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
that in a manner the whole earth was filled with it The second place is out of the booke de caena Domini falsly ascribed 10 S. Cyprian as are also all the Treatises De Cardinalib operibus whereof this is one to which there is prefixed a Prologue wherein the Author saith that he hath suppressed his name by which it appeareth that the Authour of this Treatise is vnknowne yet might this booke bee purposely alleadged had it beene written by any auncient Authour that had liued within the first foure or fiue hundred yeares but the stile testifies that it is newly forged witnesse these wordes Distributê° non demembratur incorporatus non iniuriatur This is the worke of some prentice Frier that meant to wrong Priscian The third place is out of S. Ambrose in the ninth Chapter concerning those that are newly instructed in the Mysteries where Ambrose sayth that the benediction chaungeth the nature of the Sacrament and that it is not that which nature hath made but what the blessing hath consecrated And to shew that in this action there is a supernaturall worke he brings the example of Airons rod turned into a Serpent so farre doth Coeffeteau alleadge S. Ambrose but hee doth malitiously omit many examples following by which it appeareth that S. Ambrose did not thinke that that which was to be admired in this Sacrament was the Transubstantiation of the bread For he addeth also these examples that Moses deuided the redde Sea that the Riuer Iordan turned his course that water issued out of the Rocke that the bitter waters of Mara were made sweete that Elizeus made Iron to swimme vpon the water which were all workes of God whrein there was no transubstantiation which declare that he beleeued not that the bread became the body of Christ so as it was no more bread in substance which did plainly appeare for that in the words following comparing these miracles of the Prophets wherein God changed the nature of things Non minus est nouas res rebus dare quam mutare naturas with the change that is wrought in the Sacrament he saith That it is no lesse to adde some new things vnto things then to change the nature of things Auerring plainely thereby that the bread hath receiued some new thing without losing the nature of bread And we may not thinke it strange if he say that the bread remaining bread hath changed it nature For so a bit of Waxe becomming the Kings seale changeth it nature without Transubstantiation and is not any more commonly called Waxe euen as the common bread becommeth holy in the Sacrament Vera vtique caro Christi quae crucifixa quae sepulta est Verè ergo carnis illius Sacramentum est Ipse clamat Dominus Iesus Hoc est corpus meuÌ„ Ante benedictionem verborum caelâ—stium alia species nominatur post consecrationem corpê° Christi significatur and by this consecration is often called the body of Christ Therefore he further addeth It was the true flesh of Christ which hath beene crucified and buried This then is as truely the holy signe of the flesh The Lord himselfe crieth aloud this is my body before the blessing of the heauenly wordes another kinde is named after the blessing the body of Christ is signified The last place is out of S. Chrysostome in his Sermon of the Dedication where in his flourishing Discourse after his manner he heapes vp Hyperbolies to enflame his Auditory You which come saith he thinke not to receiue the Diuine body of a man but that you receiue the very Seraphins of fire with their tongues And a little after the spirituall fire streameth downe from the table Transported with the same zeale he saith there that the mysteries are consumed by the substance of the body And so in the fiue and fortieth Homily vpon S. Iohn We are mingled and knead with him we fasten our teeth in his flesh All which are hyperbolicall phrases and such as being hardly taken were absurd in the very iudgement of our aduersaries which make the helpes of deuotion to couer Idolatry for to know what is a Doctors opinion we must not take his Oratorious Amplifications nor Hyperbolical extasies Acceptum paneÌ„ distributum discipulis corpus suum fecit dicendo hoc est corpus meum id est figura corporis me i. Panem suum corpus appellans vt hinc iam eum intelligas corporis sui siguram pani dedisse I I le cibus qui sanctificatur per verbum Dei perque obsecrationem iuxta id quod habet materiale in ventrem abit in secessum emittitur but out of the places in which they aduisedly and expresly treate of this matter of which you shall haue here some passages Tertullian in his fourth booke against Marcion cap. 40. Iesus Christ hauing taken bread and distributed it to his Disciples he made it to be his body saying This is my body that is the figure of my body The same in his third booke against Marcion cap. 19. God hath so reuealed it in the Gospell calling the bread his body to the end that thereby thou mayest vnderstand that he hath giuen to the bread to be a figure of his body Origen vpon the fifteenth of Matthew That meate which is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer as touching the matter it goeth downe into the belly and is cast out into the draught and doth not sanctifie of its owne nature Cyprian in his third Epistle of the second booke Vinum fuit quod sanguinem suum dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Non dubitauit dicere Hoc est corpus mâ—um cum daret signum corporis sui Sicut ergo secundum quendam modum Sacramentum corporis Christi orpus Christi est Sacramentum sanguinis Christi sanguis Christi est Ita Sacramentum fidei fides est Spiritualiter intelligitur quod locutus sum non hoc corpus quod videtis manducaturi estis bibituri illum sanguinem quem fuâ—uri sunt qui me crucifigent Sacramentum a liquod vobis commendaui Spiritualiter intellectum viuificabit vos We find that the Cup which the Lord offered was mingled and THAT WHICH HE CALLED HIS BLOVD WAS WINE Eusebius in the eighth booke of the Demonstration of the Gospell chap. 1. towards the end Iesus Christ gaue to his Disciples the signes of the diuine dispensation commaunding them to celebrate the figure of his owne body For seeing that he did now no longer receiue the sacrifices of bloud nor the slaughter of diuers beasts ordained by Moses he hath taught vs to vse the bread for a signe of his body S. Austin against Adimantus chap. 12. The Lord made no difficulty to say This is my body when he gaue the signe of his body Where we see that he expoundeth this word Body by signe of my body In his three and twentieth Epistle to Boniface The holy signe of Christs
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
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
bodie c Wherupon the question is asked to whom the Priest speakes when he saith Brethren pray for me Pope Innocent the third doth answere finely in the second booke of the mysteries of the Masse chap. 25. It must saith he be religiously beleeued that the Angels doe beare them companie that pray according to the saying of the Prophet I will sing vnto thee in the presence of the Angels Which will also serue to resolue other doubts presuming that when the Priest saith Take eate he doth invite the Angels to eate for they come with good stomackes And so of the rest At length the place of Austin is brought which is the onely passage of antiquity that Coeffeteau can finde This Father lib. 22. De ciuit Dei speaking of a place haunted with euill spirits saith that one of his Priests went and offered a Sacrifice there wherupon Coeffeteau saith that this could not be done but priuately and without solemnity but he dares not to affirme that he had no assistants or communicants which is that which he should or else the place makes not to the purpose And indeede we may presume the contrary forasmuch as S Austin speakes of a great house and of some great person of quality that sent not for a Minister of the Church of Carthage to celebrate the holy Sacrament Nusquam expresse legimus a veter ibus oblatum sacrificium sine communione alâ—cuius ve aliquorum to leaue him alone without assistants or communicants and indeede Bellarmine confesseth the impertinency of this place lib. 2. de Missa cap. 9. where he acknowledgeth That there is no expresse place sound where the auncrents haue offered the Sacrifice without some Communicants The common excuse and the same which the Councel of Trent vseth in the seuenth Session is that it comes to passe through the indeuotion of the people which speech doth both confes and yet approue the abuse for the same Councell addeth The holy Councell doth not forbid those Masses wherein the Priest alone doth communicate sacramentally as priuate and vnlawfull but doth approue and commend them which their practise doth proue for if it be through the want of deuotion in the people why doe they not endeauour the remedie for if there be any question of casting into the boxe if any busines fall out concerning tithes and offerings they easily finde the meanes to holde the people in the humor of contribution neither do I finde that the Cardinalls and Bishops doe communicate ofâ—ener then the people For the Priests hinder the people from assisting them because they say an infinite number of Masses in priuate and vpon the sudden of which they giue no warning For three sundry persons will one Priest dispatch three Masses to euery one his own that each of them may pay for a whole Masse And they that will haue yearely Masses doe found yearely Pensions for neuer was any priuate Masse said for him that gaue nothing they vse not to make God for nothing Masses are sold for more or lesse according to the prouision that is made if one pay for one Masse is it any reason that another should equally share with him Yea they buy Masses for the soules of young children dying soone after baptisme which they hold must needes be in Paradice for if Masses doe no good to them that are dead yet they profite those that are aliue Doubtlesse it is couereousnesse that hath hatched this abuse and superstition hath fomented it These men do againe reply although but weakly for say they if no Communicants offer themselues must the Sacrifice be therefore discontinued Let them heare S. Chrysostome thundring thereupon in the third Homily vpon the Ephesians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O custome O presumption in vaine is Sacrifice daily offered in vaine doe we stand at the Altar and none communicate And a little after Whosoeuer doth not communicate in these mysteries is impudent and rash in standing by And further adde that they do falsly presume that the holy supper is a Sacrifice in that sense which they take the word Sacrifice as we shal presently see Now let vs heare the testimonies of the Auncients Peracta consecratione omnes communic ent qui noluerint Ecclesiasticis carere liminibus Sic enim Apostoli sta tuerunt Sancta Romana tenet Ecclesia Tanta in altario holocausta offerantur quanta populo sufficere debeant c. The auncient rule of the Church of the Citie of Rome which is found in the second Distinction of the consecration vnder the name of Anaclet in the Canon Peracta is this The consecration being ended let all those communicate that will not be excluded out of the bounds of the Church for so haue the Apostles ordained and the Church of Rome obserueth And in the Canon Tribus gradibus of the same Distinction Let as many offerings be laid vpon the Table as will serue for all the people to communicate and if any doe remaine let them not be kept vntill the morrow And in the first Distinction of the Consecration in the Canon Hoc quoque the Pope speakes thus It is ordained that no Priest presume to celebrate the solemnities of the Masse if he haue not two others that may answere him and that the Priest be the third because when he saith in the plurall number The Lord be with you and that which he saith in secret pray for me it is apparantly requisite that answere be made to his salutation Iustin Martyr in the second of his Apologie The Deacons doe disiribute the bread to euery one that is present Ignatius in the Epistle to the Philadelphians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominica Coena omnibus debet esse communis One loafe hath beene broken to all S. Ierome vpon the first to the Corinth cap. II. The supper of the Lord ought to be common vnto all The Reader may compare this word the common Supper with the priuate Masse The Authour of the Constitutions ascribed vnto Clement lib. 2. cap. 61. Let euery one receiue the bodie of the Lord. And so haue all the auncient Liturgies Accipiant singuli per se Dominicum corpus although they be much falsified yea and some traces thereof are to be seene in the Masse where the Priest though he be alone doth alwaies speake as vnto many communicants Cum ex more Diaconus clamaret Si quis non communi at det locum Gregory the first Bishop of Rome in the second booke of his Dialogues chap. 13. saith that the Deacon according to the custome crieth if there be any that doth not communicate let him depart And this was sixe hundred yeares after Christ and we could disscend lower But this sufficeth against a man that feares the triall who being not able to alleadge against the King of great Britaine any syllable of Scripture no nor any of the Auncients that speake of priuate Masses doth flie from the matter and desperately
the light in putting out his eyes A medicine is not applyed by poyson How then shall a free pardon in Iesus Christ be applyed by punishment and torture How shal the soueraigne testimony of Gods mercy be applied by the execution of his iustice How shall the acquittance of our debt discharged by Iesus Christ be applied vnto vs in making vs pay it our selues 2. Adde hereunto that for proofe of a matter of such importance as is the meane of applying vnto vs the merites of Iesus Christ at least some passage of Scripture should be alleadged 3. As also a Playster is not applyed by a Playster so one satisfaction is not applyable by another 4. Faith the Word Baptisme and the holy Supper are the meanes appointed in the holy Scripture Ioh. 14.23 Eph 3.17 Gal. 3.27 1. Cor. 10.26 to apply Iesus Christ vnto vs but the application of him by satisfactorie punishments is not any where mentioned 1 But aboue all we desire to know who hath put the sufferings of Saints into the Popes Treasurie 2. When this distribution had this beginning 3. How we may bee secured that God will rest satisfied with this payment 4. Whether the Pope hath also stored vp in the Treasurie of the Church the afflictions and trauels of Noah of Abraham of Iacob c. 5. And why the high Priests made no diuision of them to the faithfull in their times 6. Where the superaboundant satisfaction of the Patriarches hath so long time lay hidden without any employment 7. Especially how it comes to passe that neyther Christ nor his Apostles nor their Disciples nor the auncient Church for many ages haue spoken any word of this Treasure nor distributed by Indulgences the remainder of humane satisfactions nor celebrated any Iubile For we must obserue that Cardinal Caietan in the beginnlng of his booke of Indulgences acknowledgeth that in the whole course of Antiquity there is not any thing found concerning Indulgences Gabriel Biel in the seuen and fiftieth Lecture vpon the Canon of the Masse affirmeth the same and enquiring the reason why they are so common now a daies answers himselfe well to the purpose with the wordes of Christ Act. 4. It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his owne power So he learnes vs to be sober Durandus Anthony and Roffensis affirme the same S. Cyprian indeed in his Serm. de Lapsis and Tertullian in his booke of Chastity and c. 1. of his book Ad Martyres speakes of Martyrs held in durance for the Gospell at whose intercession the Bishop receiued excommunicate and repentant persons into the Church But 1. These Martyrs were liuing and 2. did imploy their meditation to the Bishop not their superaboundant satisfactions vnto God 3. The Pope did not rake their sufferings into his Store-house 4. And then euery Bishop inflicted or released penalties and excommunications among those of his own flocke without expecting any directories from the Bishop of Rome 5. And yet this custome of releasing penance enioyned to offendors at the instance of Christians imprisoned for the Gospell Cypriau Serm. de Lapsis Mandant aliquid Martyres fieri Si insta Si licita c. Nemo fratres dilectissimi infamet Martyrum dignitatem is condemned by S. Cyprian in his Sermon De lapsis He willeth that none giue way to the requests of Martyrs if their demaunds be vniust and saith that this recourse had vnto them did turne to their discredite Tertullian goes farther for in the two and twentieth Chapter of his booke of Chastity hee complaines that many did of purpose cause themselues to be committed that so they might haue meanes to become intercessors for some one or other of their friends or rather * Violantur viri faeminae in tenebris planè ex vsu tibidimum notes Et pacem ab his quaerunt paenitentes qui de sua pericletantur Suf ficit Martyri propria deâ—icta purgasse Ingrati velsuperbi est in al os quóque Spargere quod pro magno fuerit consecutus Quis alienam mortem sua soluit nisi so lus Dei filius to play the wantons with such women as were prisoners in the same Ward and in the end makes this conclusion That it is enough for a Martyr to haue purged his owne sinnes It is a signe of ingratitude or of pride to diuide among others that which hath beene bestowed vpon himselfe as o great fauor Who hath made his own death the price of auother mans life but onely the Sonne of God Now to the end that euery one may know how iniurious these sufferings and satisfactions of men imaginarily heaped into this Treasure are vnto Iesus Christ and his benefites we must vnderstand that Pope Clement the sixth in the extrauagant Vnigenitus speaking of the merites of Iesus Christ in the Treasury of the Church saith * Ad cuins thesauri cumulum beatae genetricis omnium electorum merita adminiculum praestare noscuntur that The merites of the mother of God and of all the elect doe serue as helpes to encrease this Treasure As if the merites of men did so assist the merites of Iesus Christ that this Treasurie could not be filled if the merites of men were detectiue Bellarmine makes the case worse for in consideration of these satisfactory sufferings of Saints which he saith are allowed vnto vs and which the Pope turneth to the forgiuing of our sinnes he affirmeth that the Saints are after a sort our Redeemers in the first booke of Indulgences the fourth chapter Touching our owne satisfactions his speech driues to this point That besides our owne there is no actuall Satisfaction and that Christ hath not actually satisfied for vs but only hath giuen power to our satisfactions This is to affirme that the Apostle is deceiued in saying that Iesus Christ is giuen a ransom for vs 1. Tim. 2. seeing he doth only enable vs to pay our ransome and make our owne peace so in the second booke of Indulgences Si quis post gratiam reconciliationis adeptam adbuc sit reus luendae paenae temporatis is non ne essario egetur meritis Christi Et poteret nou requirere tantem liberalitatem contentus ipse laboribus suis the first ch although he attribute some power to the death of Iesus Christ yet he saith That if after a man hath obtained the grace of reconciliation he haue not yet satisfied for temporall punishment such as is the torment of Purgatory that such a one doth not necessarily want the merite of Iesus and that he may forbeare to seeke so great a largesse at Gods hands but content himselfe with the merite of his owne ende uours As if he should say vnto God thou wouldest acquit me but I will not haue it so for my owne troubles and afflictions shall make thee satisfaction These men haue courage in them indeede they dare neglect euen Christ himselfe for it is
not good to be too deepely engaged to him and t is a credite for a man to satisfie for himselfe whence it followes that the diuell that makes long satisfaction with euerlasting torments shall purchase the more credire Besides it is a goodly ambition to giue vnto God more then we owe him by performing these supererogatory satisfactions for so it is to be feared that God finding himselfe indebted to such a number of Friers may bee in danger of turning banckrupt O spirite of blasphemy and prophanation of the Gospell O wonderfull patience of the Lord But now let vs take a view how this superfluity of satisfaction of the Saints is distributed The Pope opens this Treasure and drawing thence spirituall graces Of the distribution of the treasure of the Church doth variously make distribution of them sometimes hee giues particular priuiledges to certaine Orders and Fraternities So Pope Sixtus quintus in the yeare 1586. In the booke of Indulgences graunted to the Cordeliers printed at Paris by Iean le Bouc 1597. the seuenth of May graunted to all those of the Order of the Cordeliers that on the Eue of Palme-sonday and on Midsomer Eue and on the Eue of Io. Port-latin shall say fiue Pater-nosters and as many Aue-Maries a Pardon for all their sinnes beside the power of easing one soule in Purgatory And in as bountiful a manner hath the Pope graunted to the Order of the Friers Carmelites a priuiledge that they shall continue in Purgatorie no longer then the Saterday after their departure Sometimes againe the Pope disperseth certaine holy graines and hallowed Crosses the saluting of which with an Aue-Mary doth purchase a Pardon for a hundred yeares or peraduenture a plenary Indulgence Our Kings Ambassadours comming from Rome doe ordinarily bring with them such gratifications His Holinesse is also pleased to send vnto diuers places certaine priuiledged Altars vpon which if a Masse or two chance to be vttered they redeeme a soule out of Purgatory The Church of the Feuillans at Paris hath this priuiledge that euery Masse that is there sung for the dead on the Munday or Wednesday doth redeeme a soule from Purgatory for the Masses said on other dayes haue no such vertue in them to which purpose Mr. Coeffetean could haue alleadged some place of S. Paul but that he bethought him not of it Moreouer the Pope opening this Treasure doth now and then graunt certaine liberatory Bulles from Purgatory in fauour of some persons of quality and at the instance of their parents which Buls are paide for in Ducats of the Chamber at the end whereof there should not be written Datum Romae dated at Rome but venditum Romae solde at Rome For there is no reason that this treasure should be opened for the soule of euery monilesse beggar But the most ordinary manner of this distribution is that the Pope sets downe some proportion or number of Pardons for certaine Churches in some more in some lesse We haue a booke expresly written of Romane Indulgences printed at Rome by Iulio Accolto Ann. 1570. out of which take this example among a thousand others In the moneth of February vpon Septuagessima sonday for going the Station vnto S. Lawrence without the walles there is graunted a plenary Indulgence beside a pardon for eleuen thousand yeares and forty eight Quarentaines and remission of one third part of all sinnes and the redemption of a soule out of Purgatory This is one of the high Holy-dayes Vpon the Wednesday after S. Lucy being Ember-weeke the Station is to S. Maryes the greater for which an Indulgence is graunted for eight and twenty thousand yeares and as many Quarentaines and remission of one third part of sinnes yea and a plenary pardon for all sinnes The same booke saith that for each dayes repaire to S. Eusebies Church a pardon is vndoubtedly graunted for threescore and eighteene thousand yeares and as many Quarentaines and that on euery All-Saints day there is in al the principal Churches sixe thousand yeares of an infallible pardon But especially his Holinesse doth grow prodigall in the dissipation of this Treasure in the yeare of Iubile which is now celebrated euery fiue and twentieth yeare hauing made a kinde of circle of sinne as it were a solar reuolution of the forgiuing of sinnes then Indulgences flie thicke abroad and the Pope doth freely and fully pardon all sinne the place of this Iubile are the Stations at Rome prouided that they bee resorted vnto for thirty dayes whether of consecution or intermission it matters not then Pilgrims flocke from all partes and one Nation enuying anothers quarrels and blowes are often exchanged among them the next yeare after his Holinesse conueyes the Iubile ouer the Alpes and withall sendes the same spirituall fauours to two or three places in Fraunce and so in Spaine Now if death chaunce to take any out of the world in this yeare of Iubile no question but he goeth straight to Paradice but he that vnfortunately dies the yeare before his lot is to frie in Purgatory and must misse of this pontificall bounty vnlesse the Pope by a speciall pardon doe priuiledge him from this fire But hence arise sundry other inconueniences for in places not aboue fifty or a hundred leagues from the place where the Iubile is kept such as are well horsed and haue mony in their purse doe easily obtaine pardon for their sinnes but he that hath neyther horse nor money for his iourney is excluded from this great happinesse for why is he so beggerly Or wherefore should he want horse flesh Or why is he such an Asse that he should not finde himselfe a good paire of legges and therefore shal haue no remission of sinnes And therefore it is a goodly matter to dwell at Rome and be at the Well-head of these pardons without running so farre after them neyther is it credible that any that dwels at Rome vnlesse he be a very lob should goe to Purgatory for there is the spring of spirituall graces and a man may euery day get fiue or sixe hundred yeares of Pardons which is forsooth a gallant prouision at the yeares end Let the Reader take his counters and cast vp the reckoning Now if any shall atrest a Pilgrime trauelling toward the Iubile this is a case of speciall reseruation and from a sinne of this high nature none of this side the Alpes can giue absolution Bulla de Caena Domini de casibus reseruatis marry for murther or adultery or such sinnes as offend onely the law of God and hinder not the Popes profite the matter is more easie for we must obserue that in the Buls of pardon this clause is ordinarily inserted that these Pardons are granted manus porrigentibus adiutrices to such as put forth helping handes for which purpose there are Trunckes and Chests set at the gates and euery one is exhorted to spit in the Bason These high dayes of Pardon are euen the Faires of Babylon
Confession TOuching the Reliques of Saints if I had any such that I were assured were members of their bodies I would honourably burie them and not giue them the reward of condemned mens members which are only ordained to be depriued of buriall But for worshipping eyther them or Images I must account it damnable Idolatry Vnto this doth Doctor Coeffeteau oppose foure passages of the Fathers alleadging S. Ierome dissputing against Vigilantius for the Reliques of Saint Ambrose in his Sermon of S. Nazarius and S. Celsus saying in many places that he honoureth the bodies of Saints S. Chrysostome who in his Homily of S. Iuuentius and Maximus saith that men doe visite and adorue their Tombes and touch their Reliques with faith to the end they may receiue some blessing thereby S. Augustine in the two and twentieth booke of the City of God speaking of three persons that were cured with the touch of certaine Reliques He alleadgeth no one testimony of holy Scripture it hath no voyce in the Chapter and yet hee skips at once ouer the first foure hundred yeares after Christ for the auncientest of these foure wrote about the end of the fouth age 1 To begin then with the word of God Wee read in the olde Testament that the bodies of the holy Patriarches haue beene enterred Gen. 50.25 and buried in the Sepulchres of their Fathers Ioseph when he died gaue order that his bones should be kept till their departure out of Egypt for he desired that the keeping of his bones should be an instruction to continue the hope of their deliuerance but of any worship done vnto his bones there is no mention at all 2 When Moses died vpon the mountaine of Nebo Deut. 34.6 God would not suffer the Israelites to know the place of his buriall the reason being doubtlesse a feare that they would haue Idolatrously abused his bodie 3 In the first booke of Kings chap. 13. God raised a dead man by the vertue of Elizeus his touching of the dead body the Lord intending by this Miracle to authorize the doctrine of his faithfull seruant But we finde not at all that the body of Elizeus was for this taken out of his graue neyther that the people did kneele to his bones that they brought any offerings vnto it or that they kissed or carried it in procession Ver. 17 4 In the second booke of Kings cap. 23 King Iosias forbids the digging vp of the bones of a deceased Prophet but will haue them left in the Sepulchre He doth not then commaund any transportation of his bones or to yeelde any veneration or worship or oblation or adoration Ver 12 5 In the ninteenth of the Acts there are cures wrought by touching of the Kerchiefes brought from S. Paul yet is not the linnen put apart for a relique nor is there any ceremony done vntoit For the Miracles were not wrought by any vertue of the linnen but by the power of God who by these Miracles confirmed the preaching of his holy Apostle 6 Therefore Esay 8.19.20 the Prophet hauing reproued those that went from the liuing to the dead sends vs to the law and the testimony if wee will haue the light of heauen to shine vpon vs. 7 To be short our aduersaries finde not one sillable in the word of God nor any example of any religious seruice or adoration of Reliques For it is vntruely affirmed by Bellarmine that the Scripture alloweth the religious worship performed to our * Lib. de reliquijs sanctorum cap. 4 §. Ad tertium Seriptura approbat cultum Sepulchri fimbrie Christa Item vmbrae Petri sudariorum semicinctâ—orum Pauli Sauiors Sepulchre and to the hemme of his garment and to Peters shadow and Pauls Kercheifes How should it approue that whereof it makes no mention at all Why doth he not alleadge some passage of Scripture wherein the worship or veneration of the linnen or shadowes or Sepulchres is mentioned who will be perswaded that a learned man affirming a matter so full of vntruth should haue any conscience in him So in the beginning of the third Chapter hee falsely alleadgeth these wordes out of the eleuenth of Esay ver 10. His Sepulchre shall be glorious for it is in the Hebrew his rest shall be glorious whereunto let this be added that there is no word in that place of any worship performed to this Sepulchre Now that the point in difference betweene vs may be vnderstood wee dispute not whether the bodies of Saints and Martyrs may be reserued respectiuely or in case their Sepulchres were vndecently placed or ridiculously exposed to prophane insolencies whether it be lawfull to remoue their bodies to some other place for thus farre we agree And his Maiesty of England protesteth that if hee certainely knew any Reliques which were indeede the body of any Saint he would honourably burie them and keepe them with respect for if men doe curiously affect the sight of the monuments of auncient Kings or pagan Emperours who should be so prophane as not to desire the sight of the Tombs of the Apostles and of those sacred lights whose glory shineth euen after their death Or who in this regard would not be touched with a louing respect to them and their memory But the question is whether wee must performe any seruice to these Reliques or must adore them or speake to things without life or offer vnto bones or clothes or whether God haue commaunded to lay them vpon Altars or carry them in procession For the Conuenticle held at Nice Pag 104 of the Colen Edition Ossa cineres pannos sanguinem sepulera denique martyrum adoremus about the yeare 789. which the Church of Rome reckoneth for a generall Councell in the fourth Act willeth that the bones ashes and the ragges be adored And Bellarmine in the fourth chapter * §. Quod autem Chrysostemê° Sermone in Sanctos Iuuentium Maximum dicit Tumulos Martyrum adoremus of his booke of Reliques proueth the adoration of Reliques by these wordes of Chrysostome in his Sermon of Iuuentius and Maximus Tumulos Martyrum adoremus Let vs adore the Monuments of Martyrs but the words in Chrysostome are Tumulos Martyrum adornemus Let vs adorne the monuments of Martyrs which is a horrible falsification but this is ordinary with the Cardinall whereof Coeffeteau himselfe is euen ashamed for alleadging the same passage he translates it faithfully Fol. 55. pag. 2. Let vs adorne their monuments The same Cardinall about the end of the second chapter sayth We adore not Reliques as God then by his owne confession he worshippeth Reliques but it is with an inferiour adoration Now wee require our aduersaries to shew vs some commaundement of God or some example out of the holy Historie for this adoration and religious worship for whatsoeuer distinction of worship they may produce is alwaies such a seruice and religious worship as God hath not commaunded and is consequently comprised vnder that
nothus de passione Clauis sacros pedes terebrantibus It is a thing also to be wondred how the nailes were found in the same place with the Crosse Seing that the custome of the Aunciens was to burie togither with the bodies of malefactors Inueniuntur ossa inserta catenis implicita the chains and yrons wherewith they suffered as appeareth in Plinies Epistles lib. 7. Epist. 27. where he reciteth the stories of a Ghost that appeared to the Philosopher Athenodorus And in Chrysostome in his Oration against the Gentils And Welserus * In coÌ„mentarijs rerum Vindelicarum coÌ„firmeth it in his seauenth booke of his Commentaries of Ausbourge In the meane time it appeareth by the place of Athanasius heretofore alleaged and by the simplicity of Constantine that this abuse began from that time to slide on and increase which was so farre growne in some places 400. yeares after Christ Noui multos esse sepulcrorum picturarum adoratores Noui multos esse qui super mortuos luxuriosissimè bibant that S. Austin in his first booke de Moribus Eccles doth greatly complaine of it I know saith he that there are many that adore Sepulchres and Pictures I know that there are many that drinke at large ouer the dead The same Austin in the 28. chapter of his booke of the labour of Monkes for in those daies they had each man his trade complaineth of some gadders vp and downe Membra martyrum Si tamen martyrum carriers about of reliques which they reported to be the limmes of Martyrs Yea saith he if so be that they be members of Martyrs The auncient Christians in the three first ages were wont to warme their zeale by the imbers of the Martyrs And because they had no Temples they assembled together in the Church-yardes where the Tombes of the Martyrs serued them for a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tables to administer the Lords Supper This being at the first done onely as occasion and the present opportunity would permit was afterward made a law For in the fift Councell of Carthage the Altars are called Monuments or Tombes Where is to be noted that the Councel complaineth that many such false monuments were erected vpon dreames and vaine illusions and commaundeth to plucke them downe if the tumult of the people shall not hinder them which sheweth that superstition was already growne strong in this point Gregorie Bishop of Rome in the first booke of his Dialogues chap. 2. speaketh of one called Libertinus who alwaies carried about a hose of S. Honorate In those times our Kinges planted their whole Religion in founding of Monasteries and getting Relikes together thinking by these means to be saued King Dagobert tooke away all the Reliques from the other Saints to enrich the Temple of S. Denis S. Rusticus and S. Eleutherius whereupon there fell out great strife and debate among the Saints if wee beleeue the Chronicles of France For the Saints whom he had robbed and riffled as S. Hilarie S. Fremin c. adioyned themselues to the Deuils See this Story in Nicolas Gilles anno 645. and it is taken out of Turpin craued their helpe to carry the soule of this good King to hell But hee cal ed to the Saints whom he had enriched for succour who so valiantly resisted the other Saints and the Deuils that they plucked away his soule from them and carried it into Paradise Now a daies many superstitious persons are ashamed of their reliques and mocke at them And yet for all that it is held for an absolute and inuiolable Decree that euery Altar must haue his Reliques vnderneath it otherwise they cannot consecrate For after the Introite of the Masse the Priest bowing himselfe ouer the Altar asketh of God pardon of al his sins through the merits of those Saints whose bones lie hidde vnder the Altar This greatly auaileth to strike the people with a superstitious horrour and astonishment of hart and with a trembling deuotion it being done out of singular wisdome and vpon great consideration For it is credible that when Christ did administer his last supper that he closely conueighed vnder the table some bones of Samuel or some tooth of Sampsons Asses law bone And if Christ did not seeke saluation throgh their merits it was because those old Saints were worse stored and prouided of merits then they whom the Pope hath Canonized for Saints as S. Iuniper or S. Thomas of CaÌ„terbury defender of the crowne of England Concerning the Fathers whom Coeffeteau opposeth hereunto Chrysostome Ambrose and Austin are of the minde that the bodies of the Saints ought indeede to be honored and their sepulchres beautified and adorned But what is this against the King of England who saith asmuch As for those miracles which were done at those Sepulchres of which S. Austin speaketh God by them did authorize the doctrine of the Gospell which his faithfull seruants had vttered in word and signed with their bloud Such were the miracles wrought by the touch of Elizeus his body and by the Kerchiefes of S. Paul But it followeth not thereupon that they adored or yeelded any religious seruice to those Reliques Vnlesse perhaps we must adore the shadow of S. Peters body as Bellarmine will haue it Bell. lib. de reliquijs cap 4 §. Ad tertium Scriptura approbat cultuÌ„ vmbrae Petri. of which shadow doubtlesse some peece may bee found stored vp among the Reliques aswell as at Cour-chiuerni neare Blois they keepe the Labour of S. Ioseph when hee cleft wood for hee was a Carpenter Howbeit there be two thinges which I will not here dissemble the one is that Heretikes at that time Doctores haereticos maximè doctrinae suae fidem onfirmasse mortuos suscitasse de bilâ—s reformasse futura significasse vt Apostoli crederentur Nunquid non Africa sanctoruÌ„ Martyrum corporibus plena est Et tamen nusquam hic scimus talia fieri did more miracles as Tertullian witnesseth lib. 3. against Marcion cap. 3. and in his 44 chapter of his Prescript where he saith that the Heretikes did raise the dead heale the sicke foretell thinges to come The other is that the place in S. Austin De Ciuitai Dei lib. 22. cap. 8. is to be suspected For he speaketh of miracles done in Africa and neare vnto Hippo where he was Bishop by touching the Reliques of Saints Whereas himselfe Epist 137. saith that in some places of Italie as at Nola and at Millan such miracles were done neare vnto the monuments of the Saints but that in Africa there were not any wroght in any place And that which is more to be obserued is that this Epistle was written to the people and clergie of Hippo who would easilie haue controuled him if such miracles had beene wrought in Africa What shall we now beleeue Here is S. Austin who saith in one place that many miracles were done in Africa neare vnto the place of
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
the Article which followeth ARTICLE VIII Touching prayers to Saints and the seruice that is due vnto them The KINGS Confession T S for prayer to Saints Christ I am sure hath commaunded vs to Come all to him that are loaden with sinne and he will relieue vs and S. Paul hath forbidden vs to worshippe Angels or to vse any such voluntary worship Math. 11 28. Col 28.28 that hath a shew of humility in that it spareth not the flesh But what warrant we haue to haue recourse vnto these Dâ—j Penates or Tutelares these Courtiers of God I know not I remit that to these philosophicall neotericke Diuines It satisfieth me to pray to God through Christ as I am commaunded which I am sure must be the safest way and I am sure the Safest way is the best way in points of saluation Hereupon Coeffeteau confounding the Kings whole discouery he beginneth by a complaint that his Maiesty calleth Tutelary and familiar Gods those lesser Saints to whom many of the people do vow themselues in particular and of whom they set the Images vpon their Cupboords or ouer their Chimneyes But his Maiesty doth not intend to call the Saints familiars nor Tutelarie Gods neyther doth he say that in the Church of Rome they call them so onely he meaneth that the Church of Rome hath substituted them in place of the Tutelarie and domesticall gods and that hee doth entertaine them after the same fashion For the Paynims had their tutelarie gods ouer euery town and ouer euery Countrey Iuno was Lady-gardian of Carthage Venus of Cyprus and of Paphos Pallace of the Countrey of Attica Mars and Quirinus of Rome c. so the Church of Rome hath Saints that are Patrons of Cities and Countries Saint Marke of Venice S. Geneuiefue of Paris S. Iames of Spain S. Dennis of France c. and as the Paynims did distribute charges amongst their gods so in the Church of Rome euery Saint hath his charge apart The hunters did inuocate Diana now adaies they haue recourse to S. Eustace S. Nicholas who now is called vpon by the Pilots and Sea-faring men hath taken the place of Castor and Pollux The good Goddesse Lucina who was assisting to women that trauelled in childe-birth hath now giuen place to S. Margaret for so her Legend saith that the Dragon hauing swallowed her downe she made the signe of the Crosse in his belly wherewith he burst asunder and she came forth through the breach which was a kinde of lying in S. Christopher with his huge body hath succeeded Hercules for so they make him also to carry a clubbe There wanted yet a Queene of heauen in the place of Iuno and this holy and glorious Virgin hath beene dishonoured with so prophane a title yea the very habites and furniture of the gods haue beene transported to the Saints The Genij or Penates household gods had a dogge by their side and so hath S. Roche The Image of Iames carried a Key so doth that of S. Peter Iupiter a man had hornes on his head such doe they giue to Moses Isis carried a Timbrell and S. Gennasius a Violin Those circles which you see about the head of the Saints in picture are those Arches and shaddowes wherewith they couered their gods to fence them from the dust In like manner are the Officers distributed in Paradise in a goodly order and with diuersity of furniture and prouision For his Holines and the Church of Rome haue taken order for it We are ashamed to produce these things whiles they are not ashamed to doe them and we blush at that of which they haue no shame at all If we would prolong this Discourse we would easily shew that a good part of these Patrons and Tutelary Saints are Saints which neuer were they liue without hauing euer beene borne and are entred into the Church without euer entring into the world the painters are wonted to make characters pictures in a manner speaking as when they paint Iustice with a paire of ballances Time like an olde man winged The Fryer like a lame god because the wood doth susteyne him so the auncients did figure the faith of a beleeuing man by a woman swollowed vp of Sathan but who did get forth againe victoriously and trample the Diuell vnder her feet And of this Image they haue made their Saint Margaret so the Christian was painted as passing ouer a violent land-flood but hauing Iesus Christ with him Praesertim cum sit manifestum in omnem Italiam Galliam Hispaniam Africam nullum instituisse Ecclesias nisi eos quos Apostolus Petrus aut successores eius constitueruÌ„t Legant autem si in his prouincijs alius Apostolus inuenitur aut legitur docuisse c. who did burden him indeede but yet did conduct him This Image hath produced a new Saint whom they call S. Christopher Of the launce which pierced the body of our Lord they haue made S. Longis because that Lonchi in the vulgar pronunciation of the Greeke tongue signifieth a Launce Men runne with incredible zeale to S. Iames of Compostella in Spaine where they say that hee preached and that his bones remaine there and yet in the meane time it is well knowne that S. Iames was neuer in Spaine Pope Innocent in the twelfth distinction in the Canon Quis nesciat doth stoutly and stiffely maintaine that there was neuer any Apostle in Spaine and that neyther in Fraunce nor in Affrica nor in Spaine any planted Church saue they whom S. Peter and his successors sent thither The Story also of his life recyted by Iohn Beleth and Iacobus de Voragine great personages saith that he came into Spaine before he was put to death by Herod Act. 12. It must needes bee then that he came into Spaine almost about the time that Iesus Christ suffered for S. Iames suruiued Christ but a while after his death His body being put on Ship-boord went of it selfe without Pilot or any guidance into Spaine Queene Lupa raigning then in Spaine Now it is well knowne that at that time there was neyther King nor Queene in Spaine and that it was wholly subiect to the Romane Empire The same is to be said of S. Denis the Areopagite whom men say to haue planted the Gospell in Fraunce and hauing suffered Martyrdome vnder the Emperour Domitian as saith Methodius he carried his head betweene his hands from Mont-Martre as farre as S. Denis where he lyeth interred The reuiuing of learning and good letters hath discouered the falshood of such inuentions For the most auncient Christian Historian that euer was in Fraunce Sub Aurelio Antonini filio persecutio quinta agitata ac tunc primum inter Gallias martyria visa serius trans alpes religione transgressa is Sulpitius Seuerus who in the second booke of his story sheweth that there were no Martyrdomes in Fraunce vnder Domitian nor a long time after and that the first Martyrdomes which were seene in