for success that go down into Egypt for help cutting and launcing with lyes and falsities as with sharp Razors can such weapons prosper as are sharpened at the forges of Philistines is there no way to undermine Romanists but by digging as low as Hell in slandering the footsteps and traducing the persons of our Progenitors can that wisdome come from above which representeth the highest devotions practiced from antiquity as Fanaticism that makes all supernatural favours revelations extasies c. matter of drollery to term S. Francis S. Dominick c. Enthusiasts whom Tindal Act. Mon. 1338 Paâ—teleon Luther and the Centurists their very Adversaries call holy and good men and our very Almanacks these two hundred years have included in the Category of Saints The Doctor hath founded all the weight of his arguments upon false suppositions grosly imagining any inferior relative honour given to Saints Angels c. it is derogatory to the honour of God and perfect idolatry imitating therein the craft of the Devil who always covereth his malice with pretext of good impugneth the same under colour and pretence to defend Gods honour so the Serpent sâ—duced Eve So he boldly chargeth them with giving divine honour to Images accidents of bread and wine and unto Saints using the word adoration or honour for divine worship this we must suppose otherwise his whole book and arguments doth not â—ouch them or any thing to the purpose but phalerae aâ— populum Who ever that preteâ—ds to the name of a Christian but confâ—sses all religious divine worship is proper and due to God alone and no created thing whatsoever is capable of it He should have first proved his grounds solidly before he made his inferences upon them And so his large chapter of Idolatry might have seemed at least to have been somewhat ad rem whereas now it serveth to no other end but to discovery his fâ—lly and humoâ—r against Catholicks Why doth he cavil so about words all the ground of his disputation is upon the equivocation of words Can he be ignorant that the vulgar use have not words enough properly to signifie all our notions and conceptions The terms worship prayer invocation bowing down adoration c. for want of words are or may be equivocal For worship or prayer directed to God imports a total dependance in him and so our prayers c. are offered to God alone As applied to just and holy men it implies only a communion in the members of the Church militant or assistance of their prayers to him who only can give what we ask They pray not to Saints in the manner as they pray to God but desire their prayers as we do the just men on earth to pray for us How comes then the one to be idolatry and the other a recommendable action The word Adoration signifieth not only divine honour and worship but also religious and civil As may be proved out of the Scripture and Fathers The Protestants themselves grant the different kinds of worship and honour signified thereby These three Adoratious have many examples and testimonies in holy Writ as the word adoration is to be understood diversly either to God alone called Latria or to Angels and Saints holy men as servants of God and for love of him called Dulia The third a civil worship to men of dignity for some civil or temporal excellency These three kinds of adoration c. according to the different applications thereof cannot be distinguished in reading but by circumstances And because the corporeal exhibition of the same exterior acts of submission and reverence is common to all kinds of worship thence they are distinguished and diversified only by the intention and will of him that doth perform them Whence it is not to be wondred that as the ancient Fathers so Catholicks now following the custome and phrase of holy Scripture do use also the word adoration in different manner and sense The Doctor grants the civil adoration though absurdly he denies the Religious Calling that civil worship which is testified in Scripture to have been done to Angels and holy men Whence the adoration Abraham Lot and Joshua did to Angels could be only civil Which would be absurd because there was not therein any civil or temporal respect the motive of their adoration being a supernatural excellency including also a sanctity or holiness as appears by the example of Joshua's adoration of the Angel who besides his falling prostrate on the ground was commanded to do more reverence viz. to put off his shooes because the place was holy viz. in respect of the Angels presence The like is to be said of the examples exhibited by Abdias to Elias of the children of the Prophets to Elizaeus for although Abdias was in temporal dignity a greater man and more worthy than Elias the Prophet yet he fell upon his face before Elias 3 Kings 18. acknowledging thereby the spiritual excellency of Gods Prophet and did therein an act religious So the children of the Prophets did the like to Elizaeus adoraverunt â—um proni in terram 4 Reg. 2. specifying a supernatural respect of his miraculous passage over the River the motive of this adoration Therefore it cannot be only civil This I thought good to note by the way to shew by this occasion the piece of Legerdemain iâ— the Doctor who denies that Angels might be adored in any sense yet it appears that Abraham Lot Joshua adored Angels prostrate on the ground Genes 18. 19. Joshua 3. therefore there is some inferiour adoration or we must charge the holy men with Idolatry It cannot be called civil only for the spiritual excellency of Angels and sanctity of the Prophets being supernatural doth not import any temporal or civil consideration but a religious respect because it is exhibited to Angels and Saints as Servants of God for the honour and love of him so as the worship resteth not in them but hath a spicial relation to Almighty God being yielded to them for his sake because they are his Servants and to the end to honour him in them which must be a religious act This honour being finally and principally to God for whose sake they are honoured in respect of the participation of the divine excellency and abundance of Grace given them which is so far from dishonouring that we do him a special honour and service therein for seeing he said to his Disciples qui vos recipit me recipit qui vos spernit me spernit he that receiveth you receiveth me c. so that the honour done to them redounds to the honour of God This being so and most manifest in our Doctrine and Practice How impudent and unheard of a thing is it to make them idolaters whereas their Books written of Worship and Ad ration c. and their Doctrine in Schools and Pulpits do proclaim unto the world and their Consciences do witness it betwixt God and them although they honour Saints and Angels yet they hold and believe them to be creatures of God and the honour they yield to
miles removed than in many thousand within his own Kingdom not all of them Angels The King of France esteems it a priviledg granted him in a Concordate by the Pope that no particular Bishop should have power in any case to excommunicate him Never was there greater supporters to the Crown than English Catholicks have been ever against the least encroachment offered by the Bishop of Rome himself as it is to be seen in the Statâ—t Laws of King Richard the Second wherein you find in many businesses the Pope was interessed the Roman Catholicks flatly denying the Crown of England to be subject to any immediately but to God yet acknowledged in the very same Parliament the Bishop of Rome's spiritual Jurisdiction And Bishop Bilson in his Defence between Christ and Antichrist brings in the Parliament consisting then altogether of Roman Catholicks expressing their loyalty to their Soveraign Prince in these words we will with our said Soveraign the King and his said Crown and Regality in cases aforesaid and in all other cases attempted against Him his Crown or Dignity in all points live and dye p. 3. p. 243. And in Holinshed 2. Volume of the last Edition p. 309. we find in the Reign of King Edward the First all the Catholick Lords assembled in Lincolne in Parliament in the name of all estates did answer the Popes right to judg c. that they would not consent their King should do any thing tending to the disinheriting of the Crown or right of England And that it was never known and consequently never practised that the King of this Land had answered or ought to answer for their rights in the said Realm before any Judg ecclesiastical or secular Yet at the same time they stiled Pope Boniface the high Bishop of the Roman universal Church and themselves his devout sons c. Therefore Catholick Religion hath no headship prejudicial to temporal Supremacy If this were a Check to the Glory of Kings why do the Kings of France Spain Poland Portugal the Emperour and other great Princes in Germany uphold it and glory in it the Duke of Savoy with the Florentine and the rest of Italian Princes living under the Popes Nose absolute and arbitrary in their Dominions dispute with Sword in their hand for their Temporalities And for the Catholick Church in England in Catholick times Stat. 25. Edward 3. Statut. 16. Richard did not admit the Pope's deposing power in temporals made it a preeminence to appeal to Rome or to submit to a Legates jurisdiction without the Kings License or on the Popes summons to go out of the Kingdom or receive any mandates or brief from Rome or purchase Bulls for Preserments to Churches c. and the reason was given because the Crown of England is free from earthly subjection and immediately subject to God Our Catholick Lords of England have in the name of the whole Body made oft protestations of eternal fidelity to the King and renouncing all dependance of any forreign power that can any way be prejudicial to him Many Protestations Professions Declarations have been printed by several Catholicks that no authority on earth can absolve them from their necessary and natural Allegiance and that his fidelity was a duty of their Religion have made and will be ready to give all security of peaceable obedience and sincere integrity that any words or actions can confirm But you will object and say they allow a power in the Pope to excommunicate Princes and thence follows a train of pernicious consequences of deposing raising his Subjects against him c. Resp That the power of Excommunication is indeed necessarily annexed to the pastoral Function and therefore to be allowed in the cheife Bishop over his Flock But they deny and renounce any further extent of that power unto those things which appertain to Caesar 5 and therefore they declare as firmly that notwithstanding any such excommunication they will bear true faith to our Prince and him maintain and defend against all opposers whatsoever You may again object the Council of Lateran decreed Princes that savoured Hereticks after admonition given the Pope might discharge the Subjects from allegiance and give away the Kingdom to some Catholick to root out Heresie Resp 1. Councils are not infallible in every point even in matter of fact and other Constitutions not concerning faith or doctrine being but human Laws are changeable and oft admit exceptions 2. Council's Ordinations are to be taken according to the prudent meaning of the Legislators which bear another sense than the words taken lye In this case suppose the Emperours of the East and West Kings of England France Hungary Hierusalem Cyprus Arragon c. agree together to purge their Kingdoms of Heresies and upon forfeiture the Church should give their Dominions to another that will perform their Compact these Princes being present by their Embassadors at the Councils and what was there done was done by their consent The Albigensian Heresie beginning to be so numerous and even dangerous those Monarches thought themselves in no worse a condition for that decree nor did any Catholick King since complain or protest against this Council for it 3. Note the Decrees of some Councils not received or acknowledged universally by the Catholick Church are not obligatory but that which is principally to be considered is that in the Decree of this Lateran under Innocent the Third it is ordained not Supream Princes but temporales potestates dominos which bear Offices in States and Kingdoms to take Oaths to root out all Hereticks under the penalty of being denounced to be deprived of their Estates c. yet reserving the right of the supream Lord. 4. This pretended Article of Faith hath been disclaimed by a world of unquestionable Catholicks and all allegations confuted by learned Authors of our Nation Doctor Bistop writ a Book purposely against it 5. No proof can be given that it was ever received or executed by any Catholick Kingdom out of Italy The reason is because those decrees were never published by Pope Innocent nor a Copy of them extant either in the body of the Councils or Vatican Library or elsewhere till a certain German three hundred years after said he found them in a Manuscript compiled he knows not by whom 6. By testimony of all Historians at that time Pope Innocent suffered in Reputation having convoked so many Prelates to no purpose 60 Capitula were recited in the Assembly and many penned in a stile as if they had been concluded but nothing at all could plainly be decreed no Conciliary determinations made but one or two viz. about the recovery of the holy Land and subjection of the Greek Church to the Roman for a War began then between them of Pisa and Genua which called the Pope from the Council 7. Be it granted a conciliary decree it is so far from looking like an Article of Faith which saith Bellarmine and Canus may easily be discovered by
and Religion when they protest with so much truth to our faces they cannot see any Church any Religion among us as uniform publick authentick Constant We might consider that the enacting of laws penalties and impositions against Papists is but a knotting Whipcord to lash our own posterity Seeing now there be so many Opinions in the World God knows upon whose children it may fall next For the Church of England is not a Manna that relisheth in every mans palate Secondly To use severity against Papists overturns the very ground of our retreat from Rome It is against Protestant sincerity for how can they exclaim against them for persecutors and are now the men themselves Was it an instance of weakness in their Religion and is it become a demonstration in ours Is it Antichristian in them and Christian in us For if men must be restrained upon prudential pretended considerations for their Religious exercise why not the same in France Germany Holland Constantinople c. where matters of State may equally be pleaded And if Protestants who maintain that no Councils or Church without tyranny may require belief or internal consent from their subjects to their definitions or Articles of Religion a practice much exclaimed against in the Church of Rome why then do they of the Church of England so inconsequently exact in practice such consent blamed in the Roman CAP. VII That by our own Concessions true Salvation is acquired in the Roman Church and therefore not to be persecuted THe most eminent Divines of the English Church allow the Church of Rome to be a true Church whence they acknowledge and derive their Orders Ordination Calling Mission Jurisdiction Authority to Preach c. wherein they agree Salvation may be had and all Fundamentals of Faith are profest v. g. Papists hold all positive Articles of Faith setled among Protestants as divine and undoubted Truths Protestants and Catholicks both are Christians Both Baptized in that holy name both lay hold on the promises of the Gospel have the Lords Prayer Belief the same three Creeds Apostolical Nicene Athanasian The first four General Councils They believe with the Roman Church Articles of Doctrine that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son terms of Trinity substantiality virginity of our Blessed Lady Scripture all Laws Canons Ordinances forms of Liturgy Prayer Service Discipline c. And though the Roman Church doth declare many doctrinal points as necessary to be believed being deduced from holy Writ and practice of the primitive times whch the Reformists deny Yet seeing they acknowledge all the necessary articles fundamentally required to Salvation as is by their Adversaries granted What reason or justice is it to condem them to so great cruelties for matters of their Belief I could produce innumerable testimonies from the best Authors and Writings of the English Church who teach the Roman notwithstanding her supposed errors to be the Church of Christ and therein perfect Christianity and hope of Salvation to be found To avoid prolixity I will mention a few Doctor Morton in his Treatise of King of Israel and the Church p. 24 Papists saith he are to be accounted of the Church of God because they hold the Foundation of the Gospel Hooker 5. Book of Eccles Policy saith The Church of Rome is reputed a part of the House of God and of the Family of Jesus Christ Doctor Couel in defence of Hooker p. 17. saith We affirm them of the Church of Rome to be part of the Church of Christ and those that live and dye in that Church may be saved Master White in defence c. 41. in the name of his Brethren saith We profess the Church of Rome it self in all Ages to have been the visible Church of God Field lib. 3. c. 8. saith We most firmly believe all the Churches of the World wherein our Fathers lived and died to have been the true Churches of God in which undoubted Salvation was to be had And after in the same Book We never doubted but that in the Churches wherein those holy men St. Bernard and St. Dominick lived were the true Churches of God Osiander witnesseth Bede had all Popish errors yet Dr. Humphrey in his Jesuitism acknowledges him to be in the number of the godly so doth Fulk of St. Bernard Luther the Centurists Tindal and Pantaleon title St. Francis and St. Dominick holy men though they bleieved all Papistical errors therefore Papists may be saved if Protestants may be believed Dove persuas saith in fundamental points of Doctrine the greatest Papists in the world agree with us Prot. rel affirmeth the Roman Church hath still inviolably the foundation of Religion l. 48. Downam l. 2. Antichr granteth it was a note of a good Christian to cleave to the Romish and Apostolical Church and p. 103. l. Antichr he yieldeth to Bellarmine that S. Augustine and Victor Oticensis were of opinion to adhere to the Church of Rome was a mark of a true Catholick in those times Our Stars of the first magnitude as Luther in Epist against Anabap. saith we confess that all Christian good is in the Papacy and from them it came down to us and ibid. I say in the Papacy is the true Christianity yea the true Kernel of Christianity and on the 28 of Genes we confess the Church to be among the Papists for they have Baptism Absolution the Text of the Gospel c. and there are many godly men among them Calvin Instit l. 4. confesseth in the Roman Church in the deepest of her supposed errors there ever remained inviolabile foedus Dei the Covenant of God inviolable Doth not Bunny Whitaker Junius Zanrchius Seravia and almost all Protestants generally hold as much at least that we agree in fundamentals that the Roman Church is a true Church the Mother C-hurch A thousand of learned Reformists confess in general Antiquity and the Fathers are for the Roman Church Whence a learned Writer noteth in some things or other yea in every particular Controversy Protestants grant their Assertions and there is no assertion by the Papists defended but some of the reformed yield too and confess as of great reason and authority Magdeburgenses 4. Cent. dedicated to Queen Elizabeth ad Jacobum Regem that the first purest times of the Church taught Sacramental Confession Tradition Invocation of Saints Purgatory Mass a propitiatory Sacrifice Miracles obtained at the reliques of Saints Images in Churches for the first 200 and 300 years Concerning the Primacy that one must be Cheif in the Church is taught by Melancton Luther in loc com Couel in examen Jacobus Andreas related by Hospiuian Mr. Perkins Prob. p. 237. saith Appeals were often made out of Africa to Popes of Rome in primitive days Middleton Papist p. 39. that the first general Council of Nice taught the Dignity of Rome over the West Provinces and hold p. 200. Papias living in the time of the Apostles taught Peters Supremacy Field lib. Church saith the