[2 So Scoloker and Seres, ed. Day omits a.]]
[3 So Marburg ed. and Day; S. and 8. ed. has but.] [4 So both the older edd. Day has the.] [5 So M. ed; S. and S. has No.] 16 [TYNDALE, 11]]
the wrath of God upon them, and was cause of their utter destruction.
Even so our scribes and Pharisees, now that their hypod crisy is disclosed, and their falsehood so brought to light that it can no longer be hid, get them unto the elders of the people, the lords, gentlemen, and temporal officers, and to all that love this world as they do, and unto whosoever is great with the king, and unto the king’s grace himself; and after the same ensample, and with the same persuasions, cast them into like fear of losing of their worldly dominions, and roar unto them, saying, Ye be negligent, and care nothing at all, but have a good sport that the heretics rail on us. But give them space a while, till they be grown unto a multitude, and then ye shall see them preach as fast against you, and move the people against you, and do their best to thrust you down also, and shall cry havoe, and make all common. Ὁ generation of serpents, how well declare ye that ye be the right sons of the father of all lies! For they, which ye call hereties, preach nothing save that which our Saviour Jesus Christ preached, and his apostles; adding nought thereto, nor plucking aught therefrom, as the seripture commandeth; and teach all men repentance to God and his holy law, and faith unto our Saviour Jesus Christ, and the promises of mercy made in him, and obedience unto all that God commandeth to obey. Neither teach we so much as to resist your most cruel tyranny with bedily violence, save with God’s word only; intending nothing but to drive you out of the temple of Christ, the hearts, consciences, and souls of men (wherein with your falsehood ye sit), and to restore again Jesus our Saviour unto his possession and inheritance bought with his blood, whence ye have driven him out with your manifold wiles and subtilty. ad. Take heed, therefore, wicked prelates, blind leaders of — the blind; indurate and obstinate hypocrites, take heed. For if the Pharisees for their resisting the Holy Ghost, thatis to say, persecuting the open and manifest truth, and slaying the preachers thereof, escaped not the wrath and vengeance of God; how shall ye escape, which are far worse than the Pharisees? For though the Pharisees had shut up the scripture, and set up their own professions; yet they kept their own professions, for the most part. But ye will
be the chiefest in Christ’s flock, and yet will not keep one jot of the right way of his doctrine. Ye have thereto set up wonderful professions, to be more holy thereby than ye think that Christ’s doctrine is able to make you, and yet keep as little thereof, except it be with dispensations; insomuch that if a man ask you, what your marvellous fashioned playing coats and your other puppetry mean, and what your disfigured heads and all your apish! play mean, ye know not: and yet are they but signs of things which ye have professed. Thirdly, ye will be papists and hold of the pope; and yet, look in the pope’s law, and ye keep thereof almost nought at all. But whatsoever soundeth to make for your bellies, and to maintain your honour, whether in the scripture, or in your own traditions, or in the pope’s law, that ye compel the lay-people to observe; violently threatening them with your excommunications and curses, that they shall be damned, both body and soul, if they keep them not. And if that help you not, then ye murder them mercilessly with the sword of the temporal powers; whom ye have made so blind that they be ready to slay whom ye command, and will not yet hear his cause examined, nor give him room to answer for himself.
. And ye elders of the people, fear ye God also. For as the elders of the Jews, which were partakers with the scribes and Pharisees in resisting the Holy Ghost, and in persecuting the open truth, and slaying the witnesses thereof, and in provoking the wrath of God, had their part with them also in the day of wrath and sharp vengeance, which shortly after fell upon them, (as the nature of the sin against the Holy Ghost is, to have her damnation, not only in the world to come, but also in this life, according unto all the ensamples of the bible and authentie stories since the world began;) even likewise ye, if ye will wink in so open and clear light, and let yourselves be led blindfold, and have your part with the hypocrites in like sin and mischief, be sure ye shall have your part with them in like wrath and vengeance, that is like shortly to fall upon them.
And concerning that the hypocrites put you in fear of the rising of your commons against you, I answer: If ye
[1 has apes.]
16—2
fear your commons, so testify ye against yourselves, that ye hy- are tyrants. For if your consciences accused you not of evil doing, what need ye to fear your commons? What commons were ever so evil, that they rose against their heads for welldoing? Moreover, ye witness against yourselves also that ye have no trust in God: for he hath promised the temporal officers assistance, if they minister their offices truly; and to care for the keeping of them, as much as they care for to keep his laws.
The hypocrites haply bid you take an ensample of the uplandish people of Almany, which they lie that Martin Luther stirred up. For first, what one sentence in all the writing of Martin Luther find they, that teacheth a man to resist his superior? Moreover, if Martin Luther and the preachers had stirred up the common people of Germany, how happened it that Martin Luther and other like preachers had not perished likewise with them; which are yet all alive at this hour!? Ye will ask me, Who stirred them up then? I ask you, Who stirred up the commons of the Jews to resist the emperor, after that the scribes and Pharisees, with the elders of the people, had slain Christ and his apostles? of Verily, the wrath of God. And even so here, the wrath of
God stirred them up; partly to destroy the enemies and and persecutors of the truth, and partly to take vengeance on those carnal beasts which abused the gospel of Christ, to make a cloak of it to defend their fleshly liberty, and not to obey it and to save their souls thereby.
If kings, lords, and great men, therefore, fear the loss of this world; let them fear God also. For in fearing God shall they prolong their days upon the earth; and not with fighting against God. The earth is God’s only; and his favour and mercy doth prolong the days of kings in their estate, and not their own power and might.
And let all men (be they never so great) hearken unto this, and let this be an answer unto them. Wicked king Ahab said wat unto the prophet Elias, “Art thou he that troublest Israel 2” And Elias answered, “It is not I that trouble Israel, but thou and thy father’s household, in that ye have forsaken the com- — [! So the M. ed. being published in 1530; but in the edition of — 1548, it is which lived long after. The insurrection alluded to, being that headed by Munzer, occurred in 1525.]
mandments of the Lord and follow idols.” Even so the preachers of the truth, which rebuke sin, are not the troublers of realms and commonwealths, but they that do wickedly; and namely high prelates and mighty princes, which walk without the fear of God, and live abominably, corrupting the common people with their ensample. They be they that bring the wrath of God on all realms, and trouble all commonwealths with war, dearth, poverty, pestilence, evil luck, and all misfortune.
And unto all subjects be it said, if they profess the law “of God and faith of the Lord Jesus, and will be Christ’s disciples; then let them remember that there was never man so great a subject as Christ was; there was never creature that suffered so great unright so patiently and so meekly as he. Therefore, whatsoever they have been in times past, let them now think that it is their parts to be subject in the lowest kind of subjection, and to suffer all things patiently. If the high powers be cruel unto you with natural cruelty; then with softness and patience ye shall either win them, or mitigate their fierceness. If they join them unto the pope, and persecute you for your faith and hope which ye have in the Lord Jesus; then call to mind that ye be chosen to suffer here with Christ, that ye may joy with him in the life to come with joy everlasting, that shall infinitely pass this your short pain here. If they command that God forbiddeth, or forbid that God commandeth, then answer as the apostles did, (Acts v.), “That God must be obeyed more than man.” If they compel you to suffer unright; then Christ shall help you to bear, and his Spirit shall comfort you. But only see that neither they put you from God’s word; nor ye resist them with bodily violence. But abide patiently awhile, till the hypocrisy of hypocrites be slain with the sword of God’s word, and until the word be openly published and witnessed unto the powers of the world, that their blindness may be without excuse: and then will God awake as a fierce lion, against those cruel wolves which devour his lambs; and will play with the hypocrites, and compass them in their own wiles; and send them a dasing in the head, and a swimming in their brains; and destroy them with their own counsel. And then those malicious and wilful blind persecutors, which, refusing mercy when they were called thereto, chose rather to have their part with hypocrites in shedding of innocent
blood, shall be partakers with them also in having their own - ἢ blood shed again, God giving an occasion that one wicked E shall destroy another. d And as for wickedness, whence it springeth, and who is 3; the cause of all insurrection, and of the fall of princes, and ~~ the shortening of their days upon the earth, thou shalt see 2 in the glass following, which I have set before thine: eyes, not to resist the hypocrites with violence (which 4 vengeance pertaineth unto God); but that thou, mightest see their wicked ways and abominable 1 1 paths, to withdraw thyself from after! them, Fi and to come again to Christ, and walk in i his light, and to follow his steps, and to commit the keeping both ef thy body: i and soul also unto him, and unto 1 the Father through him,: whose name be glorious Ξ; for ever. Amen. i [! S. and S. edition omits after; but it is found in M. and in Day’s i edition.] E
The Practice of Prelates
Prelatés appointed to preach Christ may not leave God’s word, and. minister temporal offices; but ought to teach the lay-people the right way, and let them alone with all temporal business. Our Saviour Jesus Christ answered Pilate, that his kingdom was not of this world. And (Matthew, in the tenth,) he saith, The disciple is not greater than his master; but it ought to suffice the disciple, that he be as the master is.” Wherefore if Christ’s kingdom be not of this world, nor any of his disciples may be otherwise than he was; then Christ’s vicars, which minister his kingdom here in his bodily absence, and have the oversight of his flock, may be none emperors, kings, dukes, lords, knights, temporal judges, or any temporal officer, or under false names have any such dominion, or minister any And, (Matt. vi.) No man can serve two masters:” where such office as requireth violence. Christ concludeth, saying, Ye cannot serve God and mammon;” that is, riches, covetousness, ambition, and temporal dignities.
And (Matt. xx.) Christ called his disciples unto him, and said: Ye know that the lords of the heathen people have dominion over them; and they that be great do exercise power over them. Howbeit, it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister; and he that will be chief shall be your servant: even as the Son of man came not that men should minister unto him, but for to minister and give his life for the redemption of many.” Wherefore the officers in Christ’s kingdom may have no temporal dominion or jurisdiction, nor execute any temporal authority or law of violence, nor may have any like manner among them: but clean contrary, they must cast themselves down under all, and become servants unto all, suffer of all, and bear the burden of every man’s infirmities, and go before them, and fight for them against the world with the sword of God’s word, even unto the death, after the example of Christ.
And (Matt. xviii.), when the disciples asked who should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Christ called a young child unto him, and set him in the midst among them, saying, Except ye turn back, and become as children, ye shall not enter in the
kingdom of heaven.” Now young children bear no rule one over another, but all is fellowship among them. And he said moreover: “Whosoever humbleth himself after the ensample t of this child, he is greatest in the kingdom of heaven;” that is, to be (as concerning ambition and worldly desire) so childish that thou couldst not heave thyself above thy brother, is the very bearing of rule, and to be great in Christ’s kingdom. And, to describe the very fashion of the greatness of his kingdom, he said, He that receiveth one such child in my name, Teceiveth me.” What is that, to receive a child in Christ’s — name? Verily, to submit, to meek, and to humble thyself, and to cast thyself under all men; and to consider all men’s infirmities and weaknesses; and to help to heal their diseases with the word of truth, and to live purely, that they see no contrary ensample in thee to whatsoever thou teachest them in Christ; that thou put no stumbling-block before them, to make them fall while they be yet young and weak in the faith: but that thou abstain, as Paul teacheth, (1 Thess. v.) ab omni specie mala!, from all that might seem evil, or whereof a man might surmise amiss; and that thou so love them, that whatsoever gift of God in thee is, thou think the same theirs, and their food, and for their sakes given unto thee, as the truth is; and that all their infirmities be thine, and that thou feel them, and that thine heart mourn for them; and that with all thy power thou help to amend them, and cease not to cry to God for them, neither day nor night; and that thou let nothing be found in thee, that any man may rebuke, but whatsoever thou teachest them, that be thou; and that thou be not a wolf in a lamb’s skin, as our holy a… skin. father the pope is, which cometh unto us in a name of hypocrisy, and in the title of cursed Cham, or Ham? calling himself Servus servorum, the servant of all servants, and is yet found Tyrannus tyrannorum, of all tyrants the most
[[! From every evil appearance.] [? The first letter in the name of this son of Noah having no exact]
[representative in our alphabet, the Latin vulgate puts c for it, writing]
[the name Cham: but ch, as pronounced in English, produces a sound]
[more unlike that which belongs to heth, than is the sound of our ἢ. A]
[Hence Tyndale thought it better to write the name Ham; and that]
[improvement in the spelling of this and various other names, which his]
[knowledge of Hebrew enabled him to introduce into the English Old /]
[Testament, has been preserved in our authorised version. ]]
cruel. This is to receive young children in Christ’s name; and to receive young children in Christ’s name is to bear rule in the kingdom of Christ. Thus ye may see, that Christ’s kingdom is altogether spiritual; and the bearing of rule in it is clean contrary unto the bearing of rule temporally. Wherefore none that beareth rule in it may have any temporal jurisdietion, or minister any temporal office that requireth violence to compel withal. Peter was not greater than the other apostles by any authority given
him of Christ
They say that Peter was chief of the apostles: verily, as Apelles was called chief of painters for his excellent cunning above other, even so Peter may be called chief of the apostles for his activity and boldness above the other. But that Peter had any authority or rule over his brethren and fellow apostles, is false, and contrary to the scripture. Christ forbade it the last even? before his passion, and in divers times before, and taught alway the contrary, as I have rehearsed.
Thou wilt say, “thou canst not see how there should be any good order in that kingdom, where none were better than other, and where the superior had not a law and authority to compel the inferior with violence” The world, truly, can see no other way to rule than with violence: for there no man abstaineth from evil, but for fear; because the love of righteousness is not written in their hearts. And therefore the pope’s kingdom is of the world: for there one sort are your grace, your holiness, your fatherhood; another, my lord bishop, my lord abbot, my lord prior; another, master doctor, father, bachelor, master parson, master vicar, and at the last cometh in simple sir John. And every man reigneth oversother with might; and have every ruler his prison, his jailor, his chains, his torments; even so much as the friars Observants observe that rule, and compel every man other with violence above the cruelness of the heathen tyrants: so that what cometh once in may never out, for fear of telling tales out of school. They rule over the body with violence, and compel it, whether the heart will or not, to observe things of their own making.
[8 That is, evening.] [4 and 8. this.] [5 See Vol. 1. 277, 3.]
250. THE PRACTICE OF PRELATES. ἢ i Theministers But in the kingdom of God it is contrary. For the Spirit i Womteowrn that bringeth them thither maketh them willing, and giveth = m AI Los, them lust unto the law of God; and love compelleth them to: ^c patent work, and love maketh every man’s good, and all that he can ae do, common unto his neighbour’s need. And as every man is hr strong in that kingdom, so love compelleth him to take the δ weak by the hand, and to help him, and to take him that i cannot go upon his shoulders and bear him. And so to do i service unto the weaker is to bear rule in that kingdom. 1 of speaking And because Peter did exceed the other apostles in fervent: fene service toward his brethren, therefore is he called, not in the t mine. scripture, but in the use of speaking, the chiefest of the [ theenier — apostles; and not that he had any dominion over them. Of de. ^ which truth thou mayest see also the practice in the Acts of
the apostles, after the resurrection. For when Peter had been
and preached in the house of Cornelius, an heathen man, the
other that were circumcised chode him, because he had been A in an uncircumcised man’s house, and had eaten with him:: for it was forbidden in the law, neither wist they yet that ᾿ Peter πῶς the heathen should be called. And Peter was fain to give - render an accounts unto them (which is no token of superiority), and to his pretren shew them how he was warned of the Holy Ghost so to do. ax And (Acts xv.) when a council was gathered of the apostles no part his and disciples about the circumcision of the heathen, Peter bue” brought forth, not his commandment and the authority of his erofdod vicarship, but the miracle that the Holy Ghost had shewed for the heathen; how at the preaching of the gospel the Holy Ghost had lighted upon them, and purified their hearts through faith; and therefore proved that they ought not to be circumcised. Antheapor Απά Paul and Barnabas brought forth the miracles also, authority of that God had shewed by them among the heathen through ἐμά πο a preaching of faith. And then James brought forth a prophecy theirown. of the old Testament for the said part: and therewith the adversaries gave over their hold, and they concluded with one assent, by the authority of the scripture and of the Holy Ghost, that the heathen should not be circumcised; and not by the commandment of Peter, under pain of cursing, excommunication, and interdicting, and like bugs, to make fools and children afraid withal. Acts viii, And (Acts viii.) Peter was sent of the other apostles unto
the Samaritans: which is an evident token that he had no jurisdiction over them, (for then they could not have sent him,) but rather (as the truth is) that the congregation had authority over him, and over all other private persons, to admit them for ministers, and send them forth to preach, whithersoever the Spirit of God moved them, and as they Saw occasion.
And in the epistle unto the Galatians thou seest also how Paul corrected Peter, when he walked not the straight! way after the truth of the gospel.
So now thou seest that in the kingdom of Christ, and in his church or congregation, and in his councils, the ruler is the scripture, approved through the miracles of the Holy Ghost, and men be servants only; and Christ is the head, and we all brethren. And when we call men our heads, that we do not because they be shorn or shaven, or because of their word which they preach. If they err from the word, then names, parson, vicar, bishop, pope; but only because of the may whomsoever God moveth his heart, play Paul, and correct him. If he will not obey the scripture, then have his brethren authority by the scripture to put him down, and to send him out of Christ’s church among the heretics, which prefer their false doctrine above the true word of Christ. 5Ξ How the gospel punisheth trespassers, and how, by the gospel we
ought to go to law with our adversaries
Though that they of Christ’s congregation be all willing; yet, because that the most part is alway weak, and because also that the occasions of the world be ever many and great, insomuch that Christ, which wist all thing before hand, saith, (Matt, xviii) “Woe be unto the world by reason of occasions of evil:” and saith also, that it cannot be avoided but that occasions shall come, therefore it cannot be chosen but that many shall overfall; when a weak brother hath trespassed, by what law shall he be punished? Verily, by the law of love; whose properties thou readest in the thirteenth of the first to the Corinthians. If the love of God, which is my profession, be written in mine heart, it will not let me hate my weak
[1 So but and right.]
252 THE PRACTICE OF PRELATES. brother when he hath offended me, no more than natural love will let a mother hate her child when it trespasseth against her. My weak brother hath offended me; he is fallen, his weakness hath overthrown him, It is not right by the law of love, that I should now fall upon him, and tread him down in the mire and destroy him utterly: but it is right by the law of love, that I run to him and help him up again.
By what process we should go to law with our tres- passers, Christ teacheth us, Matth. xviii. Tell him his fault between him and thee with all meekness, remembering thou art a man, and mayest fall also: if he repent and thou love him, ye shall soon agree, and then forgive him. And when thou forgivest thy neighbour, then thou art sure that God forgiveth thee thy trespasses by his holy promise, (Matth. vi.) [1 he hear thee not, then take a neighbour or two. If he hear them not, then tell the congregation, where thou art: and let the preacher pronounce God’s law against him, and let the sad and disereet men rebuke him, and exhort him unto repentance. If he repent, and thou also love him ae to according to thy profession, ye shall soon agree. If he hear not the congregation, then let him be taken as an heathen. If he that is offended be weak also, then let them that be strong go between, and help them. And in like manner, if any sin against the doctrine of Christ and the profession of a christian man, so that he be a drunkard and an whore-keeper, or whatsoever open sin he do, or if he teach false learning; then let such be rebuked openly before the congregation, and by the authority of the scripture. And if they repent not, let them be put out of the congregation as heathen people. If they then be not ashamed, we have no remedy but. patiently to abide what God will do; and to pray in the meantime, that God will open their hearts, and give them repentance. Other law than this Christ’s gospel knoweth not, nor the officers thereof.
It is manifest, therefore, that the kingdom of Christ is a spiritual] kingdom, which no man can minister well, and a temporal kingdom too, as it is sufficiently proved; because that no man which putteth his hand to the plough, and looketh back, is apt for the kingdom of heaven; as Christ — answered (Luke ix.) unto him that would have followed him,
but would first have taken leave of his household. If a man put his hand to the plough of God’s word to preach it, and look also unto worldly business, his plough will surely go awry. And therefore, saith Christ unto another, that would likewise follow him, but desired first to go and bury his father, Let the dead bury the dead: but come thou and shew, or preach, the kingdom of God.” As who should say, He that will preach the kingdom of God (which is Christ’s gospel) truly, must have his heart nowhere else. What officers the apostles ordained in Christ’s church; and what their
offices were to do
Wherefore the apostles, following and obeying the rule, doctrine, and commandment of our Saviour Jesus Christ, their master, ordained in his kingdom and congregation two officers; one called, after the Greek word, bishop, in English an overseer: which same was called priest after the Greek, elder in English, because of his age, discretion, and sadness; for he was, as nigh as could be, alway an elderly man: as thou seest both in the new and old Testament also, how the officers of the Jews be called the elders of the people, because (as thou mayest well think) they were ever old men, as nigh as could be. For unto age do men naturally obey, and unto age doth God command to give honour, saying, (Lev. xix.) “Rise up before the hoar head, and reverence the face of the old man.” And also experience of things, and coldness, without which it is hard to rule well, is more in age than in youth. And this overseer did put his hands unto the plough of God’s word, and fed Christ’s flock, and tended them only, without looking unto any other business in the world.
Another officer they chose, and called him deacon after the Greek, a minister in English, to minister the alms of the people unto the poor and needy. For in the congregation of Christ love maketh every man’s gift and goods common unto the necessity of his neighbour. Wherefore, the love of God being yet hot in the hearts of men, the rich that had the substance of this world’s goods brought of their abundance great plenty unto the sustentation of the poor, and delivered it unto the hands of the deacons. And unto the help of the deacons were widows of sixty years old, holy, virtuous, and destitute of friends, chosen to tend and wait upon the sick,
and to wash the saints’ feet, that came from one congregation =~ unto another, whether for any business, or for fear of perse-,Cution. And those common goods of the church, offered for 1 the succour of the poor, grew in all churches so exceedingly, L the that in some congregation it was so much, that it was suffi- £f - dent to maintain an host of men; insomuch that tyrants did ~~ oft-times persecute the Christen! for those common goods, as: thou seest in the life of St Laurence, the deacon of Rome?, And, moreover, the covetousness of the prelates was the b decay of Christendom, and the increasing of the kingdom of Mahomet. For by the first springing of the empire of Ma-or home, the emperors, kings, and great lords of Christendom had given their treasure so mightily unto the church, what after great victories, and what at their deaths, that their suecessors were not able to maintain battle against the Saracens and Turks, (for the world was not yet in such captivity that they could make their subjects swear on books what they were worth, and raise up taxes at their pleasure;) so that a certain writer of stories saith: “The prelates gaped when the laymen would take the war upon them against the Turks; — — and the laymen looked when the prelates would lay out their money, to make the war withal, and not spend it in worse use, as the most part of them were wont to do; spending the money that was gotten with alms and.blood of martyrs upon goodly plate, and great vessels of gold and silver, without care of things to come, despising God, whom they worshipped
[1 Christen is frequently used in the earliest editions of Tyndale,]
[and in other old writers, for the plural of Christian, as men for plural]
[of man. Hence Christendom.] [2 The church of Rome has dedicated the 10th of August to the]
[memory of Laurence, and the lessons for that day, in the breviary, give]
[a florid account of his merits and martyrdom. It was in the year 258 E]
[that a mandate from the emperor Valerian occasioned that persecution]
[under which Sixtus II. bishop of Rome, was put to death; and Platina]
[says that Sixtus bade his attendant deacon Laurence make haste to]
[distribute whatever might be in the church’s treasury amongst the]
[poor. Laurence was soon arrested, and the prefect of Rome required]
[him to produce this treasure: upon which he produced the poor whom]
[that treasure had fed, telling the prefect that the poor saints were the]
[treasures of the Christian church. For this, the legend says, the pre-]
[fect ordered him to be bound upon a red hot iron hurdle, and burnt]
[overafire. Platina, Vit. Pontificum, and Roman breviary.]]
for their belly’s sake only, and also man?,” Moreover, it was the custom even then, saith the author, to ask what the bishoprick was worth; yea, and to leave a worse for a better, or to keep both with a union. And at the same time Isacius, the deputy of the emperor, came to Rome to confirm the pope in his see with the emperors authority; for the election of the pope was then nothing worth, except it had been conirmed by the emperor: and he found so great treasure in the church of St John Lateran, that for disdain which he had, that they should have such treasure in store, and not to help the emperor in his wars against the Turks, seeing his soldiers lacked wages, he took it away with violence against the will of the prelates, of which he exiled some, and paid his own men of war with one part, and took another part unto himself, and sent the third part unto the emperor: which must needs have been a great treasure in one church?,
By what means the prelates fell from Christ
The office of a bishop was a room, at the beginning, that no man coveted; and that no man durst take upon him, save he only which loved Christ better than his own life. For as Christ saith, that no man might be his disciple, except that he were ready to forsake life and all; even so might that officer be sure that it would cost him his life at one time or another, for bearing record unto the truth. But after that the multitude of the Christen were increased, and many great men had received the faith; then both lands and rents, as
[3 The certain writer of stories’ to whom Tyndale refers is Platina,]
[De vitis pontificum, who says in his life of Boniface V.: Exspectant]
[sacerdotes ut a secularibus hoc tantum bellum et tam necessarium]
[sumatur. Exspectant item seculares ut presbyteri tuends religionis]
[eausa [against Mahometan invaders] pecunias in sumptus bellicos pol-]
[liceantur et sumministrent; nec in pejores usus effundant, quemad-]
[modum facere plerique consuevere, pecunias eleemosynis et sanguine]
[martyrum comparatas, in aurea et argentea vasa et preegrandia quidem]
[pendentes, parum de futuro solliciti, Dei, quem tantum utilitatis gratia]
[colunt, et hominum contemptores. ] [4 Queeritur enim quantum reddat episcopatus; non quot oves]
[pascuz in eo sint.—Id. Vit. Bonifacii III. Date about 606.]]
[5 This last sentence is nearly a translation of what Platina relates,]
[in the beginning of his account of Severinus, pope for but a few months]
[of A.D. 640.—Plat. Vit. Honorii.)]
well as other goods, were given unto the maintenance, as well ir of the clergy, as of the poor: because they gave then no here tithes to the priests, nor yet now do, save in certain countries. ato For it is too much to give alms, offerings, lands, and tithes also. And then the bishops made them substitutes under them to help them, which they called priests, and kept the name of bishop unto themselves!.
But out of the deacons sprang all the mischief: for through their hands went all things; they ministered unto the clergy, they ministered unto the poor, they were in favour with great and small. And when the bishop’s office began to have rest, and to be honourable, then the deacons, through pur- favour and gifts, clamb? up thereunto; as lightly? he that hath the old abbots treasure succeedeth with us. And by the means of their practice and acquaintance in the world they were more subtle and worldly wise than the old bishops, and less learned in God’s word; as our prelates are, when they come from stewardships in gentlemen’s houses, and from surveying of great men’s lands, lords’ secrets, kings’ councils, ambassadorship, from war and ministering all worldly matters, yea, worldly mischief. And yet now they come not thence, but receive all, and bide there still; yea, they have enacted by plain parliament that they must bide in the court still, or [! Tyndale seems to have held an opinion afterwards maintained by Dr Hammond, and thus noticed by Bingham: The learned Dr Hammond advances an opinion about this matter” [the original of presbyters], which is something singular. He asserts (Annot. on Acts xi. 30) that in scripture-times the name of presbyters belonged principally, if not alone, to bishops; and that there is no evidence that any of this second order were then instituted, though soon after, he thinks, before the writing of Ignatius’ epistles, there were such instituted in all churches. The authorities he builds upon are Clemens Romanus and Epiphanius, who say that in some churches, at first, there were bishops and deacons without any presbyters.” Bing. Orig. Eccles. B. 11. ch. xix. 3, Vol. 1. p. 252, ed. 1840.]
[2 Clamb: climbed. The reading of Day’s edition is climed.] N [3 Easily; and hence, ordinarily.]
[4 The word is spelt playne in the black letter editions. Tyndale probably meant to give a version of the old law phrase, Pleno parliahaving pluralities of livings’ It was an act which had just passed mento, used to signify the indisputable authority of a legislative enactment; and had in view an act for Abridging spiritual persons from
[through parliament, and its 28th clause was to the effect he has stated;]
else they may not have plurality of benefices. And then by little and little they enhanced themselves, and turned all to themselves, minishing the poor people’s part, and increasing theirs, and joining acquaintance with great men, and with their power clamb up, and entitled them to the choosing and confirming of the pope and all bishops, to flatter and purchase favour and defenders; trusting more unto their worldly wisdom than unto the doctrine of Christ, which is the wisdom of God, and unto the defence of man than of God. Then, while they that had the plough by the tail looked back, the plough went awry; faith waxed feeble and fainty; love waxed cold; the scripture waxed dark; Christ was no more seen. He was in the mount with Moses; and therefore the bishops would have a god upon the earth whom they might see, and thereupon they began to dispute who should be greatest.
How the bishop of Rome became greater than other, and called
himself pope
Then, quoth worldly wisdom, Jerusalem must be the greatest, for that was Christ’s seat: Et factum est: so it came to pass for a season. And in conclusion, where a great city was, and much riches, there was the bishop ever greater than his fellows. Alexandria? in Egypt, and Antioch in Greece, were greater than their neighbours. Then, those decaying, Constantinople and Rome waxed great, and strove who should be greater. And Constantinople said, Where the emperor is, there ought to be the greatest seat and chiefest bishop: for the emperor lay most at Constantinople, because it was (I suppose) nigh the midst of the empire; therefore I must be the greatest, said the bishop of Constantinople. Nay, quoth the bishop of Rome, though the emperor lie never so much at Constantinople, yet he is called emperor of Rome, and
[for it provided that The act should not in any wise extend, nor be]
[prejudieial to any such chaplains as shall be daily ór quarterly at-]
[tending and abiding in the king’s or queen’s honourable households,’]
[and in like manner for the chaplains of nobles, &c.—21 Hen. VIII.]
[c. 13, $ 28.] [5 He is here giving a sketch of the institution of cardinal presbyters]
[and of their progress to power.—See Bingham, B. rr. c. 19, $18.] [9 Alexandre in the M. ed. and in Day; but Alexander in the S. S.]
[edition.) 17 [TYNDALE, 11.]]
iL ty 258 THE PRACTICE OF PRELATES. Rome is the head of the empire; wherefore of right I must of all be the father of all whatsoever. And thus, whether they challenged their title by the authority of God or man, or by Peter or pouling?, it was all one, so they might be greatest.
And great intercession was made unto the emperors of both parties; but in vain a great season: for the emperors stopped their ears at such ambitious requests long time; till ^ at the last there came an emperor called Phocas, which lay long in Italy, and was a very soft man, and a prey for prelates: in whose time Boniface IIL. was bishop of Rome, a WT man ambitious and greedy upon honour, and of a very subtle wit, nothing inferior unto Thomas Wolfsee?, cardinal of York. This Boniface was great with the emperor Phocas, and with his wily persuasions and great intercession together obtained the of Phocas to be called the chiefest of all bishops, and that his a church should be the chief church: which authority as of ^ soon as he had purchased, he sent immediately his command- — ment, with the emperor’s power, unto all the bishops of Almany, commanding that every bishop should call all the priests of his diocese, and charge them that every man should put away his wife, under pain of excommunication; which ime tyranny, though great resistance was made against it, he yet ’ brought to pass with the emperor’s sword and his own subtilty together. For the bishops were rich, and durst not displease the pope, for fear of the emperor.
[[! This word has been printed waten in modern editions. In the]
[black letter copies it is waté, an abbreviation of whatsoever, still em-]
[ployed by lawyers. When a pope is crowned, the cardinal deacon puts]
[the tiara, or regno, as it is called, upon his head, and says to him,]
[Accipe tiaram, tribus coronis ornatam; et scias te esse patrem prin-]
[cipum et regum, rectorem orbis.] I [ To poll, or levy a tax, is spelt in the original edition poule, and]
[the name of the apostle is also spelt poul, though not uniformly. The]
[word pouling may therefore either mean here taxing, or assuming the]
[authority of a Paul, with reference to Peter just mentioned.] ^ = [3 So the two oldest editions; Day, Wolsee.] [ So Platina of Boniface IIL.: Patria Romanus, a Phoea impera-]
[tore obtinuit, magna tamen contentione, ut sedes B. Petri Apostoli,]
[quie caput est omnium ecclesiarum, ita et diceretur et haberetur ab]
[omnibus. ] i [5 There seems to be some confusion here of times and persons.]
[Boniface III. died in 606, before he had been pope nine months; when]
[the emperor had no authority in Germany, neither were there any]
As soon as Nemroth, that mighty hunter, had caught this prey, that he had compelled all bishops to be under him, and to swear obedience unto him, then he began to be great in the earth; and called himself Papa, with this interpretation, Father of fathers. And when the pope had exalted his throne above his fellows, then the unity that ought to be among brethren in Christ’s church brake; and division began between us and the Greeks; which Greeks (I suppose) were at that time the one half of Christendom. And when any pope since exhorteth them to unity, they answer, That he which will reign over his brethren with violence, breaketh unity, and not they; and that they will not be under his tyranny, whereunto he calleth them under a colour of unity) And from henceforth, with the help of his bishops, which were sworn to be true liegemen unto him, when beforetime they were admitted to their bishopricks of the emperors and kings, he began to lay a bait to catch the whole empire into his hands also.
By what means the pope invaded the empire.. At that same season Mahomet, the author of the sect of the Turks and Saracens, began. And as soon as he had got much people unto him with wiles and feigned miracles, he
[regularly constituted churches in that country. But in 723, pope]
[Gregory II. gave the name of Boniface to the Anglo-Saxon monk,]
[Winfrid, for his good deeds in planting churches in parts of Germany]
[near the Rhine, and desired the Frank ruler, Charles Martel, and all]
[persons in authority to attend to the injunctions of this Boniface, who]
[used the influence thus obtained to elevate the papal authority. Hence]
[some of his dicta were incorporated into the canon law (see Vol. 1.]
[p. 328, n. 3), and some of these may have been so quoted as not to]
[distinguish their author from pope Boniface III.—$See Hist. des papes,]
[ala Haye, 1733, Tom. 1. pp. 518—50. Also Mosheim, Cent. viii. par.]
[1 cap. 1. $ 2—4; and Lingard, Antiq. of Anglo-Saxon Ch., pp. 445—53,]
[2nd edition.] [6 The word papa was in like use among the Greeks as with us.]
[The earliest known instance of its application to a christian minister]
[occurs in Tertullian, De pudicitia, a treatise composed early in the]
[third eentury. By the middle of that century it was become common]
[to address bishops by this endearing name; but at what period the]
[bishops of Rome began to assume it as exclusively their own, cannot be]
[stated with precision.—Bp. Kaye on Tertullian, ch. 1v. p. 241: and]
[Bing. Orig. Eccles. B. rr. ch. n. $7.] 17—2]
invaded the empire of Rome in those quarters. And look, how busy Mahomet was in those parts, so busy was the pope in these quarters, to invade the empire, (with the help of his sworn bishops, which preached all of none other God than the pope. while the emperor was occupied afar off in resisting of Mahomet. And within few years after, when the kings of Italy now and then vexed our holy fathers for their covetous ambition, the then Gregory III. joined amity with the Frenchmen, and called them to help!; by whose power they gat all they have, amet. and also maintain it unto this day. For if any man, since that time hither?, displeased the pope never so little, he immediately cursed him, and excommunicated him, and proclaimed him no right inheritor, and that it was not lawful to hold of him, and absolved his lords and subjeets of their allegiance, and sent his blessing unto the French king and remission of sins to go and conquer his land; the pope and French king alway dividing the spoil between them: the bishops, and all that served God for the belly, preaching the pope’s might, how that he had power so to do, and all things to bind and loose at his will; wresting the scriptures to serve for their purpose, corrupting all the laws, both of God and man, to prove his godhead withal.
Then came pope Zacharias the first, in whose time Hil- Qericus? was king of France, a man that governed his realm (as it oft chanceth) by a deputy (as parsons preach), one Pipine, a lord of his own, and his sworn subject. This Pipine sent a holy bishop to pope Zacharias, that he should help to make him king of France, and he would be his defender in Italy (as the manner of scalled horses is, the one to claw the
[[! The French chronologist, president Hainault, confirms Tyndale’s]
[statement, under the date of 740, in the following words: “Gregory IIL]
[made more advantageous proposals to Charles Martel, when troubled]
[by the king of the Lombards; to wit, that he would cease to recognise]
[the [Greek] emperor’s authority, and would proclaim Charles the consul]
[of Rome. Here we have the real epoch of the temporal power of the]
[popes.”] [2 That is, from that time to the date of Tyndale’s writing.] [3 So Marb., but S. and S. ed. Huldericus. In French history he]
[is styled Childeric IIL, and began to reign in 742.] [ So S. and S. ed. By the person, or parson of the parish was]
other); and Zacharias answered, that he was more worthy to be king, that ruled the realm and took the labours, than an idle shadow that went up and down, and did nought. And so upon that, the lords of France, by the persuasions of the prelates, consented unto Pipine, and thrust down their right king unto whom they were sworn, and made a monk of him; and both the lords, and also Pipine, took dispensations for their oaths of our holy father, and were forsworns, Thus was our holy father, the pope, crept up into the consciences of men with his false interpretation of binding and loosing, good eight hundred years agone.
Then came pope Stephanus the second, out of whose hands Estulphus, king of Lombardy, would fain have scratched somewhat; for he thought that the holy fathers gathered too fast, and had already raked too much unto them. But the new king, Pipine of France, warned of his duty and service promised, and mindful of old friendship, and hoping for part of the prey, came to succour the pope: and when he had subdued the king of Lombardy, he gave unto our holy father, or rather to St Peter, that hungry beggar, great provinces and countries in Lombardy and in Italy, with the isle Corsica, and many great cities, of which some pertained unto the emperor, being then at Constantinople; and yet the emperor had sent before unto king Pipine, that he should not give of his towns unto the pope. But Pipine answered that he came for the same intent, and to enhance our holy father. And our holy father received them?.
And thus the empire was divided into two parts; the pope and the French king parting the one half between them. And as the emperor decayed, the pope grew. And as the [5 The history of this transaction is incorporated into the papal law, where Decret. pars. 2% can. xv. 4. 6, cap. 3, is as follows. Pon-
[tificalis auctoritas a juramento fidelitatis nonnullos absolvit. Alius]
[item Romanus pontifex, Zacharias scilicet, regem Francorum, non]
[tam pro suis iniquitatibus quam pro eo quod tants potestati erat in]
[utilis, a regno deposuit, et Pipinum Caroli Magni imperatoris patrem]
[in ejus locum substituit; omnesque Francigenas a juramento fidelitatis]
[absolvit.—Corp. Jur. canonici. Th. Kerver, 1516.] [6 The date of this transaction was about 751.]]
[7 Platina has not mentioned Corsica as part of Pepin’s gift to]
[Stephen in his life of that pope; but he mentions it as included in]
[that gift, when relating the life of Adrian I.]]
no. POPE grew, so the sect of Mahomet grew; for the emperor (half his empire lost) was not able to defend himself against the infidels. And the pope would suffer no help hence to come, for two causes; one, lest the emperor should recover his empire again; and another, because the prelates of the Greeks would not submit themselves unto his godhead, as the prelates of these quarters of the world had done.
After Pipine reigned his son the great Charles, whom we eall Charlemagne, which knew no other god but the pope, nor any other way to heaven than to do the pope pleasure. For the pope served him for two purposes: one, to dispense with him for whatsoever mischief he did; another, to be established in the empire by his help: for without his favour he wist it Would not be; so great a god was our holy father become on already in those days.
This pope Stephen! in his latter days fell at variance with Desiderius, king of Lombardy about the archbishop of Ravenna,
After Stephen succeeded Adrian the first; with whom Desiderius, the king of Lombardy, would fain have made peace, but pope Adrian would not. And shortly upon that, the brother of this Charlemagne, which reigned with him in half the dominion of France, died; whose wife, for fear of Charles, fled with her two sons unto Desiderius, king of Lombardy for succour. Desiderius was glad of their coming, trusting by the means of these two children to obtain favour among many of the Frenchmen, and so to be able to resist Charles, if he would meddle, and to bring Italy unto the right emperor again, and would have had that pope Adrian should have anointed them kings in their father’s room. But Adrian refused that to do, (for he saw Charles mighty and meet for his purpose,) and was as wily as Desiderius; and thought to keep out the right emperor, and be emperor of Rome himself, though he gave another the name for a season, till a more convenient time came.; Then Desiderius warred upon the pope’s jurisdiction; and Adrian sent to Charles: and Charles came with his
[1 By the expression this Stephen, Tyndale has marked, though]
[obscurely, that the Stephen of Charlemagne’s days is not the same]
[pope as the Stephen whom Pepin assisted. Stephen III became]
[pope in 768, and was succeeded by Adrian I. in 772.]]
army, and drave out Desiderius and his son; which son fled unto the right emperor to Constantinople. And Charles and the pope divided the kingdom of Lombardy between them: and Charles eame to Rome; and the pope and he were sworn together, that whosoever should be enemy unto the one, should be enemy also unto the other?,
This Adrian gathered a council immediately of an hundred and fifty-three bishops, abbots, and religious persons, and gave unto Charles and his successors the empire of Rome; and ordained that the right and power to choose the pope should be his, and that no bishop should be consecrate till he had obtained of him both consent and the ornaments of a bishop also, (which they now buy of the pope,) under pain of cursing, and to be delivered unto black Satan the devil, and loss of goods. (Dist. lxiii.?)
And Leo the third, which succeeded Adrian, confirmed the same; and crowned Charles emperor of Rome for like service done unto him. And then there was appointment made be- Of tween the emperors of Constantinople and of Rome, and the Jove places assigned, how far the borders of either empire should reach. And thus of one empire was made twain; and therefore the empire of Constantinople, for lack of help, was shortly after subdued of the Turks.
The said Leo also called Charles The most christian Most king,” because of his good service; which title the kings of W-T.
[2 This was A.D». 774.] [8 The heading of Dist. Ixiii. is, Laici nullo modo se debent inse-]
[rere electioni” [pontificum]; and its first canon begins, Nullus laicorum]
[principum vel potentum semet inserat electioni aut promotioni patri-]
[archze, metropolitani, aut cujuslibet episcopi. But its ca. xxrr. is headed,]
[“Imperator jus habet eligendi pontificem;” and the text. of that canon]
[is as follows: Adrianus papa Romam venire Karolum regem ad defen-]
[dendas res ecclesize postulavit. Romam reversus [Karolus] constituit]
[ibi synodum cum Adriano papa in patriarchatu lateranensi, in ecclesia]
[SY Salvatoris; qu; synodus celebrata est cliii. episcopis, religiosis, et]
[abbatibus. Adrianus autem papa cum universa synodo tradiderunt]
[Karolo jus et potestatem eligendi pontificem, et ordinandi apostolicam]
[sedem, dignitatem quoque patriciatus ei concesserat. Insuper archie-]
[piscopos et episeopos per singulas provincias ab eo investituram accipere]
[diffinivit; ut, nisi a rege laudetur et investiatur, episcopus a nemine]
[consecretur; et quicunque contra hoc decretum ageret anathematis]
[vinculo eum innodavit.—Corp. Jur. Canon Decret. par. 1”.] [6 In the inscription on his tomb, “Magni Caroli Regis Chris-]
[tianissimi Romanorumque Imperatoris.” Platin. in Vit. Leon. m1]]
France use unto this day, though many of them be never so of unchristened: as the last Leo called our king The defender of the faith;” and as this! pope Clemens calleth the duke of (Guelder The eldest son of the holy see of Rome,” for no other virtue nor property that any man can know, save that he hath been all his life a pick-quarrel and a cruel and unrighteous bloodshedder, as his father, that sitteth in that holy see, is. So now, above seven hundred years, to be a christian king is to fight for the pope; and most christian, that most fighteth, and slayeth most men for his pleasure.
This Charles was a great conqueror; that is to say, a great tyrant, and overcame many nations with the sword: as the Turk compelleth us unto his faith, so he compelled of them with violence unto the faith of Christ, say the stories. But, alas! Christ’s faith, whereunto the Holy Ghost only draweth men’s hearts through preaching the word of truth, and holy living according thereto, he knew not; but unto the pope he subdued them, and unto this superstitious idolatry which we use clean contrary unto the scripture.
Moreover, at the request and great desire of his mother, he married the daughter of Desiderius, king of Lombardy; but after one year, unto the great displeasure of his mother, he put her away again; but not without the false subtilty of the pope, thou mayest be sure, neither without his dispensation. For how could Charles have made war for the pope’s pleasure with Desiderius her father, and have thrust him out of his kingdom, and banished his son for ever, dividing his kingdom between him and the pope, as long as she had been his wife? ^ And therefore the pope, with his authority of binding and loosing, loosed the bonds of that matrimony (as he hath many other since, and daily doth for like purposes), to the intent that he would with the sword of the French king put the kingdom of Lombardy, that was somewhat too nigh him, out of the way; by the reason of whose kings his fatherhood could not reign alone, nor assign or sell the bishopricks of Italy to whom he lusted, and at his pleasure.
He kept also four concubines, and lay with two of his own — daughters thereto. And though he wist how that it was not unknown, yet, his lusts being greater than great Charles, he would not wete, nor yet refrain. I
[[ i. e. the pope at the time of Tyndale’s writing.]:]
And beyond all that, the saying is, that in his old age a whore had so bewitched him with a ring and a pearl in it, and I wot not what imagery graven therein, that he went a salt after her as a dog after a bitch, and the dotehead was beside himself, and whole out of his mind: insomuch that when the whore was dead, he could not depart from the dead corpse, but caused it to be embalmed, and to be carried with him whithersoever he went, so that all the world wondered at him; till at the last his lords accombered with carrying her from place to place, and ashamed that so old a man, so great an emperor, and such a most christian king, on whom and whose deeds every man’s eyes were set, should dote on a dead whore, took counsel what should be the cause: and it was eoncluded that it must needs be by enchantment. Then they went unto the coffin, and opened it, and sought and found this ring on her finger; which one of the lords took off, and put it on his own finger. When the ring was off, he commanded to bury her, regarding her no longer. Nevertheless, he cast a fantasy unto this lord, and began to dote as fast on him, so that he might never be out of sight; but where our Charles was, there must that lord also be; and what Charles did, that must he be privy unto: until that.this lord, perceiving that it came because of this enchanted ring, for very pain and tediousness took and cast it into a well at Acon in Dutehland. And after that the ring was in the well, the emperor could never depart from the town; but in the said place where the ring was cast, though it were a foul morass, yet he built a goodly monastery in the worship of our lady, and thither brought relics from whence he could get them, and pardons to sanctify the place, and to make it more haunted. And there he lieth, and is a saint, as right is: for he did for Christ’s vicar as much as the great Turk for Mahomet; but to save his holiness, that he might be canonized for a saint, they feign in his life, that his abiding there so continually was for the hot-baths’ sakes which be there.
After Charlemagne Lewis the mild was emperor, which
[2 Aix la Chapelle. ] [3 Neither Eginhart, nor Aimon, nor their annotators, nor Gibbon,]
[nor Gaillard have taken any notice of the existence of the above wild]
[legend. ] - [4 Louis le Débonnaire.]]
was a very patient man, (another Phocas, and another prey for the pope,) and so meek and soft, that scarcely he could be angry at any thing at all. When our holy fathers had seen his water, and spied what complexion he was, they chose Stephen, the fourth of that name, pope, without his knowledge, and bade him neither good morrow, nor good even, nor once God speed about the matter, against their own grant unto his father for his good service. And his softness was yet somewith- what displeased therewith, inasmuch as the election of the pope pertained unto his right. But the pope sent ambassadors, and wrote all the excuses that he could, and came after himself to France to him, and peaced him, and crowned him there emperor, and passed the time a season with him, and they became very familiar together.
After that they chose Paschalis pope, of the same manner; which Paschalis sent immediately legates unto the emperor soft Lewis, excusing himself, and saying that it was not his fault, but that the clergy and the common people had drawn him thereto with violence against his will. Then the €mperor was content for that once, and bade they should no more do so, but that the old ordinance ought to be kept. The softness ef this Lewis did him much care: for he was after prisoned of his own son, with help of pope Gregory the fourth. After this man’s days the popes never regarded the by emperors, nor did the clergy of Rome sue any more to the. emperor, either for the election or confirmation of the pope. Moreover, after this Lewis, there was never emperor in Christendom of any power, or able of his own might to correct any pope; neither was there any king that could correct the outrageous viees of the spiritualty of his own realm after this time. For this Lewis left three sons, among which he divided the realm of France and all Dutehland!: which same, for pride and disdain that one should have more than another, fell together (as we say) by the ears, each destroying other’s power, so that France was afterward of no might to do any great thing. And then the pope reigned in Italy alone, without care of any emperor: insomuch that Nicholas the first decreed that no secular prince or emperor should have aught to do, or be at the councils of the clergy?: [! That is, Germany.] y [? Approbante Ludovico imperatore instituit [Nicolaus], Ne prin-
And after that Adrian the second was chosen pope; the emperor’s deputy being in Rome, and not once spoken to of the matter. And when the emperor’s ambassadors disdained, they answered, Who can resist the rage of the people?’ and prayed them to be content, and to salute him as ροροῦ, And Adrian the third decreed that they should not abide or tarry for the emperor’s confirmation or authority in choosing the pope, and that the pope only should call a general council, and not the emperor; or, if the emperor would presume that to do, the council should be of none effect, though all the prelates of Christendom were there, and though whatsoever they did were but God’s word. So mighty was the beast now waxed, when he once began to reign alone. And from 3 this time hitherto perished the power of the emperors and the virtue of the popes, saith Platina, in the life of popes?. For sinee that time, as there was none emperor of might, so was there no pope of any virtue. fter this Lewis, the empire of France and of all Dutchland was divided between his three sons; which, as I said, fought one with another, and destroyed the strength of the empire of France. And from that time to this, which is above seven hundred years, thou shalt read of few popes that have not led their lives in bloodshedding; insomuch that if thou eonsider the stories well, thou shalt easily perceive that there hath been slain about their cause far above forty hundred thousand men; beside that there hath been but few princes in Christendom that hath not been busied and cumbered, a great part of his life, about their matter; either in wars begun at their setting on; either in ceasing schisms or division that hath been among the clergy, who should be
[ceps ullus secularis aut imperator conciliis clericorum interesse auderet,]
[nisi de fide ageretur: licere tum ac par esse censuit.—Platina. D. V.]
[Pont.] [3 So Platina, A.D. 867—8.] [2 Hadrianus III. tanti animi fuit, ut initio pontificatus sui statim]
[ad senatum populumque retulerit ne in creando pontifice imperatoris]
[auctoritas exspectaretur.—Platina relating this gives the date 895; but]
[other chronologists assign the brief popedom of Adrian IIL to 884.] [δ S. and 8. ed. hitherward.]]
[6 Nescio quo fato accidisse dicam, ut una cum industria impera-]
[torum simul etiam pontificum virtus et integritas defecerit.—Plat.]
[D. V. Pont. in vita Formosi. A. p. 891—6.]]
[1 The two oldest editions have mischieven.] [2 Tyndale uses this word ironically for fiction. ] ἐξ]
in which false prophets should arise, and shew miracles and wonders, to deceive the very elect, if it had been possible.
Finally, in this busy world, the kings of Lombardy gat 8 little might, and came up again, and were divers times emperors, though of no great might. And one Beringarius, king of Lombardy, began to meddle with our holy father’s business. Wherefore the pope fled unto Otho king of the Saxons, which by that time had gotten might, and brought him into Italy against Beringarium; which Otho overcame Beringarium, and was made emperor for his labour, and thus came the empire first unto Dutchland?.
And Otho received the empire of one pope John (say they) with this oath: “I Otho do promise and swear unto the lord John, by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and by this wood of the cross that maketh living, and by these” relies of saints, that if I come to Rome, with God’s help I will exalt the holy church of Rome, and thee the governor of the same unto my power. Neither shalt thou lose life nor members, or that honour that thou hast, by my will, counsel, consent, or setting awork. Moreover, I will make in Rome no constitution or ordinance, of anything that pertaineth unto thee, or unto the Romans, without thy counsel. And whatsoever of the lands of St Peter cometh unto our hands, I will deliver it thee. And unto whosoever I shall commit the rule of Italy, I will make him swear that he shall help thee to defend the lands of St Peter unto his power.”
And Gregory the fifth (when they had got at the last that which they long gaped for) made this ordinance of choosing the emperor, to stablish it withal: that six lords of [3 The events of this paragraph are told in Platina of the popedom of Agapete IL, but it is in relating the history of his successor John XII, that he says, Translato tum primum ad Germanos imperio; of which however he confesses that some refer this transaction to the popedom of Leo VIII. Hence Tyndale’s expression of uncertainty they say, in the next sentence. Agapete IL became pope in 946; Leo, 18 years 2 Tyndale is here translating the words, vivificee crucis. This oath later. is incorporated into the canon law, where it forms ca. 33. of Dist. Ixiii, Decret. pars 1?^.] (5 Thee is wanting in D., but given in the two older editions, and found in the Latin canon.]
Almany, three of the spiritualty, and three of the temporalty, with the king of Bohemia the seventh, to be the odd man and umpire, should choose him for ever, and send him to the pope to receive his oath, and to be crowned’. N evertheless the pope, to keep the emperor afar off, sendeth him his coronation home to him oft-times, much lever than that he should come any nearer, as a meek spirited man that had lever live solitary and alone, than have his holiness seen.
A proper similitude to describe our holy Father
And to see how our holy father came up, mark the ensample of an ivy tree: first it springeth out of the earth, and then awhile creepeth along by the ground till it find a great tree, Then it joineth itself beneath alow unto the body of the tree, and creepeth up a little and a little, fair and softly. And at the beginning, while it is yet thin and small, that the burden is not perceived, it seemeth glorious to garnish the — tree in the winter, and to bear off the tempests of the weather. a But in the mean season it thrusteth roots into the bark of the tree, to hold fast withal; and ceaseth not to climb up, till it be at the top and above all. And then it sendeth his branches along by the branches of the tree, and overgroweth all, and waxeth great, heavy, and thick; and sucketh the moisture so sore out of the tree and his branches, that it choaketh and stifleth them. And then the foul stinking ivy waxeth mighty in the stump of the tree, and becometh a seat and a nest for all unclean birds, and for blind owls, which hawk in the dark, and dare not come at the light.
Even so the bishop of Rome, now called pope, at the beginning crope along upon the earth; and every man trod upon him in this world. But as soon as there came a christian emperor, he joined himself unto his feet and kissed them, and crope up a little with begging now this privilege, now that; now this city, now that; to find poor people withal, and the necessary ministers of God’s word. And he entitled € the emperor with choosing the pope and other bishops; and promoted in the spiritualty, not whom virtue and learning, unto ine, “7 p Plat. D. V. Pont. in Vita. Greg. V. whose popedom extended only from 996 to 999.]
but whom the favour of great men commended; to flatter, to get friends, and defenders withal. And the alms of the congregation which was the food and patrimony of the poor and necessary preachers, that he called St Peter’s patrimony, St Peter’s rent, St Peter’s lands, St Peter’s right; to cast a vain fear and a heathenish superstitiousness into the hearts of men, that no man should dare meddle with whatsoever came once into their hands for fear of St Peter, though they ministered it never so evil; and that they which should think it none alms to give them any more (because they had too much already) should yet give St Peter somewhat, (as Nabuchodo-nesser gave his god Beel) to purchase an advocate and an intereessor of St Peter, and that St Peter should at the first knock let them in. And thus, with flattering and feigning, and vain superstition, under the name of St Peter, he crept up and fastened his roots in the heart of the emperor, and with his sword elamb up above all his fellow-bishops, and brought them under his feet. And as he subdued them with the emperor’s sword, even so by subtilty and help of them (after that they were sworn faithful) he clamb above the emperor, and subdued him also, and made him stoop unto his feet and kiss them another while. Yea, pope Coelestinus crowned the emperor Henry the fifth?, holding the crown between his feet: and when he had put the crown on, he smote it off with his feet again, saying, that he had might to make emperors and to put them down again?
And he made a constitution, that no layman should meddle with their matters, nor be in their councils, or wit what they
[2 The pope was Celestine IIL, but the emperor was Henry VL,]
[not the fifth. The date 1191.] [ This is related in Hoveden, a chronicler contemporary with]
[Ceelestine IIL, as follows: Deinde introduxit eos dominus papa in ec-]
[clesiam, et unxit eum in imperatorem et uxorem suam in imperatricem.]
[Sedebat autem dominus papa in cathedra pontificali, tenens coronam]
[auream imperialem inter pedes suos; et imperator inclinato capite]
[recepit eoronam, et imperatrix similiter, de pedibus domini pape.]
[Dominus autem papa statim percussit eum pede suo coronam impera-]
[i toris, et dejecit eum [eam] in terra, significans quod ipse potestatem]
[ejiciendi eum ab imperio habet, si ille demeruerit: sed cardinales]
[statim corripientes coronam imposuerunt eam capiti imperatoris.—]
[Roger. Hoveden. Annal. Angl. p. 689, in Rerum Anglic. script. post]
[Bed. precip. Francofurti. wpcr.]]
- dc iE 272 THE PRACTICE OF PRELATES. E did; and that the pope only should call the council?, and the emperor should but defend the pope?; provided alway that the council should be in one of the pope’s towns, and where the pope’s power was greater than the emperor’s, Then, under a pretence of condemning some heresy, he called a general council, where he made one a patriarch, another car- — dinal, another legate, another primate, another archbishop, another bishop, another dean, another archdeacon, and so forth, as we now see. pater, And as the pope played with the emperor, so did his branches and his members, the bishops, play in every kingdom, dukedom, and lordship; insomuch that the very heirs of them by whom they came up, hold now their lands of them, and take them for their chief lords. And as the emperor is sworn to the pope, even so every king is sworn to
[1 Dist. xxviii. cap. 17. De presbyteris non est laicis judicandum.]
[De presbyteris vobis qui laici estis nec judicandum est, nec de eorum P]
[vita quidpiam investigandum. This sentence is incorporated into the ἡ]
[decretal from Nicolaus papa I. ad consulta Bulgarorum,. 7. Date]
[866.] (2 Dist. xvii. cap. 5. Non est concilium sed conventiculum, quod]
[sine sedis apostolic auctoritate celebratur. Item Pelagius papa IL]
[Multis denuo apostolicis et canonicis atque ecclesiasticis instruimur]
[regulis, non debere absque sententia Romani pontificis concilia cele-]
[brari. The same is affirmed in cap. 1 and 2 of the same Distinetio.] [8 Uterque ergo est in potestate ecclesise, spiritalis scilicet gladius et]
[materialis. Sed is quidem pro ecclesia, ille vero ab ecclesia exercendus:]
[ille sacerdotis, is manu regum et militum, sed ad nutum et patientiam]
[sacerdotis. Oportet autem gladium esse sub gladio, et temporalem]
[auctoritatem spiritali subjici potestati. Boniface VIII. Extrav. comm.]
[Lib. 1. Tit. vir. cap. 1. Corp. juris canonici. Lugduni 1622.] [4 At the time of Tyndale’s writing this it was notorious that the]
[emperor was urging Clement VII. to summon a council, and to let its]
[sessions be held in some German city: this however the pope de-]
[clined. Il papa, says father Paul, propose per luogo una delle eittá]
[dello stato ecclesiastico; [dicendo] Non poter in aleun modo consentire]
[di celebrarlo in Germania, perche 1 “Italia non comportarebbe d’esser]
[posposta; ela Spagna e Francia, che nelle cose ecclesiastiche cedono]
[all Italia per la prerogativa del pontificato, che é proprio di quella, non]
[vorrebbono ceder alla Germania. Quanto al modo di definire le cose]
[in concilio, diceva il pontifice esser cosa chiara che nel concilio non]
[hanno voto, se non i vescovi per dritto del canone, e gli abbati per con-]
[suetudine, ed aleuni altri per privilegio pontificio.—Hist. del Concil.]
[Tridentino. Lond. 1619. p. 58.]]
the bishops and prelates of his realm: and they are the chiefest in all parliaments; yea, they and their money, and. they that be sworn to them, and come up by them, rule altogether.
And thus the pope, the father of all hypocrites, hath with falsehood and guile perverted the order of the world, and turned the roots of the trees upward, and hath put down the kingdom of Christ, and set up the kingdom of the devil, whose vicar he is; and hath put down the ministers of Christ, and hath set up the ministers of Satan, disguised yet in names and garments like unto the angels of light and ministers of righteousness. For Christ’s kingdom is not of the world (John xviii.); and the pope’s kingdom is all the world.
And Christ is neither judge nor divider in this world (Luke xii): but the pope judgeth and divideth all the world, and taketh the empire and all kingdoms, and giveth them to whom he lusteth.
Christ saith, Blessed are the poor in spirit:” so that the first step in the kingdom of Christ is humbleness, or humility; that thou canst find in thine heart to do service unto all men, and to suffer that all men tread thee.
The pope saith, Blessed be the proud and high-minded, that can climb and subdue all under them, and maintain their right, and such as will suffer of no man: so that he which was yesterday taken from the dunghill and promoted this day by his prince, shall to-morrow, for the pope’s pleasure, curse him, and excommunicate him, and interdict his realm.
Christ saith, Blessed be the meek,” or soft, that be harmless as doves.
The pope blesseth them that can set all the world together by the ears, and fight, and slay manfully for his sake, that he may come hot from blood-shedding to a bishoprick; as our cardinal did5, and as St Thomas of Canterbury did, which
[3 [5 The care of providing all that was requisite for the French war]
[of 1513 was confided to Wolsey. He attended the king to his campaign,]
[and became the prineipal person at his side, being deemed the author]
[of the expedition; and he participated in all the reputation which it]
[gained. He was appointed bishop of the conquered town of Tournay,]
[and in the following year bishop of Lincoln, and also, on the death of]
[one of his patrons, archbishop of York.” Sh. Turner, Hist. Hen. VIII.]
[B. 1. ch. 7, Vol. 1. p. 179, 2nd ed.] [TYNDALE, 11.] 13]
was made bishop in the field, in complete harness on his horseback, and his spear bloody in his hand!.
Christ hath neither holes for foxes, nor nests for birds, nor yet whereon to lay his head, nor promised aught in this world unto his disciples, nor took any to his disciple but him that had forsaken all. iu The ivy-tree, the pope, hath under his roots throughout all Christendom, in every village, holes for foxes, and nests for unclean birds in all his branches, and promiseth unto his disciples all the promotions of the world. ES The nearer unto Christ a man cometh, the lower he must but descend, and the poorer he must wax. But the nearer unto on the pope ye come, the higher ye must climb, and the more riches ye must gather, whencesoever ye can get them, to pay for your bulls, and to purchase a glorious name, and licence to wear a mitre, and a cross, and a pall, and goodly ornaments, How the pope receiveth his kingdom of the devil, and how he distributeth it again.: Short, the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of « them, which Christ refused, (Matt. iv.) did the devil proffer unto the pope; and he immediately fell from Christ, and worshipped the devil, and received them. For by falsehead (as he maintaineth them) came he thereto; and by falsehead do all his disciples come thereto. Who of an hundred one is pope, bishop, or any great prelate, but either by necromancy, or simony, or waiting on great men’s pleasures, and with corrupting of God’s word, and fashioning it after their lusts?
And the pope, after he had received the kingdom of the world of the devil, and was become the devil’s vicar, took up in like manner all Christendom on high, and brought them from the meekness of Christ unto the high hill of the pride of Lucifer, and shewed them all the kingdoms of the earth, saying: Fall down and worship me, and I will give you these. Unto the spiritualty he saith: Fall from Christ, and
[1 It is not historically correct to say that Becket was made]
[bishop in the field; but the language of his chaplain and biographer,]
[yes Fitz-Stephen, might seem to Tyndale to imply that he was]
[80 i]
preach me, and take thou that cardinalship, thou that bishoprick, thou that abbotship, and so forth; thou as many benefices as thou wilt, and a dispensation for what thou wilt And to monks and friars in like manner: Take thou that hole, and thou that nest, with what privileges ye will desire, and dispensations of your rules, if ye will preach me.’
And unto the temporalty he saith, first to the emperor: “If thou wilt fall down and kiss my feet, and swear to hold of me, and to defend me, I give thee the empire.”
And to all kings, in like manner, if they will swear to defend his liberties, and to hold of him, he crowneth them. And even so all temporal lords, from the highest unto the lowest, and all officers, and all manner subjects, if they will enjoy lands, rents, offices, goods, and their very lives, they must run the same way.
The very whores (God’s honour unregarded), as long as they despise not him and his ordinances, they shall nest in his rents?, and among his prelates, And the thieves and murderers shall have dens in his sanctuaries, whatsoever they do against God, so long as they hang on him.
The apostles chose priests to preach Christ only, all other things laid apart, and chose none but learned and virtuous. The pope shaveth whosoever cometh, lever out of the stews than from study: and when they be sworn, he sendeth them unto all great men’s houses to preach his godhead, to be stewards, surveyors, receivers, and counsellors of all. manner mischief; to corrupt wife, daughter, and maid, and to betray their own master, as oft as it needeth to promote their falsehood withal: for thereto are they sworn together. And when they have done all mischief, there shall no man wot whence it cometh.
The apostles chose deacons to minister the alms of the [2 Clement VIL. was neither withheld by the general outer for a
[reform of these abuses, nor by shame, from giving to his nephew,]
[Cardinal Ippolito de Medici, authority to take possession of all the]
[vacant benefices in the whole world, secular and regular, dignified and]
[parochial, simple or with cure of souls, and to hold them in commendam]
[for six months, with faculty to dispose of and convert to his own use]
[all the fruits thereof. Concil. Trident. p. 246.] [8 Tenements, which pay rent immediately to the proprietor of the]
[8011. Certain tenements on the banks of the Thames, called the]
[bishop of Winchester’s rents, were then in very ill fame ] 18—2]
rich unto the poor; and to help the deacons, they chose widows of sixty years old, holy, and destitute of friends, to tend the sick, And the pope instead of such widows maketh whosoever cometh, whether she be young or old, but none save them that be rich and able to pay twenty, thirty, or forty pound for their profession; to whom, for as much more, he will give a dispensation on the morrow to marry again. And instead of such deacons, he maketh both deacons and sub-deacons, which do nothing at all but are vain names without office; except it be that on some holy day, instead of ministering the goods of the church unto the poor, they sing an epistle or gospel, to beg more from the poor.
And as his deacons minister the goods of the church unto the poor, even so do his priests preach Christ’s gospel unto the flock.
And the alms that was given to the sustentation of the — poor, which thou shalt read in stories that it was in some the cities above twenty, thirty, and forty, yea, an hundred thousand pound, and all the lands given for the same purpose, they have stolen from them, and have divided it among themselves. And therewith did they at the beginning corrupt the great men of the world, and clamb up to this height, where they now be. And for that have they striven among themselves this eight hundred years: and, to maintain that which they have falsely gotten, hath the pope stirred up a sword of war in all Christendom this eight hundred year, and hath taken peace clean out of the world.
When the bishops, priests, and deacons were fallen, and had received of the pope the kingdom that pertained unto the poor people, and had robbed them, and parted their patriMODY among themselves, then sprang the orders of monks; whose profession was, to abstain from flesh all their lives!, to wear vile raiment, to eat but once in the day, and that
[[! Carnem cuiquam monacho nee sumendi nee gustandi est con-]
[cessa lieentia; non quod creaturam Dei judicemus indignam, sed quod]
[carnis abstinentia utilis et apta monachis sestimetur; servato tamen]
[moderamine pietatis erga segrotos. Quod si quis monachus violaverit,]
[et contra sanctionem regule usumque veterum vesci carnibus pree-]
[sumpserit; sex mensium spatio retrusioni et peenitentize subjacebit.—]
[Corp. Jur. canon. Decret. pars ur. De Consecr. Dist. v. can. 32. Lug-]
[duni. 1622.] ui]
“n ^
PRIESTS, MONKS, AND FRIARS, 271 but butter, cheese, eggs, fruits, roots, and such things that were not costly, and might everywhere be found. And they wrote books, and wrought divers things, to get their living withal. When the laymen saw that the priests were fallen into such covetousness, and that the monks were so holy, they thought, These be meet men to minister our alms unto the poor people: for their profession is so holy that they cannot deceive us as the priests do:’ and made the monks tutors? and ministers unto the poor; and gave great lands and riches into their hands, to deal it unto the poor. When the monks Saw such abundance, they fell after the ensample of the priests; and took dispensations of the pope for their rules and strait profession, which now is as wide as their cowls; and divided all among them, and robbed the poor once more. And out of the abbeys took he the most part of his bishopricks and cathedral churches, and the most part of all the lands he hath, besides that there remain yet so many mighty abbeys, and nunneries thereto.
As soon as the monks were fallen, then sprang these begging friars out of hell, the last kind of caterpillars, in a more vile apparel, and a more strait religion; that, if aught of relief were left among the laymen for the poor people, these horse-leeches might suck that also: which drone-bees, as soon as they had learned their craft, and had built them goodly and costly nests, and their limiters had divided all countries among them to beg in, and had prepared livings of a certainty, though with begging; then they also took dispensations of the pope, for to live as largely and as lewdly as the monks.
And yet unto the laymen, whom they have thus falsely robbed, and from which they have divided themselves, and made them a several kingdom among themselves, they leave the paying of toll, custom, and tribute (for unto all the charges of the realms will they not pay one mite?), and the
[2 That is, guardians, defenders of their property.] [3 In the Corpus Juris canonici, Sexti Decret. Lib. mr. Tit. xxiii.]
[przecipit personas ecclesiasticas pro rebus suis vel ecclesiarum nil laicis]
[solvere debere absque licentia apostoliez sedis, sub quocunque colore]
[mutui, subventionis, doni, vel alio quolibet; ut etiam ipsi laici tallias]
[non exigant, vel recipiant; singulares contra facientes excommunicat;]
[et ab his sententiis solus papa absolvit, preterquam in mortis articulo. ]]
finding of all the poor, the finding of scholars for the most part, the finding of these foresaid horse-leeches and caterpillars, the begging friars, the repairing of the high-ways and bridges, the building and reparations of their abbeys and cathedral churches, chapels, colleges; for which they send out their pardons daily by heaps, and gather a thousand pounds for every hundred that they bestow truly.
If the lay-people have war, or whatsoever charge it be, they will not bear a mite. If the war be theirs (as the one part almost of all war is to defend them), they will with falsehood make them bear the greatest part; besides that they must leave their wives and children, and go fight for them, and lose their lives. And likewise in all their charges they have a cast to poll the lay-people. The Scots cast down a castle of the bishop of Durham’s, on the Scottish bank, called Norham castle; and he gat a pardon from Rome for the building of it again: wherewith I doubt not but he gat for every penny, that he bestowed, three. And what do they with their store, that they have in so thir great plenty everywhere; so that the very begging friars, in short space, to make a cardinal or a pope of their sect, or to do what feat it were for their profit, would not stick to bring above a king’s ransom? Verily, make goodly places and parks of pleasure, and gay shrines, and painted posts, and purchase pardons, wherewith they yet still poll and pluck away that little wherewith the poor, which perish for need, and fall into great inconveniences, might be somewhat holpen and relieved; and lay up in store to have alway to pay for the defending of their faith, and for to oppress the truth. —. How the pope made him a law, and why. bis After that the pope with tyranny was clomb up above his [! Norham Castle, though on the Scottish border, is on the English
[side of the Tweed; and in a survey of the borders made by Sir Robert]
[Bowes and Sir Ralph Elleker, knts., Dec. 1542, it is reported to be]
[in a very good state, both in reparations and fortifications. But this]
[report was drawn up when Bp Tonstal was in favour at court. An-]
[other report drawn up by Sir Robert Bowes but eight years later for]
[the marquess of Dorset, then warden of the Marches, says that “The]
[castle for lack of continual reparation is in much decay,” and specifies]
[considerable decays at some length.—Hodgson’s Northumberland,]
[Part ur. Vol. ri. pp. 190 and 197—9.]]
brethren, and had made all the spiritualty his subjects, and had made of them and him a several kingdom among themselves, and had separated them from the lay in all things, and had got privileges, that whatsoever they did no man should meddle with them; and after also he had received the kingdoms of the earth of Satan, and was become his vicar to distribute them; and after that the emperor was fallen in like manner at his feet, and had worshipped him as god, to receive his empire of him; and all kings had done likewise to be anointed of him, and to be crowned of him; and after that the world, both great and small, had submitted themselves to receive the beast’s badge; then, because that Christ’s doctrine was contrary unto all such kingdoms, and therefore had no law therein how to rule it, he went and made him a several law of his own making, which passed in cruelty and tyranny the laws of all heathen princes.
And in his law he thrust in feigned gifts of old emperors that were out of memory, saying that the emperor Constantinus had given up the empire of Rome unto St Sylvester?; which is proved a false lie, for divers causes: one, that Stu Sylvester, being so holy a man, as he was, would not have received it contrary to his Master’s commandments and doctrine; another, that the emperors reigned in Rome many years after, and all bishops sued unto the emperor, and not to the pope, which was but bishop of Rome only, and not called father of fathers: moreover, that no authentic story maketh mention that any emperor gave them their patrimony, but that Pipine, which falsely and with strength invaded the empire, gave it unto him. Then put he in the grant of Phocas; then the gift of Pipine confirmed by the great Charles; then a feigned release of the election of the pope, given up again unto pope Paschal by the emperor Lewis?, For they themselves had granted unto Charlemagne and his
[2 In the papal law, Decreti pars 17^, Dist. xcvr. can. 13, says,]
[Constantinus imperator coronam et omnem regiam dignitatem in urbe]
[Romana et in Italia et in partibus occidentalibus apostolico concessit.]
[Nam gestis beati Sylvestri (quod beatus papa Gelasius in conventu]
[lxx episcoporum a catholicis legi commemorat, et pro antiquo usu]
[multas hoc imitari dicit ecclesias) ita legitur. And then the pretended]
[deed of gift follows, and constitutes can. 14 of the same Distinctio. ] [3 His concession is incorporated in the papal law, as can. 30 of]
[Dist. Lx. Decret. pars 1?
280 THE PRACTICE OF PRELATES. successors for ever the election or denomination of the pope and bishops, to flatter him withal, and to make him faithful defender, and that in a general council, which (as they say) cannot err. Nevertheless pope Paschal, though he believed the council eould not err, yet he thought them somewhat overseen to make so long a grant, and therefore he purchased a release of gentle Lewis, as they pretend. But verily it is more likely that they feigned that grant to excuse their tyranny, after they had taken the election into their hands again with violence, when the emperors were weak, and not able to resist them; as they feigned the gift of Constantine, after they had invaded the empire with subtilty and falsehood. And, last of all, they brought in the oath of Otho, with the order that now is used, to choose the emperor.
How the pope corrupteth the scripture, and why
Moreover, lest these his lies should be spied, and lest haply the emperors following might say, Our predecessors had o power to bind us, nor to minish our might;” and lest kings following should say after the same manner, that the sword, and full power to punish evildoers indifferently, is given of God to every king for his time, and therefore that their predecessor could not bind them contrary unto the ordinance of God, but rather that it was unto their damnation to make such grants, and that they did not execute their office;. therefore! the foul and misshapen monster gat him to the scripture, and corrupted it with false expositions, to prove that such authority was given him of God; and challenged it Dy the authority of Peter, saying that Peter was the head of Christ’s church, and that Christ had made him lord over the apostles, his fellows, in that he bade him feed his sheep and lambs?, John the last; as who should say that Paul,
[[! Old editions, and therefore.] [2 Igitur ecclesise unius et unicee unum corpus, unum caput, non]
[dua capita, quasi monstrum, Christus videlicet, et Christi vicarius]
[Petrus, Petrique successor, dicente Domino ipsi Petro, Pasce oves]
[meas, inquit et generaliter, non singulariter has vel illas, per quod]
[commisisse sibi intelligitur universas. Sive ergo Greci sive alii se]
[dicant Petro ejusque successoribus non esse commissos, fateantur ne-]
[cesse se de ovibus Christi non esse.—Corp. Jur. canon. Extrav. com-]
[mun. Lib. 1. Tit. vir. ean. 1, Unam sanctam. ]]
T7 B THE POPE CORRUPTETH SCRIPTURE, 281 which came long after, was not commanded to feed as esfpeeially as Peter, which yet would take none authority over the bodies or over the faiths of them which he fed, but was their servant for Christ’s sake, Christ ever the lord and head; and as though the other apostles were not likewise as specially commanded as Peter; and as though we now, and all that hereafter shall love Christ, were not commanded to feed Christ’s flock, every man in his measure, as well as Peter. Are not we commanded to love our neighbours as ourselves, as well as Peter? Why then are we not commanded to care for his flock, as well as Peter? —
Moreover, if to feed Christ’s sheep is to be greatest, (as no doubt to feed Christ’s flock is to be great, and most to feed is to be greatest; in which office, though Peter was great, yet Paul was greater;) how cometh it that the pope by that authority challengeth to be greatest, and yet this eight hundred years feedeth not at all; but poisoneth their pasture with the venomous leaven of his traditions, and with wresting the text unto a contrary sense?
Then came he to this text, (Matt. xvi), Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my congregation” or church. Lo, saith antichrist, the carnal beast, Peter is the rock whereon the church of Christ is built?; and I am his suecessor, and therefore the head of Christ’s church: when Christ meant by the rock the confession that Peter had confessed, saying, Thou art Christ, the son of the living God,” which art come into this world. This faith is the rock whereon Christ’s church is built. For who is of Christ’s church, but he only that believeth that Christ is God’s Son, come into this world to save sinners? This faith is it, against which hell-gates cannot prevail. This faith is it, which saveth the congregation of Christ; and not Peter.
[3 Ita Dominus ad omnium apostolorum officium pertinere voluit,]
[ut in beatissimo Petro apostolorum omnium summo principaliter col-]
[locaret: ut ab ipso quasi quodam capite dona sua, velut in corpus]
[omne diffunderet, ut exsortem se mysterii intelligeret esse divini, qui]
[ausus fuisset a Petri soliditate recedere. Hune enim in consortium]
[individus unitatis assumptum, id quod ipse erat voluit nominari, di-]
[cendo, Tu es Petrus et super hanc Petram sedificabo ecclesiam meam;]
[ut seterni szedificatio templi mirabili munere gratise Dei in Petri solidi-]
[tate consisteret. —Corp. Jur. can. Decr. 1”^ pars. Dist. xix. can. 7.]]
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