faithful, who both can and will always be present to the whole congregation of saints, of all ages, and dispersed throughout the whole world; hear her prayers and requests, and moreover send her succour in all things: and briefly, who is able perfectly to govern the whole church, and both provide for! and bring to pass all her matters, and that in all things. But this privilege, as I think, thou canst give to no creature without blasphemy and sacrilege: only therefore Christ, perfect God and man, is and remaineth the only head of the church. Those that acknowledge the pope of Rome to be the head of the church militant either know not what they do and say, or willingly and wittingly do blaspheme the Son of God, whom they will not have to reign over his church alone.
But let us now hear the testimonies of St Paul the apostle of this matter. “God,” saith he, “hath raised up Christ from the dead, and set him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principalities and powers, and might and domination, and every name that is named, not in this world only, but also in that that is to come: and hath made all things subject under his feet, and hath appointed him over all things, to be head to the church; which is his body, even the fulness of him that filleth all in all things.” Behold, Christ is the head, for he ruleth all things in heaven and in earth; he governeth all things; he hath all things subject unto himself; and maketh the church his body, ministering unto her those things whereof she hath need, and fulfilling all her desires. Again, the same apostle saith: “Christ is the head of the church, and the same is the saviour of the body.” It is the part of the head to preserve and govern the body: but that no man performs, but only Christ. He remaineth therefore the only head of his church; specially since the church is the spiritual body of Christ, and therefore cannot have a carnal head, without you will make of the church a poetical monster: for Christ is the head of the church, not because he is man, but because he is God and man.
But and if the defenders of the Romish idol and champions of the monarchy of Rome by the head do understand the prince or governor in earth, as Saul in the scripture is called the head over Israel, and so do understand the chief bishop ruling in the chief see; let them again hear the secrip-
[1 sarcire, Lat.]
ture itself confuting their filthy error, and saying: “” And there arose also a strife among the apostles, which of them should seem to be the greatest. But Jesus said unto them: The kings of the Gentiles reign over them, and they that bear rule over them are called gracious lords. But ye shall not be so: but let the greatest among you be as the least; and the chiefest, as he that serveth. For who is greater, he that sitteth at table, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at table? and I am among you as he that ministereth.” That primacy therefore of the church of Rome is of men; it is not of the doctrine or institution of Christ: yea rather, quite contrary it is and repugnant unto the institution, doctrine, and example of Christ; who will not have the apostles or apostolic men to reign like unto the princes of this world. He instituted ministers of the church, who should serve the church. She sitteth at the table; the ministers set that food before her which they receive of the Lord, and rightly divide the word of the Lord. Did not Christ himself refuse a crown upon earth, and did not he that is Lord of all minister? Doth not he himself disallow that any minister should seek any prerogative, no, not in respect of eldership? “He that is greatest among you (saith he) let him be as the younger.” He therefore commandeth an equality amongst them all. And therefore St Jerome judgeth rightly, saying, that by the custom of man, and not by the authority of God, some one of the elders should be placed over the rest, and called a bishop; whereas of old time an elder or minister and a bishop were of equal honour, power, and dignity. And it is to be observed, that St Jerome speaketh not of the Romish monarchy, but of every bishop placed in every city above the rest of the
[2 benefici, Lat.] [3 traditione, Lat.] [4 or minister, not in Lat.] [5 Hee propterea, ut ostenderemus apud veteres eosdem fuisse]
[presbyteros quos et episcopos: paulatim vero, ut dissensionum plan-]
[taria evellerentur, ad unum omnem sollicitudinem esse delatam. Sicut]
[ergo presbyteri sciunt se ex ecclesize consuetudine ei qui sibi preepo-]
[situs fuerit esse subjectos; ita episcopi noverint se magis consuetu-]
[dine, quam dispositionis dominicze veritate, presbyteris esse majores.—]
[Hieron. Comment. in Ep. ad Tit. cap. 1. Opp. Tom. 1v. par. 1. col.]
[413 Audi et aliud testimonium, in quo manifestissime compro-]
[batur eundem esse episcopum atque presbyterum, &c.—Hieron. ad]
[Evangelum. Ep. 101. Opp. Tom. 1v. par. 2. col. 803. Par. 1706.]]
ministers. Which thing I bring not out, to that end we should stay upon the authority of man; but to that end I might shew, that even by the witness of man it may be proved, that that majority, as they call it, hath not the original from the Son of God and from God’s word, but out of man’s brain; and that therefore both Christ remaineth the only head of his church, and the bishop of Rome is nothing less than the head of the church militant. And therewithal we cleave most stedfastly to the sacred and holy gospel, and to the undoubted doctrine of the apostles; which doctrine taketh away all pride of supremacy, and commendeth unto us a faithful ministry and the equal authority and humbleness of the ministers; the apostles again witnessing and saying: “Let a man so think of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and disposers of the secrets of God.”
Hereunto belongeth almost the whole tenth chapter of John, wherein the Lord named himself the true and also the only shepherd of the universal church. The only sheepfold of this shepherd is the catholic church, gathered together by the word out of the Jews and Gentiles. And? sheep of this fold are all the faithful people in the world, hearing and giving themselves over wholly to be governed by this chief shepherd Christ: who albeit he also communicate this name of pastor, or shepherd, unto the ministers appointed to the ministry of the church, yet notwithstanding, he retaineth unto himself the charge of the chief shepherd, and also the chief power and dignity. Men that are pastors of churches are all ministers, and are all equal: Christ our Lord is the universal pastor, and chief and Lord of pastors. The more worthy diligence and trust is in the pastors, the more worthy it maketh them. Therefore, when the Lord said unto Peter, “Feed my sheep,” he committed not unto Peter any empire either over the world or over the church, but a ministry to the behalf of his redeemed. Teach,” saith he, “and govern with my word, my sheep; my sheep, I say, whom I have redeemed with my blood;” for Paul saith: “Take heed unto yourselves, and to the whole flock, whereof the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” The bishop of Rome therefore is deceived, who by 1 ex arbitrio hominum, Lat.] [2 Proinde, Lat.: Therefore.]
the Lord’s word spoken unto Peter thinketh that full power is given unto him over all in the church. Let the apostle Peter himself be heard, talking with his fellow-elders, and as it were opening those words of the Lord spoken unto him: “The elders that are among you,” saith he, “I beseech, which am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God, which dependeth upon you? caring for it not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Not as though ye were lords over God’s heritage’, but that ye may be ensamples to the flock.” Peter speaketh not of any empire and lordship, yea, by exa press words he forbids lordly dignity. For even as he is appointed of the Lord a minister and an elder, not a prince and a pope; so also he appointed no princes in the church, but ministers and elders, who with the word of Christ should feed Christ’s flock, and that willingly and lawfully, all wicked devices at once set apart. Hereto belongeth the whole thirtyfourth chapter of Ezechiel, which a little before we alleged. But had not the heart been hardened and the eyes blinded of the bishop of Rome and his, they should long ago have seen, that they could in no part nor by no means have been numbered amongst the shepherds of the church and disciples of Peter. They would at least have marked that sentence of their own Gregory, which sentence he reciteth unto Maurice the emperor, almost in these words: “I affirm boldly, that whosoever he be that calleth himself the universal priest, is a forerunner of antichrist.” And anon after: But forasmuch as the truth itself saith, Every one that exalteth himself shall be brought low, thereby I know that every puffing up is so much the sooner broken, how much the greater it is swollen?” These are his sayings.
[3 Cf. Jewel’s Apology, &c. ed. P. S. p. 289.] [4 quantum in vobis est, Lat. and Erasmus. ] [ὃ neque ceu dominium exercentes adversus cleros, Lat. and]
[Erasmus. ] [6 summus pontifex, Lat.] [7 Ego autem fidenter dico, Quia quisquis se universalem sacer-]
[dotem vocat.antichristum preecurrit.Sed quoniam veritas dicit,]
[Omnis qui se exaltat humiliabitur, scio quia queelibet elatio tanto citius]
[rumpitur, quo amplius inflatur.—Gregor. Mauricio Augusto. Opp.]
[Tom. 1v. Epist. 30. p. 203. Rom. 1591.]]
is Last of all, the estate! of Christ and the church is shadowed out by the similitude of marriage between the and the wife; for Christ is called the husband of the church, and the church is called the spouse of Christ. δύ John saith to his disciples: “Ye yourselves are my witnesses, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.” And in the prophets this allegory is very common. In a certain place is feigned a damsel, despised and polluted, to lie in her filthiness; and a certain nobleman cometh by, who, plucking her out of the mire, and making her clean from her filthiness, and also sumptuously apparelling her, chose her unto his wife. And albeit this allegory declareth that heavenly benefit which God shewed unto his people, being in bondage in Egypt, by the wonderful deliverance and adopting them into his peculiar people; who, notwithstanding, seeth not, that all mankind from his first original is defiled with sin and wickedness, and sticketh fast in the mire of hell? Who knoweth not, that the Son of God came down from heaven, and washed all mankind in his blood; and having purged her, hath joined to himself a glorious church, having neither spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing? Surely, by marriage is made a mutual participation in common between those that are contracted of all their goods, and as it were a certain knitting together into one body, not to be dissolved. Therefore when Christ took upon him our flesh, both he became ours in all things, and we also 816 members of the same body, of his flesh, and of his bones. In us there is infirmity, sin, and death: the same things hath our husband also taken unto himself, that he might make them hurtless unto us. In Christ our husband is justification, sanctification, and life; the same things doth he communicate unto us his spouse, that in him we might be just and holy, and might live through him.
Of that lawful joining together of the Lord and the church are born lawful children unto God; whereupon the
church is called a mother, and a freewoman, that is to say,
[1 negotium, Lat.]
a matron and mistress. For the apostle Paul saith: Jerusalem which is above is free; which is the mother of us all” For even as through the joining of man and woman together, by propagation of seed, are born children: so Christ hath coupled the church unto himself, wherein he hath left the seed of his word. By the word our mother, the church, begetteth children (whereof before I admonished you, when I spake of the original of the church?); that is to say, whiles she, retaining the seed of the word, by the preaching of the word doth fashion and nourish us in her womb, and after bringeth us forth into light; whom afterwards she nourisheth with milk, and bringeth up with stronger meat, until we grow up into a perfect man. But even as without a husband, without true faith plighted, and without seed, there is no mother; even so the church without Christ, without true faith and the seed of God’s word, is not that our mother, that is a free woman, and our mistress. We have by these things by the way learned, why the church of God is called a mother. The same notwithstanding is also called a virgin; for of this holy mother, the church, the Lord before all things requireth faith and integrity. For the apostle Paul saith: “I have coupled you to one man, to present you a chaste virgin unto Christ.” Therefore it is the part of the spouse, to bring unto her husband for her dowry her virginity, and to keep the same undefiled. But what manner of virginity is that? Sincere faith in Christ, which wholly, or with all her mind, cleaveth for ever unto one: which cometh to pass, when we give ear only to our spouse, and love none but him alone; to be short, when we persevere in the simplicity of the gospel. For it followeth in the words of the apostle: “But I fear, lest it come to pass that, even as the serpent deceived Eve with his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupt from the simplicity that is in Christ.” That simplicity acknowledgeth Christ to be the means? of salvation, the recovery? of life and all heavenly treasures; without whom there is no salvation, nor no good thing. But who will call her a chaste matron, who giveth ear to bawds, and setteth her heart also upon the love of others, neither contenteth herself with her husband only? Will not all men cry out that she is a naughty pack, and an adulteress, lying with others,
[2 See above, p. 26.] [3 compendium, Lat.] [2 recapitulationem, Lat. cf. Vol. 1. p. 156, note 1.]]
and bringing forth children of strange seed? And in the holy scriptures spiritual adultery and fornication is much spoken of: all the sermons of the prophets are full of such allegories. They call those men or churches adulterers, whoremongers, and fornicators, which receive strange seed, that is to say, doctrine differing from the word of God: for such as they, going a whoring from God, cleave not unto God only; they love not alone him with all their heart; they do not worship, serve, and call upon him only; yea rather, they choose unto themselves others, whom they may worship and call upon either instead of God, or together with God. Hereunto pertaineth a good part of the fifth chapter of Jeremy, and all the second chapter of Osee. Amongst other things the Lord saith: “I will not have compassion upon her children, because they are children of fornications: for their mother hath played the harlot; for she hath said, I will go after my lovers,” &c.
Since these things are thus, brethren, there is no cause holy why any man should! reverence the church of Rome, decking herself with the title and beauty of the holy mother, the church; for she is not the holy mother church, she is not an uncorrupted matron and virgin. For where is the husband, who is the only husband of this chaste matron? where is the faith and integrity kept with her husband? hath she not defiled herself with strange seed? hath not she received and taught a new and strange doctrine from the word of God, and by that means begetteth many children, not to Christ, but to antichrist? St John, beautifying this church With her apt title, calleth her, ‘” Great Babylon, the mother of whoredoms and abominations of the earth; and a woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesu Christ.” Our holy mother, the church, is an undefiled virgin, hearing only the voice or doctrine of her only well-beloved husband, placing all the means of life and salvation in him alone, and depending only upon him in all things. With many other allegories doth the scripture paint out the mystery of Christ and the church: but thereof it sufficeth to have spoken thus much. The Lord Jesu, the true and only Shepherd of his church, bring home again lovingly the wandering sheep into his fold; and being gathered together in his church, preserve them for ever. Amen.
[1 hodie, Lat. omitted: at this day.]
Of the Ministry, and the Ministers of God’s Word; Wherefore and for What End They Are Instituted of God. That the Orders Given by Christ
Unto the Church in Times Past Were
Equal. Whence and How the Pre-rogative of Ministers Sprang, and of the Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, the Third Sermon
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