course But to this I reply that for this opposition he was forged both to forsake England and quit his Bishopricke The contradiction of one of the Popes pensionary Prelates opposing his Soueraigne is of small moment in this behalfe for Anselme was accounted the Popes not the Kings subiect Nor is it any greater wonder if Mathew Paris who so often magnifies this King Henry doe now and then cast some imputation vpon him in as much as he was a superstitious Monke and liued soone after who in euery passage complaining of the tyrannie and exactions of the Popes doth yet sometimes restrain himselfe for some idle respects in which he oftener gropes for the truth then he doth see or finde it We must also obserue that the principall quarrell betweene the King of England and the Pope being for inuesting men with spirituall promotions the Pope hath bestowed very glorious Titles on those persons that suffered for this quarrell as if he should write Rubarbe vpon a pot of Rats-bane So hath he placed this Anselme in the Kalender of Saints and Confessours and Thomas of Canterbury in the Catalogue of Martyrs that lost his life not for the profession of the Gospell but for a Controuersie of Prebends and the right of Inuestiture Coeffeteau doth here adde That the Kings of England in the matter of ordination of Priests haue neuer violated the Discipline of the Church The King of England alleadgeth these and many other examples of like nature And I suppose that hee had not vouchsafed the reading of the booke against which he writes For the Kings book saith that Henry the first inuested an Archbishop in his Archbishopricke with his Ringe and Crosier-staffe without the Popes leaue which is flat repugnant to the discipline of the Church of Rome Fol. 15. pag. 1 And besides the now Pope Paul the fift doth pretend that the Venetians in punishing the criminall offences of their Clergy doe derogate from the liberty of the Church Edward then the first and second by inflicting corporall punishment vpon the Clergy that would hold a dependancy from the Pope haue by this reckoning derogated from the liberty of the Church To conclude our Doctor sayth that Henry the first did in other things submit himselfe to the lawes of the Church that in the Records of England most of the monuments speake of yeelding obedience to the See Apostolique that his Maiestie embraceth a Religion which his Predecessors neuer possessed but haue euer acknowledged the authority of Rome in all matters depending vpon matter of conscience First I answere that this is to wander from the question for heere is nothing questioned but the Popes Supremacy ouer Kings in matters temporall Secondly that barely to affirme and to confirme nothing especially writing against a King doth eyther discouer much weakenesse or argue ouer-much neglect and indeede his whole allegation is vntrue Concerning Henry the first I confesse that he ascribed too much honour to the Church of Rome for he liued in a dark ignorant age and in the height of the Popes tyranny to which England of all Countries was most enthralled which cannot bee proued of the times more auncient It may well appeare that the Citie of Rome being the seat of the Empire was by consequent the resort of all nations by which meanes the Church of that citie how poore and miserable soeuer might haue aduertisements from all parties and haue intelligence with all the Churches within the Empire and consequently which is the Church of great Brittaine which was originally planted by some of S Iohn Disciples that came thither out of Asia whereof we haue this proofe that euen to the time of August which was sent into England by Gregogorie the first about the yere 596. the Church of the Iland did keepe the feast of Easter according to the custome of Asia vpon the 14. day of the month which if it had beene vnder the iurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome no question but it had abrogated that custome when Victor in the yeare 200. did excommunicate the Churches which made any precise obseruation of the 14. day Helene mother vnto Constantine was of the Iland and held no points of Papistrie maintained at this day Pelagius was also of this Iland and sauing the points of free will and originall sinne dissented not in any opinions from S. Angustine Now S. Angustine receiued no Popish opinions now defended as we haue proued in the 20. chapter of my booke of the Eucharist in another place In the twenty Chapter of my booke of the Eucharist Pontificus Verumnius lib. 4. Jo. Lelandus that he died excommunicate from the Church of Rome The first Christian King of great Brittaine that can be remembred was Lucius that possessed a part of the Iland in the time of Marcus Aurelius who questionlesse had commerce with the Bishop of Rome for he had beene at Rome and held correspondence with the Emperour but that he should be subiect to the Bishop of Rome or acknowledge him the head of the Vniuersal Church admits no manner of proofe In the yeare of our Lord 530. that Warlike Prince Arthur raigned in great Britaine of whom being a Christian it doth not appeare that eyther he depended vpon the Bishops of Rome or that they intermedled in the election or inuesting of the Britaine Bishops during the raigne of Arthur or his Successors In the yeare 596. soone after that the English Saxons being Almaines and at that time Infidels had inuaded Britaine then did Gregory the first send Austen into this Iland a man full of faction and arrogancy to plant the Christian faith although the Christian Religion had beene planted here more then foure hundred yeares before But by the Christian faith these men doe now vnderstand the authority of the Pope This Austen was strongly and stoutly opposed by the Christians of that Countrey who refused to change their auncient forme of Religion which they had receiued from such as were Disciples to the Apostles They had seuen Bishopricks and one Archbishopricke the seat whereof being first errected at Carleon was afterward translated to S. Dauids as it is recorded by Rainulphus Cestrensis lib. 1. cap. 52. for the Archbishop of London was of a later foundation besides they had a Colledge of 2100. religious persons at Bangor who about the yeare 550. when the Order of S. Benet began to flourish in this I le were called by the new name of Monkes Men that adicting themselues to the study of Diuinity got their liuing by the labour of their handes not being tyed to the rigorous obseruation of a Vow whereunto no man by the ancient Order of S. Benet is obliged This Austen then found meanes to insinuate himselfe into the familiar acquaintance of one of the petty Kings of the Countrey called Ethelfred King of Northumberland who was an enemy to the auncient Christians of that land and had inuaded their Countrey and wasted many Churches with this Austen then
he combined against the Christians and both together massacred the poore religious men of Bangor and flew no lesse then 1200. of them The same Ethelfred assisted by the petty English Kings to despite the Christians inhabiting the Countrey remoued the Archiepisopall seate from London and translated it to Canterbury where ordinarily he made his residence Now the principall difference betweene the Christians and the Romish faction was about the day of Easter the single life of Priests and the Church-musique processions and Letany after the order of Rome consider further that some of the people were Pelagians for there was no speech then of transubstantiation nor of the Popes grand Pardons and indulgences nor of the Sacrament vnder one kinde nor of such heresies as were hatched in the after ages Whereof we haue sundry witnesses as Amandus Zirixensis in his his Chronicle Beda in the second booke of his Ecclesiasticall History of England Mantuan in fastis and Polydore Virgill Mantuanus Adde quòd Patres ausi taxare Latinos Causabantur eos stulte imprudentur aequo Durius ad ritum Romae voluisse Britannos cogere c. but especially obserue the wordes of Geffery of Monmouth in his eight booke de Britannorum gestis * In patria Britonum adhuc vigebat Christianitas quae ab Apostolorum tempore nunq tam inter eos defece rat Post quam autem venit Augustinus c. In the Countrey of the Brittà nes Christian Religion flourished which neuer failed among them from the time of the Apostles For Austen being arriued there found seuen Bishoprickes and an Archbishopricke in their Prouince all furnished with very religious Prelates and Abbots men that liued by the labour of their hands The King of England produceth also the Statute of Richard the second King of England by which all English-men were forbidden to holde or sue for any Benefice from the Pope which was in the heigth of the Popes vsurpation and this as the greatest part of the booke doth Coeffeteau passe by being content to scratch where he cannot bite CHAP. VIII That they which haue written against the King of great Britaines booke doe vniustly call him Apostata and Hereticke OVR Aduersaries are as open-handed in bestowing titles vpon vs as they are niggardly in giuing any reason of their doings Bellarmines booke vnder the name of Tortus sayth that the King of great Britaine is no Catholique but shewes neyther in what sense nor for what reason and as vniustly doth he call him an Apostata for an Apostata is one that hauing followed doth againe doth forsake the true Religion Now his Maiestie of England hath not forsaken the true Religion inasmuch as hee still maintaineth the same and should his Religion be as hereticall as it is sound and holy yet could he not be called an Apostata because he neuer professed any other Religion He that hath alwayes done euill is not a backeslider from vertue and no man can forsake that which he neuer had Now graunt that hee had beene baptized in the Church of Rome yet it followes not that he therefore receiued their faith that baptized him for the Church of Rome conferring any thing vpon him that is good bindes him not to follow her in that which is euill But because it may be presumed that the Queene his mother being of the Church of Rome might haue giuen him some impressions of that Religion his Maiesty therefore meeteth therewith and testifies that she adhaered not to the grosser superstitions of Poperie and that in the christening of the King her sonne she charged the Archbishop that baptized him not to vse any spittle in the Ceremonies saying that shee would not haue a rotten and pocky Priest to spit in her childes mouth that at her entreaty the late Queene ELIZABETH who was an enemy of Popery was his God-mother and christened him by her Ambassadour that she neuer vrged him by any letters to adhaere to Popery that euen her last words befor her death were that howbeit she were of a diuers Religion yet shee would not presse him to change the Religion he professed vnlesse he found himselfe moued therevnto in his conscience that if he ledde an honest and a holy life if he did carefully administer iustice and did wisely and religiously gouerne the people committed to his care she made then no question but he might and ought to perseuere in his owne Religion By these Demonstrations doth his Maiesty of England prooue that this great Princesse had no sinister opinion of our religion Hereunto Mr. Coeffeteau sayth hee will giue credite for the respect hee beareth vnto the King although it will with great difficulty bee generally perswaded that some Princes allied vnto his Maiestie could shewe some letters to the contrary Which is as much to say that although that which the King sayes be false yet to doe him a pleasure he will beleeue it and so giues him the lye very mannerly as if he should spit in his face doing him reuerence like the Iewes that cryed all haile to our Sauiour when they buffeted him His Encounter should haue had some coulerable matter at the least for what can argue more weakenesse in him then to mention letters that no man euer saw Or what strength hath it to weaken the testimony of a King concerning his own mother For to whom should she haue opened her minde more familiarly then to her sonne Or what wordes are more serious or more vndissemblingly spoken then such as are the last that dying persons doe vtter For then doth the hand of necessity pull off the maske from the deepest dissemblers then is it no time to hide themselues from men when they must mâ—ke their appearaÌ„ce before God But especially she then speaking to her onely sonne with whom to haue dissembled had beene a most iniurious dissimulation and an vnnaturall skill which if it bee blameable in a mother in any part of her life how much more at the time of her death His Maiesty of England being thus cleared from the crime of Apostasie he dooth likewise acquite himselfe from the imputation of heresie which is the ordinary wrong they doe him The word Heresie signifies a Sect by which name the Christian Religion was in auncient time traduced for so the Iewes speake to the Apostle S. Paul in the last of the Acts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as concerning this Sect or heresie We know that it is euery where spoken against And his Maiesty of England may very rightly say with the same Apostle cap. 24. vers 4. This I confes that after the way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they call Heresie I worship the God of my fathers beleeuing all things which are written in the law and the Prophets After which phrase of speech Tertullian and Cyprian doe call the Christian religion a Sect Tertul de Pallio c. 6. Denique etiam diuinae sectae ac disciplinae commercium pallio conferri Cyprianê° l
tumultuarily and in hast hath not had this curiosity It remaineth to examine the place of S. Austin of which euery one that hath a quicke smell will acknowledge the corruption and falsification First of all because it is not credible that this holy Personage would oppose himselfe single to the whole Church of his time and to all the Doctors that went before him and namely to the Councell of Carthage whereat himselfe had beene a present assistant Secondly because it is not credible that S. Austin would contradict himselfe for in the sixe and thirty Chapter of the eighteenth booke of the Citie of God he speaketh thus The supputation of these times since the building vp of the Temple is not found in the holy Scriptures which are called Canonicall but in other bookes among which are the Maccabees Is it possible to say in more plain and expresse termes that the Maccabees are not holy Scriptures nor Canonicall bookes But heere wee admire a pretty pleasant folly and stupidity of a taile handsomely fastened and sowed on by some Monke for after all this they make S. Austin to adde Which bookes not the Iewes but the Church boldeth for Canonicall O grosse Imposture After that hee had simply set downe that the Maccabees are not holy nor Canonicall Scriptures would hee say that the Church receiueth them for Canonicall By the same fraude this other place of S. Austin which Coeffeteau alleadgeth hath beene falsified Let vs adde hereunto that S. Austin cap. 23. of his second booke against Gaudentius answereth thus vnto Gaudentius who serued himselfe with the example of Razis who killed himselfe whereof mention is made in the second booke of the Maccabees The Iewes do not hold this booke in the same rancke with the law the Prophets and the Psalmes to which Iesus Christ beareth witnesse is they that beare record of him But this booke is receiued by the Church not vnprofitably if men read it soberly principally because of the sufferings of certaine Martyrs Who feeth not that he doth weaken the authority of these bookes in that Iesus Christ doth giue no testimony vnto them And if these bookes haue not beene reckoned for holy Scripture amongst the faithfull of the olde Testament I maruell when they became holy Scripture It is also a poynt very considerable that in this place of S. Austin produced by Coeffeteau Ecclesiasticus is put among the Canonicall bookes in which booke it is said cap. 46. Samuel prophesied after his death and declared vnto King Saul his death lifting vp his voyce out of earth An opinion which S. Austin doth condemne in his booke of Questions on the old Testament in the 27 Question saying Porrò autem hoc esi praestigium Satanae quo vt plurimos fallat etiam bonos se in potestate habere confingit that it is a great indignity to beleeue it and maintaineth that it was an illusion of Satan who to deceiue many faineth to haue good men in his power And in his booke of the care that men ought to haue of the dead after hauing spoken doubtfully he saith that men * Huic libro ex Hebraeorum Canone quia â—n eo non est contradicâ—tur controule the booke of Ecclesiasticus because it is not in the Canon of the Hebrews And in his booke of the eight Questions to Dulichius Quaest 6. he canuasseth this Question by way of Probleme leaning notwithstanding to the opinion that it was a meere fantasme or vaine apparition See hereupon the Canon Nec mirum in the Cause 26. Quest 6. where also S Austin is alleadged maintayning that this was done by enchantment Whence I conclude Caietan in fin-Commentaâ—oruÌ„ ad Historiam vet Test Ne turberis No uities si alicubi reperis libros istos inter Canonicos supputari vel in Sacris Con cilijs vel in Sacris Doctoribus Non. nâ—sunt Canonici id est regalares ad probandum ea quae sunt fidei possunt tamen Canonici dici ad aedificationem fidelium that S. Austin should contradict himselfe if after hauing refuted the opinion of Ecclesiasticus he should afterwards put him in the role of the Canonicall bookes These falshoods hauing not beene acknowledged by Cardinall Caietan droue him to finde out another euasion Be not astonished or troubled O thou who art but a Nouice in Diuinity if somtimes thou find eyther in the Councels or in the Doctors these bookes to be counted among the Canonicall For they are not Canonicall to proue the points of faith Notwithstanding they may be called Canonicall for the edification of the faithfull ARTICLE VI. Touching the memory of Saints and of their Feasts and holy dayes AS for the Saints departed I honour their memory The KINGS Confession and in honour of them doe wee in our Church obserue the dayes of so many of them as the Scripture doth Canonize for Saints but I am loath to beleeue all the tales of the Legended Saints Here Coeffeteau beginneth to skirmish without neede Fol 13. He complayneth for that the King speaketh onely of solemnizing the memory of those Saints of whom mention is made in the Scripture He saith that the Church of Smyrna did celebrate the feast of the Martyrdome of Polycarp That Basil did recommend the Feasts of S. Iulitta and of the forty Martyrs That Gregory Nazianzene did solemnize with the other Christians the Feast of S. Cyprian and S. Gregory of Nissa that of the Martyr Theodore That Cyprian commanded that they should marke out the dayes of the Passion of the Martyrs to the end that they mighcelebrate their memories That S. Austins twentieth booke against Faustus Manicheus cap. 21. saith that the Christian people did celebrate the memories of the Martyrs And yet that S. Polycarpe S. Iulitta c. are no Saints of whom there is any mention in the Scripture Hee addeth notwithstanding that the Church of England is in that lesse irreligious then the Caluinists of Fraunce who haue cut off all sorts of holy-daies of Saints aswell Apostles as others As touching the Legends We are saith hee no more credulous of them then you He saith he doth not receiue miracles vnlesse they be approued by the publique testimony of the Church and that euen in the first ages they suggested and foysted in false actes of Martyrs These passages which he alleadgeth are in part false partly they are of no vse to proue the Question Let vs begin with the falshood First in alleadging out of Eusebius the example of the Church of Smyrna who buried the bones of Polycarpe with honour and celebrated his memory Anniuersarily euery yeare there is no mention made of his Feast or Holy-day but onely of a day dedicated to the commemoration of his Martyrdome Ignorantes nos ChristuÌ„nunquam relinquere qui pro totius seruan dorum mundi salute passus est nec alium quenquam colere posse Nam hunc quidem tanquaÌ„ filium Dei adoramus Martyres verò
Fraunce were vnder Marcus Aurelius the sonne of Anthony that is to say in the yeare of our Lord 162. threescore and fiue yeares after the death of Domitian whosoeuer shall calculate the times shall find that Denis the Ariopagite was then Iudge in Ariopagus at the time when S. Paul conuerted him whence it is to be presumed that he was at least thirty or fiue and thirty yeare olde which time if you extend as farre as to the raigne of Marcus Aurelius he should haue liued some hundred and fiftie yeares and also should die by torment before that he was broken by olde age We could produce others in this point but this sufficeth to iustifie the King of great Britaine who though he should haue called the Saints that neuer were Tutelary gods yet should there not bee iust cause to reprehend him After this Caeffeteau comes to the authorities of the Fathers surely this matter should well deserue some commaundement from God One Ordinance of God had cut off al difficulty and had been more of value then a thousand testimonies of men But Coeffeteau could finde none for indeede there is none Being not able then to draw out of the Diuine spring he seekes heere and there for the Cesternes of men Our aduersaries tell vs that they receiue the Fathers for interpreters of the Scripture but the passages are drawne out of phrases of the Fathers in which they doe not interprete the scripture but what will become of the matter if these quotations be to no purpose if indeede they be false And that is it which we are to shew Basill in his oration of the 40. Martyrs saith indeed that some in their necessity had recourse vnto them but he doth nor commaund to doe it as Bellarmine will haue it in b Where he pâ—â—â—teth confugiat for confugit and oret for orat falsifying this place Aliud est quod docemus aliud quod sustinemus donec emendemus tolarare compellimur a man must not maruaile if a people newly crept out of Paganisme did retaine something of their owne Custome and oftentimes the Bishops caryed away with the terrent of popular zeale were constrained to tollerate these abuses Saint Austine in his twentieth booke against Faustus the Manichee Chap. 21 confesseth that many dranke drunke ouer the Sepulchres of the dead but withall he addeth it is one thing that we teach another that we tollerate it is one thing that which we are commaunded to teach another thing we are commaunded to correct and which we are constrained to beare withall vntill that it bee amended And in the first booke of the manners of the Catholicke Church Chap. 24. I know many saith hee who doe adore the Sepulchres and pictures I know many who drinke most excessiuely ouer the dead The good Bishops saw these maladies in their flockes which being desirous to amend they haue beene often hindred by the sedition of the people as appeareth by the Counsell of Carthage where the Bishops of Affrica being desirous to abolish the abuse which was committed at the sepulchres of the Martyrs they feare to be hindred by the tumult of the rude people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If say they men be hindred to doe this by the vprore of the people at least wise let the multitude be admonished not to assemble in these places Coeffeteau then had alleadged this to purpose if he had the generall custome of the Church of those times or some prayer to Saints made in the publicke seruice instead of producing the misguided deuotion of some particular men In the second place he aleadgeth the oration of Gregory Nyssen in the praise of the Martyr Theodore which we haue heretofore evicted of falsehood After this he produceth the oration of Grogory Nazianzen vpon Saint Basill And here againe his vnfaithfull dealing appeareth for hee dessembleth the wordes going before which serue for a solution where Saint Gregory sheweth that that which he saide to Saint Basill being deceased is onely by opinion and by coniecture These are his wordes And now Basill is in the heauens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 offering as I thinke sacrifices for vs and praying for the people hee speaketh as being assured thereof we know also that the custome of Orators who speake in praise of any man is to make Rhetoricall appellation to the dead and to speake to the absent as to men present The Bookes of the Paynims are full of these examples See how Plinie speaketh to Ciciro long before deceased in his seauenth booke and thirtyeth Chapter Salue primus omnium parens patriae appellate To Gregory Coeffeteau addeth the Catechisme of Cyrill which are falâ—ely attributed vnto him Gesner in his Bibliotheca witnesseth that this booke is found in written hand vnder the name of one Iohn of Ierusalem Gretzer a Germiane Iesuit in his booke for Pilgrimages page 354. witnesseth the same Harding in his Treatise of Accidents without subiect Section the 6. saith that in his time this booke was not fouâ—d but manuscript and knowne to a fewe And the foolery which is found in the 24. Catechise when he saith that the wood of the Crosse doth increase and multiply in such fort that the earth is full thereof sheweth that this booke was written many ages since doubtlesse by this Iohn of Ierusalem an aduocate for Images who liued in the yeare 767. See the Ecclesiasticall Stories of Vigner in the yeare 767. Afterwards commeth a place of Saint Austine It is iniurie to pray for a Martyr by whose prayers wee on the other side ought to be recommended This place is found indeed in his 17. Sermon De verbis Apostoli but not in the 80. Tract vpon Iohn as Coeffeteau alleadgeth it who spake by other mens report Now this place is not to the purpose for hee saith onely that the Saints pray for vs which thing wee haue neuer denyed we doe out of Godly considerations presume that albeit they know not the necessity of particular men yet they pray for the Church in generall But that wee should for this cause inuocate them or yeeld them any religious seruice Saint Austine doth not avouch Lastly Coeffeteau addeth Saint Ambrose who in his booke of Widdowes exhorteth Widdowes to pray to the Angells and Martyrs whom he calleth beholders of our liues and actions Here a man may see the humour of our Aduersaries which is to passe by the vertues of the Fathers and to set forth nothing but their vices and blemishes like Flyes who cast themselues vpon gaules and botches of bodies rather then vpon the sound parts The Reader then shall be aduertised that Saint Ambrose was chosen Bishop before he was baptised Hauing thus cast himselfe at the first iumpe into a charge to the which hee was no way prepared no man ought to maruaile if in his beginnings he said somthings for which he afterwards corrected himselfe The booke of Widdowes is one of his first works wherein you may
A DEFENCE OF THE CATHOLICKE FAITH CONTAINED IN THE BOOKE OF THE MOST Mightie and most Gracious King IAMES the first King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the FAITH AGAINST THE ANSWERE OF N. Coeffeteau Doctour of Diuinitie and Vicar Generall of the Dominican Preaching FRIARS Written in French by PIERRE DV MOVLIN Minister of the word of God in the Church of PARIS Translated into English according to his first Coppie by himselfe reuiewed and corrected LONDON Printed by W. Stansby for Nathaniel Butter and Martin Clerke 1610. To the KINGS most Excellent MAIESTIE I Take mine Authors word and mine owne experience for warrant from beyond the Seas most Dread Soueraigne that your Maiesties excellent knowledge and learning haue wonne you admiration among forraine Nations And for home-affections it is well knowen that your Maiesties sincere loue to the truth of Religion and constant Confession of the Catholicke Faith whereof your Maiestie is worthily stiled The Defender haue knit the hearts of your people vnto you Who well perceiue by your Kingly Apology directed to the Princes of Christendome that God hath made your Maiesty such a one as was DAVID The sweet Singer of Israel euen a Propheticall King 2. â—am 23.1 and a Kingly Prophet whose bold profession it is Psal 119. I will speake of thy testimonies Psal 119.46 euen before Kings and will not be ashamed Such as the Kings also among the Heathen are said to haue beene both Princes and Prophets Rex Anius Virg. Aeneid 3. rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos Concerning the Authour and Pen-man of this booke I neede not say any thing Authorem commendat opus Touching my selfe vpon whom this taske was secundarily imposed I know the Translation will blab out mine imperfections Your Maiesty is apt to pardon greater offences and therfore I hope these The ground worke is your Maiesties owne which maketh me bold to vse that saying toward your Maiesty my Soueraigne Lord wherewith Paulus Orosius dedicateth his Story to S. Austin his Master and Tutor Totum tuum sit quod ex te In initio ad te redit It is all your Maiesties owne doing which comming from you I returne it back againe vnto you And so I dedicate you to your selfe In Apologet. cap. 30. concluding with that which Tertullian reporteth to haue beene the auncient Christians Prayer for the safety of their Emperours and is now in vse also in the Church of Rome if we may beleeue Doctor Coeffeteau but I feare me not with like true affection Fol. 5. Vitam Maiestati tuae prolixam Imperium securum domum tutam exercitum fortem Senatum fiaelem populum probum regnum quietum obnixè precor Your Maiesties most humble and faithfull Subiect IOHN SANFORD To the most Mighty and Gracious King IAMES the first King of great Brittaine and of Ireland SIR AS your greatnesse no way needeth our seruice so your exquisite learning wants not any defence For your greatest enemies to whom your power is redoubtable haue your learning in admiration But were it so that you had vse of any mans pen yet should you haue litle cause to seeke further then your owne kingdomes since amongst your subiects there is so great a number of learned men to whom we are in all regards inferiour Yet notwithstanding we haue held it necessary to declare vnto the world that that religion which you defend is the same which we professe and that it befits vs to make resistance to such as in your particuler person assault the generall truth This vndertaking of mine is great and my abilities but ordinarie besides my vocation very laborious neither is a tempest a fit time to write in or a banke of an vnquiet torrent a fit place for serious meditation But SIR the perfection of your worke may supply my defect for to fight after you cannot be properly termed fighting but the pursuite of your victory for though the point of truth be euer sharpe yet it entreth and pierceth more or lesse according to the force and vigour of the arme It is not then to be maruelled if it strike cleane through errors being guided by so strong and powerfull a hand To you then SIR belongs the glory of this holy worke to vs remaines the good and benefit of following your example for the easiest way to speake well for you is to speake that which we haue learned of you neither is it possible that any one should write well in your defence that writes not in your imitation Wherein these my paines can no way merit to be compared For your Maiesty poureth out largely with a royall hand into the Threasury of the Sanctuary whilest I like the poore widow make offer of my mite the which I do with the more affection boldnesse in respect that our Kings participate with you in the cause and that we do see our crowne already foiled and our kings life endangered for want of considering those things which your Maiesty in your booke propoundeth and God grant that your Maiesties warnings be not prophesies and that our good mercifull and victorious king who flourisheth equally in peace as he is feared in warre being endued with an admired vigor both of body and mind may be long preserued amongst vs who hauing had so good experience and in so many places of our fidelity will not we hope be displeased with this our liberty in defending of our religion to which we are not drawne by the hatred of any but by our zeale to the cause of God and through compassion of the poore peopla who being carried along with the streame of custome thinke they do God good seruice to hate vs yea so farre are they transported as they are become iealous and suspitious of the holy Scriptures fearing lest by the word of God they should be misled and seduced for the saluation of whose enthralled soules we would willingly expose our liues and will not cease daily to pray to God to enlighten them in the truth whom we likewise pray that he will preserue your Maiesty from all euill and blesse your person and kingdomes and the Church that liueth vnder the shade and quiet of your gouernment with praier from my heart I recommend to God remaining From Paris the 20. of Ianuary 1610. Your Maiesties most humble and most obedient seruant P. D. M. The Translator to the Reader Gentle Reader I here present thee a worke very worthy of thy study and Meditation if eyther thou beare a loue to Gods truth or good affection towards thy Soueraigne Onely let me intreat thee out of a common feeling of humane frailty to pardon and before thou reade to amend the faults that haue herein escaped through ouersight of the Printers my sickenesse at that time and the distance of place not giuing me leaue to be alwayes present to preuent the same In the Translation I haue not nicely tyed my selfe to the wordes neyther was it requisite
Non verbum verbo curabit reddere fidus Interpres Horat. in Art poet but retayning the strength and sinew of the Sentence I haue rendred it as best fitted the property of speech in our owne language Where the Kings words were to be inserted I haue chosen rather to follow his Maiesties owne Coppy then the French Translation which sometimes varyeth from it neyther haue I therein wronged mine Author Wherefore omitting those smaller mistakes which the discreete will passe ouer with an easie censure whether they bee wordes redundant as in or the twice repeated Or Syllables disioyned as often for often or letters transposed as villaines for villanies or wordes ill orthographized as Epostle and daceiue in one page for Apostle and deceiue Likewise Alminacke Letonies terent for Almanacke Letanies torrent c. Those other which are represented in the end of the booke I leaue to thy courtesie necessarily to be amended being such as import the matter and in which the Composers omitting or not well reading the wordes interlined wherein I sometimes corrected my selfe haue thrust in their owne coniectures Farewell TO THE READER MAy it please thee gentle Reader to vnderstand that after we had finished our worke and that the booke was now ready to come forth there came to my hands certaine corrections and amplifications of some points from the Author himselfe earnestly intreating to haue them inserted which because they could not conueniently be brought in in their proper places the booke being already printed yet that we might doe him right against the malice of his captious Aduersaries I thought it good to bestow them in this page requesting thee of thy charity which couereth a multitude of sinnes at once to pardon both our faults Page 30.14 reade the last Canon 45.25 r. as though he affirmed it without knowledge and spake it onely vpon trust 80.23 r. iudged to be vniust 181.7 r. the earth is almost full of the chips and pieces thereof Page 338.16 after the word men leaue out the whole sentence ending with the word Saluation then adde as followeth Onely we must note that this word Dulia hath a double and doubtfull signification and that there be two sorts of Dulia The one is a Religious action the other is onely a seruice an humane respect which is yeelded also to the liuing As for that kinde of Dulia which is a Religious worship the holy scripture forbiddeth it to be giuen to any saue onely to God alone as 1. Sam. 7.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prepare your hearts to the Lord and yeeld Dulia or Seruice to him alone And S. Austin Quaest 94. vpon Exodus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debetur Deo tanquam Domino Doulia is due to GOD as to him who is MASTER And de Ciuit. Dei lib. 10. cap. 1. Religio non est nisi Dei cultus Religion is nothing else but the seruice of God plainly shewing that the seruing of the Creatures is not an action of Religion But if we take the word Dulia for a respect and seruice done vnto men and not for a religious action our aduersaries doe amisse to say that they serue the Saints or other Images with Dulia seeing they yeeld them a religious seruice and a voluntary worship tending to the attainment of saluation Againe ibid line 29. reade that then no miracles were wrought by their Images Page 367.13 r. the whole earth is full of the peeces of it 399.27 Modicum quodque delictum mora resurrectionis illic luendo Page 425.27 r. in the 9. Distinction and the 9. Canon of the Councell of Antioch and the 17. Canon of the Councell of Chalcedon These wordes of the Canon of Antioch are for a marginall note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 433. blot out the 8. last lines and the first line of the next page Page 440.21 read So in the 6. generall Councell Pope Honorius is condemned as an Hereticke and cast out of the Catholicke Church in the 13. Act and the same Councell assembled in the palace in the 13. Act doth by name condemne the Church of Rome c. Page 441.17 reade the 11. Homily of S. Chrysostome vpon Matthew Page 454.14 reade that Christ is an head more absolute and greater then the Pope and that the Pope is of lesse vertue then the holy Ghost Page 470.12 reade vpon the foundation layd by another Apostle The fame and good report and the mutuall communication of the strangers that were Christians with the Romanes had planted the Christian Religion at Rome but the Church of Rome required the presence of some Apostle for her full establishment A Table of the principall matters contained in this worke THE FIRST BOOKE ¶ Of the Vsurpation of Popes ouer Kings CHAP. 1. The occasion why IAMES the first King of Great Brittaine wrote his Booke together with a iudgement vpon Doctor Coeffeteaus Booke Pag. 1. CHAP. 2. Remonstrations of D. Coeffeteau with his iudgement touching the Treasons and attempts vpon the life of the King of England Pag. 16. CHAP. 3. Of Cardinals Pag. 23. CHAP. 4. Of Iesuites Pag. 39. CHAP. 5. Of the power of the Pope ouer the Temporalties of Kings and that he cannot take from Kings their Crownes nor free Subiects from the Oath of fidelitie and thereupon the reasons of Bellarmine are examined Pag. 45. CHAP. 6. Of the Clergie and their Exemptions Pag. 88. CHAP. 7. Of the Authoritie of Emperours and Kings ouer the Bishops of Rome that they haue chosen them punished them and degraded them That Princes haue had power ouer Bishops and their Temporalties The first seede of Poperie in England Pag. 105. CHAP. 8. That they who haue written against the King of Great Brittaine his Booke haue vniustly called him Apostata and Hereticke Pag. 128. THE SECOND BOOKE ¶ A defence of the Confession of IAMES the first King of great Britaine ARTICLE 1. Of the Creede Pag. 133. ART 2. Of the Fathers in generall Pag. 134. ART 3. Of the authority of the Fathers each apart by themselues Pag. 135. ART 4. Of the authority of the holy Scripture Pag. 143. ART 5. Of the Canonical and Apocrypha books Pag. 145 ART 6. Of the memory of Saints and of their Holy-dayes Pag. 154. ART 7. Of the Virgin Mary Pag. 164. ART 8. Of the suffrages of Saints and of the seruice due vnto them Pag. 173. ART 9. Of the Masse without Communicants or Assistants and of the Sacrifice of the Masse Pag. 202. ART 10. Of the Communion vnder one kinde Pag. 246. ART 11. Of Transubstantiation Pag. 258. ART 12. Of the Adoration of the Host Pag. 271. ART 13. Of the eleuation of the Host that it may be adored Pag. 274. ART 14. Of carrying their God in Procession Pag. 275. ART 15. Of workes of Supererogation and of super abundant Satisfaction and of the Treasury of the Church Pag. 276. ART 16. Of the baptizing of Bels. Pag. 308. ART 17. Of the Reliques of Saints Pag. 311.
ART 18. Of Images Pag. 329. ART 19. Of the Image of God Pag. 356. ART 20. Of the Crosse Pag. 361. ART 21. Of Purgatory Pag. 375. ART 22. Of the Anarchy and degrees of Superiority in the Church Pag. 406. ART 23. Of the Popes Supremacy Pag. 413. THE THIRD BOOKE ¶ Of the accomplishment of Prophesies OF THE VSVRPATION OF POPES Ouer KINGS THE FIRST BOOKE CHAP. I. The occasion that moued IAMES the first King of great Britaine to write his booke with the iudgement on COEFFETEAV his booke IT happeneth often that the Lightning falling vpon a man without hurting the flesh breaketh the bones because they onely in the body do make resistance to it and herein the lightning which GOD sends from aboue imitates the nature of him that sendeth it who bruseth the proude and such as withstand him but taketh mercy on the humble which bow vnder his iudgments and tremble at his word But the fulminations of the Bishop of Rome are of a contrary nature for they hurt none but such as feare them nor breake none but such as bow vnder them but he that sets them light is neyther endamaged by them nor breaketh his sleep for them but they fall like the Thunder-bolt into the Sea nay they rather drawe from God a blessing vpon the heads of those that are thus threatned according to that of Dauid Psal 109.28 Though they curse yet wilt thou blesse The happy raigne of the late Queene ELIZABETH will furnish vs with a faire example thereof who notwithstanding the excommuniations of Pope Pius the fift by whom England was interdicted she long time enioyed a Peace without any disturbance or interruption and a prosperity almost beyond example And finally when it pleased God to take her to peace and to gather her to his rest many supposed that the end of her life would be a beginning of troubles and confusions in England and thereupon the opinions and feares were diuers according to the diuersitie of mens desires For the English that were of the Romane Church attentiue and heedy to all occasions had conceiued hope of some great chaunge whether it were that they were led into their hope vpon false grounds or that after the death of a soueraine Prince better things are euer expected from the succeffor or whether that such as are discontented are euer desirous of a change so it was that in this Crisis of humours the spirits of the English waued and floated betwixt hope and feare till by the happy arriuall of IAMES the first the lawfull Successor all things were appeased and cleared euen as by the rising of the Sunne mists and fogges are dispersed and scattered He in the sweetnesse and fairenesse of his owne nature enclined to giue content vnto all his subiects with free liberty of conscience But this his in clination was ouer-ruled by necessity when his wisedome entred into consideration that the matter now in question was not onely Religion but the peace of his estate and the security of his crowne for that it was a thing dangerous to permit publike Assemblies of such persons as had taken Oath to others then himselfe who hold that the Pope may pull downe Kings from their Thrones and dispense with subiects for the oath of their alleageāce Moreouer he called to his remembrance the kings his predecessors whom the Popes had reduced to extream seruitude so farre as to make England parte of the Popes Demaines and in Fee to the Church of Rome and further to make it pay impost and to cause the King to goe beneath his Legats and to giue vp the Crowne into their handes These are considerations that one cannot square or apply to those of the Reformed Religion which liue vnder a Soueraigne of a contrary profession for they take oath to no other but to their Soueraigne Prince They cast their eyes vpon no Forrainer they maintaine that it belongs not to the subiect out of the Religion of the Prince to frame occasions of disobedience making piety the match and kindler of rebellion We are ready to expose our liues for the defence of our King against whomsoeuer though he be of our owne Religion and whosoeuer should doe otherwise should not defend Religion but giue way to his owne ambitions and should draw a great scandall vpon the truth of the Gospell Notwithstanding his Maiestie hath vsed his subiects of the Romane Church in such sorte that excepting the liberty of publique exercise he desired to haue them in like and equall condition with others being vnwilling to haue them disturbed for matter of conscience knowing well that Religion is not by force but by perswasion to take impression and that in this case men will rather follow then be drawne and that persecutions begin when Arguments are at an end Notwithstanding this gentle proceeding those of the Church of Rome now fallen from great hopes which they had imagined turned their despaire into choller and indignation and thereupon plotted an enterprise that should haue enfoulded the King the Queene their children his Maiesties Councell and the Parliament in one and the same destruction the plot was to make a Mine vnder the house of Parliament and so to send the King and his royal family with the chiefe of his Countrey to heauen by a new found way Hatred is an ingenious Mistris of inuention for neyther ancient nor moderne Histories can parallel this with any example The Prince of the world reserued to our times which are the very sinke of former ages something more exquisitely cruell and horrible then euer before hath beene mentioned In the meane time through all their houses there was a certaine forme of prayer prescribed by the Priests and Iesuites for the happy successe of this enterprise to whom the complices did mutually binde themselues by oath sworne vpon the holy Sacrament both for secrecie and perseuerance in the designe The Mine was already finished and the Gun-powder laid ready and nothing wanting but the execution when God who as he is himselfe a King so consequently he is the protector of Kings whom he hath established miraculously discouered this treason the conspiratours being taken suffered according vnto law and amongst others two Iesuites Garnet and Ouldcorne who are now inserted into a catalogue of * It is a table printed at Rome Anno 1608. apud Paulum Mauperinum Matheum Gruterum dedicated to R. Farnesius Prince of Parma in which are the pictures of such Iesuits as haue beene killed and executed sinc◠the yeare 1549. Martyrs imprinted at Rome which is the Spring-head and Forge of all such enterprises Lesse cause would haue sufficed an impatient King to haue exterminated all their complices and to haue let loose the raines of his iust anger but hee with a rare example of clemency suffered punishment to passe no further then to the principall delinquents inuenting and framing to himselfe Causes and Reasons how he might pardon he considered that Superstition might alter
their fidelity to the Pope thinke themselues bound to disloyalty towards their King And yet notwithstanding his Maiestie herein contained himselfe and would not that his mercy shold be surpassed by their wickednes so far that he hath rather chuse to take in hand the pen then the sword and hath studied to instruct those whom he might iustly haue destroyed desiring more to conuince them by reason then to ouercome them by force Maluit sanguinem suffundere quam effundere What would not hee doe for his faithfull subiects that lets himselfe downe so low to his enemies that laies aside the quality of a Iudge to become an Aduocate but he whom God hath lifted vp to a Soueraigne greatnesse neuer exalteth himselfe higher then by humility This King then to refute these Papal Letters and to iustifie what he had done made a booke entituled An Apologie for the Oath of Alleageance but not setting his name thereunto for it was nothing to him vnder what title the truth appeared so that his enemies might come to the knowledge of their fault This was no combat of the ability of wit but a meere manifestation of his innocency But the stile of a King is hardly disguised for Kings being in more eleuated places receiue nearer at hand the inspirations from heauen Their conceptions are as much aboue the vulgar as their conditions this onely thought that they are GODS Lieutenants and that they exercise his iudgements quickens their spirits with an extraordinary life and vigour besides if it so happen that their youth hath beene dressed and ordered by study and their iudgments polished by experience as it hath happened to the King of great BRITAINE why should any body wonder if their their spirits flye a pitch aboue ordinary This Royall Apologie hauing then bin knowne as a Lyon by his clawes stirred vp certaine English-men and Italians to write against it who as this King elegantly saide haue cast lots vpon his booke for that they could not part it for the reasons thereof are vnseparably weaued together but they not being able to bite his worke barke at his person with an incredible impudence so far some of them as to equall themselues with so great a Prince and to compare him to Iulian the Apostate Such are the flowers of their diuellish Rhethorique wherewith their writings are adorned on whom the Apostle S. Peter in his second Epistle Cap. 2.10 11 12 giueth this iudgement calling them brute beasts led with sensuality that despise gouernment which are presumptuous and stand in their owne conceit and feare not to speake euil of them which are in dignity whereas the Angels which are greater both in power and might gaue not rayling iudgement against them before the Lord. Then if it be ill done to speake ill of a Pagan Prince such as in those times all Monarches were how much more of a Christian King and if Angels forbore ill speaking of Princes how much more would it beseeme men and most of all their owne subiects But no more then the Moone is turned out of her course by the barking of Dogges that looke vp to her no more was the tranquility of his Maiesties spirit by these outragious iniuries disturbed nor his resolution diuerted from doing good to those which bore him hatred It is a poore and meane thing to tread vpon wormes There is no glory in ouercomming such people of whom he is sufficiently reuenged by the griefe and displeasure which they sustain in seeing that God hath blessed him and highly exalted him He would therefore haue contemned their sleighting of him would haue abstained from refuting their calumnies by a second writing had it not beene in regard not of them but of his people and of his neighbours and aboue all of the glory of God for God hauing honoured him with the true knowledge of him his Maiestie would not permit that the enemies as well of the Gospel as of his Crowne should find in his persō any subiect or colour to defame the true religion He is then by an admirable example constituted the aduocate of Gods cause by a second booke made in forme of a Preface to his former hath fully and throughly iustified himselfe In which booke he discouereth the flights and backe-turnings of his enemies representing the vniustnes of their proceedings He likewise maketh confession of his Religion conformable to the holy Scriptures and with a happy boldnes figures and depaints the Bishoppe of Rome and his Sea with liuely colours borrowed from the Apocalips and the Apostle S. Paul Neuer was Table drawne with a more exact hand or in liuelyer colours Such is the Torrent of his eloquence such is the weight of his reasons such is the linking together of his discourse such the variety of his learning and such his Maiesty in all thinges as hee may best iudge of it who shall compare them with that puft-vp weakenesse of the Popes letters and with the writing of his Aduersaries Oh happy eloquence which being armed with power is become the hand-maide of Gods word the sourse and spring whereof falling from high are like to the waters of Silo which water the City of our God Hee doth truely exalt his Scepter which layeth it downe at the foote of the Crosse and that placeth his height and greatnesse beneath the reproch of the Sonne of God he sanctifieth his house making his Cabinet a Temple for Diuinity and a retrayt for holy Meditations Then as in ancient times the earth was more fruitfull when it was laboured by Kings as though she had taken pride to beare a crowned Plough and to be tilled with a Triumphall Coulter So it is to be hoped that Religion and Piety will abundantly encrease since Kings are become labourers in the Haruest This latter booke then being come to succour and helpe the first did diuersly stirre mens spirits some with ioy some with feare some with hate but all generally with admiration The booke being little it was giuen out we should haue it answered within three dayes and sure their good will was not wanting but they found it a harder matter then so and that they were faine to take more time For it was eight moneths after it was published before the first Answeres came forth and what kinde of Answeres they were God he knoweth One Coeffeteau was the first that like an Infant perdu of the Romish army aduanced himselfe This Seraphicall Doctor of the order of the Iacobins or preaching Fryers one of the most remarkeable amongst the Sorbonists is of late through his companions negligence become the defender of the cause And he now after eight moneths being in labour hath brought forth a booke which is not like to liue because of the vntimely birth and indeede it had beene already extinct and dead had not the greatnesse of him against whom he writes kept it aliue wherein he shewed a point of skill to addresse himselfe against a person so illustrious that he might
receiue some lustre from his reflection But those that desire to make themselues knowne by the greatnesse of their Aduersaries are alwaies such as haue little in themselues why the world should take note of them This Doctor in his booke handleth the King of great Britaine as a Nurce doth her nurce-childe who after shee hath dandled it beates it mingling curstnesse and flattery For in humble termes hee wrongeth him and giueth him respectfull lyes flatters him with iniuries accuseth him to speake vpon trust and that he busieth himselfe with quirkes and subtleties and sayes that he makes S. Paul an Interpreter of the Apocalips This is the forme of his writing as for the matter and substance of his booke I finde that he hath ill measured his owne strength and that with the weakenesse and meanenesse of his skill he hath made the strength of his Maiesties reasons more manifest Gyants are not to be ouerthrown with a breath neyther is a Lion to be fought against with a Festue Other kind of forces are necessary to make resistance to so exquisite a doctrine that is euer abundantly sustained by the truth And indeede he clearely confesseth his weakenesse in this that hee neuer cyteth the Text of the Kings booke but only reporteth the sense thereof disguised and weakened that he may giue himselfe greater scope and liberty forming to himself Chimera's which he impugneth with other Chimera's of his owne as will sufficiently appeare by the examination of his booke to which we now will enter God herein enlighten vs since that which wee say is for his truth which is the light of our soules CHAP. II. Certaine Remonstrances of COEFFETEAV his iudgement touching the Treasons and attempts vppon the life of the King of England ARISTOTLE in the second booke of his Rhetoriques Chap. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith that the Countrey people vse to haue their speeches very full of sentences but folly is more sufferable then vnseasonable wisedome Coeffeteau beginneth his booke much after such fashion making to the King of great Britaine many sententious Remonstrances interlaced and mingled with threats and commendations But whilst he representeth to Kings their duties he goeth beyond his owne for S. Ierome forbids Monkes to be teachers saying in his booke against Vigilantius Monachus non docentissed plangen tis habet officium wishing Monks rather to bewaile and be sorrowfull for their owne faults then to reprehend those of other men But chiefly his Remonstrances are ill employed to a King that is better read in the Bible then he is in his Missall and that hath carefully put in practise the commaundement of God in the seuenteenth of Deuteronomy where hee commaunds Kings to read the booke of the law all the dayes of their liues verse 19. The exhortation that Luther often vsed by his Letters to Pope Leo the tenth to renounce the papacy and to liue of his owne and to come and doe as he did had more grace with it then this of Coeffeteau for it is more probable of the two Sleidan li. 2. that the Pope was the likelier to haue followed Luthers counsell This Doctor hauing thus employed the seuen first pages of his book in these exhortations which haue no other fault but that they are ill applyed comes to those motiues which estrange and keepe the King of England from the Romane Religion supposing the conspiracies that haue beene against his person to be the causes of it thereupon protesteth Fol. 5. pag. 1. that the Romane Church no way approueth such attempts but condemnes them as parricides and wisheth to Princes secure gouernement victorious armes obedient people and faithfull Councell And after addeth That for these considerations the head of the Church which is the Pope cannot disaproue the courses that your Maiestie holaeth to secure your authority and person against the miserable enterprizes so that they bee not repugnant to that Religion which he is bound to desend To this I say Coeffeteau hath beene very ill enformed for the conspiracies against the King of Englands life haue not with-held or kept him from Popery since euen from his Infancy he hath made open profession of the true Religion and before this conspiracy had published the confession of his faith conformable to that which we professe And whereas he condemnes such attempts as are made vpon the liues of Kings we greatly commend him for it and thereby suppose that he no way approued the enterprize of Iames Clement who was domesticke with him and his companion From thence I likewise gather that when the Iesuite Mariana in the sixt Chapter of his booke De Regno prayseth the Act of Iames Clement saying that he was perswaded and enduced thereunto by Diuines with whom hee had conferr'd I gather that Coeffeteau was none of those Diuines and that when this Parricide Saint and Coeffeteau went a begging together hee made him not acquainted with his secret And further it is no small vertue in this Doctor that he feareth not in so iust a cause to condemne many Iesuites who were complices or instigators of this last conspiracy and haue been executed for it Nay more it sheweth a magnanimity in Coeffeteau that hee dares so couragiously oppose himselfe to the Pope and Bellarmine who by their letters before mentioned incite the English to rebellion which could neuer take effect so long as the Kings life should be in safety By the same meanes he likewise condemneth the Authors of the Legend of S. Iames Clement which wee haue seene with our eyes but not without much wonder and admiration The successe of things haue grudged him this honor and men haue beene nothing fauourable and propitious to this Saint otherwise doubtlesse hee had before this beene put into paradice It is likewise a cause of iust ioy vnto vs to see that a Doctor of the Sorbons dare approue the sentence of the Court of Parliament against Iohn Chastell though the Pope of late hath newly censured it By which it dooth also follow that he doth not thinke it well done that Garnet and Ouldcorne Iesuites and parties in the gunpowder treason are at Rome inserted in a roll of Martyres Whosoeuer prayseth and approueth an acte already done will questionlesse counsel and aduise the doing of it for that which is wicked in the vndertaking cannot be good in the execution But the Pope in his breue before mentioned calleth the punishment of Treason and rebellion by the name of Martyrdom which is a dangerous speech able to make Kings tremble when the people shall be taught by Murders and Treasons to seeke the Crowne of Martyrdome An abhominable and detestable doctrine can there be any so colde and frozen zeale that will not hereby be warmed and moued to a iust anger that this so sacred name of Martyr so much reuerenced in the Church should in such sort be prostituted that whereas the holy Scripture calleth them Martyrs which suffer for the testimony of the
them then these great ones doe And so he endeth his amplification with the praise of the Cardinal of Perron Now to begin with these which he opposeth vnto vs The answers I doe acknowledge that these two Cardinals carried along with the current of the time and course of affaires haue by their wils and abilities much helped the defence of errour they haue imployed their vessels of golde and siluer which they brought out of Egypt to the making of the golden Calfe and Coeffeteau hath little in his writings that he hath not filtched from them But I know that they disagree in many things and that the Cardinall of Perron loueth his King too well to assent with Bellarmine that the Pope may either directly or indirectly depriue him of his Crowne or dispence to French-men the obedience they owe him As for the thing it selfe that is the antiquity charge and modesty of Cardinals it requireth a longer discourse Men dispute of the originall of Cardinals as they doe of the head and sourse of the riuer Nilus The greatest antiquity that Coeffeteau is able to produce is the testimony of the Romane Councell held if we may giue credite to the impression vnder Siluester the first since the Counsell of Nice But it is easie for vs to conuince this of falshood being forged by some shallow braine that wanted learning to lie with skill and dexterity The Cullen Edition p. 357. This Counsell is found in the first Tome of the Counsels reduced into twenty Chapters whereof the first saith that in this Counsell there were 139. Bishoppes aswell of the City of Rome as of other places neare about it which is well knowne to be impossible In the last Chapter Siluester prohibiteth the Emperour and Kings to be Iudges of the Bishop of Rome Now it is strange how this should be since at that time there were no Kings in all Christendome there he likewise saith that Constantine and his mother Helena subscribed to this Counsel but Constantine was neuer at Rome vnder Siluester since the Counsell of Nice and women neuer subscribed to the Counsels at all He further addeth Actum in Traianas thermas as though this Counsell had beene faine to hide it selfe in the Stoaues In the same place Constantine is called Donnus Constantinus in stead of Dominus but in those times the Latine tongue was not become so strangely corrupted besides amongst the Romanes this very word Dominus was then odious as attributed to tyrants And lastly he saith that this Counsell was held Constantino Augusto tertio hee meant to haue said tertiùm Prisco consulibus which is a most apparant vntruth for we finde in the Chronicles of Cassiodorus and in the Fasti of Onuphrius and Annian Marcellinus all the Consulships of Constantine but it cannot be found that eyther Priscus or any of the family of Augustus were companions with Constantine in Consulshippe and further in the page before this Counsell Siluester writeth to the Counsell of Nice and deteth his letters from the seuenth time of Constantines being Consull And yet see this goodly Counsell which was held since and yet beareth date from his third Consulshippe It is likewise to be proued that both Siluester and Helena were long afore this deceased These vntruths are very easie to be discerned and any ordinary iudgement will discouer them but to Coeffeteau who hath no great skill in any good learning any proofes will serue his turne It had beene very fitting that so royall a worke might haue had a learned aduersary was there not in Fraunce some more able and sufficient man that might haue seduced with a better grace or could haue found better pretences and colours to haue opposed the truth Certainly it is much to the disgrace grace of our nation But these are briefly his proofes of the antiquity of Cardinals Cóeffeteau doth further add that Caluine acknowledgeth that Cardinals did flourish in the time of Gregory the first In the fourth booke of his Institution Chap. 7. §. 30. which was sixe hundred yeares after Christ and this is likewise another vntruth Caluine saith indeede that there was then the Title and name of Cardinal but not the charge and that in that age this word CARDINALL signified nothing lesse then what it doth now a dayes and the substance being chaunged the word hath still continued euen as we see in the Apothecaries box though the oyntment be gone the inscripion remayneth Also Caluine speaketh not of their flourishing but of their being Gregory indeed in the eleauenth Epistle of his fift booke speaketh of a Cardinall Deacon And likewise in the foure and twentieth Epistle of his eleuenth booke he speaketh of a Cardinall Priest which is as much to say as principall in the same sense and nature as we say the Cardinall windes or Cardinall vertues which signifie onely the cheefe and principall But of any Cardinall Bishops neyther he nor any of his time nor long after made any kinde of mention A Cardinall Priest then had no other signification then the Parson or Vicar of a Parish hath now neyther was this title onely vsed in Rome There continue still Cardinals at Compostella but in all other great Archiepiscopall Citties as namely in Millane where Sigonius towards the end of his seuenth booke saith that there were then two and twenty Cardinals but there being then in one Parish diuers Priests he that was the first and chiefe was called principall or Cardinall for they signified both one thing as * Pandulphi de vitis Pontificum in Electione Gelasij ij Pandulphus Pisanus and after him * Lib. de Episco titulis Diaconijs Cardinalium Onuphrius teacheth vs. For Bellarmine in his first booke de Clericis Chap. 16 is mistaken where he saith that in the fourth booke of Gregories Epistles Chap. 88. there are subscriptions of diuers Cardinall Priests bearing the same title which is altogether vntrue for there is no mention made of Cardinals and by Priests of the same title is meant simply in that place Priests of the same Church or Parish He likewise there alleadgeth the Counsell of Rome false and counterfeited And hee also speaketh of Cardinall Bishops which were neyther in the time of Gregory nor long after so that in few lines he committeth three grosse errours This then standeth thus that the Cardinall Priests were no more but the principall Priests of euery Parish and of this there remayneth to this day some shewes and traces for that euery Cardinall Bishop or Priest beareth the title of some Church or Parish of the citie of Rome which doth more plainly appeare by the forme of the reception of new Cardinals as it is set down in the first book of the holy ceremonies Section the 8. chap. 12. where the Pope after he hath put a ringe on the finger of the new Cardinall that kneeleth before him sayeth vnto him To the honour of God and of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul
his fellowes where he saith that the rebellion of a Clergie man against his King cannot be treason in that he is not subiect to the King which agreeth with that which is written by the Iesuite Saunders in his second booke of his visible Monarchie whereof the King of great Britaine in his first booke cyteth many passages Now whereas the Iesuites of France did make a booke intituled * In the pag. 70. of the Edition of the bigger print 1595. you shall finde these wordes The Pope pretendeth nothing ouer Souerainty but to correct as a father as a Iudge such as are pernitious to the Church For then he may not alone but he is bound to shew himselfe their Superior Security wold make thee peruerse froward but thou must be kept down be made to confes that thou hast neyther reason nor conscience For it is fit that Princes shold be often held in and curbed by feare of their temporalities The defence of the truth against the pleading of Anthony Arnold In which they maintaine at large that the Pope may as Iudge depriue Princes of their temporalties This is wholly to be imputed to the times for then it was fit to speake in that manner but now they reserue those Maximes for fitter seasons Diuinity is to be applyed as occasions serue and wee are now in an age that if wee would know how wee were to teach and moue the people we must first looke into the Aâ—minake and accommodate our selues to the affaires of the Common wealth and therefore it is to be hoped that such * The which are produced in the Chapter following passages of Bellarmine that do make the liues and Crownes of Kings subiect to the Pope will be mended in the next Edition And as for the troubles and seditions which these Fathers haue stirred in Polonia which hath cost Demetrius his life and as for the causes which haue moned the Venetians to banish them out of their estate this a thing wholly to be imputed to the Climate or to the strange humors of the Country which is farre differing from Fraunce All this being considered it is to be hoped that the King of great Britaine following the counsell of Doctor Coeffeteau will take them to be neare about his person The other Reasons which are brought to recommend them seeme not to me of any great weight It is said that they carefully instruct youth if it be so how commeth it to passe that since they haue vndertaken to teach learning is so much decayed I would willingly that one could shew mee in Fraunce any of their Disciples that were of exact and exquisite learning or whom haue they in their society that may bee compared with those that were the Schollers of Turnebus or of Cuias Who are yet as many of them as are left the very lights and ornaments of the Court where is now the Vniuersitie of Paris which had wont to haue in it thirty thousand schollers but hath declined towards barbarisme euer since this kinde of people haue vndertaken to teach by their abridgements and Epitomies the which haue beene framed and composed by a rable of Pedants that teach all by rote in stead of drawing their instructions from the Fountaines of the Greeke and in stead ofâ—etling their iudgements by the course of auncient Philosophy And as for humane learning Scaliger Casaubon Passerate Lipsius and diuers like vnto them were they brought vp in their schooles Or indeede whom haue they brought vp comparable to them But Coeffeteau saith that the most Christian King is serued by them dealeth well with them and taketh them neere vnto his person our condition is too low and our vnderstanding too weake to search out the Counsels of so great a King whom God hath endued with an incomparable wisedome but yet I thinke that this serues not to iustifie them for who can tell whether his Maiesty doth this onely to put in practise that rule of the Gospell which is To doe well to those that hate vs Or whether he endeauoureth by his goodnes to master and ouercome their wickednesse and so by that meanes to binde them to fidelity Or who can tell whether his Maiestie herein imitateth the example of God who imployeth the wicked spirits for such causes and to such purposes as are best knowne to his diuine wisedome Or who knoweth whether in this he doth like Vlisses who for auoyding of tempests would keepe the winds with him shut vp in a leather bagge This great King whose paines and industry procureth our generall repose whose vigilancy makes vs to sleepe securely who bereaueth himselfe of himselfe and bestoweth himselfe on the publique and who maketh peace to flourish vnder the shaddow of his victories Long may hee enioy that quiet and repose which he hath broght euen to those that hate him Let his Counsels be euer blessed with happy successe his life with safety his subiects with fidelity his Crowne with glory and his Kingdome with prosperity CHAP. V. Of the power of the Pope ouer the temporalities of Kings and that he cannot take from Kings their Crownes nor free subiects from the Oath of fidelity And thereupon the reasons of Bellarmine are examined THe King of great Britaine in his Apology complayneth of two Breues or letters Apostolique of Clement the eight sent into England a little before the death of the late Queene ELIZABETH which were produced at the arrainment of Garnet the Iesuite by which the said Pope excludeth him from the succession of the Kingdome by a generall debarring of all such as were not of the Romane Religion This thing being so notoriously vniust and so publique yet notwithstanding Coeffeteau saith that there hath beene a wrong interpretation made of this Popes intentions and that it hath beene some particular mens drift to put it into his Maiesties head that he went about to hinder his establishment in the Kingdome These are insurious speeches to say that the King of great Britaine hath beene circumuented and that men haue only made him beleeue things but that he hath not seene any such Breues but speaketh this onely vpon trust There likewise turning to the side of Kings against the consent of the whole Romish Church he speaks thus It is a thing without doubt Fol. 6. pag. 2. that if the Pope would inuade Kingdoms and giue them in prey to whom he pleaseth deuesting the right possessors of them he well deserueth that Princes should stand stiffe against his viosence and should ioyntly runne vpon him as vpon a robber and spoiler of their inheritances And a litle after The Popes pretend nothing ouer the temporalties of Kings are contented only to make their authority appear ouer the crimes of men which he bindeth or looseth without stretching of it tyranically to dispose of their possessions otherwise then such as are fallen vnto him what causes here moued Coeffeteau thus to fauour Kings and to pare the Popes nayles so neare
Reader shall obserue first that these bookes to wit Tobie Iudith the booke of Wisdome Ecclesiasticus the Machabees they are not found in the Hebrew tongue and consequently they are not in the originall of the old Testament wherein there are but two and twenty bookes 2. Secondly we ought also to know that the Church of the old Testament neuer acknowledged these bookes nor receiued into the Church See Eusebius lib. 8. of his Storie cap. 10 as witnesseth Iosephus in his first booke against Appion 3. Thirdly it is also very considerable that Iesus Christ nor his Apostles who alleaged vpon euery purpose Texts and passages out of the old Testament neuer named any of those bookes nor neuer drew quotation out of any of them 4. Fourthly the chiefe and principall is that in these bookes there be many faults aswell in the Doctrine as in the Storie whereof * In my booke intituled the waters of Siloé cap. 6. we haue elsewhere produced many proofes But let vs heare the testimony of the auncients S. Hierome in his preface vpon the bookes of Salomon speaketh of Ecclesiasticus and of the wisdome of Salomon a Sicut ergo Iudith Tobie Machabaeorum libros legit quideÌ„ Ecclesia sed eos inter Canonicas Scripturas noÌ„ recipit Sic haec duo volumina legat ad aedificationem plâ—bis non ad authoritatem Christianorum dogmatum confirmandam As then the Church doth reade indeede the bookes of Iudith of Tobie and the Machabees but doth not receiue them among the Canonicall Scriptures so let it also reade these two volumes for the edification of the people but not to confirme the faith of the Church He saith the same in his Prologus Galcatus and marke by the way that he saith that it is the beleefe of the Church Sciendum tamen est quod alij libri sunt qui non Canonici sed Ecclesiastici a maioribus appellati sunt vt est SapieÌ„tia Solomonis Ecclesiasticus libellus Tobiae Iudith macabaeo rumâ—libri quae omnia legi quidem in Ecclesiis voluerunt non tamen proferri ad authoritatem ex his fidei confirmandam Praeter istos sunt adâ—uc alij eius dem veteris instrumenti libri non Cononici qui Catechumenis tantum leguntur Sapientia Solomonis c. Amongst the workes of S. Cyprian there is a Treatise which seemeth rather to be the worke of Ruffinus touching the exposition of the Creede There he reckoneth vp the bookes of the old and the new Testament Then he addeth * These are then the bookes which the Fathers haue included in the Cannon or Rule and from which are drawne the proofs of our faith Notwithstanding we must know that there are other bookes which the auncients haue not called Canonicall but Ecclesiasticall bookes as is the wisdome of Salomon Ecclesiasticus Tobie Iudith and the bookes of the Machabees Then he addeth All which they would should be reade in the Church but that they should not be produced to confirme the authority of the faith S. Athanasius in his booke intituled Synopsis nameth al the bookes of the old Testament according to the Hebrew Bible Then he addeth Besides these there are yet other bookes of the old Testament not Canonicall which are not read but to the Catechumeni or Nouices newly taught and catechized such are the wisdome of Salomon the wisdome of Iesus the Sonne of Syrach Iudith Tobit c. Melito Bishop of Sardi as witnesseth Eusebius in his fourth booke of his Hystorie and the fiue and twentith Chapter Origen in Eusebius sixt booke and foure and twentieth chapter S. Hilary in his Preface vpon the Psalter S. Gregory Nazianzen in his verses of the holy Scripture Eusebius lib. 3. of his story cap. 10. Epiphanius in his booke of measures Damascene himselfe though long after in his fourth booke of the Orthodoxe faith cap. 18. And diuers other Fathers make an enumeration of the bookes of the olde Testament and yet do they not put in neyther Iudith nor Tobite nor Ecclesiasticus nor the booke of VVisedome nor the Maccabees But rather all with one consent and accord say that there are but two and twenty bookes in the olde Testament as many as there bee letters in the Hebrew Alphabet And yet further to conuince Coeffeteau let vs heare the very iudgement of him whom they most honour of all the Popes And this is Gregorie the first in his twenty sixe booke of morals vpon Iob cap. 29. where being desirous to alleadge the booke of Maccabees in the fact of Eleazar he excuseth himselfe in these wordes Of which thing we speake not out of reason Qua de re non inordinatè agimus si ex libris si non Canonicis sed ad Ecclesiae aedificationem scriptis testimonia proferimus if we produce the testimonies of bookes not Canonicall but written for the edification of the Church This ought to suffice to represent what was the heleefe of particular men who being assembled together are equiualent to a generallity Howbeit for the more store and the better supply let vs heare the Councels The Councell of Laodicea which was almost about the same time with the first Nicene Councell setteth ouer the last Canon this inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say How many bookes there be of the olde Testament that men ought to reade Then it reckoneth vp the number of them as farre as two and twentie Genesis Exodus Leuiticus Numbers Deuteronomie Ioshua Iudges Ruth Hester the Kings or Samuel two bookes of Kings two bookes Paralipomena or the Chronicles Esdras Psalmes Prouerbs Ecclesiastes Canticles Iob the twelue Prophets Esay Ieremy Baruch or the Lamentations and Epistles Ezechiel Daniel But of Tobie or Iudith or the Maccabees c. there is no newes Aboue all it is a thing to be be noted that this Councell of Laodicea is confirmed by the sixt generall Councell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end of which Councell the Fathers assembled together in the Palace made one hundred and three Canons in the second of which it is said We doe confirme and ratifie the sacred Canons made by our holy Fathers at Laodicea of Phrygia And this was now in the yeare of Iesus Christ 684. I adde the fourth Councell of Carthage which in the Tomes of the Latin Councels which are horribly mangled and falsified hath beene very ill handled For we haue not these Councels in Latine but by the meanes of the Church of Rome who hath deliuered them vnto vs such as she would her selfe But she hath not had that power ouer the Greek Coppies where there is no speech at all of the Maccabees Reade the Greeke Canons of the Councels printed at Paris in the yeare 1540. with a Praeface of Iohn du Tillet and the Canons of Balsamon and you shall finde that which I say to be true But Coeffeteau being content to write as Hunters breake their Fast that is
the whole host into the Chalice he swallows downe both the hoste and wine together without any breaking of it and yet such a Masse looseth not the name of a sacrifice 2. Besides if the breaking were an action of the Sacrifice it should follow that that which were broken in the Eucharist were sacrificed Now the holy Scripture testifies that Christ Iesus brake bread and then should Christ haue sacrificed bread and the bread should be the price of our redemption which is a grosse impiety Now that Iesus Christ did breake bread the Euangelists doe tell vs Mat. 26.26 Iesus tooke bread and brake it Likewise S. Paul 1. Cor. 10. The bread which we breake And the whole Church Act. 20.7 The Disciples were gathered together to breake bread And this doth conformably agree with the Church of Rome that mayntaineth it to be still bread before the consecration And by the text of the Gospell it is euident that Christ brake it before he said This is my body Which is the reason why the Romish Prelates haue corrected the Gospell and will haue the bread to be broken after the wordes pronounced For whereas they will haue the breaking to be an action of the Sacrifice they say well that should they breake the bread after the words pronounced as our Sauiour did they could not say that they doe sacrifice Iesus Christ and then their sacrifice propitiatory should bee a sacrifice of bread thirdly Therefore can they not finde in the institution of the Eucharist which is in the Gospell this fraction which the Priest vseth after the wordes which they would haue to be an action of a propitiatory sacrifice neyther can they finde in their Masse that breaking of bread which Christ vsed The chiefe point is that when we desire our Masters to tell vs what it is that the Priest breaketh in the Masse they are blancke for tell me Mr. Doctors doth the Priest breake bread in the Masse They answere no for it is no more bread when he breakes it Doth he breake the Lords body No neyther for that is impassible and cannot be broken it is wholy in euery part in euery crum of the Hoste what then What is there left for him to breake They say the accidents of the bread which soone after they call the formes that is to say the length and breadth of the bread but not the bread And as Pope Innocent the third sayth and with him the whole Church of Rome Innocent 3. l. 4. de Mysterijs Missae cap. 11. Est enim hic color sapor quantitas qualitas cum nihil alterutro sit coloratum aut sapidum quantum aut quale it is of the length not of the thing that is long of the colour not of the thing coloured Let vs leaue this monstrous Philosophy and let vs only bring their doctrine to the scale They said that which was broken in the Masse is sacrificed Now the accidents colours and dimensions of bread without bread are broken in the Masse and consequently these accidents are sacrificed and offered for our redemption O spirite of slumber that runnes headlong into impiety And here obserue the fruite of these subtilities fiftly for to say that Christs body is broken vnder the accidents and yet continues whole is all one as to say that it is broken and not broken Againe we doe not aske of them vnder what it is broken but onely whether or no it bee broken for that which is broken vnder another thing is broken neuerthelesse sixtly Which error of theirs is new in the phrase of Scripture wherein the breaking of bread is not an action of sacrifice but a signe of charity and pledge of vnity See Esay 58.7 Lament 4.14 Yea and S. Paul doth expresly tell vs that this is the end of breaking bread in the Sacrament 1. Cor. 10.6 The bread which we breake is it not the communion of the body of Christ inasmuch as we which are many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of one bread It was also the manner of our Sauiour at his ordinary times of meate to begin with blessing and breaking of bread Mar. 6.41 Luc. 24.30.31 And this I beleeue doth sufficiently refute this fraction which they make an action of sacrifice Of the Consecration The consecration which they say is performed by pronouncing these wordes This is my body cannot be said to be eyther an action of sacrifice or the essence thereof first for they hold that the Pope cannot erre and Pope Innocent the third in the sixth chapter of the fourth booke of the Mysteries of the Masse holdeth that Iesus Christ was not consecrated by these wordes This is my body but that he was consecrated before by the power of his Diuinity And all the auncients do maintaine In the booke of the Apology for the holy Supper cap. 7. that where declared by a great number of places 2 Let vs hereunto adde that the essence of a sacrifice consisteth in the offering of some oblation vnto God Now by these wordes This is my body which they say are the consecrating wordes there is not any thing offered vnto God therefore the consecrating wordes are not of the essence of the sacrifice And that there is nothing offered vnto God by these wordes it is plaine for Christ in speaking them doth not addresse himselfe vnto God but speakes and offers that which he holdes to his Apostles saying Take eate this is my body 3 And if consecration doe necessarily import sacrificing then shall it follow that the consecration of vessels and of the Temple was a sacrifice 4 To proceede it is certaine that in the Masse there can be no consecration because there is nothing consecrated for the bread is not consecrated because it is no more bread also Christ is not consecrated for men cannot consecrate him but it is he that doth consecrate men vnto God Some Sophister wil tel you that the consecration is done vpon the bread but wil not tell you what it is that is consecrated Now we doe not aske them whereupon the consecration is done but what it is that is consecrated and there they champe vpon the bit and know not what to answere Of the Eating As great or greater an absurdity is it to say that the Sacrifice consisteth in the eating 1. For it is a thing vnheard of that to eate should be to sacrifice Iesus Christ for a sacrifice propitiatory secondly And if eating doe why should not drinking import the same thirdly Againe to sacrifice is to offer and present but to eate is to receiue so that there is asmuch difference between sacrificing and eating as betweene giuing and taking betweene offering and receiuing for to reconcile these things is to make contrary things to be the same as if one should say the right hand is the left and white is blacke fourthly If to eate were to sacrifice Iesus Christ the lay people celebrating their Passeouer
the other places which say that Iesus Christ is offered and presented we doe readily embrace them for it is true in sundry respects whether they will that he offered himselfe vnto the Communicants or that they vnderstand that Christ is offered vnto God sacramentally and in the signe or for that in the Eucharist we offer vnto God the merite of his death in that we do beseech him to accept and receiue the merite of his Sonnes death for our redemption The last place which he alleadgeth is out of the Councell of Ephesus wherin I wish that Coeffeteau had carried himselfe with greater credite for first it is false that S. Cyrill doth speake there in the name of the Councell of Ephesus but it is a peece of a Letter taken out of the Councell of Alexandria which is indeed a declaration of the eleuenth curse of Cyrill against Nestorius as Coeffeteau saith but he hath concealed the exposition whâ—ch Cyrill himselfe addeth Tom 1. of the Councels of the Colen Edition pag. 683. Num hominis comestioneÌ„ nostrum hoc Sacramentum pronuncias Et irreligiose ad crassas cogitationes vrges eorum qui crediderunt mentem attentas humanis cogitationibus tractare quae solâ pura inexquisita fide accipiuntur Aristophanes Acharnanensibus agens de Lacâ—daemonijs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cur â—â—lias aâ—â—s hahent Christiani nulla templa nulla nota simulacra Quid ergosacrifiâ—ia censâ—â—is nulla emnâ—no esse facâ—â—nda Respon Nulla Dost thou pronounce that our Sacrament is a humane eating and dost thou irreligiousty vrge the vnderstanding of those that haue beleeued too grosse imaginations Dost thou presume to handle with humane thoughts things which are onely receiued with a pure and vnsearchable faith Now to giue light in this matter to the Stile and purpose of the Fathers calling the holy supper a sacrifice we must obserue that in the first ages after Christ the Christians laboured by all meanes to draw the Heathens vnto Christianitie but the heathen were offended â—t this that in the Christian Religion they saw neither Altars nor sacrifices nor Images without which they thought there was no Religion whence the olde prouerbe comes Vnto the Altars that is to say as farre as Religion and conscience exclusiuely as if there were no religion without an Altar Celsus the Pagan reproacheth Christians That they haue neyther Altars nor Images nor Temples In the eighth booke of Origen against Celsus and in the Dialogue of Minutius Faelix Caecilius the Pagan speakes thus Whence comes it that the Christians haue no Altars nor Temples nor Images to be seene And in the beginning of the seuenth booke of Arnobius the Heathen speake thus vnto the Christians Doe you thinke then that there are no Sacrifices to be made Whereunto the Christians make answere Not any To be then without Altars and Sacrifices did offend the Heathen and made Christianity odious This is then the reason why they ordinarily vsed these wordes of the Table of the Lord and the holy supper and the Eucharist whereof there are infinite examples And yet to remoue offence and allure the Heathen by little and little they vsed to call the Table an Altar and the holy Sacrament by the name of a sacrifice And this was discretion grounded on reason for seeing the holy Scripture doth call our prayers and almes and our Religious seruice by the name of Sacrifices Hebr. 13.16 Phil. 4.18 they haue for the same reason called the holy Supper a Sacrifice wherein we doe not onely offer our selues vnto God but doe also offer Christ Iesus vnto him that is we doe beseech God to accept the sactifice of his death for our redemption And this serued to draw the Iewes for whose farther content the Deacons were called Leuites and the day of the resurrection of Christ was called the Passeouer But that which did especially confirme this word Sacrifice was the custome of the faithfull which was before the holy Supper to bring vnto the Table offerings of bread and wine and fruites whereof such a portion was set aside as might serue for the whole assembly to communicate in the two kindes and the rest was for the poore which gifts and offerings and almes in the old Testament yea and sometimes in the new Heb. 13.16 Phil. 4.18 are called sacrifices and oblations Yet whereas they doe ordinarily call the Sacrament the Eucharist and the Sacrifice of the Eucharist that is to say a giuing of thankes they giue sufficient testimony that they meant not to make a sacrifice propitiatory or really to sacrifice Christ Iesus for our redemption Now that the Almes Gifts and Offerings of the faithfull were called sacrifices and oblations none can be ignorant that is any whit versed in the Fathers The Apostles Canons howsoeuer supposititous yet are auncient doe in the fourth Canon forbid to offer any thing beside eares of Corne Incense c. S. Cyprian lib. 1 Epist 9 commaundeth the Clergy Locuples Diues Domnicum celebrare te credis quae corbonam non respicis quae in Dominicum sine sacrificio venis quae partem de sacrificio quod pauper obtulit sumis Hypodiaconi oblatione in templo Domini a fidelibus ipsi suscipiant That receiuing offerings of the peoples contributions they goe not from the Altar and the sacrifices And in his Sermon of Almes Thou a rich woman who thinkest to celebrate the Lords Supper that regardest not to bring an offering that commest to the Supper of the Lord without a sacrifice that takest a part of the Sacrifice which the poore offereth So in the one and twentieth Distinction in the Canon Cleros taken out of Isidore Let the Subdeacons themselues receiue the offerings of the Faithfull Obserue this custome very plainely set downe in Theodoret in the third booke of his History chap. 12. and in the fourth booke chap 19. The Pastor of the Church hauing before him vpon the Table all the presents in great quantity made prayer vnto God to accept those Giftes Presents and immaculate Sacrifices that he would accept them as sometimes he did the sacrifices of Abel and of Abraham that the Angels might carry them into heauen before God giftes created by God blessed and sanctified for euer by Iesus Christ c. Wordes which continue to this day in the Canon of the Masse and which were good and holy when they were said ouer the Almes and Offerings of the people But which are now become ridiculous and vngodly forasmuch as the Priest doth say them vpon an Host which he thinketh to be Iesus Christ for to call Iesus Christ by the name of gifts and offerings is to speake against the common sense To pray that God would accept this sacrifice as well as that of Abel is to make the sacrifice of Iesus Christ no better then the sacrifice of a beast To pray that the Angels may carry Iesus Christ and present him vnto God is not to know that Iesus Christ
signified He there alleadgeth also S. Ambrose who saith 2. de Consecrat Can. In Christo ex Ambrosio in Epist ad Hebr. We continually offer this is done in remembrance of his death this is one selfe Sacrifice and not many how is it onely one and not many Because Iesus Christ hath beene sacrificed onely once but this sacrifice is done for example of that other Thom as Aquinas hath followed Lombard and decided this question tertia parte Summae Quaest 83. art 1. where he saith that the celebration of the Sacrament is called a Sacrifice for two reasons first because according to S. Austin the signes are called by the name of the things signified secondly because by the Sacrament we are made partakers of the death of Christ He forgot the reason which now they say is the principall to wit that it is because that Iesus Christ is really sacrificed vnder the formes of bread for a sacrifice truely propitiatory ARTICLE X. Of the Communion vnder one kinde The KINGS Confession ANd such are the Amputation of the one halfe of the Sacrament from the people Hereunto Mr. Coeffeteau opposeth the second of the Acts where saith he the Apostles administred this Sacrament vnder one kinde onely for there it is said that the faithfull continued in the doctrine of the Apostles and in fellowship and breaking of bread That our chiefe Doctors confesse that this place must be vnderstood of the Sacrament and yet there is no mention but of one kinde of bread vnlesse his Maiesty saith he who adoreth the sufficiency of the Scripture will make a supplement of something to be added thereunto He addeth that Christ is wholly and entier vnder euery kinde and that the people receiue him neuerthelesse That the Church by this meanes hath prouided against vnreuerent behauiours and preuented the heresie of those that beleeued not that the bloud was together with the body vnder the kinde of bread He affirmeth that heretofore it was free to receiue the communion vnder one or both kindes because the faithfull sometimes carried the Eucharist home to their houses and toooke it not but when they might commodiously doe it and they did it say they for the most part vnder the kinde of bread only and that Athanasius witnesseth that the Communion Cup was not vsed out of the Church that they communicated among themselues vnder one kinde that they might also doe it in publique For thus saith S. Ierome Hierom in Apol. ad Pammachiū Is Christ another in publique then in a priuate house that which is not to be tolerated in the Church is not the rather permitted in a house that the Ministers complayning of the mutilation of one kinde haue in the meane time destroyed the essence of the Sacrament remouing the body of the Lord as farre from the Sacrament as heauen from the earth which is to belye the Sonne of God who saith This is my body c. Before we make answere to the place of the second of the Acts the Reader shall obserue The Answere that this is the first place of Scripture which this Doctor hath alleadged wherein his wisedome hath fayled him for had hee continued not to alleadge any scripture at all an ignorant Reader would haue thought it had not beene necessary but seeing him beginne here to speake of the word of God doubtlesse he will wonder that in so many Controuersies handled heretofore hee hath heard nothing alleadged out of Gods word And indeede the doctrine of saluation was neuer so prophanely handled for GOD is become suspected and his bookes of faith haue now no credite in controuersies This is a great grace which they doe vnto the word of God if after a Legend of reasons and humane allegations at length some short sentence is casually produced and not without cause for why then is it not more fauorable to his Holinesse Empire But let vs heare this place In the second of the Acts ver 42. it is said that the Disciples continued together in the Doctrine of the Apostles and in the Communion and breaking of bread It is not there said that the people participated in the Cup therefore they communicated onely vnder one kinde of bread 1 This coniecture is too light by a great many graines and which is more it makes against the Church of Rome which beleeueth that the Pastors ought necessarily to take it in both kindes Now in this passage it is not said that the Pastors did participate in the Cup and they are no more mentioned then are the people therefore should it follow that the Pastors also did not participate in the cup. 2 This also is a weake kinde of Argumentation to say that in the second of the Acts there is nothing mentioned beside breaking of bread that therfore the Cup was not vsed If I should say that being inuited by such a one I haue eaten with him doth it follow that I haue not drunke although I spake not of it This errour proceedeth from ignorance of the scripture phrase which by the breaking of bread and by eating of bread doth vsually vnderstand the whole banquet and all kinde of sustenance So Gen. 31.54 Iacob inuiteth his brethren to eate breade See Genes 37.25 Matth. 15.2 and sundry other places We cannot be accused by this manner of speakking to adde vnto the Scripture the sufficiencie whereof we defend against our aduersaries For if in this place there be no mention of the Cup it sufficeth that it is spoken of in other places And to ioyne diuers places together which speake of the same thing is not to adde vnto the Scripture Besides it is not credible that the Apostles hauing so expresly receiued this commaundement to drinke all of the Cup would infringe the same Againe when we speake of the sufficiency of the Scriptures our meaning is not that the Scripture recyting a story vnto vs doth specifie all the particularities of that which happened Onely we say that in things which it commandeth vs to beleeue and doe it doth sufficiently instruct vs vnto saluation Now to know what is to be beleeued and done in this sacrament we must learne it out of the institution of the same and out of the expresse commandements of Christ and his Apostles 1 For Iesus Christ instituting this sacrament among his Disciples said vnto them Drinke ye all of this That is Lib. 1. de corpore Christi cap. 15. as saith Paschasius aswell the Ministers as the other beleeuers They answere that all those to whom our Sauior spake were Pastors and therfore this commaundement was giuen onely vnto the Pastors Which if it be so by the same reason also the Pastors onely must eate of the bread for if in these wordes Drinke ye all of this Christ spake to none but to the Pastors then certainly in these words Take eate he speaks also vnto the Pastors if this be so let them tel me where is the commandement which bindeth the
cuius rei gratia ibâ— esset callo cata Quod namque simulacrum sub dio astaret non parum corpus eius est immutatum imbres ex superioribus locis limum secum tâ—ahentes statuae ipsi aggesserant That through age and forgetfulnesse it so decayed that it could not be discerned whose Picture it was or for what end it was set vp for this Image was spoyled because it stood vncouered and the raine had made much a He speakes this because the houses in Capadocia were couered with Earth and so are at this day witnesse Busbeck in his Voyage of Amasia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earth to fall from the houses vpon it And he addeth that in the ende it was knowen by the subscription all which proues that it was some Image made after the heathen maner sent thither for some publicke ornament But of Images in Churches or of their worship there is no such newes These are the places which Coeffeteau hath taken out of the ninth Chapter of Bellarmines Booke of Images Hauing done wisely in omitting the place of Gregory Nazianzene where Bellarmine commits a notorious falshood Hee saith that in the fortie ninth he would say fortieth Epistle Gregorie lamenting because the Towne of Diocaesatia was to be destroyed wherein hee had adorned a Church with great magnificence he addeth Nequeenim si statuae deijciantur hoc nos excruciat etiam si aliquando excruciat The trueth is that the Emperour being incensed against the Towne of Diocaesaria for some offence which Gregorie in this Epistle attributeth to the insolent behauiour of certaine children did threaten to ruine it and the Emperour had already taken away the Statues of the Emperours which he had in the Towne As wee haue an example in the insurrection at Antioch where the people inraged against Theodosius the Emperour they puld downe his Statues concerning which Chrysostome hath diuers Homilies and indeede Gregorie cals them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostome doeth otherwise had he spoken of Images in Churches he would with Zonaras Damascene and Cedrenus haue called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And there is not so much as a word of that which Bellarmine saith namely that he speakes of Images in Churches for indeede he speakes thereof contemptuously in these words For it is not very irkesome although it grieue vs if the Statues be puld downe and doe you not thinke that I speake hereof for I am busied about affaires of more moment With like falshood doeth he alleadge the Liturgie of Chrysostome in which Pope Nicholas and the Emperour Alexius borne many ages after Chrysostome are named There also and often elsewhere doth he alleadge the supposed Oration of Gregorie Nissen vpon Theodore So in the twelfth Chap. he falsly alleageth Basil against Iulian the Liturgie of Chrysostome and Austen in his third Booke of Christian Doctrine and the questions of Athanasius which are so full of vntrueth that Athanasius himselfe is alleadged And Cyrils Catechismes heretofore conuinced of falsehood and certainely he that shall take the false Allegations out of Bellarmine shall not leaue one halfe part behind The other places are impertinent for one part speakes of historicall Pictures out of Churches in priuate houses As S. Austin lib 1. de consensu Euangelist c. 10. Lib. 22. contra Faustum cap. 73. and not anie where mentioneth the worshipping of Images Which is the point in controuersie All this being ouerthrowne let vs relie vpon the commandement of God which saith Exod. 20. Thou shalt not make any grauen Image nor the likenesse of any thinges which are aboue in heauen or below in earth nor in the waters vnder the earth Thou shalt not bow downe before them nor worship them The distinction which they make here betweene an Image and an Idoll makes their confession verie cleare that they are not pleased with this commandement sith they haue taken it out of their Houres and Offices Thou shalt worship one God alone and yeeld him perfect loue Thou shalt not sweare in vaine by God c. which they giue abroade among the poore multitude and that they put the Law of God into meetre where this commandement is wholy left out So the Councell of Ausbourg which is in the latter Tome of the Councels held in the yeare 1548 turneth the commandements into high-dutch as they ought to be set forth to the people wherein there is not a word spoken of Images nor of the likenesse of things in heauen c Now to make vp the number of ten commandements they cut the tenth in two partes and make the coueting of another mans wife to be the ninth Whence it followes that there is no ninth commandement in the twentith of Exodus for it is thrust into the middle of the tenth and put after the coueting of our neighbours house The Reader shall then haue matter of verie mature consideration For were there wordes euer pronounced with more maiesty then the law the law written by the finger of God the law pronounced by his mouth with fire and tempest and a terrible sound to terrifie the creature with a sacred astonishment would any beleeue that wormes of the earth should presume to correct this law and charge it with superfluity this cannot possibly receiue sufficient aggrauation Christ saith that heauen and earth shal sooner passe away Matth. 5. then that one iot of that law should not bee accomplished and loe these are then men that raze out whole periods yea that commandement which the Lord deliuered with greatest maiestie calling himselfe a iealous and a mighty God adding thereunto his threatnings and promises vnto a thousand generations Being then conuinced of impiety they fall to grammaticall disputations and say it must be translated Thou shalt not make any grauen Idoll and not Image that an Idoll is the representation of a false thing and the obiect of Idolatry but that Images doe represent true things I confesse that in French an Image and an Idoll are diuers thinges but the law of God was not promulgated in French but in Hebrew wherein the word Pesel signifies a grauen Image and so the Romish Bible translates it Non facies tibi sculptile Thou shalt not make a grauen or carued Image And Deut. 4 16. it is for feare that yee defile your selues and make vnto you Pesel that is an Image as the Romane Bible expresseth it And so Esay 40.19 and many other places Iustine Martyr in his dialogue against Tryphon translates it as wee doe Thou shalt not make an Image 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. or the likenesse of any thinge in heauen aboue or in the earth beneath And I am of opinion that Tully vnderstood the Greeke and Latin almost aswell as the Iacobins Yet in the first booke de finibus he speaketh thus Images which they call Idols Imagines quae Idola nominant quorum incursione non solum videamus sed etiaÌ„ cogitemus by meeting with
nostram veniunt non appendi As I was in a Village called Anablata seeing as I walked along a burning lampe and perceiuing that it was a Church I went in to pray and found in the porch a veile hung vp coloured and painted hauing in it the picture as it were of Christ or some Saint for I doe not well remember of what hauing then seene that in the Church of Christ there was hung vp the Image of a man contrarie to the authority of the Scriptures I rent it and aduised the keepers of the place to burie some poore dead bodie in it He addeth that hee sent another veile without any Image for recompence of that which he had torne to content the keepers that murmured at it after that he saith I pray you that in the Church of Christ such veiles be no more hung vp which are opposite to our religion And this same Epistle is in the same wordes alleaged in the Councell of Paris held vnder Lewes le debonaire in the yeare 824 that none may thinke it a peece of new forgerie Gregorie of Tours speaking of the Baptisme of King Clouis and his children witnesseth that the adorning of Churches was to hang the Church with veiles or white linnen Of which S. Ambrose speakes Epist 33. and this custome doth yet continue in Lent An euident proofe that then they had no Images for to what end should they then keepe them couered and this was about the yeare of our Lord fiue hundred Out of Monsieur Pithou his librarie who was a man rarelie learned we haue the Councell of Paris against Images wherein King Lewes le debonaires and the French Bishops doe make remonstrances vnto Pope Eugenius who defended Images tooth and naile For the Popes laide handfast vpon this occasionn to shake off the yoke of their master the Emperour of the East vnder a coulour that he puld downe Images Not long before in the yeare 794. Charlemaigne assembled the Councell of Franckford against the worshipping of Images Adonis Chronicon in an 795. Abbas Vspergensis in anno 793. Hinemarus Remensis lib. 20. coÌ„tra Episc Iandunensem Matth. WestmonasterieÌ„s in hyst an 793. Auentinus Annonius Regino Vignier c. wherein the second Nicene Councell was condemned before which Councell of Nice a generall Councell was held at Constantinople in the yeare 750 where there were three hundred and thirty eight Bishops some parts of which Councel are alleaged in the secoÌ„d Councell of Nice howsoeuer maymed yet stronger then that which those Nicence Bishops opposed against it About the yeare 600. Serenus Bishop of Marsilia puld downe all the Images found in Churches because the people worshipped them Greg. Epist 109. ad Serenum Episc Massiliensem lib. 9. Epist 9. and it is not by any meanes credible that the Christians accounted Images for Gods or worshipped them as God Nor doe we find that the said Serenus erected them againe notwithstanding hee was controuled by Gregorie Bishop of Rome Petrus Pithoeus in praefatione in hystorias Miscellas à Paulo Aquilegiensi Diacono collectas Nuper admâ—dâ—m nostri homines imaginosi esse coeperuÌ„t And indeede Monsieur Pithou hath good ground to say that the French-men beganne verie soone after to be addicted vnto Images For Anastasius keeper of the Librarie one superstitiously giuen in the preface to the second Councel of Nice saith that the Gaules had not yet receiued Images because the truth was not yet reuealed vnto them that is to say more then eight hundred yeares after Christ And Nicetas Choniates in the second booke of the raigne of Augustus Angelus saith that the Armenians did gladly receiue the Almaines because Apud Alemannos Armenios Imaginum adoratio aequè interdicta est among the Almaines and Armenians the worshipping of Images was forbidden alike For Charlemaigne had so farre reiected the worshipping of Images that hee himselfe wrote a booke against it which is yet extant And soone after Agobardus Bishop of Lyons compiled a great volume against Images which is also extant and newly printed at Paris To conclude whosoeuer shall diligently reade the scornefull inuectiues of the primitiue Christians flouting the Images of the auncient Pagans shall finde that their reprehensions had beene ridiculous if the Christians had then had Images in their Churches as when Lactantius lib. 2. cap. 4. doth call the Statues in the Pagan-temples Grandes puppas great babies and when cap. 2. he saith that the Images of the Gods are of no vse if they be present and that if they be in heauen then we should rather direct our prayers toward heauen And when S. Austin vpon the 113. Psalme saith that they draw the deuotion of the people in that they haue a humane shape and are set in some high roome And doubtlesse the Infidels would haue returnde the reproofe and reproach to the Christians and to their Images of the Saints and the worshipping of their Statues which they doe not But we haue heretofore heard that they aske the Christians for what cause they haue no Images that any could see ARTICLE XIX Of the Image of God The KINGS Confession YEa the Image of God himselfe is not only expresly forbidden to bee worshipped but euen to bee made The reason is giuen that no eye euer saw God and how can we paint his face when Moses the man that euer was most familiar which God neuer saw but his backe parts Surely since he cannot be drawne to the viue it is a thankelesse labour to marre it with a false representation which no Prince nor scarce any other man will be contented with in their owne pictures Let them therefore that maintaine this doctrine answere it to Christ at the latter day when he shall accuse them of Idolatrie And then I doubt if he will be payed with such nice sophisticall Distinctions For answere whereunto Coeffeteau saith that the Images of God are not made to represent his essence but onlie to expresse the formes wherein he hath appeared That none is so brutish to beleeue that any can paint an essence immortall infinite c. I expected that M. Coeffeteau would haue produced some commandement of God for his ground of the Images of God or some place to shew that God was pleased to haue his Images made seing they are not made to represent his essence at least some auncient example either true or false after his old manner But here is none of these he only saith that Images doe not expresse his being I answere that this may bee said aswell of the Images of men yea of beastes for their pictures doe not represent their essence and neuer was any man so vnreasonable as to thinke that the essence of anie thing could be expressed in a picture Then in like manner doe I say that if these Images be not the Images of God because they represent not his essence then the Images of Saints are not their Images because they represent not
resemble the nayles which pierced our Sauiour and the linnen clothes that wrapped him in his infancy Whereunto if any obiect that these common nayles and linnen are not in any consecrated place nor appointed to that end nor purposely made to serue as Images or memorials of the Passion or birth of Christ I answer that this is to graunt as much as we desire and to fall into the like impiety for this is to affirme that common nayles and ordinary linnen ought to be worshipped if they were carried into some holy place and appointed to serue for the resemblance or commemoration of Christs passion which our aduersaries wil be vnwilling to grant And wherfore then doe they adore all maner of Crosses yea without crucifixes assoone as they are put into some holy place and ordayned to represent the passion For if the question be of the touching the linnen touched the body of Christ as neere as the Crosse yea I say that the nayles and Iron of the Speare touched him nearer euen to the very heart and then whence is it that the nayles and Iron of the Speare put into a holy place are not adored as well as the Image of the Crosse And where is the adoration of this Image commaunded by God To be short I say that if any should doe obeysance or speake vnto the kings cloake although the king did weare it he should neuertheles be thought to be beside himselfe How much more if he spake to the cloake or did obeysance to it when it is hanged vpon a hooke And yet how much more if he should salute or talke to the picture of this cloake In like manner I say that if any had saluted the Crosse whiles our Sauior was fastened thereunto or had spoken vnto it hee would haue beene thought to haue beene madde although his salutation had beene relatiuely made vnto Christ How much more then if he had saluted it alone Christ not being thereon And how much more if he had saluted or spoken to the picture or Image of this Crosse especially to a bare Crosse without a crucifixe as at this day the Church of Rome doth Certainely no wordes can sufficiently expresse the absurdity of this abuse So Coeffeteau doth giue no manner of satisfaction to that which his Maiesty of England doth obiect namely that if the Crosse ought to be worshipped because it touched Iesus Christ then Iudas his mouth and the handes of those that buffeted him and the land of Canaan whereon he walked which is at this day an example of Gods curse ought also to be worshipped Coeffeteau answeres that the reason is not alike because the lips of Iudas and the handes of the executioners were their liuing members that touched him sacrilegiously but the Crosse was a dead thing and a guiltlesse Instrument of the death of our Redeemer This is but a bare shift for first if our Sauiours touching had made dead things adorable it should much more haue made prophane things holy Our aduersaries haue also forged a fable of one S. Longis that with hate and insultation pierced his side and thereby became a Saint And secondly the Crosse as Coeffeteau saith is not to be worshipped the more for that it was a dead thing Thirdly the water wherewith Christ was baptized obteyned no life thereby and to speake with Coeffeteau it was an innocent Instrument of his baptisme and did touch Christ and yet was neuer adored Fourthly our aduersaries as I suppose would not worship the empty Chalices although they did beleeue that the bloud of Christ yea his whole body had beene therein They will not adore the Priest albeit hee haue often eaten God and that he come to take Christ a fresh into his stomacke Fiftly the whips wherewith Christ was bloudied were harmelesse Instruments of his sufferings yet wee finde not that euer Christian worshipped them Sixtly nothing touched Christ so neare as the nayles and speare that pierced him and they were also harmelesse Instruments of his passion and yet the primitiue Christians neuer worshipped them Constantine put two of them into his Helmet and of two others he made a Bitte for a Horse wherein he had some seedes of superstition yet had Constantine adored these nayles he would haue caused them to bee put into the Church rather then to haue put them into the mouth of a Beaste and left them hanging on a post in the Quirry Ambros de obitu Theodosu Theodor. Histor Lib 1. cap. 18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet Theodoret and Ambrose approue this action Seuenthly if the nayles touched the body of Christ nearer and his fore-parts deeper then the Crosse why doe they not adore the Image of the nayles and yet they adore the Image of the Crosse yea without a crucifixe Coeffeteau addeth that there is more in the Crosse besides the touching for it is a representation also of the death of Iesus Christ If he speake of the true Crosse it is not true that it representeth the death of Christ For that of the Crosse which they worship now adayes is but little peeces of worme eaten woode which haue neyther figure nor fashion of the Crosse But if he speake of the Image of the Crosse in siluer or paynting it is false that Christ euer touched it And if these Crosses be without crucifixes they doe not resemble the passion For there is no Image of the passion where there is no Image of him that suffereth it may be some remembrance but no resemblance The Reader shall also note that Coeffeteau omits that excellent obseruation which the King makes touching the bodily touch and the touch of fayth and the example of the woman that touched the hemme of Christs garment as also the example of that woman that said Happy is the wombe that bare thee together with the reason which he doth excellently draw from the person and the shadow of Peter and the comparison of Images condemned by the Prophets which haue eyes and see not eares and heare not with the Crosse which hath no resemblance of eyes or eares This Doctor suffers all this sweetely to slide a way and honestly holdeth his peace hauing of set purpose in my opinion made his booke a foile to giue lustre to the King of great Britaines booke After all these abuse these our Masters haue the good grace to accuse vs of misprision of the Crosse of Christ who say with the Apostle Galat. 6. God for bid that I should reioyce in any thing but the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Our aduersaries talke of the Crosse of Christ but we practise it they paint it wee beare it they glory in some peeces of the Crosse but we in suffering for his name they paint it on walles and we print it in our hearts many carry it tossing vpon their body whose belly is an enemy of the Crosse of Christ Let vs learne then to fasten our affections to his Crosse and to crucifie our olde man with him
Thom. in 4. Dist 45. quaest 2. doe testifie that the soule of Traian a heathen Emperour was deliuered our of hell by the praiers of Pope Gregorie Gabriel Biel holdes the same in the fifty sixe Lecture vpon the Canon of the Masse and Ciacconus hath particularly written an Apology for this Story This Pope then prayed not for Traians soule to the end he might bring him out of Purgatorie 10 In the Masse there are among many new patches some auncient clauses and among others the Memento for the dead of which these wordes are a part The Reader shall note that in this place where the two letters N N are the Priest doth softly name some persons deceased for whom their parents haue payde Memento Domine famulorum famularumque tuarum N N. qui nos praecesserunt cum signo fidei dormiunt in somno pacis That is Remember Lord thy seruants which haue gone before vs with the signe of faith and doe sleepe in the rest of peace The words are very remarkable clearely euidencing that when these prayers were made Purgatory was not beleeued but it was beleeued that the soules did sleepe in a peaceable rest waiting for the resurrection and that in this sleepe they receiued some ioyfull refreshing by their prayers that were aliue 11 But aboue all haue I often wondred at the forme of the prayer ordinarily vsed for the dead for it makes no wordes of Purgatory but onely desireth of God that the soules of the dead may be deliuered from euerlasting death and from the last iudgement Libera Domine de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda Quando caeli mouendi sunt terra Cum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem Trèmens factus sum c. Obserue this whole prayer Deliuer O Lord from eternall death in that dreadfull day when the heauens and the earth shall be mooued when thou shalt come to iudge the world by fire I feare and tremble when the triall and wrath to come shall be at hand this day of wrath of calamity and misery this great and wonderfull bitter day And note that this prayer wherein the soule of the departed is brought in apprehending that it shall be sent to Hell at the day of iudgement is said also for the soule of the Pope Lib. 1. Sacrarum Cerem Sect. 15. cap. 1. in the solemnization of his obsequies by which it appeareth that there is some feare that he may be in hell but of Purgatory there is nothing mentioned no more then in all the publique prayers of the Church of Rome for the dead for they onely craue deliuerance from eternall death and to rise in glory as in this Absolue quaesumus Domine animam famuli tui N. ab omni vinculo delictorum vt in resurrectionis gloria inter sanctos electos tuos resuscilatus respiret I beseech thee O Lord to loose the soule of thy seruant from the bond of all his sinnes that beeing raised vp among the Saints I may reioyce and be lifted vp in the glory of the resurrection which is the prayer for the dead in the second book of Machabees made only for the resurrection 12 What will we haue more let our aduersaries be iudges in this cause doe not the Priests oftentimes take money for saying Masses and seruice for young children dying soone after Baptisme which yet they beleeue not to be either in hell or in Purgatory doe they this through ignorance or auariâ—â— for want of science or of conscience for by theâ—â— owne rules the prayers made for children are to no purpose forasmuch as they are in Paradise By these many examples it appears that many do pray for the dead without beleeuing purgatory and that Coeff by admitting no prayer for the dead but only to draw men out of purgatory condeÌ„neth not onely the auncient Church but also the Romish and the second booke of Macchabees which himselfe doth ranke among the sacred canonicall bookes This shal more euidently appeare vnto vs when we shall haue learned what was the opinion of the Fathers touching the condition of the dead and to what end they prayed for them The common opinion of the most part of the Fathers is that the soules of the faithfull after they are gone out of the body doe not yet enioy heauenly beatitude but either they remaine in the earthly Paradise as Irenaeus teacheth in his fifth booke About the end of the booke and Origen in his second booke de principijs else they lie in hell or in some hidden receptacles vntill the day of the generall resurrection before which they shall not see God And although sometimes they be forced through the truth to say that the dead after the departure of the soule from the body do enter into heauenly felicity yet for the most part they are carried away with the current of the common opinion Constituimus omnem animam apud inferos sequestrari in diem Domini Quae infra terram iacent neque ipsa sunt digestis ordinatis potestatibus vacua Locus enim est quo piorum animae impiorum ducuntur c. Omnes in vna communique custodia detinentur donec tempus adueniat quo maximus iudex meritorum faciat examen Tertullian chap. 55. of his booke of the soule We hould for certaine that euery soule is sequestred into hell vntil the day of the Lord. He saith the same more at large in his fourth booke against Marcioâ—â— c. 34. Nouatian in the first chapter of his booke of the Trinitie those things which are vnder the earth are not without their powers and well digested orders for it is the place whither the soules of the faithfull as well as of the wicked are led as feeling already the fore-apprehensions of the iudgement to come Lactantius in his seauenth booke c. 21. let no man thinke that the soules are iudged immediately after death for they are all detained in one common prison vntill the time come that the great Iudge bring them to an examination of what they haue deserued Victorin the Martyr saith vpon Apo. 6. that S. Iohn saw vnder the Altar the soules of the Martyrs and them that were slaine expounding these wordes vnder the Altar Sub ara id est subterra that is to say vnder the earth Hee then placeth the soules of Saints and Martyrs vnder the earth Haec humanae lex necessitatis est vt sepultis corporibus animae ad inferos descendant Quam descensionem Dominus ad consummationem veri hominis non recusauit S. Hilarie vpon the Psal 138. It is the law of necessitie whereunto men are subiect that the soules should descend vnto hell after that the bodies are buried which descent Iesus Christ himselfe did not refuse to shew him selfe a compleate man He doth not say Haec lex fuit but Haec lex est to the end that a man should not say that he speaketh of the
the Church and the first of all other and this is found in the 16 Session But note that it is not the Councell which speaketh thus but Paschasin deputed from Rome who pleadeth his owne cause and yet this hindred not this Councell from making a Canon expresly declaring and defining that the Bishop of Constantinople is equall with him of Rome in all things yea euen in causes Ecclesiasticall the Canon hath beene produced by vs before He further saith that Irenaeus chap. 3. lib. 3. doth attribute vnto the Church of Rome a principality more powerfull thē vnto others which is most false and an euident corruption of the place Irenaeus speaketh of the principality and power of the city for being the seate of the Empire the faithfull of all Churches had necessary occasions to repaire thither The words are these Ad hanc Ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem conuenire c. Ecclesiam vnto this Church by reason of the more mighty principality it is necessary that euery Church should resort As if I should say that all the Churches of France should come to that of Paris because there is the principality and power of the Realme and yet can I not for all this say that the faithfull ministers of the Church of Paris haue a principality ouer the rest Saint Cyprian in the third Epistle of his first booke doth directly call the Church of Rome the principall Church because in all the West there was no Church so great or so remarkable as it He saith that the vnity of Priesthood came from thence because his opinion was Hoc crant vtique caeteri Apostoli quod Petrus pari consortio honoris potestatis sed exordium ab vnitate proficisc it ur vt Ecclesia vna monstretur that albeit the Apostles were all equall in power and honour yet S. Peter was entertained into his charge some small time before the other Apostles Iesus Christ hauing a determination to begin from one to the end to shew the vnity of the Church as he saith in his treatise of the simplicity of Prelates He beleeued then that S. Peter who for a season held the sacerdo tall dignity alone to testifie the vnity of the Church had beene at Rome and that from thence Christiā religion spred it selfe into the West Now in this Cyprian goeth about to soften and to gratifie the Bishop of Rome to the end to prepare him the better to taste and to brooke the checkes and reproofes which afterwards he adioyneth whereby he proueth to Cornelius that he hath no power at all ouer Affricke and that he neither could nor ought to receiue the causes of those whom the Bishops of Affricke had condemned for saith he presently after seeing it is ordered among vs all and that it is a thing iust and reasonable that euery mans cause should be examined where the crime was committed and that vnto euery Pastor there is allotted a portion of the flocke which each one ought to gouerne and leade as being to render an account vnto the Lord of his carriage and behauiour there is no reason that those whom we guide should runne from one place to another and through their fraudulent rashnesse seeke to breake the concord of Bishops friendly knit together but that they should there pleade their causes where they may haue accusers and witnesses of their crimes lest it fall out that some desperate and forlorne persons should thinke that the authority of the Bishops of Affricke who haue condemned them should be lesse then others their cause hath beene alreadie examined the sentence hath beene alreadie pronounced To conclude he maintaineth that Cornelius may not take knowledge of any causes determined by the Bishops of Affrica without accusing them of lightnesse and vustaydnesse and so trouble the peace and quiet of the Church This is the cause that made Cyprian to gild his pill to extol the dignity of the Church of Rome before he would shew him that he ought not to thrust himselfe into the affaires of other Churches For it is diligently to be noted that those among the ancient Fathers that affirme that the Bishop of Rome is successour to Peter doe thereby vnderstand that he is successour in the charge of Bishop of Rome but not in the Apostleship After this sort also the Bishops of Ephesus were successors to S. Iohn and S. Paul the Bishops of Ierusalem successors to S. Iames so farre as these Apostles were Bishops of Ephesus and Ierusalem but they neuer were successors to the Apostleship and to the gouernment of the Church Vniuersall Nor is there any reason why the Bishop of Rome should be successor to Peter in his Apostleship and yet the Bishop of Ierusalem should be onely successor to S. Iames in his Bishoppricke Besides the Bishop of Antioch more auncient then the Bishop of Rome hath alwaies beene called the successor of S. Peter and why should it not be aswell in the Apostleship and gouernment of the Vniuersall Church If you will say that Peter hath taken away the prerogatiue and preheminence from Antioch and hath transported it to Rome we vtterly deny it and thereof no proofe worthy the receiuing can be brought If they further say that Peter dyed at Rome I will also say that Iesus Christ dyed at Ierusalem And why should not Christ his death at Ierusalem haue in it more power and vertue to make the Bishop of Ierusalem chiefe of the Church then the death of S. Peter at Rome to conferre this great dignity vpon the Bishop of Rome I leaue it likewise to the Readers to iudge who after the death of Peter ought of right to bee the chiefe of the Vniuersall Church For S. Iames liued yet at Ierusalem after S. Peter was dead And the Apostle S. Iohn out-liued him 32 yeares Eusebius in his Chronicle saith that Peter and Paul died the yeare of our Lord 69. and that S. Iohn dyed at Ephesus in the yeare 101. according to the accompt of Eusebius and Irenaeus Is it a thing to bee beleeued that S. Iohn the Disciple whom Iesus loued who leaned on his breast vnto whom he recommended his mother at his death whose writings are diuine oracles as the Reuelations in the Apocalips doe witnes that he should bee inferior to Linus the Disciple of Paul and indeed our aduer saries themselues haue inserred into the first Tome of their Councels certaine Epistles which they say were Clements Bishoppe of Rome amongst which there is one to S. Iames Bishop of Ierusalem and thus it beginneth Clemens to Iames brother of the Lord Bishop of Bishops gouerning the holy Church of the Hebrewes which is in Ierusalem Clemens Iacobo fratri Domini Episcopo Episcoporum yea all the Churches which are founded euery where by the prouidence of God And a little after hee calleth him his Lord words which witnesse that Clemens acknowledged Iames for his superior and chiefe of all
the Bishops of the world We graunt then willingly that the auncient Bishops of Rome before the corruption of Doctrine and vsurpation of the Monarchie in the Church were successors of S. Peter in the Bishoppricke of Rome onely euen as the Bishop of Corinth was successor to S. Paul but withall we adde this that through the corruption of Doctrine which hath by little little crept into the Church of Rome euery age hauing added and contributed thereunto hee is now wholy and iustly falne from that succession For he may not in no wise be called Peters successor who oppugneth the Doctrine preached by S. Peter and who in the Chaire of verity doth establish a lie The Turke may not bee called successor to the Emperour of Greece albeit he be seated in his place seeing that he is rather his subuerter I would haue one shew me that euer S. Peter preached any other purgatory then the bloud of Iesus Christ or any other satisfaction to the iustice of God then his obedience any other sacrifice propitiatory then his death That euer he gaue pardons for an hundred thousand yeares or drew soules out of Purgatory with buls and indulgences that he euer degraded Emperours that he tooke away from the people the reading of the holy Scriptures or the Communion of the Cup or that he commaunded the worshipping of Images and publique Seruice to bee said in an vnknowne tongue or that he euer constrayned other Bishops to take from him letters of Inuestiture and to pay vnto him Annates Or that euer S. Peter was called God on earth the Spouse of the Church and caused himselfe to be worshipped or that euer he sung Masse or commaunded the Host to be adored or that euer he left off preaching the Gospell or quitted the Crosier-staffe to take vnto him a triple Diaderne If I say they can shew me that S. Peter euer did these things then though the Pope were Bishop but of one Village alone I will willingly acknowledge him for S. Peters Successor but still in the Bishopricke only and not in the Apostleship which ended in his person and is not deriued vnto his Successors in particular Churches THus doth the confession of the King of Englands faith remain firme and vnshaken against which Coeffeteau hath armed himselfe with humane testimonies being vtterly destitute of any authority out of the booke of God For as they that are ready to drowne catch hold on any thing so these men in a desperate cause embrace all defences but least of all those that be good Againe whatsoeuer this Doctor alleadgeth out of the Fathers is found to be eyther false or clipt or vtterly counterfeit This payment is not currant especially to such a Prince who hath consecrated his penne to the defence of the truth But this is not to be imputed to Coeffeteaus disability but to the vnlawfulnesse of the cause vnto which we haue in such sort satisfied as whosoeuer shall examine my worke he shall finde an answere to Bellarmines booke also which he hath not long since made against the said booke of the King of great Britaine with more weakenesse and lesse dexterity then Coeffeteau hath done There remayneth the last part of his Maiesties booke wherein with a straine of admirable wit assisted by the spirit of God hee openeth the booke closed with seuen seales and piercing into the secrets of sacred Prophesies he findeth in the seat of Rome the full accomplishment of the Apocalyps When hate and bitternesse shall be extinguished through time Posterity shall admire both the worke and the person and looking backe into ages past for the like patterne shall not be able to finde any thing to be compared with it We will not feare then to enter into these darkenesses vnder so great a guide for it is hard eyther to stumble or to stray where so faire a Torch doth light and shine before vs. But we must here take breath a while before we enter into this taske For the sudden death of our King like a great cracke of Thunder benummeth our handes with astonishment and troubleth our spirits with griefe and anguish Let vs then giue place to necessity and leaue to write that we may haue leisure to lament and let Posterity carefully bethinke it selfe of remedies and hold it for a thing most certaine that hee that setteth light by his owne life is master of another mans and that there is nothing so forcible to make vs to contemne our owne liues as this new doctrine which by the murther of Kings openeth the way to the Kingdome of heauen FINIS Faults necessarily to bee corrected The first number noteth the Page the second the Line The letter R. standeth for Reade L. signifieth the line in the same PAGE PAge 13.25 r. 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