Iurisdiction of Bishops jure divino as being no where found in the Scripture but the contrary sayd openly that in matters of divinity wee are not tyed to the Scriptures but to the Vniversall Catholicke Church in all ages for how said hee shall wee know the Scriptures but by the Church And therefore not without some reason doth that Iesuite in his Pamphlet printed in English 1636 intituled A Direction to bee observed by N. N. make a laudable mention of that great Prelate saying Although I ought not to dissemble but doe gladly acknowledge and deservedly publish in this occasion for a patterne to others in this Realme the care of the Chiefest Prelate in England in prohibiting the sale of Bookes tending to Socinianisme So there But what meaneth the Iesuite here by Socinianisme Hee tells us plainly pag. 16. and 17. in these words First then I say that the very Doctrine of Protestants if it be followed closely and with coherence to it selfe must of necessity induce Socinianisme This I say confidently and evidently proove by instancing in one errour which may well bee termed the Capitall and mother Heresy from which all other must follow at ease I meane their hereâ—y in affirming that the perpetually visible Church of Christ descended by a never interrupted succession fromour Saviour to this day is not infallible in all that it proposeth to bee believed as revealed truthes For if the infallibility of such a publicke Authority bee once impeached what remaines but that every man is given other to his owne wit and discourse And talke not here of holy Scripture And a little after And indeed take away the authority of Gods Church no man can bee assured that any one Booke or parsell of Scripture was written by divine inspiration or that all the contents are infallibly true which are the direct errours of Socinians So hee Where wee see what his meaning is when hee commends the chiefe Prelate as a patterne to all other in prohibiting such bookes as exalt the sole authority of holy Scripture as the onely Rule of faith Thus not unde servedly hee commends him for upholding the authority of the Church to wit of the Pope primarily and next after him the Prelates as whereon depends the authority and sence of Scripture Well But is this the way of setling the faith of Christians in the true religion Nay is it not the high ready way to unsetle all to make religion a wether-cocke to be turned this way or that way as the winde of mans unstable erronious fancy shall blow move it And for proofe hereof let us but obserue what the same Iesuite faith a little after For writing of the present state of our Church and that since this new generation of Doctors and Prelates hath Sprung up amongst us I know not from what Popish root hee saith * And to speake the trueth what learned judicious man can after unpartiall examination imbrace Protestantisme which waxeth even weary of it selfe Its Professors they especially of greatest worth learning and authority declare themselves to love temper and moderation allow of many things which some yeeres agoe were usually condemned as Superstitious and Artichristian and are at this time more unresolved where to fasten then at the infancie of their Church Thus by the way hee sheweth who they bee that are the chiefe Fathers of that new-fangle religion of Protestancy of late birth in England namely those of greatest worth learning and authority as the Prelates are counted to bee who are of that temper and moderation as they allow of many things which some yeeres agoe were usually condemned as superstitious and Antichristian But how doth the Iesuite demonstrate this Pag. Twenty two Hee saith For doe not the Protestant Churches begin to looke with another face Their walls to speake with a new language Their Preachers to use a sweeter tone Their annuall publicke Tentes in their Vniversities to bee of another style and matter Their books to appeare with titles and arguments which once would have caused a mighty scandal among the brethren Their doctrine to be altered in many things and even in those very paints for which their Progenitors for sooke the then visible Church of Christ Their 39 Articles that is the summe the Confession and almost the Greed of their Faith are patient Patient They are ambitious of some sense wherein they may seeme to bee Catholicke To alledge the necessity of wife and children in these dayes is but a weake plea for a married Minister to compasse a Benefice Fiery Calvinisme once a darling in England is at length accounted Heresy yea and little lesse then Treason Men in word and writing use willingly the once fearefull names of Priests and Altars Nay if one doe but mutter against the placing of the Altar after the old fashion for a warning hee shall be well warmed by a coale from the Altar English Protestants are now put in mind that for exposition of Scripture by canon they are bound to follow the ancient Fathers And to conclude all in one maine point The Protestant Church in England willingly professeth so small Antiquity and so weake subsistence in it selfe that they acknowledge no other visible being for many Ages but in the Church of Rome So the Iesuite Behold here now Protestant Reader what testimony a Iesuite can give of the present state of our Church and that out of his owne reading and observation and which we our selves cannot deny all which hee ascribeth to the Prelates as those whom hee indigitates for men of greatest worth learning authority who declare their Innovations as Sodome her sinnes and hide them not even our enemies now their friends being witnesses who gladly feed their infants with the pappe of our new Papisme But to returne to our particular point of Innovation concerning the rule of faith which our Prelats have turned off from the holy Scripture to the authority of the Church this is the maine upshot in Dr. Whites Treatise of the Sabbath day wherein he tyes the observation of the Lord day to that limitation which the Prelates of the Church doe or shall prescribe so also all other matters of Religion And doe they not also overthrow the Scriptures as the rule of faith in that they restraine the preaching of them to their illiberall allowance inhibiting such and such points to be medled with as before is shewed doe they not place the Communion booke as a rule of faith in all matters of Religion wherin the Arch-Bishops definitive sentence must determine as Recv ibid. p. 206. The 8th innovation or Change is in the rule of manners which rule must not be any more the word of Christ and the writings and examples of the holy Apoles wherein they followed Christ for that is counted too precise and puritanicall but our Prelates have prescribed a new rule of Christian manners to wit the example of
the Scriptures as if it ordained any thing to the contrary but to the writing or tradition of the Scripture which among the Corinthians was in the vulgar tongue Here al that heare may hisse But what saith he to the 28. Article which condemneth Transubstantiation Surely his Reconciliation heere is at a stand For hee is forced to Say that Negare Transubstantiationem divinâ— c. To deny divine Transubstantiation in this fearefull Mystery is against the verity of Faith as it is defined in the Councels of Lateran Trent It is well then Herein in the point of Transubstantiation no Reconciliation betweene us and Trent Then what hope hath he to reduce us to Rome or to re-erect his Masse in England yes he hath one hope What is that By calling here a nationall Synod Of whom Not of those whom he calls Calvinists and Puritans who are of the Orthodox party For he sayth Deponentes secundum pristinam conversationeÌ„ verterem homineÌ„ nempe Calvinisticum qui corrumpitur c. Putting off as touching the former conversation the old man to wit the Calvinisticall which is corrupted And in his Paraphrase on the 37. Article utinam denuo c. Now I would to God that by publick authority the matter for the dignity of it Puritanis non â—ntermixtis the Puritans not intermedling or intermixt might out of an affection of revnion be throughly scanned For I know the Puritans abhorre this For they fly all communion with us and abominate us as the body of Satan and Antichrist as Cassander said of some Christians This doth Franciscus apply to the Puritans whom he would have vtterly excluded from a Synod assembled to revnite Rome and England And can ye blame him Did not the Trent-Conventicle in truth though they pretended the contrarie exclude Protestants from them And did not the Protestants being invited as warily refuse to come and that by the example of Iohn Hâ—ss when they might answere the Popes counterfet invitatioÌ„ as the Fox did the sick-Lyon refusing to visit him in his deÌ„ne Quia me vestigia terrent c. No no quoth Renâ—ld for full well I see All foot-sleps towards you none towards me Now who are those Puritans he excepts against as not to be admitted to the Synod Perhaps he may find some few Puritan tantum non in Episcopatu Bishops that are for doctrine Orthodox So also many Doctors and Divines that are Orthodox these must have noe place in his Synod And why Good reason For how els will he reconcile Romes night and our English twilight together in one League if the meridian light come betwene Or how shall Romes cold and livelesse religion have fellowship with ouâ— Lukewarme Neuters and moderate men if true Christian zeale come betwene and make an interruption Away therefore with Puritans and Calvinists out of their Synod Who then Onely peaceable and indifferent men as Ely Chichester and all other well affected to Rome and above all the Arch-Prelates as to whose definitive sentence all other Divines must vaile Bonnet captivate their judgements and therein rest themselues For these or one of them with his mighty traine is able to sweepe downe the third part of the starres of heauen But this by the way for Franciscus And to this agreeth the common cry among the Factionists and Factors for Rome that wee and they differ not in Fundamentalls Yea a great Prelate in the High Commission Court said openly at the Censure of Dr. Bastwick That wee and the Church of Rome differ not in FundameÌ„talibus but onely circa Fundamentalia Though the distinction bee absurd it being all one according to the Apostle to erre in fide circa fidem For circa fidem concerning or about faith men may make ship-wracke Yet this hee spake in defence of a little Pamphlet of one Chowne which he dedicated to his Lordship wherein hee affirmeth That the Church of Rome and wee differ not in Fundamentalibus and that the Church is one over the World whereby he would conclude our Church to be one the same with that of Rome And to this purpose is that of Dr. White in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Lords Grace of Canterbury before his discourse of the Sabbath in these words But from this which is delivered I shall intreaâ—e your Grace and all other impartiall and intelligent Readers to consider the vncharitable construction of Romish adversaries who from the rising up of some Schismaticall Spirits amongst us conclude that the maine body of our Church is Schismaticall And pag. 5. ibid. Now Schismaticall heere must needs be in relation to the Church of Rome as from which Romish adversaries object wee are Schismaticall which Dr. White cleareth and calls it an vncharitable construction of Romish adversaries So as heere is a change of our very Church and a bringing of us back to a reconciliation union with the Church of Rome as from which wee have made no such Schisme as they uncharitably charge us withall And thus will come in an universall change in all our Doctrines As in the Commencement at Cambridge not long agoe was openly maintained justification by Workes And Shelfords booke will proove justification by Charity And that the Pope is not Antichrist contrary to the resolved Doctrines of our Church in our Homilies and elsewhere As Homily against wilfull rebellion part 6. The Pope is the Babilonicall Beast of Rome c. Also the Second part of the Sermon for Whit-sunday The Pope the Devill and all the Kingdome of Antichrist And in a Prayer for private Families in the Communion-Booke by publike authority Confound Satan and Antichrist c. And Shelfords Second Treatise is to beate downe true Preaching and Pulpits for hee saith hee cannot finde a Pulpit in all the Scripture How Did the old Priest never read the 8. of Nehemiah appointed to bee read for the 27. of May wherein hee might find both a Pulpit vers 4. and Preaching vers 8 I omit many more passages in that Authour of the like nature all contrary to the expresse Doctrines of our Church according to the Scriptures And yet this Booke was licenced by the Vicechancellor of Cambridge that then was Dr. Beale and published at the very Commencement whereat my selfe then was that so it might poysonall England Adde wee hereunto another Booke intitled the Female glory By Anthony Stafford printed by authority 1635. Wherein hee mightily deifies the Virgin Mary calling her The grand white immaculate Abbesse of the Snowie Nunneries of those votaries to whom hee speakes before whom hee would have them to kneele presenting the All-saving babe in her armes with due veneration Loe heere a change of our God into a Goddesse And there hee commends the Sacred Arethmitick in praying on their beades And pag. 153. hee commends Candlem as day for the Lights burning and Masse-singing taken from the Heathen guise and converted into Christian. And That which was performed
this last it saith Christ ordained the authority of the Keâ—es to excommunicate notorious sinners and to absolve them which are truly penitent They abuse this power at their owne pleasure as well in cursing the godly with Bell Booke and Candle as also in absolving the reprobate which are knowne to be unworthy of any Christian society And what can the Prelates and their Court say for theÌ„selues why that of Bernard may not be applied to them which hee spake of the Prelates in his time Quem dabis mihi de numero Episcoporum qui non plus invigilet subditorum evacuendis marsupijs quaâ— vicijs extirpandis Vbi est qui flectat iram Vbi est qui praedicet annum placabilem Domini Propterea relinquamus istos quia non sunt Pastores sed traditores imitemur illos qui viventes in carne plantâ—verunt Ecclesiam sanguine suo Successores omnes cupiunt esse imitatores pauci Whom wilt thou shew mee of all the Bishops who is not more vigilant to empty the peoples purses then to root out their vices Where is hee that seekes to appease wrath Where is hee that preacheth the acceptable yeere of the Lord Wherefore let usabandon these men because they are not Pastors but Traytors and let us imitate those who living in the flesh have planted the Church with their blood So hee I will not speake of their domesticall discipline but for the present and for brevity sake passe it over But from the beginning it was not so Hierome saith A negotiating Clerke and of poore rich of ignoble glorious fly from as from a kind of plague The 3. Change is in the worship of God which they goe about to turne inside outward placing the true worship which is in Spirit and Trueth in a Will-worship of mans devising consisting in some externall complements and gesticulations as cringing crouchings bowing or standing upright at some Scriptures more than at others also a punctuall observance in these formalities as in bowing to the name of Iesus to the Communion table or rather Altar as to the Mercy-seat as they teach in their books praying with their faces towards the East thus tying God to a fixed place standing at reading of the Gospell and the like Also reading their second service at their Altar as we touched before many the like And who so wil not worship after their new fashion their new discipline is to excommunicate them or to bring them into the High-coÌ„mission a place which they make worse theÌ„ Purgatory it selfe Al which oppression being an innovation is directly contrary to the Act of Conformity before the CoÌ„munion Booke bringing the Prelats into little lesse then a Praemunire The 4. change is in the civill govermeÌ„t which they labor to reduce transferre to Ecclesiasticall while they seeke to trample upon the Lawes of the Land step between the King his people exercising such a lawlesse tyranny over their bodies goods as also over their coÌ„sciences as is more intollerable then the Egyptian servitude of Israel under their Taskmasters in regard wherof the Prelates power over-swaying the subjects right in the free use and benefit of the Lawes the people of the Land are used rather as vassals slaves to the Prelates then as the free subjects of the King And this is the case of all England at this day the people every where groaning sighing for this their boÌ„dage their miserable vexations in the Ecclesiasticall Courts Well could they but cry mightily to the Lord and make their just complaints to his vicegerent their King as their cause requireth hee would quickly send a Moses to deliver them And so much the more should they bee sensible of this evill by how much the glory of the Kings governement over a free people according to his righteous Lawes is lamentably eclipsed his power infringed and his regall Prerogative undermined The fifth innovation is in the altering of Prayer-Bookes set foorth by publicke authority And first in the Communion Booke set forth by Parliament and commaunded to bee read without any alteration and none other they have altered Sundry things as in the Collect for the Queene and the Royall Progeny they have put out Father of thine elect and of their Seed as it were excluding the King Queene and Seed Royall out of the number of Gods Elect. Also in the Epistle for Sunday before Easter That in the name of Iesus they haue turned into At the name of Iesus that so it may make the fairer colour for their forced bowing to the name of Iesus for which there is neither Scripture nor ancient Father The second Booke is the Prayers set forth by authority of Parliament for Solemne thankesgiving for our deliverance from the Gun-powder Treason of the Papists on every Fifth of November where in stead of this passage Root out that Babilonish and Antichristian Sect which say of Ierusalem c. They in the last Edition 1635. set it downe thus Root out that Babilonish and Antichristian Sect OF THEM which say of Ierusalem c. Now whereas the words of the Originall copy doe plainely meane That all Iesuites Seminary Priests and their confederates are that Babilonish and Antichristian Sect which say of Ierusalem c. This latter Booke either restraines it to some few that are of that mind or else mentally transferres it to those Puritans that cry Downe with Babilon that is Popery which these men call Ierusalem and the true Catholike Religion Againe in the same Prayer the old copy hath these words And to that end strengthen the hands of our gracious King the Nobles and Magistrates of the Land with Iudgement Iustice to cut off these workers of iniquity whose religion is rebellion whose faith is faction whose practise is murdering of soules and bodies and to root them out of the confines of this Kingdome c. But the new Booke hath it thus And to that end strengthen the hands of our Gratious King the Nobles and Magistrates of the Land with Iudgement and Iustice to cut off these workers of iniquity WHO TVRNE RELIGION INTO REBELLION AND FAITH INTO FACTION Thus these Innovators would not have the Popish Religion to be termed Rebellion and their faith Faction as the ancient copy plainly shewes it to bee but turne it off from the religion to some persons which turne religion into rebellion and faith into faction So as by this turning they plainly imply that the religion of Papists is the true religion and no rebellion and their faith the true faith and no faction Thus with altering of a word they have quite perverted the sence and so turned the Cat in the Pan so as the blame is quite taken off from the Church of Rome and laid upon a few who ever they bee who turne Religion into Rebellion and Faith into Faction Thus what dare not these men doe that are not afraid to alter those things which are
thrust upon them which they cannot with a safe warrant and good conscience use or whether it bee that in the Fast-day all preaching is prohibited in all places whatsoever infected Sure wee are that God hath given us sad signes of the little pleasure hee takes by such a Fast. For the very first weeke of the Fast whereas before the Sicknesse had a weekely decrease and was likely through Gods mercy more and more to decline what a suddē terrible increase was there of no lesse than 377. which was double to any weekes increase since this Sicknesse began Was there nothing in it trow yee was there not something in this Fast wherewith God was so much displeased Surely wee should be very brutish and worse than heathenish not to lay it to heart But here the Prelates will perhaps quarrell mee for imputing any thing to the Fast as being appointed by the King I answer God forbid that I should intertaine the least Sinister opinion of my gratious Soveraigne that hee had the least meaning by his Proclamation to debarre and forbid Preaching of Gods Word in any place And my reasons are these First because the Proclamation saith that his Majesty propounds the example of pious Kings in former ages for his precedent in this Fast who ever in all former ages not onely not restrained but likewise allowed prescribed and commended Preaching as a principall and necessary part of a publicke Fast yea as the very life and soule of it Secondly because his Majesties Proclamation commaunds this so religious an exercise to be performed with all decency and uniformity which I humbly conceive cannot bee when preaching is restrained in some and those the most eminent and necessary places as this great City in speciall in respect whereof as I conceive this Fast was specially commaunded and yet in other places allowed and prescribed Thirdly because the Proclamation relates that his Majesty resolved upon a grave and Religious forme of Solemnizing thereof straitly charging and commanding that this Fast bee religiously and solemnely observed and celebrated weekly upon every Wednesday throughout the whole Kingdome and therefore never intended as I humbly conceive to restraine Preaching in any place without which a publicke Fast cannot be gravely religiously and solemnely observed and celebrated Fourthly Because the Proclamation both directs and commaunds that the booke of prayers for the Fast formerly set forth by Authority should be reprinted and published and likewise used in all Churches and places at the publicke meetings of this Fast now the booke formerly published by his Majesties authority in the first yeare of his Raigne upon the like occasion alloweth prescribeth two Sermons every Fast-day as well in the City and suburbs of London as in other places whither infected or not yea notwithstanding the infection was then far greater and the Sommer season far more dangerous Fiftly because in all publicke and generall Fasts both in his Majesties owne Raigne his late Royall Fathers Q. Elizabeths and other his Royall Progenitors upon this or any other the like occasion Preaching in all places without restraint both fore-nooue and afternoone hath beene approved and never prohibited but injoyned and commaunded now his Majesty hath often solnēly protested in his publicke Declarations as before is mentioned to all his Loving Subjects that he will never give way to the licensing or authorizing of any thing whereby ANY INNOVATION in the least degree might creepe into our Church and therefore I humbly conceive that his Majesty never intended to authorise to give way to such an innovation as this to inhibit Preaching and that in the time of a publicke Fast contrary to all former Precedents Therefore I verily believe that this was a meere devise of the Prelates by whose advise the Proclamation saith his Maiesty resolved upon a grave and religious forme of Solemnizing a Fast. So as this of prohibiting Preaching was rather added by them than admitted by his Majesty seeing it is as I humbly conceive neither a grave nor religious forme of Solemnizing a Fast and I had rather dye than conceive such an opinion of my King that he should be the author of such an inhibitiō And therefore if the Season served to have accesse unto his Majesty I should in all humility addresse my selfe humbly to petition his Majesty to take off this restraint And that for these reasons First because not only it is contrary to all Precedents in former ages and such an innovation as I believe the like was never heard nor read of in the world but also because it much dampes and deadens the hearts and spirits of the Kings loving and faithfull subjects within the City who much lament and grieve that in the Fast-day they are restrained of the spirituall Food of their soules when they desire and need it most when as Preaching is likely to worke most good upon their soules which stand in more need of spirituall Phisicke Phisicians to cure the plague of their soules which hath brought the pestilence upon their bodies than their bodies doe of corporall Secondly because this restraint of Preaching the chiefe meanes to humble men for and turne them from their sins without which God will not turne from his wrath will in all likelyhood procure the continuance of the plague as the beginning of it brought in with it a lamentable increase that very week as is before noted Yea forbidding of the Word to be preached brings the wrath of God upon a people to the uttermost as 1. thes 2. 16. Thirdly because Preaching is no more dangerous on the Fast-day thē on the Lords day to increase infection Fourthly because upon prayer preaching the last great Fast a greater plague than this was suddainly and miraculously remooved yea though the preaching was continued in the heat of Summer Fiftly because this restraint together with the sayd alterations of the Fast-booke other innovatiōs in the land foremētioned doe fill the peoples minds with jealousies feares of an universall alteration of Religion Sixtly because as the Prelates doe extend the letter of the Proclamation if but one Parish in London or suburbs thereof or but one house in that parish be infected the pestilence thus continuing but in the least degree and the Fast not ceasing all Wednesday sermons in the whole City must be suppressed Seventhly because the restraint of preaching on the Fast day is as we find by experience a great prejudice and impediment to the free and liberall Collection for the poore which is recommended in the Fast in this calamitous necessitous time wherein the Plague brings with it a Sore famine upon many thousand families which before this Sicknesse lived in good fashion and were able to give reliefe to the poore For no where and at no time are mens hearts more inlarged and hands extended in bounty to the poore than where Gods word hath bene is most powerfully plentifully preached as this our City may serve for a
their owne lives and the dictates of their writings the Summe whereof is to make a mixed Religion conversation of Christians which is partly holy in an external forme of godlinesse without the power thereof partly in admitting allowing approving applauding countenancing and dispensing by Episcopall authority of a heathenish kinde of life and that especially in most Sacred times as the Lords day which though dedicated wholly to the worship and service of God yet the rule of the Sanctification hereof which is the 4th Commaundement and the example of Christs and his Apostles these novellers do altogether reject as abolished instead thereof advance their new Traditions which is to allow one part of the Day for God and the rest to mans carnall Lusts Sin the world the Devil as our Homily Saith So as the due observation and Sanctification of the Lords day being a platforme and patterne of a Christian Conversation a Christian being that in his whole life in a proportion which he is on the Lords day and this platforme being defaced and broken by our Anti-Sabbatarians it followeth that together with their impions crying downe of the 4th CoÌ„maundement and so accordingly the due Sanctification of the Lords day intire without mixture of heathenish Sports and Pastimes they deface and destroy the very face beauty power of all religion so do set up a new Forme of it never allowed of as by a Law in the world before And herein doe our Apostates out strip the very Pontificians themselves who did never yet mak a Law nor take upon them to allow any other rule of Christian life than the Scriptures although they have with our innovators denyed the Scripture to be the onely and absolute rule of faith independent upon any humain power For even Bellarmine exclameth against and disclameth that dissolute profanation of Sacred dayes in practise among the Papists in their vaine Sports and Pastimes for which cause the very Turkes do scorne saith he the Christian Religion Saying O what a God have the Christians what a famous Law giver who â—ither commandeth or permitteth these things Now if the Turkes should upbrayd us in England and cast vs in the teeth with our Lord Lawgiver Iesus Christ as if he eyther commaunded or allowed Sports Pastimes upon the Lords day our answere must be that our great Lawgiver Christ doth not any way tolerate much lesse commaund any Sports or Pastimes on his Sacred day as wherewith both God is dishonoured his day profaned but out Lord-Prelates are they who doe usurpe unto themselves a Lawlesse power to dispense with that part of the Lords-day as they please wherein men may runne riot and keep their Bacchanals and their Floralia without controwle such as Christ and his word forbids to be done on any day Much more might be spoken of the Late Changes but this suffice for the present But what speakewe of Changes Our Changes doe plead that they bring in no changes but revive those things which ancient Canons have allowed and prescribed as standing up at Gloria Patri and at the reading of the Gospell bowing at the nameing of Iesus and to the High Altar remooving the Communion Table to stand Altarwise at the East-end of the Chancell praying with the face towards the East where the Altar standeth placing of Images in Churches erecting of Crucifixes over the Altars commanding of long Martins instead of Preaching and the like To this we answere that we in this Land are not to be ruled by the Popes Canons or the Canon Law but by the Law of God of the King Although I once heard a Papall Canon was alledged in opposition to a Parliamentary Statute in K. Edw. 6. his raigne alledged by the adverse Advocates it passed for Currant none gain-saying it But as for those Rites Ceremonies to be used in our Church they are by an Act of Parliament prefixed to the CommunioÌ„ booke restrained to those only which are expressed in the same booke and if any by private authority shall presume to introduce into practise any other besides these he is to suffer imprisonment for a time and if he persist perpetuall imprisonment and losse of all his spirituall promotions during his life But besides all this these men have one speciall Sancturary to fly unto that is their Cathedrall Churches where they may lay hold upon the hornes of their Altars These be their old high places not remooved These as they are commonly used bee the ancient dennes of these old Foxes to which they flie being this pursued of whom the Scripture saith Take us the Foxes the little Foxes that spoile the Vines These bee those nests and nurceries of Superstition and Idolatry wherein the old Beldame of Rome hath nuzzled up her brood of Popelings and so preserved her usum Sarum in life to this very day And now these are be come impregnable bulworkers to patronize our Re-builders of Babell in all their innovations Innovations Say they Wee bring in no innovations no new rites but what hath beene in use ever since the Reformation and that in the most eminent Places even the Mother Churches of the Land Now all that wee goe about is to reduce inferiot churches to an unity and conformity to their Mother Churches So as thus bringing all to unity wee shall take off that reproach which the adversaries cast upon us in this kinde and which wee shall then retort upon themselues for their diffentions betweene their Regulars and Seculars Thus doe our Master-builders plead and so by their cunning insinnuations under a pretence of Piety and peace of unity and uniformity preaching peace peace when nothing but warre is in their heart hand as Psal. 55. 21. and 59. 7. doe so farre prevaile that before wee bee aware they will by this meanes pretrily reduce us to a perfect peace and unity with old Mother Rome againe For these Mother Churches to which all Danghter Churches must conforme are they not the naturall daughters of Rome Doe they not from top to toe exactly resemble her Her pompous Service her Altars Palls Copes Crucifixes Images superstitious gestures and Postures all instruments of musicke as at the dedication of the King of Babylons Image Long Babylonish Service so bellowed and warbled out as the heareers are but little the wiser Are not these high Places also the receptacles and nurceries of a number of idle bellies to say no worse Doe not the fat Prebends So cramme their Residenciaries that the while their starveling Flocks in the countrey doe famish for want of spirituall Food But as Erasnius said of Luther how his fault was that he meddled with the Popes Miter and the Monkes bellies But this I note by the way to show how all those that are maintained by Cathedralls are ingaged to helpe forward those Innovations that are now on foot because they make much for the supporting of their Papall Pompe But let us a
1. Tim. 1. 19. Poritopistin enavagysan circa fidem naufragâ—verunt Latin Chonaei Collectiones Theologicae Cap. 16. Discourse of the Sabbath Epistle Dedicatory pag. 4. See the Answere to it * As Fâ—… à Sancta Clara in Artic. 23. makâ—… mention much glorieth of pag. 1â—… 191. 〈◊〉 9. 〈◊〉 1. 〈◊〉 10â—5 * Against all our worthy Divines as Dr. Iohn White in his way to the true Church Sect. 61. n. 4. For as much as the State of the Papacy the Pope and his Religion is Antichrist wee say all that obeyed the same are eternally damned So he See also Dr. Whitakers de Antichristo Also Dr. Downham D. Abbor D. Sharpe D. Suteliffe and others And our Homilies justar omnium call the Pope The Babylonical Beast of Rome and the Church The Kingdome of Antichrist For White l. 2. a serm 6. against Rebellion * Pag. 148. * pag. 157. Our sweetest Lady * Pag. 154. 155. This day made holy by the purification of the Mother And pag. 21. hee calls her white spotlesse soule And pag. 37 Purity it selfe And pag. 45. Her all-holy heart As pag. 130 All holy Lord. So pag. 60. Pag. 236. Lo here the new great Goddesse Diana whom the whole Pontifician world worshippeth * Here he contradicts his owne practise as pag. 247. O pardon gratious Princesse c. Dat veniam Corvis vexat censura Columbaâ— * Negotiátorem clericum ex inopi divitem ex ignobili gloriosum quasi quandam pestem fuge Hierom. ad Nepot * Reve. Schelford Morton Dr. White Dr. Pocklington * See before the â—p of London in the High-Commission threatning those that should bring Prohibitions to that Court Cum duplicantur Lateres tunc venit Moses In the Editions since 1619. Altered since 1619. * Lab. 1. Conscâ—ratio Câ—ronatio Pontificis Sect. 13. Aug. contra Peâ—â—liani Donat. epist. cap. 4. * This is one of those things objected to me in their Articles O boldnes to defend it Ionah These passages also objected to me in their Articles Without all peradventure they have dâ—… in their Articles * This also objected to me in the Article of High-Commission * As in the case of Mr. Valentine * Treatise of the Sabbath See Bispop Wrens Articles All these particulars objected against mee in their Articles * As in Oxford and elsewhere Sheâ—ford Sermon of Charity 〈◊〉 36. â—…inted by the allow ance of the Vice Chanâ—â—llorer of Cambridge even at the commencement time 〈◊〉 * This heâ— speakes of the Prelates For who but they can make new Lawes Canons * Pag. 14. Ibid p. 21. * As I was lately charged in the Articles of High Commission 〈◊〉 that my sermoni offended the more moderate bearers a As with dumbe Pictures and Images Laymens bookes in steed of Scripture Sentences b By speaing smooth things and not roughly against Popery sin c See before Franciscus a Sancta 〈◊〉 note of Cambridge Commencement d As Dr. Coosens Private Devotions with the Iesuits badge Here â—e quotes these in the margent For â—…mple The Pope not Antichrist Prayer for the Dead 〈◊〉 bus Patrum Pictures That the Church hath authority to determine Controversies in faith and to interpret the Scripture about Free will and Predestinatâ—on Vniuersall grace that all our works are not sinnes merit of good works inherent justice Faith alone doth not justify Charity 〈◊〉 to bee preferred before knowledge Traditions Commaundements possible to bee kept †A little Treatise so intituled printed 1636. * Sunday no Sabboth A Sermon printed 1636. pag. 38. ‡ Lib Can. An. 1571. Can. 19. Bellar. Concio 20 Pars Altera de Dominica Quinqnagess O qualem inquiunt Christiam Deum habent quam egregiam Legislatorem qui haec vel pracipit vel 〈◊〉 c. * All these things they doe most boldly maintaine while they Article against mee for laying these to their charge * In the High Commission not long since in a cause about a Peâ—â— in the Church * M. Leâ— Est mihi namque domi Pater est injusta Noverca Homily of the place time of prayer part 2. pag. 131. Homily of Idolatry part 1. 2. 3. Homily of the place time of prayer part 2. pag. 131. * Quae bellua ruptis cum semel effugit redded se prava Catenis * Gen. 11. 6 Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo * Aeliani variâ— historiae lib. c. 1.
by Superstitious Idolaters in honour of Ceres and Proserpina Heathen Goddesses may bee turned into the prayse and glory of the Virgin Mary And pag. 209. The Assumption of his Lady is set forth with a picture how shee is taken up into Heaven with Verses And pag. 212. Hee seemes to hold the Virgin Mary to have beene without sinne And pag. 219. 220. Hee boldly beares himselfe upon the approbation of the Church of England in magnifying the Virgin Mary as considered not as a meere woman but as a type and Idea of an accomplisht piety And pag. 158. of Sanctity it selfe And pag. 220. hee preferres the errour of the adoring extreme before the Puritans neglecting of her in calling her Mal Gods mayd and rejecting Hayle Mary full of grace And pag. 223. hee saith Of one thing I will assure them Till they are good Marians they shall never bee good Christians And pag. 235. Of sundry Grandees hee saith All which are Canonized for Saints having erected and dedicated Temples to her memory Neither have the Princes of this our Ile beene defective in doing her all possible honour and in Consecrating Chappels and Temples to her memory And ibid My arithmeticke will not serve me to number all those who have registred their names in the Sodality of the Rosary of this our Blessed Lady the originall is derived from the battaile of Naupactan gained by Iohn of Austria and the Christians which victory was attributed to the intercession with her Sonne And pag. 236. hee recites the many holy orders of this Sodality Styling them Great worthy and pious people and concludes thus For shame let not us alone deny her that honour and prayse which all the world allowes her And pag. 247. he Invocates her saying O pardon gratious Princesse my weake indeavours to summe up thy value c. And pag. 248. Thou deservest a Quire of Queenes here another of Angels in heaven to sing thy prayses c. And I confesse O my sweetest Lady And pag. 249. To give thee an estimation answerable to thy merit is a thing impossible I must therfore be cōtent to do by thee as the ancient heathen did by the images of their gods when by reason of their height they could not place the Crownes they humbly layd them at their feet many more passages might be added as pag. 150. he cals her womans deerest mistrisse And pag. 32. a glorious Empresse And pag. 3. Empresse of this lower world And pag. 2. If Christ was faire above the Sons of men should not shee bee so above their daughters And in his Epistle to his feminine reader speaking of the Virgin Mary This is shee who was on earth a confirmer of the good and a reformer of the reprobate Al her visitants were but so many converts whose bad affections and erronious opinions the sweetnes of her discourse had rectified The Leprosy of sinne was her dayly cure and they whom vice had blinded were by her restored to their in ward sight their prostrate soules adored divine Majestical vertue residing in this Sacred Temple The knowledge of her humbled the most proud natures for the lustre of her merits rendered their owne obscure And in his Epistle to the Masculine Reader Truly I believe that the under-valuing of one so great and deare in Christs esteeme as his Mother cannot but bee displeasing to him and that the more we ascribe to her setting invocation apart the more gracious wee appeare in his sight And hee concludes it thus I will onely adde this that since the finishing of this Story I have read a booke of the now Bishop of Chicester intituled Apparatus c. and I am glad to find that I have not digressed from him in any one particular So hee Loe therefore what a Metamorphosis of our Religion is here Here is a new goddesse brought in amongst us The author glorieth that hee is the first who hath written as hee saith in our vulgar tongue on this our Blessed Virgin And God grant he be the last But he beares himself in al this upon the Church of England where I pray you At last I perceive this Church of England is the now Bishop of Chicester in his Apparatus c. From whom he hath not digressed in any particular And surely it were strange that such a mystery of iniquity could bee found but in a Prelate and in this one by name for a tryed Champion of Rome and so a devout votary to his Queene of heaven Againe they have laboured to make a change in the doctrine of obedience to Superiours of which wee spake before setting man so in Gods Throne as all obedience to man must bee absolute without regard to God and conscience whose only rule is the Word of God But wee spake of this sufficiently before We will conclude with one instance more touching change in doctrine and that is concerning the doctrine of the Sabbath or Lords-day wherein our novell Doctors have gone about to remoove the institution of it from off the foundation of divine authority and so to settle it upon the Ecclesiasticall or humaine power For maintenance hereof they have strained the vaines of their Conscience no lesse then of their braines And they are so mad upon it that no shame will stay them till confusion stop their mouthes It is reported that Doctor White hath sent an answer to A. B. which is now at the presse Surely hee will sacrifice all the remainder of his reason if any be left in him upon it Sure I am he can never answer it except with rayling and perverting wherein lyeth his principall faculty in fighting against the truth which be hee well assured is too hard for him and all his confederates But herein hee hath great advantage that hee may print what hee will at hand But the contrary side with much difficulty and delay Otherwise hee had had his hand full before now when he should have beene put to the taske to answer the full answer at large to his tedious Treatise of which A. B. was but a tast Well thus much of the first and grand change to wit in doctrine which our Prelates especially of late dayes have beene a hammering and now almost except the Lord Christ strike in and prevent them brought to perfection We shall bee much shorter in the rest and dispatch them in a Word because they have beene touched before The next change is innovation in Discipline which in a word is this that whereas of old the Censures of the Church were to bee inflicted upon disordered and vitious persons notorious livers as drunkards adulterers hereticks Apostates false teachers and the like now the sharpe edge thereof is turned mainly against Gods people and Ministers even for their vertue and piety and because they will not conforme to their impious orders Our Homily proves Rome no true Church as wanting the three essentiall markes the Word Sacraments and Discipline And of
by authority of Parliament which it seemes they make but light account of published as Authentick Acts not to bee altered by private spirits But who they bee it 's hard for me to divine it pertaines to those to find them out of whom Salomon saith It is the honour of Kings to search out a matter Now having fallen upon this so important a passage wherein the Innovators would not have the Romish Religion to be called Rebellion or their faith Faction the like but labour all they can to wash this Blackamore white while by their index expurgatorius they purge out of all our authentick records all monuments and memorialls of this Strumpets Staines painting her haggs face with the counterfeit colours of Christs Spowse I will crave leave in this place briefely to show how truly according to the judgement of our Church grounded upon manifest and undeniable proofes the Romish or Popish Religion is here in this Booke set foorth by the Parliament called Rebellion and their faith Faction First that the Popish religion is rebellion is prooved by the universall practise of Papists both Iesuites Priests and other Recusants For whereas in 3. Iacobi cap. 4. the Oath of Supremacy is injoyned to all Papists all Iesuites and Seminary Priests refuse it and all Iesuited Papists and if any Papist doe take it hee is excommunicated for it And their reason is Because they hold and adhere to the Pope as the onely Supreme head and Soveraigne over all powers on earth this being the prime and fundamentall Article of their Creed and so consequently they hold and teach those doctrines concerning the Popes usurped power over Kings Princes in deposing them and disposing of their Kingdomes in Excommunicating them and so exposing them to the rebellion of their people as being now freed from their allegiance Secondly that the Popish religion is rebellion is prooved by their writings positions and doctrines which they professe and teach concerning the Popes usurped power and Soveraignty over all Kings and Kingdomes of the earth Here of the Reader may take a briefe and full view both in Doctor Iohn White his Defence of the way chap. 6. and in Doctor Crakenthorpe his Treatise of the Popes temporall Monarchy Cap. 1. First Dr. Iohn White in answere to the Iesuites bold challenge hath in the said place collected no lesse then 40. instances of Popish Authors who exalt the Popes power over Kings in deposing them and exposing their Persons to the danger of Rebells Traytors and Murderers commending and highly magnifying as a meritorious act the killing of Kings as of Henry the Third and Henry the Fourth of France as there is to bee seene Therefore saith hee I say still and heere write it in capitall Letters that THE CHVRCH OF ROME TEACHETH DISLOYALTY AND REBELLION AGAINST KINGS AND LEADES HER PEOPLE INTO ALL CONSPIRACIES AND TREASONS AGAINST STATES AND KINGDOMES This I shew by the Doctrine and Assertions of the chiefest Divines therein So hee Let the Reader peruse the whole chapter at large where among other remarkable things is this Passage out of Capistranus that so soone as any one King for Apostacy from the faith by judgement is denounced Excommunicate IPSO FACTO HIS SVBIECTS ARE ABSOLVED FROM HIS GOVERNMENT AND FROM THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE So there The second Learned Author of ours is Dr. Crakenthorpe who in the fore-named place hath collected the Sentences of many Poopiâ—h Authors concerning the same point Some of them saying That Christian Kings are Dogges which must be ready at the Sheepheards hand to wit the Pope or else the Sheepheard must presently remooue them from their office This saith Becanus doth reason teach this doth the Councell of Lateran Decree And Scioppius that Reges Catholici sunt Asini cum tintinnabulis Catholik Kings are Asses with bells about their necks as being the fore-asses which leade the way to other inferiour Asses The whole Chapter is worth the reading being full fraught with such stuffe Yea the Popes owne Decretalls are full of the like arrogancies What should I speake of their Bookes of the Sacred Roman Ceremonies wherein are setdown the severall Offices which Emperors Kings Princes according to their severall rankes must performe to the Pope either at his Coronation or when he rideth in Soleme Procession in his Pontificalibus how the Emperor or some great King must lead the Popes horse and if the Pope bee carried on a Seat then foure great Princes whereof the Emperor if present must be one or some great Prince for the honor of the Saviour Iesus Christ shall cary the Seat with the Pope upon their shoulders Also which stirrop the Emperor must hold How the Elect King of Romans must implore the favour and grace of the Apostolicke Sea and offer himselfe to performe whatsoever Oathes of fidelity to the Roman Church How the Chore sings the Antiphona The Lord hath chosen him and hath exalted him above the Kings of the earth And the like By these and many more it plainly appeareth that the Popish Religion is Rebellion and that Papists are an Antichristian Sect as is expressed in the sayd Prayer Againe as their Religion is Rebellion so their faith is faction as there is added For proofe hereof I referre the Reader to Doctor Crakenthorpe Of the fifth generall Councell Chapter 13. where hee learnedly prooveth that the Church of Rome holdeth no doctrine by faith And this from the Councell of Lateran under Leo 10. wherein they layd another foundation then Christ the Popes words in steed of Gods and Antichrists insteed of Christs For before that Councell of Lateran though they believed the same heresies and errours yet it was because they thought the Scripture to bee the maine ground thereof but in this Councell they must believe all these things because the Pope hath so resolved and defined So as though the Materialls of Popery were the same yet the formality and foundation of their faith and Church was quite altered So as from hence Papists are so truly called from the Pope as the prime Head Rocke and foundation of their faith For as wee make Christ and his Word so they on the contrary make the Pope that is to say Antichrist and his word the ground and foundation of faith In regard whereof as the faith and religion is from Christ truely called Christian and they truely Christians So the faith and religion of the other is from the Pope or Antichrist truely and properly called Papisme or Antichristianisme and the Professors of it Papists or Antichristians And the ground of all this is because they hold the Popes judgement to bee Supreme and infallible and so build their faith on him as on the foundation thereof which their owne Church never did till the time of Leo the tenth It is not then the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda but the Lyon of the Lateran Synod who is the foundation of the faith of Papists and from whom therefore they justly