in the bloud of the Prophets. 31Therefore you are a testimonie to your owne selves, that you are the sonnes of them that killed the Prophets. 32And fil you up the measure of your Fathers. The Ghospel upon S. Stevens day Decemb. 26. And his Invention, Aug. 3.33You serpents, vipers broods, how wil you flee from the judgement of Hel? 34Therfore behold I send unto you Prophets, and wise men, and Scribes, and of them you shal kil & crucifie, and of them you shal scourge in your Synagogues, and persecute from citie into citie: 35that upon you may come al the just bloud that was shed upon the earth, from the bloud of Gen. 4, 8* Abel the just, even unto the bloud of 2. Par. 24, 22.* Zacharias the sonne of Barachias, whom you murdered between the temple & the Altar. 36Amen I say to you, al these things shal come upon this Generation. 37 Luc. 13, 34.* Hierusalem, Hierusalem, which killest the Prophets, and stonest them that were sent to thee, how often would I gather togeather thy children as the henne doth gather togeather her chickens under her wings, and thou [1] wouldest not? 38Behold, your house shal be left desert to you. 39For I say to you, you shal not see me from hence forth til you say: Blessed is he that commeth in the name of our Lord. ✠
ANNOTATIONS.
Chap. XXIII.
The See of Rome preserved in truth.2. Chaire of Moyses.) God preserveth the truth of Christian Religion in the Apostolike See of Rome, which is in the new Law answerable to the chaire of Moyses, notwithstanding the Bishops of the same were never so wicked of life: yea though some traitour as il as Judas were Bishop thereof, it should not be prejudicial to the Church and innocent Christians, for whom our Lord providing said: Doe that which they say, but doe not as they doe. August. Epist. 165.
Contra lit. Petil. li. 2. c. 51.The dignitie of the See of Rome, notwithstanding some evil Bishops thereof.3. Whatsoever they shal say.) Why (saith S. Augustin) doest thou call the Apostolike Chaire the chaire of pestilence? If for the men, Why? Did our Lord Jesus Christ for the Pharisees, any wrong to the Chaire wherein they sate? Did he not commend that chaire of Moyses, and preserving the honour of the Chaire, reprove them? For he saith: They sit upon the Chaire of Moyses, that which they say, doe ye. These things if you did wel consider, you would not for the men whom you defame, blaspheme the See Apostolike, wherwith you doe not communicate. And againe he saith: Contra lit. Petil. li. 2. c. 61Neither for the Pharisees (to whom you compare us not of wisdom but of malice) did our Lord command the Chaire of Moyses to be forsaken, in which Chaire verily he figured his owne, for he warned the People to doe that which they say, and not to doe that which they doe, and that the holinesse of the Chaire be in no case forsaken, nor the unity of the flock devided, for the naughty Pastours.
6. Love the first places.) He condemneth not due places of Superiority given or taken of men according to their degrees, but ambitious seeking for the same, and their proud hart and wicked intention, which he saw within them, and therfore might boldly reprehend them.
8. One is your Maister.) In the Catholike Church there is one Maister, Christ our Lord, and under him one Vicar, with whom al Catholike Doctours and teachers are one, because they teach al one thing. Many maisters are many Archheretikes.But in Archheretikes it is not so; where every one of them is a diverse Maister, and teacheth contrarie to the other, and wil be called Rabbi & Maister, every one, of their owne Disciples: Arius a Rabbi among the Arians, Luther among the Lutherans, and among the Calvinists Calvin.
Doctors, Masters, and spiritual fathers.10. Maisters.) Wyclefe, and the like Heretikes of this time, doe hereupon condemne degrees of Schoole & titles of Doctours and Maisters: where they might as wel reprove S. Paul for calling himself 1. Tim. 2.
2. Tim. 1.Doctour and Maister of the Gentiles: and for saying Eph. 4.* that there
- ↑ Free wil.
