the world to come, Ergo there is a purgatory, which must be understood, as S. Mark hath expounded it by these words, It shall never be pardoned, according to the Hebrew phrase. Also, if Moses and Samuel were before me to pray for this people, I would not forgive them. Ergo (say they) we must pray unto Saints. Whereas quite contrary, by the plain words of the text, a man shall rather gather, that it is a vain thing to call upon them, and the meaning of the Prophet is clear: that as God saith, If Moses and Samuel were alive, and should entreat as sometime they did, for the sins of that people, they were become so heinous, that yet he would not forgive them. To be short, even altogether like as it was, that jeremy in the chapter aforegoing, when he had made earnest prayer unto God for the people, he answered him, that if Moses himself who was most dear unto him, should pray unto him for this people, he would not hear him. Again sometime they have certain Allegories, to prove these matters by. But we demand of them whether these doctrines are necessary to salvation, yea or not: If they be necessary, than we have another certain rule, That the word of God is clear to salvation. For that same light itself is come down from heaven for to teach us, & that hath it not done darkly, or about the bush. The holy Ghost came down upon Christ in the likeness of a dove, and upon the Apostles in great brightness: their doctrine therefore was plain and evident, and they were not doctors or teachers of darkness. Let them therefore allege one plain and manifest place, & not bring places wrested from their proper meaning, and altogether from the purpose, and we are ready to yield unto them. And this is the rule which S. Hierome gave: That Allegories & dark places prove nothing. Hieron. in cap. 4. ad Galat. Augustin. lib. 2 de doctrine. Christ. cap. 24.9. And S. Augustine saith: That all that pertaineth to salvation is plainly and clearly set down in the Scripture, and that that which is dark in one place, is plain and clear in another. August. loco codem. Ambr. in Psa 119 serm. 9 Basil. lib 2. de Baptism. quest 4. Now as concerning the third point, we have a rule which all the ancient fathers have given us: That the holy Scripture is the light to itself. And that which is dark in it, is plain by itself in another place, and that therefore the determination of all matters, must be drawn from the conference of such places, where they are handled. Besides we have two marks to direct ourselves by, to which the whole Scripture tendeth: and they are, the glory of God, and charity towards our neighbour. Moreover we boldly admittte all the doctors of the ancient Church for the interpretation of matters belonging to this third kind, namely in the places and treatises, where they expressly handle them. And wheresoever they are or shall seem to be contrary, we willingly refer therein ourselves to every man, according to his own common sense and meaning, that shall have read the holy Scripture. As for example, there is a controversy betwixt us, whether these words, This is my body, be a figurative speech or no. First of all I confer, or way together the places of the Evangelists, and I find in Saint Luke: This Cup is the new Testament in my blood, Luk. 12. which cannot be expounded without a figure, and I know that flesh and blood, are both of like importance in the Sacrament. Further I consider, that the question is here of a Sacrament, and that this is the accustomable manner of speaking, common to all Sacraments. The rock was Christ, this is one place: Baptism is regeneration, that is another, etc. Finally I find in S. Augustine these words: In figurative speeches, August. lib. 3. de doctr. Christ. cap. 15. (saith he) always keep this rule: If it be a manner of speech that according to the letter commandeth thee to do that which is good, or forbiddeth thee to do that which is evil, straight way thou mayest judge, that there is no figure. For thou hast found there the scope and butt of the Scripture, to wit, the glory of God, & charity. But if thou shalt take it according to the letter, and it seemeth to command thee to do that which is evil, or to forbidden that which is good, than thou shalt straight way judge, that in very deed there is a figure. For example, saith he, Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. According to the letter, it seemeth that Christ commandeth us a foul & an heinous thing. This therefore (saith he) is a figurative manner of speech, by which he commandeth us to communicate with the passion of the Lord, & thoroughly to fix in our memory, that his flesh was pierced and crucified for us. When I see then, that it is in such sort figured, that S. Augustine himself allegeth it unto us for example of figurative speeches, I resolve myself that this with other texts of Scripture, conferred in like sort together, prove such manner of speeches in the matter of the Supper, cannot be otherwise taken but figuratively. Now by these rules then shall the matter of the supper, justification of faith and works, free will, and such other be determined, which stand upon the interpretation of the texts of Scripture, which both the one and the other would draw to their own meaning and intention. I demand then of every Christian man, what we may justly attribute more to the judgement of the ancient fathers: for where we have a plain forbidding from God, every one will agreed unto us, that men can do nothing, and that there need no interpreters. Again, where we have no commandment from his mouth, there it less behoveth: for where there is no text, there can be no gloze. Those matters than remain, out of which these commandments are taken, and interpreted diversly, in which we most gladly admit the interpretations of the doctors of the primitive Church, and the most notable in all ages. To conclude then this article, we say, that the infallible mark of the pure Church, is the pure doctrine thereof duly administered: and the undoubted touchstone of pure doctrine, is the pure word of God, contained in the holy Scripture, which God hath delivered to be the rule of his Church. That the same is perfect, and to be understood of those that desire their salvation, yea aswell of itself, as conferred with itself: albeit for the deciding of controversies founded upon the same, we willingly admit the interpretations of the most ancient. Briefly, because we find not this purity in the Church of Rome, but the quite contrary, neither the law of God obeyed, by made subject to the will of the Pope and his upholders: we hold the Church of Rome most impure, and we mark the Pope that governeth there, for a notable mark of Antichrist, lifting up himself above GOD, for that he setteth the law of God, behind his own commandments and vain inventions. That the visible Church may err, yea, and that in matters of faith, and those which concern our salvation. CHAP. VI BEcause our adversaries know very well, that they can not defend, neither by the holy Scripture, nor by the example of the primitive Church, the false doctrine which beareth sway amongst them, in the most principal points of Christian religion, if a man should examine them by piecemeal: therefore they have thought good to defend all at once, to wit, to maintain that the Church can not err, especially in matters that do concern salvation. For (say they) seeing that Christ is the head of the Church, he guideth the same by his spirit, and this spirit is the spirit of understanding, which inspireth into her in time and place, all that is necessary for to lead her, in such sort, that she can not err. But as they defending this bulwark, assure themselves to defend all their Babylon: so is it also as certain, that this being once won, they can not any longer stand. When they speak of the Church in this matter, Petrus de Aliaco. lib. de recommend. scripture. Marsil Patavi. 2. p. cap. 2. they understand properly the Clergy, represented by a general Council, and not the common people, of whom they make no state, the which thing many of themselves condemn as repugnant to holy Scripture: notwithstanding, I am content in this matter to speak after their manner, to the end to avoid all cavils and starting holes. The spirit & the word are insepably joined together. jesus Christ is the head of the Church, as of one body: not of that there, nor of this here, neither of one nor of other, but of all Churches alike. Now this head is unto the Church, as reason unto a man: to wit, to rule, & to guide the same by his commandment. Now so far forth as desire doth obey reason, & the body the head, man is in good case: his senses, his movings & actions are in their perfection, & there is nothing in him, which savoureth not the good government of reason. Contrariwise, when the desire will cast of obedience to reason, and will not be subject to his government, but giveth itself to drunkenness, riot, and all kind of excess: then entereth he into a distemperature of all his body, the vital parts are therewith offended, he loseth one member, & one sense after an other, sight, hearing, and all the powers departed away from him. To be short, by the just judgement of God, reason itself oftentimes is taken from him, because he made no account to obey it. I say, that the self same may fall out, and many times doth fall out in the Church. Now so far forth as the Church doth obey unto jesus Christ her head, he arkeneth unto his commandments, which is reason itself, & followeth his government, which is set forth in the Scripture, she can not err in the path of salvation: she is sound, pure, and perfect: and also he taketh pleasure to lead her, and inspireth into her his holy Spirit, to the end to enlighten her in the midst of darkness itself. But when she treadeth his government under her feet, and maketh no account to harken unto him, but presumeth to be wise enough of herself, to govern herself: then is it no marvel if she fall as it were in pieces, and loose one sense after an other, if her eyes lead her into the pit, and if the spirit of God abandon himself and forsake her, because she made no account of the word, with which he is inseparably joined & knit together. For as it is most certain, that Christ doth not suffer his flock to err, so is it also as certain on the other part, that he doth not account any for his sheep, but chose which hear his voice: and those hear his voice, which hearken unto him, speaking in the Scriptures, and making them clearly to understand his william. God having first sent his Prophets, hath now in the end sent from heaven his own word, which hath said to us, Search the Scriptures: and this is that same word also which hath sent the holy Spirit to the Apostles. If we then will feel the Spirit, it behoveth that we hear the word, for the Spirit is sent from the word: but the clergy of Rome do make no account of this word. In stead of hearkening unto it, it will be heard afore it, in stead of obeying unto it, it will make commandments of itself, in respect of which, those of Gods have been neglected: yea it hath abolished & cut of certain commandments wholly, and that openly. It followeth then, that it can not boast neither of the spirit, neither of the leading thereof, forasmuch as this spirit proceedeth from the sending of the essential word, who hath left us his word in the holy Scriptures. So we see the a king will communicate his authority to a parliament, to the end to make them obey his laws, & to distribute them to his people: but if the parliament shall abuse them, to the end to make itself obeyed above the king, and the laws themselves, he will straightways take his authority from it. Now God and his law, in respect of the Church, are far greater than these: for there can be no proportion of that which is infinite, to that which is finite. And therefore, is it any wonder if he have taken from the prelate's of the Church of Rome, the gifts of his spirit, when they would give authority to their vain traditions, above the law itself, and that under the shadow of his Spirit? We say that the spirit and the word are inseparably joined and knit together, and that without great sacrilege they cannot be separated, forasmuch as jesus Christ, who is the word itself, hath so taught us. When that same comforter shall come, joh. 16.13. joh. 14.26. that same spirit (I mean) of truth, he shall lead you (saith he) into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you, and shall bring all things to your remembrance, which I have told you, etc. If this spirit hear the word, and speak nothing of his own: by a more strong reason the Church should, if she be governed and lead by the same spirit. He saith also unto his Apostles, I will be with you till the end of the world. Mat. 28.20 This he understandeth by the virtue of his spirit: but he had said before in the self same verse, Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded, that is to say, my word. And therefore Saint Paul preaching the word, both by lively voice, and also by writing, doth nevertheless call his ministery, The ministery of the spirit: because it is the spirit, 2. Cor. 3.8. that giveth efficacy and power to this word. The Scripture is called the old and new Testament, or covenant: and in all covenants there are conditions of both parties. Concerning the old, we see that the saw was kept in the Ark, upon which God manifested his presence unto his people, when he gave them counsel, and in all that time wherein the people forsook the law of God, to serve Baal, we see that God likewise answered not unto their demands, not vouchsafing to assist those by his spirit, which made no account of his word. And as concerning the new, Behold my covenant that I make with them, (saith the Lord: Isai. 59.21. ) My Spirit that is in thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not departed out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed for ever, etc. He joineth the spirit with the word in plain words, as if the covenant were conceived in these words: My spirit shallbe in thee, but mark this, that the words that I have put in thy mouth, do not departed out of thy mouth for ever. Neither aught we to say, that this is to much to abase the spirit of God, to bring it back to the word. For this is always to measure God by himself, and this also is the only measure that he hath given us. 1. joh. 4. For if spirits are to be discerned by doctrine, (as Saint john teacheth us,) and doctrine, (as we have already proved) by the word contained in the holy Scriptures, it followeth then, that the spirit of God must be considered in the holy Scriptures, the which were left unto us by the Apostles, and gathered by the primitive Church, to the end that there we might have a lively portraiture and draft of the Spirit, who had taught the Apostles according to the word, to discern the spirits of Satan, who without any allowance of this word, durst teach false doctrines in the Church. The Church than is led by the Spirit of God in the understanding of his will, but in as much as she searcheth for it in his word, that is to say, to him that searcheth the will of the Lord in his word, the Spirit is therein given unto him for an interpreter. But to those that make no account of the text, there needeth no interpreter, and therefore to those that neglect the word, to follow their own inventions, the Spirit of God is not given for an interpreter. For the spirit of man and the Spirit of God are not mingled together, unless that a man forsake his own spirit, and his own fancies, to be led and conducted by the Spirit of God. To all those therefore that allege the leading of the Spirit without the word, we will answer with Saint john Chrysostome that which followeth. Chrysost. se●. de sanct & ador. spi. Many (saith he) boast of the Spirit, but they which bring their own, pretend the spirit falsely. As Christ witnesseth, that he spoke not of himself, in as much as his doctrine was taken out of the Law and the Prophets: in such sort if any man bring unto us under the title of the spirit, any doctrine not contained in the Gospel, we believe it not. For as Christ hath fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, so the holy spirit hath fulfilled the Gospel. Now Chrysostome had in hand in this Sermon to extol the Spirit, for there he taught that the holy Ghost aught to be worshipped as the true God. And yet notwithstanding, Chrysostome thought it no abasing to the Spirit, when he measured it according to the Gospel, no more than did our Saviour jesus Christ when he measured it according to the Law and the Prophets. They object unto us that GOD is sure in his promises, and that therefore he keepeth the covenant that he hath made with his Church. We answer, that in very deed the word of GOD endureth for ever: but in all these said covenants, there is always a condition, If ye keep my word, how soever through his mercy he many times beareth long with our iniquities. And therefore we must not conclude, God is sure: therefore the Church cannot err. But much rather to say, Seeing that the Church erreth so greatly, and so oftentimes forsaketh him, it must needs be that God is sure in his promises, and full of mercy. For it is certain that very often he keepeth his covenant with her, how corrupt and diseased soever she be, and even then when she provoketh him to a divorce, so as she treadeth the contract of marriage under her feet, and when she hath enlarged her bed (as the Prophet saith,) to all comers, as it may plainly be showed in all times and states of the Church. When our adversaries will prove that the Church is before the Scripture, The church which was before the law hath erred. Genesis. 3. they begin it at Adam. This therefore is the place from whence we must begin. God having created Adam, he forbade him to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: that is to say, He commanded him to order all his affections and desires according to his holy will, and to seek all his felicity and all his knowledge, in this only point of cleaving unto God. If he did not, he signified unto him by this that he shall die the death, that is to say, he shallbe separated, from God, which is the soul of our soul, as our soul is in our bodies. In this covenant we see a plain condition. Adam altogether full of graces, as he was then, loved rather to follow his fantasy, then to be ordered according to the word of God, and to harken rather to the voice of Satan, then of his Creator. Just punishment followed upon him and upon all his posterity, man remaining corrupted, not only in his body and outward senses, but also in his reason, and in his understanding, in such sort that reason itself, for the most part, served to no other end but to make them so much the more unreasonable, and understanding nothing, but to make them search curiosities that might withdraw them from their salvation. And yet for all this, we may mark, in our foolish unconstancy, the constant love and goodness of our Creator, towards us his unworthy treasures, when he promised even presently after to our first parents, the seed that should brufe the head of the serpent, in which alone they might obtain mercy. This than was a conditional covenant, broken of man's part, by the sum of the first Adam, and repaired again in the person of the second, by the assured goodness and only bounty of the Creator. Now if this Church even from her first root was thus polluted, if from her beginning, even then when she was full of knowledge and incegritie, and when she enjoyed the presence of God, she failed so shamefully, because she turned away from the word of her God, to her own desires: can it be that any man now a days, in obscurity, ignorance and vanity, (wherein we are all borne,) can vaunt themselves, that they are able to walk uprightly without this word? Our adversaries for to avoid this place, do lessen the sin of Adam as much as they can: jesuita Graecensis in asseti. Rom. 5.19. liking rather to accuse God of guilty (who for biting of an Apple through simple disobedience, hath punished all mankind) and to make of no effect the Cross of his dearly beloved Son, whom he hath delivered to death, for the reconciliation of the world, then to confess that the Church can err in the matter of salvation. But the doctors of the Christian Church, and those that are most sound amongst the jews themselves, do teach us far otherwise, to wit, that the sin of Adam was specially in this, that he was turned wholly from God, and that he more believed the promises of the devil, than the threatenings of his Creator, that he pretended to make himself equal with God, that he sought his felicity, and his knowledge without him, and without his word. To be short, that this was an heresy so near to infidelity, and a sin linked with so many sins, that none other but the Son of the eternal God, by the only sacrifice of his death, could be able to repair and redeem it. August. li● 14. de civi Dei. cap. 1 & 15. He forsook (saith Saint Augustine) his God, for to be of himself, and such condemnation followed his pride, that he who otherwwyse had a spiritual flesh, had now a carnal soul. Some man will say, that this was a great punishment: but he that shall think it great, cannot be able to measure what a great iniquity that was, to sin, seeing it was so easy for him not to have sinned. For as Abraham's obedience is praised, because when he was commanded to offer up his son, being a thing so hard, which notwithstanding he obeyed: even so also as great and as incomprehensible a disobedience must it be in Paradise, where the commandment had not any kind of difficulty. Now the obedience of Abraham (saith the Scripture,) proceeded from faith, whereof it is, that he was called the father of the believers. The disobedience then of Adam proceeded from infidelity, whereof it is, that he is father of all infidelity, which since that time hath been and is in all mankind. See then for the first sort of the Church, in which one shall see nothing but a growing and continuance from worse to worse, even till the second: as may be seen in the corruption & confusion which was in the time of Noah and Abraham, and amongst the Israelites in Egypt, where GOD reproacheth them that they were bestayned and defiled with all kind of idolatry. Ezech. 20. The church under the law hath erred. Exo. 19 4. Now the whole second state of the Church, to wit, under the law, is full of such like examples. God made a covenant with his people of Israel, to be their God, and that they should be his people: the promises of this same covenant, they are very great and excellent. Levi. 26.12 Deu. 28. & 29.12. Psal. 68 2. Chr. 33. 2. Chro 7. 1. Sam. 2.30. 1. Reg. 2.27. 2. Reg. 23.27. I will walk in the midst of you, I will have my tabernacle amongst you for ever, my name shallbe in jerusalem, I have sanctified it, to the end it may be there always, I will answer between the two Cherubins. But always this condition was set to this covenant: If you shall be my people, if you shall serve me, if you shall walk in my commandments, if you shall ask counsel at my mouth, etc. otherwise he saith first, I will chastise you with my rods, to 'cause you to return unto me, but if you shall make no account of it, jerem. 7. he addeth straightway afterwards, I will reject the people that shall forsake my law. I will cast of juda from before my face, as I have rejected Israel, 2. Chr. 15. & I will reprove the City of jerusalem which I have chosen, & the house whereof I have said, my name shallbe there: Even as I have done to Silo (saith he) even so will I do to you, yea even unto you. This is that that the Spirit of God saith in the time of Asa, by the Prophet Azarias, The Lord is with you, because you are with him. If you seek him, you shall find him: If you forsake him, he will forsake you. And a little after he addeth, Wherefore have ye been so long time without the true God, without a Priest, without a Teacher, and without the Law? etc. Now when the Lord saith in a thousand places, If ye shall forsake me, he putteth not down any false matter, nor impossible thing, but a thing that not only oftentimes cometh to pass and is possible, but also is so easy and so ordinary, or rather so natural to every assembly of men, that in this same Church here, which may enjoy the manifest presence of the Lord, and may hear his voice when it took counsel at his mouth, we see by a great many of examples. Exod. 31. Aaron was a Prophet, and a little after was made high Priest: he had seen the wondered works of God, & though he had seen them both day and night to go both before & behind him, yet notwithstanding he made unto himself a golden Calf, and he saith unto the people, Behold O Israel, the gods which brought thee out of Egypt. If in this question they will understand by the Church the people, behold then a strange Idolatry: if they will understand (as they speak) the Clergy, then behold, not only Idolatry, but the Church of God even prostituted to Idols, that is to say, behold an adulterous wife, provoking her husband as much as lieth in her, to make a divorce from her. Deut 32. Under the judges also so many tyrants as there were, which oppressed the Church of Israel, so many marks there were of their adulteries. Gedeon himself, judg. 8. & 17.6. &. 28 after he had felt the power of God by his hand, he made an Ephod, and the people went a whoring after it. Michas also did even the like, & the spirit of God hath told us the cause thereof, because that there was not any to govern in Israel, & every one did that which was right in his own eyes, 1. Sam. 3.1 & for that the word of the Lord was rare and scant in this time amongst them. They had notwithstanding the law of God, & the ark of the covenant: but the mischief was, that they did neither read it nor take counsel of it. Now this is not only said, john. 12. Have the light, but walk in it & follow it. In the days of Saul it is said, 1. Chro. 13 3. that no man sought the Lord in the ark of the covenant, that is to say, that no man took counsel of God in his word: and herein we may see the judgement of God, when the Ark was taken by the Philistines, 1. Sam. 4. to wit, that it was for the contempt of God and his word. Under Joram, Baal was worshipped in juda, 1. king. 11. even until the time of joas, who renewed the covenant with the Lord. Under King Achas, 2. King. 16. there was a strange altar, even within the Temple itself, upon which he sacrificed to false gods: and Vriiah the Priest was he, which made it to be set up. Under Manasses, 2. King. 21. & 23. Idolatry was so monstrous, so public, and so smitter sall, that there appeared not any face of the people or Church of God: and the cause thereof is by and by added as before, to wit, that the law of God had been a long time hidden and buried, in such sort, that none could know any more what it was. And if men mark what was the state of the Church of Israel; he shall see that it was nothing but public & continual Idolatry, even from the beginning of their schism, until their utter overthrow. These impieties then in the visible Church of that time, were not as a folly or sickness which passeth lightly away, but rather (which is here clearly seen, under the reign of three or four Kings the true servants of God) was tanquam lucida quaedam in furiosis interualla, that is to say, were as certain good modes and seasons of right reason in a common rage & folly. This is that time of which the Prophets cried out, You, you are called by the name of Israel, Esai. 48.1. & 18. & 7. and in many other places. jere. 2.3.13.14. and you swear by the name of the Lord, but you serve him not in truth and in righteousness. You have said unto a piece of wood, thou art my father, & to a stone, thou hast begotten me. You, you have prostituted yourselves under every green tree. You have abandoned me by the space of innumerable days, and you have gods according to the number of your Cities, etc. To be short, all the Prophets which were sent even until the coming of Christ, and in all the Prophets, all the Chapters are in a manner nothing else but testimonies of the idolatries and adulteries of the Church with strange gods, who for the same threaten her, and signify unto her a divorce, if she do not return unto the Lord. In mean while, he that shall mark what manner of band & company that was, in this time, which our adversaries call the Church, understanding the Clergy, the Priests, the Scribes, & the ordinary prophets, a man shall found that the true Prophets, which were sent from God, had no greater enemies than they were: that they were these that imprisoned them, & put them to death, as troublers of the Church, yea so far forth, that our saviour Christ saith, that it could not be that a prophet must be murdered out of jerusalem. And when they said unto them, Turn you unto the law of the Lord, reform the Church, forsake your Idolatries, jere. 16.12 etc. burden not the people with so many of your vain traditions, etc. they had the self same answer that our adversaries have, jere 7. &. 18.18. We are the temple of the Lord, we are the Church, we are the watchmen of the people: the law shall not perish from the Priest, nor the counsel from the wise, nor the word from that Prophet: our Church (whatsoever they say) cannot fail. Come then & let us strike them with our tongue, and let us not hearken to their words. But the Prophets show them very well how the promises of God aught to be understood. Say ye not, Here is the temple of the Lord, jere. 7. for I have abandoned Silo, which I have chosen, and I will reject you also, if you continued, etc. Say ye not that the la shall not perish from the priest etc. for, 2. Chr. 15.3 for a long season Israel and juda was without the true God, without a Priest, without a Teacher, etc. Seek therefore the Lord, Ezec. 22. etc. Your Priests (saith the Lord) have broken my law, and they have defiled my holy places. They have not said, Where is the Lord, jere. 2.8. they understood not my word, & they have not known me. Ezec. 7. Your Prophets have prophesied lies, saying, The Lord hath said thus, whereas the Lord never spoke it. Ose 9.8. They have prophesied in Baal, & have gone after the things that are vain. Isai 16.10. Your watchmen are blind, & your prophets are snares of the fouler. Thou wilt demand a vision of the prophet, but the la shall perish from the Priest, and the counsel from the ancient, & the night shallbe unto you for a vision, etc. The Sun shall go down over the prophets, & the day shallbe dark over them. Mich. 3.6. They shall all cover their lips, because they shall receive no answer from God. Seek therefore the Lord, & you shall found him, etc. Behold how the true Prophets, who in comparison of these prelates were accounted the of scouring and muck of the world, beat back all their vain presumptions, that they had of not being deceived. To be short, the Church of that time was thrown down far beneath that of Samaria and of Sodom. Isai. 1. Ezech. 21. jere. 18. Her prelate's were called the princes of Gomorrha, her Councils and assemblies, conspiracies and conjurations against the Prophets of God, her sacrifices, whorish and adulterate: And of all those that the Lord sent to exhort them to reformation, there can hardly be found any one, that a little while escaped the cruelty of this assembly, which drew all the titles and prerogatives of the Church to itself. In the midst notwithstanding of this horrible confusion, God knew his Church: For if the Lord (saith Esai the Prophet) had not restored even a small remnant, Isai. 1. they had been as Sodom, and should have been like unto Gomorrha. And he saith in another place, Isai. 8. Behold me Lord, & my children, that is to say, the disciples that thou hast given me. Finally, when the jews would not harken to the wholesome exhortations of the Prophets, God would even constrain them by his mercy, and therefore sent them even salvation itself from heaven, to wit, jesus Christ his only Son our Lord. But the Church behaved itself towards him even likewise. He had no greater enemies than the Priests, the Scribes, the Doctors, the Pharisees, that is to say, (as our adversaries speak,) the clergy, and those which had the Law committed unto them, and those which seemed to be the light of the jewish Church. If he spoke any thing of the reformation of the Church, than said they he would destroy the Temple: if of the grace of God by the Messiah, than he blasphemed against the Law: if of the kingdom of heaven, than he struck at the majesty of Cesar: if he wrought any miracles, that was by the devil: if he alleged the Scriptures, than they demanded of him where were the letters of his Doctourship, reproaching him, that he was a Carpenter's son. To be short, all their arguments against Christ, are even the same that our masters use against us. We are the children of Abraham: we are the keepers of the Scriptures. It belongeth to us to expound them: and not to you, who have not received holy orders as we have done. And yet notwithstanding all this, these were they, that with their gloss, traditions, and unwritten verities, with their successions, interpretations and councils most cruelly persecuted him, even to the snatching him out of the hand of the heathen magistrate, who judged him innocent, that they might crucify him. Now I demand of our adversaries, what they can require in the outward estate of a Church, that was not in this Church here. If it be antiquity, they were from Abraham: If it were calling, they were Priests and Scribes: If it be a place, this was the lords house: If it be a council, joh. 11.47. this was solemnly holden against Christ in jerusalem, who was there expressly condemned. Be it whether they consider the assembly of the people, or of the Prelates, this was the visible Church. And yet they cannot deny but this Church hath most foully erred in the matter of salvation, crucifying Salvation himself, unless they will deny that Christ was our salvation. But the reason hereof is very apparent, which is, that they sought him not in the Law and the Prophets, but in their traditions, Cabals, or unwritten verities. For the shepherds in the fields knew him: and the pastors of the people set their dogs upon him. This also is the reason that they were likened to an earthly King, dividing the kingdoms of the earth among their own, whereof it came to pass; that there was not any one, which promised not himself acrowne, or the government of some country, whereas they saw that the true Christ was poor, naked, evil entreated, joh. 12.38. not so much as promising to his a place to say their heads in. To be short, it is so far of, Isay. 53.10. that they should have acknowledged him for the true Christ, for that (as they pretended) they were the visible Church, that if they had accounted any for such a one, this should have been an infallible argument to them that had read the Scriptures, Isay. 6.9. that he could not have been the Christ, forasmuch as it was expressly foretold by the Prophets, that they should not know him. Behold then what is fallen out to the jews (saith Saint Paul,) Rom. 9 To whom be longeth the adoption, and the glory, & the covenants, and the ordinance of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises. Of whom also the fathers are descended, Rom. 6. & 11. & 12. cap. and of whom also according to the flesh Christ himself came, etc. To wit, that for having rejected the Lord of glory, their poverty was made the riches of the Gentiles, & their rejection, the reconciliation of the world, In such sort, that God in stead of turning away from mankind, for the blindness of his own people, hath taken occasion thereby to adopt all peoples for his people. Let us not say therefore any more, that the Church cannot err, because that God is firm in his promises: but rather that God is truly sure in his promises, and constant in his mercies, forasmuch as he maketh no divorce with her, albeit she hath abandoned him, and strangely played the harlot, so enlarging the bowels of his compassion towards mankind, and turning his great wrath into so inspeakable mercy: as at this day we see in our time, in the great number which he hath withdrawn, and daily doth withdraw, from the Swynishe filth of the Popedom. It remaineth then now that we see, That the Church under grace hath erred. whether that the Christian Church which is under grace, hath had any more special grace not to err: wherein we have always to call to our remembrance, that the Church at this day is universal, that is to say, spread throughout the whole world, and that the promises of God are not any longer tied to any one place, or to any one people, Acts. 10 but are stretched over all peoples and places, where he is served and worshipped. Now this universal Church hath goodly & great promises: I will make an everlasting covenant with them, saith the Lord, Ezech. 37.26. I will put my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever. I will be their God, and they shallbe my people. Behold that which Ezech. the Prophet hath foretold, of the covenant made by the coming of Christ with his universal Church. jesus Christ also saith himself: I will be with you until the end of the world. Also, Matth. 28. joh. 14.23. joh. 8. I will sand you my spirit which shall teach you all things, etc. But to the end that hereby we do not imagine, as the jews did, ourselves to be a visible Church, which is always of one sort whatsoever she do, the condition is evermore added, If you shall hear my voice, if you be my people, if you shall teach that which I command you, if you shall love me and abide in my word. For if you shall not abide therein (saith our Lord) you are not my disciples, and those which are not his disciples cannot boast that they are taught by his Spirit, to the end not to be deceived. The prerogative then that is in the visible Christian Church, is not that she cannot err in her particular parts, but rather that being universal, when one part doth fall, the other doth help it up, and when the one doth go astray, the other may bring it into the way again, yea, and the particular members do their duty when the more apparent leaders of the Church do guide it to destruction. Again on the other side, in that she is universal, it aught a great deal rather to beaten down this same particular presumption, of not being deceived in the whole Church, forasmuch as when there is a temple either overthrown or profaned, that sacrifices, as in times past, cease not any more, but rather of the ruins & remainders, others may be else where builded up again where there was never any such. S. Paul feared jest that the Serpent which seduced Eve, through his subtlety should turn the Church of the Corinthians from Christ and his simplicity, 2. Cor. 11.3. if she were turned away from his Gospel. He meaneth then that she might err. He also chideth the galatians, who after they had Christ drawn as it were lively before their eyes, Gal. 1.6. & 3.1. and crucified amongst them, that they were so suddenly carried away to an other Gospel. This therefore is not only a thing possible, but a thing (I say) which heretofore hath come to pass, even whiles the Apostles lived. To be short, he warneth the Thessalonians, 2. Thes. 2 that Antichrist that son of perdition, should sit in the temple of God, that is to say, in the Church, there to confounded all things: and that even in his time this mystery of iniquity began to work. It could not be then, that she erred in light matters only, but even in the matter of salvation, forasmuch as she had received & embraced her perdition even in the midst of her own bowels. The which thing if we shall mark by experience, we shall find that every where, where jesus Christ sowed the truth and the good grain, by the hands of his Apostles, the devil that watcheth, whiles that the husbandmen slept, sowed there his darnel & lying, and finally there so bestirred himself in tilling & ploughing it, that he choked the seed of our Lord in many places, until that he had brought to pass, that he was acknowledged for the master of the harvest. The zeal of those of the circumcision, in the time of the Apostles, began that medley in the Christian religion: S. Peter himself winking at it, S. Paul calleth this to make the Cross of Christ of none effect, & S. Augustine in many places calleth it heresy. Now from hence it came, that the disciples of the circumcision, who went to preach the Gospel to many peoples of the East and of the South, there reared up Churches in such sort, that the doctrine of grace was mingled with the law, the shadows with the body, whereof it is, that many yet do hold circumcision with baptism. I speak nothing of the infinite heresies which put up their heads under divers names, making their several factions, but of that which then came to pass in the bodies of the most flourishing Churches, which afterwards greatly increased and multipled. On the other side, the people which were called from Paganism to Christ, then principally when the Church had some little rest, & consequently less zeal, care, and purity, coming out of such a bottomless pit of Idolatry, they could not altogether forsake their old customs. They had builded many beautiful Temples to their Idols, and it seemed a goodly thing unto them, to dedicated them unto Saints & Martyrs. In stead of their hunting places, they honoured the relics of Saints: in place of the Images of Mars, of jupiter, of janus, they took pleasure to have those of S. Paul, & of S. Peter, etc. And whereas they had a custom, to make for their father's that died, prayers, sacrifices, lights, following the opinion of Plato concerning purgatory, they willingly continued it, lest they should fall from their humanity, & therein only changed the form. The pastors some of them, because they were come out from the same Paganism, thought it good, other some did bear with it, lest they should at the beginning go back, hoping in time utterly to remove it from them, as S. Paul did the ceremonies of the law, from those of the circumcision, and to convert their zeal & humanity into a better custom. jusomuch that their successors, ascribing impudently to much to their predecessors, & not examining the reason that moved them to bear with these things, they continued it of themselves, & builded so much upon this rotten foundation, that superstition came to this, that we see it at this day. The vanity of the one part, & the human wisdom of the other, hath brought us to this, and he that shall well consider, what man is, & how an old custom that hath but a little show, may prevail, how much it will cost the changing, he will easily grant, that those which have to bring in a thorough mutation, do think to have gained much when they could bring to pass to change the principal, in forsaking, as seemed to them, certain accessories: as in our time we ourselves have proved, not regarding that the devil knoweth so well how to husband's them afterwards, whilst we are negligent to water the true plants, that in the end they come to be quite stifled & choked. By these means errors first entered into the churches of the Ethiopians, Syrians, Armenians, Greeks, Russians, Scythians, etc. for the more part. But which is more, by the self same means entered Mahomet with his doctrine, who about the declining of the Roman Empire, found out the controversies of the jews & Christians, & joined himself to a Monk of the heresy of Nestorius, named Sergeus, who coined his Alcoran in such sort, that many Christians of Nestorius' heresy, partly seeing his force, & partly because it seemed that he consented with them in the essence of Christ, they left of to go forward in the true religion, & the jews, for the circumcision & ceremonies which he left freely unto them, and the safety which he promised them by force of arms, received him in the beginning, as their Messiah. Behold then how heresies entered into the christian Church, & that those so increased, as it easily cometh to pass always when good decayeth, and evil increaseth, that from heresy they came even unto infidelity: & yet notwithstanding these Churches were there founded by the Apostles, received the holy scriptures, believed salvation in Christ (except those which have cleaved unto Mahomet, which have lost the name of the Churches) have a succession of their bishops & patriarchs following in good order, have an ordinary vocation in their ministery, & hold a great sort more countries than those, that have acknowledged that Pope. Now I demand of the prelates of the Church of Rome, whether that these Churches have erred in the matters which concern salvation, or no. They will say, that they have erred in the matter of salvation, because that they have rejected Images, because they worship not the bread, because they communicate under both kinds, because their ministers marry, because they know not any thing concerning Purgatory, etc. To be short, because they do not only err in many not able articles as these are, but above all, because they do not acknowledge the domination of their Pope, which is (to hear themselves speak) the principal article that men aught to believe, to the end to be saved. It followeth then by their own confession, that the Christian Catholic visible Church hath no such privilege by the coming of Christ, which doth exempt it from being deceived & erring, yea in that which concerneth salvation, notwithstanding all that promises, and pretended covenants, which we have already mentioned before. But if now it do not err in the matter of salvation, than it must needs follow, that the Church of Rome itself must err, which hath so long time excommunicated and cut of from salvation, as much as in her lieth, so many peoples & nations which have not erred in the way of salvation, and which is more, that she is justly excommunicated by the foresaid Churches, for those damnable doctrines which they condemn in her. That the Church of Rome hath erred. To this they will answer us, that these Churches had no such privilege as the Church of Rome, and that the See of S. Peter hath this prerogative, being the chief amongst the Apostles, that it could not err. Without entering into the bottom of these goodly pretences, which shallbe gauged in the chapter following, it must follow then, that those Seas which had so great authority, as that of jerusalem, which is called the seat of God, could not err. That the Church also of Christ, being there gathered together, had this prerogative, seeing that Christ the head of the Church there preached & accomplished the work of salvation. Likewise that the Church of Antioch must have it much more than that of Rome, seeing that, that was the first See of S. Peter, & the first Church where the name of a Christian was heard. And yet jerusalem which crucisted Christ, & the Christians of Palestina, & of Antioch, & of the countries round about, in the judgement of the church of Rome, are out of the way of salvation. It followeth then, that Saint Peter'S See pretended to be at Rome, although it be granted them, exempteth it not from error. Besides, omitting that, that S. Peter himself hath erred & was reproved of S. Paul, I demand if S. Peter's See giveth this prerogative to the Pope, Hierony. in Catalogo illustri. virorum. Damasus in Pontificali. Platina in vitis Pontifi. Marianus Scotus. Volateranus in Anthropol. Gratianus in decreto Cardinalis Benno, & Petrus Premonstratensis in vitis Grego. 7. & Syluestr. 2. etc. Concilium Constanti. fessi. septima. or rather to the Church of Rome. If to the Pope, Marcel. hath sacrificed to the idols of the paynim, Liberius was an Arrian, & Anastatius an Acatian. Moreover, each one delighted to abrogate the decrees of his predecessor, as Nicolas of john the 22. Gregory of Pelagius, & Innocentius of Gregory, and that in matters (according to their own judgements) concerning the faith. Sylvester the 2. john the 19 Gregory the 7. (witness all the histories of their times) were magicians, that is, the successors of Simon Magus, which was at Rome aswell as they, and not of Simon Peter, & the disciples of Satan, & not of Christ. john the 23. held opinion that there was no life after this, whereupon the Council of Constance called him a devil incarnate: & many other were deposed by the Councils, not only in quality Heretics, but also Atheists. john the 8. also was found to be a woman & an harlot, Theodorus de Niein scriba Pontific s in lib. Nemus unionis. tract. 4. & 7. deluding both the seat, & all the college of Cardinals. Briefly, they say that the virgin Marie told S. Bridget, that the most part of the Popes are in hell, and the Cardinal of Ragousia, in the time of the great schism, maintained that the Pope might err in the faith, & Cardinal Cusan, Cardinalis Cusanus lib. 2. cap. 17. de concord. catholic. Magister john Parisiencis, ordine predict. cap. 23. that he might be an infidel: which thing also the Divines of Paris have always maintained. It followeth then that this See neither exempteth them from error, heresy, nor infidelity, but augmenteth unto them their own condemnation. If the privilege be given to the Church of Rome, I ask them, if they teach not, that the Church is represented by a general Council? August. cap. 3. & 16. de unitate ecclesi. S. Augustine saith, that one general Council is corrected by another, and correction presupposeth error. Gregory Nazianzen, in whose time many Councils were holden, saith that the Church was then so full of ambition, that none was ever seen to return any whit the better. Gerson and Panormitan say, that one lay man alleging the Scripture, aught to be preferred before a whole Council being out of the way. Moreover, see the second Council of Nice, which maintained Images against the Council of Constantinople, & that of Frankford about the self same time, which threw them down to the ground. See the third Council of Carthage, & another held at Carthage itself under the Emperor Mauritius, which excommunicated him, & declared him to be Antichrist, which should call himself universal Bishop, at the pursuit of S. Gregory himself, whereas that of Rome a very little while after, and that same of Trent in our time, hath declared the Bishop of Rome to be universal Bishop, & hath excommunicated all those that will not so account of him. The Councils also of Florence & of Basil, bridleth the Pope with other Bishops, & bringeth than under the Church, whereas they of Florence & Trent, lift him again aloft, & published him to be a God in earth. And Pope Pius the second, who stuck to the Council of Constance, a little while after pronounced all them to be heretics, which held that men might appeal from the Pope to a Council, that is to say, those present Councils there which were general, & all those that follow them. It followeth then, either that truth is double, which neither is, nor ever shall be, or else that these Councils contrary one to the other, have erred, & so consequently that the Church may err. Also, that either the Pope is Antichrist, or else the Church which hath published such a one, that taketh upon him the title of universal Bishop, hath shamefully erred. Also, either to believe that the pope is head of the Church, is not necessary to salvation, the which the decretals allowed of the church of Rome, do allow, delivering it for an article of our faith, and the Council of Trent hath confirmed it: or else the Councils which have denied him to be such a one, have erred in the matter of Salvation, that is to say, the first general council of Nice, which made him but equal and like to the other patriarchs, the Council of Sardis, the Council of Carthage, and the universal Church for the space of six hundred years. To be short, it must needs be that our adversaries confess, either that their Church at this day holdeth that for necessary to salvation, which is contrary to salvation: or else that the ancient Church, so long time was ignorant of that which was necessary to salvation, that is to say, her own salvation, who hath refelled it in a plain and open council: whereof it must follow that the Catholic church may err in general councils, yea, and the Roman Church itself, notwithstanding the pretended See of Peter, & moreover that the Roman is contrary to the ancient church, to which we desire at this day to conform ourselves. Now if the pope & the Roman church have erred in matters of salvation, it followeth then that the Christian visible church may err, & that a man may seek for the reformation thereof. But to them which know how the councils of our time have been holden, as that before they have been assembled, the controversies have been concluded at Rome: & that notwithstanding all the arguments & proofs they could make to the contrary, they have passed things by their special authority: & knowing how that same holy spirit, or rather that spirit of Satan hath been brought from Rome in a Caskat: & moreover, seeing they are such that govern there, that there dispute and conclude, it needeth not greatly, that men prove that such assemblies may err, but contrariwise it might be found a strange thing, if they could conclude any thing without error. But now contrary to these so urgent and weighty proofs, they allege unto us, that jesus Christ prayed that Peter's faith might not fail, Luke. 22. whereupon they conclude with open triumph, that the Romish Church can not err. First, the matter is of great importance, for it is a question concerning a great number of articles, for which, as for articles of faith, we have been burned for the space of these fifty years, which have no other foundation but this. It must be therefore that this foundation be fast & undoubtful, if we will not do him open wrong, who hath taught us our salvation. Add also hereunto, that all the jar of the Greek and east Churches with the Romish, do depend wholly upon this point. For if it can not err, than they which are contrary to her, have erred greatly. But these things are far enough one from the other, (I have prayed that thy faith should not fail, though Satan sift thee) & the conclusion which they draw thence, the church of Rome cannot err. Secondly, jesus Christ prayed for Peter, and Peter yet after this prayer denied him thrice, trusting to much in himself, whereas he should have prayed to God, & acknowledged his own infirmity: and hereof also it came, that he that esteemed more of himself then all his companions, should stumble, and fall more shamefully than all they. The Church of Rome therefore should rather draw this conclusion from thence, which is more agreeable to the text: that as he, trusting to much to himself, renounced God, and did worse than all the rest, so likewise it may do, when it is made to believe, that it can not err. And therefore it should follow, that according to his example, it should weep at the crowing of the cock, and acknowledge all the faults thereof. Thirdly, if this follow, Christ prayed for Peter, Ergo the Church of Rome which is founded by him, can not err: then must it follow also, that the Churches which were founded by the other Apostles, can not err. For jesus Christ drawing near to his Cross, joh. 17.20. prayed most earnestly for his Apostles, and for all those, which should believe in him through their preaching, to the end they might be one in the Father & in him, that is to say, that they might be inseparably knit unto him. And yet the Romish Church hath excommunicated them as heretics, and hath holden them as cut of from salvation. It followeth then, either that this conclusion is false: jesus Christ prayed, Ergo it can not err, or else that he meant the invisible Church, against which hell gates cannot prevail. Fourthly, S. Paul understood not this subtlety, forasmuch as we see, that he admonisheth the Romans, called from amongst the Gentiles, that they should not proudly advance themselves against the jews, under this shadow, that they were entered into their place. Rom. 11. For (saith he) the natural branches were cut of through unbelief, and thou art engrafted in by faith, and if God have not spared them, take heed, lest he also spare not thee: that is to say, take heed that thou fall not from faith, as they have done: he meaneth then, that he thought them not to be without the compass of the danger. Neither did Cyprian likewise, writing to the clergy of Rome, saying, Cypr. lib. 2. epist. 17. That the praise which S. Paul attributed to the Church of Rome, that their faith was made known throughout the world, should be turned to their shame, if they did not persever to inherit this faith. Nor S. Hierom also when he saith, Hieron. in epist. ad Rusticum. That after that covetousness was entered into the Church, as it was into the Empire, the Law should perish from the Priests, and the vision from the Prophets. Nor all the ancient fathers, when they took Rome for that Babylon in the Apocalyps. & for the seat of Antichrist, as we shall see hereafter. And therefore they should do a great deal better to follow their old gloze upon this place of S. Luke, Luke 22. glossa ibi. that as in praying for him, he saith, O Peter, I have kept thee, that thy faith should not fail, even so also comfort the poor weak ones by thy example of repentance, to the end, that by their sins they fall not into despair, but that they hope for mercy, as hath been showed unto thee. Finally, besides all these foresaid reasons, betweent the Antecedent: Christ prayed for Peter, & the consequent: The Church of Rome can not err, there are infinite things to prove, between these two sentences, to wit, That S. Peter was head of the Apostles & of the church: That he was at Rome: That he was B. there: That he particularly founded any church there: That he had this prerogative above the rest, that he could not err: That he either tied it, or could tie it to that chair, either for the pope's, or for the Romish Church: The which things aught first to be plainly proved, before we can come to any such conclusion. Let us come then to ours, following our promises, and notwithstanding their objection of this place, let us conclude with the holy Scriptures, and the practice of all times, this present disputation. Our Lord jesus Christ hath delivered to his Church the holy Scripture, as a compass to a ship, for to conduct and guide it to Salvation. Looking unto this compass, she can not be deceived, for it showeth always unto her, her mark, whatsoever wind do drive her: and not looking unto it, she can not but err, and go out of the way, no more than all the pilots or Shipmasters of the world together know, without a good compass, to keep their course one only hour. To the churches which follow his word, he hath promised them the presence of his spirit. From these which make no account of it, he withdraweth himself, accounting them unworthy of his presence, which disdain to hearken to his voice. Hereof it is, that the Church in all her estates and places hath greatly erred & gone out of the way: but more this then all the rest, which hath been more bold to intermeddle without the leading of the word, & which hath most presumed of her own ability, to wit, the romish Church. If she have no other privileges and promises then the visible and universal Church, there is no doubt but she may err. For we have seen by her own confession, that she hath erred even in the matters of salvation, in her most notable members. If she have any special privilege, as that which she allegeth of Saint Peter's Seat: yet for all that, as we have proved, that exempteth her not, neither from error nor heresy. But to the end men may see how vain and weak this foundation is, whereupon they would build an article of so great weight, it followeth that we examine those titles, by virtue whereof she pretendeth this privilege. That the Pope, or Bishop of Rome is not head of the universal visible Church, by any right of the law of God. CHAP. VII. WHen we demand of our adversaries, upon what their traditions are founded, which they make equal with the articles of our faith, which have not any show of foundation in the holy Scripture: they answer us, that they are the ordinances of the Church. If hereupon we will beat them down, alleging that the Church must be governed after God his will, contained in his word, and that such doctrines are not agreeable thereunto: they reply, that the Church can not err in the matters of Salvation. If we prove farther unto them by the discourse of all times, that often times she hath abandoned the pure service of God, to follow her own inventions, even until she hath been defiled with all abominable idolatries: they reply, that the Romish church hath this particular privilege, that it can not err, because it is S. Peter's seat, the head of the Apostles, & of all the Church. And therefore by this means all the controversies in a manner, that we have with them, come to be brought to this question: Whether the B. of Rome, or the sea of Rome, (for they are different in themselves) be head of the church. Concil. Constantiense. In this quality, there is attributed to the pope, power to change the institution of Christ in the Sacraments, to change according to the time, the interpretation of the holy scripture, to make new articles of the faith, Decisiones rote. to derogate from the old Testament, & from S. Paul his epistles, as the vicar of Christ, & successor of S. Peter. This then according to their judgement, is an article of great importance to salvation, upon which all other articles necessary to salvation are founded. In the self same quality, jurisdiction is given unto him over all the East churches, & to cut them of from the Communion of the Church, & to leave them for a pray to the Turk, because they will not acknowledge him. To be short, it is come to this point, that he calleth himself king of kings, to establish empires at his own will, to set out kingdoms for a pray, to dispense with subjects for their oath made to their prince. This therefore is an article, not only belonging to the salvation of every Christian particularly, and to all in general, for that same union which is so much commended unto us: but also necessary to policy, to the obedience due to magistrates, & to the whole life of man. But now we see that jesus Christ & his Apostles have delivered unto us the articles of our faith, the doctrine of the Sacraments, & of the obedience which is due to our superiors, in plain & express terms, and those very often repeated in many places. It followeth then, that this article, by the which new articles of faith are established, the changing of the Sacraments, the setting up & deposing of princes, the subjecting of heaven and earth under the power of one only man, must be there plainly set forth. Now if it be not there expressly contained, one of these two things must follow, either that our Lord & his apostles took pleasure to hide these things from us, to make a math & confusion of heaven and earth together, which to think were very execrable blasphemy: or else it must be altogether false, and consequently all that is builded upon it, must quite fall down, and be utterly razed to the ground. Now I do adjure every one, even as they love their salvation, that they weigh well the proofs of this article. For if the very foundation of the popish doctrine, which is this here, have no foundation in Christ, it followeth that the pope hath laid another foundation in the Church then Christ, contrary to that which the Apostle saith: 2. Cor. 3. and by consequent that he is none of those, which hath builded upon the foundation of Christ, wood, hay & stone, but the Antichrist himself, which hath settled himself in the place of the chief corner stone, which is the only foundation of the Church. We say that jesus Christ is the head of the Church: our adversaries say that it is S. Peter in his successors, or rather the pope, and the Church of Rome, because of S. Peter his seat. Now as we have found the body out of the Scriptures, to wit, the church, Eph. 1.23. & 4.16. & 5.23. so likewise we aught not to search for the head any where else. S. Paul saith that Christ is the head of the church, & the church the accomplishment of him which hath accomplished all in all. Also that Christ is the head of the Church, as the husband of the wife, and the Saviour of his body. Col. 1.18. Rom. 12.5. Also, we which are many are one body in Christ, & every one of us are members one of another. These places are so clear, the our proposition can not be denied. Thereupon they will grant us, that Christ is the head of the Church: but they will say, that there must be a head, and general lieutenant in the government thereof: & that this is S. Peter in his Successors, whom they call for distinction sake, the ministerial head of the Church. This is it that they must prove unto us by plain texts, for we flatly deny it unto them. S. Augustine upon these words, any kingdom is not of this world. The kingdom of Christ are the faithful which believe in him. Rom. 14. First of all, we must not here imagine an earthly kingdom. For jesus Christ hath taught us, that his kingdom is not of this world: & if his be not of this world, then much less shall his be, whosoever shall enterprise to be his lieutenant. This lieutenantshippe than is neither temporal nor secular, neither can it be stretched over the empires of the earth, neither can the B. of Rome in this quality call himself the Monarch or only governor both of the spiritual & temporal. But as the kingdom of Christ is spiritual, to wit, the government of the souls of the faithful, whom he feedeth by his word, (as S. Paul sayeth, that it is peace, joy & righteousness through his spirit) so must it be likewise, that the administration or government of his servants must be spiritual, to wit, the ministry of the word, from whence proceed those forenamed effects: much less aught we to imagine an earthly king. For Christ is the Son of the eternal God, who styleth every thing with his power, who by the virtue of his spirit is present to all things, and is present with those that consent in his name to the end of the world. He needeth not therefore any lieutenant, as do other earthly princes, for to win the hearts of his people: for these are the effects of his Spirit, giving efficacy to his word, the which no man, how great & holy▪ soever he seem, can attribute to himself. And if they find it strange, that our Lord by his spirit, in that he is God, doth govern his Church, forasmuch as he hath promised so to do: Let them not think it more strange, that we deny his corporal and carnal presence in their mass, which he hath not instituted. Again, here is no question of a kingdom which may be governed by a lieutenant alone: but of preaching the Gospel throughout the whole world, of reconciling all the people of the world by the word unto God: in a word of the Ministry of the Gospel, which consisteth in administering the word and Sacraments in all places. Now it is certain, that no man can accomplish this, but only he, who is the word itself, and the alone sacrifice, because that with his manhood he hath Godhead, and power that is infinite. 1. Pet. 2.25. Therefore there can none but he, be the Bishop of Bishops, the Pastor of Pastors, and the high Priest, Heb. 6.20. & 7.26. & 9.11. and none can be this Ministerial head, or Lieutenant in his offices. But rather every Bishop and pastor amongst his flock, may represent Christ in exercising his charge, without acknowledging of the Bishop of Rome to be above him, as hath been most largely disputed by Cusan the Cardinal in the time of the Council of Constance. Card. Cusar. libr. 1. de Concordia Cath. cap. 6. That which they allege of Moses and Aaron, that they were heads, the one of the common wealth, & the other of the sacrifices, whilst yet God walked in the midst of his people, is but naughtily drawn into a consequence. For besides that there was the express institution of God in their persons, and in the successors of Aaron for the service of God, there was this other thing in it, that it was but a little country, and in that country one only City jerusalem, and in that City but one Temple, where men aught to sacrifice, so that there one governor and one high Priest might suffice: in stead whereof, the whole world, by the coming of Christ the Messiah, is become one Temple, and all the people but one flock, which must be fed by the word of God, a thing that no one man may presume to do. Not that I would deny, but in the heart of one Pope, there may be ambition enough to covet the whole world: for this were to deny the truth of all histories: but rather I would say that there was not any one of them, that was not ready to have forfeited & lost the crown, if he failed to instruct by the preaching of the word of god, the lest diocese in the world. Of this allegation then, they conclude nothing to their advantage, unless they will become jews, & enclose the whole world in one City, & make void the benefit of the death of jesus Christ which is common to all the world. But contrariwise we may by the way draw this consequence: That seeing Moses (as they say) was head of the common weal, and Aaron of the service of God, that the Pope aught to content himself with the one, without farther intermeddling with the other, to the prejudice of all the princes & kings of the earth. Now if they reply, that they are able enough to exercise the estate of the general lieutenantshippe of Christ throughout the whole world, without calling them to the practise which yet never was seen, I demand whether this be by the spirit of Christ, or by their own. If by theirs, why then, this is the spirit of the prince of this world, for to covet and not to conduct: and miserable is that Church, which is left to be guided by the vain spirit of these men, who think themselves to have such abundance. Now if it be by the spirit of Christ, I do require them, either that they will agreed, that this spirit following the promise of Christ to his ministers, doth give power to the ministry of the word pronounced by them, whereof followeth that every Bishop and pastor in his ministry, occupieth the room of Christ visibly: or else that they prove unto us by fit & agreeable texts, that Christ hath enclosed the root of his spirit so in the heart of the Pope, that none can be partaker of it besides himself. To be short, the kingdom of Christ consisteth in this, that he governeth his own, giving power to the preaching of his word, and to his Sacraments by the virtue of his spirit: and the ministery of his Gospel, consisteth in the administration of that word, and of his Sacraments. Now there is not any man that can boast to give and dispense the holy Ghost, for he proceedeth not but from the Father and the Son: None then, unless it be Christ, God and man, can be the essential head of the Church. Likewise no man can preach the word, & exercise the ministery throughout the world: none therefore can be the Ministerial head of the whole Church: But rather each minister & pastor in his own right, under the Pastor of pastors jesus Christ our Lord. Now let us come to that which our adversaries say, that Saint Peter was the ministerial head of the Church. If he were so, they must needs grant that this was by the institution of Christ: for otherwise, and without his commandment, he would never have presumed to have taken upon him such a dignity. Likewise if our Lord have placed him in any such degree, and so necessary as they say, for the Church: they will grant me that Saint Peter hath exercised this office: for otherwise it had been to leave the Church for a pray and confusion. If then Christ have not instituted it, nor S. Peter exercised it, it must follow, that he was never the ministerial head of the Church. Concerning the first point. Mat. 18.3. Etibiglossa. The whole Gospel throughout teacheth us nothing but humility, that we should become little children, and poor in spirit etc. Christ setteth forth himself for an example to his Apostles, Mar. 20.25 and willeth that his Apostles be examples to the whole world. I am (saith he) your master, and yet notwithstanding, I am amongst you to serve you. Also, Luke. 21. Vbi Chrys. & Origen. Mat. 21.25 Luk. 22.25. when there was strife amongst the Apostles at two sundry times, who should be chief, Christ pronounceth this determination, He that willbe the greatest or chief amongst you, let him be a servant to al. And he saith unto them, Learn of me. Mat. 10. August. sermon. 10. de verbis domini. He saith not (saith Saint Augustine) to work miracles, nor to make a new world, but that I am mild and humble of heart. And as touching S. Peter, he is brought unto Christ by his brother Andrew, to the end to be his companion, and not to be called the chief, or to have any primacy attributed unto him. Again, when they were sent forth to preach, Luk. 22.30 they went two by two, as companions, which excludeth all superiority. When Christ promiseth that they shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel, Mat. 19.30 sitting upon twelve thrones, he giveth not him a place above the rest to govern in. When the triumphant Church likewise is described unto us by Saint john, Apoca. 21. it is said, that the City hath twelve foundations, and upon them the names of the twelve Apostles of the lamb, without mentioning of any great stone, for Peter's throne above the rest. To be short, when the Apostles received the holy Ghost, john. 20. the power of binding and losing, Mat. 28. commandment to preach throughout all the world, and when the holy Ghost itself descended down upon them, Acts. 1 this was when they were all gathered together, & without any prerogative of one more than the other. Hitherto then in the principal places, where the primacy should have been showed, we see not so much as any appearance thereof. Against these places plainly denying and forbidding the primacy, they allege unto us that which jesus Christ hath said unto Peter. Tu es Petrus, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock. Mat. 16. & super hanc petram etc. Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now upon this place our adversaries ground this proposition: The Church is founded upon Saint Peter. And we will draw another, 1. Cor. 10. The Church is founded upon Christ, which is the rock, and upon the confession of his name. That of theirs is founded upon this, that it is said: Tu es Petrus, that is to say, Thou art Peter. That of ours upon this, that it is said, Super hanc Petram, & non super te Petrun, that is to say, Upon this rock, & not, Upon thee Peter. And hereof it is that our Saviour Christ hath clearly distinguished Petrum a Petra, that is to say, Simon Peter, from the lively rock whereupon he hath builded his Church, changing both the name & the person, the which our text plainly showeth us, the which he would never have done, if it aught to have been understood of Peter, & not of the confession of Peter. Again, I leave it to the judgement of every Christian: whether it be more agreeable to the faith, & more healthful for the Church, either that the Church be founded upon Christ, or upon Peter: upon the Son of the living God whom Peter confessed, or upon Peter, who a little while after, denied the son of the living God: upon him that vanquished Satan, or upon him, whom Christ himself in the very same Chapter calleth Satan himself: Mat. 16. Mark. 8 33 upon him who is called the chief corner stone of the building, or upon him who was an offence unto him, that is to say, a stone of great stumbling. 1. Cor. 3. None (saith S. Paul) can say any other foundation, but that which is laid, which is Christ. Also, S. Peter saith: 1. Pet. 2. You are as living stones built upon the chief corner stone, in whom whosoever believeth, he shall not be confounded, that is to say, in that confession of Christ which he called the rock and foundation of his Church, It appeareth then by this place, that Christ hath builded it upon himself, & not upon Simon Peter, and upon the confession of faith which Peter made, and not upon the faith of Peter, which was too much wavering and unsteadfast. And in very deed where Saint john reciteth this story, he resteth wholly upon Peter's confession. But to the end they abuse not the people under the vizard of antiquity, we must see what the ancient Doctors have taught upon this place. Chrysostome upon Saint Matthew: Chrysoft. homil. 55 super Matth. Upon this stone, that is to say, upon the faith of this confession. Also, he hath set our feet upon the rock, Idem in Psal. 32. that is to say, upon faith: For faith in Christ by good right, is called a rock that cannot be broken: and therefore when Saint Peter had confessed: Idem sermon 21. de pentecost. Thou art Christ the son of the living God: Christ added, Thou art Peter, & upon this rock, that is to say, upon this faith which thou hast confessed etc. Saint Ambrose: jesus Christ hath said unto Peter, Ambros in Epist. ad Ephes. cap. 2. and upon this rock etc. that is to say, upon the confession of the Catholic faith, I will establish the faithful unto everlasting life. Saint Augustine: August. contra judaeos, Paganos, & Arrianos. Peter was founded upon the rock, to the end he should suffer death for the love of him, whom through fear he had thrice denied. Also, the Church likewise is founded upon the rock, whereof also Peter had his name. In johannem tract. 124. In johannem tract. 10 For a rock or stone cometh not of Peter, but rather Peter of the rock, as Christian cometh of Christ, and not Christ of Christian. And because Peter had said, Thou art Christ etc. Our Saviour added, upon this rock which thou hast confessed, will I build my Church. Christ then is the rock, upon which S. Peter himself was founded & builded. For none can lay any other foundation, then that which is already laid, to wit, Christ. Again he will not say, upon this Peter I will build my Church, August. de verbis Dom. but upon this faith: upon that which he had said: Thou art Christ the son of the living God etc. Here upon this rock (saith he) I will found my Church. Also: Upon this rock which thou hast confessed, upon this stone which thou hast acknowledged will I build my church, I will build my Church upon me, & not upon thee: but thee upon me. The men that will build upon men, they will say, I hold of Cephas, that is to say, of Peter, of Paul, and of Apollo: but they who will not be builded upon Peter, but upon the rock, they will say, I hold of Christ. This is the interpretation of S. Augustine, repeated in many places of his books of the city of God, every where, where he handleth this matter. Hieronim. upon Mat. Saint Hierome upon this place: By the rock we understand Christ, whom Peter confessed. For if we take Peter for a stone of the foundation, all the Apostles shall be alike according to that which we see in the Apocalypse. And this is the very opinion of Cardinal Cusan, Cusanus Cardinal. lib. 1. cap. 3. in his book of the Catholic Concord presented to the counsel of Constance, who proveth it even by the Canon law itself, and maintaineth it against the Pope. Saint Bernard: Serm. 61. The rock is in heaven: In the same is steadfastness and assurance. And in deed where else can it be, but in our Saviour? The world roareth, the flesh oppresseth me, the world doggeth and hangeth upon me, and yet for all this I fall not: for I am founded upon a sure rock. To be short, let them read their own common gloze, The common gloze and the interlineall gloze upon Mat. 16.16 Super hanc Petram, upon this rock, that is to say, upon Christ, in whom thou believest: and the interlineall gloze, Thou art Peter, but from me which am the rock, and always in such sort as I reserve to myself the dignity of the foundation of the Church. Behold then, that by the interpretation of the ancient fathers, none need to dash against this stone. Now if our adversaries reply that some of the ancient fathers interpret it, as they do, and namely Saint Augustine in some place: I answer, that if a man read those places, he shall find that it was but by the way, and as it were, in handlying another thing. And in deed Saint Augustine in his book of retractations hath retracted it in these words: August. lib. 2. retract. It fell out that I said in a certain place, that in the Apostle Saint Peter the Church was buyled, as upon a rock, but for the most part I have expounded it of him, whom Peter confessed. I was abused by an Hymn of Saint Ambrose, common enough, where he saith, that at the crowing of the Cock the rock wept. This is a Poetical manner of speaking, and therefore Christ said not unto him, Tu es Petra: but Tu es Petrus. For the rock is Christ, whom Simon had confessed. Besides, he is so far of from taking Peter for the foundation of the Church, that in another place he sayeth, that james, Peter, and john, August. ad Galat cap. 2 seemed to be the pillars of the Church, but that in truth they were not. Hieron. ad Galat. cap. ● And Saint Hierome saith, that the Apostles are pillars of the Church, principally Peter, james, and john, but that all they which overcome the Devil by faith, may be so aswell as they. But here they run to their ordinary distinction. That it is certain that Christ is the essential head of the Church, but yet that Peter is the Ministerial head, that is to say, that he is likewise called so by reason of his ministery. But we demand in what place either of the Scriptures, or of the fathers themselves, they find this. And we have already proved, that there can be had no ministerial head which is the self same thing. But again let them answer us, whether Peter had any other ministery besides his Apostleship? If he had any other, let them take it, and show us wherein it consisted. If they can not, than it followeth, that all the Apostles were ministerial foundations, as well as he, and not founded upon him, and so likewise must it be of all the Churches which were founded by them: as Saint Jerome saith upon the second Chapter to the Galatians. And according to this S. Paul saith, that the faithful are builded upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Ephes. 2. Rom. 15. Apoc. 22. Christ being the chief corner stone. And he glorieth that he had preached the Gospel in many places, without building upon the foundation of any other. Saint john likewise: That the City of God is set upon twelve foundations, wherein are the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. Whereof it followeth, that all the Apostles are the foundation of the Church, aswell one as another, and moreover that Saint Paul hath builded without any foundation, Hieron. in epist. ad Titum cap. 1. not building upon Peter's ministery, or else the Peter was not that foundation. Again we demand of them, if this ministery consist not in the edifying of the Church, by the preaching of the Gospel, Forasmuch as the Apostles which were all preachers of salvation in Christ, were therein master builders: and all they are builders, which build upon the foundations which were laid by them, upon that living rock. Now if they were all master builders, why then, Saint Peter was not the foundation, for he could not be both the foundation, and a master builder both together. The power of the keys. It followeth in the self same place, Tibi dabo etc. I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. That which thou shalt bind in earth etc. Of this text we further draw two contrary propositions. There's is, Christ hath given here to Peter alone, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and so consequently to the Bishop of Rome and to his successors. Ours contrariwise is, that Christ here hath promised the keys to all in the name of Peter, and hath given them to all his Apostles, and after them to all those, which lawfully exercise the ministery of his Gospel. If we know what is meant by the keys, and what it is to bind and to loose, it willbe easy for us to judge, whether of these two propositions be true. Christ jesus pronounceth, Woe be to you Doctors of the law, Luk. 11.51 because you have taken away the key of knowledge: ye have not entered in yourselves, and those which would willingly have entered in, ye have forbidden. Now these Doctors were those who had charge to teach the word of GOD. These keys than are no other thing, but the charge to preach the kingdom of heaven, and to open the gate thereof by the preaching of the Gospel. And concerning binding and losing: Saint john expoundeth what they meant by these words, to retain and to remit sins, Mat. 28.18 joh. 20.23. the which is not done but in preaching the forgiveness of sins, displayed in jesus Christ to all those that believe the preaching of the Gospel. The keys then, is the charge to preach the word: to bind and to loose, is the effect of this word, which to one sort, turneth to their salvation, to the other to their greater damnation: Whereupon Saint Paul calleth his ministery, 2 Cor. 5.18. The ministery and word of reconciliation, and else where, The ministery of vengeance upon the disobedient, Isai. 61.2. which Esai before had called the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance. Now forasmuch as no one alone can exercise this ministery in every place, nor towards all: It followeth therefore that one alone can not have these keys, nor this charge of binding and losing, which by the coming of Christie extendeth itself to all places. They demand then wherefore it was say to Peter, I will give thee. JESUS Christ had said unto all: Whom think ye that I am? And he in the name of all had answered, Thou art Christ etc. And therefore in his name he promiseth to all his Church the power of the keys, which he promiseth also afterwards to all, in the eighteenth Chapter, and after his resurrection delivered them to all the Apostles equally, and without any difference, in these words: Mat. 16. Mat. 18. joh. 6. joh. 20. Receive the holy Ghost. To all those to whom you shall remit their sins, they shallbe remitted etc. That then that was promised here in these words: I will give unto thee etc. and not, I do give thee, which showeth the time to come, was then fully accomplished universally to all, as in the person of Peter it was there promised to all. To be short, If (as Saint Gregory saith) Saint Peter was not head of the Apostles, C. Consid. dist. 50. till it was after his repentance, in vain then do they upon this place trouble their brain, pretending that by that place this power was given unto him. And if they will say that the same was meant there by the keys promised unto him: by the deliverance of the keys, which was after his repentance given unto all, we conclude that they were here promised unto all. The which we say not to the end to derogate any thing from S. Peter, whose readiness to confess the son of God, and zeal toward our Saviour was incomparable, but to discover the subtlety of the Pope, and of his poleshorne generation, that of the key of knowledge given to Saint Peter, hath made a key of power, and of the preaching of the word, a tyranny over all the princes and people of the earth: and of the kingdom of heaven, a temporal monarchy, notwithstanding that there is nothing more contrary to the whole doctrine that Christ hath taught his Apostles. As for the ancient doctors, they have understood it no otherwise then we do. In libr. de simplicitat. praelatorum. Saint Cyprian: Our Lord in the person of one man, gave the keys to all, to show the unity of all. The others nevertheless were even the same that Peter was, companions in like equal honour, & in equal power, but he would begin by one man, to show that the Church is one. Saint Hierome expounding this self same place: The ignorant Bishops and elders (saith he) took hereby occasion to usurp, I know not what manner of Pharisaical authority, Hieronym. in Mat. c. 16. versu codem. thinking that they had power to bind and loose at their pleasure. But to bind & lose aught to be no other thing, but to declare by the word of God, God's sentence. Behold then the Pope in the stead of Cephas, a Caiphas, even by the definitive sentence of S. Hierom, a minister of the Roman Church. And else where: All the Apostles had one, & the self same judicial power. For Christ after his resurrection saith unto them: Receive the holy Ghost, whose sins ye shall remit, they shall be remitted in heaven etc. All the Church likewise in his elders, & Bishops, but specially Peter received it, to the end that every one should understand, that he that separateth himself from the unity of faith, cannot be absolved from his sins, nor enter into heaven. He saith, from the unity of faith, & not from the unity of Peter, nor from the unity of the Bishop of Rome. Also, the elders & ministers of the Gospel have the same right & office, which the priests of the law had in the case of those that were Lepers. They remit then, or hold sins, according as they judge & show that they are remitted or held before God. Saint Augustine: August. homil●in 10.11.50. & 124. The Lord calleth the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the knowledge and virtue to discern those, who are worthy to be received, or else to be shut out of the kingdom. Now howsoever it seemeth at the first sight, that he gave this power to Peter alone, yet we must acknowledge without all doubt, that he hath given it to all the Apostles, as it appeareth after his resurrection, when he saith unto them: That which ye remit in earth etc. Also: It is said unto him, I will give thee the keys, as though that power had been given to him alone: but as he answered for all, so he likewise received the keys together with all, as bearing the person of the unity. He is named therefore alone for all, forasmuch as there was unity amongst all. And therefore Augustine's ordinary manner of speech is, August. cap. 18 lib. 1. de Doctrina Christ & per omnia opera that in Peter's person the keys are promised to all, and in the person of all them, to all the Ministers of the Church. Leo the Bishop of Rome, at the time that this question was handled, disputing with the Bishops of Constantinople, although in his works he hath left sufficient show of the traces of ambition, Leo Episcopus Rom. in ferm. de natruitare. yet he speaketh not otherwise thereof. This power (saith he) of the keys, is likewise passed over to all the Apostles, and transferred to all the governors of the Church. And in that it is particularly recommended unto Peter, it is because the example of Peter is set forth to all the governors of the Church. In every place therefore, where men judge according to the equity of Peter, there Peter's privilege is found, but contrariwise, it hath no place where Peter's equity is not found. Hitherto than we found not the keys of power, but of knowledge only, to wit, the ministery of the Gospel, the which is common to all ministers, and so likewise are the keys, which are thereto annexed. This is that which is repeated by Gratian in the Decretals: Gratian in Decret. distinct. 21. in novo 24. q. 1. lo quitur. joan in ca 1. de renuneratiombus lib. 6. de poen●s distinct. 1. verbu cum similib us. That Saint Peter received no more power than the other Apostles, and by the chiefest Canonists in the decretals themselves. That the power of binding and losing, in which is founded all the jurisdiction of the Church, proceedeth immediately from Christ, & not immediately from S. Peter or his successors: Cardinal. Cusan. lib. de concordia Catholica 2. ca 13. fusissime. the which also Cardinal Cusan maintained in the time of the Council of Constance, against those which alleged the key of power pretended by the Pope. But let us go yet somewhat farther. They hold that the power of binding and losing is practised principally in their sacrament of Penance, when their priest enjoineth satisfaction, and afterwards giveth absolution to those that have satisfied. Now I demand of them: whether it be God that forgiveth, or the priest that giveth absolution? They will say it is God that forgiveth, and that the priest by his word doth declare it, the which the master of the sentences proveth very well, Chrysost. lib. 20. Magister sentent. lib. 4. distinct. 18. ca 4. ex Ambr. August. Chrys. etc. by many places drawn out of the ancient Fathers, in his fourth book, following that which Chrysostom saith, that in these things Neither man, Angel, nor Archangel can do any thing. And in very deed this is an assured Maxim of Christian religion (as he there saith) That none can take away sins, but jesus Christ alone, who is the lamb that hath borne the sins of the world. Now if God be he which bindeth & looseth. * And the priest, he which pronounceth them that are bound & loosed. I demand what more power can remain in the Pope, who doth neither the one nor the other? And whether we may not come to the conclusion of Marsilius of Milan: Magist. joannes parisiens. in lib. de potestat. Regia & papal. ca 23. Marsilius cap. 6. lib. 2. & cap. 15. Magist. d. cap 8. That the Pope canrelease no more neither from the punishment, nor from the fault, than any other poor priest? Also: If God then exercise his authority, (as Saint Ambrose saith) and the priest his knowledge in doing his office by the key of discretion, What shall remain for the Pope to do, unless he will break in upon the authority of God, & what key remains for him, not having any office to exercise, unless it be the key of indiscretion? To conclude then, the interpretation of this place of S. Marthew, according to the force of the words, the conference of the scriptures, the analogy or proportion of faith, the opinion of the ancient Doctors, & the Canons themselves of the Romish church: jesus Christ is the stone, or rather the lively rock, upon which the Church is founded, by the ministry of the Apostles, who were no other but master Masons. To this church, which is one under the name of Peter, who answered for all, the power of the keys was promised, to open the gate of the kingdom of heaven to all those, which obey the preaching of the gospel. Albina they which exercise the ministry of the Gospel, have these keys, so far forth as their ministry extends, & it cannot be attributed to them that do not exercise any: whereof it ensueth, that it is so far of, that the Pope should have them alone, or all the rest from him, that the poorest priest doing his duty in his parish, hath them better than he. And if because this word was spoken to Peter, they will restrain this place to Peter's person, I say then, that it is rashly done of them, to extend to all the Bishops of Rome, that which was spoken to Peter. Or if they willbe yet of this tough opinion, them they must permit that these words: Come behind me Satan, Mat. 16. thou art an offence unto me: which follow in the verses next after, spoken to Pet. alone, must be understood of him, & all his pretended successors: whereof must follow this special privilege, that the successors of Peter & none others may become devils, & that the Church of Rome, is become in Christendom the stone of offence, because for taking care for nothing but the great things of the world, it hath forsaken those which are of God. They make an argument afterwards by another place. joh. 21: it is said three times to S. Peter, Lovest thou me, then feed my sheep: Feed my sheep. joh. 21. Therefore he was universal pastor of the Church. If they concluded, he is commanded to feed, therefore he was a pastor of the flock of Christ, the conclusion were good. But that therefore he was an universal pastor, or the pastor of pastors, there is nothing in the text from whence they may fetch it. To feed, (saith their own gloze upon that word) is to teach by word & by example, Glossa ordinaria in verbo pasce. Mat. 28. joh. 20. & not to govern over all the world: How it was said to all the Apostles, Teach, go ye into the whole world. Also, Even as my father sent me, so sand I you. Therefore it was said unto all, Feed my sheep. S. Paul saith in many places, That he is the Apostle of the Gentiles, and thereupon he addeth: Which feedeth the flock, and yet eat not of the milk. He was then a pastor thereof: and yet none will deny, but that all the rest were pastors aswell as he. To him it was said by the spirit of God: Thou shalt be a witness for me before all men: Acts. 9.21. which is a great deal more general, Then feed my sheep, and yet notwithstanding none will conclude that the other were but under witnesses. For our Lord like wise had said universally to all: You shall be witnesses unto me even to the end of the world. Wherefore then, say they, are these words here directed to Peter alone: Because that as Peter alone had denied him thrice, so likewise he asketh three times whether he loved him, & for that by his triple denial, he had lost his Apostleship, so by that threefold commandment his commission was renewed, to the end his companions should nevertheless esteem him for an Apostle. This therefore was rather a consolation for his infirmity, than a mark of dignity. Saint Augustine, who was otherwise courteous enough, found out no other meaning of this place. For see what he saith upon Saint john, August. in Io. tract. 12; cap. 21. Item Hillarius & Cyrillus in eundem locum. where he hath plainly expounded this place: In stead (saith he) of that threefold denial, behold a triple confession, to the end the tongue should not less serve to love then to fear, and that it seemed not, that present death drew from him more words, then present life, that is to say, Christ. That this than should be the office of love, to feed the flock of our Lord, seeing that that was the office of fear, to have denied the pastor himself. What meaneth this then, If thou love me, feed my sheep: that is to say, Feed not thou thyself, but feed my sheep: feed them not for thyself, but for me, not for desire to bear dominion, but for charity's sake to help them. This exposition also both Hylarius & Cyril have upon the same place: August. de verbis Domini sermon. 62. Also Christ recommended his Lambs to Peter, even he which fed Peter himself. Understand them brethren, with obedience, that you are the sheep of Christ, as all we which hear his word: Feed my sheep. S. Aug. therefore thought it to be as much spoken unto him who was B. of Bonne in Africa, as to the B. of Rome, following the admonition of our Saviour himself. Mark. 13. Cyprian. de simplicitate praelatorum. That which I say unto one, I say unto al. S. Cyprian: All are pastors, but there is but one flock, which all the Apostles have fed with one whole consent. Gratian in Decret. 7. q. 1. Novatianus verse. Item. Episcopatus. Magister joannes Parisiensis. lib. 3. cap. 41. Also, there is but one Bishopric, whereof every B. in solidum, & without separation holdeth his part: & this is repeated by Gratian in his decretals in express words, which some of the schoolmen, yea & the sorbonists themselves have expounded in these words: The priesthood or ministery is the soul of the Church, the which is whole in all, and whole in every part. To be short, it cannot be found, for many ages after the death of our Saviour, that this place hath been alleged by the Bishop of Rome, for any strength or power, that he should be acknowledged pastor of pastors. And if they will in this behalf believe their own Mass book, In Miss. behold what they sing every day: It is very meet, right & healthful to pray unto thee at all times (O eternal pastor) that thou shouldest not forsake thy flock, but shouldest keep it by thy holy Apostles with a continual protection, to the end that it may have for governors & guides, such as thou hast established unto it, for vicar's of thy work & pastures. Behold therefore all the Apostles, even by their own Mass itself, to be rectors, pastors and vicar's, immediately from Christ, and immediately established from him. And if in Peter's own cause they will be content to have Saint Peter judge himself: The Elders which are among you I beseech, which also am an Elder (saith he.) Feed the flock of Christ which is committed unto you, 1. Pet. 5. ●, 2, 3, 4. etc. not as having lordship over the heritage's of the Lord, but as examples of the flock: And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive an incorruptible crown of glory. He that will play the Sophister as they do upon these words, feed the flock, will conclude that Peter hath resigned his Church to them. But it sufficeth us, that S. Peter calleth not himself pastor of pastors, but sends them to the principal pastor, who is jesus Christ our Lord. And in that, joh. 10. some object these words: There shallbe one fold and one shepherd, applying it to the Pope, they do yet worse. The scope of the text showeth us, that Christ speaketh of the vocation of the Gentiles, & thereupon S. Gregory in their gloze saith, Greg. & Theoph. Fiet unum ovile etc. that is to say: there shallbe one fold. That this is spoken because Christ hath joined both the jew & the Gentle in his faith, & Theophilus: because all the sheep have but one mark, to wit, Baptism, & but one pasture, that is to say, the word of God. But see one other place, from whence they have not feared to begin to triumph, as if they had gotten a sword in their hand to defend this interpretation. jesus Christ drawing near unto his passion, saith unto his Apostles, Behold 2. swords. Luk. 22.33. When I sent you without bag or scrip etc. lacked you any thing: they answered, Nothing. But now he that hath a bag, let him take it, and likewise a scrip, & he that hath none, let him cell his coat and buy a sword. For I say unto you, that the same which is written, must be fulfilled in me: he was reputed with the wicked. Then the Apostles said, Behold here two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough. There is none but clearly seeth by the drift of the text alone, that he forewarneth his disciples of the enterprise that should be made against him, for which notwithstanding they must not provide any carnal weapons. In mean season, see the wandering conclusion which the Popes fetch from thence in their extravagaunts. It is said: Behold here two swords, ergo Saint Peter, that is to say, the Pope and his successors are heads all the world thorough, aswell of the Temporal as of the Spiritual. This is that goodly decree of Boniface the eight, for which king Philip the fair was excommunicated: which decree beginneth, unam sanctam ecclesiam etc. that is to say, unam sanctam Extr. de maiorita te & obedientia. that we must believe one holy universal church, & endeth with this conclusion, we declare, say, dispute of, and determine, that for to obtain salvation, it is necessary to every creature to be subject to the Pope of Rome. But here is no question of S. Peter, for he is not particularly named, but of al. Also there is no question of bearing rule, but to be persecuted. And jesus Christ himself cutteth of all this at one blow, when he made Peter to put up his sword into his sheath. And yet notwithstanding they have been so impudent, that they have enterprised upon the sight of this place, to bear jurisdiction over the whole world, & both Princes and people have been such noddies & so ignorant, that they have suffered themselves to be trodden under their feet. Ambrose in Lue. & glossa super eumdem locum. And this were to do the ancient doctors great wrong, to apply them to the refuting of this place, whereupon some by the two swords understand the old and new Testament, others, sound doctrine and good example of life, as also their own gloze doth. But I report me to every man, if this be not openly to deride Christ & his word, & to say unto him, hail king of the jews, as the pharisees did, & whether these goodly swords deserve any otherwise to be refuted then by the lawful sword of all Princes, which bear the title of Christians. And even as well grosided is that: God hath made two lights: the Pope is the Sun, & the Emperor the Moon. Ergo the Pope, I know not how many thousand times, is greater than the Emperor. Against which I will oppose none but their own I sidore, alleged by a Sorbonist, who by the Sun understandeth a kingdom, Extravagde cadem, & ibi glossa. Magister joh. paris. cap. 25. Isidorus super Genes. cap. 1 Mat. 11.23 & by the Moon the priesthood. Also jesus Christ commanded the devils to enter into the swine, ergo the Pope is lord of the Temporalty. This passeth all kind of blasphemy. Our Lord saith, All power is given to me from the father, aswell in heaven as in earth. The Pope hath therefore an absolute commandment over heaven & earth. And yet are these the ordinary allegations of their decretals. But they are now better advised in their last disputations, touching certain other places, but as ill to the purpose & as blasphemous as the other. It is written, say the jesuits of our time, I will judge saith the Lord, betwixt the sheep and the sheep, betwixt the Rams & the Goats. Therefore S. Peter & his successors are judges of all the earth. Ezech 34. August. lib. pastoribus. S. August. hath made an whole book upon this Chap. of Eze. & yet never thought of this article of faith, which was hidden in this verse. But let us reason of their words quite contrary. Ezechiel saith, that God will judge between the sheep & the sheep etc. & the Pope saith that he will be he, & therefore he setteth himself in God's seat. It followeth therefore that the Pope is he, of whom S. Paul hath foretold us, that would lift up himself above all that is called God. Also SAINT Peter saith that baptism was represented by the Ark, whereof this conclusion followeth, Turria. p. 50 51.52. 1. Pet. 3. that as by the Ark mankind was saved, & as it were begotten again: even so Christians are regenerated by baptism etc. They reason thereupon quite contrary. Baptizme was figured by the Ark. Turria. P. 26. etc. Noah was head of his sons in the Ark, ergo Saint Peter & his sons in the Ark, ergo Saint Peter & his successors are heads of the church. I ask them in what Lorgicke school this manner of reasoning may be allowed. But with their leave, justinus Martyr in Tryph. we will conclude otherwise. justine Martyr one of that auncientst doctors of the Church, expounding this place, He saith, that Noah was a figure of Christ, because he was the beginning of another generation, regenerated by water. And the Pope saith that he was a figure of him. It followeth then, either that the Pope is Christ, or else that he cannot be any other, but he who would advance himself to that place in the Church, to wit, Antichrist. I would have been ashamed to have alleged these places for them, were it not, that they which have no shame to defend the Pope in this time, are so impudent to allege them, and to make great books thereof. And by this a man may see how destitute they are of plain places, when they are driven to have recourse to such. But forasmuch as it appeareth not by the holy Scripture, that our Lord hath ordained Peter head of the Church, but altogether the contrary, It followeth then that we see, if S. Peter before his death hath ever exercised this charge, and also if the other Apostles have yielded so much unto him. Acts. 8. Acts. 11. He was sent with john into Samaria by the Apostles. Now amongst men, he that sendeth, is above him that is sent: he was accused amongst the brethren, for having conversation amongst the Gentiles. This went fore, and yet notwithstanding he excuseth himself towards them. Acts. 15. He did not then, what seemed good to himself, without being answerable for it to the brethren. In the Council at jerusalem, 1. Pet. 5. he propounded his opinion concerning the matter of the Gentiles, whose vocation was revealed unto him, and james there concludeth as Precedent, and letters are dispatched away in the name of the whole assembly. And yet this should have been the place where this pre-eminence aught to have appeared. To be short, he calleth himself a companion or fellow of the Elders of the Church, and lovingly exhorteth them as his equals, and not by decrees and commandments, etc. If we should go any further, Gal. 1. & 2. Saint Paul in two first chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians, declareth that he was not subject unto him, that Saint Peter required it not of him, but only that he gave him the hand of fellowship, to travail in the lords vinyeard, and that he reproved him to his face, and that he resisted him as his fellow and companion. And their ordinary gloze sayeth upon this place, Glossa ordi●●cund. August. Glossa ordinar. secundum Hieronym. The other Apostles seemed to be more worthy than Paul, because they were sent by jesus Christ, but he was a great deal more worthy than they, because he was sent by Christ altogether immortal, whereas they were but sent by Christ then a mortal man. Also he learned nothing of Peter, nor of the rest, but contrariwise he taught Peter, and they conferred not any thing to him, but he rather conferred and profited Peter. Also the Lord jesus, sayeth Saint Paul, which is in us all, hath ordained some Apostles, some Prophets, Hieronym. epist ad Gal. cap. 21. Ephes. 4. some Doctors, etc. for the ministery of his Gospel. Also: we are one body and one spirit, having the same hope of calling, one God, one faith, one Baptism. It should have followed, that he should have adjoined in recommendation of this unity, a ministerial head of the Church, Peter and his successors in the See of Rome. Hitherto than we have not so much as any appearance of primacy. Yea but Peter is sometime first named, A poor foundation of so monstrous a building. And the virgin Marie is named in some places the last, and Saint Peter himself by Paul, Acts. 1 after S. james. Galat. 1 But he was wont oftentimes to speak first, and he was endowed with great gifts, and oftentimes he is called by the fathers, the chief amongst the Apostles: And who of us is there, that doth deny S. Peter's excellency, that doth not wonder at his incomparable zeal, that doth not place him in the uppermost seat of the Church: And contrariwise who is he, that doth more dishonour him, than the Pope, who hideth his filthinesses and villainies under S. Peter's Cloak, & under the colour of his name, filleth all the world full of tyranny. That Saint Peter was the first amongst the Apostles, either it was for his age, Marsil. lib. 2. cap. 16. Card. Cuson. lib. 2. ca vlt. de concord. Catholie. Aug. in Io. serm. ulti. Hieron. contra jovinia. lib. 1. or for his zeal, as Marsilius of Milan sayeth, or for his abundance of grace, as saith Cusan the Cardinal, and before him S. Augustine. And admit that he were precedent in their assemblies, what should there follow of this? In all companies there is a chiefty of order, but that doth not therefore import, that there should be a chiefty of power, nor any superiority in respect of the one over the other. In the empire of Germany, there are seven Electors. The Archbishop of Mentz, and the County Palatine are the chiefest, the one amongst the Ecclesiastical persons, the other of the civil. Have they therefore power over their fellow Electors, to wit, over the other princes that have not that degree? That is a toy. Also there is no well governed assembly, where some one is not precedent, to propound the matters they have in hand, to gather the voices, to pronounce sentence according to them. Shall such a one therefore establish and dispose all at his pleasure? all the world will say contrary. Also Peter was precedent among twelve persons, & that by the electio of the Apostles, and not otherwise. Whosoever therefore will conclude, that it is very good, that in all companies there be some one to govern their actions, and to keep order, the conclusion shallbe very good. But that therefore the Pope as his successor, should govern over all the world, this should be no more order, but the confusion of the whole world. Moreover, as it hath been notably disputed long ago against the Pope, If S. Peter according to the decree of Anaclet cited by Isiodore, was elected precedent by the Apostles, 22. Distinct. sacros. it followeth not, that his successor should be over the successors of the Apostles, Marsil. Pad. lib. 2. cap. 16. & 18. unless he be chosen by their successors themselves. For Saint john might have had better successors than Saint Peter, all which together, might have had power to choose one to govern. And these are those personal dignities, which descend not from the father to the sons, and are not tied to one chair, but depend upon the common consent of those which have instituted them, according to that which Cardinal Cusan durst well say, Card. Cusan lib. 2. cap. 13. & cap. vlt. that if by consent of the Christian Church, the Bishop of Treues were chosen precedent of the Church, he should have far more right than the Bishop of Rome, who hath it not but through sufferance, and that the Bishop of Rome should be bound to acknowledge him for such a one, and to yield him obedience. We see then by the Scriptures that S. Peter was never ordained head of the Church by jesus Christ, & that he was never taken for such a one, & also was never acknowledged in this quality or office by the Apostles, Card. Cusan lib. 2. cap. 17. & 15. as also we find not that in any one Council that ever the Pope hath alleged (I mean within 500 years after Christ jesus) one only place of scripture when the primacy was builded. Whereupon we conclude with all antiquity, that the Pope in respect that he is Peter's successor, cannot be called the Ministerial head of the Church: that he is equal to all other Bishops: that the primacy which he exerciseth, is not in any wise founded upon God's law: and consequently that all the articles which are founded thereupon, for which, as necessary to salvation, the Popes have brought to confusion all Christendom, have not any foundation in jesus Christ. That the Pope or Bishop of Rome is not the Ministerial head of the universal Church, by any right of man's law: & how he hath usurped this title and power. CHAP. VIII. But forasmuch as there is question of the succession of Saint Peter, having seen in what it consisteth, let us see now what titles they bring forth, to the end they may be received into possession. They allege every where, that S. Peter was at Rome, Whethre Peter have been at Rome, and how. and hereof they conclude at one jump, that the Pope is head of the Church. We might deny that he was at Rome, the which they can not prove by the holy Scripture: whereof every one may see, what the foundation is of so weighty a building. But contrariwise we find great conjectures that he was never there, of which we were not the first searchers out, but the greatest personages that were in many ages before us. Betwixt the death of our Lord, Marsil. Pad. lib. 1. cap. 16. and the death of Nero, there were 37. years. By the holy Scripture it appeareth, Gal. 1. & 2. that Peter was at Jerusalem twenty years after. From thence he came to Antioch, where Gregory saith, that he was seven years, and Eusebius saith 25. He that shall believe Eusebius, he could not be martyred under Nero, though he himself say it. For betwixt the passion of Christ & the death of Nero, there was but thirty seven years, and by Eusebius account, there must be at the lest xlvi. years. And if we shall believe Gregory, there remain but ten years, during which time Peter could be at Rome. But forasmuch as Peter and Paul were seen in jerusalem, S. Paul writing a long Epistle to the Romans, would he have abstained from him, if he had been there then? Likewise he saluteth a great number of persons, without making any mention of him. Besides he writeth many Epistles from Rome, in some of which, a man shall find some places, that necessarily should have made mention of him. And in one place he complaineth, that all had forsaken him, being a prisoner for the Gospel. Phil. 2.20. 2. Tim. 4.16. And the 2. Epistle to Timothy was written the same year, where a little after S. Paul was beheaded by the commandment of Nero. To be short, whether S. Peter were at Rome before S. Paul, or after. If before, (as their legend sayeth, that Saint Paul arrived there after) & that they two together had such combats against Simon Magus, whence cometh it, that Saint Paul did not salute him in his Epistle to the Romans? Whence also cometh it, that he maketh no mention of him, in the other Epistles? and which is more, whence cometh it, and how can that accord to that which S. Luke sayeth in the Acts, The last Chapter of the Acts. That the jews said unto Paul, that they had understood nothing of him, and they desire him to declare unto them his opinion of that sect, against which every man spoke? Is this credible unto any, that S. Peter, who came thither before, and was the Minister of Circumcision, that he had taught them nothing of him? Also whence cometh it, 1. Cor. 3. Galat. 2. that S. Paul, who is wont diligently else where to rehearse their meetings, as when they met at Antioch, maketh no mention of this meeting, being in one of the most famous Cities in the world? Now if Saint Peter came thither after Saint Paul, besides that it is a great marvel, that no mention is made thereof, yet then the legend is false, whereupon the primacy is founded: and as it is false in one point, so it may be in another. Moreover the legend sayeth, that they were beheaded both together, and the Canon sayeth, the same year, in the same day, and at the same hour. Eusebius sayeth, that the one was beheaded, and the other was crucified, Linus in passione beati Pauli. and Linus, who hath written the suffering of Saint Paul, he (I say) whom they hold to have been the next that succeeded Saint Peter, hath made no mention of Saint Peter's suffering. One sayeth, that Linus was his successor, another that it was Clemens. To be short, they are not yet agreed, neither of the time of his coming, nor of the time of his death, nor of the manner thereof, nor of his successor, nor of any thing. And yet for all that they are so impudent, that they will draw all stay of the Christian faith, unto the faith of a lying legend. Now against these proofs, they can allege but one place of Scripture, whereof they may be ashamed, to wit, that which is in the later end of the first Epistle of S. Peter: The Church which is in Babylon saluteth you: I will not deny unto them, that Eusebius, and Beda, Euseb. lib. 2. and Saint Hierome hath interpreted the date of this letter to be from Rome: but I do rather willingly accept that which they confess, that they are not able to authorize the See of Rome by the scripture, otherwise than by acknowledging it to be called Babylon, even by their pretended founder himself. Now if they will allege unto me, that this is a common & received opinion, that S. Peter was at Rome, besides the diversities that we have noted before, I answer, that the question is not of the opinion, but of an article of faith, upon which they would build many others of like sort. That S. Hierome a Roman elder, expounding this place: Hieronym. in Matth. lib. 4. cap. 23. Behold, I have sent you Prophets, wise men and Scribes, etc.: allegeth for example, Saint Stephen stoned, and S. Peter crucified by the jews: to be short, that the popedom than is founded upon opinion, and not upon a certain and an undoubted faith. But granting that opinion, that he was there, (for I will not now debate the matter, to show the uncertainty of that which they pretend to be most certain) I demand whether he were there in the state of a Bishop, or of an Apostle. If as Bishop or elder, (for then we know that both these were one) they were bound every one to their own city or town, and to his own Church, Acts. 14. Tit. 1. as may appear by the Acts, & in the Epistle to Titus, and therefore the Bishop of Rome could not pretend any authority over others: for none could transfer that right which he had. Again, why should they not rather have chosen Paul for their Bishop, seeing that it appeareth by the holy scripture, Acts. 10. that he had preached there a long time? Moreover what will they answer to the Bishop of Antioch, who is more clearly founded in the scripture, than the Bishop of Rome, that is to say, even in the express text of the Scripture? for, alleging that goodly revelation of translating Peter's See from Antioch to Rome, which is read in Gratian'S decretal, 12. q. 1. Rogamus. they shallbe derided, as for an idle dream. And what will they answer to S. Gregory himself, who saith that the Bishops of Alexandria and of Antioch, are aswell Peter's successors as he of Rome, & that they sit in Peter's chair? If as an Apostle, Gregor. in Registr. 99 ad Eulog. Alexander. we know that the charge of the Apostleship was not tied to any city, town, or province, not nor to any one nation, but was extended throughout the whole world, and if they will have it any manner of way limited, this must be by the spirit of God, who had appointed Peter's Apostleship amongst the jews, and Paul's amongst the Gentiles, sending the one (saith S. Hierome) to the Gentiles, Galat. 1 and placing the other by the singular providence of God in jury. Whereupon it will follow then, that by the same right, all places where Peter hath preached, shall have a primacy, that is to say, there shallbe primacies and popedoms without number, and so consequently not one alone. Also, that the succession of Rome aught rather to be taken of Paul then of Peter: Hieron. in Epist. ad Galat cap. 2. for Rome is of the Gentiles. Also, that all the places spoken of Peter, are ill alleged by them, forasmuch as the succession is not drawn from him. This is beside. For Cardinal Cusan maintaineth unto them, Card. Cusan lib. 2. de concord. Catholic. cap. 13. Marsil. Pad. lib. 2. cap. 17 that all Bishops are equally of S. Peter, whereof it followeth, that they have all the privilege of his See, & that as one may err, so likewise may another. If they say, that S. Peter hath founded the Church of Rome, that is false: for long time before that they say it should be founded by him, S. Paul wrote unto them, Rom. 16. that the renown of their faith was spread throughout the whole world. Now if it be in respect only that Peter there died, they say that so did Paul also, who went thither by the express commandment of God: I say that S. Jerome writeth that he was crucified in judea: to be short, I say that the Apostle S. john, Hieron in Matth. lib. 4. cap. 23. who lived longer than all the Apostles, & thirty years at the lest after S. Peter, according to their own reckoning, and who wrote the last of all, saith rather, that Christ foretold Peter, that he should be glorified by his death, but he maketh no mention of the place, where he should thereby glorify the Pope: which without doubt he would not have concealed, for the benefit and salvation of all the world, if the state of the Church had depended upon this supremacy. But I demand farther, who can vaunt to be Peter's heir, whether the Church of Rome, or the Pope? If the church of Rome, as it seemeth the Pope Calixte gave place to it: then there is no more question of a Pope, Canon: 〈◊〉 dicet distin. nor of one man alone, nor of one personal succession: For the Church is a body, & a body dieth not, but successively in his parts & there needeth no successor to him that dieth not. If it be the Pope, then aught not the Church of Rome any more to say, that she is the head of the Church, Magist. Io●. Parisien. lib. de potesta●e regia & Papali. neither that she say any more as the school of sorbonists noth. That Peter's chair is for the Church, and not the Church for Peter's chair. For she is but a part of the succession. And if this come to pass, I demand, what shall become of the Church, Litter Acad. Parisiensis apud Theod. a nicen's. tract. 6. cap. 15. and of the ministery of the same, when the head thereof shall become an heretic and an Atheist, when there shallbe a Schism of thirty or forty years continuance without a Pope, as often hath been seen, Concil. Gallicanun anno Dom. 1407. & 1408. when joan shall be in Peter's place, etc. But before they answer us, they must make void this broil amongst themselves, and if it please God, before they agreed therein, their pretended succession must fall to the ground. Now albeit we could reject all in one word, being not grounded upon any one word of God's law, yet it shallbe good to see from time to time, how they are grounded upon man's law, and that which we call positive. They hold that S. Peter was crucified under Nero, in the year of our Lord 69, and that Clement succeeded him. Others say, that Linus succeeded him, than Saint john, yea and james himself: If we believe those books supposed to be Clement's, they should have obeyed Clement as head of the Church: for he succeeded, as they say, in Peter's Authority, & he aught to have no less authority than the pope's at this day, who can dispense with Paul's epistles. A wonderful case that the primitive Church, when they made the Canon of those books that should have authority in the Church, that they should rather put in those books of james and john, then of Clement the principal heir and successor of the holy ghost, by the virtue of Saint Peter's chair. A wonderful matter further, Clemens epist. 3. that this Clement made so small account of succession, so necessary in the Church, seeing that in his epistle which he writeth to james Bishop of jerusalem, he calleth him our lords brother, the Bishop of Bishops, and governor of the Church of jerusalem, and of all others throughout all the world. But, yet a more wonderful matter, that they should be found so impudent, in the light of good learning that at this day shineth, as to found the papacy upon those gay books of Clement, in which there are so many falsehoods. Clement writeth to Saint james after Peter's death, and teacheth him the institution of our Lord, when as the Scripture witnesseth that S. james was martyred long before in jerusalem, and that as long as he lived, he was to teach Clement such matters, and not to learn them of him. And yet this is one of the notablest authors that they can allege. But let us proceed. We hold the Apostles Creed from the beginning of the Christian Church. And we there find the Catholic church. But this article of the faith, that pope Boniface the eight made, is not therein: That if we will be saved, we must acknowledge the pope to be the sovereign Lord Saint Cyprian saith, Cyprian. de simplicitate praelatorum. Idem in sententiis episcopo. Idem. lib. 1. epist. 5. That there is but one Bishopric, of which every Bishop holdeth his part, wholly without any division. Also, that none of his time, either called, or made himself Bishop of Bishops, either made through tyranny his companions subject to his obedience. Also he complaineth, that certain profane men and Schismatics with drew themselves to the bish. of Rome, who (saith he) hath none but certain desperate & wicked fellows that stay upon him, making themselves believe that the Bishops of Africa have less power than the Bishops of Rome. And in very deed he calleth not Stephen & Cornelius bishops of Rome, other than brethren & companions, & handleth Stephen rudely enough in many places. To be short, a little after his death, Concil. African. can. primae sedis, the church of Africa decreed in the council of Carthage, that none should be called the prince or chief of ministers, or the first Bishop, but only according to the dignity of Cities, the Bishop of the first See. Irenee very lively reproveth Victor the Bishop of Rome, Ireneus ex Euseb. lib. 5. cap. 20. & epist. 24. who through a certain shameless ambition, had excommunicated the Churches of Asia, for disagreeing about the Passeover. The Ministers, saith he, which have held the eldership of the Church over which thou now dost govern, Anicetus, Pius, Higinus etc. have not done as thou hast done, neither they also which were with them. Tertullian. de praescriptione haere. Tertullian who otherwise is wont to attribute very much to Saint Peter, scorneth the Bishop of Rome & his great ambition, which then began to show itself: & albeit in a certain place he maketh a long narration of the praises of the Church of Rome, yet he teacheth not, neither near nor far of, that which is the principal, to wit, that it was the infallible seat of the holy Ghost, by Peter's succession. And yet these are for all that, the very first of all antiquity, and in whose time the Church of Christ more flourished, then at any time. In the time of Constantine, as the church had more liberty, so it had also more ambition, & then Bishops began first to think on mitres, that before time thought nothing else but to be martyrs. That same famous Council of Nice was then called together by Constantine the Emperor, Can. 6. Nicen. synodi. to the end to decide the matter of Arrius. The B. of Rome's deputies were there: but they sat only in the fourth place. Yea one decree was there made, Euseb. lib. 10 cap. 6. by which certain limits were attributed to every patriarch, over which the Canon gave them equal authority, which the Bishop of Rome was wont to have over the neighbour Churches of his city. They went about by infinite means to corrupt the canons of this council, as the histories do witness unto us. But Cusan the Cardinal alleging this Council, acknowledgeth the truth in these words: By this we see, Card. Cusan. lib. 2. de concord. Cath. cap. 1● (saith he) how much authority the Pope hath gotten in our time, against the sacred ancient constitutions, and altogether through the length of time and custom of a slavish subiectionall obedience. And yet in mean time julius with standeth it not, neither do his Legates allege to the fathers of the Council their Tibi dabo, I will give unto thee, nor their Pasce oves meas, Feed my sheep: for as yet they were not studied so deeply therein, but they rested only in the ordinance of the Council, which afterwards was confirmed by the Councils of Antioch, Concil. Antioch. cap. 23. Constan. cap. 2. and of Constantinople. And this was about the time that they would devise the donation of Constantine to pope Sylvester, confuted by so many learned men, so long time ago, that none but such as are ignorant will believe it. But if they will believe the original, An extract of Vatican. which is kept in Vatican in the pope's library in golden letters, let them also believe these words which are written & added in the end: Quam fabulam longi temporis mendacia finxit, that is to say, in the proper words of ill latin, This is a fable which an old lie hath forged. Or if they will therein believe the legend of Pope Sylvester, then let them also believe that which it sayeth, Legenda Syluestri. that then was heard a voice from heaven, saying, hody effusum est venenum in Ecclesiam: that is to say, At this day poison is shed into the midst of the Church. In the first and second Council of Ephesus, Cyrillus and Dioscorus, patriarchs of Alexandria did govern there, though the Bishop of Rome there had his deputies. Leo papa epist 45. And it forceth not to say, that the second was not lawful. For this can not be known but by the issue, but it sufficeth that in the beginning, and then when men thought that it was very lawful, and that in such a time, as the ceremonies were kept there, Leo the Bishop of Rome, Leo papa in epistolis. neither his deputies, did not there strive for the chief place, because they thought it to have no good ground. In the Council of Chalcedon, called together by the Emperor Martian, Leo the Bishop of Rome being there precedent, he was called Archbishop as were the others. But the history sayeth, that he required the Emperor and the Empress to govern there, because that in the second Council of Ephesus, Dioscorus the Patriarch of Alexandria, abusing his authority, had approved the heresy of Eutyches, whereof then there was question. Now in that he demandeth this favour, it sufficiently declareth that it was not done unto him, and if this might once be drawn into consequence, as well also must this, that Cyrill was Precedent over the first council of Ephesus, for all the Bishops of Alexandria. Leo in epist. poposceran & multa mihi in omnibus ad Martianun August. And in very deed in the fift Council of Constantinople, his successor withstood it not, when Menas the patriarch of that place was there precedent. In the general Council of Aquilie, S. Ambrose the B. of Milan was precedent, & there was not any mention made of the B. of Rome, although this was in Italy. But behold the question was determined, the parties being heard, by the determinate sentence of a council. The B. of Rome took upon him a goodly large title of being patriarch over the churches of Africa, & the schismatics of Africa willingly departed to go to him to find there aid, whereupon the council of Milevitane, where S. Aug. was with a good number of fathers, pronounced all them for excommunicate, that had or should appeal beyond the Sea. The Bishop of Rome finding himself grieved, Volume. Con. in Concilio Milevitano. & council. Carth ag. 6. sent to the sixth council of Carthage, where also Saint Augustine was, that he might have redress in this matter, the which was so long time in debating, that Zosinius, Boniface, and Celestine, Bishops of Rome succeeded one another, during this Council. Aurelius the Archbishop of Carthage, notwithstanding that their legates were there, was precedent there, and in the end the definitive sentence was pronounced in this force. That the Bishop of Rome should not receive those that were excommunicated by the Bishops of Africa, neither should he receive the appellations of those that by them should be condened, & that all they which should appeal to him, should be held for excommunicated persons. The reasons of this council contained in the 105. chapter, by the letters of the council to Celestine Bishop of Rome, Cap. 105. Concil. Car. thag. 6. are these: that there is no council, that had so decreed: Contrariwise that the Council of Nice, had put the Clergy & the Bishops of each province under the Metropolitan: That the grace of the holy Spirit had not withdrawn itself from every Province, to discern the right of all causes. That any might appeal to a Provincial council, if he felt himself grieved, & that it was more credible, that GOD would inspire a great assembly of ministers in a Council, than one man alone. And because that the B. of Rome required to sand his legates to be over those places to inquire of matters and causes, they made answer that they could not found any council that had so decreed, and likewise that they would not suffer it. In this council, where they had time enough to dream all their forbidding, yet shall you not find that the primacy was founded upon any law of God: much less, that which they call the fullness of power. And in very deed, for to decide the matter, men were not sent to search the scriptures, in which S. Augustine (who was present there) was well able to have found it, if it had been there, but rather to the four originals of the council of Nice, which were kept in the four patriarchal Seas. In mean while Gratian the Compiler of their decree, was so sottishly malicious, Can. placuit 2. q. cap. 4. that reciting this Canon of the Council of Carthage, That men should not appeal beyond the Sea, he added, unless to the B. of Rome: as though the Canon had been made quite contrary to itself, all the reasons being heard & concluded to the contrary. And by this place a man may very well gather what to account of their Canons, being rehearsed with such fidelity. In the Council of Carthage, holden under the Emperor Mauricius about the year of Christ, six hundred, the matter of the Supremacy was also largely debated, Concil. Carth. 7. because that then the B. of Constantinople, favoured of the Emperor Mauricius, by prerogative of the City of Constantinople, called himself Bishop of Bishops, and universal Bishop. And Mauricius upheld and aided him to beat down old Rome, because then the empire was translated into the East, & Italy left for a pray to the Northern people. Let a man read over all the Canons of that council, & they pronounce a curse, not only upon the B. of Constantinople, but generally upon all those who shall take the title of an universal B. All the ancient doctors, who lived during the time of these Councils, yea the Latins, that yielded very much to the Bishopric of Rome, as being their most near patriarchshippe, do witness the self same thing unto us. Athanasius, Athanasius in epist. ad liberum Hpisco. Rom. albeit he was greatly bound to the See of Rome, which had received him in his exile, he saith that all the Apostles were equal in honour & power: S. Hierom a minister of Rome he saith, If there be any question of the authority of all the world, the world is greater than one City. Wherefore wilt thou bring the order of the Church into the subjection of a few persons: Whence cometh this presumption? Wheresoever there is a Bishop, be he at Rome, or at Agubium, be he at Constantinople or at Rhegium, Hieron. in epist. ad Euagrium. Repetitur in decret. Gratiani. Hieron. ad Nepotianum. he is of one and the same dignity and Ministry. Richeses or poverty neither make one superior nor inferior. Again there is (saith he) in every Church a Bishop, one chief amongst the Deacons, and another amongst the Elders, and all the order of the Church consisteth in these governors. It should follow thereupon, seeing the the question was of unity, that he should add and say, a B. over the other Bishops: but he speaketh nothing. August epist 162. in breviculo collationis contra Donat. & passim. S. August. hath written a story, which maketh this matter most clear. Donate of the black cottages, a Numidian, of whom the Donatists took their name, had grievously accused Cicilian the Archbishop of Carthage. Constantine the Emperor committed this cause, which was merely ecclesiastical, to Miltiades B. of Rome, & to certain other Bishops of Italy, Gaul & Spaigne. Now if this had been his ordinary jurisdiction, there needed not any Commission of the Emperor, & it had belonged to him to have chosen unto himself his assistants, & not to have received them. But see further. Donate being condemned, appealed to the Emperor, who sent his appellation to the Archb. of Arles, either to prove or disallow the B. of Rome's sentence. I demand then in this fact, which in this case is worth a million, Where is the Supremacy, where is the jurisdiction without appeal, and where is this same knowledge of all appellations, & this fullness of power, whereof they speak so much? And yet this is that Constantine of whom they boast so much, & who, as they deem, spoiled himself of his Empire, to enrich them. Chrysost. sayeth, Homil. 43. in mat. cap. 23. Whosoever of the Bishops shall desire primacy in earth, he shall found confusion in heaven, & he that shall desire to be the chief, he shall not be reputed in the number of the servants of Christ. Gregory the great, Bishop of Rome, when the Bishop of Constantinople would attribute unto himself that Supremacy, Greg. Mag. lib. 4. epist. 76 78.80.85. lib. 6. epist. 188. & 194. he saith not, that he doth wrong to Saint Peter, or that he withholdeth & usurpeth the right of the Bishops of Rome, but rather he protesteth, that this was a profane title, full of sacrilege, and the foreruning of Antichrist, and that this was to say with Lucifer, I will ascend above the clouds, and will make myself equal to the high God. Can. Nullus ex epist. Pelagii papae dist. 99 That none of his predecessors took upon them to be above their brethren & companions. And if there were any such amongst them, he falling down, all the Church should stumble & fall with him. That this were to destroy all christianity. And after many such other words, he pronounceth this general sentence: That whosoever shall call himself universal Bishop, or shall desire to be so called, that he is the forerunner of Antichrist, forasmuch as through pride, he axalteth himself above all. As touching himself he flatly refused it, Epist. ad Eulogium lib. 7.30. in Regist. and prayed Eulogius the Bishop of Alexandria, not to give him this proud name. He acknowledgeth that the Bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, are as well in Peter's chair, as they of Rome: to be short, that Peter, Paul, Andrew, john etc. they are all particular heads of the people whom they govern, but all members under one head, which is Christ, howsoever they hold Peter for chief amongst them. I beseech the readers that they will take pains to read upon this matter the epistles of Saint Gregory, and there they shall find the condemnation of this Supremacy, more expressly, then yet I have said. To conclude, the Emperors have called general Councils, & the patriarchs and metropolitans, those that were Nationall and provincial. They that were patriarchs every one was precedent over the See of his patriarchshippe, and not the Bishop of Rome, nor his deputies in general councils. The patriarchs or chief Bishops went not to seek their Palls at Rome, but were Canonically elected over those places. The Bishop of Rome (as appeareth by those Epistles themselves of Gregory the great) when he was chosen, Greg. Anast. lib. 1. epist. 25. & lib. 6. epist. 169. exhibited unto them the confession of his faith, by a synodal Epistle, as they did to him. Each one of them had an Ecclesiastical judgement over his own, and none appealed from them, not not the Bishops themselves beyond the Sea, who had no Patriarch in the Sea of Rome. I demand then by what mark they can show us that Supremacy in the ancient Primitive church, be it, but by the positive law of man: And yet notwithstanding we see the course from time to time, and from Council to Council, until the year of our LORD six hundred and more, when Phocas the Emperor killed his master Maurice, and invaded the Empire: and to get favour of the Romans, after so cursed and detestable murder, gained Boniface the third, their Bishop, declaring him to be head of the Church, and Bishop of Bishops, against that that Gregory his predecessor had a little before so hotelye fought against. If the Church had been so long time without a head, what did the members then? And if jesus Christ were the head then, why less now: Also whence cometh it, that when the Bishop of Rome was not acknowledged for such a one, it had such strength, and always afterwards grew weaker and decayed: Again, is it not notable, that all the ancient Church was ignorant of so healthful a doctrine, hidden in the holy Scripture, and that Boniface the third should be the first that should find it out: That such so necessary privileges should be concealed for the space of six hundred years, in the most happy ages, and to the most quick sighted persons, which ever were: That so many Christian Emperors should make no account of it, and one Phocas, an execrable murderer, should be the first to give authority unto it? But as the papacy must needs spring of the ruins of Rome, & the second beast of the Carrion of the first, so also must it needs he, that the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, as that of the first kings was, must be founded and builded upon murder. Against these decrees of the general councils, they blush not to allege unto us those goodly books of Clement, whereof we have spoken a little before: that same ridiculous epistle of Anaclet, Distinct. 22▪ c. sacrosanct. 12. q. 1. cap. rogamus. That Cephas is as much to say as head of the church: that same authentical revelation of Pope Marcellus, of Peter's seat to be removed from Antioch to Rome, Cardinal Cusan lib. 2. cap. vlt. and such other beggarly trumpery of that decree, which some even of their own side do deride: Also certain other epistles of Pope Leo, who laboureth thereby, as much as he can, to make us credit the latin Church. But we know that none must be judge in his own cause, and if, as Gerson & Panormitan say, One lay man may set himself (having the holy Scripture on his side) against a whole general council which erreth from it: By a more strong reason may the whole primitive Church oppose itself, & all the whole Scripture (having all the general councils on her side, that were for the space of 600. years) against the tyranny of one man alone, which cannot allege any thing but his own ambition, yea & against the decretal epistles of some Popes, & yet for the most part, but shuffled in under the name of some of the ancient fathers. The ambition of the bishop of Rome. I will not deny notwithstanding, that a good time the bishops of Rome had not attempted to establish a spiritual monarchy at Rome, according to the example of the temporal, which made them to be envied. For the Church of God began by Abel, as Saint Augustine saith, and Babylon by Cain, and likewise it is not to be doubted, but that very quickly after the foundations of the Christian Church were laid, Satan laid also the foundations of Antichrist. 1. Cor. 1. 2. Thess. 2. In Paul his time the mystery of iniquity began to work, when one said that he was of Apollo, another that he was of Paul, and another of Cephas. Victor the bishop of Rome enterprised to excommunicate all Asia for the feast of Easter, Euseb. lib. 5. cap. 20. Ireneus epist. 24. Cyprianus lib. 4. Epi. 6. but he was most lively reproved by Irenee. Steven also received the schismatics of Africa, against the Sentence of the Church, that they should not appeal beyond the Sea: but Cyprian calleth him proud and ignorant, and the council of Africa holden about the self same time, setteth itself against him. julius in the time of Constantine began to establish his Empire, but the council of Nice limited him his power, bringing him to the bound and scantling of others. Yea, Concil. Carthag. 6. cap. 5.4.101.105. in the sixth council of Carthage, where Saint Augustine was present, three bishops of Rome one after another were so impudent, as to falsify a decree of the council of Nice, bringing forth in stead thereof, the articles of the council of Sardes, yet corrupted and falsified, pretending that from all parts, men might appeal to the bishop of Rome. But the fathers of the council had learned well to say, that they would not believe those productions, and therefore sent to the originals, and they being seen, they pronounced the quite contrary. Leo the first received Eutyches condemned by Flavianus the bishop of Constantinople, & for a time maintained him against him, whereupon his heresy first took footing and grew, which might then at once have been quenched. But none approved this usurpation. To be short, in the time of Chrysostome, this ambition was so great amongst them, that he complained, that to obtain supremacy, the bishops of Rome had filled the Churches with blood, & had defiled the Supper of the Lord with murders, until they had utterly for it destroyed whole cities. And he that will see the civil wars, (for they likewise name them) which were at Rome between Damasus and Vrsicius, in the time of Saint Hierome, whether of them should be bishop, and afterwards between Laurence and Symmachus, Ruffinus lib. 12 cap. 10. hist Eccle. Amianus Marc. lib. 27. Lib. Pontificalis. he may read them in Ruffinus, Amian Marcellin, and their own Pontifical itself. And howsoever it were, all the contentions that were made by the bishops of Rome in the ancient Church, yea, till the time of the murdering of Phocas for the supremacy, look how many they were, they were always arguments from age to age, and as determined sentences against them, in so much that they always lost their cause, whatsoever instance they made, or whatsoever diligence they used in pleading of it. Rome hath had the chief place, and how. But they will object unto me, that nevertheless the bishop of Rome hath held the chief place amongst the patriarchs. I agreed thereto, but yet I defy that it was to command others. And in deed, it is expressly said, that he shall not be called universal bishop, Cap. prim. sedis & cap. Nullus dist. 99 but only the bishop of the first See. I say moreover, that this is not in respect that he was the successor of S. Peter, and less by virtue of those places alleged out of the holy Scripture. But because that in seats there must be a first & a second place according to humame order, I say that this was ordained, in consideration of that order, whereby the city of Rome was set above others. If it had been by the Scriptures, it should have been a wonderful thing, that for 600. years together, these mysteries should have been hidden from the Church. If in respect of the founder, why not rather at Antioch, and at Alexandria, after Gregory, Gregor. in Regist. 91. epist. ad Alexander. episco. Cusan. lib. 1. cap. 6. & 13. or to all other bishoprics, after Cusan, who saith that all bishops are Peter's successors, equal in the essential dignity, although they differ in the administration and government, as the bishops of Spain themselves have disputed in the last council of Trent: Moreover that Jerusalem should be the first and not the fourth, seeing the Salvation of the world did there govern: Or why is Antioch, whereof Saint Peter was bishop, put after Alexandria, which can allege nothing but the succession of Saint Mark his disciple: To be short, what hurt hath Saint john the well-beloved disciple of our Lord done unto them, who so long time preached in Ephesus, which notwithstanding is not numbered amongst the patriarchal cities: Or what new Apostle hath founded Constantinople, three hundred years after the death of our Lord, to attribute unto it the second See: But there is none that hath but a little judgement, that doth not well enough mark, that all the pre-eminences of these Seas rather proceed from the rank and places, which their cities hold, then from the establishment of Christian religion. Rome was then the seat of the Empire, and the glory of all the world: good learning there flourished: it was the chief of all the peoples of the earth: and therefore when all the bishops were gathered together, they gave the bishop of Rome the first place for civility and courtesies sake. Likewise we read in the histories, that Alexandria and Antioch were after Rome the most famous cities, and according to that degree which their governors held, they also held their bishoprics. And concerning jerusalem, that was so greatly accounted of, for the first original of true Religion, and therefore likewise was not reckoned in the lest place: for Pliny calleth it the head of all the East: but yet her place was ill kept, after she had lost her first glory. Afterwards Constantinople came to be builded, which was called the second Rome. And then also we see the council of Constantinople, where there were six hundredth bishops, Socrat. hist. tripart. lib. 9 cap. 13.22. dist. Constantinopolis. Authenique 231. who gave unto it the second place, which had not been done, if they had had regard to the degree of the founder, and not to the degree of the city, by reason of whose might also, this dignity was confirmed unto it by the Emperor justinian. Aquila in Italy was called the second Rome. Also there was a Patriarchship there established, yea Ravenna itself, was a long time holden not to be subject to Rome, and it had her own Cardinals apart and by themselves, and as Venice began to grow great, so it had the Patriarchship of Grado for it. To be short, he that shall mark from country to country, the erection of patriarchships and archbishoprics, he shall find no other consideration than this, the same that Pope Lucinus saith, alleged by Gratian, That at the first they instituted Primates of the Church according to temporal policy. Distinct. 80. In decreto, Dist. 121. cap Decretis. Also Pope Clement himself saith: That where there were chief Priests of the paynim, there they established primates of Christians, See from whence supremacy, & Popish superiority first sprang by the Papists own confession. Lombard. lib. 4. dist. 24. Conc. Chalcedon. cap. 1. & 12. the which is repeated in the same words by Peter Lombard in his fourth book of Sentences. The council of Chalcedon, (wherein notwithstanding the earnest requests of Pope Leo the first, the second See was given to the City Constantinople,) useth also the same words: The fathers upon good right with one consent agreed, that the privilege of the first See should belong unto old Rome, because of the Empire there, and we also moved with the same consideration, agreed that the second shallbe at new Rome. And in the 12. Act of the same council, the reasoning betwixt the bishop of Nice, & of Basianopolis, is grounded upon the dignity of the cities. And to cut of all such controversies, this Canon was there passed: That these Cities only should be holden for Metropolitans, Concilium Taurin. cap. 8 to which Kings and Princes had done this honour by their statutes. And the Council of Thurin there addeth: That if the earthly superiority were translated from one City to another, that then the right of the Archbishopric should be translated likewise. To be short, when the seat of the Empire was translated to new Rome, that is to say, to Constantinople, we see that the Bishop of that place by & by took unto himself the primacy, whereof they held even as much as they could: and when that murderer Phocas declared the Bishop of Rome to be head of all churches, Platina in vita Bonifacii. Platine saith plainly, that it was in consideration that Rome was the ancient seat of the Empire: whereon Constantinople was but the pillar, as others say, propter principalitatem urbis, for the principality of the City. Behold then, that the pretended primacy of Rome, neither proceeded from the ordinance of Christ, nor from the privilege of Peter, but from Romulus, and his successors, who there erected an Empire, Non inquam a Petra, neque a Petro, said a Saxon Tarpeio: 93. & 95. distinct. Hosti ensis in summa de maioritate, & obedience, & glossa in can Novo & 2. q 7. puto Cardinal. Cusanus lib. 2. cap. 13. I say neither from the rock, nor from Peter, but from the rock of Tarpeius, whereupon Rome was builded, the which their own Canonists confess, seeing truth giveth them hell for their rewards, Quod omnis maioritas & minoritas, etiam Papatus est de iure positivo, that is to say, That all degrees both small and great, yea the popedom itself, they are from the positive law, and of man's ordinance. I know very well, that they have a decree of Pope Innocentius, which saith, that it is not necessary to change the ecclesiastical pre-eminence, according to the Civil: but this forsooth was at such a time, when the good man himself feared, lest the Empire should withdraw all the honour into the East, and he thought it expedient (which thing also his successors did very well know and find) to build their greatness & glory of the ruins of the Western Empire. And again, the decree of one man is not to be preferred before so many Councils, seeing that (as some of them have said) the decretals have no authority, by the mere will of the Pope, that is to say, absolutely: but only so far forth, as they are agreeable to the Canons of the Councils. Card. Cus. lib. 2. cap. 14. If they will yet allege unto me, that the constitutions & policies of the Church of Rome have been received by many other Churches, I will answer them no otherwise, then was answered by those professors of divinity in Paris, Arti. Sorbonae Parisien. contra Papam Bonifaci. 8. three hundred years passed, when there was controversies between our kings & the Pope, & by Marsilius of Milan about the same time, the Pope making war upon the Emperors of Germany, Marsil Patavinus in lib defensor pacis 2. part. cap. 18. which gave boldness to the truth to speak freely: to wit, that in the beginning men might be governed after it, because learning there flourished: no otherwise then as the university of Orleans, or of Angers, oftentimes conform themselves to that of Paris: as also the Romans borrowed in deed their laws from the twelve tables of the Greeks: And yet by virtue thereof, the Greeks should not well ground to pretend themselves superiors to the Romans, and likewise the Romans, if therefore they should pretend to be superiors over other Bishops. Now concerning the name Pope, which is given unto him, they that have read, know that it was common, not only to all Bishops, but also even to elders in all the ancient Church. Epist. Cypr. Dionis. Alexander. Hier. August. Greg. Sidonii. Apol. Acta Conciliorum. He that will see this matter more plain, let him read the Epistles of Saint Cyprian, of Saint Denis of Alexandria, lib. 2. Epist. 6.25. etc. of Saint Augustine, of Saint Hierome, of Sidonius Apollinaris, of Saint Gregory himself, and the acts of the Councils, where men may find them full. And in deed the greeks call their Priests at this day (Papous) and the Germans (Pfaff) which they that understand the tongue, Suidas in dict. papas do derive from this name Papa, which after Suidas signifieth Father, in the language of the Sicilians. Now concerning the name Pontifex, Athanas. in prima oration contra Arrianos. Irenee called Saint john the high Bishop, and Athanasius calleth all the Bishops by that name, and Ruffinus calleth Athanasius the great Bishop: Ruffinus lib. 1. cap. 26. and he that will read the ancient Fathers, shall find nothing more often then this. Now if they will allege their Cardinals, Gregor. Epist. 15. & 77 & 79. lib. 1. & Grego. in Registro. lib. 4. they shall not find one word of them in the old Church, unless in this signification: the Cardinal Priest, that is to say, a Bishop, or rather the Curate of some parish of the Bishopric, as in very deed all are at this day, either Curates or Deacons of some one or other parish of Rome. And in deed in the Councils they were set last, as in the sixth Council of Carthage, and in the Council of Gregory. Whatsoever it is, they can say of it, it is certain that Innocent the fourth, about the year of our Lord, 1244. gave unto them the privilege of the read hat, and scarlet rob, and to ride on horseback: and in the year 1470. Paul the second confirmed it, and Clemens the fift is gone so far in his Clementines, that he causeth them to go before all the princes of the earth. These inventions then, were not found in the flourishing state of the Church, but after that it become subject to the ambition of one man alone. the grou●● of the Pope. Chro. Mattini. Platin. in vita Bonif. 3. We have then found, that the Pope of Rome hath been declared head of the Church, a little after 600 years, not by the tradition of Christ, or of his Apostles, but by the treason of Phocas, not by any Council of the Church, but by the conspiracy of a servant against his master, who to reconcile himself with the people of Rome, ordained his Bishop with that title, which Gregory his predecessor had left for Antichrist, and the Pope on the other side proclaimed himself Emperor in stead of Mauritius, whom he had slain. This goodly ordinance of Phocas was confirmed by a petty Council, Sigebertus in Chronic. which Boniface caused to be holden at Rome, when there were none present but the Latins, who desired no better. And afterwards by another holden in Africa, in the year 642. when the Arabians were turmoiled with many invasions: whereupon they began to inscribe the letters of Pope Theodorus, To the holy father of fathers, and sovereign prince of prelate's, etc. and so we see by histories, from degree to degree, how this monster hath grown even to full height, from which he must tumble down headlong. The Emperors of Grece, who were then as banished out of Italy, to keep the Italians in obedience, they left unto them the handling of their affairs, in such sort notwithstanding, that they were constrained to confirm their election by the Emperor, and to date their writings according to the indiction and year of their Empire. But even as the Emperors grew weak by the enterprises of the Persians in the east, Sigon. lib. 2. de regno Itali. Guicciardinus in Concionibus. so grew the Pope strong in the West, so as about the year 680. Pope Benedict the second caused himself to be exempted from all the imperial jurisdiction, by Constantine the fourth, called the Bearded. About that time began great strifes in the Greek and Latin Church about Images, whereupon increased superstition together with ignorance. The Greeks were of mind to throw them down: the Pope in despite of them would hold them up. This strife much increased his might: for under the shadow hereof, he excommunicated Leo Isauricus, called Chassimage, of breaking Images, and forbade all the people of Italy, upon pain of excommunication, to pay him any impost, that is to say, he chased the Emperor to Constantinople, and setteth himself in full liberty of all that quarter. And in deed than ceased the Exarchates, that is, Dukedoms so called, that had endured six hundred years, that were as the lieutenants of the Emperor in a part of Italy. The Emperors of Constantinople driven away, the Lombard's thereupon did invade the kingdom of Italy. The Pope more feared them, than those whom he had driven away, because that they were his more nigh neighbours. At that time there governed in France the race of Martel, very desirous to aspire. The Pope therefore putteth himself into the protection of the Frenchmen, against the Lombard's, and Pepin the son of Martel, he passeth into Italy with the powers of France, who vanquisheth them. The issue was, that Pope Zacharie in recompense, dispenseth with the Frenchmen for their oath made to their natural prince Chilperic, who left the government to the Martels, more subtle than himself, and crowned Pepin chief of the palaces of the king of France, forbidding the princes and people of France, upon pain of excommunication, to choose any other then of Pippins race. Contrariwise, Pepin giveth unto him the dukedom or lieutenantship of Ravenna & Pentapolis, which contained 29. Cities, C. Adrianus d. 63. etc. Ego Ludovi. codem. only reserving unto himself the sovereignty, and the power to choose the Popes, the which laws were afterwards released by Lewis, the son of Charles the great, although that some Emperors put them in practice afterwards, as the histories are full thereof. And so likewise behold him the head of the spirituality, because he maintained the murderer of his master and temporal Lord, because he crowned a subject in the place of his natural prince: & this beginning of the temporalty grew up by the controversies of the houses of Anjou and Arragon in Italy, and afterwards of the Emperors of Germany, and of the kings of France, till it came to that state wherein we now see it in these last times. This was after the time that the key of knowledge, which Christ promised to S. Peter, was changed into the key of power, & the ecclesiastical censure was employed to excommunicate all princes, peoples & kingdoms which would not obey them, until they had left them for a pray, and cut them of from salvation, without acception of any persons. This was in that time, that these gay interpretations were bred: That all power was given to Christ by the father, aswell in heaven as in earth: Therefore the Pope absolutely commandeth both one & other. Also God translateth kingdoms from one nation to another: Ergo, the Pope hath power to establish, and to put down, as it seemeth good unto him, whereupon Kings and Emperors of blind zeal began to kiss his feet, Lib. 7. decretal. de sententia & reiudicata. both present and by their letters, and to hold his stirrup. This was in that time also that Pope Boniface the eighth caused this to pass as an article of faith: Extravagant. unam Catholicam Ecclesiam. That the Pope is sovereign both of the spirituality and temporalty, showing himself in a jubilee, with a key in one hand, and a sword in another: that Pope Clement the fift his successor, not content to command Kings and Emperors, Clemens 5. in Clement. pastoralis. Idem in rescripto. This writing is kept ac Vienna in Dauphin, and in Extravagant. cadem. took upon him by an express Bull to command Angels, that they should execute his william. To be short, one hath concluded and decided at Rota, that is to say, in the Parliament of Popes at Rome, that God holdeth for well done, all that is done of the Pope: that his will is the rule of all right and righteousness: that he can absolutely do in this world all that God can do, seeing he is all and above all things: That if he change his purpose, Decisiones Rotae. Baldus it is to be presumed that God changeth his: that when he sendeth thousands of his brethren to hell, Franciscus de Ripa. Philippus Decius Hostiensis. Carolus de Ruivo. joannes de Anania, & cap. distinct. 10. cap. Si Papa. none may therein reprove him: that his power extendeth itself to heaven and earth, yea and to hell: that none may appeal from him to God: that he may ordain against the epistles of Saint Paul, as greater than Saint Paul, and against the old Testament, as greater than any authors thereof. And yet one man hath gone further, for one hath disputed whether he may ordain any thing contrary to the Gospel: Whether he have not yet more power then S. Peter: Whether he were simply a man, or as God. To be short, the devil hath passed so far in this mystery of iniquity, Erasmus in 1. epist. ad Tim. cap. 1. that one disputed in the schools a little before Luther came, and somewhat after, whether the Pope participated not with both natures, the divine & human with jesus Christ. And what could the devil say more if he had come in the flesh to have destroyed the Church: And yet notwithstanding the people do worship this monster, & the princes of the earth do clap their hands at him, & destroy their kingdoms to serve his lust, & sacrifice yet every day their poor subjects for a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour at his feet. Who would have believed this, except the Spirit of God had foretold it: and who will believe it after us, when the self same spirit shall have destroyed him? But which is more marvelous, when the power of the bishop of Rome was intolerable, he never durst allege in the councils, and in the face of the old Church, one only text of Scripture to ground his supremacy on. And now that it is so much beyond the bounds, that it spurneth the earth under feet thereof, that it threateneth heaven, that it advanceth itself so far that it may be above God himself, they are so impudent and so shameless, (but so she must be that is an harlot) that they allege S. Peter'S See, and the word of God, and the keys which were promised to him, as though there were no more eyes in the world to read, nor sense in men to judge. Let them not therefore ground their tyranny upon this, (Dabo tibi, I will give thee) which jesus Christ spoke to S. Peter: For between the kingdom of Christ and the tyranny of the Pope, there is no likeness or agreement. But rather, if they will ground themselves upon some text of Scripture, let them allege that Tibi dabo, I will give thee, which sathan used to jesus Christ. I will give thee (saith he) all the kingdoms which thou seest, if thou wilt worship me. That is for worshipping the devil, they have that they have, and not for any other title they can allege. But I suppose, that now with the licence of all the Readers, I may conclude by these proofs contained in these two chapters, that which followeth: That the essential head of the Catholic Church is jesus Christ our Lord: That under him all the Apostles were equal in dignity and power: That after them the bishops are equal amongst themselves, & every one in his ministery occupieth the place of Christ: That none may be the Ministerial head of the Church: That the Pope of Rome can pretend this title, neither by God's law nor man's: That the first room that he had, was by reason of the dignity of the city, but that all that was more, was from the devil and by usurpation. Whereupon it followeth, that in regard of the ministerial head of the Church, he could not pretend to be less subject to error, than other bishops and patriarchs, neither the latin Church less than those of Greece & others of the East. And so we return, notwithstanding their exception, to our former conclusion: That the articles grounded upon the authority of the Pope and the church of Rome are overthrown, and all their traditions & inventions subject to the examination of the holy Scripture, as are the doctrines of all other Churches. That the Pope in affirming himself to be head of the Church, and not being so in deed, is the Antichrist in the Church: and that he cannot be received with any other, than the papistical doctrine. CHAP. IX. THE Pope not being head of the Church, as he saith he is, and having no other titles to prove this general Lieutenant ship which he so proudly exerciseth, we say that he is the plague of the whole body, a tyrant in the common weal, & Antichrist in the church. And for to prove this, I will not enter into the particular explication of those predictions, which are in Daniel, Daniel. in the epistle to the Thessalonians, & in the Apocalypse, 2. Thess. 2. Apoca. which in times past were darkened, but now are made clear. For also many learned men, not only of our time, but 300. years ago, have made those books plain amidst the ignorance of the world, & cruelty of the Pope. But I say, that although he were not so lively painted out unto us, as he is in those foresaid places, yet his doctrine aught to make us know, that he is the very Antichrist, with whom the Church was threatened, and that there could not be in Christendom any thing more pernicious than that doctrine which he hath brought in. First, to take away all doubt, the Scripture speaketh unto us of many Antichrists. For every heretic which setteth himself against the truth, he is in very deed an Antichrist: but it speaketh unto us of one amongst other's, who shall have his seat in the Church of God, and shall usurp God's place: who as Origen saith, Origen Homil. 30. in Matt. must be the great Antichrist among other Antichrists. This is he of whom we have now to speak. Secondly when the Scripture speaketh of Antichrist, it saith, that it shallbe an Apostasy or a falling back from the faith. Also, that that mystery of iniquity began to work in Paul his time, 2. Thess. 2. and that it should no otherwise be destroyed, but by the coming of jesus Christ. Apoca. 13.15.16.17. Again, that he must build his greatness, upon the ruin of the Roman Empire, and give life to that lost beast, that is to say, as all the ancient fathers have expounded, to this Empire, and namely S. Augustine in the xx. book of the city of God: Aug. lib. 20. de civitate Dei, cap. 19 Chrysost. in epist. ad Thess. Ho. 2. & Chrysostome upon that place, where S. Paul handleth this matter. And we know that the Roman Empire fell by little & little, and piece by piece. It followeth then that Antichrist is not one man alone, which must come at one instant of time, but is an estate, seat and succession of men, an Empire lifted up against jesus Christ: as we see the Scripture, under the name of certain beasts, to describe Empires. And this also is the interpretation of S. Augustine upon that place. Thirdly, Antichrist is called that false prophet, vomiting out blasphemies against the most highest. His Empire therefore consisteth in false doctrine, & not in arms: he is called a woman & an whore: he shall therefore wind in himself, and come in by pleasant ways, sleights and flatteries, deceiving men through his craft, & drawing them to his spiritual whoredom, which is idolatry. He is also called the son of perdition, as judas. Again, he shall not assail the Church by open force, but he shall betray her with a kiss, and shall not enter by the breach, or by a strong scaling ladder, but by counterfeiting the keys by painted Emblems, and secretly like a thief. And in very deed the Empires which consisted in forces and arms, they are figured in the scriptures under the name of Wolves, Lions, Bears, and such other ravening beasts, whereas for this, ye have but women, whoredoms, cups, drinckings, enchantments, that is to say, deceits, crafts, and subtleties: whereupon the schoolmen themselves have concluded, that this chief Antichrist, which is here described, can neither be Mahomet, nor the Empire of the Turks. Fourthly, he is properly called Antichrist, and not Antithee, that is to say, contrary to Christ the Mediator, and not simply against God: therefore particularly he shall be against Christ jesus our Lord. And all the doctrine of Christ consisteth in the office of the Mediatorship, & in the benefit of his death and passion. This than shall be the special doctrine that he will chiefly labour to abolish. It is oftentimes said, that he shall sit in the Church of God, being there acknowledged as God. Now it is certain, that if he should say that he were Christ, or should preach directly against Christ, the Church would not suffer this in the midst of her, nor suffer him to reign. Apoc. 13.11. Mat. 7.15. 2. Cor. 11.14. It is likewise said, That he shall have two horns like to the lamb, speaking notwithstanding as the Dragon, that is to say, he shall counterfeit the doctrine and holiness of Christ, although he speak nothing but impieties, as Satan doth. It followeth therefore, to make these marks to agreed together, that it must be that Antichrist, of whom now the controversy is, that he must speak in show as Christ, but in deed and in effect against Christ, and honouring him in words, and yet as much as lieth in him, robbing him of his glory. And that he is the true Antichrist, of whom the question is, who under the shadow of Christ, shall overthrow his doctrine, and put himself in Christ his place, Saint Augustine handling this matter, doth no otherwise understand it. August in Epist. john. tract. 3. & 6. Let us not regard (saith he) the tongue, but the deed: Antichrist is a liar, which maketh profession of Christ, and yet denieth him in effect. And a little after, How sayest thou that I deny him in effect? Because Christ (saith he) is come in the flesh, to the end that he should die for us. Chrysostome saith, Chrysost. in Mat. Homil. 49. That he must be known by his doctrine, and neither by titles, miracles, nor words of holiness. Saint Hilary saith, Hilar. ad Auxenti. That Antichrist shallbe contrary to Christ, under opinion of an hypocritical and feigned godliness. And in another place, O ye fools, who are moved and ravished, and caught in love with words, and gorgeous seelinges of Churches: Do ye doubt, that this shall one day be the seat of antichrist? It behoveth us now therefore to consider, who it is that sitteth in the Church, who speaketh more of Christ, and least esteemeth him, who more honoureth him with traitorous kisses, and blasphemeth more against his coming, who in the chair of Christ, is more against Christ: for this same undoubtly is the true Antichrist. Let us begin at the person of the Pope. Christ hath declared that his kingdom was not of this world, The doctrine of the Pope, and the doctrine of Antichrist. that he fled, when they would have made him a king, that he rendered obedience even unto the lest magistrates, and commanded all those that were his, to do after his example. Contrariwise the Pope saith, that he is king of the whole earth, disposeth of all empires, treadeth Emperors under his feet, burneth with fire, and condemneth to hell all those that will not acknowledge him for such a one. And all this, because Christ hath said, All power is given to me of the father, aswell in heaven as in earth: I ask of any one, what similitude and likeness there is between these two, and if this be not, in alleging jesus Christ, to mock Christ himself? Again, Christ being God, and the son of the eternal God, vouchsafed to abase himself lower than Angels, and under men themselves to work the salvation of the world: and a man quite contrary lifteth up himself above kings, and above the Angels, and above the heavens of heavens, and hath caused men to dispute, that he is not simply a man, but a partaker of the divine nature with Christ, and that he hath the fountain and root of the spirit of Christ in him. To be short, whereas Christ submitted himself under heaven, earth and hell, he will command Kings, Angels and devils: and all this, under colour of the key of the word, which Christ hath delivered to his ministers. I ask, God being made man for the salvation of the world, how it can be, that this man, which maketh himself God, should be any other, than that son of perdition, come for the perdition of the world? But we must see, how he hath as much as say in him, made void the coming of the Messiah, the cross of Christ, and the salvation we have by the same. We feel in ourselves, that man continually doth nothing but offend God, and that it is as possible for us, of our own nature, to keep ourselves therefrom, as to stay our pulse, or to hold in the wind of our breath. These offences also are so infinite, being and blasphemeth more against his coming, who in the chair of Christ, is more against Christ: for this same undoubtly is the true Antichrist. Let us begin at the person of the Pope. Christ hath declared that his kingdom was not of this world, The doctrine of the Pope, and the doctrine of Antichrist. that he fled, when they would have made him a king, that he rendered obedience even unto the lest magistrates, and commanded all those that were his, to do after his example. Contrariwise the Pope saith, that he is king of the whole earth, disposeth of all empires, treadeth Emperors under his feet, burneth with fire, and condemneth to hell all those that will not acknowledge him for such a one. And all this, because Christ hath said, All power is given to me of the father, aswell in heaven as in earth: I ask of any one, what similitude and likeness there is between these two, and if this be not, in alleging jesus Christ, to mock Christ himself? Again, Christ being God, and the son of the eternal God, vouchsafed to abase himself lower than Angels, and under men themselves to work the salvation of the world: and a man quite contrary lifteth up himself above kings, and above the Angels, and above the heavens of heavens, and hath caused men to dispute, that he is not simply a man, but a partaker of the divine nature with Christ, and that he hath the fountain and root of the spirit of Christ in him. To be short, whereas Christ submitted himself under heaven, earth and hell, he will command Kings, Angels and devils: and all this, under colour of the key of the word, which Christ hath delivered to his ministers. I ask, God being made man for the salvation of the world, how it can be, that this man, which maketh himself God, should be any other, than that son of perdition, come for the perdition of the world? But we must see, how he hath as much as say in him, made void the coming of the Messiah, the cross of Christ, and the salvation we have by the same. We feel in ourselves, that man continually doth nothing but offend God, and that it is as possible for us, of our own nature, to keep ourselves therefrom, as to stay our pulse, or to hold in the wind of our breath. These offences also are so infinite, being committed against him which is infinite, that they deserve an infinite punishment, whereto all the men in the world together are not able to satisfy. It must needs be therefore, that the son of God in person must descend from heaven, to satisfy by his infinite merit, for our infinite demerits: and not one man could ever hope for the mercy of the Father, if his justice had not been executed upon his own son. This is that which all the holy Scripture teacheth us, that Christ was sent for the salvation of the world: that he is the only and alone Saviour thereof: that he was slain from the beginning of the world, for the salvation of those that believe in him, etc. And this is it wherein consisteth all the benefit of the coming of Christ, and all the treasure of the Church. But see how this good governor of the Church dispenseth with this: First of all he hath buried the scripture in forgetfulness, forbidding the reading thereof unto the people, leaving them nothing but Rosaires, Legends of Saints, and such other baggage, that is to say, as much as lieth in him, he hath put out the light, to the end that his illusions might be the more of force amidst the darkness. And we have seen many burned, only and simply for having read it. Moreover, whereas the law was given to convince a man of sin, and the Gospel to teach him the remedy in Christ, the Pope's doctors have taught, that a man, as he is of his own nature, can love God above all things: that it is possible for him to fulfil the law: and that at the first, man was saved by keeping the natural law, afterwards by fulfilling the law of Moses, & now Christians by keeping the Gospel. If it be so, what shall become of that S. Paul saith, That the law engendereth sin: that it is come upon us, Galat. 3.19 Rom. 3.20. & 5.2. & 7.7. to multiply transgressions? etc. Also what shall the Gospel have above the law? Christ above the shadows? And wherefore shall not his coming change the law into grace? Now to turn away the people from their Physician, there is no shorter and readier mean, then to persuade them that they are whole, or if they felt in any sort their disease, that they might cure themselves without any Physician. This is that, from whence are sprung these goodly pharisaical propositions: Fr. Asotus in Catholic. sidei assertione. that all the act of charity, absolutely deserveth everlasting life: that a man may work his own salvation in this world, and these gay distinctions, de congruo, & de condigno, of congruence, and condignity, which altogether destroy the coming of the Messiah. And they have gone so far, that the more devout sort bought the merits of Friars, and Monks, which they called works of supererogation, that is to say, that these Friars had enough to merit Paradise: so as a man might not only of himself be saved, but he might buy his salvation by the works of another. And yet notwithstanding all this, sin is in such sort engraven in man, that it is felt in those that are most blockish, and therefore the most part seek yet the Physician, and can never content themselves with it. But behold an other craft of Antichrist, to abolish the coming of the Messiah: whereas they should only be directed to Christ the only Physician for sinners, he directeth them to men, and by little and little (so well he acquitteth himself) they are altogether directed to himself. jesus Christ sayeth unto all, Call upon me. He stretcheth out his arms to every one, he preventeth us with his mercy, he draweth us to himself, as it were by strong hand. In stead of showing us him, the Pope sendeth us to the virgin Marie and to Saints, and to their merits, as though all they together, in all their life, could deserve any thing but death, or hope for any thing after their death but hell fire, without the death of jesus Christ our Lord. To this end, so shameless they were in this kingdom of darkness, that they corrupted the first promise which God made to our Father's concerning Christ to come, Genes. ●. which should bruise the head of the Serpent, transferring it to the virgin Marie. Also they attributed and applied to her all that which is spoken of the Father and the Son in David's Psalter: In te domina speravi. Miserere mei Domina. Dixit dominus dominae meae, Sede matter mea a dextris meis etc. In thee have I trusted O Lady. Have mercy upon me, O Lady. The Lord hath said to my Lady, Sit, my mother, at my right hand etc. In such sort, that these blasphemies, which they called, Our ladies hours, were the chief devotion of those that were most devout. How seeing the virgin Marie was put in Christ his place, I ask what remained for him? And if for bringing forth a child, she had accomplished the salvation of those that call upon her, why then, what need was there that he should deliver himself to death for us? From the self same root sprung the fourteen Saints, that we must call upon in the time of our necessity, the patrons of each profession, the Physicians for every disease, that we must worship by vows, Pilgrimages and Offerings, and their Images with censinges, paintings, and all kinds of woorshppinges, so that the Church of Rome had gods, not as the jewish Church had, jere. 2.18. according to the number of their Cities, but almost according to the number of their citizens. Whereupon the salvation of the world was parted amongst so many persons, that the world knew nothing of the only salvation (I say) of him, who by his death had purchased life for us, to wit, of jesus Christ our Lord. To help sins which are the diseases of the soul, we had the merits of Saints both quick and dead, whereof a great number (as Saint Augustine sayeth) is in hell, or at lest were in danger to be there. For remedy against dangers of the body, as sicknesses, losses, fire, shipwreck, stripes, wounds, prisons, we had Saints to look to every of these, as had the Paynims, one only thing remained to our Sautour, That in the conclusion of prayer, he was by custom named without any thinking upon him, as it were in the style of a notary. What shall we say more of the abominable impiety, that the popedom had brought in amongst Christians: He found out for us a Saint Francis, Flosculi beati Francisci. Conformitates Francisci. Vinea S. Francisci. Thom. lib. 4. distinct. 4. articul. 3. as it were a new Christ, of whom men have taught these opinions, both by preaching and imprinted books set forth by their privilege: That he could save all men that shall live after him to the end of the world, through his merits, from everlasting death: That he that shall take the habit or apparel of Saint Francis, Barnardinus in Rosario Floscuit beati Francisci. hath the same virtue as to be clothed with Christ through Baptism: That to die, or to be buried in his habit, delivereth from the pains of purgatory. To be short, comparing jesus Christ with him, they make him in all things far inferior. And to the end women should not have less privilege than men, they have taught that the virgin Marie, by the merit of her virginity, might save all women that should put their trust in her, and that Saint Claire came at the same time that Saint Francis did, to save all those that should call upon her, to the end of the world. And what would have been the end of these blasphemies, if men had not resisted them? Do we think there would have been any mention of Christ in our days: I do not tell you any fables. The books that men made four hundred or five hundred years ago, are full of such like doctrine, which hitherto they dare not disallow. These were the readings of the schools, and of the most notable chairs, when Luther began to reveal Antichrist. And yet further, behold the absolution they gave to their penitentiaries: The passion of Christ, and the merits of the blessed virgin Marie, of Saint Peter, of Saint Paul, and of other he Saints, and she Saints of paradise, be unto thee in remission of thy sins: whereby the Franciscane Friars do inseparably join Saint Francis with jesus Christ. See then how the Popes, contrary to the word of God, and uniform doctrine of all the ancient Fathers, have taught the people, the remission of their sins in jesus Christ alone, and him crucified, who notwithstanding is so sufficient for our salvation, that Saint Paul said, he neither knew, nor would know any other thing. But as the Pope and his supporters had turned away the people from Christ, to the virgin Marie, and from the virgin Marie, to the Apostles, and from the Apostles, to old Saints, and from the old Saints to new, whom they have canonised according to their fantasy, and after to their Temples, Chapels, Sepulchres, Bones, Relics and Images: Finally, they have gone so far astray, that by little and little, he drew all to himself, and by process of time, wholly put himself in the place of jesus Christ our Lord. The blood of jesus Christ, shed upon the tree of the Cross, is the satisfaction for the sins of all those that believe in him. This is the only mark of all the old and new Testament. But the Pope, the contemner of all religion, bore the world in hand, that he was the treasurer of this great ransom paid for our sins: And that to be partaker thereof, we must come unto him: And he will distribute this benefit to whom he thinketh good. And thereupon every man began to buy salvation of him, which the only blood of jesus Christ had purchased for us, and no other thing could purchase it. If thou hadst committed all the faults in the world, thou mightest have had recourse to the Pope's pardons and indulgences. All offences, even to murders, incests, Sodomitries, were taxed, and set at a certain sum of money, and paying that, the Pope would give you full remission thereof. This pardon was ratified and delivered to him that would give most, and the book of taxes doth confirm it, which was imprinted by their own consent, before the light of the Gospel was made clear again in these last ages. These indulgences they sold first to certain persons, and after to families, and afterwards to towns: And after, they were sold to common wealths and whole kingdoms, without exception of any persons, yea, for the term of four thousand years of true pardon. The doctrine of Christ was: He that shall believe in me, shall have remission of sins. That of the Popes: He that shall give me money, there shall be no hell for him. If he had any enemy, he sent him to hell bound hand and foot, yea, whole kingdoms and nations. If you desired paradise, he commanded the Angels to carry you thither, and all your parents and friends, Bulla Clementis quae exat Viennae. as appeareth by the Bull of Clement the fift, for the knights of the order of S. john at Jerusalem. If any feared purgatory, having committed all the mischiefs in the world, yea having lien with the virgin Marie, as the preachers of the pardons in Germany say, assoon as one hath cast silver into the basin, their souls were by and by set at liberty therefrom. Tikelius indulgentiarius in libello. Yea they came so far, and the books of the Pope's doctors do seal it, that one disputed in the schools, that the Pope had power utterly to abolish, and to quench the fire of purgatory: yea more: that the Pope was more merciful than jesus Christ, seeing we read not in the scripture, that he delivered any person from the pains of purgatory, whereas the Pope through his mercy, delivereth every day an infinite number out of it. They that yet cleave unto him, if they read this, they will wonder and hardly be brought to believe this, because that after Antichrist was opened to the world, he hath endeavoured to hide his horns. Eras. in epist. ad Timot. cap. 1. But the learned have read and may read, and those that are aged have seen, and the books are yet extant and in use, that every one may see. Yea, but some will say, In the midst of Popery men have always believed the true God, and they have always taught that jesus Christ is God, the eternal son of God, and the doctrine of the Trinity was always amongst them entire & sound etc. Ha', I pray you what availeth it a sinner to know that there is one God a righteous judge, but always to feel a hell: And what shall it avail him that knoweth that Christ the son of God, came into the world to convince it of sin, unless he know likewise, that through his death he hath delivered all those that believe in him from everlasting death, and that he hath overcome the Devil and abolished hell for him: The only end of the coming of Christ, was the office of the mediatorship betwixt God's righteousness and men's sins. And he that taketh to himself, or transferreth to any other, the office of this mediation, he abolisheth the coming of Christ. Now I demand who this is, but he that is crowned with the triple crown, worshipped of Kings and Princes, that openeth heaven, and shutteth hell, that kindleth, and quencheth purgatory as he thinks good: But let us go further. jesus Christ hath left unto us two Sacraments, for the badges and marks of his. The Pope will have his Sacraments & marks apart & by himself, and in greater number. And to the end that his may be more esteemed than Christ's, he hath profaned them with all kind of profanations. We hold baptism as an entrance into the covenant of God. Thomas lib. 4. distinct. 4. Artic. ●. Barnard. in Rosario. He hath applied it to Bells in mockery, and hath enwrapped it with infinite superstitions. But which is more, to advance himself above Christ, he hath taught by his Doctors, that the same grace which descendeth upon him that is baptised, descendeth also upon him which taketh a monks habit. That this habit gives him full remission both from the trespass and punishment of all his former sins, which is more than that of original sin: and that so often, as there cometh unto him, but an instinct or purpose always to continued in this habit, it is to him as a new baptism. Concerning the supper, which is the communion of the body and blood of Christ, he hath taken the one half from the people, contrary to the express institution of Christ, & the continual usage of the Church, for the space of a thousand years: He hath taught that he may change & abolish the Sacraments of Christ, & institute new, & he hath turned the Supper of our Lord into such abominable idolatry, as amongst the paynim & Heathen was never seen the like. After new mediators, a new Christ, new Sacraments, what remaineth there further, but a new Gospel? evang. Cyril. Anno. 1192. Now about the year one thousand, one hundred, ninety and two, they made a new Gospel, under the name of a Carmelite named Cyrillus, by the which they taught, That God the father governed in the time of the law, & the Son in the time of grace: but now by the coming of the four orders of mendicants or begging friars, the holy Ghost began to reign, & should reign till the end of the world, and that they only which believed this new Gospel, should be saved. And had not the LORD by his infinite mercy, stirred up the Waldenses and certain other good people to resist this monster, no doubt there had not been any more mention of Christ in the world. I omit a thousand other false doctrines, which men may read else where, only contenting myself, to have showed that the Pope hath turned Christians away from Christ, as much as he could for his life, and abolished the fruit of his coming, which is the proper and peculiar office of Antichrist. Now if so be it the Christian Church be not otherwise joined with Christ, then by his office of mediation, as the body is to the head by the neck, what could Antichrist do more, then to take the Church by the throat, & strangle it? Concerning the jews & the Turks, whereof the one sort for having been so long without Prophets, and the other for the ridiculous and foolish doctrine of their Alcoran, might have been converted to the true Christ: they have seen such impiety in Popes, and in their courts: such contempt of religion among them of their own coat, and such outrageous Idolatry amongst Christians, that both the one and the other, among whom nothing is more expressly forbidden, than Idolatry, have had thereby Christian religion in great detestation, & one sort of them be stiff in judaisme, & the other persuade themselves, that all religion is nothing else but an instrument of policy. I ask then for conclusion, for what worse we should look from Antichrist, than to make Christ unprofitable to Christians, & abominable to jews and paynim? shall we wait till he preach Atheism, and godlessness in Temples? yea, but they which see but the sun & moon, and the order of all things, will spit in his face. What then? till he preach the gods of the Romans? And what difference shall we make between the worship of Castor and Pollux, & that of Saint Ratherin and of Saint Nicholas, seeing that both the one & the other, maketh us quite to forget our salvation? And forasmuch as he hath left preaching in the Temple, of which it must needs be that he took possession: it followeth therefore that the Pope, & none other is Antichrist, who under the name of Christ, hath spoiled Christ of his place. Now add unto his doctrine, August. 〈◊〉 civitate 〈◊〉. lib. 18. cap. 2. Hierorym. ad Marcellam in praefat. lib. de sancto spir●tu. Card. Cusa●. lib. 2. cap. ultimo. which is the essential mark, the circumstances of persons, Simoniakes, Magicians, Atheists, whoremasters and Sodomites: of the place where Antichrist should be, to wit, in the city with seven hills, described in the Apocalypse, of the times of six hundredth sixty six, which falleth out justly to the time that the Pope made himself to be acknowledged for universal Bishop, exempt from the subjection of any other, and there can remain no more doubt, that this should not be he. That the Pope is Antichrist even by the ancient fathers. Now if any man would yet demand testimonies of the ancient fathers from time to time, first we have this, that all the doctrine of the old Church, is expressly contrary to the doctrine of the Popes, which we have before mentioned, they not being able any manner of way, to stay or settle themselves thereon. And concerning the marks, although they spoke of them afar of, yet they draw so nigh thereto, that those which they deliver unto us, to know him by, cannot be understood of any other then of him alone. Saint Irenee, Ireneus lib. 3. who is a most ancient doctor of the Church, the scholar of Polycarpe, and Polycarpe of Saint john, who wrote the Apocalypse, disputing of Antichrist, saw him no where else, but in the City of Rome, and in the romish Church. For namely (he saith) that the latin Church should be his seat, and that he proveth after the opinion of his predecessors by the number of 666. mentioned in the Apocalypse, Apoca. 13. which was found in these words (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) and (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) that is to say, latin, and the latin Church. I allege not this to play the Cabalist upon letters, but to show that then they saw, that this monster must be borne at Rome, which we see at this day through the special grace of GOD, to decay and totter. Saint Chrysostome upon the Epistle to the Thessalonians: Towards the declining or decaying (saith he) of the Roman Empire, Chrysost. in epist. ad Thessalo. hom. 2. Antichrist shall come, and not without cause. For this Empire being so renowned, none will easily be subject unto it. But this being destroyed, he shall invade the power of the Empire being void, and shall take it to himself, in somuch as he will take upon him the Empire both of God and men: For as all kingdoms which were before the Roman Empire, were destroyed: even so shall the kingdom of the Romans be destroyed by Antichrist, and he by Christ, & after that he shall have no more power. Homil. 49. in Mat. cap. 24. The same teacheth, that he shall come under the vizard of holiness, and of miracles, of superstitions, & counterfeit godliness. Now I report me to all that have read histories, if the Pope have not grown and come to it, by the ruin of the Roman Empire, and if it were by any other way, than feigned religion. Saint Hylary: Take heed (saith he) of Antichrist. Hylarius ad Auxentium. It is a vilennie, that you should be so mad at the walls. You abuse yourselves in reverencing goodly buildings, for the Church of God: For that is the place where Antichrist shall have his seat. It must not therefore be, that we search for him, as some suppose, amongst the Barbarous, but in the most clear and manifest place of the visible Church. Hieronymus in prefat. lib. De sancto spiritu. Saint Hierome the Minister writing unto Marcelia: This Babylon (saith he) and this whore clothed with Purple, which is painted forth unto us in the Apocalypse, can signify no other thing unto us, but Rome: and he repeateth the same in the life of Saint Mark: and Cusan the Cardinal addeth: Cusan Card. lib. 2. de concordia Catholica. cap. ultimo. August. lib. 18. De Civitate dei. ca 2. & lib. 20. cap. 19 That Bede and all the ancient interpreters have so expounded it. Saint Augustine: Babylon is the first Rome, & Rome the second Babylon. Also, expounding that place of Saint Paul in the second to the Thessalonians: Antichrist shall come towards the ending of the Roman Empire, and he shall not be a prince or one man alone, but a multitude of men are belonging unto him, who together with him shallbe called Antichrist, and he shall sit in the Temple of God, as though he and his were the Church of God itself. Idem lib. de Antichristo. And in another place: He shall renew Idolatry, he shall scatter the doctrine of the Gospel, and to this end he shall keep Magicians, Conjurers, and Enchauntters, etc. Now every one knoweth the false miracles, wherewith he hath abused the people, to lead them away from Christ. And he that will see how many of the Popes came to their popedom by magic and sorcery, that is to say, how they were created by the devil, and no more successors of Peter, but of Simon the Magician: Let them read that which their own story writers have written thereof: as Cardinal Benno, In vitis Gregorij 7. joannis 19 & sylvest 2. etc. Peter the * Praemonstratensis. Monk, Volateran, Sabellicus and Platina, which I willingly omit, lest I make the readers quake for horror of such wickedness. Saint Gregory Bishop of Rome, as he was more near unto it than others, so hath he spoken thereof more clearly than those that went before him. Let it not seem a light thing (sayeth he) unto thee, Gregor. lib. 16. Epist. 30. ad Mauritium Imperatorem. that Antichrist shall avouch himself to be God: For I say confidently and boldly unto you, that whosoever shall call himself universal Bishop or Minister, and will be so called, he is the very forerunner of Antichrist. Item Epist. 78. lib. 4. & Epist. 83. etc. In other places he saith, That he is Lucifer, which advanceth himself above Angels, and will set himself at the right hand of God: That this is to bring to ruin the whole Church etc. Now he spoke this the more frankly, because it was at that time that the bishop of Constantinople attributed unto himself that title. But behold that a little after his death, his universal foretelling was accomplished in the person of Pope Boniface the third, his successor, who, to accomplish that, that the Spirit of God had foretold us by his Apostles, doth so much prevail by his threatenings, that he obtaineth that title of Phocas the Emperor, the murderer of Mauritius and his children, and the Pope's following, have builded thereupon always after. Against this open Apostasy, than all the Churches of Greece, Dace, Illyricum etc. did oppose themselves, even to the accusing of Pope Symmachus before Theodoricus the king of the Goths, for that he vaunted himself not to be subject to the reprehension of any. Spain and England also were a long time without receiving the legates of Rome. One Claudius' Bishop of Thurine, in the time of Charles the great, wrote very learnedly against the Pope's Supremacy, and against his doctrine: yea, about the reign of Hugh Capet, Concilium Rhemense sub Capeto. there was a Council held at Rheims, which denied unto him all obedience, and pronounced him to be Antichrist. But finally, as it was bred of the superfluous and evil humours of the Church, so it was skilful to nourish itself of the factions, enmities and divisions of Christendom, that one in despite of other, have suffered all to go to wrack. Bernard in Cantic. Cantic. serm. 33. & 77. In all his Epistles to Henry the Bishop of Sons. Now if we shall read that which Saint Bernard wrote of the state of the Church in his time, about the year of our Lord 1140. aswell in his Epistles, as in his books of considerations to Pope Eugenius, they are nothing but lamentations of the ruin of the Church, like to those of jeremy, of the Church under the captivity of Babylon, or thundringes against the tyranny of Antichrist, who showed himself in his time. He sayeth, That the Pope's Court is a park of devils: That they usurp an unlawful and an intolerable authority: That there was not any more show of Peter's succession: That the Bishops of his time, were merchants enriched with the riches of the whore: That in stead of keeping the spouse of Christ, they made port sale of her, and prostituted and laid her open to all the lechers of the world, to commit fornication with her. And a little after, having said upon the 91. Psalm, Item super Psal. 91. That Antichrist shall have his seat in the South part, he addeth: What differeth then the estate of our Church, from that same pestilent estate which walketh in darkness? What differeth it more from the seat of Antichrist? Therefore yours (saith he) is in very deed the state of Antichrist. He made three express satires against the Pope & court of Rome: and he that would allege all that is written to that end, he must here put in his whole books. Now after the manifest Apostasy and falling away of the popedom, the Church of Rome hath not brought forth so excellent a man as he was. Francis Petrarcha in epist. epist. 5.14.17.18.19. etc. Francis Petrarch the Archdeacon of Parma, and a Cannon of Milan, lived about the year 1350. whom we may call, in all kind of good learning, The light of his age. But I will not say how he decifreth out the court of Rome in his Sonnets, under the name of Babylon, calling it whore, the school of error, and the Temple of heresy: for some will say, that much is permitted to poetry: but I beseech the readers to read his latin Epistles, which are full of gravity, zeal and doctrine. He saith there in plain terms, That in the Pope and his shavelings, there is neither faith, godliness nor truth: That the Pope's chair, is the chair of lying: That this is a falling away of a people, which under the banner of Christ rebel against Christ, and fight for Satan: That they esteem the Gospel but for fables, and the promises of the life to come, for dreams. He compareth the Pope to judas, who betrayed jesus Christ with a kiss: and his clergy to the jews, which said unto him, ave Rex judaeorum, All hail king of the jews: his prelate's to the pharisees, who in mockery clothed him with purple, and afterwards crucified him in the mount of calvary. And after he saith: Deny it now if thou canst, that thou art she which the holy Evangelist john saw in the spirit, set down upon the great waters. Thou art, & none other, that Babylon, the mother of the whoredoms of the earth: Thou art drunken with the blood of the Martyrs of jesus. Thou art she which hast made all the kings of the earth drunken with the Cup of thy poison. If thou deny it, show us some other, to whom these things may better agreed: If thou canst not, then wait for that to fall upon thine own head, which john the Evangelist addeth a little after: She is fallen, Babylon the great, and is made an habitation of devils etc. But what do I say, Wait for it? Yea: thou hast it already. For how much better is the son of perdition, than the devil? Thou art in very deed a kingdom of devils, which reign in the midst of thee in man's shape. And in another place, Let it not (my friend) ever grieve thee, to return from these princes of darkness. And in deed, what wouldst thou see in the Court of Rome? Christ in exile? Antichrist reigning in his stead? Beelzebub the judge? Wolves let lose? The Lambs in the stocks? Ah good God, who shall deliver the world from this oppression? Who shall gather together the sheep? Who shall vanquish these wicked Pastors? Shall there never be a limitation and end of this intolerable mischief? Now when there was such that durst cry so loud, we may be sure, that there were many more that lamented in their hearts. To be short, the most notable spirits that the world brought forth, in the most ignorant ages, and in the greatest thickness of darkness, they perceived this, some more clearly, and others as it were through a cloud, unless it were some such as ambition and glory of the world had blinded: Insomuch that when abomination was come to his full top, God raised up john Hus, Hierome of prague, Wickliefe, Luther and others, which have so loudly published and proclaimed it, that all the world doth understand it. And what will we more: With leave of those good Fathers of the Council not long ago holden at Trent, we may make this Syllogism. Whosoever willbe called the universal Bishop, he is the forerunner of Antichrist, the father of the son of pride, and a very Lucifer, saith Saint Gregory the Pope, and principal Doctor of the Church of Rome. But Boniface the third his successor, took this title, they which followed him, have continued it, and have increased it more & more. And the Council of Trent excommunicateth all those, that will not acknowledge him for universal Bishop. Ergo the Pope is Antichrist, and all they are holden for excommunicate by the Council of Trent, that do not acknowledge him for Antichrist. Yea, but the clergy of Rome will say, If the Pope were the Antichrist, whereof the Church was before threatened, we which are the Church, should have known him. Contrariwise, I say unto you, that if you had known him for Antichrist, he had not been Antichrist. This is that which the pharisees said when Christ came: If this were Christ, who should know him better than we: We have the Church, we have the Scriptures: we are the interpreters thereof: We are the eyes of the people: It cannot escape us, that we should not know it. And yet in mean time the counsel of Jerusalem condemned & crucified the Messiah for a deceiver, & the great Rabbis and Masters, with an infinite number of the people, a little while after, followed that same miserable Barcosba to ruin & destruction, and acknowledged him for the true Messiah. To the end (saith our saviour) that the word of Isai the Prophet might be fulfilled: Isai. 53.10. Isai. 6.9. joh. 12.40. Who hath believed our word? and to whom hath thine arm been manifested? They have eyes but they see not. They have ears but they understand not. The Lord hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart etc. And now I say unto you, that the self same is come upon you, upon you (I say) who boast of the name of the Church, in the knowledge of Antichrist. For he is come with all the signs & wonders, that the spirit of God hath foreshowed unto us, in the same place, at the same time, by the same way, & in the same apparel. There is nothing that doth not agreed unto him, neither that can agreed to any other, but to him. In mean time the Church, that is to say, the Roman clergy, have received him for their Spouse. The Council of Trent have declared him to be God in earth, excommunicating all those that will not cleave unto him: and the princes of the earth have lent him their arms to persecute, and to murder those who would make him known to the world. And wherefore? Because this word of God must be fulfilled, which he hath spoken by the mouth of his Apostles: 2. Thes. 2. Apoca. 14. &. 18. He shall sit in the Temple of God, boasting himself as if he were God. He shall make drunk all the kings of the earth. He shall abuse & deceive all the world, because they have not loved the truth. God shall give them up into a strong illusion, to the end they may believe lies. And even like as the Council of Jerusalem condemned Christ, so the Council of Trent have approved Antichrist. The clergy crucified salvation itself: & the clergy hath adored their perdition. The great doctors of the law were therein blind, because Christ showed them a spiritual kingdom, in stead of the temporal that they waited for: And the prelate's of the Romish Church have taken pleasure to shut their eyes, because Antichrist hath brought them a temporal kingdom, wherein they intent to dwell. But notwithstanding death, the cross, and the conspiracies of all the world, the spiritual kingdom of Christ was victorious over all the kingdoms of the earth. And notwithstanding the temporal kingdom of Antichrist, & all his adorations, and conspiracies of all the kings & princes of this world, which labour to uphold him, it must needs be, that he be destroyed by the breath of Christ his mouth, and that he fall, and utterly perish. What become of our fathers They demand hereupon, What then become of our fathers, after so long time that this tyranny of Antichrist came into the Church? Of the great Rabbis and masters who ask this question, I ask them what they have done therein, of them, I say, who had their souls in keeping, and who had taken charge, and who knew well how to heap up great riches, & to build them gay houses? I ask also again of them, what become of the poor people of all the East Churches, who were far greater than the Latins, whom the Pope by his excommunications sent to hell by whole millions, for the space of six or 700 years after that? To be short, I may sand them to that which our Saviour saith, that when the Son of man shall come to destroy Antichrist by the Spirit of his mouth, it shall be as the days of Noah, or of Lot in Sodom, that there shallbe no more, neither faith nor love in the world. But to the poor people who have been deceived by Antichrist and his maintainers, I answer after another sort. First, that this false doctrine of Antichrist, came not in all at once, but increased by little and little, till it grew to his full measure and heap, so as it was not so deadly in the beginning, as towards the end thereof when it came to his strength. But when it was most strong, and in the greatest ruff, God always reserved many in all countries, which mourned under his tyranny, yea and some also that cried out as loud as they could, by their writings, as we have already showed. And in deed xxv. years ago, one would have said that there was not so much, as one to be had in France which knew antichrist, and his doctrine. And yet notwithstanding, at the first liberty which was granted to the towns, they were found very full of such people. Secondly, as our adversaries make a difference between the Church and the people, snatching the name of the Church only to the prelate's, which should be common to all Christians: so we likewise do well put a difference, between the people cleaving to the Church of Rome, and the faction of antichrist, between them who live under the popedom, and the upholders and maintainers of the Pope: between the enchanters, & those that are enchanted: between the pharisees, whom Christ calleth generation of vipers, and that poor sick woman, whom he yet called the daughter of Abraham. We say that among that poor people, which was so long time deceived under the darkness of antichrist, there was a part of the body of the visible Church: But that the Pope and his maintainers are the bane of it, which styfleth and choketh these poor people, as much as lieth in it. We say that this was the Church of Christ, but that antichrist held it by the throat, to the end that that salvation and life which floweth from Christ, might not be powered upon it: That it was a flock of Christ, but governed partly by hirelings, and partly by wolves. In the people we consider the members of the universal church: but in the scabs & infections which do hide them, we mark the poison of the papacy: and in their buds, the whoredoms that the church of Rome hath committed with antichrist. To be short, we say that the people were of the Christian common weal: but the Pope with his faction, a proud seditious Catiline, to destroy and to set it on fire: whom Cicero very well calleth a plague, and not a member of the common weal. And in deed, as of evil diet, and superfluity there is engendered in man's body an impostume, (which yet notwithstanding is not the body, nor any part of the body, but a disease, and very oftentimes the death of the body) even so, saith Sallust, that of the superfluity of the common weal, Catiline was bred: even so we say that of the delights, superfluities, and idleness of the Church of Rome, antichrist is bred in it, who yet is neither the Church nor any part of the Church, but is the disease and pestilence itself of the Church, which had so infected and festered the whole body, that there appeared no more health nor soundness therein, and had been altogether the death of the body, had not God of his singular mercy opened the same unto us. Thirdly, we say that this empoisoner with his complices, hath cast into the fountain of life, that is to say, into the doctrine of salvation in jesus Christ, all the poison he could devise, and that he hath infected with his venom, the most dainty meats which God had given for the nourishment of his people. But that GOD hath given grace to some to abstain from it, to some in time to vomit it up again, to others to mingle it with the meat, and to certain to overcome it by the soundness of their complexion: in such sort that many have daily escaped it, notwithstanding his accursed intention and purpose. For example, we know that the most part of the people have been ignorant of those mischievous doctrines, which the schoolmen have left by writing, that is to say, of the principal blasphemies of the papacy. Also, that the more part have never believed, that they could merit everlasting life by their own works, whatsoever men preached unto them thereof. Again, albeit that through custom and ignorance they went to Saints and Images, and frequented Masses and pilgrimages: yet notwithstanding, in their conflicts of death, they always principally clave to the Cross of jesus Christ, and all the Franciscans preaching in their ears, the habit & vanishing toys of S. Francis, could not pull it away from them. In vita Bernard. lib. 1. cap. 12 & lib. 5. cap. 2. in epist. quam scripserat ante mortem ad Arnold. Idem serm. 61. in Cantica. We have an example in S. Bernard himself, and we have seen many more in our time. S. Bernard in certain places savoureth of the contagion of his time, as it was hard he should do otherwise. But see his refuge when he was tempted of the Devil, in his last days. I confess (saith he) that I am not worthy of it. I know that I cannot by mine own works obtain the kingdom of heaven. But my Lord hath obtained it by a double right, by inheritance from the Father, and by the merit of his passion. Now he is contented with the one, and giveth me the other. And when I attribute it to myself, by the gift which he hath made unto me thereof, I cannot be confounded. And in another place: My merit is the mercy of the Lord. And I am not poor in merits, because he is rich in his mercies. I have greatly sinned, but I will comfort myself in the stripes of my Lord Even so likewise we assure ourselves in the mercy of God, that a great number held the foundation in jesus Christ, 1. Cor. 3. whereof the Apostle speaketh, albeit Antichrist shook it, & as it were, endeavoured to overturn it in them, all that he might. Finally, we say with S. Cyprian, That if my predecessors, Cypr. lib. 2. epist. 3. either by ignorance or by simplicity, (holding notwithstanding the foundation) have not kept and holden that which our Lord hath taught them by his example & authority, (as it is most certain they did not) that the mercy of our Lord might pardon them. But as this good Doctor addeth: That we cannot hope for the like, being admonished at this day, and instructed by him. But this matter shall be for the chapter following. That every one is bound to separate himself from the Communion of Antichrist, and that the Romanists are Schismatics, and not they which separate themselves from them. CHAP. X. THe matters being as we have before proved, there shall be no great need now that we tender a reason for that we have withdrawn ourselves from the communion of the Pope, Fugite idola 1. john. 5. & from those false worships, which he hath foisted into the Church. For seeing that he is Antichrist, of whom the Church is warned & threatened, & his synagogue is that same Babylon of idolatry, Apoc. 14.9. & 18.3. out of which we have an express commandment to come, if we will not be partakers of her sins & plagues, & drink of the cup of the wrath of God, which is prepared for her, we should be justly charged with a very vile & abominable fault, if we should use ourselves otherwise. And in deed, if it were lawful for the true citizens of Rome, the city being under the power of the Gauls, to retire themselves into the little town of Veies with Camillus, and if all the ancients have judged that then the common weal was at Veies, albeit the walls were still about Rome: by a stronger reason we aught to retire from the Temple which Antichrist hath invaded, and profaned with so many pollutions, not being able at the first dash to drive him away: so that having gathered together the true servants and champions of jesus Christ from under his claws, we shall by the grace of God be strong enough, to drive him from thence, and there to place again the true service of God. And if he be to be holden for a traitor, and to be accounted guilty of high treason, that followeth the army and ensign of a Vicegerent or general Lieutenant, which is revolted from his Prince, much more should we be traitors against the honour of our God, and to him who hath vouchsafed to save us by his own blood, if we should fight against him under Antichrist, who hath invaded his place: and should any manner of way take his part, yea seeing that it is a false title, & they are false ensigns that he usurpeth of general lieutenantship, he being nothing more in Christendom, than the lest Bishops. But notwithstanding, to satisfy all the doubts that may arise about this matter, I am content to handle it more largely. When it pleased God to give us grace to know the false Commission of the Pope, by virtue whereof he made himself head of the Church, and that by examination aswell of his doctrine, as of those marks which he aught to have, we found evidently, that this is the Antichrist, & none other: they, who were called to preach the truth, have preached in the Church, they which had charge to teach, have declared & published it by books, and many to whom God gave zeal & courage, have protested it aloud and clearly, even amidst the flaming fire. Some have showed it to the people and common weals. Some cried it out in the ears of princes. Some have offered to verify the impiety of his doctrine in a free general Council. In Concilio Constantiensi. In the Council, in stead of disputing by the holy Scriptures, they have refused the Scriptures: in stead of hearkening to their quick reasons, according to faith, they have burned them quick against the faith. And to the end, they should never have occasion to hope for a free Council, and should not dare under the safe conduits of any to come thither, they have passed therein an article, That faith and promise is not to be kept with heretics. Afterwards all this notwithstanding, we have always required a free Council, where they have condemned us without ever calling for us. Some have answered us for all: That these were matters done long ago, whereof we should not speak any more. They have cut us quite of from the Church of Rome, & have proceeded against us by fire and faggot, by the sword, by wars, & by massacres & cruel murders. Finally, we see that they will give no place to our word, that they will not give us audience in a Council, that they excommunicate & chase us from the Church of Rome. Therefore following the example of the Apostles, when they were excommunicated from the jewish synagogue for having preached Christ: we have begun to gather ourselves together to serve the Lord, first secretly & in corners, & afterwards more freely: & neither can we communicate with those Idolatries brought in by Antichrist, nor at the first dash drive him from his seat, for that the Princes of the earth with their power uphold him: & therefore we are enforced to deliver ourselves, & all those that will harken unto us, from his servitude & bondage. Now I ask, what our adversaries can find fault with in this our doing, either in the matter itself, or in the manner of our proceeding? If they look upon the matter, we separant ourselves not for light matters, but for manifest idolatry, for making void the cross of Christ, for perdition, which reigneth in the place of salvation. To be short, we withdraw ourselves from this prince of confusion, who is revolted back against our Lord. And we report us even to their own judgement, whether they think it not lawful to separate ourselves from the communion of Antichrist, sitting in the chair of jesus Christ. For if every one wink thereat, who shall discover him? and if every one cleave unto him, who shall chase him away? and if all the world hold their peace, where is the spirit of the mouth of the Lord which shall destroy him? Now if they shall deny that he is Antichrist, we will submit ourselves to prove it, & then there is no question of our separation, but of our doctrine. If they will reprove us for the manner of our proceeding, therein condemning us, they condemn the Apostles, who having overrun all Israel, ran into a thousand dangers, to the end they might make Christ to be received into his own house, & in the midst of the temple: & finally, perceiving themselves to be stopped every way by open force, by excommunications, imprisonments, etc. they received him secretly into their private houses, and did preach him in small assemblies, till at last they brought all the world into his subjection. But notwithstanding this, they cry out, that we have broken the Communion of the Church: that we have set altar against altar: that we are Schismatics, etc. which were the outcries of the pharisees against the Apostles, You violate the Temple, the altar, the law, etc. And hereupon kings and nations have armed themselves on all sides against us. This therefore is the thing that we must presently make answer unto. The Communion of the Church. First, the Communion of the Church doth not consist in a local union, neither the separation, in removing of places: For there are a great many without, if we look to the place, who yet are within according to charity, and many again in place, that yet if we consider faith, are without: but the true Christian Communion consisteth in the union of faith, and in the union of charity, which S. Augustine calleth the nearness, or rather the neyghbourhoode and dwelling together (as I may say) of hearts, and agreement in doctrine: and the true separation, in the diversity or contrarietis of the self same things. Now concerning the union of faith, it consisteth in that heavenly doctrine, which is comprehended unto us in the old and new Testament, tending only to this point, to make us feel our sin, and to show us a remedy therefore, in one only jesus Christ crucified. And this is that, for which, according to the example of all the ancient servants of God, we suffer and are killed, and for withdrawing ourselves from under the yoke of Antichrist, that shamefully treadeth it under his feet, we are persecuted, excommunicated, and murdered. We are therefore united in the faith, with the patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, ancient Doctors, and generally with the whole Church that was before the law, under the law, and under Grace, yea and under the tyranny of Antichrist. If they will deny it, we will submit ourselves to prove it: There is not therefore any more question to cavil at our separation, which is nothing else but as an escape, to the end to resort to true doctrine: and if they confess it, denying us to be united with them, they confess then, that they are not united with the ancient fathers, and therefore they aught not to think it strange, that we renounce the communion of the Papacy. Concerning the Communion of charity or love, which consisteth in suffering and bearing the evils one of another, & in not lightly condemning one another: we hold all them for the true members of Christ, which worship one God in spirit & in truth, and hope for their salvation in one jesus Christ alone, the son of God come in the flesh, and crucified for the sins of the world, which is the foundation of salvation to all men. We desire all union and agreement with them, in whatsoever countries and regions they are, and whatsoever corruptions may be yet remaining amongst them, not only in manner, but also in certain points of doctrine, bewailing the bodily servitude which they endure, and praying the Father of light, that it will please him to enlighten them more & more by his holy spirit. Contrary wise every man knoweth, that the Pope's Consistory hath excommunicated all the East Churches, 600 years agone, only for this, that they would not submit themselves to the Bishop of Rome, which is an article that concerneth only but his ambition, and that the Pope hath left them to be invaded of the Turk, in despite whereof they had rather endure all extremity, then to acknowledge him to be head of the Church. And concerning the union of charity amongst them which yet cleave to the Pope, there is nothing more dear unto them, than their own lives, & we have been put to the fire, water & sword, for opening the truth unto them, & praying God every day, that he will enlighten them by his spirit. On the other side, the Romish Consistory doth pursue us by all means to death, and that by the space of these three score years and more, and so many people continually groaning for a free general Council, they have not had only so much charity, as to grant us either general or national, to deliver us from the error they pretend us to be in, answering for all (& that to so many princes, who have judged it necessary) That these matters are already decided, and aught not any more to come in question. this is every way a frivolous answer, as we have showed before. But I demand, what Parliament is it, yea even amongst the heathen, so barbarous, and so far from humanity, which for the agreeing of two persons only, would refuse to handle again a process, whereof there had been a determinate sentence given by the Parliament before? This therefore is in the Romish Consistory, where there is manifest doubt of their doctrine, or else foul and shameful lack of charity, and that in such a weighty case, as concerneth the salvation of the more part of Christendom. To be short, we agreed and are knit together in the doctrine of the Bible, with all Christians, but we reject the pestilent gloss and traditions of the Pope: we have been willing brotherly to communicate the truth to our brethren, with the danger of our life, in the midst of their Churches: and contrariwise the Pope, in stead of hearkening unto us, fearing to be discovered, hath excommunicated, chased and driven us out. It is therefore the Pope and his greasy ones, which have broken the Communion of the universal Church, & not we, who to keep us in, are ready to submit ourselves to all reason, & to abide all dangers. Altar against altar. Secondly, that they allege altar against altar, if we shall consider the nature of the Christian Church, it is not much from the purpose. In ancient time under the law, Exod. 29. there was but one Temple, and one altar, without which they were forbidden to sacrifice: whereupon we see yet, that the jews which were scattered throughout the world, might not sacrifice. And therefore those which set up altars in Dan and Bethel, albeit that they had not sacrificed but to the true God, and according to the sacrifices ordained in the law, yet they were guilty of death, because they had broken the express ordinance of God, who would have obedience and not sacrifice: and because that in jesus Christ to come, figured by one city of Jerusalem, by one Temple, and by one altar, they aught to withdraw themselves from the society of all other people. This is the cause, that we read not that the Prophets established any order of the service of God in any other place, although that the Temple of Jerusalem were defiled with idolatry, but rather that they preached openly against those which maintained it, & yet without sacrificing any where else. But by the coming of jesus Christ, as we have often said, it is altogether otherwise. For all the world is Jerusalem, the temple, and the altar of the Lord. We pray not any longer towards the East: but on every side to which we turn us, we turn to God, we look always to jesus Christ. When therefore the Apostles preaching Christ, could not be received into Jerusalem preaching Christ in the temple, they preached him in houses, and when they were yet driven away, they shook of the dust of their feet, in witness against them, and went and preached else where. When also they were forewarned by the holy Ghost, of God's vengeance to come upon that City that had crucified Christ the anointed, they made no difficulty, sayeth Eusebius, Euseb. in histor. Eccles. lib. 3. cap. 5. to withdraw the assembly, that is to say, the true jerusalem, and the true children of Abraham from thence, & to gather them together into the little town of Pella near jordan. Pella a littis' town niece jordan. If therefore the temples of Constantinople are turned into the temples and Churches of Mahomet. Christian's may serve God, and sacrifice to him the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving at Pera hard by Constantinople. Pera a little town over against Constantinople, whither the Christians with drew thence lues, when the Turk took Constantinople And if Antichrist be set down in the Church of Rome amidst his temples, we may serve Christ in the porch, and if we may not preach against him under the roof of the Church, we will do it under the roof of heaven, which is even aswell the Temple of the Lord. And this is the cause, why (being forbidden by kings and Princes upon pain of rebellion to preach in Temples, against the Idolatry which is there committed, and again being likewise expressly commanded by God to avoid Idols, and to publish the truth) we have gathered the true faithful thither, where we might serve God together, according to his word, and we have withdrawn Jerusalem into the town of Pella, by the example of the Apostles, and according to the liberty which jesus Christ hath given to the Universal Church. But by separating ourselves from Rome, we have remained in the heavenly jerusalem, founded upon the doctrine of the Apostles, from which it hath separated itself, and we have not built an altar against the altar of the Lord (for Rome is not the peculiar seat of the Lords altar) but rather an altar of Christ against the altar of Antichrist, a temple of living stones founded upon the chief master stone of the corner, against the temples of idols, builded upon the stone of offence, which is Antichrist. There is therefore a notable difference between Hierualem and Rome: and consequently it is one thing to separate from the faction of Rome, that can hardly deserve the name of a member, and an other, from the Catholic and Universal Church. Jerusalem was the Temple of the Lord, and at this day the whole world is his Temple: in comparison of which, Rome is nothing. To Jerusalem was promised the Son of God, to Rome the son of perdition. And from this peculiar Temple of God, the Apostles withdrew themselves, for that it refused salvation, yea that they might not perish in her destruction, they removed the Christians into another place. From the communication or fellowship therefore of the Church of Rome, which worshippeth and upholdeth perdition, we hold ourselves bound to withdraw ourselves, if we will not draw upon us the heavy vengeance of God, Apoc. 13.18. which is prepared for all those that remain therein. It is one thing for a man to withdraw himself from the Papacy, & another from the Church. thirdly, it is one thing to withdraw ourselves from the papacy, and another thing to go away from the poor Church that is there holden under captivity. Even altogether like, as it is one thing, to fly from a City, and another, to fly from the pestilence that is in the City. And it is one thing for a man to withdraw himself from the common Wealth, and another, from the power of a tyrant that usurpeth the common weal. They that fly the pestilence, are ready to come to the City again when the plague is gone, and they that avoid tyranny, are ready to join themselves again to the Citizens that were under tyranny, as soon as it shall be banished. Yea which is more, they are in the City, and in the Common weal, in heart and spirit, suffering together with their fellow Burgesses and Citizens, bewailing their bondage, and purchasing their deliverance, by all the means they can devise, where as the tyrants that keep that City, & they that are there, seem rather to be shut up from all commonalty or fellowship, not only of the common weal, but also, as Cicero sayeth, from all mankind, even as Thrasibulus was, being gone aside from Philes, during the time that thirty Tyrants did tear in pieces the common weal of Athens: And as Camillus at Veies, during the time that the Gauls wasted the city of Rome: And as Athanasius also, & a few of the best sort with him at Rome, during the time that the Arrians, being favoured of Constantius the Emperor, spoiled and infected his Church of Alexandria. And even so likewise we at this day, in right are of the poor Church of France, of Italy, and other places, which Antichrist holdeth by the throat, to 'cause them to abandon their salvation. And assoon as Antichrist and his maintainers shall be gone, with all the infection which they have brought into the church: we shallbe altogether ready to draw near unto them, to join with them as nigh as ever we did, and to run to the Churches with them, & there to rejoice together for their deliverance. Let the wolf be gone out of their fold, & behold us all ready to enter in. In mean time we will pray unto god to drive him away, that it will please him to deliver them from under his claw, & will show them this mercy, & we will enforce ourselves all that we can, to deliver them. To be short, Tertul. in lib de praescrip. contra haereticos. we are kuit with them in doctrine, if they have regard to the ancient doctrine of the Church of Rome: but we condenne that of the pope's, where with he oppresseth their consciences. Also we are in true charity: for what greater charity can there be in the world, them to rid the world of such a one: But we renounce that Tyrant, which strangleth their souls: and seeing that God by his singular grace hath delivered ours from him, we proclaim open war against him for their sakes, with all our hearts. The Pope a schismatic even by the canon law. These things being well considered, it is very easy for us to distinguish who are schismatics, that is to say, the authors of that separation which was made in our time in the west churches, either we or our enemies. The canon law sayeth, 24. q. 1. Nor. afferamus. & q. 3. & ibiglossa & doctores. that Schism must not be considered neither in the number nor place, but by the cause, & that he is a schismatic, which is the cause of schism, & not he which beginneth the separation, even altogether like as he which denieth the law is the cause of process, and not he which first began. Now we have required the pope and his prelate's to reform the Church according to the Scriptures, and to the ancient form, desiring to remain united with our brethren: and in stead of agreeing unto us, they have excommunicated us, without ever hearing us. The prelate's therefore of the Roman Church are the Schismatics, and not we who demand nothing else but Reformation to make us at one. Also the Canon sayeth, that the essential and material cause of all Schism is want of charity. August. adversus Cresconium Grammat. & Donatist. passim. Now, for our parts we have offered our lives to death, to recover our brethren from error: and contrariwise the prelate's of Rome, to draw us from that they say we are, what earnest request soever we could make, they would yet never grant unto us a free Council. But when they have called us to their assemblies, it was to burn us, and not to teach us: and all their Councils were but conspiracies to kill us, and not consultations to heal us. And therefore the lack of charity is in them, and so consequently the cause of Schism. Also the Canon law teacheth us, Doctores Bononienses in council. de schismate Benedict. 13 & Greg. 12. Item apnel Theodor. a Nien lib 3 Cusanus de concordia Cathol. lib 1.14. cap. 2.24. q. 1. Non afferamus. & q. 3. inter Schisma. 7. q. 1. Nonatianus cum glossa & ca sequen. 24. q. 1 in summa & cap. dicimus in glossa 2. Anno 1407. 15. q. 6. nos sanctoruin & can. iura tos juncta declaration. Innocentii de doctrina veritatis. 19 distinct. Anastasius & cap. nulli 79. dist. cap. si quis pecuniam. 2. q. 7. Sacerdos & ibid. glossa. that is to say, the Pope himself: That the Pope, which suffereth a controversy to wax old in the church concerning salvation, he is one that seeketh after division & heresy. And that if he be required to help it by a general Council, and do it not, of Apostolic which he should be, he maketh himself an Apostata and Schismatic, That as from such a one, the Cardinals, Prelates, Priests, peoples and provinces aught to separate themselves, for that, as much as lieth in him, he suffereth the people & children that are borne to grow under two heads, & into two churches. That all those that wink in that matter, specially having a charge, and a calling to withstand it, they are partakers with his fault, and are schismatics as well as he, notwithstanding all their oaths, homages & obligations, which they have made unto him. And in deed by the counsel of the divines of Paris, following the foresaid counsel, king Charles the sixth declared himself, his realm & all his subjects to be separated from the communion of pope john the 22. & afterwards by the same counsel cut of himself from the obedience of Benedict the thirteenth, Literae Academ. Parisien. apud Theodor. de Nien. tract. 6. cap. 14.15. & lib. 3. cap. 34. Item in libr. Nemus unionis cap. 7. Chronica Gaguini in Carolo. 6. & from Gregory the 12. admonishing and requiring all princes to do the like: For that (saith he in his protestation) they will maintain divisions in the Church by their treacheries, and will not submit themselves to the ordinary mean of a free council, and to the determination of the church. Now it was eight score years ago, that this strife began in the Church, & after threescore years or thereabouts, it was spread over all Europe. The princes and people called still for a free council, and always, sometimes by one mean, sometimes by another the Popes went scot free. During all which time they sought all the ways they could for their lives, ordinary & extraordinary, to make an end of us. They therefore & their maintainers (though the salvation of Christendom was not in controversy, as now it is) are by their own canons found schismatics, & they who have winked at it, fautors of schism: & they who have with drawn themselves from their obedience, (admit that their Popes had been sometime heads of the Church, & no Antichrists) are grounded in the truth, exempted from all suspicion of schism, and blameless of all the mischiefs and disorders, which through schism have arisen in Christendom. Now contrariwise, if as we hold the Pope be Antichrist, & the papal doctrine contrary to salvation in jesus Christ, and all the service that they do in all the churches that acknowledge him, which they call the church of Rome, polluted with idolatry, them there needs no longer disputation, whether men do well to separate themselves from him, or no: but rather to conclude full and wholly, That we are traitors to God, who hath created us: to Christ, who hath saved & regenerated us: to the Church, who hath borne us: to be short, to our brethren & to ourselves, if we protest not against his blasphemies, if we withdraw not ourselves from his obedience, if we renounce not his communion: to be short, if we do not our uttermost to make him known to every one, and to deliver the world from his tyranny. Hereupon they object unto us, that Moses, for the idolatry committed amongst the people of Israel to the golden Calf, Exod. 33. separated not himself. I grant it. But they must add that Moses chid Aaron, chastised the people, ground the golden calf into powder, and cast it into the water. There was no cause then that he should fly Idolatry, because he could drive it out. Now we will not be more scrupulous than Moses. Let them suffer us to beat their Idols to powder, & to cast Idolatry out of their Church, and we will ask no better, to remain still with them. They will yet further reproach us, that Christ haunted the temple notwithstanding the merchandise that was there committed: there is a great difference between the merchandise that was there, and the idolatry that at this day hath place in the Church of Rome. But again let them suffer us, as the jews did our saviour Christ, to whip out the merchants of the whore, that buy and sell men's souls by their simonies, out of the church, and we are all ready to frequent it. To conclude, they cast us in the teeth, that jereinie preached in Topheth, where abominable idolatry was committed: jerem. 19 they aught also to add that which the text saith expressly, that he preached there against idolatry. Also that Amos the Prophet prophesied in Bethel in Amasias his chapel: Amos. 5. they should add them, that this was to signify unto him the horrible vengeance that God had prepared to fall upon his head. Also that the man of God prophesied well in Bethel, 2. King. 13. in jeroboams time: but they should also add that this was to signify unto him, that his Priests should one day be sacrificed upon the same altar. But we will yet say more unto them. Let than but suffer us to preach in their Churches amongst their Idols, we will make them to fall down at the only word of God, without ever touching or laying hand upon them. Let them but suffer us to place the ark of God, and his holy covenant in the midst of their Temples, 1. Sam. 5. and they shall within a short space find all their Dagons in pieces. We refuse not then to go to preach there. For this is it, we desire with all our hearts to make the truth known unto every one. But we can not come there and hold our peace: for accursed is he, which heareth his God blasphemed, without protesting against it, and seeth his brother deceived, and doth not direct him. But we, after the example of jeremy, of Amos, and of the man of God, will protest before kings, before peoples, yea in the face of all their abominations, & we have done it, & have sealed our protestations with our own blood. But we will not sacrifice after their example, upon the altar that king Achas caused to be made after the pattern of the altar of Damascus, although that Urias the high priest wink at it. Much less will we worship in Dan & Bethel: For they never did it: we will not (I say) communicate in any wise with the sacrileges & impieties brought in by Antichrist: for this were great wickedness to do it, & treason against God to conceal it, & more than senseless blockishness to all, not to search it out, & inexcusable blindness, in the light which at this day shineth every where, to communicate with these works of darkness. Why we receive the baptism of the church of Rome. Moreover, they object unto us: If you hold the pope for Antich. & our service for idolatry, how then do you receive our baptism: or if you hold that for good, how is it that you communicate not with our Church: First God hath had such pity of his church, that he hath suffered antichr. to change nothing in the bapt. of Christ, in that which is of the substance thereof, although he had bewrapped it with many superstitions, altogether like as he suffered not circumcision, which was the mark of the covenant, to be quite abolished, neither amongst the Samaritans' nor in juda, whatsoever idolatry was there committed. We say then that the church of Rome, through baptism, brought forth children to god, but that through her idolatries she nourished them up to the devil, altogether like as Ezech. saith, Ezech. 16. that jerusalem & Samaria engendered children to God, as an adulterous woman doth to her husband, until she be divorced, but afterwards she sacrificed them to Moloch, that is, to false gods. Augustus' passim de baptismate contra Donatistas'. Secondly, we say with S. Aug. that it is not the heretic that baptizeth, as long as baptism remaineth sound, but Christ by the hand of the heretic, wherein we follow the practice of the primitive church, & the determination of the 1. council of Nice: Concil. Nicenum. That they which were baptised by heretics, renouncing their heresy, they shall not be rebaptized, except those that have been baptised by the Samosatens, who kept not the essential words of baptism, whom (to speak properly) they do not rebaptize, because with out these, they could never be baptised: but by the grace of God, we have been baptised in the name of God, and not in the name of Antichrist, or of his idols. Thirdly, baptism in our infancy brought us into the house of God, but it is not enough to be received into his family, if we serve him not according to his commandments. For than we deprive ourselves of the benefit received by baptism, the which (as S. Augustine sayeth) is turned into our greater condemnation. This therefore is unto us as the law of nature in a common weal, which bindeth us to the duty of good citizens: & of simple & plain enemies that we should be, we become traitors, and parricides, if we serve a Tyrant which hath invaded it, Parricides are they that kill their own parents and kinsfolks. and if we bear arms against the Laws thereof. For albeit we be borne under tyranny, yet we are borne for the common weal, and enrolled in the Register of Citizens, & not within the lists of the tyrant's slaves, yea even though the tyrant or his officers keep the Register. Now to the Citizen, which is borne under tyranny, who hath served a tyrant, & who afterwards acknowledging his fault, withdraweth himself to the defenders of the common liberty, there is no need of new letters of his natural birth, although by his former deeds, he made himself unworthy. So likewise we say, that to him which is bound under the popedom, who hath maintained Antichrist, and joined himself to his faction, and to every other Heretic, which hath fought against Christ, there needeth no second Baptism, when he returneth to his duty. For albeit he had renounced Christ, yet Christ hath not renounced the right he hath over him, and his Baptism is so little defaced, that of a simple enemy which he should have been without Baptism, he is become a traitor, and guilty of high treason against his majesty. And therefore there needeth nothing but an utter abolishment of his fault, and not a renewing of his baptism. Fourthly. Yea, but there is no baptism but in the Church, and when you separate yourselves from us, you then separate yourselves from the church. The answer. There is no Baptism but in the Church, and we deny not also, that the Church of Rome is a Church. For in that we affirm that Antichrist ruleth there, we consequently hold that it is the Church, inasmuch as he can not sit any where but in the Church. But it is one thing, to separate ourselves from the Church of Rome defiled by Antichrist, and another thing to departed from the communion of the universal church, as we have already declared. Again we departed not from the temple, but from the idolatry committed in the temple, nor from the common weal, but from the tyranny which oppresseth the common wealth, nor from the city, but from the pestilence which infecteth the city, nor from the communion & fellowship of the people (to whom we wish all happiness & salvation) but from the conspiracy of Antichrist & of his maintainers: we therefore renounce not their baptism, but we ratify it. By the same we are bound to serve God, & to renounce the devil: & following the same, we seek to serve God according to his word, & renounce all idols. By these letters of natural birth, we are bound to maintain the laws of the ancient christian common wealth, which is the church: & following them, we set up again before us the law of God the only lawgiver of the church, & would deliver the church from all new impositions & burdens, which Antichrist hath laid upon their consciences. By baptism we have made an oath unto christ, & the pope would turn our service from Christ, to his idols & to himself: we therefore set Christ against Antichrist, and the church against his conspiracy. And this is that for which by the grace of God, we have been baptised into the Church, how tyrannical and disordered soever it hath been. But the ministers thereof, whom you pretens to be of Antichr. they have baptised you. In deed they have put water on my head, but Christ hath baptised me. The tyrant or his officers, which he hath established after his fashion, have made me lift up my hand, & give him an oath: but they have made me to make it to the common wealth, & not to the tyrant, in the name of Christ, & not in the name of Antichrist. The form of the oath hath remained entire & sound, albeit the estate were changed. To follow therefore the tenor of mine oath, I will retire myself into the army of true citizens, & I will seek out the true church in the place, whereunto it hath withdrawn itself, & I will renounce the communion of Antichrist, who under colour of mine oath, maketh me to break mine oath. To conclude this point. 1. john. 5. Apoc. 14. It is said unto us, Preach the truth. We have done it: but they have excommunicated us. It is said consequently unto us, Fly from idols, and depart out of Babylon. We have done it: but yet then, when the obstinacy of men against the truth, hath compelled us. Finally, after the example of the Apostles, being shut out of Churches by the magistrate, we have gathered together the faithful into houses, and have builded the true jerusalem at * Pella a little town by Iorden, wherein the Christians were preserved when jerusalem was destroyed. Pella. If men mark this deed in itself, they cannot find fault with it: For we stand grounded upon the express word of GOD. Now if any man further say, howsoever it aught to be done, that yet it belonged not unto our Ministers to do it: There is no farther question but of their vocation and calling, which shallbe handled in the chapter next following. That the Ministers of the reformed churches have a lawful calling to reform the Church. CHAP XI. FOrasmuch as our adversaries can neither deny the corruption, which is entered into the Church, nor the tyranny of Antichrist with other things depending thereof, from the which we go about by the word of God, to set it free: to the end to hold us from entering to the ground of this matter, & from ripping it up again, they at length use this pretty shift, & ask us whatcalling our ministers have to reform the church, & to preach in it? 1. King 12.24. This is even the same that Zidkiiah the false prophet said unto Micheas, What way went the spirit of the Lord from me, to speak to thee? And the pharisees to jesus Christ, Thou art a Carpenter's son, & who hath sent thee? To whom we may answer in one word with jesus Christ, The words which we preach, bear witness of us. They likewise cast in our teeth their long succession, That they are the children of Abraham, S. Peter's heirs etc. To whom jesus Christ hath answered for us, You are Abraham's seed, Io. 8. 2. Thes. 2. but the devil is your father, from whom ye are come. & s. Paul: Brethrens, be not deceived, for Antichrist shall sit & be worshipped in the temple of God. But forasmuch as heretofore they have made whole books upon this point, it is needful to handle this more largely. When fire shall take hold of any City or town, or an enemy shall scale it in the night, if the lest Burgess shall give an alarm, yea admit it be but a stranger, whiles the watchmen sleep, no man will demand by what title he did it, and much less punish him for it: but rather men will run to the water, and to the walls, they will see where it is, and every one accepteth him thankfully that warned them. When contrariwise, we discover Antichrist sitting in the Church, whom we have submitted ourselves to convince, before the face of a Council, and in his own presence: in stead of hearing us, of examining our reasons, of going to the holy Scriptures, where he is lively painted out, they fall to examine us of our condition, and by what authority we advertise them, yea they put us to a worse death, then if we had betrayed the common wealth. If the governors of some places should do the like, when men give them advertisements, what place should not soon fall into the hands of the enemies? And what prince is there that would not hold them for traitors, and judge that they had conspired with his enemies? There is no question here of our condition & qualities, but of the qualities of Antichrist, & of his doctrine. It standeth with the duty of those that warn us, and it concerneth the salvation of all, and of ourselves. If the advertisement and warning be true, it is the salvation of the Church, if it be false, it is ours. The question is then, to examine the circumstances of the warning, and not the qualities and condition of those that warn us. In the conspiracy of Catiline, the Senate lent their ear to a base woman, against the greatest. And when the Gauls would by night have invaded the capitol of Rome, the watchmen spoke not a word, and the dogs were dumb: there was nothing but the Geese that cried, and yet every man ran thither, and made account thereof: and had not this gaggling been, this notable City, which afterwards conquered the whole world, had been lost. When therefore we shall be the most vile & contemptiple of the Church, we deserve to be heard, yea seeing we desire not to speak in the ear, as slanderers, but in the face of the Church, yea in the ear of himself that hath accused us, not from ourselves, but from God. Concerning the reformation of the Church, after the scattering which the Pope & his have made in it, we know that there must be a lawful calling, but we maintain ourselves to be therein better warranted and grounded than they, who have nothing but their boasting and vaunting, although they have the greatest titles & honours in the world to be on their side. The calling of the first reformers of the Church in our time. If therefore our adversaries ask us, what was the calling of our first Ministers, which reformed the Church in these last times, we answer that it was the same vocation and succession, whereof they themselves do brag: but the same vocation which they abused, our men have endeavoured to use will, and to that vain succession wherewith they decked themselves, they have added the succession of true doctrine, which they had corrupted: without which all succession is nothing else, but a continuing of abuse and error. Wickleife, john Hus, Luther, Zwinglius, Decolompadius, Bucer, and others of that school (from whence the Ministers which have gathered Churches from under Antichrist, are descended) were Priests (as they call them) and doctors in divinity. As Priests & Pastors, they had charge to preach the truth unto the people, & to minister the Sacraments unto them, according to the institution of our Lord. As doctors, they were called to expound divinity in their readings, & in their books, and they were bound by the ordinary oath of all universities, to declare the truth unto the Church, to confute all doctrines repugnant against the word of God, and what then might to expel it. Now in their time, they found that the word of God was hid unto the people: that the honour which was due to God alone, was turned to men, & to Images: that the blood of Christ was trodden under foot: that the sacrament of the supper was partly turned into Idolatry, & partly denied to the poor people. To be short, that all the holy scripture was profaned & poisoned with the Pope's gloss, & popish interpretations. And when they showed these things to the Bishops and Metropolitans, according to the order of their Church, they made no reckoning of them, they were the first that persecuted them, because they themselves were the infected part of the Church. I ask therefore, if their vocation commanded them not to go farther, to wit, to preach the truth unto the people, and purely to administer the holy Sacraments? And if they had done otherwise, whether they had not been forsakers of their calling, contenmers of their oath made unto God, and abusers of the people? Both two therefore, (say I) both our adversaries, and our first ministers had one and the same ordinary & outward calling. But herein is the difference, that that which ours have followed, the other have forsaken: that which ours have done of duty by reason of their charge, the other have concealed. Ours have led their sheep upon the mountains of Israel into good pastures: Ezech. 34. the others have devoured them, or else left them for a pray to the beasts of the field, or else driven them to the fens and marshes where they have starved. A magistrate shall be called to the government of a common wealth, where he shall find the good laws corrupted by the negligence or malice of those that went before, his Courts full of injustice, the offices subject to factions, briberies and corruptions: and he would reform all this, and bring it to the censure of the laws. He that will further now ask him, by what right he doth this, should he not make himself a laughing stock, because he followeth step by step his calling? He hath not sworn to maintain abuses, but rather to maintain the laws, and to provide every way that he can, for the good and preservation of the Common wealth. Now contrariwise, if he wink at that which is evil, he should do directly contrary to his calling. Even so likewise have our first Ministers done, first requiring reformation, and afterwards putting to their hands according to their duty. And if we could ask of the Apostles, who are their true successors: they would not tell us, Such as have a triple crown, or such a cope, or such a mitre, but those that preach the word of God after our example. For so had they learned of the true master, Matth. 1. That he which doth the will of God his father, is his mother, his sister and his brother. At the preaching of these first men, the pastors of the Churches were awakened in England, in Bohemia, in Germany, in Scotland, in Denmark, in Swedenland, and afterwards many in France, in Spain, and in Italy itself, and these were sent to bethink them of their duty. Consequently some whole Realms were reformed: the bishops themselves, that there had preached lies, preached the truth in the self same Church & pulpit. Of these for the most part, if our adversaries will demand succession, it is on their side, for they have succeeded from bishop to bishop, from the first which preached there the Gospel. If they ask a vocation, why, it is even their own: for they were called to be bishops and pastors, and they have performed the office, which they had forsaken. The difference therefore, as we have said, is in this only point, that they feed the people with peascod shells, and the others in the pasture of life: they defile their flocks with the filthinesses of Antichrist, and these wash them in the blood of jesus Christ. Behold then, concerning the calling of our first Ministers, which hath whatsoever may be good, in the pretended calling of our adversaries: and this point further: That our men lawfully exercise it, and the other do but withhold it in unrighteousness. And although some of our men, as in so corrupt a state of the Church (as we have seen it in our time) without waiting for their calling, or allowance of them that under the title of pastors, oppressed the Lords flock, were called by those Churches, to which they vowed their ministry: yet this aught no more to be thought strange, then in a free common wealth, where the people without waiting either for the consent or voices of those that play the tyrants, shall have chosen according to the laws, good and lawful magistrates. The calling of those which came afterwards. Concerning the vocation of Ministers which were sent by the former, and since by us, we have herein observed the example of the Apostles, and the canons of the primitive Church. If the question be of their persons, we have lawfully examined both their doctrine and manners. And this is the rule of Saint Paul, 1. Tim 3.2. That a bishop must be apt to teach, and blameless: If of the persons which make this examination, why, it was not one man alone, but many ministers, bishops and elders duly called before to this Church, that is to say, Titus. 1.9 the Presbytery or eldership, as Saint Paul calleth it, or as Saint Cyprian calleth it, 1 Tim. 5. & Tit. 1. the ecclesiastical Senate. During this examination, whereupon dependeth the election, the Church continueth in prayer and fasting, as we read in the ordaining of elders in the Acts. Being found meet, Acts. 14.23. they are published to the people, to the end that if any man hath aught to say against their election, he might repair before the assembly, as we read was practised in the old Church, Lampridius in Alexandro. even by the testimony of Paynims. Finally by the consent of all the people, they lay their hands upon them, they give them authority to preach, which is the only ceremony that the Apostles used, by imitation of the Church of the jews, Acts. 19.6. after which they began to administer the word & sacraments in the Church. This is that the ancient Canons say, That the minister of the Church must be ordained by the election of the Clergy, In Concil. Laodic. cap. 12. In Concil. Parisi. cap. 8. & by the consent of the people: That a Bishop should not be chosen without a number of bishops, etc. At the request of the Clergy, that is to say, of the elders, & with the consent of the people. Again, Rabanus in gloss. sexto cap. Actuum Can. Nullus. cap. in ordin. distinct. 61. cap. Sacror. distinct. 63. Leo Papa epist. 87. & 90. that they which are come to a bishopric by money or favour, they should not be holden for Bishops, neither have any right to ordain others. Now we report ourselves to the church of Rome itself, who are more canonically elected, they or we, & whether these canons have not been altogether contemned amongst them, for the space of more than these 800. years. If the question be of bishops, either ordaining or ordained, they come to their bishoprics either through favour of the prince's court, or else by the subtleties of the court of Rome, or by paying of money. And there be, who are made bishops for the service of their predecessors, before they were borne, at that time when it was doubtful, whether they should be male or female, man or woman. The thing itself speaketh, & every man seeth it, & knoweth it, before I can speak of it. If of the examination which is made, by this a man may judge what it is like to be, when he seeth a great part of the bishops of the church of Rome, that know not whether their Mass be in Greek or Latin: & their lives are so known (I touch not those few that behave themselves better) that their Cardinals, In the articles that were presented by the Cardinals the reformers of Pope Paul 3. Cyprian. lib. 1 Epist. 3. August. Epist. 110. chosen in the time of Pope Paul the third for a reformation, confess in their articles, that for their wicked lives and horrible outrages, the name of God was blasphemed throughout all nations. If of the consent of the people, which S. Cyprian so much requireth, & which we see so well put in practice in the person of Eradius that was S. Augustine's successor, they present their bishops to the people, not to have their consent to approve them, but to 'cause them to worship them, for fashion sake only, and not altogether in good earnest. Now if we come to the simple priests, Euseb. lib. 6. cap. 29. de elect Fabri. Theodoret. lib 1. cap. 9 the ignorant bishops do yet make them of the most ignorant, and of the most vicious, worse than themselves, so that the time whereof the Prophet complaineth, hath endured a long time in the Church, that whosoever would, might consecrated his hand. We ministers therefore at this day, have the same succession that their bishops had. For from the first that reformed the Churches, no man could take it away, & unto this they have further added the continual succession of the true doctrine. But their vocation is far better, and more canonical: for besides that they were ordained, by those that the church of Rome had ordained, they are ordained according to the example of the Apostles, and ancient canons, which Antichrist and his maintainers have utterly disannulled, whereas examining the election of the Romish bishops, you shall have much a do to found one, that may rightly be called a bishop. Against this which hath been said, nothing can be alleged, unless it be, that these first reformers of the Church, john Hus, Luther, Zwinglius, Decolompadius & others, from whom ours are descended, they were not bishops, but only priests & doctors. To this we answer, A bishop and an elder are all one. That a Minister & a Bishop in the primitive Church were all one, and that if there be any difference at this day in their titles and miters, yet that in their essential dignity, they differ not a whit. S. Paul sayeth to Titus, I left thee in Candie, to the end thou shouldest ordain elders in every city. And afterwards, Titus. 1. willing to show him how he should govern there, he addeth: For it behoveth that a Bishop be faultless, etc. Also it is said in the Acts, Acts. 20.17. & 28. That he sent to seek the Elders or Seniors of Ephesus. But mark the weighty exhortation he maketh to them, Take heed, saith he, to yourselves, & to the whole flock, over which the holy Ghost hath made you Bishops or overseers. To the Philippians. In the Epistle to the Philippians he saluteth the Deacons and Bishops of that city, that is to say, the ancients. S. Peter also exhorting the Bishops or elders, 1. Pet. 5. Graecè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as being bishops. Ephes. 4. Feed (saith he) the flock which is committed unto you, having an eye over them as Bishops or overseers, etc. And in deed where Saint Paul reckoneth up the names of all the degrees in the Church, he maketh no mention of bishops, but only of pastors and doctors, & to the elders it is said, Feed, teach, & do the duty of Bishops. It is then most apparent, that elders (whom you call priests) & Bishops were all one. Irenaeus ex Euseb. lib. 5. cap. 26. & epist. 24. And Ireneus also calleth Anicetus, Pius, & Hyginus Bishops of Rome, no otherwise then by the name elders. This is that S. Hierom saith in a certain Epistle, handling this matter: Among our ancients, Bishop & elder were both one, but the one is the name of age, the other of office or dignity, as the Apostle hath plainly showed us. Hieronym. in epist. ad Euandrum. And in another place: Before one said, I hold of Cephas, & I of Apollo, etc. all things were governed in the Church by the common advise of the Seniors or elders. afterwards to avoid Schisms, advise was given, that one should be chosen above others. In 1. cap. ad Titum fusissime. But as on the one side the elders are subject unto him, so on the other side they must know, in that that he is above the elders, it is by custom, and not by the Lord's ordinance. Ambro. in 4. add Ephesisios'. S. Ambrose expounding the 4. of the Ephe. where the degrees of the Church are largely handled: The Bishops (sayeth he) were called at the first, Elders, whereupon one succeeded another, etc. And upon Timoth. A Bishop is none other but a chief elder. Idem in 1. ad Timoth. S. Gregory in his epistles calleth the Bishops, Elders & Cardinals, Greg. lib. 1. epist. 15.77.79. Et lib. 2. epist. 6.25. etc. that is to say, the chief: and justinian the Emperor, in his Deconomical laws, calleth them Reverend, because they differ nothing from Elders in their essential dignity, but only in this, that they kept the first place in the administration of God's service, that is to say, in order and Ceremony. Gratian in his decretals saith plainly, Distinct. 93. & 95. olim. That the superiority of the Bishop, and the distribution of his diocese is from man's law, & not from the institution of the Apostles. Peter Lombarde repeateth it in the same words. And M. john of Paris, Pet. Lomb. lib. 4. senten. distinct. 24. Magist. joh. Parisi. cap. 3. lib. de potestate regia & Papali. a doctor of the Sorbonists, of the order of jacobins, in his book of the kingly & papal power, which the whole faculty of divinity approved at that time, goeth further: For concerning the essential dignity of the ministery, which he calleth the power of the ecclesiastical government over the people, he maintaineth that the priests are equal to the Popes themselves, & he proveth it, because in their orders they use the same words that they use in the orders of bishops & Apostles: Receive the holy Ghost, whatsoever ye bind on earth, shallbe bound in heaven, etc. To be short, Cardinal Cusan himself maintaineth, that the popedom, the state of Bishoprics, Cardinal. Cusan. lib. 2. cap. 13 de concord. Catholie. Ostiensis in summa de maioritate & obedient. & glossa. in cap. 9 & 2. q. 7. puto. that is to say, all their degrees both great & small, they are not ordained of God, but of men. That all Priests according to the ordinance of our Lord are equal: & that they were likewise ordained of men for the better, to wit, to avoid division. But when this better was turned into worse, & this which men had ordained to bring men to God, served to turn them away from God, then, the cause ceasing, these positive laws should also cease, & men should be brought to the first institution. And therefore mark (saith he) that in time of necessity, when the Pope hath excommunicated with an evil purpose, the lest priest may absolve him, whosoever he be, from his excommunication. Behold therefore, that in that the B. is above an elder, it is but from man's law, & for order, which is no longer order, when it is the cause of disorder. Consequently we say, That ministers & elders have power to lay on their hands. 1. Tim. ●. that those elders have power to say on their hands, and to ordain pastors. That they had so in the Apostles time, it is most clear. Neglect not (saith Saint Paul) the gift that is in thee, which is given to prophecy with the imposition of the hands of the Eldership, that is to say, of the assembly of Seniors or elders. And again, Timothy ordained himself. & forasmuch as a Bishop & elder were all one, if by the scripture the Bishops take this power to themselves, aswell might the Ministers & Elders: & if they deny it to the ministers & elders, they deny it to themselves. In deed in the old time this argument was common in the Church: He might baptise, Magister setent. lib. 4. distinct. 25. he might minister the lords body, ergo he might lay on his hands. Also, when they ordained an elder, the B. holding his hand over his head, all the other elders drew near & laid on their hands together, & held them upon the head of him whom they so ordained, as it appeareth in many places of Gratian'S decretals, Can presbyter. distinct. 23. apud Gratianan. which was to keep their right in giving of orders, & to show that although the Bishop had the charge of this action, that notwithstanding it was equal amongst them, & that he could not do it of himself alone. And certain of their own have disputed this same question 300. years since. Marsil. Pata li. 2. ca 17. And if the ambition of Bishops, & the negligence of the Ministers & Elders have confounded all things, & abolished the order of the church, we must labour as much as we can, to bring it in again. And if the Bishop, of a companion, which he aught to be, is become a tyrant over the ministers & elders, why, it belongeth to those that are true ministers and elders, to exercise the duty which is left unto them. And if the primacy of the Bishop, brought in by men, have led men to perdition, (which order we do not altogether disallow, if it be rightly observed) why then, by the equality of ministers and Elders instituted of God, they must be brought again to salvation. To be short, the first Bishops of the Christian Church were but elders: and our first ministers were elders: & the elders by the institution of the Apostles, had authority to lay on their hands, according to which also ours were ordained: ministers therefore ordained by them are well ordained, and their vocation can not in any wise be cavilled at, or slandered. Now if any think them contemptible in comparison of the great prelate's of the Church of Rome: Caiphas in deed was revecenced of the world, whereas Cephas had neither gold nor silver. Paul being a persecuter, was in great credit, and Paul being an Apostle, got his living with his own hands. Also, God is wont to confounded the great and mighty things of the world, through things which seem small. And many of ours follow the poverty of Christ, which might be honoured, yea and were so sometimes, amongst the chief upholders of Antichrist. It is not therefore to the purpose, to ask miracles of us for the approving of our calling: For if we must show some, then must they also, for that is ordinary. But if by virtue of their calling, they have taken upon them to preach new doctrine, why then, let them suffer us by virtue of the same, to restore the ancient. And if they say it is ours that is new, and not theirs, why then, there is no more question of our calling, but of our doctrine, and therefore we must pass through all these suburbs, and come directly to the conference of these two. In mean time, these were the goodly fetches, that hindered the fruit of the conference at Poissy, from whence all France waited for some singular good thing, & yet this is that, upon which at this day the jesuits do ground their principal defence. When any say unto them, Show me purgatory, and transubstantiation, and the invocation of Saints, Miracles. or any thing which draweth near to the Scriptures, they say unto us, Work miracles. Even so likewise Satan said unto jesus Christ: If thou be the son of God, cast thyself down from the top of the pinnacle etc. being as ready to have turned unto him, if he had done it, as if he had done nothing. But our Saviour, who could have done greater things, confuted him only by the scriptures. So likewise the pharisees ask him for signs, albeit he wrought enough, & those wondered. But if he cast out devils, this was (say they) by the power of the devil. If he did them in earth, they ask them from heaven: & if the heaven itself should speak, to give authority to his vocation, them they said, What thunder is this? Likewise they say unto him upon the Cross, john. 12. If thou be the son of God, help thyself etc. and when he stepped out of the Sepulchre, overth wart those gross-headed watchmen, they said that he was stolen away. To be short, even so in ask miracles of us now, they are wholly bend to say, if we should do them, that we were the Antichrists, which should deceive the world by signs & miracles, & that therefore we aught not to be believed. But as the pharisees, when Christ suffered upon the Cross, in stead of ask him miracles, had done a great deal better, to meditate upon this place of isaiah, He was wounded for our transgressions, Isai. 53. he was smitten for our iniquities, and with his stripes were we healed: So should it be much better for our masters, to search out of the holy scriptures, the true marks of Antichrist, and deeply to think upon this great miracle, which God hath wrought in our time without miracles, abolishing by the only breath of his mouth, and by the offscouring of the world, that horrible monster, who so long time hath caused himself to be worshipped in the world. When the Law was published by Moses, we read that then he wrought miracles. When there was a matter of judgement also betwixt God and Baal, God wrought miracles by Elias. But when josias the king, & Helkias the Priest brought forth the book of the Law, which had been buried either by the negligence or malice of the teachers, and that they threw out the idols which men had brought into the Temple of God: when Esdras the Scribe and Priest restored the service of God, after the captivity of Babylon, we read not that they wrought any miracles: the reason thereof is very clear. Moses had published a new Law to the people. And Elias had to do with a people, that openly had renounced the law. Contrariwise josias, Helkias, & Esdras only kept the law, and according to that reformed the Church, and had to do with a people that believed, and would yield unto it: yea, with a people who were taught by the law, to believe the law against all miracles. Deut. 13. In like manner when Christ brought the Gospel, he wrought miracles: but we find not when any pastor of the Church hath required the reformation of some abuses of the councils which entered thereinto, that he was requested to work miracles. Of Saint Bernarde, who cried so loud against the corruption of his time, and who sighed so sore after the reformation of the Church, they asked none. Now the reformation we ask, is of many things, according to that corruption which so long ago is entered into all things. To be short, this should be a great miracle unto us, that an Angel should bring us from heaven a new Gospel: Galat. 1 and yet notwithstanding, the Gospel forbiddeth us upon pain of damnation to believe it: we are not those then that must work miracles. For we preach nothing but salvation in one only jesus Christ, confirmed by the miracles of Christ, and of his Apostles. But it belongeth to Antichrist to do them, who preacheth salvation by man's works, by monks merits, and by his own indulgences and pardons, who hath brought us in a new Christ, and a new Gospel, which the devil hath confirmed and sealed to the world, by strange signs & wonders, & lying miracles, whereof all oratory's & Chapels not long sithence boasted & vaunted: which when Christ was borne, vanished altogether to nothing, as he made the oracles of the devil to do when he was borne into the world. And I ask them now of their conscience, if we came with miracles, whether our adversaries would believe our Doctrine, which now so boldly they condemn to the fire? If they say, Not: why then, they abuse the people, when they ask us for them, as though without miracles our Doctrine aught not to be received, and as though they were by and by ready, if we had these, quietly to allow it. If they say they would, we aught not then to marvel, if against Christ, they have received Antichrist, seeing the devil hath authorised him by his miracles, forasmuch as all Christians were forewarned by the spirit of God, 2. Thess. 2. that he should work strange and monstrous things, whereupon notwithstanding they aught not to stay: and contrariwise, that Christ must destroy him by the spirit of his mouth, that is to say, by the only preaching of his word, to which his spirit giveth effect and power. Now if they will yet stiffly hold an opinion of miracles, one poor Friar, with the only sound of the word of God, hath in one moment shaken all the foundations of this Babylonical Empire, which seemed to be so well fenced against all the injuries of the time. And in what time? even then when the Pope, as a god, had all the earth at his commandment, at that time when he was adored & worshipped of kings, & served of Emperors, when he took away & gave Empires at his pleasure, when to inquire of his doings, was (as they say) to touch the holy mountain, & to open mouth against heaven. Even he (at whose voice otherwise our most mightiest Kings have trembled in their thrones) at the voice of a man, in respect of men, contemptible, hath trembled in his throne, and can not until this day be quieted. With the aid of a few of his companions, and of the same estate, he hath withdrawn the greatest part of Christendom from under his power: he hath delivered from this devil that possessed them, not only men, or cities, but even whole kingdoms: he hath by the word of God opened the eyes of a thousand millions of persons, that were blind, even from their birth. And although the only word of God preached by his servants, hath done these great marvels, you yet deny that God worketh miracles. Yea rather this is the miracle of miracles, that this great miracle is wrought without miracles. We have seen in our time many Bethulias, many Senacheribs', many Herodes, and many Dioclesian's. We have seen Giants dashed against the stones: we make no reckoning of these things, because we have seen them, but those that come after us shall wonder at them. And who would have said, I pray you, that after the 24. day of August in the year 1572. that ever there should again any mention be made of us in France? We were as dead & buried, they had rolled such a great stone upon us, to keep us down: on every side they were in arms about our graves. God contrariwise from all these same lets, restored us life to praise him: and to make all the earth ashamed in their sly purposes, he would that even the adversaries of our religion themselves should remove the stone, and reaching out their hands unto us, should draw us out of the grave again. Now, if as the pharisees, they will yet ask us for a sign from heaven, then during the time that these horrible murders continued thorough out France, there began to appear in the firmament this new star, whereof sithence the creation of the world the like hath not been seen, but at the birth of our Lord jesus Christ. All the world saw it three years together. All Astrologers wondered at it, and are yet amazed to think of it. The wise men of the world, which believe all things to be eternal, began from thenceforth to worship one Creator. And what shall we think that it signifieth unto us, but that second birth of jesus Christ in the earth, by the preaching of his word? But you will say, We have seen yet nothing. And contrariwise, your affairs in stead to be advanced, go backward. Well. The star which was followed of the wise men, was thirty years before it showed his effect: and when that effect was accomplished, it was by the flesh of one man, of whom men made no account, and by the shame of a cross, that seemed to have enclosed the whole Divinity in one Tomb. Notwithstanding, after that the devil had cast out his fire against the Apostles and disciples of Christ, & that he had raised against them infinite persecutions, it must needs be in the end that he yield himself, & that all the earth acknowledge their Lord. Let the earth therefore do what it will, the word of God endureth for ever. And it must be that Antichrist perish, & be discomfited by the breath of the mouth of Christ, & that he be abolished by the brightness of his coming. All kings, and all the earth can do nothing against this determination. But I beseech the Almighty, that it will please him to inspire into the hearts of all Kings and peoples, a true desire of knowing the truth, & to search for their salvation: a true zeal to bring Christendom again to true unity under the obedience of Christ: a true aff●●●● on to reign and to live in him, as they reign and live by him: to the end that Kings being well obeyed of their people, and the people well commanded of their Kings, we may see in our days one only jesus Christ, acknowledged of all peoples & Kings, to be the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords and in his Church the only mediator, saviour, and lawgiver. Amen. Conclusions. THe Church is considered, as it is to be seen, or not to be seen. The Church not to be seen, is the company of those whom God hath chosen to everlasting life, in all times and places. The Church that is to be seen, is the company of those, who are called thereinto, and is considered according to certain times and places. There is notwithstanding but one Church, but considered diversely: In that which is to be seen, as the corn with the chasse: in that which is not to be seen, as the corn threshed and fanned. This visible Church was first without the law, afterwards under the law, tied to one certain place & family. Now through grace it is spread throughout the world, one place having no more privilege than an other, whereof it is called Catholic, that is to say, universal. The Catholic Church comprehendeth under it all assemblies of Christians, in all regions, whom we call Churches, as we call parts of the sea, the sea: distinguishing them notwithstanding by their names, as the Church of Greece, of Africa etc. Of the parts of the Church, as the members of the same body, yea though it be universal, some are pure and some impure, and of those that are impure, some are more and some less impure. The pure Churches are those, in which the word of God is purely preached, and the sacraments duly administered, albeit that in respect of God there is nothing pure. The one they call the sound and true Churches, the other (but unproperly) Catholic Churches. The impure are those, in which the word of God, and his sacraments are ill administered, whatsoever other outward marks they can pretend. And because that all the doctrine of Christ is faith and charity, we call those that are impure in the doctrine of faith, heretical Churches, and those that have separated themselves from the unity, which they do through lack of charity, Schismatical. And some there are, that are both heretical and Schismatical, as the Church of Rome, and they that at this day cleave unto it: for they maintain many damnable heresies, and persecute and excommunicate those that desire reformation. Notwithstanding forasmuch as the profession of Christ remaineth there in some sort, we deny them not the name of a Church, as we call a man, a man, how sick or brainless soever he be. To discern the pure churches from the impure, God hath delivered us his word contained in the scriptures, the which is perfect & clear to salvation: for it hath for his author, the most perfect father of light. This is that therefore, by which men aught to determine the controversies of this time, & to reform the Church, as the common wealth according to the laws, abolishing that, which God hath there forbidden us, holding that for forbidden in his service, which he hath not ordained, looking to that which he hath commanded, and interpreting his will by itself concerning those things that are in controversy. The Churches which follow that will, cannot err, for that is the way of salvation, and following that, God guideth them also by his spirit which enlighteneth them, and is inseparably joined thereto. Contrariwise, the Churches which depart from it, may, and do err, yea and that in the matter of salvation, for that they go out of the way of salvation. Neither can they beast of the spirit: for God bestoweth it not but upon his sheep, neither doth he hold any for his sheep, but those that hear his voice. Therefore the Church following man's fantasy, & not the law of God, hath greatly erred in all her particular states & times, even until the crucifying of the son of God, that is to say, her own salvation: As in our time we say that the Church of Rome doth adore and worship the son of perdition, that is to say, Antichrist. The Church is a body, & Christ the son of God is the head thereof, giving efficacy to the ministery of his Gospel, through his spirit, & by the self same assisting all those that truly call upon him. And this is that wherein consisteth the administration or government of the head of the Church. And as touching the ministerial head, no man may be it. For the Church, by the coming of Christ, is spread throughout the whole world, & none can exercise that ministery throughout the world: but rather every pastor representeth Christ in his charge. And in deed our saviour Christ before he ascended into heaven ordained none such, neither did any of the Apostles exercise any such office, & the whole primitive Church never knew of it. Wherefore, following the word of God and the opinion of the same church, we hold that the Papal See, which under this false title exerciseth tyranny over all the world, is Antichrist, the which without other proofs and circumstances, may be verified by his doctrine alone. Notwithstanding that this Papal See, placed in one part of the Church, is not the Church, neither a part of the Church, but as a pestilence to the body of the Church, which hath corrupted and infected all as much as it could, and had utterly choked it, without the special mercy of God. We do therefore departed from the papacy, and not from the Church, from Idols, and not from the temple, from Tyranme, and not from the common wealth, from the plague, and not from the City, being ready, entirely to knit and join ourselves again, when Antichrist, & the evil which he hath brought in, shallbe taken away. And in waiting for this we reform the ministery of the word of God, and as nigh as we can, his service, according to his institution, by the example of the Apostles excommunicated out of Jerusalem, which yet notwithstanding is not to build altar against altar, for by Christ his coming all the earth is made the lords altar. Our ministers, who have begun this work, have the same calling that our adversaries pretend: for they were elders and doctors ordained as they were, and by them, and they have done nothing, but followed their calling, whereas the others had utterly abandoned it. And they which followed them afterwards, had a much better calling than our adversaries: for besides that they were ordained by those first, who had authority to do it, they were ordained according to the practice of the Apostles and ancient Canons, which are neglected in the Church of Rome. Moreover, besides this ordinary vocation, the extraordinary wonders, which God hath wrought, in these last times by their Ministry, & in the favour thereof, may sufficiently witness that they do the work of God, and not of men. FINIS. ¶ Imprinted at London by Christopher Barker, Printer to the Queen's Majesty.