MarginaliaAn. 1555. October.on, and together wyth you I dyd ackowledge the same. First as touching the saying of CHRIST, frō whence your Lordship gathereth the foundation of the church vpō Peter, truly the place is not so to be vnderstand as you take it, as the circumstaunce of the place will declare. For after that CRHIST had asked his disciples whom men iudged hym to bee, and they had aunswered, that some had sayd he was a Prophet, some Helias, some one thing, some an other: then he sayd, whom say ye that I am? Then Peter sayd: MarginaliaMath. 16.I say that thou art CHRIST the Sonne of God. To whom CHRIST aunswered: I say, Tue es Petrus, & super hanc Petra ædificabo ecclesiā meam. i.
Tu es Petrus, & super hanc Petra edificabo ecclesiam meam. [There is a macron missing above theaofPetrawhich should readPetram- cf. correction in1576.] Thou art Peter, and vpon this stone will I builde my church: that is to say, vpon thys stone. tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam. [Repeated on page 1969, column 2, line 62 and also on page 2055, column 2, line 11.]
Now as touching the MarginaliaLineall discent of the Bishop of Rome.lineall discent of the bishops in the sea of Rome, true it is that the Patriarke of Rome, in the Apostles tyme and long after, was a great mainteiner and a setter forth of CHRISTES glory, in the which aboue all other countreys & regions, there especially was preached the true Gospell, the Sacraments were most duly ministred, and as before CHRISTES comming it was a citie so valiaunt in prowes and marshall affaires, that all the world was in a maner subiect to it, and after CHRISTES passion diuers of the Apostels there suffered persecution for the Gospels sake: so after that the Emperours, their hartes being illuminated, receiued the Gospell and became Christians, the gospell there, aswell for the great power and dominion, as for the fame of the place florished most, MarginaliaWhy the Byshops of Rome haue bene more estemed then the Bishops of other cities.whereby the Bishops of that place were had in more reuerence and honor, most esteemed in all counsels and assemblies, not because they acknowledged them to bee their head, but because the place was most reuerenced and spoken of, for the great power and strength of the same. As nowe here in England the Bishop of Lyncolne in Sessions and sittings hath the preeminence of the other Bishops, not in that he is the head and ruler of them, but for the dignitie of the Bishopricke (& therwyth the people smyled). Wherefore the Doctours in their writings haue spoken most reuerently of thys sea of Rome, and in theyr writinges preferred it: MarginaliaThe prerogatiue that the doctors geue to the sea of Rome, and for what cause.and this is the prerogatiue which your Lordship dyd rehearse the auncient Doctors to geue to the sea of Rome.
[Back to Top]Semblably, I can not nor dare not but commende, reuerence, and honor the sea of Rome, MarginaliaThe sea of Rome so long as it continued in sound doctrine, was worthy to be reuerenced.as long as it cōtinued in the promotion and setting forth of Gods glory, and in due preaching of the Gospel, as it dyd many yeares after CHRIST. But after that the Bishops of that sea, seeking their own pride, & not Gods honour, began to set them selues aboue Kings and Emperors, challenging to them the title of Gods Vicars, the dominion and supremacy ouer all the world, I cā not but wyth S. Gregory a bishop of Rome also,
Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540 - 604).
keth hym self a bishop ouer all the world, is worse then Antichrist.MarginaliaThe B. of Rome proued to be Antichrist.
Now, where as you say that S. Austine should seeme, not onely to geue such a prerogatiue, but also a supremacie to þe Sea of Rome, in that he sayth, MarginaliaThe place of Saint Austen answered.all the Christian world is subiect to the Church of Rome, and therfore should geue to that Sea a certaine kinde of subiection: I am sure your Lordship knoweth that in S. Austines time there were. Marginalia4. Patriarckes in þe church in Austines time.iiij. Patriarckes, of Alexādria, Constantinople, Antioch, and Rome, which Patriarckes had vnder them certaine countreys, as in England the Archbishop of Canterbury hath vnder him diuers bishoprickes in England and Wales, to whom he may be sayd to be their Patriarcke. Also your lordship knoweth right well, that at what tyme S. Austen wrote this booke, he was then Bishop in Africa.Farther, you are not ignorant, that betwene Europe and Africa, lyeth the sea called Mare mediterraneum, so that all the countreys in Europe to hym which is in Africa, may be called transmarine, countreis beyond the Sea. Hereof S. Austen sayth: Totus orbis Christianus in transmarinis & longe remotis terris ecclesiæ Romanæ subiectus est.
Totus orbis Christianus in transmarinis & longe remotis terris Romanae Ecclesiae subiectus est. All the Christian countreys beyond the sea are subiect to the sea of Rome. totus orbis christianus in transmarinis et longe remotis terris. [See above, page 1923, column 2, line 44]
Ridley is arguing that the pope (as bishop of Rome) had authority over the churches in Europe but not over the sees of Constantinople, Antioch or Alexandria. As a result, the pope could not claim supremacy over the entire church.
For this preeminence also the other Doctors (as you recited) say, that MarginaliaRome may be mother of churches, and yet no supreme head of churches.Rome is the mother of Churches, as the bishopricke of Lincolne is mother to þe bishopricke of Oxford, because the Bishopricke of Oxford came from the Byshopricke of Lincolne, and they were both once one:
The bishopric of Oxford was created by Henry VIII in 1542 out of territory which was previously part of the vast diocese of Lincoln.
Now, where as you say I was once of the same religion which you are of, þe truth is, I can not but confesse the same. Yet so was S. Paule a persecutor of CHRST. But in that you say that I was one of you not longe a gone, in that I doing my message to my Lord of Winchester should desire hym to stande stout in that grosse opinion of the supper of the Lord, in very deede I was sent (as your Lordship sayde) from the Counsell to my Lord of Winchester, to exhort hym to receiue also the true confession of iustification, and because he was very refractorious,
Obstinate, stubborn, willful (OED).
MarginaliaD. Ridley falsely charged to preach trāsubstantiation at Paules crosse.In lyke sort, as touching my sermon which I made at Paules crosse, you shal vnderstād that there were at Paules & diuers other places, fixed railing bils against the Sacrament, terming it Iacke of þe boxe, the sacrament of the halter, round Robin, with lyke vnseemely termes: for the which causes, I to rebuke the vnreuerent behauiour of certayne euyll disposed persons,
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