yet Bellarmine dares not deny it but makes for it a crude and a cold Apology Now concerning this Article it will not be necessary to declare the Sentence of the Church of England and Ireland because it is notorious to all the World and is expresly oppos'd against this Roman Doctrine by Laws Articles Confessions Homilies the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy the Book of Christian Institution and the many excellent Writings of King Iames of Blessed Memory of our Bishops and other Learned Persons against Bellarmine Parsons Eudaemon Iohannes Creswel and others And nothing is more notorious than that the Church of England is most dutiful most zealous for the right of Kings and within these four and twenty years She hath had many Martyrs and very very many Confessors in this Cause It is true that the Church of Rome does recriminate in this point and charges some Calvinists and Presbyterians with Doctrines which indeed they borrowed from Rome using their Arguments making use of their Expressions and pursuing their Principles But with them in this Article we have nothing to do but to reprove the Men and condemn their Doctrine as we have done all along by private Writings and publick Instruments We conclude these our Reproofs with an Exhoriation to our respective Charges to all that desire to be sav'd in the day of the Lord Iesus that they decline from these horrid Doctrines which in their birth are new in their growth are scandalous in their proper consequents are infinitely dangerous to their Souls and hunt for their precious life But therefore it is highly fit that they also should perceive their own advantages and give God praise that they are immur'd from such infinite dangers by the Holy Precepts and Holy Faith taught and commanded in the Church of England and Ireland in which the Word of God is set before them as a Lanthorn to their feet and a Light unto their eyes and the Sacraments are fully administred according to Christs Institution and Repentance is preach'd according to the measures of the Gospel and Faith in Christ is propounded according to the Rule of the Apostles and the measures of the Churches Apostolical and Obedience to Kings is greatly and sacredly urg'd and the Authority and Order of Bishops is preserv'd against the Usurpation of the Pope and the Invasion of Schismaticks and Aerians new and old and Truth and Faith to all men is kept and preach'd to be necessary and inviolable and the Commandements are expounded with just severity and without scruples and Holiness of Life is urg'd upon all men as indispensably necessary to Salvation and therefore without any allowances tricks and little artifices of escaping from it by easie and imperfect Doctrines and every thing is practis'd which is useful to the saving of our Souls and Christs Merits and Satisfaction are intirely relyed upon for the pardon of our sins and the necessity of Good Works is universally taught and our Prayers are holy unblameable edifying and understood they are according to the measures of the Word of God and the practice of all Saints In this Church the Children are duly carefully and rightly Baptiz'd and the Baptiz'd in their due time are Confirm'd and the Confirm'd are Communicated and Penitents are Absolv'd and the Impenitents punished and discouraged and Holy Marriage in all men is preferr'd before unclean Concubinate in any and Nothing is wanting that God and his Christ hath made necessary to Salvation Behold we set before you Life and Death Blessing and Cursing Safety and Danger Choose which you will but remember that the Prophets who are among you have declar'd to you the way of Salvation Now the Lord give you understanding in all things and reveal even this also unto you Amen FINIS 1 Cor. 6.4 Phil. â— 14 Cont. Hermogen De vera side in Moral â—â—g 72. c. 1. reg 80. c. 22. Epist. Pasch. 2 De incar Christi Lib. 2. cap. de origen error lib. 7. contr Celsum Can comperimus de consecr dist 2. in 1 Cor. 11. Eccles. 11.6 De uniâ— Eccles cap. 6. * Ecclesia ex facris canoniciâ— Scripturiâ— osteudenda est quaque exillis aftendi non potest Ecclesia non est S. Aug. deâ—â—tit Eccles. c. 4. c. 3. Ibi quaeramus Ecclesiam ibi deat namus causum nostram * Lib. Cano discipl Eccles. Angliâ— injunct Regiâ— Elis. A. D. 1571. Can. de concionatoribus â—at 3. Calend. Mart. Thâ—ssaâ—onicae a Quod sit metrum regula aâ— scientia credendorum Summae de Eccles. l. 2. c. 203. b Novum Symbolum condere solum ad Papam spectat quia est capuâ— fidei Christians cujus authoritate omnia quae ad filem spectant firmantur roborantur q. 59. a. 1. art 2. sicut potest novum symbolum condere ita potest novos articulos supra aelios multiplicare c Papa potest sacere novos arâ—iâ—ulos fidei id est quod modo credi oporteat cum sic prius non oportereâ— in cap. cum Christ. de hate n. 2. d Papa potest inducere novum articulum fidei in idem e Super 2. Decret de jurejur c. minis n. 1. f Apud Petrum Ciezam â—o 2. instit peruinae cap. â—9 * Iohannes Clemens aliquos folia Theodereti laceravit abjecit in socum in quibus contrae Transubstanâ—iaetionem praeclare disseruit Et cum non itae pridem Originem excuderent totum illud capuâ— sextum Iohannis quod commentabaetur Origenes omiserunt mutilum ediderunt librum propter candem causam * Sixtus Senensis Epist. Dedicat. ad Pium Quint. laudat Pontificem in haec verba Expurgari emaculari curâ—stâ— omnium Catholicorum Scriptorum at praeciput veterum Patrum scriptae Index Expurgator Madrili 1612. in Indiâ—e libror. expurgatorum pag. 39. Gal. 1. 8. Part 2. act 6. c. â— De potest Eccles consiâ— â— De Consiâ— author l. 2. c. 17. Section 1. Sess. 21. cap. 4. Part. 1. Sum. tit 10. c. 3. In art 18. Luther * Intravit ut vulpes regnavit ut leo moriebatur ut canis de eo saepius dictum Tertull. l. ad Martyr c. 1. S. Cyprian lib. 3. Ep. 15. apud Pamelium 11. Concil Nicen. 1. can 12. Conc. Ancyr c. 5. Concil Laodicen c. 2. S. Basil. in Ep. canonicis habentur in Nomocanone Photii can 73. * Communis opittio DD. tam Theologorum quaem Canonicorum quod sunt ex abundantiae meritorum quae ultrae mensuram demeritorum suorum sancti sustinuerunt Christi Sum. Angel v. Indulg 9. * Lib. 1. de indulgent cap. 2. 3. a In 4. l. sent dist 19. q. 2. b Ibid. dist 20. q. 3. Ubi supra In lib. 4. sent Verb. Indulgentia Vt quid non praevides tibâ— in die judicii quando nemo poterit per alium excusari vel defendi sed unusquisque sufficiens onus erit sibi ipsi Th. ae Kempis l. 1. de imit c. 24. a Homil. 1.
and yet Subjects to a Forreign Power But we need not trouble our selves to reckon the Evills consequent to this Procedure themselves have own'd them even the very worst of things The Rebellion of a Clergy-man against his Prince is not Treason because he is not his Princes Subject It is expresly taught by Emanuel SÃ and because the French-men in zeal to their own King could not endure this Doctrine these words were left out of the Edition of Paris but still remain in the Editions of Antwerp and Colien But the thing is a general Rule That all Ecclesiastical persons are free from Secular Iurisdiction in causes Criminal whether Civil or Ecclesiastical and this Rule is so general that it admits no exception and so certain that it cannot be denied unless you will contradict the Principles of Faith So Father Suarez And this is pretended to be allowed by Councills Sacred Canons and all the Doctors of Laws Humane and Divine for so Bellarmine affirms Against which since it is a matter of Faith and Doctrine which we now charge upon the Church of Rome as an Enemy to publick Government we shall think it sufficient to oppose against their Pretension the plain and easie words of St. Paul Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers Every soul That is saith St. Chrysostome whether he be a Monk or an Evangelist a Prophet or an Apostle Of the like iniquity when it is extended to its uâ—most Commentary which the Commenters of the Church of Rome put upon it is the Divine Right of the Seal of Consession which they make so Sacred to serve such ends as they have chosen that it may not be broken up to save the lives of Princes or of the whole Republick saith Tolet No not to save all the World said Henriquez Not to save an Innocent not to keep the World from burning or Religion from perversion or all the Sacraments from demolition Indeed it is lawful saith Bellarmine if a Treason be known to a Priest in Confession and he may in general words give notice to a pious and Catholick Prince but not to a Heretick and that was acutely and prudently said by him said Father Suarez Father Binet is not so kind even to the Catholick Princes for he sayes that it is better that all the Kings of the World should perish than that the Seal of Confession should be so much as once broken and this is the Catholick Doctrine said Eudaemon Iohannes in his Apology for Garnet and for it he also quotes Suarez But it is enough to have nam'd this How little care these men take of the lives of Princes and the Publick Interest which they so greatly undervalue to every trifling fancy of their own is but too evident by these Doctrines SECT III. THe last thing we shall remark for the instruction and caution of our charges is not the least The Doctrines of the Church of Rome are great Enemies to the dignity and security to the powers and lives of Princes And this we shall briefly prove by setting down the Doctrines themselves and their consequent Practises And here we observe that not onely the whole Order of Jesuites is a great Enemy to Monarchy by subjecting the Dignity of Princes to the Pope by making the Pope the Supreme Monarch of Christians but they also teach that it is a Catholick Doctrine the Doctrine of the Church The Pope hath a Supreme Power of disposing the Temporal things of all Christians in order to a Spiritual good saith Bellarmine And Becanus discourses of this very largely in his Book of the English Controversie Printed by Albin at Mentz 1612. But because this Book was order'd to be purg'd una litura potest we shall not insist upon it but there is as bad which was never censur'd Bellarmine sayes that the Ecclesiastical Republick can command and compel the Temporal which is indeed its Subject to change the Administration and to depose Princes and to appoint others when it cannot otherwise defend the Spiritual good And F. Suarez sayes the same The power of the Pope extends it self to the coercion of Kings with Temporal punishments and depriving them of their Kingdoms when necessity requires nay this power is more necessary over Princes than over Subjects The same also is taught by Santarel in his Book of Heresie and Schism printed at Rome 1626. But the mischief of this Doctrine proceeds a little further Cardinal Tolet affirms and our Countryman Father Bridgewater commends the saying That when a Prince is excommunicate before the Denunciation the Subjects are not absolved from their Oath of Allegiance as Cajetan sayes well yet when it is denounc'd they are not only absolved from their obedience but are bound not to obey unless the fear of death or loss of goods excuse them which was the case of the English Catholicks in the time of Henry the VIII And F. Creswel sayes it is the sentence of all Catholicks that Subjects are bound to expel Heretical Princes if they have strength enough and that to this they are tyed by the Commandment of God the most strict tie of Conscience and the extreme danger of their Souls Nay even before the sentence is declar'd though the Subjects are not bound to it yet lawfully they may deny obedience to an Heretical Prince said Gregory de Valentia It were an endless labour to transcribe the horrible Doctrines which are preach'd in the Jesuits School to the shaking of the Regal power of such Princes which are not of the Roman Communion The whole Oeconomy of it is well describ'd by Bellarmine who affirms That it does not belong to Monks or other Ecclesiasticks to commit Murthers neither doe the Popes use to proceed that way But their manner is first Fatherly to correct Princes then by Ecclesiastical Censures to deprive them of the Communion then to absolve their Subjects from the Oath of Allegiance and to deprive them of their Kingly Dignity And what then The execution belongs to others This is the way of the Popes thus wisely and moderately to break Kings in pieces We delight not to aggravate evill things We therefore forbear to set down those horrid things spoken by SÃ Mariana Santarel Carolus Scribanius and some others It is enough that Suarez sayes An Excommunicate King may with impunity be depos'd or kill'd by any one This is the case of Kings and Princes by the Sentence of the chiefest Roman Doctors And if it be objected That we are commanded to obey Kings not to speak evill of them not to curse them no not in our heart there is a way found out to answer these little things For though the Apostle commands that we should be subject to higher Powers and obey Kings and all that are in Authority It is true you must and so you may well enough for all this for the Pope can make that he who is a King
worshipped as did the Gentiles These things they did but against these things the Christians did zealously and piously declare We have no Image in the world said S. Clemens of Alexandria It is apparently forbidden to us to exercise that deceitful art For it is written Thou shalt not make any similitude of any thing in Heaven above c. And Origen wrote a just Treatise against Celsus in which he not onely affirms That Christians did not make or use Images in Religion but that they ought not and were by God forbidden to do so To the same purpose also Lactantius discourses to the Emperor and confutes the pretences and little answers of the Heathen in that manner that he leaves no pretence for Christians under another cover to introduce the like abomination We are not ignorant that those who were converted from Gentilisme and those who lov'd to imitate the customs of the Roman Princes and people did soon introduce the Historical use of Images and according to the manner of the world did think it honorable to depict or make Images of those whom they had in great esteem and that this being done by an esteem relying on Religion did by the weakness of men and the importunity of the Tempter quickly pass into inconvenience and superstition yet even in the time of Iulian the Emperor S. Cyril denies that the Christians did give veneration and worship to the Image even of the Cross it self which was one of the earliest temptations and S. Epiphanius it is a known story tells that when in the village of Bethel he saw a cloth picture as it were of Christ or some Saint in the Church against the Authority of Scripture He cut it in pieces and advis'd that some poor man should be buried in it affirmed that such Pictures are against Religion and unworthy of the Church of Christ. The Epistle was translated into Latine by S. Hierome by which we may guess at his opinion in the question The Council of Eliberis is very ancient and of great fame in which it is expresly forbidden that what is worshipped should be depicted on the walls and that therefore Pictures ought not to be in Churches S. Austin complaining that he knew of many in the Church who were Worshippers of Pictures calls them Superstitious and adds that the Church condems such customs and strives to correct them and S. Gregory writing to Serenus Bishop of Massilia sayes he would not have had him to break the Pictures and Images which were there set for an historical use but commends him for prohibiting to any one to worship them and enjoyns him still to forbid it But Superstition by degrees creeping in the Worship of Images was decreed in the seventh Synod or the second Nicene But the decrees of this Synod being by Pope Adrian sent to Charls the Great he convocated a Synod of German and French Bishops at Francfurt who discussed the Acts pass'd at Nice and condemn'd them And the Acts of this Synod although they were diligently suppressed by the Popes arts yet Eginardus Hinâ—marus Aventinus Blondus Adon Amonius Regino famous Historians tell us That the Bishops of Francfurt condemn'd the Synod of Nice and commanded it should not be called a General Council and published a Book under the name of the Emperor confuting that unchristian Assembly and not long since this Book and the Acts of Francfurt were published by Bishop Tillius by which not only the infinite fraud of of the Roman Doctors is discover'd but the worship of Images is declar'd against and condemned A while after this Ludovicus the Son of Charlemain sent Claudius a famous Preacher to Taurinum in Italy where the Preached against the worshipping of Images and wrote an excellent Book to that purpose Against this Book Ionas Bishop of Orleans after the death of Ludovicus and Claudius did write In which he yet durst not assert the worship of them but confuted it out of Origen whose words he thus cites Images are neither to be esteemed by inward affection nor worshipped with outward shew and out of Lactantius these Nothing is to be worshipped that is seen with mortal eyes Let us adore let us worship nothing but the Name alone of our only Parent who is to be sought for in the Regions above not here below And to the same purpose he also alleges excellent words out of Fulgentius and S. Hierom and though he would have Images ratain'd and therefore was angry at Claudius who caus'd them to be taken down yet he himself expresly affirms that they ought not to be worshipped and withal addes that though they kept the Images in their Churches for History and Ornament yet that in France the worshipping of them was had in great detestation And though it is not to be denied but that in the sequel of Ionas his Book he does something praevaricate in this question yet it is evident that in France this Doctrine was not accounted Catholick for almost nine hundred years after Christ and in Germany it was condemned for almost MCC years as we find in Nicetas We are not unskill'd in the devices of the Roman Writers and with how much artifice they would excuse this whole matter and palliate the crime imputed to them and elude the Scriptures expresly condemning this Superstition But we know also that the arts of Sophistry are not the wayes of Salvation And therefore we exhort our people to follow the plain words of Scripture and the express Law of God in the second Commandment and add also the Exhortation of S. Iohn Little children keep your selves from Idols To conclude it is impossible but that it must be confessed that the worship of Images was a thing unknown to the Primitive Church in the purest times of which they would not allow the making of them as amongst divers others appears in the Writings of Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian and Origen SECT IX AS an Appendage to this we greatly reprove the custom of the Church of Rome in picturing God the Father and the most Holy and Undivided Trinity which besides that it ministers infinite scandal to all sober minded men and gives the new Arrians in Polonia and Antitrinitarians great and ridiculous entertainment exposing that Sacred Mystery to derision and scandalous contempt It is also which at present we have undertaken particularly to remark against the Doctrine and practise of the Primitive Catholick Church S. Clemens of Alexandria sayes that in the Discipline of Moses God was not to be represented in the shape of a man or of any other thing and that Christians understood themselves to be bound by the same law we find it expresly taught by Origen Tertullian Eusebius Athanasius S. Hierom S. Austin Theodoret Damascen and the Synod of Constantinople as it is reported in the sixt Action of the second Nicene Council And certainly if there were not
a strange spirit of contradiction or superstition or deflection from the Christian Rule greatly prevailing in the Church of Rome it were impossible that this practise should be so countenanc'd by them and defended so to no purpose with so much scandal and against the natural reason of mankind and the very Law of Nature it self For the Heathens were sufficiently by the light of nature taught to abominate all Pictures or Images of God Sed nulla effigies simulachraque nulla Deorum Majestate locum sacro implevere timore They in their earliest ages had no Pictures no Images of their gods Their Temples were filled with Majestie and a sacred fear and the reason is given by Macrobius Antiquity made no Image viz. of God because the Supreme God and the mind that is born of him that is his Son the eternal Word as it is beyond the Soul so it is above nature and therefore it is not lawful that sigments should come thither Nicephorus Callistus relating the Heresie of the Armenians and Iacobites sayes they made Images of the Father Son and Holy Ghost quod perquam absurdum est Nothing is more absurd then to make Pictures or Images of the Persons of the Holy and Adorable Trinity And yet they do this in the Church of Rome For in the windows of their Churches even in Country Villages where the danger cannot be denied to be great and the scandal insupportable nay in their books of devotion in their very Mass-books and Breviaries in their Portuises and Manuals they picture the Holy Trinity with three noses and four eyes and three faces in a knot to the great dishonour of God and scandal of Christianity it self We add no more for the case is too evidently bad but reprove the errour with the words of their own Polydore Virgil Since the world began never was any thing more foolish than to picture God who is present every where SECT X. THe last instance of Innovations introduc'd in Doctrine and practice by the Church of Rome that we shall represent is that of the Popes universal Bishoprick That is not only that he is Bishop of Bishops superior to all and every one but that his Bishoprick is a plenitude of power and as for other Bishops of his fulness they all receive a part of the ministry and sollicitude and not onely so but that he only is a Bishop by immediate Divine dispensation and others receive from him whatsoever they have For to this height many of them are come at last Which Doctrine although as it is in sins where the carnal are most full of reproach but the spiritual are of greatest malignity so it happens in this Article For though it be not so scandalous as their Idolatry so ridiculous as their superstitions so unreasonable as their doctrine of Transubstantiation so easily reprov'd as their half Communion and Service in an unknown tongue yet it is of as dangerous and evil effect and as false and as certainly an Innovation as any thing in their whole conjugation of errors When Christ founded his Church he left it in the hands of his Apostles without any prerogative given to one or eminency above the rest save onely of priority and orderly precedency which of it self was natural necessary and incident The Apostles govern'd all their authority was the sanction and their Decrees and writings were the Laws of the Church They exercis'd a common jurisdiction and divided it according to the needs and emergencies and circumstances of the Church In the Council of Ierusalem S. Peter gave not the decisive Sentence but S. Iames who was the Bishop of that See Christ sent all his Apostles as his Father sent him and therefore he gave to every one of them the whole power which he left behind and to the Bishops Congregated at Miletum S. Paul gave them caution to take care of the whole stock of God and affirms to them all that the Holy Ghost had made them Bishops and in the whole New Testament there is no act or sign of superiority or that one Apostle exercised power over another but to them whom Christ sent he in common intrusted the Church of God according to that excellent saying of S. Cyprian The other Apostles are the same that S. Peter was endowest with an equal fellowship of honour and power and they are all Shepheards and the flock is one and therefore it ought to be fed by all the Apostles with unanimous consent This unity and identity of power without question and interruption did continue and descend to Bishops in the primitive Church in which it was a known doctrine that the Bishops were successors of the Apostles and what was not in the beginning could not be in the descent unless it were innovated and introduc'd by a new authority Christ gave ordinary power to none but the Apostles and the power being to continue for ever in the Church it was to be succeeded to and by the same authority even of Christ it descended to them who were their successors that is to the Bishops as all antiquity does consent and teach Not S. Peter alone but every Apostle and therefore every one who succeeds them in their ordinary power may and must remember the words of S. Paul We are Embassadors or Legates for Christ Christs Vicars not the Popes Delegates and so all the Apostles are called in the Preface of the Mass quos operis tui Vicarios eidem conâ—ulisti praeesse Pastores they are Pastors of the Flock and Vicars of Christ and so also they are in express terms called by S. Ambrose and therefore it is a strange usurpation that the Pope arrogates that to himself by Impropriation which is common to him with all the Bishops of Christendom The consequent of this is that by the law of Christ one Bishop is not superior to another Christ gave the power to all alike he made no Head of the Bishops he gave to none a supremacy of power or universality of jurisdiction But this the Pope hath long challenged and to bring his purposes to pass hath for these six hundered years by-gone invaded the rights of Bishops and delegated matters of order and jurisdiction to Monks and Friers insomuch that the power of Bishops was greatly diminished at the erecting of the Cluniac and Cistercian Monks about the year ML but about the year MCC it was almost swallowed up by privileges granted to the begging Friers and there kept by the power of the Pope which power got one great step more above the Bishops when they got it declared that the Pope is above a Council of Bishops and at last it was turn'd into a new doctrine by Cajetane who for his prosperous invention was made a Cardinal that all the whole Apostolick or Episcopal power is radical and inherent in the Pope in whom is the fulness of the Ecclesiastical authority and that Bishops receive their portion of it from
or other he should be at any time it seems it will serve For thus they turn Divinity and the care of souls into Mathematicks and Clockwork and dispute minutes and periods with God and are careful to tell their people how much liberty they may take and how far they may venture least they should lose any thing of their sins pleasure which they can possibly enjoy and yet have hopes of being sav'd at last 3. But there is worse yet If a man willingly commits a sin in hope and expectation of a Iubilee and of the Indulgences afterwards to be granted he does not lose the Indulgence but shall receive it which is expresly affirm'd by Navar and Antonius Cordubensis and Bellarmine though he asks the question denies it not By which it is evident that the Roman Doctrines and Divinity teach contrary to Gods way who is most of all angry with them that turn his grace into wantonness and sin that grace may abound 4. If any man by reason of povertie cannot give the prescrib'd Almes he cannot receive the Indulgence Now since it is sufficiently known that in all or most of the Indulgences a clause is sure to be included that something be offered to the Church to the Altar to a Religious House c. the consequent of this will be soon seen that Indulgences are made for the rich and the Treasures of the Church are to be dispensed to them that have Treasures of their own for habenti dabitur But then God help the poor for them Purgatory is prepar'd and they must burn For the Rich it is pretended but the smell of fire will not pass upon them From these premises we suppose it but too evident that the Roman Doctors prevaricate in the whole Doctrine of Repentance which indeed in Christ Jesus is the whole Oeconomy of Justification and Salvation it is the hopes and staff of all the world the remedy of all evils past present and to come And if our physick be poyson'd if our staff be broken if our hopes make us asham'd how shall we appear before Christ at his coming But we say that in all the parts of it their Doctrine is infinitely dangerous 1. Contrition is sufficient if it be but one little act and that in the very Article of death and before that time it is not necessary by the Law of God nay it is indeed sufficient but it is also insufficient for without confession in act or desire it suffices not And though it be thus insufficiently sufficient yet it is not necessary For attrition is also sufficient if a Priest can be had and then any little grief proceeding out of the fear of Hell will do it if the Priest do but absolve 2. Confession might be made of excellent use and is so among the pious children of the Church of England but by the Doctrines and Practises in the Church of Rome it is made not the remedy of sins by proper enargy but the excuse the alleviation the confidence the ritual external and sacramental remedy and serves instead of the labours of a holy and a regular life and yet is so intangled with innumerable and inextricable cases of Conscience Orders humane Prescripts and great and little Artifices that scruples are more increased than sins are lessened 3. For Satisfaction and Penances which if they were rightly order'd and made instrumental to kill the desires of sin or to punish the Criminal or were properly the fruits of repentance that is parts of a holy life good works done in charity and the habitual permanent grace of God were so prevailing as they do the work of God yet when they are taken away not only by the declension of primitive Discipline but by new Doctrines and Indulgences regular and offer'd commutations for mony and superstitious practises which are sins themselves and increase the numbers and weights of the account there is a great way made for the destruction of souls and the discountenancing the necessity of holy life but nothing for the advantage of holiness or the becoming like to God And now at last for a cover to this dish we have thought fit to mind the world and to give caution to all that mean to live godly in Christ Iesus to what an infinite scandal and impiety this affair hath risen in the Church of Rome we mean in the instance of their Taxa Camerae seu Cancellariae Apostolicae the tax of the Apostolical Chamber or Chancery A Book publikely printed and expos'd to common sale of which their own Espencaeus gives this account that it is a Book in which a man may learn more wickedness than in all the Summaries of vices published in the world and yet to them that will pay for it there is to many given a License to all an Absolution for the greatest and most horrid sins There is is a price set down for his Absolution that hath kill'd his Father or his Mother Brother Sister or Wife or that hath lyen with his Sister or his Mother We desire all good Christians to excuse us for naming such horrid things Nomina sunt ipso penè timenda sono But the Licences are printed at Paris in the Year 1500. by Tossan Denis Pope Innocent the VIII either was Author or inlarger of these Rules of this Chancery Tax and there are glosses upon them in which the Scholiast himself who made them affirms that he must for that time conceal some things to avoid Scandal But how far this impiety proceeded and how little regard there is in it to piety or the good of souls is visible by that which Augustinus de Anconâ teaches That the Pope ought not to give Indulgences to them who have a desire of giving mony but cannot as to them who actually give And whereas it may be objected that then poor mens souls are in a worse condition than the rich he answers That as to the remission of the punishment acquir'd by the Indulgence in such a case it is not inconvenient that the rich should be in a better condition than the poor For in that manner do they imitate God who is no respecter of persons SECT VI. THese Observations we conceive to be sufficient to deter every well-meaning person from running into or abiding in such temptations Every false Proposition that leads to impiety is a stock and fountain of temptations and these which we have reckon'd in the matter of Repentance having influence upon the whole life are yet much greater by corrupting the whole mass of Wisdom and Spiritual Propositions There are indeed many others We shall name some of them but shall not need much to insist on them Such as are 1. That one man may satisfie for another It is the general Doctrine of their Church The Divines and Lawyers consent in it and publikely own it The effect of which is this that some are made rich by it and some are careless But qui
of most mens lives and that is it which we complain of And we have reason for they suffer their Casuists to determine all cases severely and gently strictly and loosly that so they may entertain all spirits and please all dispositions and govern them by their own inclinations and as they list to be governed by what may please them not by that which profits them that none may go away scandaliz'd or griev'd from their penitential chairs But upon this account it is a sad reckoning which can be made concerning souls in the Church of Rome Suppose one great Doctor amongst them as many of them do shall say it is lawful to kill a King whom the Pope declares Heretick By the Doctrine of probability here is his Warranty And though the Church do not declare that Doctrine that is the Church doth not make it certain in Speculation yet it may be safely done in practise Here is enough to give peace of conscience to him that does it Nay if the contrary be more safe yet if the other be but probable by reason or Authority you may do the less safe and refuse what is more For that also is the opinion of some grave Doctors If one Doctor says it is safe to swear a thing as of our knowledge which we do not know but believe it is so it is therefore probable that it is lawful to swear it because a grave Doctor says it and then it is safe enough to do so And upon this account who could finde fault with Pope Constantine the IV. who when he was accus'd in the Lateran Council for holding the See Apostolick when he was not in Orders justified himself by the example of Sergius Bishop of Ravenna and Stephen Bishop of Naples Here was exemplum bonorum honest men had done so before him and therefore he was innocent When it is observed by Cardinal Campegius and Albertus Pighius did teach That a Priest lives more holily and chaftly that keeps a Concubine than he that hath a married wife and then shall finde in the Popes Law That a Priest is not to be remov'd for fornication who will not or may not practically conclude that since by the Law of God marriage is holy and yet to some men fornication is more lawful and does not make a Priest irregular that therefore to keep a Concubine is very lawfull especially since abstracting from the consideration of a mans being in Orders or not fornication it self is probably no sin at all For so saies Durandus Simple fornication it self is not a deadly sin according to the Natural Law and excluding all positive Law and Martinus de Magistris saies To believe simp le fornication to be no deadly sin is not heretical because the testimonies of Scripture are not expresse These are grave Doctors and therefore the opinion is probable and the practise safe When the good people of the Church of Rome hear it read That P. Clement the VIII in the Index of prohibited Books saies That the Bible published in vulgar Tongues ought not to be read and retain'd no not so much as a compend of the History of the bible and Bellarmine saies That it is not necessary to salvation to believe that there are any Scriptures at all written and that Cardinal Hosius saith Perhaps it had been better for the Church if no Scriptures had been written They cannot but say That this Doctrine is probable and think themselves safe when they walk without the Light of Gods Word and relie wholly upon the Pope or their Priest in what he is pleas'd to tell them and that they are no way oblig'd to keep that Commandment of Christ Search the Scriptures Cardinal Tolet saies That if a Nobleman be set upon and may escape by going away he is not tied to it but may kill him that intends to strike him with a stick That if a man be in a great passion and so transported that he considers not what he saies if in that case he does blaspheme he does not always sin That if a man be beastly drunk and then commit fornication that fornication is no sin That if a man desires carnal pollution that he may be eas'd of his carnal temptations or for his health it were no sin That it is lawful for a man to expose his Bastards to the Hospital to conceal his own shame He saies it out of Soto and he from Thomas Aquinas That if the times be hard or the Iudge unequal a man that cannot sell his Wine at a due price may lawfully make his measures less than is appointed or mingle Water with his Wine and sell it for pure so he do not lie and yet if he does it is no mortal sin nor obliges him to restitution Emanuel Sà affirms That if a man lie with his intended Wife before Marriage it is no sin or light one nay quin etiam expedit si multum illa defferatur it is good to do so if the benediction or publication of marriage be much deferr'd That Infants in their Cradles may be made Priests is the common opinion of Divines and Canonists saith Tolet and that in their Cradles they can be made Bishops said the Archdeacon and the Provost and though some say the contrary yet the other is the more true saith the Cardinal Vasques saith That not onely an Image of God but any Creature in the World reasonable or unreasonable may without danger be worshipped together with God as his Images That we ought to adore the reliques of Saints though under the form of Worms and that it is no sin to worship a ray of light in which the Devil is invested if a man supposes him to be Christ And in the same manner if he supposes it to be a piece of a Saint which is not he shall not want the merit of his devotion And to conclude Pope Celestine the III. as Alphonsus à Castro reports himself to have seen a Decretal of his to that purpose affirmed That if one of the married couple fell into Heresie the marriage is dissolv'd and that the other may marry another and the marriage is nefarious and they are irritae nuptiae the Espousals are void if a Catholick and a Heretick marry together said the Fathers of the Synod in Trullo And though all of this be not own'd generally yet if a Roman Catholick marries a wife that is or shall turn Heretick he may leave her and part bed and board according to the Doctrine taught by the Canon Law it self by the Lawyers and Divines as appears in Covaruvias Mathias Aquarius and Bellarmine These opinions are indeed very strange to us of the Church of England and Ireland but no strangers in the Church of Rome and because they are taught by great Doctors by Popes themselves by Cardinals and the Canon Law respectively do at
very goodly forbids all Superstitions in this Article but yet tells us not what are Superstitions and what not and still the world goes on in the practise of the same intolerable follies and every Nation hath a particular Guardian-Saint and every City every Family and almost every House and every Devouter person almost chuses his own Patron-Saint whose Altars they more devoutly frequent whose Image they more religiously worship to whose Reliques they more readily go in Pilgrimage to whose honour they say more Pater-nosters whose Festival they more solemnly observe spoiling their prayers by their confidences in unknown persons living in an unknown condition and diminishing that affiance in God and our Lord Jesus Christ by importune and frequent addresses to them that cannot help But that these are not the faults of their people only running wilfully into such follies but the practise of their Church and warranted and taught by their Guides appears by the publick Prayers themselves such as these O Generous Mary beauteous above all obtain pardon for us apply grace unto us prepare glory for us Hail thou Rose thou Virgin Mary c. Grant to us to use true wisdome and with the elect to enjoy grace that we may with melody praise thee and do thou drive our â—ins away O Virgin Mary give us joyes These and divers others like these are in the Antheme of our Lady In the Rosary of our Lady this Hymne is to be said Reparatrix Salvatrix desperantis animae Irroratrix Largitrix Spiritualis gratiae Quod requiro quod suspiro mea sana vulnera Et da menti te poscenti gratiarum Munera Vt sim castus Modestus c. ......... Corde prudens ore studens veritatem dicere Malum nolens Deum volens pio semper opere That is Thou Repairer and Saviour of the despairing Soul the due Giver and Bestower of spiritual Grace heal my wounds and gives to the minde that prayes to thee the gifts of grace that I may be chaste modest wise in heart true in my sayings hating evil loving God in holy works and much more to the same purpose There also the blessed Virgin Mary after many glorious appellatives is prayed to in these words Joyn me to Christ govern me alwayes enlighten my heart defend me alwayes from the snare of the Enemy deliver us from all evil and from the pains of Hell So that it is no wonder that Pope Leo the X. calls her a Goddess and Turselin the Jesuit Divinae Majestatis potestatisque sociam Huic olim coelestium mortaliumque principatum detulit Ad hujus arbitrium quoad hominum tutela postulat terras maria coelum naturamque moderatur Hà c anuente per hanc divinos thesauros coelestia dona largitur the companion or partner of the Divine Majestie and Power To her he long since gave the principality of all heavenly and mortal things At her will so far as the Guardianship of men requires he rules the Earth and Seas Heaven and Nature And she consenting he gives Divine treasures Coelestial gifts Nay in the Mass-books pen'd 1538. And us'd in the Polonian Churches they call the B. Virgin Mary Viam ad vitam tolius mundi gubernatricem peccatorum cum Deo reconciliatricem fontem remissionis peccatorum lumen luminum the way to life the Governess of all the world the Reconciler of siners with God the fountain of Remission of sins Light of light and at last salute her with an Ave Vniversae Trinitatis Mater Hail thou Mother of the whole Trinity We do not pick out these onely as the most singular or the worst forms for such as these are very numerous as is to be seen in their Breviaries Missals Hours of our Lady Rosary of our Lady the Letany of our Lady called Litania Mariae the Speculum Rosariorum the Hymns of Saints Portuises and Manuals These only are the instances which amongst many others presently occurr Two things onely we shall add instead of many more that might be represented The first is That in a Hymn which they from what reason or Etymology we know not neither are we concern'd call a Sequence the Council of Constance did invocate the B. Virgin in the same manner as Councils did use to invocate the Holy Ghost They call her the Mother Grace the remedy to the miserable the fountain of mercy and the light of the Church attributes proper to God and incommunicable they sing her praises and pray to her for graces they sing to her with the heart they call themselves her sons they declare her to be their health and comfort in all doubts and call on her for light from Heaven and trust in her for the destruction of Heresies and the repression of Schisms and for the lasting Confederations of peace The other thing we tell of is That there is a Psalter of our Lady of great and ancient account in the Church of Rome it hath been several times printed at Venice at Paris at Leipsich and the title is The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin compil'd by the Seraphical Doctor S. Bonaventure Bishop of Alba and Presbyter Cardinal of the Holy Church of Rome But of the Book it self the account is soon made for it is nothing but the Psalms of David an hundred and fifty in number are set down alter'd indeed to make as much of it as could be sense so reduc'd In which the name of Lord is left out and that of Lady put in so that whatever David said of God and Christ the same prayers and the same praises they say of the B. Virgin Mary and whether all that can be said without intolerable blasphemy we suppose needs not much disputation The same things but in a less proportion and frequency they say to other Saints O Maria Magdalena Audi vota laude plena Apud Christum chorum istum Clementer Concilia Vt fons summae pietatis Qui te lavit à peccatis Servos suos atque tuos Mundet datà veniâ O Mary Magdalen hear our prayers which are full of praises and most clemently reconcile this company unto Christ That the Fountain of Supreme Piety who clensed thee from they sins giving pardon may clense us who are his servants and thine These things are too bad already we shall not aggravate them by any further Commentary but apply the premises Now therefore we desire it may be considered That there are as the effects of Christs death for us three great products which are the rule and measure of our prayers aâ—d our confidence 1. Christs merits 2. his Satisfaction 3. His Intercession By these three we come boldly to the Throne of Grace and pray to God through Iesus Christ. But if we pray to God through the Saints too and rely upon their 1. Merits 2. Satisfaction 3. And Intercession Is it not plain that we make them equal with Christ in kind though not in degree For it