Confutation of the Popes Bull, Part 10
¶Nor that the Apostles of Christ tooke vppon them any souereintie in Christes Church, but onelyonly the ministerie.
ANd when the Apostles had receiued the holy Ghost, they vtterly displaced all ambition and desire of souereintie out of their hartes, perceiuyng now, that no such thing as they and the Iewes had hitherto surmised, was to be sought or looked for in the kyngdome and Church of Christ, but farre greater and diuiner thinges, namely spirituall thynges. And therfore accordyng to their Lord & maisters cōmaundement, traueling ouer the whole world, they so behaued them selues, that in all thinges they were sound to be the very Disciples and folowers of their maister: endewed with lowlinesse, & not with Lordlinesse, & renowmed for their faithfull seruice, & not for stately superioritie. For they not onelyonly preached the Gospell purely without mens forgeries and traditiōs: but also were wont to reuerence kynges as next vntounto God in earth and chief of all men, and to call them their Lordes, and to pay them tribute, and to obey them faithfully, and to pray for their welfare without ceasing, yea and to threaten Gods vengeance to such as refused obedience to the Magistrate commaunding no wickednesse. They no where intermedled them selues in worldly affaires, in somuch as they cast euē the care of the poore (which otherwise is most holy,) vponupon the shoulders of the Deacons, verely to the end they might the earnestlyer apply them selues to the preaching of the word. They no where vsurped to them selues the benches of iudges or the thrones of princes, and much lesse did they depose any kyng or prince from his kingdome, were he neuer so wicked, (and yet there is no man ignoraunt what the Romane presidentes were that liued in the time of the Apostles, full of couetousenesse, lechery, and pride: and the posteritie of Herode euen venemouse slippes: yea and the Emperours them selues most filthie and vngracious persons as the Tyberiusses, the Caligulaze, the Claudiusses and the Neroes) or discharge his people of their allegeāce, or contend with any prince for the souereintie, and much lesse did they euer purpose or practise to place & exalt them selues aboue him. Nay rather they suffered sore persecutiō, the which they ouercame by patience, and not by violent withstanding, nor by practises and pollicies of malicious wylinesse: and gathered verie great Churches vntounto Christ out of the whole world by preaching the Gospell ouer all the earth. S. Luke the Euangelist describeth these thynges diligently and plenteously in his booke of the Actes of the Apostles, wherin although he pursue their doinges by the space of xxviii. yeares together, Yet doth he no where giuegive any little incling of that supremacie and fulnesse of power, which they at this day do boast of, that call them selues Apostolick, and crake of the fulnesse of their power.
But if any man desire to here some singular thyng of S. Peter: he is alwayes set first in the register of the holie Apostles. But all men know that this formershyp of Peters, is not in ouer ruling, but in order: for accordyng to the doctrine of the Gospell, all the Apostles were indewed with like dignitie and power, and the Churches were gouerned by their trauell in common. In the meane while it was requisite that there should be order both in speakyng and doing for the auoydance of disordered confusion: & they that had obteined greater giftes were more honored and had in more estimation and authoritie than the residew. Like as Paule speaking of Iames,Gal. 2. Peter, and Iohn, sayth that they séemed to be pillars in the Church. Not for that they were preferred afore all the rest, or had obteined a larger Commission: but bicause that hauing obteined greater giftes, they did more luckely and easly go through with all pointes of their charge (wherin otherwise, the residew had as good part as they) and therfore were had in greater price and estimation among the faithfull. So also were the Apostolike Churches which were first founded by the Apostles, worthely had in great price and estimation in old time. For their authoritie was of great credit with other Churches: not that they were beleued to hauehave superioritie ouer them, but bicause that being the first that were conuerted to the faith, they kept still vnappaired, the faith which they had once learned of the Apostles, and gaue light to other Churches, by their purenesse and constācie. These thinges are set forth more at large by a very auncient writer called Tertullian in the prescriptions of heretickes. In which place also he not onelyonly calleth Rome an Apostolike Church, but Ephesus also, and Corinth, and Thessalonica, and other Churches founded by the Apostles. And it is not to be douted but that the men of old tyme called Peter and Paule the princes of the Apostles: not that they were secular or worldly princes, or that they had dominion ouer the rest, or that they had obteined a larger commission: but bicause that being endewed by God with most excellent giftes, both in their sayinges and doinges, yea and finally in their writings and vertewes they shyned as most bright Cressets among the rest of the Starres.
For S. Peter neuer chalendged to him selfe any superioritie no not euen ouer the basest sort of men, and much lesse ouer princes: he neuer aduaunced his throne (which he had not) aboue all kinges and all kingdomes. Cornelius the Centurion a knight of Rome fell down at his féete, and it was no small cause that made him so to do. For the aungell of the Lord had set a great commendation vponupon this Peter vntounto him, wherupon he fell downe before Peter. But Peter liftes him vp agayne, and humbly sayth that he him selfe is a man also. So also when he had lifted vp the lame man and made him whole and sound, at the temple of Ierusalem, and that the people stode wondering and worshipping of him, he gaue all the glorie vntounto Christ, and told them that he him selfe was but a Minister. Neither doth he in his Epistles aduaunce him selfe with any prelacie, but simply calles him selfe an Apostle and felowelder, forbidding the elders to vsurpe any Lordship ouer the Clergie.1. Pet. 5. Neither sitteth he still in his chayre at Hierusalem and sendes abroad his Legates a latere: but he is contented to let the cōgregation send him with Iohn into Samaria.Act. 8. Yea and in the Counsell of Ierusalem, he chalendgeth no preheminence to him selfe. All thinges were done in that Counsell by common aduise and consent. And the Apostle Paule, who in all thinges euen of the smallest sort was a most diligent obseruer of the ordinaūces of his maister Christ, no where acknowledgeth S. Peter as preferred before all other men by any prerogatiue, neither would he in any wise hauehave neglected it, if he had euer thought him to hauehave ben preferred afore the rest by the Lord. Nay rather he fréely reproued Peter in the Church of Antioche, accordyng as he himselfe declareth, in the 2. to the Galathians. In the same place in déede, he calleth Peter a Piller, but not Peter aboue, and therfore much lesse the piller of all pillers, greatest and most excellent. For with Peter he matcheth two other Apostles, whom he termeth pillers as well as him, euen Iames and Iohn: yea and he putteth Iames afore Peter. He had sayd heretofore, that the same were had in reputation, to the end we might know wherfore he called them pillers. Meaning that they were in authoritie, as men that by their common and faithful trauell séemed as it were to vphold the Church, which els was like to fall, if it had not ben vnderpropped and stayed vp through the grace of God in their faithfull teachyng. And yet Paule affirmeth that those pillers added nothyng vntounto him. But rather comparing him selfe with Peter, The same (sayth he) which was mighty in Peter in the Apostleship ouer the Circumcision, was mighty in me also among the Gentiles.2. Cor. 11. And the same Paule speakyng of the plurall nomber, saith he was nothing inferiour to the chief Apostles. And in the 3. chapter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, what is Paule (sayth he,) what is Apollo, (and in this place is Peter or Cephas to be implyed also, as of whō he had made mention in the first chapter, vsing the same maner of speaking. Neither is there any reason why the opinion of those should hold vsus in a mamering, which surmise that here is not ment Peter, but some other disciple whom Paul calleth by the name of Cephas. For the truth of the Gospell crieth out against them in the first of Iohn, and so doth Paules owne declaration in the second to the Galathians.) What are they (saith he) but onelyonly ministers by whom you hauehave beleued, euen as the Lord gaue vntounto eueryevery man? I hauehave planted, Apollo hath watred, but God gaue the increase. Therfore, neither is he any thing which planteth nor he which watereth, but God which giueth the increase. And anone after, speakyng of all the Apostles, yea and euen of Peter or Cephas to,1. Cor. 4. Let a man (sayth he) in such wise esteme vsus as the Ministers of Christ, and the disposers of the secretes of God.
These lightsome and euident textes of Scripture, are sufficient for men that be curable, (as for vncurable & quareling men, we leaue them to God the iust iudge) and doe witnesse manifestly enough that neither Christes Apostles no nor the Apostle Peter him selfe vsurped so much as one iote of souereintie in the Church, but onelyonly tooke vponupon them ministration of the glad tydinges of saluation, and of Christes holy Church, all their life long euen vntounto the last gaspe of their liues. And therfore there is no reason why the Bishop of Rome should hereafter in maintenance of himselfe & his supremacie, alledge any more the supremacie of Peter, which is now sufficiētly apparant to be vtterly none, and alwayes to hauehave ben none at all in déede.