The B. of Sarisburie.
Somme Mery felovve, I vvarrante you, ye saie. And thus, nowe in mirthe, nowe in sadnesse, ye haue of longe time mockte the worlde, and forced Kinges and Emperours to be your selaues.* 1.1 As for youre Newe Doctours, Iacke of Andrevve, and Sir Clement, as you euermore cal him, the Apostles felovve, we weighe them none otherwise, then they be worthy. But, touching Gregorie Nazianzene, it is true, that he saith, The Truthe, and Might of Goddes Worde infinitely passeth al wordly Power. But what maketh al this for the Pope, that walloweth onely in his Tem∣poralties, and worldly cares, and as wel in Preachinge Goddes Woorde, and Mi∣nistring the Sacramentes, as also in other Spiritual exercises, is as farre inferi∣oure to any meane Prieste, as the Earth is inferioure to the Heauens?
Howe be it, that it maie appeare, what prety Mirthe ye haue made herewith, one of youre owne Felowes saithe thus:* 1.2 Ecclesiastici debent iudicare per contempti∣biles, id est, per Laicos, Secundum tenorem, & debitum Terreni Iuris: The Ecclesiasti∣cal Officers, or Bishoppes, ought to iudge by them, that be Vile, and Contemptible, that is to saie, by the Laie Magistrates, according to the tenoure, and order of the Temporal Lavve. Here in your Mirthe, and pleasance, in comparison of your selues, ye cal Princes, and Temporal Magistrates, Vile, and Contemptible.
Againe,* 1.3 ye saie, Patet, Regnum, siue Regimen Regale non esse acceptum à Deo. Sed ipsum solùm permisit indignatus. Et magis esset acceptum Deo, quòd per solum Papam Mundus in omnibus regeretur: It is plaine, that the state of kingedome, or kingely gouernement came not from God. For God onely suffe∣red it in his anger. And it were more acceptable vnto God, that the whole world were in al thinges gouerned by the Pope alone. It were good, ye should tel vs, whether ye speake this onely in Mirthe, and Game, or els in earneste, and good sadnesse.
Verily, when yee so proudely compare the Pope to the Sonne, and the Empe∣roure to the Moone, youre meaning is, that, as the Moone hathe no light, but onely from the sonne, so the Emperoure hathe no Authoritie, but onely that he receiueth from the Pope.* 1.4 Notwithstandinge, in this comparison, Isidorus youre owne Doctour saithe, yee are sowly ouerseene. For thus he writeth, Per Solem intelligitur Regnum, & per Lunam intelligitur Sacerdotium: By the Sonne, is meante Kingely Dignitie, and by the Moone, is meante Priesthoode. Now therefore Iacke Andrevve, youre mery man, by this reckening maie caste youre coumptes backewarde, & saie, The Emperoure is seuentie, and seuen times greater, then the Pope.