The Bee Hive of the Romish Church, Part 1 · Chapter 3
The .iii. Chapter VVherein is set foorth, that the Church of Rome hath likevvise povver and authoritie, ouer the auncient fathers, and may receiue, condemne, interpret, & vse them as shall please her holines.
The holy Church is aboue all auncient fathers.ANd now hereby doeth specially appeare, that ye holy Church of Rome hath not power and authoritie onelyonly ouer the scripture of the olde and new Testaments: but also ouer all the writing and doctrine of the olde fathers, as there are Irinaeus, Tertullianus, Basilius, Gregorius Nazian. Origin. Cyprian. Albin. Euseb. Arnobi. Ambro. Lactant. Cyril. Epiphanius, Theodoretus, Vigilātius, Appollinarius, Hieronymus, Chrysostomus, Augustinus, Cedullius, Possidonius, Prosper, Sidonius, Gelasius, Gregorius, Al…uinus, Haymo, Bartramus, and other mo suche like.Bookes of the ancient fathers falsified. For one she acceptes as good & Catholike, an other shee reiectes as naught & an Heretike: some she allowes with additions of certaine gloses, and Postils: other she referres to eueryevery mans iudgement. VponUpon some she hath fathered (as their owne) certain straunge bookes, made at the least foure or fiue hundreth yeeres after they were dead: And others shee hath cleane plucked and robbed of their feathers. In summe, she doth tosse them and turne them euen as shee will: and windes them vp as short as a clewe of yarne. And wherefore should she not, I pray you? For she might hauehave condemned them all for Heretikes, if she would, and in place of them hauehave taken in and receyued the writing and doctrine of Nicholaus, of Bion, of Apelles, Seuerus, Montanus, Sabellius, Paulus Samosatenus, Manes, Meletius, A…ius, Marcellus, Macedonius, Euonius, Eutiches, Nestorius, Donatus, Pelagius: and suche other mates. But now she hath giuen them that honour, that they are taken and counted for Catholik teachers: & these last she hath cō demned & banished for diuelish heretikes & false teachers. Not because that ye one had truly set forth the sincere word of God. And the other directly the contrarie: (for so she should againe submit herself vnderunder ye scripture:) but because it hath so pleased her.
And therefore it is no reason, that those, to whom she hath geuen such honour, should now go about to ouercrow her holines, and force her with their writings, as though she ought to be subiect therevnto, No, no, they must stoope themselues, howe learned or godly soeuer they hauehave beene: and the holy Church must alway hauehave the authoritie and superioritie. For it is written in the decrees.Cap. Si Roman, dist. ….
All whatsoeuer any other teachers hauehave taught and written, that is to bee receiued or reiected, according as it shall please and be thought good to the Apostolical seate of Rome. For the Pope is master ouer al, whatsoeuer any man can teach or write.
Therefore ye see that ye holy Church may choose, & picke out of the olde fathers, what soeuer she findeth for her purpose: and what soeuer she perceiueth against her, shee may put out finely with a dash of a penne, and so esteeme it for false meant: as for example: Whensoeuer the olde fathers doe (with florishing reasons, and by a figuratiue maner of speaking) extoll and set forth the Sacrament: out of that will she gather her transubstantiation. And whereas they doe nominate the Sacrament an holy offring or sacrifice, of that wil she fetch out her Masse with all the appartenances. And whensoeuer any thing is set out by them, to the la…d and praise of the true seruantes and Preachers of Gods word, thereof doth she make a kingdome of priests, and a popish aMonarchy is to say a realme or region, gouerned at the wil and discretion of one man onelyonly.Monarchie. And when as they do highly praise the holy Saints & martyrs deceased, therevpō commes abrode the praying to saints. And in such places as they do earnestly set forth and highly prayse good workes, and godly liuing: therevpon can she by and by builde vp the pleasant Palace of free will: and then she sayles with a faire wind. And then are the olde Fathers followed in all points: yea, there is nothing else talked of here nor there, but, The olde fathers, The olde fathers.
But now on the contrarie part, whereas bAugustine in his boke de Praedestinatione sā ctorum, in the booke de bona per seuerantia, de natura & gratia, de fide & operibus. de perfectione iustitiae, thoroughly. Item in his retractations. Itē vponupon the 70. Psal. and vpō the 31. Psal. and in many other places mo.S. Augustine doth write whole bookes of ye Predestination of saints, of the special & vndeserued merciemercy of God, through Iesus Christ, that fayth onelyonly iustifieth: of the weakenesse and dulnesse, yea of the damnablenesse of mans free will, and of the adnihilation of our deseruings: all that is nothing else but heresie, and going astray. Whereas cAmbr. vponupon the epistle to the Romanes, and in the booke of Isaac and the soules. Chrysostome in his sermon of adding to the holy Gospell vponupon the wordes of Paule to the Philippians. on the first. It is no matter how, so that Christ bee preached. And in the 4. Homilie or Sermon of Penance.Ambrose and Chrysostome do teache, yt we shal not take men or dead creatures for our aduocats before God, but only Christ. And where dAugustine in his booke of true Religion, and in the Booke called Confessiones. In the 10. Booke and 42. chapter. Item in his 4. booke to Boniface in the 4. chapter.August. saith that we shall not pray vntounto Saintes, nor erect for our▪ selues particularly anie Chappels or Altars, nor pray before Tumbes: as the sayde eAgustinus in his first book of the vse and professiō of holy Church. 34 Chapter, and in the 44. Epistle writen to Maximinus.Augustine and Leo doe beare perfect witnesse, that neither the dead, nor deseruing of Saints, can any thing helpe vsus, to the forgiuenesse of our sinnes, but onelyonly the death and merites of Iesus Christ. And as fAugustine vponupon Iohn in the 24. treatise. Leo in his fiftenth Epistle to the Palestins.Epiphanius doeth esteeme it, for a shamefull heresie, and an abhominable blasphemie of God, that men shoulde praye eyther to Marie Gods mother, or to anie other Saint: but that must be couered with some blewe glose for a cloake. As also the sayde gEpiphanius in the the thirde part of the thirde Booke of Heresies, in fiftie and one Heresie. This doeth Epiphanius set foorth, in the Epistle written to Iohn Bishop of Hierusalem, which Epistle is set forth by Saint Hierome, like as appeareth in the third volume of his Bookes. Theophilactus vponupon the twentie and fiue Chapter of Matthew.Epiphanius doeth vtterlie chace the images, as well of Christ, as of anie other Saint, out of the Church, and breakes them in peeces, forbidding men plainely to suffer anie such abhominations.
And as hAmbros. vponupon the epistle to the Romanes, the 1. chap. of the death of the Emperor Theodosius, in the 3 part of his bokes August. in his 49 epis. to Deo gratias presb. & vponupon the 113 Psal and whole thorough in his booke de ciuit. dei. Lactantius whole thorough in al his bokes and specially in the 2. chap of his 2. booke, and in the 5. booke of Gods iustice in the 8 chap. Origen in his 4. booke against Celsus. Athanasius in his booke against infidels. Clem. in the 6. booke Stromaton, and in the booke called Protrepticos. Hieronymus in the explanation of the 65. chapter of the prophet Esai. Chrysostome in his sermon vponupon the 2. and 11. chap to the Hebr. and in his 2. sermon of Lazarus. August. in his 54. epist. to Maced. & in his 66 serm. of the time, and Hypog. the 9. booke against Pelagius.Ambrosius, Augustinus, Lactantius, Origenes, Athanasius, Clemens Alexandrinus, with many other, do teache plainly, that God will not bee worshipped with any likenesses or images, either painted or carued. The holy Church is deafe at this, & wil in no wise vnderstand it. Where as Cyprianus, Hieronymus, Chrysostom. and Augustinus, doe say and defende, that after this life is neither any more time nor place to make amendes for our sinnes, or obteine any mercy or forgiuenes at Gods hands: there she shrinks backe into her shel, and lettes her hoode hearken to that. And where as the said iCyp in tract de simplicitate praelat. and is rehersed. cap. loquī. dom. 24. quaest. 1. Hier. vpō the epist of Tit. 1. cap. Chrysost. hom. 35. and the 20. chapter of Matthew, and standes cap. vlt. dom. 40.Cyprianus and Hieronymus do stoutly teach, That al Ministers & true Preachers of Gods worde hauehave like power, in what place soeuer they be, whether it be at Rome, or at Naples, or amōg the Indies, or in Tartaria: all that is pedlers French to our holy mother the church of Rome, whereas Gregorius doth plainly write, and in diuerse places sayeth, That whatsoeuer he be, that names himselfe a general Bishop, or The chiefe head and principall of all Bishops, he is the very messenger of Antichrist, and the iGregorius in the epist. ad Eulogiū Patriarch of Alexandria, and in the 35. epis. to Iohn Bishop of Cō stantinople, and in the 6 booke of the epistle to Maurice. ca. 94. Pelagi…us ca. nullus dist 99. Gregorius in the 4. booke of letters. cap. 80. Col. 2. against the Bishop of Constantinople, wherewith Augustine doth likewise agree in his thirde booke against Dotius, in the thirde chapter, saying▪ Let no man take vponupon him to be bishop of bishops. Tertullian in the 4. booke agaynst Mer…io Augustinus. against Amantius, in his first booke 12. chapter Cyprian in his 2 epistle vntounto Pope Cornelius. Augustinus in the Booke sententiarum. of Prosperus and is set foorth cap. dum frangitur de consecra. dist. 2. and in his 26. treatie vponupon Iohn. Hieronymus in the ▪3. chapter vponupon Sophanius. Gelasius in the cap. compe…imus de consecra. dist 2. and many other mo.sonne of the diuell, for that neither hee nor no man liuing, can beare the name of a generall Bishop, without the vtter defacing of the seruice of the Church. But that must be vnderstood with a prouiso, to wit, The Pope of Rome alwayes excepted.
Nowe, whereas k Tertulianus, Augustinus, Theodoretus, and many other moe, doe expounde these wordes of the Sacrament This is my bodie, sacramentally, and say, that it is a figure, a signe, and a seale of the bodie of Christ that was offred vp and broken for vsus: then is there nothing to say, but God helpe you. There is no bodie at home. Whereas they doe generallie with one consent teache and stoutely mainteine, that the Supper of the Lorde ought to bee ministred vntounto all men vnderunder both kindes: that smelles of a Ratte, the Cow is broken loose. Whereas Irinaeus in his 5. booke against heresies, which is of Are…as, and Andreas, bishops of …esaraea afterwards followed. Tertullian. in his boke against the Iewes, in the 3 booke agaynst Merchio Hieronymus, in his epistle to Marcellus.Irinaeus, who wrote that (about a hundred yeres after saint Iohn the Apostle) the number of the beast whereof Saint Iohn speaketh in his Reuelation or vision, doeth meane by this word Latinos, the Romish or the Latine Church and regiment: and ye Tertul. & Hieronymus, do expound the beast wt seuen hornes for the citie of Rome: that is al bibble babble. In summe, whensoeuer they set forth or teach any thing that soūds not wel in the eares of our deare mother the holy Church, she lettes them be packing, without any mention making of them: or else she correctes them throughly, considering yt they are but men, and may erre. And wherfore? For that she is not subiect to the writings of the fathers, neither can her authoritie be subiect to their iudgement: but she (as wee hauehave saide before) is aboue the fathers, and gouerneth them, turnes and winds them as she will, & forceth them euē as she thinkes good. And whatsoeuer they hauehave written, must bee sifted through her si…e, to picke out thereof the finest flowre. For otherwise (seeing that the olde fathers do oftentimes differ amongst themselues, and other whiles write contrarie to that which they hauehave set downe before: and alwayes (for the most part) hauehave done directly agaynst the opinion and dealing of the holie Church of Rome,) howe should: yea, howe shoulde men make good cloth of such yarne, if it were not that the holy Church of Rome did giuegive her iudgement and sentence on their dooings, and did chewe the pappe before in her owne mouth, to put the same with more facilitie and easinesse into ours her sucking babes, as it were with a Spoone, giuing vsus that which she alloweth for good, and casting the rest away which tastes not well in her mouth, into a corner. The summe of all is, that we maye not make anie foundation of our faith vponupon the writings of the olde fathers, vnles they hauehave first bene vnderunder the hands of the holie Catholike Church of Rome, and be by her ouerseene, and set forth, as shall seeme good to her holinesse.