A67922:552
Acts and monuments of matters most special and memorable, happening in the Church. [vol.…Actes and monuments of matters most speciall and memorable, happenyng in the Church. [vol.…
Acts and monuments of matters most special and memorable, happening in the Church. [vol. 1] with an universal history of the same, wherein is set forth at large the whole race and course of the Church, from the primitive age to these latter times of ours, with the bloody times, horrible troubles, and great persecutions against the true martyrs of Christ, sought and wrought as well by heathen emperors, as now lately practised by Romish prelates, especially in this realm of England and Scotland. Newly revised and recognised, partly also augmented, and now the fourth time again published and recommended to the studious reader, by the author (through the help of Christ our Lord) John Fox, which desireth thee good reader to help him with thy prayer.Actes and monuments of matters most speciall and memorable, happenyng in the Church. [vol. 1] with an vniuersall history of the same, wherein is set forth at large the whole race and course of the Church, from the primitiue age to these latter tymes of ours, with the bloudy times, horrible troubles, and great persecutions agaynst the true martyrs of Christ, sought and wrought as well by heathen emperours, as nowe lately practised by Romish prelates, especially in this realme of England and Scotland. Newly reuised and recognised, partly also augmented, and now the fourth time agayne published and recommended to the studious reader, by the author (through the helpe of Christ our Lord) Iohn Foxe, which desireth thee good reader to helpe him with thy prayer.
London: printed by John Daye, 1583London: printed by Iohn Daye, 1583
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.
And as it is sufficiently hitherto proved by Gods law, that all Ecclesiastical persons owe their due subjection to their lawful Princes, in matters as well temporal, as spiritual: so no less evidences may also be inferred out of mans law, and examples of the oldest fathers, to prove the same. And first to begin with the example of Gregory the great, who in his Epistle to Mauritius writeth thus: Dominus meus fuisti, 1quando adhuc Dominus omnium non eras: Ecce per me seruum ultimum suum, & vestrum respondebit Christus, &c. that is: You were then my Lord, when you were not the Lord of the whole Empire, behold Christ him self shall make you answer by me, which am his most simplest servant and yours, &c. And before him Eleutherius his predecessor Bishop of Rome, writing to Lucius, king of this Realm,2 calleth him by the name of Christs Vicar: But what needeth much confirmation of this matter, when the Popes decrees & Canons be full of records hereof, testifying how the ancient Church of Rome not only received, but also required of the Emperors, laws & constitutions to be made, touching not only such causes, but also such persons as were Ecclesiastical. And here to omit by the way the chap. Principes seculi, also cap. Administrators, 23. q. 5. with divers other beside, I will recite out of the Epistle of Boniface the 1. to the Emperor Honorius, 3so much as serveth for our purpose, written dist 92. cap. Ecclesiae, cap. Victor. Where it is mentioned that the said Bonifacius Bishop of Rome sent an humble supplication to the forenamed Emperor, desiring him by his authority to provide some remedy against the ambitious contentions of the clergy, concerning the bishopric of Rome. Which Emperor Honorius incontinent at his request, directed & stablished a law, that none should be made Bishop of Rome through ambition, charging all Ecclesiastical Ministers to surcease from ambition, appointing moreover, that if two were elected together, neither of them both should be taken, but the election to proceed further to an other to be chosen by a full consent of voices,4 as is expressed. Dist. 79. cap. Si duo.
And as it is sufficiently hetherto proued by Gods law, that all Ecclesiasticall persons owe their due subiection to their lawfull Princes, in matters as well tēporall, as spirituall: so no lesse euidēces may also be inferred out of mās law, and examples of the oldest fathers, to proue the same. And first to begyn with the example of Gregory the great, who in his Epistle to Mauritius writeth thus: Dominus meus fuisti,