Defense of the Watch-Word Against the Ward-Word, Part 7
Resistance to the seuenth Encounter, about the Pope.
FRedericke the good Duke of Saxonie, requested earnestly that great learned Clarke Erasmus, that hee would plainelie and truelie tell him what he thought of Luther and his writings; to whose request Erasmus answering, and that sincerelie, and with great iudgement, yet began his answere merilie, saying, that in Luther were two great faultes, the one that he spake against the Monkes fat panches; the other, that he presumed to touch the Popes triple Crown.The Popes Crowne may not be touched. But though each of these is a sore that may not be touched, and an euill against which no man may presume to speak, amongst the Papistes; yet the least word vttered against the Popes extrauagant and vsurped authoritie, is deemed an offence almost inexpiable: for father Bellarmine himselfe doth teach vsus, that to call the Popes Crowne in question, is to take the foundation from the building, the shepheard from the flocke, the Generall from the armie, the Sunne from the firmament, and the head from the bodie. This conceit hath so farre preuailed with this libeller, that he reuelleth and raileth against me, for a few words vponupon most iust occasion spoken against the Pope, namelie, that I call him the proud Priest, and Archprelate of Rome, bloudie monster, Antichrist, the man of sinne, &c. that thereupon he outrageth, crying that these are but rauings of a lunaticke braine, and belchings of a burthened stomacke with the surfet of heresie: and charging me with audacitie (or impudency rather) that I presume to vse opprobrious speeches against the sacred honours of annointed Princes, and the greatest Monarches of Christendome, &c. And here he imagineth (as imagination is strong) that he hath gotten a marueilous aduantage against me, and therfore proclaimeth, that I hauehave herein done contrarie to the law both of nature and nations, and am to be checked and restrained, euen for the verie honour of England it selfe and our Nation.
Yet all this winde shaketh no corne. I doubt not but the wise and discreete reader will follow the counsell of Pythagoras who …ght that the Muses were to be preferred before the Syrens or Mirmaids, comparing falshood, varnished to the shew with a gay flourish of words, to the Syrenes; and the plaine and naked narration of truth, to the Muses: which bare narration I will in verie few words here set downe, and oppose it against all his Rhetoricall amplifications, furious exclamations, and railing calumniations, which is the Iu…e bush he hangeth forth to make his wine seeme worthie the vttering.
Archprelate.To come then to a briefe declaration of these points, I call the Pope proud Priest and Archprelate of Rome: whereto he answereth, that the words Priest and Prelate, are names of his dignitie, as they were in Christ and the Apostles themselues,How Christ and his Apostles were Priests and Archprelates. who were both Priestes and Prelates; and Archprelates also, in that they were more principall then others. That Christ was, and is an high Priest, for euer, after the order of Melchisedech, is by vsus confessed; and by you his priesthood by a consequent disanulled, in that you hauehave ordained another Priesthood to offer propitiatorie sacrifices to God: that the Apostles were massing or sacrificing Priestes, all the Priestes in Rome and Rhemes shall neuer be able to proue: that they might be called Archprelates, in that they were more principall then others, being sent with ioynt and equall commission ouer all the world, and others by them ordained ouer particular congregations, we gladlie yeeld; but then were they all Archprelates in comparison of those whose calling was not Apostolik, but Pastorlike, and limited to a certaine congregation. Peter onelyonly was not (as ye would hauehave him) an Archprelate ouer the rest of the Apostles, but they all were equall with him, which thing Saint Ciprian plainely testifieth. Hoc vti que erant & coeteri Apostoli quod erat Petrus, pari consortio praediti & honoris, & potestatis: the rest of the Apostles (out of doubt) were the same that Peter was, endewed with the same fellowship both of honour and power.
But (Sir) why seeke you to shrowde your Popes Archprelacie vnderunder that of the Apostles?1Christ gaue no Superiority to Peter. for it is manifest that Christ gaue no such supremacie to anie one Apostle aboue the rest, nay he forbad it saying: That the Kings of the Gentiles raigne ouer them, &c. but ye shall not be so. Luke. 22.And whereas the promise of this Vniuersall iurisdiction, seemeth to be made to Peter in these words: To thee will I giuegive the Keyes of the kingdome of heauen, &c. it is plaine, that where this promise is performed Iohn 20. Peter hath no more authoritie giuen him, then the rest of the Apostles, and the keyes to open and shut heauen, to loose, and bind sinnes, is a like giuen to them all: neither did that most humble seruant of Christ, the blessed Apostle, euer chalenge anie such preeminēt authority;2Peter neuer challenged anie such. for as he entituleth himself an elder, which is a title of dignitie, so he calleth himselfe a fellow elder, which importeth an equalitie with, & not a superioritie aboue the rest. And when they of the circumcision contended with Peter about his preaching to the Gentiles, vsing (as it might seeme) rough tearmes, Thou wentest into men vncircumcised and hast eaten with them: he answered not as his intruding successor, that he is to iudge all men, and to be iudged of no man, but made a iust Apologie for himselfe, and yeelded a sufficient reason for his fact.Act. 15. As for that councell spoken of in the Actes: the primacie of place, to be as it were moderator, seemeth to be giuen at that time, not to Peter, but to Iames, as one of your owne side confesseth:3The Apostles acknowledge no superioritie in Peter. Postquam Pe…rus dixisse…, &c. After that Peter had spoken, Iames by his Bishoplike authoritie gaue the definitiue sentence. The rest of the Apostles did not acknowledge in him anie such preeminence of iurisdiction, they shewed themselues to hauehave power to dispose of Peter, as of anie other, for the good of the Church; and therefore when they heard that Samaria had receiued the word of God, they sent vntounto them Peter and Iohn: Yea one Apostle Saint Paule, publikelie reproued and withstood Peter to his face, because he was to be blamed: and to take away all occasion of stumbling from those that doe not wilfully blinde their eyes, the same Apostle without tainte of pride, saith of himselfe, that he was nothing inferiour to the chiefest amongst the Apostles. If then neither Christ granted, nor Peter chalenged, nor the rest of the Apostles acknowledged any singular Primacie of authoritie in Peter aboue them, wee may safely subscribe to Cyprians conclusion before alleadged, and the Popes vsurped Archprelacie shall remaine (as it is indeede) not a title of dignitie, but a touch of intolerable insolencie.
The Popes spirituall supremacie without good warrant.The spirituall supremacie, wherewith you infeofe your Archprelat, as it is not grounded on Saint Peter, who had no such (& if he had it, yet the Pope shall neuer be able to proue himself Peters heire more then all other Bishoppes) so began it long after Christ to be challenged, and wanteth the testimonie of antiquitie. The Councell of Nice, which not the Bishop of Rome, but the Emperour Constantine assembled, in which himselfe was present, and at his right hand sate the Bishop of Antioch, which is called the chiefe or president of that Councell, mentioneth foure Patriarches; of Alexandria, of Rome, of Antioche, of Ierusalem, and appoynteth equall priuiledges to each of them: Now where there is an equalitie of foure, there is not an vniuersalitie of one aboue all. The Councell of Chalcedon standeth for the dignitie of the Bishop of Constantinople, and (because that was now the Emperours seate, and was called new Rome) defined that it should hauehave equall priuiledges with olde Rome, and in Ecclesiasticall matters bee of equall power with it. By which it is apparant, that to Rome, and afterwardes to Constantinople, some respect of honor was giuen in regarde of the Emperours seate, but neither had primacie of power ouer all: Iohn Bishop of Constantinople, first challenged this vniuersall spirituall Supremacie, about 600. yeares after Christ; against whome Gregorie of Rome did mightilie oppose himselfe, expostulating with him in an epistle, Quid tu Christo, &c. What answere wilt thou make to Christ the head of the vniuersall Church in the account of the last iudgement, that thus goest about by the name of vniuersall Bishop, to make all his members subiect to thee? But that which Constantinople sought, Rome shortly after obtained; and whereas Constantinople in seeking it, did shew himselfe to be the forerunner of Antichrist, (as Gregorie of Rome then professed) Rome in getting and maintaining it, sheweth that Antichrist hath there setled his seate.
The Popes temporall Supremacie.But this is not the highest Arch, to which this your Archprelate of Rome mounteth, he claimeth a ciuill Monarchie and authoritie ouer all Kings and Kingdomes, vnderunder this title of Supremacie, saying, that Princes hold not their Crownes immediately of God, but of him; and that he hath power to set vp and pull downe Princes, and to giuegive away their Kingdomes at his pleasure: So one of his Chaplaines saith, that the authoritie of Christ is principallie in the Pope, and that the Pope doth call the Emperour to be coadiutor to him in temporall things. By which we may see, that vnlesse it had pleased the Pope, there should hauehave been no King nor Emperour; yea of that counterfeit Donation of Constantine, they saie (imagining it to be true) that he gaue therein nothing to the Pope, but restored his owne, sith the Pope is Christes Vicar, whose is the earth and the fulnes therof. And Boniface the viij. in the yeere 1300. one day came forth arraied in his pontificalibus like a Pope, the next daie in Imperiall Robes with a naked sword carried before him, causing it to be proclaimed that he was both Pope and Emperour, and had the Empyre both of heauen and earth.
Wee hauehave onelyonly taken a short scantling of the Popes Archprelacie, which is so farre from being grounded vponupon Peter, that his spirituall Supremacie, was not knowne till aboue 600. yeeres after Christ, and his temporall ouer Kings, and Kingdomes to depose and alter them, hath not been acknowledged of anie Christian Prince to this daie.His temporall Supremacie neuer acknowledged. Philip King of France writeth to the same Boniface the viij. claiming both spirituall and temporall Supremacie (as it may seeme) with small reuerence, Philip by the grace of God &c. To Boniface bearing himselfe for chiefe Bishop, little health or none at all: Let thy foolishnes know, that in temporall things we are subiect to no man, and that the giftes of Prebends and Benefices, made, and to be made by vsus, were and shalbe good both in time past, and to come: And that we will defend manfully the possessours of the said Benefices, and we thinke them that beleeue or thinke otherwise to be fooles or madmen. Charles the 5. Father to King Philip of Spayne, for a lesse matter then withdrawing his subiectes from loyaltie, or attempting to depose him and make him no King, rang an hot Alarum at Rome gates by his Souldiours, and did take the Pope himselfe prisoner. And for all his claime of Monarchie, let him offer to thrust the King of Spaine from his throane, and see if (as Catholike as he is,) he will acknowledge this his Supremacie, or rather will not seeke by all meanes to bridle his furie. Therefore (gentle Sir) I must make bold to returne your imputation of lunacy vponupon your selfe and your colleagues. Thrasilaus a frenticke person, who (poore man) was not in anie proportion worth one ship, yet thought all the ships that arriued in the hauen of Athens to be his, he would tell them, suruey them, and set downe accounts of them: In like sort a melancholike impression hath so deepely setled it selfe in these mens braines, that though indeed they be destitute of the testimonie of Antiquitie, yet they boast that the fathers make with them, and that all antiquitie is on their side, forsooth, euen as all the ships of Athens belonged to poore Thrasilaus.
The Popes intollerable pride.From his Archprelacie, let vsus briefely come to his pride, which we shall not need to seeke in his inward disposition (as this Popeling imagineth) it sheweth it selfe apparantlie in outward actions. Neither in iudging by the external shew, may I as wel cōdemne all other Princes and great men in the world, for admitting honour according to their degrees (as hee would perswade) there being great difference betwixt the outward honour due to Priestes, and that which appertaineth to Princes, and this Luciferian Priest challenging such honour as no prince or monarch the like. The Pope will hauehave the Emperour to holde his stirrope, whilest he mounteth on horsebacke, and Pope Adrian was angrie with the Emperour Frederike for holding his stirrope on the wrong side, when he is mounted: the Emperour must lead his horse by the bridle, and Kings walke along before; yea when he is carried on mens shoulders, the Emperour (they say) must helpe to carrie him for a space. Pope Caelestine the 4. Crowned Henrie the 6. Emperour lying prostrate before him, with his feet. Gregorie the 7. made Henrie the 4. Emperor with his wife and young child to waite at his gate three diaes, bare foot & barelegd to sue for absolution, and at the length made him to surrender his Crowne into his hands. Franciscus Dandalùs the Embassadour of the Noble State of Venice, was faine with a chaine about his necke to lie vnderunder the Popes table like a Dog, to pacifie his indignation conceiued against the Venetians. What should I speake of his blessed feete, which hee maketh Kings and Emperours to kisse? What speake I of kissing his feete? (which barbarous pride yet scarce any heathen Emperour is read to hauehave shewed towards inferiour persons, but towards Kings I thinke none) Alexander the third did treade on the necke of Fredericke Barbarossa the Emperour, and caused that verse of the Psalme to be song, Thou shalt walke vponupon the Adder and Cockatrice, and shalt tread the Lyon and Dragon vnderunder thy feete. These (I take it) are sufficient euidences of Pride intolerable, and more then heathenish.
Leauing to set downe further proofes of his pride,The Pope a bloudie monster. we will now shew how iustlie hee is tearmed a bloudie Monster. Cyrus, whose head Queene Tomyris cut off, and cast into a bole of bloud with this reproach, Satia te sanguine quem sitijsti, i. Glut thy selfe with bloud after which thou hast thirsted; was but a milke soppe to the bloud sucker of Rome. Valla professeth of the Popes in his time that they were called Fathers in name, but in deede were murtherers, that the Pope maketh warre vponupon people that liued in peace, and soweth discord amongst Christian Princes. Iulius the second plaied the gallant warriour in his owne person, and casting aside Peters keyes, did betake himselfe to Paules sworde. Sundrie Popes hauehave sent their Cardinals to be generall of their Armies, and to shed Christian bloud: Pope Adrian set Pipine and Charles Kings of France against them of Lombardie: Boniface setteth the King of England against the French King, and another time they hauehave set the French against the English. The examples of this bloudie humour in sowing dissention betwixt Kingdomes are so many, that the Popes owne Secretarie Platina confesseth, Pontifices Romanos inimicitias non secus ac saeuissimos Tirannos exercuisse. i. That the Popes of Rome did exercise hostilitie and hatred no lesse then the most cruell Tirants? What should I speake of his bloudie trecheries? The Emperour Fredericke being in warre against the Turke, the Pope did take from him his lands in Apulia, and Lombardie, perswadeth the Turke by letters not to yeelde vp the holy land to him, but to kill him, gaue a pardon to whosoeuer would fight against him. The Hospitalers and Templaries by letters shewed the Turke how Fredericke might be betrayed; which treason the naturall honest Turke detested (in this point honester then the Pope) sent the letters to the Emperour, and said in contempt of Christ and Religion, Eccefidelitas Christianorum. i. Beholde the fidelitie of Christians. Gregorie the seuenth, how many waies sought hee to destroy Henrie the fourth Emperour, and namelie once when the Emperour was at his Prayers at Saint Maries Church in Rome, hee appoynted by a Nouice hired to that purpose, to hauehave the Emperour murthered, by throwing downe a great stone vponupon him? Henrie the sixt Emperour was, by a Frier hyred thereto, poysoned in the Sacrament; how barbarouslie Stephanus dealt with his predecessor Formosus after his death; how many Popes Gregorie the seuenth poysoned to get the Popedome; how Vrban the sixt sowed diuers Cardinals in sackes, and drowned them in the Sea; generallie of how many massacres the Popes hauehave been authors, and how they hauehave reioyced at the effussion of Christian bloud; these things to set downe, were either to write Iliades after Homer, or at the least chiliades after Erasmus. In a word, Alexander the sixt, the Papists themselues condemne for a bloudie monster, of whome after his death these verses were publikely scattered.
Mirum cur vomuit nigrum post fata cruorem
Borgia? quem biberat, concoquere haud poterat.
Borgia dead much bloud did vomit from his brest,
What maruaile that? the store he dranke, could not digest.
But these happilie were the faultes of olde times,The Popes bloudie humour against the Queene. the Worlde is nowe amended at Rome? euen as sower Alemendeth in summer: view the dealings of our moderne Popes, and those onelyonly which concerne our owne State. First, the Pope most iniuriouslie deposed her Maiestie from her Royall Crowne, dismissed her Subiects from their obedience due to her, yea cursed as many as did obey her: further hee sendeth Murton into England to stirre vp Rebellion against her, and consequentlie (as much as in him lay) to fill the land with dead corpses, and to make our flouds run dyed with English bloud: when this succeeded not, hee sent Saunders with sundrie forces to inuade Ireland, not onlie to increase Rebellion there, but to winne it quite from her Maiestie if hee might. The bloud by this occasion shed in Ireland, could not yeelde his holines an heartie draught, and therefore hee setteth on and abetteth the Spanish King in the yeare 1588. to make Inuasion for a full Conquest; and to the ende he might throughlie speede and not faile, he lendeth him all the helpe he could, but especiallie, (as hee that writeth the Canonization of Didacus affirmeth) because by diuine helpe he thought this Conquest might quickelie be atchieued, Sixtus Quintus then Pope, in that fittest opportunitie of time did Canonize Didacus a Spaniard, and placed him in the number of Saints, in whose merites the Spanish King did so greatlie trust. And that no propertie of a bloudie monster might bee wanting in him, hee suborned Parrey, and armed him with full remission of all his sinnes, besides other promises, murtherouslie to kill her Maiestie and to shed her guiltles bloud. If these euidences cannot make this popish Sycophant to see and abhor the Popes bloudie humour: I can yeelde no other reason in his excuse, but that which a Poet of their owne setteth downe;
AEthiopes vna quoniam nigredine sordent,
Ille color nulli vitio datur, omnibus idem
Vultus, & alterius si quis reprehenderet ora,
Et sua damnaret, &c. i.
Blacknes for that it dyes each AEthiops face,
Blacknes with them, is held for no disgrace:
All are like faced, who so doth others blame,
His proper visage he perforce must shame.
If this fellow were not an horseleach, that is, bloudie minded himselfe, he would easilie acknowledge the bloudie humour of the Pope.
What iudgement is to be had of this Encounterer.To shut vp this point, whereas he saith that for my speech against the Pope (which is both iust and true) I am to be restrained and checked, euen for the very honour of England it selfe, and our nation; I referre it to the honorable iudgement of the higher authority, what checke and restraint is fit for this fellow, who so stifly standeth for her Maiesties professed enemy, and will not endure to hauehave him accused of a bloudy humour, who hath pronounced her no Queene, stirred rebellions in her Realme against her, sent an Inuadour to conquer her, and authorised bloudie traitors secretly to kill hir; and that for the honour of England it selfe, that it may be freed from the ignominie of breeding such vipers, and of our Nation, that the people of our Nation may not be so inchanted by the poysoned cup of this Cyrce, as to degenerate from Christian loyaltie to Antichristian treacherie, whereto the Antichrist of Rome this Encounterers halfe God doth call them.
Whether the Pope be that special Antichrist,Whether the Pope be Antichrist wherof Daniel, our Sauiour Christ, and his Apostles doe speake, I will not stand here to dispute, specially because all the notes set downe in the Scripture of Antichrist, are by sundrie learned men fully prooued to concurre in the Pope, and in none other; and that by Babilon in the Reuelation is meant Rome, not onelyonly as it was when the heathen Emperours held it, (as the Papistes say) but as now it is, the Pope raigning in it. The tenne reasons (sillie ones as they be) which you alleadge to proue the contrarie, with three times tenne more set downe by your Captaine Saunders, are by Doctor Whitakers throughly sifted, and refelled: as also whatsoeuer the great Iesuite Bellarmine could say for his master to free him from this imputation, is by diuers notablie learned fully examined and confuted, whose bookes, with others of the same argument in English, because they are extant, and almost in euerie mans hand, I refer the reader to them, contenting my selfe with a cōpetencie of knowledge for the instruction of mine owne conscience, and not presuming to take vponupon me to be a teacher of others.
How farre England standeth beholding to Rome.To conclude, whereas this Romane aduocate saith, that this lande ought to beare more reuerence to the sea of Rome then other Nations, for that it hath receiued more singular benefits from thence, namely that it was conuerted from Paganisme to Christian Religion, by the speciall diligence, labour, and industry 1of the same Sea. I answere, first that it is apparant by sundrie testimonies, that this land was conuerted to the faith long before the time by you specified, and not by the Bishop of Rome: Guildas testifieth that Britanie receiued the Gospell in the time of Tiberius the Emperour, and that Ioseph of Arimathia was sent by Philip the Apostle from France hither, where he remained till his death. And Beda (our countriman likewise) doth testifie that in his time this land kept Easter after the manner of the East Church: by which may be gathered: that the first preachers came hither from the East parts of the world, and not from Rome: more proofes might be set downe, but I spare 2them. Secondly, though it be granted, that Elutherius sending hither preachers from Rome in king Lucius his time, did first conuert this land to the Christian faith; I say there is not now the same faith in Rome, that was then: there was then no Masses said, the partes of it were not then found out, no transubstantiation, no setting vp of Images in Churches, the communion was then in both kindes administred to the lay people, no vniuersall Pope, &c. Elutherius writeth thus to King Lucius: Yee hauehave receiued of late through Gods merciemercy in the Realme of Britanie, the law and faith of Christ; ye hauehave with you within the Realme both the parts of the Scriptures,Elutherius acknowledge the Kings Gods Vicar in his owne kingdome. out of them by Gods grace with the counsaile of your Realme, take ye a lawe, and by that lawe (through Gods sufferance) rule your kingdome of Britanie, for you be Gods Vicar in your kingdome, according to the saying of the Prophet, &c. Thirdly,3 the latter Popes hauehave been more beholding to this land for our money, then the land for anie good receiued from them: our kings hauehave often complained that the dropsie thirst of these late Romanists cannot be quenched: The Priour of Winchester one Andrew being expulsed, was faine to giuegive to the Pope 365. markes yeerely, to be restored againe to his place; this and manie such like were but slender gleanings, in comparison of the mightie haruest that from this land they yeerelie gathered. In a word,1. Thes. 1. the Apostle saith of the Thessalonians, that they were examples to all that beleeue in Macedonia and Achaia, and that from them sounded out the word of God, not to Macedonia and Achaia onelyonly, but that their faith was spread abroad in all quarters. Thessalonica was, but is not: and those quarters of the world, that receiued the faith from thence, must not follow Thessalonica as it is now. And this I leaue to the godlie and faithful Reader to determine and iudge of, whether (because we hauehave receiued Christianitie, and benignitie from Rome in ancient times) we ought to embrace the heresie that in these latter times Rome teacheth, and submit our neckes to that yoke or tyrannie, which it now practiseth.