c. Which words they interpret as spoken to Peter onely and consequently to the Pope his successour we to the rest of the Apostles as well as to him Where now doth the Scripture decide this doubt and speake plainely which is the truest sense Mary first in the very place it selfe by the due examination of the circumstances thereof they euidently shew that our sense is the truest for whereas the question is propounded to all the Apostles verse 15. and all the Apostles held the same faith that Iesus is the Sonne of God verse 20. it must needes be that Peter was but as the fore-man of the Quest and answered not for himselfe only but for them all thereby shewing forth not any preeminence of authority aboue the rest but a greater zeale and forwardnesse then the rest And herevpon it followeth that seeing this promise of the keyes is made because of that faith and confession therefore they all beleeuing and confessing the same haue an interest to the promise as well as Peter And this Anselmus in plaine tearmes affirmeth It is to be noted saith he that this power was not giuen alone to Peter but as Peter answered one for all so in Peter hee gaue this power to all 14. Secondly by the conference of another place which is more plaine to wit Ioh. 20. 23. where is a gift and an endowment of that power of the keyes which before was promised for to binde and to loose and to remit and retayne sinnes is all one in effect as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth and containâ— the whole vertue of the keyes now here they are all inuested with equall iurisdiction the Holy Ghost is equally breathed vpon them all and equall authority be queathed vnto them all by these words of the Commission As my Father sent me so I send you which exposition is confirmed by the authority of most of the Fathers as Augustine Cyprian Hierome Theophilact Anselme c. and thus the Scripture by a most liuely voyce determineth this doubt and as of this so of all other questions and interpretations the Scripture onely must bee the Iudge which by searching the originals examination of circumstances conference of other places and consulting with the learned Fathers and Expoâ—itors together with feruent prayer to God for inward illumination will giue a most exact and precise satisfaction to all controuersies touching matters of â—aith necessarie to bee beleeued 15. To the third reason that the Scripture is the law and therefore cannot be the Iudge I answere that though the Law and the Iudge be diuers distinct things yet they are subordinate one vnto the other and so may both ioyne in the concurrence of one cause as when our Sauiour saith Call no man Father vpon earth for there is but one your Father which is in heauen his meaning is not to exclude earthly Fathers from their title but to shew that God is the primer and principall Father both in respect of time order and cause and that the other are but subordinate vnto him so in a Common-wealth the Iudge is subordinate vnto the law and the law is the Iudges Iudge and for that cause as the Law is said to be a dumbe Magistrate so the Magistrate is said to be a speaking Law and so in truth the Law is the Iudge primarily and principally and the Magistrate is but the Minister of the law and the Iudge subordinate Now if this be so in a Common-wealth gouerned by humane Lawes which are failing and imperfect in many things being the ordinances of erring men how much more may we deeme it to be so in the Church of God whose Law-giuer is God himselfe and the law the word of God and therefore though the Pastors and Ministers of the Church may interpret the Scriptures yet they must be tyed to this rule to doe it by the Scriptures and to expound the law by the law for shall not a temporall Iudge giue sentence out of his owne braine but secundum leges statuta according to the lawes and statutes of the Realme And shall any Pastour of the Church be it the Pope himselfe giue iudgement in any question out of his owne brest without the direction of Gods word This is to preferre humane lawes before Gods law and to make the state of the Church farre inferiour to the state politike and to haue a more certaine rule for the deciding of ciuill controuersies then for the determining of questions of â—aith so that in a word the Scripture is both the law and the interpreter of the Law the Iudge and the Iudgement 16. Secondly Bellarmine affirmeth and laboureth to proue that the proper and chiefe end of the Scripture was not to be the rule of faith but that it might be commonitorium quoddam vtile A certaine profitable commonitory whereby the doctrine deliuered by word of mouth might be conserued and nourished And to this end and purpose he vseth diuers reasons as first because it containes in it many things which are not necessary to faith as all the Histories of the Olde Testament and many of the New and the salutations in the Epistles of the Apostles all which were not therefore committed to writing because they were necessary to be beleeued but are therefore necessarily beleeued because they are written Secondly because all things necessary to be beleeued are not contained in the Scripture as by what meanes women vnder the law were clensed from originall sinne wanting circumcision and children that dyed before the eight day and many Gentiles that were saued againe which are the books of Canonicall Scripture and that these are Canonicall and those are not that the Virgin Marie was a perpetuall virgin that the Passeouer is to be kept vpon the Sunday being the Lords day and that children of beleeuing Parents are to bee baptized and such like Thirdly because the Scripture is not one continued body as a rule should bee but containeth diuers workes Histories Sermons Prophecies Verses and Epistles These be his three reasons by which the Iesuite would euince that the Scripture is not giuen to this end to be the rule of faith 17. To all which I will answere briefly and distinctly and first in generall secondly in particular In generall if the Scripture be not giuen to be the rule of faith why is it called Canonicall It is therefore called Canonicall because it containes the Canon that is the rule of faith and life this very inscription approued by all doth refute Bellarmines fond cauillation Againe if the Scripture was not giuen to bee the rule but onely a monitorie why were there so many Bookes written seeing fewer would haue serued for monition The multiplicity of Bookes proueth that they serue not onely to put vs in mind of our duty but also as an exact rule to square our faith and frame our life by And lastly if the Scripture was not giuen to be a rule why doth he himselfe
6. Lastly concerning Monkes Fryers and Hermites they are names neuer heard of in the Apostles time nor in the purer age of the Church The first Hermite was one Anthony who liued three hundred yeeres after Christ who taught others that state of life and learned it of none as confesseth Bellarmine Monkes had no being in the best times of the Church sayth Agrippa though Bellarmine is not ashamed to say that the Apostles were the first Monks in Christianity who notwithstanding liued not alone in cels but went about the world preaching the Gospell some of them had wiues also both which are contrarie to the Monkish profession but Fryers are yet of a far later impressiō The orders of Dominick Francis sprung vp vnder Innocent the third in the time of the Laterane Councill about the yeere 1220. For when Pope Innocent would not be perswaded to confirme to Dominick his order of preaching Fryers hee dreamed that the Church of Laterane was ready to fall and that Dominick came in and with his shoulders vnder-propped it Vpon which dreame he presently sent for Dominick and granted his petition and sure not vaine was that dreame for had not Fryers beene the vpholders and chiefe Pillars of the Popes Church it had fallen longere this The croutched Fryers otherwise called the crosse-bearers sprang vp about the same time for Pope Innocent raising an army against the Albingenses whom the Pope accounted for Heretikes caused the souldiers to be signed with a crosse on their brest whereupon they were called crosse-bearers or croutched Fryers All the other orders of Fryers which amount as some reckon them to an hundreth at least are most of them of later institution And most true is the assertion of Wiclif that Fryers were neuer knowne in the world before the yeare 1200. 7. The Iesuites tooke their beginning about threescore and fifteene yeeres since For in the yeare 1540. their order was first confirmed by Pope Paul the third to Ignatius Loyola the lame souldier the chiefe Father and Patriarch of that viperous brood at the request and intercession of Cardinall Contarenus so that they are not yet beyond the bounds of a mans age and neuerthelesse they are growne to such maturity of craft and deceit that all other orders are but nouices to them they are the onely fellowes of the world for subtill practices and daring enterprises and now the chiefest props of the Papall sea For Dominick was weary of bearing that burden and for the ease of himselfe suffered Loyola to put vnder his shoulder and so now all the burden lyeth vpon him let him hold vp stiffely therefore or els all will goe to wracke 8. But now to the purpose Where were all these orders in the Apostles times and in the Primitiue age of the Church Then men reioyced to be called by the Name of Christ now these fellowes glory to be called by the name of Dominick or Francis and as if Christians was too base a name for them they will be called Iesuites of Iesus they say the Sonne of God but more truely of Bar-Iesus the Sorcerer that withstood the preaching of Paul was a peruerter of the straight wayes of the Lord or of a French weapon called Gesu◠wherewith these same bloudy Traitours vse to murther kings and Princes if they withstand their purposes whereupon is that elegant Epigram A Gesis sunt indita nomina vobis Quae quia sacrilegi Reges torquetis in omnes Inde sacrum nomen sacrum sumpsistis omen 9. But to shut vp in one word all the villany of these monstrous late-borne orders of Fryers let Aretine an Italian Poet describe them Frate sayth he in Italian is a Fryer euery letter of which word doth represent the nature of that generation for Furfanto a thiefe Ribaldo a filthy Ribald Asino an asse Traditore a Traitour Eretico an Heretike All together make the true and perfect definition of a Fryer Or as Lincolniensis defineth him A dead carcase risen out of his graue wrapped in a winding sheet and carryed among men by the Deuill But my purpose is not to bring vpon the stage their filthy and abominable liues hee that will see that let him read Clemangis in his booke of the state of the Church which hee wrote about two hundreth yeeres since And Cornelius Agrippa of the vanity of Sciences And Polidore Virgill and Aluarus Pelagius and Palingenius with Ariosto an Italian Poet c. and he shall finde matter not onely of wonder and admiration but also of griefe and lamentation that the Church of God should bee so long pestered with such filthy dregges but it is sufficient for this place to haue showne that neither their name nor orders were once heard of in the Primitiue Church 10. Thus much touching their persons Now for the iurisdiction exercised by these persons how not onely transcendent but repugnant it hath beene and is at this day to that of the Apostles and Primitiue Church their both Lordly titles and tyrannous practice doth clearely demonstrate For their titles which of the Apostles either assumed to himselfe which they might haue iustly done if it had beene their due or receiued from others these titles Vniuersall Bishop Head of the Church High Priest of the world Prince of Priests and Christs Vicar vpon earth c But the Pope of Rome doth challenge to himselfe all these yea more then these that he is as it were a god vpon earth hauing fulnesse of power and yet more aequè ac Christus Deus A God aswell as Christ a beeing of the second intention compounded of God and man and yet more Deus vindictae a God of reuenge and another god vpon earth and lastly Stupor mundi the wonderment of the world neither God nor man but a neuter betwixt both Could such intolerable pride euer enter into the heart of a man or could the tongue of any wight liuing dare to belch out such horrible blasphemies Surely none but hee that is that man of sinne who sitteth in the Temple of God as God and to whom is giuen a mouth to blaspheme the God of Heauen and in whose fore-head is written this name of blasphemy Deus sum errare non possum I am God I cannot erre But to the point Did euer Peter whose successour the Pope claimeth to bee challenge to himselfe any such titles or did euer any of the other Apostles or any Bishop in the Primitiue Church for the space of three hundreth yeeres Peter was so farre from this pride that hee giueth charge to all Elders of the Church that they should not behaue themselues as Lords ouer Gods heritage And in that very place hee equalleth himselfe to the rest and the rest to himselfe calling himselfe a fellow Elder and in another place hee calleth all the Disciples his brethren yea all the Israelites his brethren and all Christians his brethren behold his humility But the Pope acknowledgeth no
absolution to wit if he will be absolued from adultery or incest it must cost him foure Turons if from both together it must stand him in sixe Turons if from wilfull murther being in holy orders hee must pay twelue Turons being a Bishop or an Abbot fiftie Turons twelue Ducats c. Thus there is no sinne so haynous for which pardon may not be purchased for a small summe of money as one of their owne Canonists could sing Si dederis marcas ijs impleueris arcas Culpa soluêris quaque ligatus eris If thou with markes wilt fill their arkes what ere thou doest commit By word or deed thou shalt be freed the Pope hath pardon'd it 15. If this be not a doctrine of liberty let all the world iudge Who need care what sinne hee commit when a pardon is but a money matter Is it any maruaile now if whores and theeues and notorious offenders turne Papists seeing they may haue so easily a full and plenary remission of all their offences And that which is yet a greater emboldening of men to sinne then all the rest they oftentimes for money pardon a sinne before it be committed as it is constantly reported of Parry that he brought with him his pardon in his pocket for murdering the late Queene intended by him But I haue heard of some that haue beene hanged with their pardons about their necks and so it may be was that bloudy-minded Traytor And this was it that emboldened the Germans to robbe the Popes pardoner because they had purchased of him before a pardon for the next sinne they should commit though it were a great one now this was the next and therfore iustly he could not find fault with them 16 By this it is euident to what loosenesse and lewdnesse of life this doctrine doth tend Isti enim indulgentiarum buccinatores omnimodam promitâ—unt securitatem quaeparit negligentiam negligentia offensam Dei saith the Author of that Booke called Onus Ecclesiae that is these publishers of pardons do promise all manner of security which breedeth negligence and negligence the offence of God for Culpam qui praeterit inuitat nouam conniuence at one fault is the hatching of a new Who so will plainly see in one view the monstrous licentiousnesse of life that issueth from this puddle of Popish pardons let him read the third grieuance of the German Nation in the Booke of their Centum grauamina exhibited to the Popes Legate at Noremberge Anno 1522. in the latter end whereof are these wordes of iust complaint By the sale and marchandize of this ware not onely Germany is spoyled of money but Christian godlinesse is extinguished where when euery one according to the quantity of his payment taketh vnto himselfe liberty to sinne hence whoredome incest adultery periury murther theft robbery vsury and a whole heape of mischiefes haue proceeded for what mischiefe will men be afraid to commit when they be once perswaded that they haue obtained licence and impunitie to sinne not onely in this life but also after their death Hitherto is the complaint of Germany which also may bee the iust complaint of the whole world 17 A third doctrine of the Papists opening the gap to licentiousnes is their auricular confession and popish penance I ioyne them together because they goe together in their practice and are both together members of one of their new deuised Sacraments True it is that in outward showe these carry a semblance of seuere discipline but if we search into their bowels we shall find them to be the greatest baytes that can be vnto dissolutenesse For when they teach that the enumeration and reckoning vp of all a mans finnes in the yeare of a Priest once a yeare obtaineth present absolution and pardon at the Priests hands who is both Iudge in this cause and Phisicion and hath power to loofe and binde and to open and shut to wound and heale by the key of power committed to him What is this but to open a gappe to all wickednes for when men are perswaded that there is so ready and easie a meanes to be rid of their sinne what need they be so chary of committing it Hence it is as by lamentable experience it is found true among those that are deuoted to this Religion they sinne freely that they may confesse and be absolued and when they haue confessed they sinne againe that they may confesse againe making no conscience how they liue all the yeare and what horrible sinnes they commit being perswaded that at Easter by the shriuing of a Priest they are cleane absolued Iust like a drunkard that drinkes so long till hee vomite and when his stomacke is disgorged drinkes afresh that he may vomite afresh or like a glutton that surfets all the yere long in all maner of intemperancy then in the spring takes phisick to purge out the naughty humors froÌ„ his stomake as soone as he is purged fals again to his surfeting ryot in hope to be purged again in the spring 18. This is the fruite of Popish shrift commended so highly by them to be so soueraigne a medicine against sin which if it be so why did not Christ and his Apostles vse it were they not as carefull to preserue men from sinne as the Pope and his shauelings are or is the Pope and his Apostles wiser then Christ Iesus and his Disciples why was it not vsed in the Primitiue and purer times of the Church Rhenanus and Erasmus two learned Papists affirme plainely that it was neither ordained by Christ nor vsed by the ancient Church and Chrysostome telleth vs that God doth not enforce vs to come forth and disclose our sinnes to any man He requireth no more saith he but that we speake to him alone and to him alone confesse our faults I but the Popes iudgement is more diuine and the times of Popery are more free from corruption beleeue it who list and therefore howsoeuer then yet now it is found to be a soueraigne preseruatiue against sinne as if they that feare not to offend in the presence of God will blush to confesse their offences in the eare of a sinnefull Priest or as if the law of God were of lesse force to keep men in awe which they cannot escape than the feare of a mortall man whome they may deceiue 19. But let them say what they will and cloake their licentiousnesse with neuer so holie pretences all that haue any iudgement to discerne colours which the blinde Romanists cannot do or any wisedome to trye the spirits and doctrines whether they be of God or no know that Romish shrift is nothing but a shift to diue into mens purses and a tricke of policie to search into their purposes that by that meanes they may enrich their owne coffers and vphold their Antichristian Hierarchie for by this deuice they vnderstand the secrets of state and ciscouer mens
practice Their principles are these As long as the Prince continueth excommunicate the Subiect is freed from the oath of subiection this is the Position of a Cardinall whose authority was so great in the Church of Rome that whatsoeuer he wrote was allowed as sound and authenticall without examination or supervizing To him I adde a Bishop whose writings after supervision and examination were approued as Catholique doctrine and to containe in them nothing contrary to the receiued faith of the Romane Church his Position is this Assoone as a Christian King becomes hereticall forthwith people are freed from their subiection The condition in the first Position is if the King be excommunicate in the second if he be hereticall which though different in termes yet in substance are all one for euery heretique is excommunicate quatenus apertè haereticus in that he is an open heretique if not by name yet in deed and by right and so Subiects may lawfully deny him obedience saith another Iesuite and what is an hereticke in their diuinity I pray you Marry Whosoeuer maintaineth any doctrine expresly condemned by the Church of Rome hee is to be accounted say they an obstinate hereticke To these adde the sentence of another Cardinall euen our owne Countriman Al in his Apology for Stanlies treason who ioyneth both these two conditions together as two twinnes By reason saith he of Queene Elizabeths excommunication and heresie it was not onely lawfull for any of her Subiects but euen they were bound in conscience to depriue her of any strength which lay in their power to doe and to deliuer her Armies Townes or fortresses into her enemies hands she no more being the right owner of them But all this while we haue not the pillar of Popery Bellarmine it may be he is of another mind heare therefore his resolution Non licet Christianis tolerare c. It is not lawfull for Christians to tolerate a King that is an infidell or an heretike if he endeuour to draw his Subiects to his heresie or infidelity This is braue Bellarmines resolution of this case Neither doth he barely set it downe but laboureth to proue it by many arguments throughout that whole Chapter indeed he pinneth it all vpon the Popes sleeue he must pronounce the King to be an heretike and they like sheepe must auoyde him as a wolfe he must forbid them to obey and they must forthwith fall to rebellion that whole seuenth Chapter is worth the reading if any desire to know the full and compleat doctrine of the Romish Church concerning the poynt of rebellion and treason against Princes And that this was the doctrine not of some few among them but of all in generall Let a Fryer of their owne testifie about three hundred yeares since Sigebert mencioning the Popes proceeding against Henry the Emperor thus writeth Be it spoken with the leaue of all good men this nouelty that I say not heresie had not as yet sprung vp in the world that Gods Priests should teach the people that they owe no subiection to euill Princes and though they haue sworne allegeance to them yet they owe them no fidelity neither shall hee be accounted periur'd which thinketh against the King yea hee that obeyeth him shall be counted for excommunicate and he that doth against him shall be absolued from the guilt of iniustice and periurie Here we may behold the doctrine of that age and withall that by this Fryers iudgement concurring with vs it is not onely nouelty but a point of heresie to dissolue the bond of allegeāce which Subiects owe vnto their Princes vpon any pretence whatsoeuer 3. But all these are but the opinions of priuate men and not the decrees of the Church heare therefore what the Church speaketh by the pretended head thereof the Pope who as they affirme cannot erre whilest he sits in the chaire of Peter to determine matters of faith Gregory the seuenth alias Hildobrand thus determineth We by Apostolicall authority doe absolue all from their oaths which they haue giuen to persons excommunicate And another Pope of later time in his Bull against Queene Elizabeth thus We absolue all Subiects from their faith they haue plight with Elizabeth their Queen A third Pope Paulus Tertius did excommunicate Henry the Eight King of England and commanded his nobles to beare armes against him and to make vp the full squadron of Popes when as the Vniuersite of Salamanca determined that all Catholiques which did not forsake the defence of the English and follow the traytor One all in Ireland did sinne mortally and could not obtaine euerlasting life except they should desist Pope Xistus giueth this censure of their determination Those Diuines saith he haue done the parts of good Lawyers Confessours and Doctours Many more testimonies to this effect might be accumulated but these are sufficient because wee shall haue occasion to speake hereof more at large hereafter to all that are not either bewitched with the enchantments of the whore of Babylon or blinded with preiudice to shew how both in their principles and their practice they maintaine treason and rebellion against Princes contrary to the lawes of God of nature and of man 4. A doctrine Cousin german vnto this of the same kind though not of the same degree is that their Position touching the dissoluing of all bonds of naturall and ciuill society wherby they resolue that no communion or fellowship is to bee held with heretiques that is with Protestants by whatsoeuer bond of nature or ciuility they be obliged therevnto and therefore the Father is bound to dis-inherite and cast off his Sonne the Sonne to deny and disobey his Father the wife is forbidden to render due beneuolence to her husband the seruant is commanded to disobey his Master the debter to deny payment to his Creditor the Countriman to deny his owne Country the kinsman to disclaime his kindred if any of these be heretiques that is be Protestants What a religion is this that not only choaketh the breath of humane society but euen stifleth the life of nature it selfe Hee that desireth to see these things proued let them reade Doctor Mortons first Booke of Romish positions and practices of rebellion and also his reply vnto the moderate answere where he shall find them largely and foundly discouered and confirmed 5. Againe by their doctrine of equiuocation they teach and maintaine open and notorious lying and periury such as the very heathen of stricter life and simpler iudgement abhor'd their doctrine is this A man saith Tollet is not alwaies bound to answere according to the meaning of the asker but may sometimes vse equiuocation and deceiue the hearer this is lawfull saith he whē the Iudge requireth an oth against iustice or when he is not a competent Iudge as another speaketh as for example if the Iudge demand Hast thou done this he may answere I haue not though he
conceit 22. Againe they ioyne hands with the Iewes in their doctrines of Free-will inuocation of Angels and Saints and merite of good workes all which the moderne Rabbines hold as articles of their Creed deriuing them from their predecessours the Pharises that went before them Petrus Galatinus that Rabbinish Romanist reckoneth vp a number of them that were all Patrons of Free-will and not as it is set free by grace for so we hold that a man hath free-will to good but euen by nature before grace as the Romanists hold And so also of Inuocation of Saints some of them affirming that the pure soules which heare them that pray vnto them haue a place in heauen Others that the Iewes vsed to interpose in their prayers betwixt them and God Isaac as an intercessour Others that prayers are to be made to Angels to open the gates of Paradise and to appease Gods wrath And lastly the Romanists themselues affirme that when our Sauiour cryed out on the Crosse Eli Eli c. the Iewes would neuer haue supposed that he had called for Elias had it not been an vsuall practice amongst them to call vpon the Saints departed Lastly touching the merite of worke the Iewes teach that God once euery yere to wit in the moneth of September at what time he created the world calleth all mens liues to an account for the yeare past and openeth three Bookes one wherein are written the names of notorious sinners and Atheists called The Booke of Death another in which are enrolled the names of iust and holy men called The Booke of Life and a third for such as are in a meane betwixt both neither exceeding bad nor exceeding good but of a mixt disposition and these haue respite giuen them till the day of reconciliation to repent in which is the tenth day of the same month at which time if their good doth exceed their euill then it goeth well with them but if their euill exceed their good then they are registred presently in the Booke of Death And lest GOD should be deceiued they say that he holdes in his hand a ballance into one skale whereof he puts their good workes and into the other their euill deeds that he may measure out his rewards according to the weight of the one or the other How ridiculous a fable is this Much like vnto the Poeticall fiction of Minâ—s Aeaâ—us and Radamanthus the three Iudges of hell whome the Poets faine to sit there weighing the soules of men and giuing sentence vpon them according to their poyse and weight By this it appeareth that the foolish Rabbines maintained free-will inuocated Saints and Angels and esteemed their workes meritorious All which are the very opinions of the Church of Rome beleeued and practised of all the professours of that Religion which is so much the more absurd because they themselues confesse in speciall concerning the doctrine of Inuocation of Saints that it was not taught vnto the people of the olde Testament for feare of Idolatry nor at the first preaching of the Gospell for feare it should seeme vnto them a hard and harsh doctrine and in generall that it is madnesse to relye our faith vpon the Iewish Thalmud seeing the Thalmudicall Writers are full of impieties and blasphemies and therefore haue not onely been prohibited to be read but also condemned to the fire by diuers of their owne Popes all which notwithstanding our Romish Rabbies fetch a demonstration for the maintenance of these doctrines from the example and practice of the Iewes 23. In like manner the Iewes had those that professed a monasticall and single life which were called Essaeans from the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Saints or holy men as some suppose because â—orsooth they tooke vpon them to be more holy then others and therefore would not offer sacrifice with the people because they thought them not so holy as themselues And these as Iosephus and Philo testifie professed continency from marriage community in goods and abstinence from meats not by any warrant out of Gods word but onely by the authority of their vnwritten traditions And doe not the Romanists imitate them in the same kind What are their Monkish Votaries but Apes of the Iewish Essaeans And what is their Monasticall profession but a pretence of a state of rare holinesse and perfection They vow chastitie in single life and abhorre marriage as a state of pollution they abstaine from meates and professe voluntary pouerty with a community of goods and all this they do that they may seeme more holy then others and merite heauen by their holinesse hauing withall answerable vnto them nothing but tradition for their warrantize without either sound precept or true example out of holy Scripture For grant that their Euangelicall Councils are such as they would haue them to be and that vowes in Christianity are lawfull yet it is certaine that the authority of Councils and the lawfulnesse of vowes doe neither warrant nor allow their superstitious and idle monkery nor the blasphemous opinion of merite which they ascribe vnto such voluntary deuotions nor yet the necessity of irreuocation though by the frailty of mans nature there be an impossibility of performance And so both in substance and circumstance they want the authority of gods word to vphold them Let then the Iewish Essaeans and the Romish Monks walke together as in one path of superstition so vnder one cloake of hypocrisie for that which Sigonius affirmeth of the one that they were by Nation Iewes and by manners hypocrites we may truely confirme of the other that they are Christians by profession but hypocrites by conuersation And as those Essaeans did farre degenerate from the ancient Nazarites and Rechabites whome they pretended for their patterns so these doe as farre and more from those ancient Monkes that liued in former ages of the Church as is vnanswerably demonstrated by many of the learned Champions of our Church especially Doctour Mortâ—n and Doctour White to whome I referre the Reader for fuller resolution in this poynt 24. The Iewish Rabbines also taught that the damned soules in hell and Purgatory had some refreshing and rest vpon euery Sabboth day assoone as a certaine prayer was chanted out by them with sweet melodie and therefore that on euery Friday at night there is a great shout in hell for ioy of the ensuing Sabboth and on their Sabboth day at night a dolefull crye for griefe of their returne to their paines Thus the Rabbines doted And do not our Romish Rabbines dote in like manner They also teach that the damned soules haue some refreshment and ease vpon the Sabboth day as in the legend of S. Brandon it is written how that holy Abbotfound Iudas the Traytour sitting vpon a stone in a certaine Island and demanding of him what he was and why heesate in that place he answered that vpon euery Saturday at noone
vrge Command him though Redeemer that â—e be By right of Motherhood which is giuen to thee 71. And this the Rosarie of the Virgine Mary doth more euidently manifest for Dominicke who was the first inuentor of it ordayned that fiftie Ane Maries should be recited and at euery tenth one Pater noster which together make a Rosarie and for this purpose the same Dominicke framed fiue and fiftie Stones or Beades and hung them together on a string betwixt euery ten little ones one great one and called them Patriloquia as it were prayers to the Father which he might more properly haue called Matriloquia prayers to the Mother for here are ten Aues to each Pater noster And this was the originall of praying vpon Beads Now out of these Rosaries sprung there Mary Psalters for three Rosaries to wit an hundred and fifty Aue Maries and fifteene Pater nosters make one Mary Psalter because forsooth the Psalter of Dauid consists of so many Psalmes and to the fraternitie of this Psalter and the sayers thereof were giuen by diuers Popes as Sixtus the fourth and Innocent the eighth threescore thousand yeeres of indulgence and plenary remission both from the punishment and fault one in the time of life and one in the houre of death Is not heere I pray you the worship of the Virgine Mary exalted aboue the worship of Christ who can doubt of it seeing the proportion is ten to one fifty to fiue an hundred to ten an hundred and fifty to fifteene And no maruell if it bee thus in their prayers seeing it is as euill or worse in their deeds for whereas wee haue one Church or religious house dedicated to Christ we shall finde ten dedicated to Mary the Mother of Christ and so the Mother is aduanced aboue the Sonne and yet she but a woman of flesh and bloud saued by her Sonne and blessed by that faith which shee had in him and hee the Sonne of God as well as the Sonne of Man the Sauiour and Redeemer of mankinde 72. But the most horrible Idolatrie and blasphemy of all the rest is to be found in another Mary Psalter of theirs compiled as they say by Bonauenture and authorised in the Church of Rome wherein they apply all the whole Psalter of Dauid to the Virgine Mary and wheresoeuer they finde the name Dominus Lord they put in Domina Lady as for example in the third Psalme for Lord how are my foes increast they say Lady how are my foes increast and in the sixt Psalme for O Lord correct mee not in thy wrath they say O Lady correct me not in thy wrath And in the 31. Psalme for Blessed are they O Lord whose sinnes are forgiuen they say Blessed are they whose hearts loue thee O Virgine Mary for their sinnes shall be forgiuen them by thee and so cleane through the Psalter If any desire to see the gulfe and dunghill of Superstition and Idolatrie practised in the Church of Rome vnder the Inuocation of Saints let him but read this one Psalter which alone if there were no other argument is sufficient to conuince their whole Church of open and notorious Idolatrie and that Cassander himselfe confesseth in the place aboue quoted 73. Thus they exalt the Virgine Mary aboue Christ and equall her with God yea which is horrible to speake and fearefull to be recorded they place her aboue God himselfe for they teach that a man may appeale to the Virgine Mary not onely from a Tyrant and from the Diuell but euen from God himselfe This writeth Bernardine de Busto about 120. yeeres since and his booke was authorised by Pope Alexander the sixt and yet remaines so farre from all disallowance that it is approoued by Posseuine as a learned and godly booke Out of which it must needes follow which I tremble to vtter that by their doctrine the Virgine Mary is greater then God because euery appeale is from the lesser to the greater 74. But no maruell if they preferre Mary to Christ that is the Mother before the Sonne seeing they doe as much to two Fryers Francis and Dominicke He that would see how Francis is matched and exalted aboue Christ let him read the booke of his Conformities and hee will bee astonished at their madnesse Also of Dominicke they write most strange things and such as Christ neuer did the like as for example Christ raysed but three dead saith Antoninus but Dominicke raysed three at Rome and forty that were drowned in a Riuer neere to Tholosse Christ being made immortall after his resurrection entred twice into the house the dores being shut but Dominicke being a mortall man entred into a Church in the night the dores being shut that he might not waken the brethren Christ had all power committed vnto him in heauen and earth and Dominicke did partake the same power with him for the Angels serued him the Elements obeyed him the Diuels trembled at him Christ was the Lord absolutely and by authority but Dominicke principally and by possession Christ was laid at his birth in a Manger and wrapped in clouts to keepe him from cold but Dominicke being an infant would often get out of his bed and as if hee abhorred all delights of the flesh lye vpon the bare ground Christ neuer prayed but hee was heard if he would except in the Garden when hee prayed that the Cup might passe away from him where praying according to his sensuall part would not be heard according to reason but Dominicke neuer desired any thing of God but it was graunted vnto him Christ being borne a Starre appeared in the East which directed the Wise-men to him and foreshewed that he should be the light of the world but Dominicke being borne and ready to bee baptized his Godmother saw a Starre in his forehead foretelling a new light of the world Lastly Christ loued vs and washed away our sinnes by his bloud so did Dominicke for hee whipt himselfe thrice euery day with an Iron chayne and drew bloud each time out of his sides once for his owne sinnes which were very small the second for those that were in Purgatory and the third for those that liue in the world Is not Dominicke heere in some things equalled and in others preferred before our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ 75. And thus to passe ouer all their false and counterfeit Saints which eyther neuer were in rerum natura or were not such as they make them as Christopher George Catherine and such like For it is a true saying of Augustine or of some other Multorum corpora honorantur in terris quorum animae torquentur in inferno The bodies of many are honoured on earth whose soules are tormented in hell And to omit that the Pope may erre in the canonizing of Saints it being grounded vpon false miracles as Caietane acknowledgeth and others though Bellarmine be of another minde and laboureth to prooue the contrary but God wot with
And Salmeron a third Iesuite descending yet a stayre lower saith that the translation of the Scripture should be onely tillinguis of three tongues that is Hebrew Greeke and Latine in honour of the Trinitie Or as another saith Because thâ—se three tongues were onely sanctified vpon the Crosse Herevpon the Councill of Trent decreeth the olde vulgar Latine Translation of the Bible to be onely authenticall and alone to bee vsed in all publike Lectures Disputations Preachings and expositions And though Pope Pius Quartus forbade onely as Bellarmine saith such to read the Scripture as had not licence thereunto giuen them by their Priest or Confessor to wit such as could receiue no damage but profit by their reading yet Pope Clement the eighth as another Iesuite confesseth tooke away all faculty of giuing licence to any to read the Scripture or to retaine with them the common Bibles or any parts of the Old and New Testament in the Mother tongues so that as wofull experience hath taught it was in times past in this Land and is now in those places where the bloudie Inquisition is exercised a sufficient marke of an Heretike and cause of fire and faggot to bee found with a translated Bible in their houses or hands 10. This is their doctrine which how it ingendreth and nourisheth ignorance who seeth not seeing first it locks vp the fountayne of knowledge that few or none of the common sort can drinke of the waters thereof cleane contrary to that famous saying of learned Origene who compareth the Scripture to Iacobs Well where not onely Iacob and his Sonnes that is the Learned but also the Cattell and the Sheepe that is the rude and the ignorant doe drinke and refresh themselues but these men barre out the poore sheepe and driue them away from the waters of life to no other end as it may be thought but that they should pine away with thirst and liue and dye in blindnesse and ignorance For if all sound and true knowledge is to be found in holy Scripture and therein is the whole counsell and will of God reuealed vnto vs so farre foorth as it concerneth our saluation it being the Epistle of the great Iehouah to his poore Subiects to enforme them of his will and pleasure how should they possibly clime to this true and sauing knowledge who are debarred from the place and meanes where it is to found and had and not permitted to reade this Letter or heare it read vnto them contrary to that doctrine of Nazianzene who saith that all Christians ought to come to Church and there read themselues or if they be not able heare others read vnto them the word of God 11. If they reply and say that it is enough for them to know the Traditions of the Church I answere that if there were as certaine ground for their Traditions to prooue them the word of God as there is of the Scripture then this allegation might carry some shew of reason but the vncertainty nouelty mutability and absurdity of many of them doe plainely shew that it is no safe course to repose the strength of our saluation vpon them but rather to flye to that foundation which is immooueable If they say that the people must be content for their knowledge to depend vpon their Priests and to draw it from their lippes and so by that meanes may attayne a sufficient measure of instruction I answere that the Priests are for the most part as ignorant as the people as shall be shewed afterward and if any be furnished with gifts yet they seldome teach the people and when they doe they preach in stead of Gods word their owne inuentions idle tales and meere tales and fables witnesse Cornelius Agrippa and Dante their Poet two no great enemies but fast friends to Popish Religion Now if a man should bee constrained to sup vp whatsoeuer euery sottish Priest or idle Fryer or craftie Iesuite doth belch foorth without examining doubtlesse hee should sucke downe much poyson in stead of wholsome iuyce If they say that there is multiplicity of good Bookes written to this end to instruct the people in the grounds of Religion and to stirre them vp vnto godlines and deuotion I answere there is indeede a great number of such Bookes which are so farre from gendring sound knowledge that they are no better then baits of Antichrist seruing to allure men vnder shew of deuotion vnto Idolatry and Apostacie from God for if they were sound and true why should Gods Booke which without all question is most sound bee prohibited and they admitted Why is it not lawfull to examine them by that rule and why should all Bookes else which any thing make against their Religion be suppressed and by great penalties forbidden Surely this sheweth that all their Bookes of deuotion are but rotten stuffe and meere hypocriticall deuices to deceiue the simple 12. Lastly if they say that all our translations are false and erronious and therefore that our Bibles are not the word of God I answere that indeede it is impossible to haue a Translation so exact perfect that no fault nor imperfection shuld be found therin neuertheles the chief faults in our translations are for the most part in respect of proprietie of words and phrases which are nothing repugnant to holy doctrine or good life and not in any materiall or substantiall poynt of faith and those also are not frequent but heere and there dispersed which can no waies hinder the profite to be gathered by the rest of the Scripture and if for some corruption in translations the Bible should not bee read then none but the originall Hebrew and Greeke should bee in vse for all translations are imperfect yea their so much extolled vulgar authorized by the Councill of Trent wherein the Diuines of Louane obserued many errors and Isidorus Clarius a Spanish Monke professed that hee found eight thousand fau'ts though for his plaine dealing hee was plagued by the Inquisitors and after that it was decreed authenticall by the Councill a thing worth the noting yet it was corrected and castigated by the authority and commaundement of sixe Popes successiuely Nay the Hebrew and Greeke copies themselues should not bee permitted for euen they if wee will beleeue the Romanists are full of corruptions but as Bellarmine saith of the corruptions in the Hebrew text so wee may truely of the imperfections in our translations Non sunt tanti momenti vt inijs quâ— ad fidem bonos more 's pertinent sacrae Scripturae integritas desideretur that is they are not of such moment that they can hinder the integrity of the Scripture in those things which pertaine to faith good manners 13. Moreouer besides all this it is no maruell if they contend for their vulgar Latine Bible that it should be onely authenticall seeing many Romish errors are thereby maintained which in the truth of yeâ—â—â— originall
and ignorance must needs ouerflow the world as wofull experience hath taught to bee true in those places where the Romish Religion preuaileth 16. Thirdly they teach that Images and Pictures are Lay mens Bookes wherein they must read and with the which they must content themselues without searching at all into the Booke of God This doctrine taught Gulielmus Peraldus three hundred yeeres since saue that hee ioyned the Scripture and Images together for thus he writeth As the Scriptures be the Bookes of the Clergie so Images and the Scripture are the Bookes of Lay men where hee equalleth a dumbe and dead Picture to the speaking and liuely Scriptures the worke of man to the Word of God But Loelius Zechius a learned and famous Diuine of latter time goeth further and saith that Images are the onely Bookes for them that bee vnlearned to draw them to faith and knowledge and imitation of diuine matters Yea another Fryer that liueth in Paris at this day or at least was aliue very lately goeth yet a degree further and affirmeth that Lay men may more easily learne diuine mysteries by contemplation of Images then out of the Booke of God and all these are as they stile them most Catholike and holy Bookes But what should I search further into these petty Disciples whereas the grand Doctor himselfe hath this proposition in expresse words Meliùs interdum docet pictura quà m scriptura A Picture doth better instruct sometimes then the Scripture 16. This is their Doctrine Now what fruits doth it bring foorth Surely the best fruit is ignorance a worse then that error and the worst of all superstition and and idolatry for howsoeuer we deny not that there may be an historicall and ciuill vse of Pictures either to put vs in minde of our absent friends or to represent some obseruable history and notable deede done or to stirre vs vp to the imitation of the vertues of Godly men and women yet we constantly affirme that to make them the Bookes of Lay men either to be instructed by them alone without the Booke of God or to finde better and more perfect instruction in them then in it is to inwrap the people in a cloude of foggie and mistie ignorance and to hood-winke their eyes that they should not see the bright shining light of truth for where is all sound sauing knowledge to bee found but in the holy Scripture whither doth our Sauiour Christ send his Disciples but vnto them he doth not say vnto them Gaze vpon Pictures for they be they that testifie of me and In them yee shall finde eternall life but Search the Scriptures for c. And the Prophet Dauid that it is the Law of God that giueth wisedome vnto the simple and that conuerteth the soule and giueth light vnto the eyes and not the Pictures of Abraham Isaac and Iacob or of any of the Prophets And therefore though a man may be instructed by a Picture touching a thing done yet most certaine it is that more excellent and more perfect instruction is gotten by the Scripture for let an vnskilfull man returne neuer so often to the beholding of his Picture it will alwaies represent the same thing vnto him and if any scruple or doubt remaine in his minde it can answere nothing for the explication thereof whereas in holy Scripture that which is obscure in one place is explained in another and that which in one Chapter we cannot conceiue in the next following it may be is so cleerely set downe that a childe may discerne it without erring so that as a man may discouer his meaning by signes and becks yet it is not so effectuall as if he vtter it by word of mouth so Pictures may teach but yet Scripture teacheth more fully and effectually And therefore to tye the people to these dumbe Bookes and discharge them from searching into the Booke of God is to depriue them of the chiefest meanes of knowledge and so to foster them in ignorance 17. But yet this is not all For besides that it occasioneth ignorance an Image also is a teacher of lyes as the Prophet Habakuk calleth it and a mother and a nurse of superstition and Idolatry For first how many Pictures are there in their Churches of Monsters and miracles that neuer were As of Saint George killing the Dragon Saint Christopher carrying Christ vpon his shoulder ouer the Ford. Saint Catherine tormented vpon the wheele and disputing with the Philosopher Saint Dunstane holding the Diuell by the nose or lip with a paire of Pincers Saint Denis carrying his owne head in his hands being strooke off Saint Dominick burning the Deuils fingers with a Candle which hee made him to hold will he nill hee And an infinite number such like which either neuer were extant in the world or were not such neither euer did worke such feates as are represented by their Pictures Two Pictures I cannot passe ouer in silence which I haue seen and obserued with my owne eyes the one at the Church of Ramsey in Huntington-shire neere adioyning vnto that quondam a famous and rich Abbay In this Church in the lowest window in the right I le is a picture of a paire of Ballance in one skole whereof is the Deuill and in the other a woman and the woman is more sinfull then the Deuill ouerweighing him euen to the ground Behold a Lay mans book whereat wise men may wonder fooles may laugh and women may bee inraged and euery one may read the folly and prophanenes of those times Sure I am heere is little instruction for the soules health The other is in the Cloister window of the cathedrall Church of Peterborough where is painted out at large the history of Christs passion In one place whereof our Sauiour Christ sitteth with his twelue Apostles eating his last Passeouer which because it was vpon the Thursday night before Easter commonly called Maundey Thursday therefore they picture before him in a dish not a Lambe as the truth was but because it was Lent O miserable blindnesse three pickerels so that now the Paschall Lambe is turned into a Paschall pickerell and all forsooth to nourish in the people the superstition of the Lent fast For if they should see Christ eating flesh in Lent what an incouragement would this be thought they for the people to doe the like 18. And thus Images may wel be called Laymens bookes But what bookes you see euen such as teach lyes and superstition no sound and true instruction I could heere relate how that Saint Dunstane put life by a trunke forsooth into the Image of the Virgin Mary and made her speake against the marriage of Priests when that controuersie could no otherwise bee decided And how the Image of the Crucifixe vsed to speake to Saint Francis to the end to giue authority to the order of his fraternity and that vpon two Images in a Church at Venice the one of Saint
vpon the same though they bee now both made dumbe by their expurging Index speake asmuch for in them we fiude this proposition Anciently Priests were permitted to marry 41. For history to omit the Priests and Prophets of the old Testament Peter whose successours they claime to bee carryed a wife about with him in his preaching which was put to death at Antioch for consessing lesus Christ as witnes both Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius which writers do also affirme that Paul had a wise also and left her at Philippos a City of Macedonia that hee might with lesse cumbrance preach the Gospell abroad That Philip the Euange list was marryed Saint Luke testifyeth in the Acts of the Apostles for it is said there that he had foure daughters which were Prophetisses thus was it in the first age of the Church then afterward we read that Hilary a French Bishop was marryed and of Saint Basils Father that hee was a Bishop and in the state of marriage held that function and the like of Synesius the Bishop of Pâ—olomais and Athanasius reports that Bishops and Monks liued marryed and had children and Eusebius that in the Easterne Churches it was counted a yoke too heauy to bee borne to binde Church-men from marriage yea Gratian boldly affirmeth that except they will brand some of the Popes with bastardy and adultery they must confesse that Bishops were and might then bee marryed for Gregory the first was grand-child to Pope Felix the third and Alexander the sixt had two sonnes begotten of his owne body and Boniface Felix Gelasius and Agapetus were all sonnes of Bishops yea their owne Vicelius reckoneth vp a number both of Bishops and Priests that in the Primitiue Church were marryed In briefe though in all ages the Deuill by his instruments laboured to bring disgrace vpon Gods holy ordinance of marriage and by that meanes to make way to adulteries fornications and vnlawfull lusts and some learned and godly fathers were too lauish in commending virginity before marriage yet they were alwayes gainsaide by other some as learned godly as themselues whoÌ„ God stirred vp for the desence of his own ordinance neither was it euer propounded as a Law vntill Pope Siricius time who was the first that forbad and interdicted Priests to marry and afterwards Pope Nicholas the first or as some thinke the second about the yeere 867 did the like against whose proceedings Haldericus the Bishop of Ausbrough wrote that learned and pithy Epistle where of mention is made before and yet it was not vniuersally receiued vntill the time of Pope Calixtus about the yeere 1108. History is so cleare for this matter that it admitteth no iust exception and thus both by their owne confessions and by the light of history this doctrine is conuinced of nouelty 42. Another article of the Popes Creede is concerning Images to wit that God himselfe may bee represented by and worshipped before an Image and that the Images of Christ and the Saints are to be adored with the same worship which is due vnto their pâ—tternes or at least wise that they are to be worshipped in or at the Image This is the generall doctrine of that Idolatrous Church which that it hath no true warrant from antiquity is so cleare that none that is but meanely seene in ancient writers can doubt thereof For first in the Church of the Iewes it was vnlawfull either to make any Image of God beeing an inuisible and incomprehensible essence or to worship the Image of any other thing whatsoeuer this was the prescript of the second Commandement which was no ceremoniall Law As Azorius and Vasques two Iesuites haue not ashamed to auerre but morall and naturall as the grand Iesuite Bellarmine confesseth and may be further confirmed by the sentence of Varro alledged by Saint Augustine in his fourth book de Ciuitate who sayth that the Iewish nation worshipped God without any Image that they had no Image in the Temple ordained for worship Also Iosephus doth write that when Caius the Emperour would haue caused his statue to haue been set vp by Petroniâ—s to be worshipped in the Temple of Ierusalem the Iewes had rather expose themselues to present death then to admit that which was forbidden by the Law 43 Secondly in the age of Iesus Christ and the Apostles there was no precept nor example for the worshipping of Images nei her did they commend vnto the Lay people Images and Pictures as fittest bookes for their capacities but the word preached and committed to writing by which they should bee brought to saluation And when as they abolished the worship of Idols and brought in the worship of the true God wee doe not read that either they translated those Idolatrous statues to the worship of the true God or substituted other Images of God himselfe for of holy men to succeed in their roome but taught that God who is a Spirit ought to bee worshipped in Spirit and truth Now surely if it had beene so necessary as the Church of Rome maketh it our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles would neuer haue concealed it from them 44. Thirdly the age also after the Apostles was free from Images for amongst those Ecclesiasticall rites which are recorded to haue been vsed in the first 300. yeeres after Christ there is not so much as any mention made of Image-worship except it bee amongst those that were condemned for Heretikes as the followers of Simon Magus who worshipped his Image and of his harlot Selene and the Disciples of Basilides whom Irenaeus affirmeth to haue vsed Images and Inuocations and the Carpocratians and Gnosticks who burned incense to the Images of Christ and Paul Homer and Pithagoras c. as testifyeth Saint Augustine but the true Church of God condemned these and abhorred all such kind of worship and therefore amongst the accusations which the Heathen obiected to Christians in that age this was one that they professed a Religion without Images as witnesse both Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen the one whereof liued 200. yeeres after Christ and the other 240. which trueth their Cassander confesseth in direct words that at the first preaching of the Gospell there was no publike vse of Images in the Church 45. Fourthly in the next age of the Church after the three hundreth yeere that Images were not approued wee haue the witnesse of the Councill of Eliberis which decreed that no Image should bee made in the Church lest that should be adored which is painted on walles and of Ierome who affirmed that it was condemned of all ancient Fathers and of Origen who called that worship a foolish and adulterous profanation and of Epiphanius who finding a painted Image in a Church rent it downe and said that it was against the authority of the Scripture that any Image should bee in the Church and of Augustine who condemned the vse of them in Churches as vnlawfull and lastly
Popes Leo the first Gelasius Gregory the great and Gregory the third doe all directly conclude the same doctrine yea the last of the foure commandeth that euen Lepers if they bee Christians which should not bee admitted to our owne Tables yet should not bee barred from the participation of the body and blood of Christ For schoolmen Durand Biell Caietane doe with one consent auouch that all without exception were to drinke of the cup because God is no respecter of persons and that this custome of communicating with both kindes indured long in the Church And whereas Thomas Aquinas sayth that to auoid irreuerence it is wisely obserued in certaine Churches that the blood should not be receiued of the people but of the Priests onely It is to bee marked first that hee sayth in certaine Churches by which he confesseth that it was not vniuersally receiued in his dayes and secondly that it is wisely obserued by which hee insinuates that before time it was not obserued but indiscreetly neglected 50. Lastly for the Fathers it would bee too tedious to recite all their testimonies onely therefore I referre the Reader to the places quoted in the margent or if he desire to behold at one view all their opinions to Plesseis first booke tenth Chapter of the Masse where he shall finde a whole catalogue of them I will content my selfe with one onely saying of Chrysostome in his eighteenth Homily vpon the first to the Corinthians hee thus writeth Sometime there is no difference betwixt the Priest and the people as to wit at the receiuing of the sacred mysteries for all are admitted to them alike for though in the old Testament it was not lawfull for the people to eat of the same things with the Priests yet the matter is otherwise now for one body and one cup is propounded vnto all This doctrine therefore is an Innouation by the iudgement of all these 51. Transubstantiation commeth in the next place which though they labour tooth and naile to procue to bee of great antiquity yet we haue the testimony of Scotus of Tonstall and of Biell who affirme that before the Councill of Lateran which was in the yeere 1215. Transubstantiation was no doctrine of faith and that it was free for all men till that time to follow their owne coniecture as concerning the manner of of the presence Lumbard also sayth that he is not able to define what manner of conuersion is in the Sacrament and Bellarmine himselfe confesseth that the name transubstantiation was first found out and brought into the world by the Laterane Councill though hee labour to proue that the thing it selfe was beleeued long before And thus howsoeuer this bastard Babe was borne before yet it is not denyed but that it was then Christened 52. And how long before was it borne I pray you Marry Bellarmine alledgeth two Councils both held at Rome one vnder Nicholas the second the other vnder Gregory the seuenth in both which Berengarius was constrained to abiure his heresie as he calleth it and to subscribe to this article that the bread and wine after consecration are changed into the very body and blood of Christ but concerning the Councill vnder Gregory the seuenth wee haue iust causes to doubt whether there were any such or no first because the acts of it are no where to bee sound and secondly because the same Pope Gregory is reported by Cardinall Benno to haue doubted whether the opinion of Berengarius or of the Church of Rome were more sound And for the other Councill vnder Nicholas the second Bellarmine himselfe confesseth that Berengarius was constrained onely to confesse the reall presence and not transubstantiation and so indeed in both of them not the manner of the presence which is transubstantiation but the realty thereof was in question But let it be granted that it was decreed in these two Councils yet the antiquity is not very great for the eldest of them was but in the yeere 1059. 53. As for the opiniō of the Church from the firstage of it vntill these times thogh Bellarmine produceth many testimonies of the Fathers yet either they are counterfeit or little to the purpose or at least wise misapplied vnderstood whereas the testimonies of the same Fathers others produced by vs against this doctrine are so plaine direct and peremptory that by no sound reason they can be auoided I may not ouer-burden the Reader with a repetition of them they may finde thē els-where at large discoursed so that thogh the iust time cannot bee assigned when this errour sprung in the Church yet it is a nouell doctrine borne since the purer times of the Gospell and growing in stature and strength till the Laterane Councill and then taking it name and full perfection 54. Their priuate Masses may be ranked in the next place I meane such priuate Masses wherein the Priest alone doth participate the Sacrament without the people This is a doctrine and practice in the Church of Rome as may appeare both in the Councill of Trent where it is approoued for Catholike and lawfull and in Bellarmine and others which haue their mouthes full of arguments to defend the same but I will not meddle with their arguments onely my taske is to prooue it to bee a nouelty which I may well doe by these three reasons First because it is contrary to our Sauiours first institution Secondly to the writing and practising of the Apostles and thirdly to the example of the Primitiue Church That it is contrary to Christs first institution it is euident because Christ at his last Supper did not take the bread and wine alone his Apostles beholding and looking on and consecrate them and so eat and drinke them himselfe but gaue both the Elements vnto them all and bade them eat and drinke them in remembrance of him this was the first institution of the Sacrament which ought to be a patterne to the Church of God for euer But Bellarmine sayth that it was but an affirmatiue precept of our Sauiour therefore did bind no further then the circumstance of time place and person would permit and that to communicate in the Sacrament was no essentiall part thereof and therefore might bee omitted vpon occasion To which I answere that though it bee false which hee sayth touching communicating in the Sacrament that it is no essentiall part thereof for the contrary may be prooued both by Scripture which calleth the whole Sacrament a Communion 1. Cor. 10. and by analogy of the Passeouer in the Law which was to bee eaten of all by the confession of their owne learned Schooleman Gabriel Piel who sayth that the consecration in the Eucharist is ordained for the vse which is the eating of it as vnto the next end after a sort yet it is sufficient for our purpose that he confesseth that it is a variation from the first institution and therefore
as it appeareth Acts 16. but rather is to bee thought to bee the extraordinary gift of the holy Ghost as Saint Paul plainly insinuateth 2. Tim. 1. And secondly though it should bee sauing grace yet it is not promised to all others though it were then giuen to Timotheus neither were all that receiued holy orders partakers thereof for then Nicholas the Deacon should haue beene sanctified being an hypocrite Who seeth no◠then now weakely hee hath prooued this to bee a Sacrament out of holy Scriptures and this may seeme for a taste of the rest of his proofes which are most of them of the like nature 70. Againe the doctrine of Indulgences to wit that the Pope hath power out of the Churches treasury to grant relaxation from temporall punishment either heere or in Purgatory is so new an article that diuers of their own Doctors doe confesse that there is not any one testimony for proofe thereof either in Scriptures or in the writings of ancient Fathers but that the first that put them in practice in that manner as they are now vsed was Pope Boniface the eight anno 1300. neither could they bee any older then Purgatory being extracted from the flames thereof which hath beene already prooued to bee a meere nouell inuention so that the child cannot be old when as the Father is not gray-headed and that the matter may bee without contradiction reade Burchardus who liued about the yeare of our Lord 1020. And Gratian and Peter Lumbard that came after who all speake of satisfaction and penance and commutation and relaxation of penance but yet haue not a word of these Romish Indulgences whereas if they had beene then extant they would neuer haue passed them ouer in silence especially in the discoursing vpon these points whereupon they haue their necessary dependance 71. Last of all their doctrine touching merite of workes may bee branded with the same marke For first though the word merite bee often vsed by the Fathers yet ordinarily it is not taken in that sense which the Romanists vse it in as witnesse both Bellarmine and Viega and Stapleton and if they did not yet manifold examples out of their owne writings would prooue to be true Secondly the full streame of their doctrine doth make against the proud conceit of merite for they ascribe all to Gods mercy and Christs merits esteeming their owne best workings and sufferings vnworthy of the euerlasting and celestiall reward they neuer dreamt of that ambitious doctrine taught in the Church of Rome that our good workes are absolutely good and truely and properly meritorious and fully worthy of eternall life Let their books be viewed and nothing can bee more apparantly cleare then this is Thirdly the termes of congruity and condignity were deuised but of late dayes by the subtill Schoolemen who notwithstanding could not agree among themselues touching the true definition distinctiō of their own books by which it appeareth that it was not then any Catholike or vniuersall truth Lastly their owne Doctours terme the merite of congruity a new inuention and that other of condignity no Catholike nor ancient doctrine and the whole doctrine of meriting to haue beene first made an article of faith by the Councill of Trent all which laide together prooue it most clearely to bee of no great standing nor they of any vnderstanding that were the first forgers and deuisers thereof 72. Thus wee haue sixteene points wherein the new Romish Religion hath degenerated from all pure antiquity to which many more might bee added but these are sufficient to euince our conclusion which is this that seeing the Romish Church hath neither in matter nor forme substance nor accidents any sure ground either from Scripture or the doctrine of the Primitiue Church but is vtterly vnlike to it in many substantiall respects therefore it cannot bee the true Church of God but an harlot in her stead and their Religion not of God but of men and consequently that wee in declining from them and conforming our selues both in doctrine and manners to the Primitiue patterne are not fallen from the Church but to the Church and that theirs is the new Religion and not ours And thus wee see what all their bragges and clamours touching the antiquity of their Religion and the nouelty of ours come vnto seeing there is no one thing more pregnant to prooue the falshood of their Religion and the Apostacy and Antichristianity of their Church then this is And to conclude as wee would thinke him not well in his wits that hauing beene long sicke and after regained health should say that sicknes was more ancient then health whereas he should rather say that hee had recouered his old health that his new Inmate sicknesse was dispossessed of his lodging though it had kept it long so in all reason it is madnesse to thinke the reformation of the Church and reducing of Christian Religion to the ancient health to bee more nouell and new then the horrible sicknesse and apostacy wherewith it was long not onely infected but almost ouer-whelmed And this is iust our case with the Church of Rome but I leaue them to bee healed by the heauenly Phisitian himselfe Iesus Christ our Sauiour whose wholesome Physicke must cure them or nothing will MOTIVE XII ¶ That Church which maintaineth it selfe and the Religion professed by it and seeketh to disaduantage the aduersaries by vnlawfull vniust and vngodly meanes cannot bee the true Church of God nor that Religion the truth of God by the grounds whereof they are warranted to act such deuilish practices but such is the practice of the Romist Church and therfore neither their Church nor their Religion can be of God IT is a wonder to see what deuises sleights impostures and deuilish practices the Romanists haue and now at this day doe more then euer vse to vphold their rotten Religion to ensnare mens minds with the forlorne superstitiō their kingdome being ready to fall they care not with what props they vnder-shore it and the truth preuailing against them they care not with what engines though fetched from hell it selfe they vndermine it so that they may any wayes batter the walles or shake the foundation thereof My purpose is in this Chapter to discouer some of the Sathanicall practices of these subtle Enginers I meane the Iesuites and Priests and other rabble of Romish proctors It is not possible to reckon them vp all being so many and various such therefore God willing shall be heere discouered as are for villany most notorious for impudency most shamelesse and for certainty most perspicuous and by them let the Christian Reader that loueth the truth iudge of their Religion and Church what it is 2. The first proposition of this argument is grounded vpon three principles one of nature another of reason the third of Scripture nature teacheth that contraries are cured that is expelled by contraries as hot diseases by cold
Murdach then lately Bishop of Yorke and discharge her of her childe without paine and take it from her so that it was neuer seene more very likely for a priuy or a fishpond might meet with it by the way as it had done a number more in former later times A thousand such lies as these shall you find in their Legends and martyrologies and other bookes insomuch that Espensaens a learned Bishop of their owne doth freely confesse that no stable is so full of doung as the Legends are full of fables yea that very fictions are contained in their portesses and Canus another learned writer that the Pagan Histriographers did more truely write the liues of Emperours then the Christians did the liues of Saints and that in the golden Legend there are monsters for miracles rather then true miracles and that hee which wrote this booke was a man of a brasen face and a leaden heart 23. Thus it is euident by the confession of many learned of their owne side that these bee lying tales coyned as holy deceits as some of them terme them but more truely as deuilish deuices not to maintaine the truth but errour for how can that bee the truth which standeth in need of lying to maintaine it Caietane a Cardinall and a great learned diuine sayth that the credit of the Romish miracles dependeth vpon the report of men who may deceiue others and bee deceiued themselues and Antoninus the Archbishop of Florence calleth the visions of Bernard and Briget touching the conception of the Virgin Mary fantastick visions and mens dreams why should wee then beleeue them to bee true when as they themselues beleeue them not 24. If they obiect and say why may not these miracles be as true as those which are reported by many of the ancient Fathers and seeing famous miracles haue beene in all ages of the Church why should these last ages bee suspected for falsity more then the former I answere first that those Fathers themselues which were reporters of such miracles yet did repose no such confidence in them as to build their faith vpon them as the Romanists doe for Saint Augustine sayth Quisquis adhuc c. Whosoeuer yet seeketh aften wonders that hee may beleeue is himselfe a great wonder who when the world beleeueth doth not beleeue and in another place Contra istos mirabilirios c. Against these miracle-mongers my God hath made mee wary saying there shall arise in the last dayes false Prophets working signes and wonders that they might lead into errour if it were possible the very Elect. And Chrysostome or whosoeuer els was the author of those learned homilies on Mathew proueth that the true Church of Christ cannot bee discerned or knowen by signes or other meane but onely by the Scripture and that the working of miracles is more found among false Christians then true Tertullian sayth plainly that the Heretikes did raise the dead cure maladies foretell things to come the same is affirmed by Chrysostome Ierome Eutheâ—ius Theophilact as witnesseth Maldonate the Iesuite by which it appeareth that the Fathers thought miracles were not to bee regarded except they were wrought for the confirmation of the truth and that a miracle was to bee examined by the doctrine not the doctrine by a miracle and therefore that they are not any proper and true markes of the Church as the Romanists make them nay that they are rather markes of Antichrist and his Church as both our Sauiour and Saint Paul plainely auouch so that by this their great bragge of miracles they giue vs this strong aduantage against them that their Pope is Antichrist and their Church Antichristian which otherwise wee should want 25. And secondly I answere that they themselues reiect diuerse miracles of the fathers as fantastick visions and mens dreames so doth Antoninus call the vision of Bernard and Briget in the question of the Virgin Maries conception and Canus taxeth Gregory and Bede with this that they missed the marke now and then who wrote miracles talked of and beleeued among the vulgar that is which they receiued by heare-say and not by any eye-witnesse or sound proofe now why should wee be restrained from that liberty towards the rest which they take towards Gregory and Bede especially seeing many of their miracles are such as no reasonable man would euer beleeue and deserue rather the splene then the braine as for example Saint Ierome reporteth this to bee one of Saint Anthonies miracles how Anthonie trauailing in the wildernesse to seeke out Paul the Hermite met with a Centaure halfe a man and halfe a horse who spoke to him and shewed him the way and by and by when the Centaure was gone meeteth him another Monster like a Satyre with a hook nose and hornes on his head the lower part of his body like a goat offering him a branch of palme whom Anthony asking who he was he answered I am a mort all creature an inhabitant of the wildernes such an one as the Gentiles deluded with error called a Satyre and I am come as an Embassadour from my flocke to beseech yon to pray to God for vs whom wee know to bee come for the saluation of the world whose sound is gone through the earth if this bee true that there are such monsters or if they bee that they beleeue in Christ and so may bee saued let vs beleue then all that euer the Poets haue written of Ixion Polyphemus Pan Silenus other such like moÌ„sters Gregory Nissen writeth touching Thammaturgus that the Virgin Mary and Saint Iohn camedown from heaueÌ„ to him taught him his creed which is as likely to bee true as that which the Poets write of Apollo that taght Aesculâ—pius the rules of Physick or the Rabbines of the Angell Sanbasser that was Adams Schoolmaster 26. Saint Bernard in the life of Malachias if at least that booke bee Saint Bernards telleth vs of Malchus the teacher of Malachias how hee restored hearing to one that was deafe and how the patient confessed that when the holy man put his fingers into both his eares hee felt as it were two pigges issuing out of them Againe hee reporteth that a certaine Prior of the Regular Friers seing Malachie the Bishop to haue many seruants but few horses gaue vnto him the horse that hee rode on which beeing a restie iade and setting hard at the first the Bishop found him so but ere hee had ridden farre by a wonderfull change hee prooued a very excellent and precious palfrey ambling most sweetly the like tale wee reade in the Dialogues ascribed to Gregory of a horse which a Noble-man lent to Pope Iohn which beeing a very gentle sober nagge when as afterward the noble mans wife should bee set vpon him hee pust and pranced and stampt most strongly disdaining that a woman should sit vpon his backe which had carried the
they done it to gaine any thing thereby in disputation but onely to keepe the common people from infection whereas they spare none neither Fathers nor Councels nor moderne Writers and that not so much lest the common sort should bee infected as that the learned might be depriued of those weapons wherewith they might fight against them and wound their cause Seeing the case now so stands that hee which can muster vp together the greatest armie of Authours to fight vnder his colours is thought to haue the best cause their dealing then with vs is like that of the Philistims against the Israelites who despoyled them of all weapons and instruments of warre that they might dominiere ouer them with greater securitie but ours is not so towards them And therefore both in this and all the former respects it is a miserable vntruth and a desperate cuasion to say that wee are more guiltie of this crime then they are 107. Lastly whereas in his first answere hee pleadeth the lawfulnesse of the fact let vs heare his reasons to moue thereunto and in the interim remember that in prouing it to bee lawfull hee confesseth it to bee done But why is it lawfull Mary first because the Church being supreme Iudge on earth of all Controuersies touching faith and Religion hath authoritie to condemne Heretikes And therefore also the workes of Heretikes and if this then much more to correct and purge their Bookes if by that meanes shee can make them profitable for her vse and beneficiall to her children To which I answere two things First that it is not the Church that doth this but the sacred Inquisitors to wit certaine Cardinals and Lawyers deputed to that office who for the most part are so farre from being the Church that they are often no sound members thereof Iâ— it be said that they haue their authoritie from the Pope who is vertually the whole Church why doe they then speake so darkly and say the Church hath this authoritie when as they might in plaine termes say that the Pope hath it but that hereby they should display the feeblenesse of their cause and the fillinesse of this reason for thus it would stand Why is it lawful for Books to be purged because the Pope thinkes it lawful And must not he needs think so when the Authors crosse his triple crowne and speake against his state and dignitie Adde hereunto that it is a fallacie in reasoning when that is taken for granted which is in question For we deny their Synagogue to be the true Church and much more the Pope to bee the supreme Iudge and therefore till those things be proued the reason is of no effect 108. Secondly most of those things which are purged by them are so farre from being heresies or errours that they are the most of them sound doctrines of faith grounded vpon the authoritie of Gods sacred truth for they blot out many things in both olde and new Authours that they themselues dare not accuse to bee hereticall as that place in Saint Cyril before mentioned touching the power of faith which is no more in direct termes then that which is said in the Scripture Act. 15. 15. that faith purifieth the heart and that in the Basil Index of Chrysostome The Church is not built vpon a man but vpon faith and those propositions which are commanded by the Dutch Index to be wiped out of the Table of Robert Stephens Bible to wit that sinnes are remitted by beleeuing in Christ that he which beleeueth in Christ shall not die for euer that faith purifieth the heart that Christ is our righteousnes that no man is iust before God and that repentance is the gift of God with a number of like nature These they purge out of Stephens Index which notwithstanding are directly and in as many words recorded in the Booke of God and so it may iustly be thought that they are so farre from clenfing Bookes from the drosse and dregs of errour that they rather purge out the pure gold and cleare wine of truth and leaue nothing but dregs and drosse behind 109. His second reason is because nothing is more dangerous to infect true Christian hearts then bad Bookes Therefore it is not onely lawfull but needfull and behoouefull to the Church of God that such Bookes should bee purged and burned too if it bee so thought meete by the Church to the end that the sinceritie of one true faith and Religion might be preserued I answere all this is true which he saith but are they heresies which they purge no they are sound and orthodox opinions for the most part as hath beene proued in the answere to the former reason And doe they it to keepe Christian men from infection no their chiefe end and drift is to depriue their aduersaries of all authorities that make against them that so they might triumph in the antiquitie of their Religion and noueltie of ours which is one of their principall arguments which they vse though with euill successe for defence of their cause dealing herein as Holofernes did with the Israelites at the siege of Bethulia breaking the Conduits cutting the pipes and slopping the passages which might bring vs prouision of good and wholsome waters out of the cisternes of olde and new Writers this is their purpose and no other whatsoeuer they pretend for if they meant any good to Gods people for preuenting of infection they would haue purged their lying Legends of infinite fables their Canon Law of horrible blasphemies and their Schoolemen of many strange opinions Yea they would haue condemned the Bookes of Machiauel and of that Cardinall that wrote in commendation of the vnnaturall sinne of Sodomie and a number such like filthy and deuillish Writings which are printed and reprinted among them without controulement And againe is it vnitie in the true faith and religion that they seeke no it is conspiracie in falshood and consent in errour and not vnitie in the truth till the Romish Religion bee proued to bee the true Religion which can neuer be this reason is of no force to iustifie their proceedings Lastly is it Christian policy no it is deuilish subtletie and craftie forgerie for the case so stands betwixt them and vs as in a tryall of land betwixt partie and partie wherein hee that bringeth best euidence and witnesse carrieth the cause now if one partie either suborne false witnesses or corrupt true or forge euidences to his purpose or falsifie those that are extant all men will count him as a forger and his cause desperate and iudge him worthie the Pillorie so betwixt vs the question is who hath the right faith and the best title to the Church Our euidences are first and principally Gods Word then the writings and records of godly men in all ages now then they that shall purge pare raze blurr falsify or corrupt any of these must needs bee thought to bee subtle and craftie companions and not honest