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A72059 The confession and publike recantation of thirteene learned personages, lately conuerted in France, Germanie, and the Lowe-Countreys, from poperie, to the Churches reformed wherein they haue zealously and learnedly set dovvne the reasons that moued them therevnto. The names and degrees of the conuerts. 1. Godefrid Rabin ... 2. Simon Palory ... 3. Iohn Colleij ... 4. Melchior Roman ... 5. Iohn Norman ... 6. Father Abraham ... 7. Antony Ginestet ... 8. Signeur Lewis ... 9. Father Edmon ... 10. Leonard Theuenot ... 11. Sir Francis ... 12. Francis Goupil Angeuin ... 13. Lewys du Boys ... Translated out of the French and Dutch printed copies, by I.M.; Eight learned personages lately converted (in the realme of France) from papistrie, to the Churches reformed. W. B., fl. 1601.; J. M., fl. 1602. 1602 (1602) STC 1074.5; STC 20598; ESTC S115544 99,696 118

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reading some bookes intreating of Religion and such as handle matters now in controuersie I haue bestowed some time in reading and examining the places of holy Scripture whereof Saint Paule speaketh 2. Tim. 3. that the whole Scripture is giuen by inspiratinn of God and profitable to teach to improoue to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute being made perfect vnto all good workes Iohn 5.39 Esay 8. whereof he also beareth record that the Scripture is of power to make vs become wise to saluation through faith in our Lorde Iesus Christ It is shee as I said before to whome our Sauiour Christ sendes vs as also the Prophet Esay when he vseth these wordes Romish seruice To the lawe and to the testimony if they speake not according to this worde it is because there is no light in them there haue I found seeking her opinion and aduice touching the seruice and doctrine maintained in the Romane Church which shee in no wise approoues but contrariwise in expresse wordes condemnes it I haue not disdayned to peruse the auncient fathers and doctors of the Christian Church whome the Romane Church ordinarilye vse for a buckler against those of the religion their owne wordes doe make mee know that their bookes serue not so much to confirme the seruices in the Church of Rome as to destroy them One thing hath exceedingly mooued me that is the Masse and prayers vsed in the Romane Church Masse which beare witnesse against themselues hauing many traces and reliques of the auntient doctrine of the primitiue Church which was in the Apostles time And to shew that I do not speake this at randome I will produce some witnesses aswell out of the holy Scriptures and auntient fathers as out of that which is contained in the Masse and in the seruice of the Church of Rome The principall controuersie at this day is concerning the pure seruice of God Those of the Church of Rome and in generall all the religious thereof do fully esteeme and conceiue it to consit in praying to Saints and Ladies Praying to Saints to honour and serue them nay which is more to present themselues before their images and there yeeld vp their offerings and deuotions God speaketh so plainely by his first commaundement to worship and serue him onely Exod. 20. Math. 4. Deut. 6. Esay 48. Exod. 20. that it is easilie seene how hee condemneth all seruice in the Romane Church And heereunto I adde his protestation made by Esay Not to giue his glory to another his declaration else where that he is iealous of his honour What can there be more expresse against all the seruices of images then the prohibition by the second commaundement Against Images not to make any image nor the likenesse of any thing not to bowe downe to it and worshippe it I shoulde neuer haue done if I shoulde rehearse all the passages of holye Scripture which are against images and the seruice of them Haba 2. Ierem. 10. they are called vanity teachers of falshoode and those that shall serue them are threatned to be brought to confusion The other great contention at this day is touching the transubstantiation and worshipping of the host Transubstantiatiō They perswade themselues in the Church of Rome that the bread and wine of the Masse after their consecration is no more bread and wine but the true and naturall bodie of our Sauiour Iesus Christ and thereuppon they forge that the substaunce of breade and wine must not be there any more sought for vnder these apparances of bread and wine Christ Iesus is there really all whole both God and man in his owne proper substance and therefore they teach men to bow downe themselues and worship this bread and this wine wherein doubtlesse they commit a great Idolaty if Christ Iesus be not there Act. 3.22 Acts. 3.20 Iohn 12.8 Mat 28.5.6 Mar. 24.23 Mar. 13.21 Luke 17. Ma. 24.27 as they would haue it beleeued And I pray you what meane so many places of the holy Scripture which testifie that Christ Jesus is ascended vp into heauen that from thence he shall not come vntil he commeth to iudge the quicke and the dead that the heauens do containe him vntill the day that all things shal be restored that we shall haue the poore alwayes with vs but him we shall not haue alwaies that wee must not follow those that shall say Christ is heere Christ is there that he shall come like lightning that goeth from the east towards the west The Apostle Saint Paul names bread and cuppe the bread wine in the celebration of the supper Whosoeuer shall eate of this bread 1. Cor. 11. saith he and drinke of this cuppe c. Our Sauiour Christ Iesus after the communication of his supper Math. 26. Marke 14.22.23.24 Luk. 22.19 Iohn 4.14 nameth the cuppe which he had ministred to his Apostles the fruite of the Vine I will drinke no more saith he of this fruite of the vine hee himselfe requires it at the hands of his worshippers Who worship the father in spirit truth places wholy contrary to the doctrine of transubstantiation and adoration of the host 1. Cor. 10.16.17 I know well that the breade of the supper is called the body of Christ and the wine also the bloud of Christ but notwithstanding I note on the other side that the same bread is called the communion in the body of Chrost the wine is called the bloud of Christ but it is also named the communion of the bloud of Christ and the new Testament in the blood of Christ Which places teach vs that we must not alwaies take the words in the foote of the letter nor vnderstād that the bread wine of the supper be not more bread and wine in their substance but as bread is called the communion in the body of Christ the wine the communion and new testament in the bloud of Christ for because they represent vnto vs our cōmunion in the body bloud of Christ the new testament in the same bloud of Christ and moreouer the bread and wine of the Lordes supper represent vnto vs the body and bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christ August in prolog tract Psalm 3. Tertul●adu Marcio lib. 4. chap. 40. Et lib. 3. Cotra eunde cap. 19. as S. Augustine and Tertullian name them the one a signe the other a figure of the body and bloud of Christ And this was the reason when Christ instituting his supper hath saide of breade This is my bodye and of wine This cuppe is my bloud Hence it comes that the auntient Church as the wordes of the Masse giues vs to vnderstand when they came to the communication of the supper vsed this exhortation sursum corda therby aduertising the faithfull to lift vp their harts aboue the visible things of the Sacrament and to imbrace Christ Iesus
the Sacrificer is preferred before the sacrifice as we may see Genes 4.4 where the holy ghost witnesseth that the Lord had first respect to Abel and then to his offering This then being granted and therewithall considering that in the Romish Church the Masse priest is reputed a Sacrificer Popish priest better then Christ Christ Iesus the sacrifice it must hereupon needes followe that the Romish priests beeing but mortall and sinfull men and by nature altogether estranged from God are preferred before him in whome there is found no guile nor sinne 1. Pet. 2.22 1. Pet 1.19 euen before that vnspotted Lambe the true son of God by nature Iesus Christ Oh intollerable blasphemy neuer vsed among the Turkes And to the end none may be ignorant of such a foolish impudencie note I pray you but that which may be seene whē in their Masse they mūble out these words Supraque proprio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris accepta habere Hebr. 9. 1. Iohn 1 Math. 3. sicuti munera pueri tui iusti Abel Wherein there are two propositiōs in the first the Priest becomes a Mediator for the Soueraigne Mediator Priest a mediator for Christ of whom the father saith this is my welbeloued sonne in whom I am well pleased for you must alwaies suppose as the Church of Rome doth that the true body of the sonne of God is present in the host as it was in his transfiguration and in his Baptisme in the Iordan In the second he compareth Iesus Christ to the sacrifice of Abel By meanes whereof as aforesaid the Priest shall be more pleasing and acceptable to God then Christ Iesus himselfe who likewise by this meanes shall be robbed aswell of his office as of his Sacerdotall dignity What mans eares that bee attentiue to any wholesome doctrine and stirred vp with the affection of a Christian zeale can endure and suffer the eccho of so harsh and horrible a speech What soule is there which is desirous to aspire come to her true scope felicity Math. 17 through the true and sacred mediator Christ Iesus Math. 23. Deut. 18. Esai 11. that can permit his excellencies and dignities to be so trampled vnderfoote The Church of Rome is not content to banish Christ out of the sanctuary whereas the Iewes haue cast him onely out of the Synagogue but goeth on further and taketh from him his pastorall robe which appertaineth and belongeth vnto him alone as it may euidently appeare in many places of the holy Scripture wherein he is promised and recommended for a Doctor and maister giuing lawes and precepts against which or besides which as proceeding from a most wise maister none of his desciples dare thrust themselues in for their alteration This Maxim against which the very heathens dare not dispute declareth sufficiently that he who is a meanes for conducting mē to the Soueraigne good must also by his instructions and precepts lay open the way and assured meanes for the attayning thereunto The Church of Rome yet notwithstanding vsurpeth and chalengeth to her selfe the Soueraigne authority of iudging such like instructions accuseth them of insufficiency Popes Doctrine as not able to shew the way leading to eternall life which surely is nothing els but an accusing of the author himselfe Christ Iesus the son of God Nay she yet goeth beyond and farre surmounteth the said precepts as well in the vertue of her word not written as of her traditions together with an Iliad of inuensions rather diabolicall then deuine or humane And moreouer she teacheth doctrine cleane contrary to Gods truth as may be noted in these few examples Iesus Christ forbiddeth any of his desciples to desire preheminence ouer the other The Church of Rome hath a counterpoise Math. 24. for she constituteth one in authority aboue all the Bishops in the worlde Christ Iesus will that his Church take her firme foundation vpon this that he is Christ the sonne of the liuing God Math. 16.16.18 who suffereth not the gates of hell to preuaile against her Chruch not built vpō Peter for that she is grounded vppon a sure rocke which is Christ The Church of Rome will builde her vpon a rocke which like vnto man is subiect to fall awaye and come to ruine I meane during the life of S. Peter as may be seene how the flouds of misbeleiefe and riuers of infidelity haue had great power ouer her and brought her flat vpon the ground Carued Images To be short all the doctrine of our saluation as well in the olde as new Testament forbiddeth vs to draw or paint any images or statutes in matter of religion yet notwithstanding the Church of Rome obstinatly alloweth them will haue them and commaund them Finally in conferring the one with the other you may see as it were in a glasse that Belial is no more contrary to Christe falshood to truth darknesse to light vice to vertue then the doctrine of the Church of Rome to that of the Mediator and accessor to the Soueraigne good Beholde then Christ Iesus in the Romane Church deuested of his doctorall robe Now remaines the third and last dignity of his vnction that is to say that he is King hauing all power both in heauen earth as it is proued by diuerse places of the holy Scripture namely in the 49. of Genes in the person of Iuda in the 11. of Esay in the 31. of Ieremy Psal 2. Psal 110. Mathew 23. of the which he is likewise dispossed in the Church of Rome For whosoeuer saith that he hath both spirituall and temporall power to gouerne the Church Triumphant and Militant to doe with them according to his pleasure he doth surely take vpon him the true domination of Christ who saith I giue the water of life and who so shall drinke thereof Iohn 4.10 shall neuer haue thirst by which speciall passion of thirst he comprehendeth all other spiritually by the figure Synedoche This is that which the Apostle expoundeth and the Euangelist in the Apocalips speaking of Saints who haue washed their robes in the bloude of the Lambe Apoc. 21. and doe no more taste of lamentations sorrowes or any other kinde of passions or torment It beelongeth therefore onely to the vndefiled Lambe who giueth the water of life to make and canonize true Saints But the Pope who is the head of the Church of Rome taketh vppon him authoritye and power to create Saints and canonize them hee enrouleth in the booke of heauen such as he will and when it is his good pleasure hee maketh them to raigne with Christ Iesus in the like title and degree as himselfe he vaunteth to haue power ouer Angels to command them nay which is more one of his bookes named Stella Clericorum dooth affirme that the meanest Priest among them Pope aboue the Angels is greater in dignity then the holy Virgin and all the Angels How much greater
out of the aboue alleaged places of Christ and Paul that either the Lord Christ or Paul in the same euer ordained or cōfirmed the Masse An exhortation vnto all to auoid Poperie but the Lords Supper as we faithful Christians dayly vse Let this also suffice to be said of the third part Wherefore I exhorte all people but especially louing parents that they wil faythfully admonish and warne their children to flie from poperie as from Sathan For I am well perswaded these fewe yet fearefull errours will giue them iust occasion to take heede of Poperie and thus hath our louing mercifull God of his great mercie sought me found me and pulled me his vnworthy seruant although I were then no seruant but a persecutor no sheepe but a wolfe no shepheard but a destroyer of the sheepe out of popery that I may now ioyfully sing and say with the prophet Dauid The snare is broken and I am deliuered the Lord was my helper Here hence thē vpō the knowledge of such errors The Authors thāks giuing and prayer seeing that thou O God father of mercies hast opened my eyes and lightened my vnderstanding that I might know them to be such errours also hast giuen me a hart not to contend with thee I praise thanke thee through thy sonne Iesus Christ And I also beseech thee father of mercies through thy sonne Iesus Christ thou wouldest graciously forgiue me all my sins abhominations and Idolatries which I haue done and accustomed my selfe vnto in popery agaynst the cleare light of thy holy worde these twentie yeeres euen for thy beloued sonne Iesus Christ his merites for I did it ignorantly I intreate thee likewise Father of mercie thou wouldest of thy like grace and goodnes mercifully keepe and preserue me in this knowne truth strengthen me as thou didest strengthen thy seruant Paul when he put the Iewes to rebuke And I pray no lesse the whole Christian Church His request to the congregation to remember me in their prayers that our mercifull good God moued by the prayers of honest and faythfull Christians may keepe me the more graciously and make me strong and sure in this my knowledge And hereupon I Godfride Rabin He proueth this his recantation to be sincere protest and witnesse before the eyes of thy bottomlesse mercie before thee Iesus Christ my alone sauiour and redeemer before thee God the holy spirit who in Baptisme sanctified me to be a Christian and before you as a Christian congregation that by Gods gracious assistance I will not depart from this pure doctrine and knowne trueth neyther through ioy nor sorrow neyther through hunger nor miserie neyther through good nor ill successe But as before I haue sayd will abide constant to my end whereunto God assist me with his holy Gospell Moreouer I doe Anathematice and cursse that blasphemous poperie with all other sectes and heresies which fight and striue euer more and more agaynst Gods worde Amen The Declaration of Symon Palory of Richeleieu heretofore Prior and prouinciall in the pretended order of the Holy Crosse according to the protestation by him made in the reformed church of Caen the 11. of March 1601. 1. Cor. 4.6 Presume not to knovve aboue that vvhich is vvritten I Make no question but many will be offended at this my change I do foresee that many likewise will speake opprobriouslie and iniuriouslie of me and therefore I thought it not amisse to make known vnto you all what my profession hath bin vntill this present and the motiues that haue stirred me to take this resolution in hand It is about 18. or 20. yeares that I haue liued in the order of the Holy-Crosse which profession I haue not left for any lightnesse or humorous conceit God is my witnesse for before I tooke this holy resolution vpon me I haue indured manie combates in my selfe I haue wel pondered and foreseene the dangers and inconueniences whereinto I might fall I haue seene that according to the world I am sufficiently furnisht wherwith to liue at pleasure and therein to spend the residue of my daies and forsaking the same I haue likwise foreseene necessitie and much vnquietnes Neither am I entred into this happie resolution through any discontentment receiued by any of these of my order I haue Letters testimoniall from our Generall which sufficientlie testifie how I was honoured and beloued of those of my order but I must now come to vnfolde vnto you that which hath awaked me in the prime of my pleasures I haue throughly considered in my selfe the great contentions that haue beene and yet are in Christendom touching religion I haue cast the eyes of my minde vpon that mortal hatred which the greatest part of the world and those too that are the greatest personages do beare to true religion and the professors thereof I haue laid before me the sharpe and greeuous persecutions exercised against them and on the other side I cannot forget their constancie firme resolutiō to maintaine that which makes them so odious among so many assaults and dangerous trials cōtrarie to mans nature which seeks after naught els but rest and that which may bring him solace and pleasure This consideration makes me suspect that it is more then a humane spirit that awakes in them these heauenly motions so smally acceptable to the flesh I here the voyce of the Lorde speaking by his holie Apostle Try all things but retaine that which is good 1 Thes 5. Iohn 5. Act. 17. I here our Sauiour Christ commanding vs to found the Scripture the example of the faithfull of Berea who examined the Scriptures to see if that which S. Paule preached was answerable thereunto comes into my memory I behold how it was a question of eternall saluation and deserued in good earnest to be thought vpon I confesse freely that in comming and going from place to place for the execution of my charge of prouinciall I haue communicated with some of the religion aswell Ministers as others I haue seene and haue bin constrained to confesse that al maner seruices are not acceptable in Gods sight Ierem. 7. Es 29.13 Math. 15.8.29 Colos 1. He condemneth by his Prophet Esay and by our Sauiour Iesus Christ in S. Mathew the commandements and traditions of men he reiecteth by Saint Paule to the Colloss voluntary seruices what apparaunce or shew so euer they haue of deuotion He forbiddeth vs in Deuteronomie Deut. 4. to do that which shall seeme good in our owne sight and enioyneth vs to do onely that which he commaundeth vs neither to adde nor diminish his word he cryeth vnto vs by his Prophet Who hath required that at your hands Such and an infinite number of other like places of Scripture haue induced me to learne whether my profession were of Gods institution or if God were the author of those seruices which now beare greatest sway in the middest of the Roman Church I haue busied my selfe in