a Synod of German and French Bishops at Francford who discussed the Acts pass'd at Nice and condemn'd them And the Acts of this Synod although they were diligently suppressed by the Popes arts yet Eginardus Hincmarus Aventinus Blondus Adon Aymonius and Regino famous Historians tell us That the Bishops of Francford condemn'd the Synod of Nice and commanded it should not be called a General Council and published a Book under the name of the Emperor confuting that unchristian Assembly and not long since this Book and the Acts of Francford were published by Bishop Tillius by which not only the infinite fraud of the Roman Doctors is discover'd but the worship of Images is declar'd against and condemned A while after this Ludovicus the son of Charlemain sent Claudius a famous Preacher to Taurinum in Italy where he preach'd against the worshipping of Images and wrote an excellent book to that purpose Against this book Jonas Bishop of Orleans after the death of Ludovicus and Claudius did write In which he yet durst not assert the worship of them but confuted it out of Origen whose words he thus cites Images are neither to be esteemed by inward affection nor worshipped with outward shew and out of Lactantius these Nothing is to be worshipped that is seen with mortal eyes Let us adore let us worship nothing but the name alone of our only Parent who is to be sought for in the Regions above not here below And to the same purpose he also alleges excellent words out of Fulgentius and S. Hierom and though he would have Images retain'd and therefore was angry at 〈◊〉 who caus'd them to be taken down yet he himself expresly affirms that they ought not to be worshipped and withall adds that though they kept the Images in their Churches for history and ornament yet that in France the worshipping of them was had in great detestation And though it is not to be denied but that in the sequel of Jonas his book he does something prevaricate in this question yet it is evident that in France this Doctrine was not accounted Catholick for almost nine hundred years after Christ and in Germany it was condemned for almost 1200 years as we find in 〈◊〉 WE are not unskill'd in the devices of the Roman Writers and with how much 〈◊〉 they would excuse this whole matter and palliate the crime imputed to them and elude the Scriptures expresly condemning this Superstition But we know also that the arts of Sophistry are not the ways of Salvation And therefore we exhort our people to follow the plain words of Scripture and the express Law of God in the second Commandment and add also the exhortation of S. John Little children keep your selves from Idols To conclude it is impossible but that it must be confessed that the worship of Images was a thing unknown to the primitive Church in the purest times of which they would not allow the making of them as amongst divers others appears in the Writings of Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian and Origen SECT IX Picturing God the Father and the Holy Trinity a scandalous practice in the Roman Church It is against the Doctrine and practice of the Primitive Church and of the wiser Heathens who had no Images or Pictures of their gods AS an Appendage to this we greatly reprove the custom of the Church of Rome in picturing God the Father and the most holy and undivided Trinity which besides that it ministers infinite scandal to all sober-minded men and gives the new Arrians in Polonia and Anti-Trinitarians great and ridiculous entertainment exposing that sacred Mystery to derision and scandalous contempt It is also which at present we have undertaken particularly to remark against the doctrine and practice of the primitive Catholick Church S. Clemens of Alexandria says that in the Discipline of Moses God was not to be represented in the shape of a Man or of any other thing and that Christians understood themselves to be bound by the same Law we find it expresly taught by Origen Tertullian Eusebius Athanasius S. Hierom S. Austin Theodoret Damascen and the Synod of Constantinople as it is reported in the 6. Action of the second Nicene Council And certainly if there were not a strange spirit of contradiction or superstition or deflexion from the Christian Rule greatly 〈◊〉 in the Church of Rome it were impossible that this practice should be so countenanc'd by them and defended so to no purpose with so much scandal and against the natural reason of mankind and the very Law of Nature it self For the Heathens were sufficiently by the light of Nature taught to abominate all Pictures or Images of God Sed nulla effigies simulacraque nulla Deorum Majestate locum sacro implevere timore They in their earliest ages had no Pictures no Images of their Gods Their Temples were filled with majesty and a sacred fear and the reason is given by Macrobius Antiquity made no Image viz. of God because the supreme God and the mind that is born of him that is his Son the eternal Word as it is beyond the Soul so it is above Nature and therefore it is not lawful that Figments should come thither 〈◊〉 Callistus relating the heresie of the Armenians and Jacobites says they made Images of the Father Son and Holy Ghost quod perquam ab sur dum est Nothing is more absurd than to make Pictures or Images of the Persons of the holy and adorable Trinity And yet they do this in the Church of Rome For in the windows of their Churches even 〈◊〉 Countrey-villages where the danger cannot be denied to be great and the scandal insupportable nay in their books of Devotion in their very Mass-books and breviaries in their Portuises and Manuals they picture the holy Trinity with three noses and four eyes and three faces in a knot to the great dishonour of God and scandal of Christianity it self We add no more for the case is too evidently bad but reprove the error with the words of their own Polydore Virgil Since the world began never was any thing more foolish than to picture God who is present every where SECT X. Setting up the Pope as universal Bishop an Innovation Among the Apostles the first Church-Governours no Prerogative of one over the rest a remarkable testimony of S. Cyprian to prove it Bishops succeeded the Apostles without Superiority of one over another by Christs Law The Pope has invaded their rights and diminished their power many ways Primitivs Fathers make every Bishop to have a share of power not from another Bishop but from Christ and are against one Bishops judging and forcing another Bishop to obedience Popes opposed when they interposed their authority in the affairs of other Churches THE last Instance of Innovations introduc'd in Doctrine and Practice by the Church of Rome that we shall represent is
our selves and our infinite distances from God but if love makes you speak speak on so shall your prayers be full of charity and devotion Nullus est amore superior ille te coget ad veniam qui me ad multiloquium Love makes God to be our friend and our approches more united and acceptable and therefore you may say to God the same love which made me speak will also move me to hear and pardon Love and devotion may enlarge your Letanies but nothing else can unless Authority does interpose 6. BE curious not to communicate but with the true Sons of the Church of England lest if you follow them that were amongst us but are gone out from us because they were not of us you be offended and tempted to impute their follies to the Church of England 7. TROUELE your self with no controversies willingly but how you may best please God by a strict and severe conversation 8. IF any Protestant live loosely remember that he dishonours an excellent Religion and that it may be no more laid upon the charge of our Church than the ill lives of most Christians may upon the whole Religion 9. LET no man or woman affright you with declamations and scaring words of Heretick and Damnation and Changeable for these words may be spoken against them that return to light as well as to those that go to darkness and that which men of all sides can say it can be of effect to no side upon its own strength or pretension THE END BOOKS written by J. Taylor D. D. Lord Bishop of Down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Course of Sermons for all the Sundays of the year together with a discourse of the Divine Institution Necessity Sacredness and Separation of the Office Ministerial in fol. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ in fol. the 7. Edit The Rule and Exercises of holy living and dying oct The Golden Grove or a Manual of daily Prayers sitted to the days of the week together with a short Method of Peace and Holiness to which is added a Guide to the Penitent in 12. A Collection of Polemical and Moral discourses in fol. A Discourse of the Nature Offices and Measure of Friendship in 12. Ductor Dubitantium or the Rule of Conscience fol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Supplement to the ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or course of Sermons for the whole year All that have been Preached and Published since the Restauration to which is adjoyned his Advice to the Clergy of his Diocese A Discourse of Confirmation in oct Several Chirurgical Treatises by Richard Wiseman Serjeant-Chirurgeon the Second Edition in fol. The Catholick doctrine of the Eucharist in all Ages in Answer to what Mr. Arnaud Doctor of the Sorborn alledges touching the Belief of the Greek Moscovite Armenian Jacobite Nestorian Coptic Maronite and other Eastern Churches in fol. XXII Sermons preached before His MAJESTY King CHARLES II. at Whitehal by H. Killigrew D. D. and published by the Reverend Dr. Patrick Quarto Winter-Evening Conserence in three parts between Neighbours The third part being newly printed in octavo Animadversions upon a book Intituled Fanaticism Fanatically imputed to the Catholick Church by Dr. Stilling fleet in Vindication of the Church of England by a person of Honour ALL Sold by R. Royston Book seller at the Angel in Amen-Corner 1 〈◊〉 6. 4. Phil. 2. 14. Contra 〈◊〉 De verae fide Moral reg 72. c. 1 reg 80. c. 22. Epist. Pasch. 2. De incarn Christi 〈◊〉 2. cap. de Origen error Lib. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. comperimus de consecr dist 2. in 1 Cor. 11. Eccl. 11. 6. De unit Eccles. c. 6. * Ecclesia ex sacris canonicis Scripturis 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 ex illis ostendi non potest Ecclesia non est S. Aug. de uni Eccles. c. 4. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecclesiam ibi decernamus causam nostram * Lib. Candiscip Eccl. Angl. injunct Regin Elis. A. D. 1571 Can. de 〈◊〉 Dat. 3. Calen Mart. 〈◊〉 * Quod sit metrum regula ac scientia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de Ecclesia l. 2. c. 〈◊〉 ‖ Novum Symbolum condere solum ad Papam spectat quia est caput sidei Christiane cujus authoritate omnia quae ad fidem spectant 〈◊〉 roborantur q. 59. a. 1. art 2. sicut potest novum symbolum condere ita potest novos articulos supra alios multiplicare * Papa potest facere novos articulos fidei id est quod modo credi oporteat cum sic 〈◊〉 non oporteret In cap. cum Christus de 〈◊〉 n. 2. ‖ Papa potest inducere novum articulum 〈◊〉 In idem * Super 2. Decret de jurejur c. nimis n. 1. ‖ Apud Petrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. instit per. ca. 69. * Jobannes Clemens aliquot folia Theodoretilaceravit abjecit in focum in quibus contra transubstantiationem praeclare disseruit Et cum non it a pridem Originem excuderent totum illud caput sextum Jobannis quod commentabatur Origines omiserunt mutilum ediderunt librum propter candem causam * Sixtus Senensis epist. dedicat ad Pium Quin. laudat 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 verba Expurgari emaculari curasti omnium Catholicorum Scriptorum ac praecipuè veterum 〈◊〉 scripta Index expurgator Madr. 1612. in Indice libror expurgatorum pag. 39. Gal. 1. 8. Part. 2. act 6. c. 7. De potest Eccles. Concil 〈◊〉 De Concil author l 2. c. 17. S. 1. Sess. 21. c. 4. Part. 1. Sum. tit 10. c. 3. In art 18. 〈◊〉 * Intravit ut vulpes regnavit ut leo 〈◊〉 ut canis de eo 〈◊〉 dictum Tertul. 1. ad Martyr c. 1. S. Cyprian lib. 3. Ep. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 11. Concil Nicen. 1. can 12. Conc. 〈◊〉 c. 5. Concil Laodicen c. 2. S. Basil. in Ep. canonicis habentur in Nomocanone Photii can 73. * Communis opinio D. D. tan Theologorum quam Canonicorum quod sunt ex abundantia meritorum quae ultra mensuram demeritorum suorum sancti sustinuerunt Christi Sum. Angel v. Indulg 9. * Lib. 1. de indulgent c. 2. 3. * In 4. l sen. dist 19 q. 2. ‖ Ib dist 20 q. 3. Vbi supra In lib. 4. sent Verb. Indulgentia Vt quid non praevides tibi in die judicii quando nemo 〈◊〉 per alium excusari vel defendi sed unusquisque sufficiens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sibi ipsi Tho. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 1. de imit c. 24. * Homil. 1. in ep ad Philom ‖ Serm. de Martyrib Serm. 1. de Advent 〈◊〉 18. 22. * Neque ab iis quos sanas lente languor abscedit sed illico quem restituis ex integro convalescit quia consummatum est quod facis perfectum quod largiris S. Cyprian de coena Domini vel potius Arnoldus P. Gelasius de vincul anathem negat 〈◊〉 deberi 〈◊〉 si culpa corrigatur * 〈◊〉 gratiae finalis peccatum veniale in
Nunquam CHRISTO Charior quam sub Cruce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Dissuasive FROM POPERY TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND Together with II. Additional Letters to Persons changed in their Religion I. The first written to a Gentlewoman newly seduced to the Church of Rome II. The second to a Person newly converted to the Church of England By JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down LONDON Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in Amen-Corner MDCLXXXVI THE PREFACE TO THE READER WHen a Roman Gentleman had to please himself written a Book in Greek and presented it to Cato he desir'd him to pardon the faults of his Expressions since he wrote in Greek which was a Tongue in which he was not perfect Master Cato told him he had better then to have let it alone and written in Latin by how much it is better not to commit a fault than to make apologies For if the thing be good it needs not to be excus'd if it be not good a crude apologie will do nothing but confess the fault but never makes amends I therefore make this Address to all who will concern themselves in reading this Book not to ask their pardon for my 〈◊〉 in doing of it I know of none for if I had known them I would have mended them before the Publication and yet though I know not any I do not question but much fault will be found by too many I wish I have given them no cause for their so doing But I do not only mean it in the particular Periods where every man that is not a Son of the Church of England or Ireland will at least do as Apollonius did to the Apparition that affrighted his company on the Mountain Caucasus he will revile and persecute me with evil words but I mean it in the whole Design and men will reasonably or capriciously ask Why any more Controversies Why this over again Why against the Papists against whom so very many are already exasperated that they cry out 〈◊〉 of Persecution And why can they not be 〈◊〉 to enjoy their share of peace which hath returned in the hands of His Sacred Majesty at his blessed Restauration For as much of this as concerns my self I make no excuse but give my reasons and hope to 〈◊〉 this procedure with that modesty which David us'd to his angry brother saying What have I now done Is there not a cause The cause is this The Reverend Fathers my Lords the Bishops of Ireland in their circumspection and watchfulness over their Flocks having espied grievous Wolves to have entered in some with Sheeps-clothing and some without some secret enemies and some open at first endeavour'd to give check to those enemies which had put fire into the bed-straw and though God hath very much prosper'd their labours yet they have work enough to do and will have till God shall call them home to the land of peace and unity But it was soon remembred that when King James of blessed memory had discerned the spirits of the English Non-conformists and found them peevish and 〈◊〉 unreasonable and imperious not only unable to govern but as inconsistent with the Government as greedy to snatch at it for themselves resolved to take off their disguise and put a difference between Conscience and Faction and to bring them to the measures and rules of Laws and to this the Council and all wise men were consenting because by the King 's great wisdom and the conduct of the whole Conference and Inquiry men saw there was reason on the King's side and 〈◊〉 on all sides But the Gun-powder Treason breaking out a new Zeal was 〈◊〉 against the Papists and it shin'd so greatly that the Non-conformists escap'd by the light of it and quickly grew warm by the heat of that flame to which they added no small increase by their Declamations and other acts of insinuation insomuch that they being neglected multiply'd until they got power enough to do all those mischiefs which we have seen and felt This being remembred and spoken of it was soon observ'd that the Tables only were now turn'd and that now the publick zeal and watchfulness against those men and those persuasions which so lately have afflicted us might give to the Emissaries of the Church of Rome leisure and opportunity to grow into numbers and strength to debauch many Souls and to 〈◊〉 the safety and peace of the Kingdom In Ireland we saw too much of it done and found the mischief growing too fast and the most intolerable inconveniencies but too justly apprehended as near and imminent We had reason at least to cry Fire when it flamed through our very Roofs and to interpose with all care and diligence when Religion and the eternal Interest of Souls was at stake as knowing we should be greatly unfit to appear and account to the great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls if we had suffer'd the enemies to sow tares in our fields we standing and looking on It was therefore consider'd how we might best serve God and rescue our charges from their danger and it was concluded presently to run to arms I mean to the weapons of our warfare to the armour of the Spirit to the works of our calling and to tell the people of their peril to warn them of the enemy and to lead them in the ways of truth and peace and holiness that if they would be admonished they might be safe if they would not they should be without excuse because they could not say but the Prophets have been amongst them But then it was next enquired who should minister in this affair and put in order all those things which they had to give in charge It was easie to chuse many but hard to chuse one there were many fit to succeed in the vacant Apostleship and though Barsabas the Just was by all the Church nam'd as a fit and worthy man yet the lot fell upon Matthias and that was my case it fell to me to be their Amanuensis when persons most worthy were more readily excus'd and in this my Lords the Bishops had reason that according to S. Paul's rule If there be judgments or controversies amongst us they should be imploy'd who are least esteem'd in the Church and upon this account I had nothing left me but Obedience though I confess that I found regret in the nature of the imployment for I love not to be as S. Paul calls it one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disputers of this world For I suppose skill in Controversies as they are now us'd to be the worst part of Learning and time is the worst spent in them and men the least benefited by them that is when the Questions are curious and impertinent intricate and inexplicable not to make men better but to make a Sect. But when the Propositions disputed are of the foundation of Faith or lead to good life or naturally do good to single persons or publick societies then they
question is after what manner it is so whether after the manner of the slesh or after the manner of spiritual grace and sacramental consequence We with the Holy Scriptures and the primitive Fathers affirm the latter The Church of Rome against the words of Scripture and the explication of Christ and the doctrine of the primitive Church affirm the former 2. That they be careful not to admit such Doctrines under a pretence of being Ancient since although the Roman errour hath been too long admitted and is ancient in respect of our days yet it is an innovation in Christianity and brought in by ignorance power and superstition very many Ages after Christ. 3. We exhort them that they remember the words of Christ when he explicates the doctrine of giving us his flesh for meat and his bloud for drink that he tells us The flesh profiteth nothing but the words which be speaks are spirit and they are life 4. THAT if those ancient and primitive Doctors above cited say true and that the symbols still remain the same in their natural substance and properties even after they are blessed and when they are receiv'd and that Christ's body and bloud are only present to faith and to the spirit that then whoever tempts them to give Divine honour to these symbols or elements as the Church of Rome does tempts them to give to a creature the due and incommunicable propriety of God and that then this evil passes further than an errour in the understanding for it carries them to a dangerous practice which cannot reasonably be excus'd from the crime of Idolatry To conclude THIS matter of it self is an error so prodigiously great and dangerous that we need not tell of the horrid and blasphemous questions which are sometimes handled by them concerning this Divine Mystery As if a Priest going by a Baker's shop and saying with intention Hoc est corpus meum whether all the Bakers bread be turned into the body of Christ Whether a Church mouse does eat her Maker Whether a man by eating the consecrated symbols does break his fast For if it be not bread and wine he does not and if it be Christ's body and bloud naturally and properly it is not bread and wine Whether it may be said the Priest is in some sense the Creator of God himself Whether his power be greater than the power of Angels and Archangels For that it is so is expresly affirmed by Cassenaeus Whether as a Bohemian Priest said that a Priest before he say his first Mass be the Son of God but afterward he is the Father of God and the Creator of his body But against this blasphemy a book was written by John Huss about the time of the Council of Constance But these things are too bad and therefore we love not to rake in so filthy chanels but give only a general warning to all our Charges to take heed of such persons who from the proper consequences of their Articles grow too bold and extravagant and of such doctrines from whence these and many other evil Propositions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequently do issue As the tree is such must be the fruit But we hope it may be sufficient * to say That what the Church of Rome teaches of Transubstantiation is absolutely impossible and implies contradictions very many to the belief of which no faith can oblige us and no reason can endure For Christ's body being in heaven glorious spiritual and impassible cannot be broken And since by the Roman doctrine nothing is broken but that which cannot be broken that is the colour the taste and other accidents of the elements yet if they could be broken since the accidents of bread and wine are not the substance of Christ's body and bloud it is certain that on the Altar Christ's body naturally and properly cannot be broken * And since they say that every consecrated Wafer is Christ's whole body and yet this Wafer is not that Wafer therefore either this or that is not Christ's body or else Christ hath two bodies for there are two Wafers * But when Christ instituted the Sacrament and said This is my body which is broken because at that time Christ's body was not broken naturally and properly the very words of Institution do force us to understand the Sacrament in a sense not natural but spiritual that is truly sacramental * And all this is besides the plain demonstrations of sense which tells us it is bread and it is wine naturally as much after as before consecration * And after all the natural sense is such as our blessed Saviour reprov'd in the men of Capernaum and called them to a spiritual understanding the natural sense being not only unreasonable and impossible but also to no purpose of the spirit or any ways perfective of the soul as hath been clearly demonstrated by many learned men against the fond hypothesis of the Church of Rome in this Article SECT VI. Half Communion tho' confessed to be otherwise in Christs institution and primitive practice required upon pain of Excommunication The Question now is not so much whether it be a new as a better practice than what Christ instituted Council of Constance Cassander Aquinas c. acknowledge the Novelty Pope Gelasius calls it sacrilege Greek Church communicates the people in the Chalice OUR next instance of the novelty of the Roman Religion in their Articles of division from us is that of the half Communion For they deprive the people of the Chalice and dismember the institution of Christ and praevaricate his 〈◊〉 law in this particular and recede from the practice of the Apostles and though they confess it was the practice of the primitive Church yet they lay it aside and cur so all them that say they do amiss in it that is they curse them who follow Christ and his Apostles and his Church while themselves deny to follow them Now for this we need no other testimony but their own words in the Council of Constance Whereas in certain parts of the word some temerariously presume to affirm that the Christian people ought to receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist under both kinds of bread and wine and do every where communicate the Laity not only in bread but in wine also ---- Hence it is that the Council decrees and defines against this error that although Christ instituted after supper and administred this venerable Sacrament under both kinds of bread and wine yet this notwithstanding ---- And although in the primitive Church this Sacrament was receiv'd of the faithful under both kinds Here is the acknowledgment both of Christs institution in both kinds and Christs ministring it in both kinds and the practice of the primitive Church to give it in both kinds yet the conclusion from these premisses is We command under the pain of Excommunication that no Priest communicate the people under both kinds of bread and wine The
certainly it gives confidence to many men to sin and to most men to neglect the greater and more effective parts of 〈◊〉 repentance WE shall not need to observe how Confession is made a Minister of State a Pick-lock of secrets a Spy upon families a Searcher of inclinations a Betraying to temptations for this is wholly by the sault of the Men and not of the Doctrine but even the Doctrine it self as it is handled in the Church of Rome is so far from bringing peace to the troubled Consciences that it intromits more scruples and cases than it can resolve FOR besides that it self is a question and they have made it dangerous by pretending that it is by Divine Right and Institution for so some of the Schoolmen teach and the Canonists say the contrary and that it is only of humane and positive Constitution and by this difference in so great a point have made the whole Oeconomy of their repentance which relies upon the supposed necessity of Confession to fail or to shake vehemently and at the best to be a foundation too uncertain to build the hopes of salvation on it besides all this we say Their Rules and Doctrines of Confession enjoyn some things that are of themselves dangerous and lead into temptation An instance of this is in that which is decreed in the Canons of Trent that the Penitent must not only confess every mortal sin which after diligent inquiry he remembers but even his very sinful thoughts in particular and his 〈◊〉 desires and every circumstance which changes the kind of the sin or as some add does notably increase it and how this can be safely done and who is sufficient for these things and who can tell his circumstances without tempting his Confessor or betraying and defaming another person which is forbidden and in what cases it may be done or in what cases omitted and whether the confession be 〈◊〉 upon infinite other considerations and whether it be to be repeated in whole or in part and how often and how much these things are so uncertain casual and contingent and so many cases are multiplied upon every one of these and these so disputed and argued by their greatest Doctors by Thomas and Scotus and all the Schoolmen and by the Casuists that as Beat us Rhenanus complains it was truly observed by the famous John Geilerius that according to their cases enquiries and conclusions it is impossible for any man to make a right Confession So that although the shame of private Confession be very tolerable and easie yet the cases and scruples which they have introduc'd are neither easie nor tolerable and though as it is now used there be but little in it to restrain sin yet there is very much danger of increasing it and of receiving no benefit by it SECT III. Penances in the Roman Church very ineffectual how they differ from the antient Canonical ones Indulgences will relieve him that thinks his enjoyned penances too severe What vast stores of Pardons that Church boasts of and upon what easie terms granted They serve themselves by them but do not serve God An account why so many thousand years of pardon need be granted A holy life seems only necessary for him that has neither friends nor money BUT then for Penances and Satisfactions of which they boast so much as being so great restraints to sin these as they are publickly handled are nothing but words and ineffective sounds For first if we consider what the Penances themselves are which are enjoyned they are reduced from the antient Canonical Penances to private and arbitrary from years to hours from great severity to gentleness and slattery from fasting and publick shame to the saying over their Beads from Cordial to ritual from smart to money from heartiness and earnest to pageantry and theatrical Images of Penance and if some Confessors happen to be severe there are ways enough to be eased For the Penitent may have leave to go to a gentler or he may get Commutations or he may get somebody else to do them for him and if his Penances be never so great or never so little yet it may be all supplied by Indulgences of which there are such store in the Lateran at Rome that as Pope Boniface said No man is able to number them yet he confirm'd them all IN the Church of Sancta Maria de Popolo there are for every day in the year two thousand and eight hundred years of pardon besides fourteen thousand and fourteen Carentanes which in one year amount to more than a Million all which are confirm'd by the Pope Paschal I. Boniface VIII and Gregory IX In the Church of S. Vitus and Modestus there are for every day in the year seven thousand years and seven thousand Carentanes of pardon and a pardon of a third part of all our sins besides and the price of all this is but praying before an Altar in that Church At the Sepulchre of Christ in Venice there is hung up a prayer of S. Augustine with an Indulgence of fourscore and two thousand years granted by Boniface the VIII who was of all the Popes the most bountiful of the Churches treasure and Benedict the XI to him that shall say it and that for every day toties quoties The Divine pardon of Sica gave a plenary Indulgence to every one that being confessed and communicated should pray there in the Franciscan Church of Sancta Maria de gli Angeli and this pardon is ab omni poena culpa The English of that we easily understand but the meaning of it we do not because they will not own that these Indulgences do profit any one whose guilt is not taken away by the Sacrament of Penance But this is not the only snare in which they have inextricably entangled themselves but be it as they please for this whatever it was it was since inlarged by Sixtus IV. and Sixtus V. to all that shall wear S. Francis's Cord. The saying a few Pater nosters and Ave's before a privileg'd Altar can in innumerable places procure vast portions of this Treasure and to deliver a soul out of Purgatory whom they list is promised to many upon easie terms even to the saying of their Beads over with an appendent Medal of the Pope's benediction Every Priest at his third or fourth Mass is as sure as may be to deliver the souls of his Parents And a thousand more such stories as these are to be seen every where and every day ONCE for all There was a book printed at Paris by Francis Regnault A. D. 1536. May 25. called The hours of the most blessed Virgin Mary according to the use of Sarum in which for the saying three short prayers written in Rome in a place called The Chapel of the holy Cross of seven Romans are promised fourscore and ten thousand years of pardon of deadly sin Now the meaning of these things is very plain By these
Church which is but the private opinion of one or more yet because we are now speaking of the infinite danger of souls in that communion and the horrid Propositions by which their Disciples are conducted to the disparagement of good life it is sufficient to allege the publick and allowed sayings of their Doctors because these sayings are their Rule of living and because the particular Rules of Conscience use not to be decreed in Councils we must derive them from the places where they grow and where they are to be found BUT besides you will say That this is but the private opinion of some Doctors and what then Therefore it is not to be called the Doctrine of the Roman Church True we do not say It is an Article of their Faith but a rule of manners This is not indeed in any publick Decree but we say that although it be not yet neither is the contrary And if it be but a private opinion yet is it safe to follow it or is it not safe For that 's the question and therein is the danger If it be safe then this is their rule A private opinion of any one grave Doctor may be safely followed in the questions of Vertue and Vice But if it be not safe to follow it and that this does not make an opinion probable or the practice safe Who says so Does the Church No Does Dr. Cajus or Dr. Sempronius say so Yes But these are not safe to follow for they are but private Doctors Or if it be safe to follow them though they be no more and the opinion no more but probable then I may take the other side and choose which I will and do what I list in most cases and yet be safe by the Doctrine of the Roman Casuists which is the great line and general measure of most mens lives and that is it which we complain of And we have reason for they suffer their Casuists to determine all cases severely and gently strictly and loosly that so they may entertain all spirits and please all dispositions and govern them by their own inclinations and as they list to be governed by what may please them not by that which profits them that none may go away scandaliz'd or 〈◊〉 from their penitential chairs BUT upon this account it is a sad reckoning which can be made concerning souls in the Church of Rome Suppose one great Doctor amongst them as many of them do shall say it is lawful to kill a King whom the Pope declares Heretick By the Doctrine of probability here is his warranty And though the Church do not declare that Doctrine that is the Church doth not make it certain in Speculation yet it may be safely done in practice Here is enough to give peace of conscience to him that does it Nay if the contrary be more safe yet if the other be but probable by reason or Authority you may do the less safe and refuse what is more For that also is the opinion of some grave Doctors If one Doctor says it is safe to swear a thing as of our knowledge which we do not know but believe it is so it is therefore probable that it is lawful to swear it because a grave Doctor says it and then it is safe enough to do so AND upon this account who could find fault with Pope Constantine the IV. who when he was accus'd in the Lateran Council for holding the See Apostolick when he was not in Orders justified himself by the example of Sergius Bishop of Ravenna and Stephen Bishop of Naples Here was exemplum bonorum honest men had done so before him and therefore he was innocent When it is observ'd by Cardinal Campegius and Albertus Pighius did teach That a Priest lives more holily and chastely that keeps a Concubine than he that hath a married Wife and then shall find in the Pope's Law That a Priest is not to be removed for fornication who will not or may not practically conclude that since by the Law of God marriage is holy and yet to some men fornication is more lawful and does not make a Priest irregular that therefore to keep a Concubine is very lawful especially since abstracting from the consideration of a man's being in Orders or not fornication it self is probably no sin at all For so says Durandus Simple fornication of it self is not a deadly sin according to the Natural Law and excluding all positive Law and Martinus de Magistris says to believe simple fornication to be no deadly sin is not heretical because the testimonies of Scripture are not express These are grave Doctors and therefore the opinion is probable and the practice safe When the good people of the Church of Rome hear it read That P. Clement 8. in the Index of Prohibited books says That the Bible publish'd in vulgar Tongues ought not to be read and retain'd no not so much as a compend of the History of the Bible and Bellarmine says that it is not necessary to salvation to believe that there are any Scriptures at all written and that Cardinal Hosius saith Perhaps it had been better for the Church if no Scriptures had been written They cannot but say that this Doctrine is probable and think themselves safe when they walk without the light of Gods Word and rely wholly upon the Pope or their Priest in what he is pleas'd to tell them and that they are no way oblig'd to keep that Commandment of Christ Search the Scriptures Cardinal Tolet says That if a Nobleman be set upon and may escape by going away he is not tied to it but may kill him that intends to strike him with a stick That if a man be in a great passion and so transported that he considers not what be says if in that case he does blaspheme he does not always sin That if a man be beastly drunk and then commit fornication that fornication is no sin That if a man desires carnal pollution that he may be eas'd of his carnal temptations or for his health it were no sin That it is lawful for a man to expose his bastards to the Hospital to conceal his own shame He says it out of Soto and he from Thomas Aquinas That if the times be hard or the Judge unequal a man that cannot sell his wine at a due price may lawfully make his Measures less than is appointed or mingle water with his wine and sell it for pure so he do not lie and yet if he does it is no mortal sin nor obliges him to restitution Emanuel Sà affirms That if a man lie with his intended wife before Marriage it is no sin or a light one nay quinetiam expedit si multum illa differatur it is good to do so if the benediction or publication of Marriage be much deferr'd That Infants in their cradles may be made Priests is the
can dispense with his oath and take off the Obligation This is expresly 〈◊〉 by one of the most moderate of them Canus Bishop of the Canaries But beyond dispute and even without a dispensation they all of them own it That if a man have promised to a woman to marry her and is betrothed to her and hath sworn it yet if he will before the consummation enter into a Monastery his Oath shall not bind him his promise is null but his second promise that shall stand And he that denies this is accursed by the Council of Trent NOT only husbands and wives espoused may break their vows and mutual obligation against the will of one another but in the Church of Rome children have leave given them to disobey their Parents so they will but turn Friers And this they might do Girls at twelve and Boys at the age of fourteen years but the Council of Trent enlarged it to sixteen But the thing was taught and decreed by Pope Clement the III. and Thomas Aquinas did so and then it was made lawful by him and his Scholars though it was expresly against the Doctrine and Laws of the preceding ages of the Church as appears in the Capitulars of Charles the Great But thus did the Pharisees teach their Children to Cry Corban and neglect their Parents to pretend Religion in prejudice of filial piety In this particular Aerodius a French Lawyer an excellently learned man suffered sadly by the loss and foreing of a hopeful Son from him and he complain'd most excellently in a Book written on purpose upon this subject BUT these mischiefs are Doctrinal and accounted lawful But in the matter of Marriages and Contracts Promises and Vows where a Doctrine fails it can be supplied by the Pope's power Which thing is avowed and own'd without a cover For when Pope Clement the V. condemn'd the Order of Knights Templers he disown'd any justice or right in doing it but stuck to his power Quanquam de jure non possumus tamen ex plenitudine potestatis dictum ordinem reprobamus that is though by right we cannot do it yet by the fulness of power we condemn the said Order For he can dispense always and in all things where there is cause and in many things where there is no cause sed sub majori pretio under a greater price said the tax of the Datary where the price of the several dispensations even in causà turpi in base and filthy causes are set down Intranti nummo quasi quodam Principe summo Exiliunt valvae nihil auditur nisi salve Nay the Pope can dispense suprà jus contra 〈◊〉 above Law and against Law and right said Mosconius in his books of the Majesty of the Militant Church For the Popes Tribunal and Gods is but one and therefore every reasonable creature is subject to the Popes Empire said the same Author And what Dispensations he usually gives we are best inform'd by a gloss of their own upon the Canon Law Not a mirabile quod cum co qui peccat Dispensatur cum illo autem qui non peccat non Dispensatur It is a wonderful thing that they should dispense with a Fornicator but not with him who marries after the death of his first wife * They give Divorces for Marriages in the fourth degree and give Dispensation to marry in the second These things are a sufficient charge and yet evidently so and publickly owned WE need not aggravate this matter by what Panormitan and others do say that the Pope hath power to dispense in all the Laws of God except the Articles of Faith and how much of this they own and practise needs no greater instance than that which Volaterran tells of Pope Innocent the VIII that he gave the Norvegians a Dispensation not only to communicate but to consecrate in bread only As the Pope by his Dispensations undertakes to dissolve the Ordinances of God so also the most solemn Contracts of men Of which a very great instance was given by Pope Clement the VII who dispensed with the Oath which Francis the I. of France solemnly swore to Charles the V. Emperor after the Battel of Pavy and gave him leave to be perjur'd And one of the late Popes dispens'd with the Bastard Son of the Conde D' Olivarez or rather plainly dissolv'd his marriage which he made and consummated with Isabella D' Azueta whom he had publickly married when he was but a mean person the son of Donna Marguerita Spinola and under the name of Julian Valeazar But when the Conde had declar'd him his son and heir the Pope dissolv'd the first marriage and gave him leave under the name of Henry Philip de Guzman to marry D. Juana de Valesco Daughter to the Constable of Castile AND now if it be considered what influence these Doctrines have upon Societies and Communities of men they will need no further reproof than a meer enumeration of the mischiefs they produce They by this means legitimate adulterous and incestuous marriages and disannul lawful Contracts They give leave to a Spouse to break his or her Vow and Promise and to Children to disobey their Parents and perhaps to break their Mothers heart or to undo a Family No words can bind your faith because you can be dispens'd with and if you swear you will not procure a Dispensation you can as well be dispens'd with for that perjury as the other and you cannot be tied so fast but the Pope can unloose you So that there is no certainty in your promise to God or faith to men in Judicatories to Magistrates or in Contracts with Merchants in the duty of Children to their Parents of Husbands to their Wives or Wives to their contracted Husbands of a Catholick to a Heretick and last of all a Subject to his Prince cannot be bound so strictly but if the Prince be not of the Popes persuasion or be by him judg'd a Tyrant his Subjects shall owe him no obedience But this is of particular consideration and reserv'd for the Third Section SECT II. Exemption of the Clergy from the Jurisdiction of Secular Princes This pretended to be by Divine right The evil consequences of it Plain Scripture against it The Sacredness of the Seal of Confession not to be broken to prevent the greatest evil and mischief THERE is yet another instance by which the Church of Rome does intolerable prejudice to Governments and Societies In which although the Impiety is not so apparent yet the evil is more own'd and notorious and defended and that is the Exemption of their Clergy from the Jurisdiction of Secular Princes and Magistrates both in their Estates and Persons Not only in the matters of Simony Heresie and Apostasie but in matters of Theft Perjury Murther Adultery Blasphemy and Treason In which cases they suffer not a Clergy man to be judged by the Secular power until the Church hath quit him and