A46876:202
The apology of the Church of England, and an epistle to one Seignior Scipio…
The apology of the Church of England, and an epistle to one Seignior Scipio a Venetian gentleman, concerning the Council of Trent written both in Latin / by ... John Jewel ... ; made English by a person of quality ; to which is added, The life of the said bishop ; collected and written by the same hand.
London: printed by T. H. for Richard Chiswell, 1685
THE APOLOGY OF THE Church of ENGLAND. Written by the very Learned a… › Chapter 2
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Paul expresseth it, might wax worse and worse; this we take to be the meaning of the Keys, and that in this manner the Consciences of Men are either bound or loosed. We say that the Priest is a Judge; but then we say with St. Ambrose, that he hath not the Right of any Dominion; and therefore Christ reprehended the Scribes and Pharisees with these words, that he might reprove their Negligence in teaching:1 Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, for you have taken away the Key of Knowledge, and shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men. Seeing then the Key, by which a Passage is opened for us into the Kingdom of Heaven, is the Word of the Gospel, and the Interpretation of the Law and the Scriptures: where there is no such Word, there is no Key. And seeing the same word was given to all, and the Key which pertains to all, is but one; we say that the Power of all Ministers as to binding and loosing, is one and the same; and we say, that even the Pope himself, notwithstanding his Flatterers, do so sweetly sooth him up with these words,2 I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; as if they belonged to him, and to no other Mortal under Heaven; except he makes it his Business to bend and subdue the Consciences of Men to the Word of God, we deny that even he (as I said) can either open or shut, or hath at all the Keys; and although he •oth teach and instruct the People (which I ⟨p. 26⟩wish he would sometimes do truly, and at last be persuaded to believe it is at least some part of his Duty and Office) but yet if he did so, his Key would be neither better nor greater than that of others; for who made that difference? Who taught him to open more learnedly, or absolve more powerfully than his Brethren?
Paul expresseth it, might wax worse and worse; this we take to be the meaning of the Keys, and that in this manner the Consciences of Men are either bound or loosed. We say that the Priest is a Judge; but then we say with St. Ambrose, that he hath not the Right of any Dominion; and therefore Christ reprehended the Scribes and Pharisees with these words, that he might reprove their Negligence in teaching:1