The B. of Sarisburie.
Of the maineteinance of your Kingedome, M. Hardinge, Christe saide vnto certaine your Forefathers, Hoc est tempus Vestrum, & Potestas Tenebrarum: This is your time,* 1.1 and the Power of Darkenesse. Blinde they are, and the Guides of the Blinde. If the Blinde leade the Blinde, they wil bothe falle into the diche. The Lion, or wilde Bulle, be they neuer so cruel, or greate of courrage, yet, if yee maie once closely couer theire eies, yée maie easily leade them, whither yee liste, without re∣sistance. Euen so dooth the Pope hoodevvinke, and blindefolde the Princes of the world: whiche donne, he maketh them to holde his Stirope, to leade his Horse, to kneele downe, and to kisse his Shooe, and to attende vpon him, at his pleasure. But, if they knewe, either him, or them selues, they would not doo it.
S. Chrysostome saithe,* 1.2 as it is noted before, Haeretici Sacerdotes claudunt Ianuas Veritatis. Sciunt enim, si manifestara esset Veritas, quòd ipsorum Ec∣clesia esset relinquenda: & ipsi de Sacerdotali Dignitate ad Humilitatem veni∣rent popularem: Heretical Bishoppes shut vp the gates of the Truthe▪ For thei know, that, if the Truthe be once laide open, their Churche shalbe foresaken: And they from theire Pontifical Dignitie, shalbe brought downe to the basenesse of the people.
Petrus Ferrariensis,* 1.3 in consideration hereof, complaineth thus, O miseros Im∣peratores, & Saeculares Principes, qui haec, & alia sustinetis, & vos seruos Ecclesiae faci∣tis: Et Mundum per eos infinitis modis vsurpari videtis: nec de remedio cogitatis: Quia prudentiae, & Sapientiae non intenditis: Alas, miserable are yee, the Empe∣rours, and Princes of the vvorlde, that abide these, and other like thinges (at ye Popes handes,) and make your selues slaues vnto the Churche. Yee see, the worlde is by innume∣rable waies miserably abused by them: yet yee neuer bethinke your selues of any remedie: Bi∣cause yee applie not your mindes to vvisedome, and knovvledge.
S.* 1.4 Hierome saithe, Vt sagittent in obscuro rectos corde. Isti tantam sibi assumunt Authoritatem, vt siue Dextra doceant, seu Sinistra, id est, siue bona, siue mala, ••olint Discipulos ratione discutere, sed se praecessores sequi. Tunc hi, qui priùs decipiebant, nequaquam vltrà ad eos valebunt accedere, postquam se senserint intellectos: To strike in the darke, them, that be simple of harte. These menne challenge vnto them selues sutche Au∣thoritie, that, whether they teache with the Right hande, or with the Leafte, that is to saie, whether they teache good thinges, or badde, they wil not haue their Disciples, or Hearers, with reason to examine their saieinges, but onely to folowe them, beinge their Leaders. For then they, whiche before deceiued the people, can no more comme vnto them, after they once per∣ceiue, they be espied.