Answer to a Popish Pamphlet Called the Touchstone of the Reformed Gospel, Part 2 · Subpart 12
12. THat a womā may be head or ſupreame governeſſe of the Church in all cauſes, as the late Queene Elizabeth was.
VVHichWhich is contrarie (ſayeth hee) to Tim. 2. 11. where it is ſaid, Let the woman learne in ſilence with all ſubjection, but I ſuffer not a woman to teach, nor to uſurp authoritie over the man, and againe, 1. Cor. 14. 34. Let women hold their peace in the Churches. whereunto I anſwere, that none of theſe Texts proveth any other thing, but onlie the ſubjection of a married wife, to her husband, and that no woman whoſoever ſhould uſurp the publick & paſtourall office of preaching, and thus do Aquinas, Lombard, Cajetan and other Romaniſts expound, & their late Eſt…ꝰ eſpecially.
And as for that Religious & late Queene of happie memorie, Shee was Supreame Governeſſe of the Church within her Dominions, in cauſes Eccleſiaſticall, no otherwi…e than as we reade David was in everie matter pertayning to God, as we ſee 1. Chron. 26. 32. and as Hezekiah was, 2. Chron. 29. 15. & 31▪ and Ioſiah 2. Chron. 35. 2. 3. and 6. and as Nehemiah was, 13. 7. 8. and 28. acting in matters eccleſiaſtical civilie, but not uſurping any power or practiſe (as Ʋzziah did 2. Chron. 26.) which belonged to the Prieſts office. or of a Paſtourall charge in doctrine, diſcipline or adminiſtration of ſacraments, but as Princes ſhould, to cauſe, and ſee that God be worſhipped aright, & diſcipline be exerciſed as it ought within their Dominions, that ſo, as their power is from God: ſo it may be imployed chieflie for God, as nurſing Fathers and mothers to his Church, and as no ſcripture debarreth Princes and Magiſtrats frō medling with ſuch cauſes in the manner forenamed, but admitteth them to be Governours therein, ſo likewiſe doth antiquitie, as we may ſee in the perſon of Conſtantine the firſt Chriſtian Emperour, as Euſebius in his third book of his life, c. 13. reporteth, and of his carriage in the firſt Councell of Nice, and deciſion of matters of faith, wh… medling the Emperours alſo …ad in ſuch cauſes, Socrates likewiſe declareth in the p…oeme of his fifth book of eccleſiaſticall hiſtorie. Augustin alſo contra Creſconium, lib. 3. cap. 51. and de Civit. Dei lib. 5. c. 24. & Athanaſius in his ſecond Apologie, p. 797. Graecolat. appealing to the Emperour Conſtantine againſt the unjuſt proceedings of the Councell of Tyre, in his behalf. As Flavianus in the like caſe did to the Emperours Theodoſius and Valentinian.
But I cannot marvell enough that this pamphleter ſhould ſo touch upon a womans government of a particulare nationall Church, in a civill way within her Dominion, whil as a craftie & vile Strumpet, named Pope Iohn the eight did governe the whole Roman Church which they cal Catholick as Chriſts vicar and head thereof, two years, a monethmonth and foure dayes, till going in proceſſion and ſurpryſed by paines of child-birth, being upon the publick ſtreet delivered, Shee thereafter died, for which cauſe in deteſtation of the fact, (as Platina the Popes Secretarie & all ancient Romaniſt hiſtriographers ſpeake) No Pope ever ſince went that way in publick proceſſion, as Martinus, Polonus, Sigebert, Faſciculus temporum, Marianus Scotus, and many others ancient Records do teſtifie, whom I can produce.
And as for any teſtimonies of Fathers which he bringeth, as Damaſcen's where he ſayeth, I conſent not that the Church of God be governed by Kings, and in Theodorets hiſtorie, that one Eulogius ſaid concerning the Emperour Valens cō manding by his officer what did belong to a Biſhop, What? was hee made Biſhope (ſayeth he) that day when he was crowned Emperour? and Ignatius who commandeth all men, even the Emperour himſelf to be obedient to the Biſhope, all theſe (I ſay) makes nothing againſt that which I hauehave ſaid before, but onlie againſt civill Princes their uſurpation of what belongeth properlie and onlie to the Eccleſiaſticall office and perſons veſted therwith, in doctrin and diſcipline.
And if we will look to Antiquity, we ſhall find that in this point, popiſh doctrine debarring princes or the civill Magiſtrat from any medling in Eccleſiaſticall effaires, (as Bellar. teaches lib. 1. de clericis, c. 28. & 29.) joyneth hands with the anciēt hereticks the Donatiſts, who did contend in likemanner, that the cognition, tryall and medling with Eccleſiaſticall effaires, belongeth nowiſe to the Magiſtrat. And therfore this was the ſpeech of Donatꝰ, Quid eſt Imperatori cum Eccleſia? or What hath the Emperour adoe with the Church? as Optatus Milevitanꝰ declareth in his third book againſt Parmenian, and Auguſtin likewiſe, lib. 1. contra epiſt. Parmeniani, c. 7. & epiſt. 166. Whereas the harmonie of confeſſions of faith, and ours in particulare 1581. art. 24. ſayeth, Moreover to Kings, Princes, Rulers a…d Magiſtrats, we affirme that chieflie and moſt principallie the conſervation and purging of Religion appertaineth, ſo that not onlie they are appointed for civill policie, but alſo for maintainance of the true religion, and for ſupreſſing of idolatrie and ſuperſtition, as in David, Ioſaphat, Ezekias, Ioſias and others highlie commended for their zeale in that caſe may be eſpyed, & in our later confeſſion 1647. cap. 23. That for the better effecting wherof, they hauehave power to call Synods, to be preſent at them▪ and to provyde that whatſoever is tranſacted in them, bee according to the minde of God.