with the autority of it which we have sufficiently proved not to be infallible And by this Reader you may see how rashly Mr. I. S. says I did most falsly aver that Suarez is not so certain whether the power of absolving given to the Church did extend to the profuse grant of Indulgences practised at present by the Roman Church Let the Learned Reader reflect upon Suarez his discourse upon this subject in the place forementioned and he shall find how farr he is from any certainty that this doctrine is grounded upon Scripture and primitive Antiquity but shall find that he only believes it as Scotus did that of Transubstantiation Non propter rationes quae non cogunt not in force of arguments alledged for it which are not convincing but for the autority of his Church And mark Reader that so great men as Cajetan and Suarez being employed by public autority in defending this doctrine after bestowing all their Learning and no small labor in procuring to establish it we find them confess they have nothing to say seriously for it but what the Collier for his Faith viz. that he believed as the Church believes And here also they mistake the true notion of the Church and autority of it a mistake in truth more tolerable in a Collier then in men of the Learning and repute of Cajetan and Suarez But such is the condition of their cause that it could not be defended better and such was their engagement that they must defend it by right or wrong I conceive my Antagonist complaining that I have neglected him in this Chapter and I confess freely I delight more in dealing with people of that Learning and ingenuity I see in Cajetan and Suarez then with Mr. I. S. but being we are debtors to all I will give a turn to him also upon this subject and it will be in the next Chapter CHAP. XXIX The unhappy success of Mr. I. S. his great boast of skill in History touching the Antiquity of Indulgences discovered IN the 90th page of my former Discourse speaking of the Antiquity of Indulgences I mentioned that the first notice I had of the grants of them after the manner now used is that of Gregory the VII given to those of his party who would fight against the Emperor Henry III. by error of the Printer IV. in the year 1084. which Baronius relates from his Penitentiary in which was promised remission of all their sins to such as would venture their lives in that holy War for which I quoted Baronius his Annals upon the foresaid year 1084. num 15. Here Mr. I. S. enters in triumph and declares that if I have no more skill in Divinity or moral Theology then I seem to have in History I am but a fresh-water Scholar as for Controversie saies he my Treatise shews well what I know of it Be it so Sir let me have truth on my side as I hope will appear by this Treatise and make you much of your skill in the mean while let us examine how much it is in the present point of History wherein you pretend to be most Magisterial First you mistake most absurdly the state of the Question as is usual with you and where I speak of Indulgences given by Gregory the Seventh to those of his party who would fight against the Emperor Henry the Third you report such Indulgences to be given by the said Gregory to Henry to encourage him and the Christians to war against the Saracens Whoever did read the History of that Gregory and his fierce persecution of the said Emperor to the end of his life even as his own Historians Platina and Baronius more biassed to him do report will more easily believe that Gregory should favor the Turk against Henry then uphold Henry against any Adversary If ever you had any tincture of the History of Pope Hildebrand or Gregory the Seventh how could you fall into so ridiculous an equivocation as to conceive him granting Indulgences in favor of the Emperor Henry III. If you did read my Discourse speaking expresly of an Indulgence granted to those that would fight again the Emperor how come you to pervert the narrative so absurdly as if I should have spoken of an Indulgence given in favor of that Emperor You say that the Indulgence I speak of nor any other to any such purpose was not granted by Gregory the Seventh but by Vrban the Second Read the place I quoted of Baronius upon the year 1084. numb 15 there you shall find Gregory the Seventh employing Anselm Bishop of Luca to publish Indulgences for all those that would fight in his quarrel against the Emperor Henry the Third And continuing your strange equivocations you speak of Indulgences given by Vrban the Second to the same Henry the Third but it was not to him he gave them but to Alexius Emperor of Constantinople as Baronius relates at the year 1095. numb 3. You speak of Indulgences granted by Leo the Third anno 847. but it was not Leo the Third but Leo the Fourth that reigned then and when Suarez finds not him nor any other giving Indulgences of so ancient date sure I am you never found them upon any warrantable account To one notice of Indulgences I will help you out of Baronius preceding that I mentioned of Gregory the Seventh given to them that would fight against the Emperor Henry the Third in the same year 1084. which I allow you to take for the genuine origin of your present practice of Indulgences given by profane Cardinals Creatures of Pope Guibert called Clement the Third Competitor of Gregory the Seventh of which kind of Cardinals Baronius in the foresaid year numb 9. giveth this account Erant enim cives Romani Vxorati sive Concubinarii barbati Mitrati peregrinis oratoribus praecipue vero multitudini rusticanae Longobardorum mentientes asserentes se Cardinales Presbyteros esse quique oblationibus receptis Indulgentiam remissionem omnium peccatorum usu nefari◠impudenter praestabant hi occasione custodiendae Ecclesiae consurgentes intempestae noctis silentio intra citra candem Ecclesiam impunè homicidia rapinas varia stupra diversa latrocinia exercebant There were saies he Roman Citizens either married or retaining Concubines shaven and wearing Mitres imposing upon forreign Embassadors but especially upon the rude multitude of Longobards that they were Presbyter Cardinals and who receiving offerings did impudently bestow Indulgences and remission of all sins these under pretext of defending the Church rising in the deep silence of the night did commit within and about the Church without hindrance horrible murders robberies and diverse sorts of whoredoms and luxuries Who were better Popes or better men Guibert and his Cardinals or Hildebrand and his as I do not know so I will not dispute but conclude that such Indulgences as these were given in Rome by relation of their own hired Historian and let the Reader see how unhappy Mr.
say that this severe sentence is not of their making but delivered by Christ against all that will not obey his Vicar upon Earth the Pope of Rome And possible it is that some of the simpler sort may believe it is so But it s long since I knew and proved that none sufficiently conversant in the principles of their own Theology could seriously think it to be so but that according to their principles its blasphemy and Heresy to say without restriction and in general terms as commonly they do that none may be saved out of the communion of the Roman Church And my Antagonist I.S. tells us I did not trespass therein against truth of Doctrine but against policy or prudence as he calls it whereby I put a great stop to the conversion of Protestants if People did think that out of the Romish Communion any may be saved So as the prudence demanded from me was to fashion my Doctrine to the increase of the Popes Dominion be it with truth or untruth and pronounce sentence of damnation against all Christians not subject to him tho I should know no such sentence to be against them in the judgment of God I wish my good Brethren of the Roman Church did reflect upon and acknowledg the great injury they do to themselves in breeding and fomenting this unchristian hostility with the whole Society of Christians separated from their communion so numerous and illustrious as we have seen in the preceeding Chapters imprinting hatred towards all in the hearts of their Children which forceably must beget a return of hatred or disaffection and mistrust How incommodious it s to create to themselves so many Enemies how uneasie and disadvantagious to bereave themselves of the free and amiable society of so many noble Nations and brave People which the apprehension of Heresy makes intractable to them What happened to me with a Spanish young Man that came in my company out of Spain into England makes me more sensible of the misery that Romanists bring upon themselves this way He was of his own disposition chearfull and sociable but as soon as he came among the English People his heart and countenance fell down and he appeared sad and melancholic I inquiring of him the cause of that alteration he answered that he looked upon all those men as Heretics which made their very sight odious to him and their company displeasing The man did not well know what Heresy was and much less did he know whether those Men he saw were Heretics or no. He acknowledged them to be good men just and civil in their dealing and adorned with noble gifts of God yet the prejudice he was in against them by conceiving them to be Heretics made their sight and company odious to him Would not this Man have been more happy in conceiving a better opinion of the People would it not make him live with more ease and comfort among them not to mention now that higher Emolument and duty of maintaining charity towards all Men. CHAP. XVI Inferences from the preceeding Doctrine of this whole treatise against the several objections of N. N. HE that hath not considered the frame I proposed to observe in this treatise and seeth me go through many Chapters of it debating with Suarez and other Romish writers without any mention of N. N. may think I have neglected or forgotten him and his Book But if he will take notice of my purpose made in the beginning of cutting down by the root the whole Fabric of the said Book he shall find I am still upon my intended work The ground and foundation of all the cries and complaint of N. N. against me is a supposition that I have left the Catholic Church and Faith by withdrawing from the communion of the Roman Church and embracing this of England In the whole discourse of this Treatise I have proved that the Church of England is in all propriety Catholic and the Faith professed in it truly Catholic and Apostolic and all this by rules and principles taken from the ablest of Romish Writers for proceeding in this inquiry whereby it remains proved that all the exclamations of N. N. against me went upon a false supposition and consequently are vain and groundless Hence I infer first how vain is his query and more vain his divining answer about what drew me out of Gods house It appears by what is said hitherto and will be further declared in the rest of this Book that in my change I did not leave the house of God but removed to the best and soundest part of it that no private spirit or rash fancy moved me but a sincere acknowledgment of truth by the ordinary means God has disposed for us to come by it I infer secondly how groundless and unreasonable his pretention is that I should have quitted the holy Doctors Gregory Ambrose Augustine and Jerom and all the ancient Fathers and Catholic Doctors He do's not tell how or wherein I have deserted that noble company neither indeed were it easy for him to tell it I live and do firmly resolve to dy in the same Catholic Church which they lived and died in and in the profession of the same Catholic and Apostolic Faith which they professed The same and no other Faith is professed in the Church of England whose communion I have embraced as hath bin sufficiently demonstrated hitherto and I hope by the merits and grace of our Saviour Jesus to enjoy the company of those blessed Saints in Heaven maugreall the censures of Rome Neither was I ever closer with those Holy Fathers in the Romish Church then I am now in the English It is one of the perverse calumnies of our adversaries to give forth that there is not due regard had of them here I see the contrary I have observed diligently the waies of the Universities and method of Study with Learned men in England and Ireland and I see with them far greater application to the study and reading of holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church then ever I saw amongst Romanists Whilst the most learned of these spend their life and forces in speculative notions only serving Schole debates learned Protestants employ their time more happily in the study of the Holy Scriptures of Fathers and credible Histories I infer thirdly how rash and injurious is his censure in saying that by embracing the confession contained in the 39. Articles of the Church of England I have made my self partaker of all the Heresies and an associate of all the Heretics that were from the beginning of the World to this day Of these he makes a great list beginning with Lucifer whom he will have to be the first Heretic before Mans Creation and from him proceeds to Lamech the Gyants all those that entred not into the Ark but perished in the deluge who were all Heretics saies he Then enters Cham with the builders of Babels Esau Jannes and Jambres Corah and Dathan Nadah and
thither without his leave I heard of some Popes that were kept out themselves from entring thither and I have great reason to believe it was so and to fear that I following their conduct may have the like repulse It is one of your damnable errors and not the least cause of my discontent with you to say that none may be saved without paying obedience to the Pope of Rome a spark of Hell-fire which kindled and conserves the miserable combustions and distractions of Christendom the bloody Massacre of so many thousands of Men and the desolation of so many noble Kingdoms and Provinces a monstrous Paradox cut out to the measure of the unmeasurable Ambition of the Roman Pope and his Court to force all the World with the fright of everlasting fire adding to it the power of the Sword where he can to resign up their obedience and contribute their wealth and liberties to the support of that power and grandeur the greatest that ever was entertained in the fancy of man if men were so mad as to yield to the proposals of the Pope and his Emissaries To diminish the heat of this hellish Ambition the Seminary of the miseries of Christendom I have contributed with my endeavors even while I was among you using only the armor of principles learned in your own Scholes and declaring that the practise of the Emissary Sycophants of the Roman Court is contrary not only to the intrinsic rules of Christian doctrine but to the very professed tenets of the Romish Church I do not say of the Romish Court for tho both corrupt they have their different waies and to conform with the tenets of the Roman Church was not thought sufficient in me if I did not also fashion my doctrine to the interest of the Roman Court and to the extension of the grandeur of it which is the want of policy or prudence Mr. I. S. accused me of as before mentioned I will continue now with more liberty and resolution the same endeavors of letting the World know how false and pernicious this doctrine is how great the disingenuity of Romish Emissaries in publishing and preaching it to the People contrary to truth and their own knowledg to win Proselytes by frights to the Romish faction but it shall be in the Schole language and style to make it more universal not in the Vulgar to shun dealing with quiblers and cavillers such as I find you to be Mr. I. S. What you are in your person I know not certainly but your style and mode of discourse fashioned to a vulgar humor with a total neglect of what learned and serious men may think of it makes me conceive you may be one of those Preachers I saw in Pulpits with a dead mans skull in their hand or the picture of a Devil or a damned Soul surrounded with flames and girded with Snakes and Toads moving the Vulgar with tragic cries and antic gestures to sighs and sobs and knocking of their breasts while those of more sense and discretion did exercise their patience and bite their lips to refrain laughing at showers of non-sense powred down with confidence He that will reflect seriously upon the passages of your discourse I pointed at in this Chapter and many others of the like sort to be seen in your Book will see I do you no injury in this Character I give of your writing resolving to take no notice of any I shall see for the future of this kind being desirous to make better use of the time God is pleased to lend me then to spend it in shifting such trifles Here I will add one argument more of this mans weakness and peevish temper that finding me refuting briefly a reply of Becan to an argument I was urging and not understanding the drift of my argument or wanting an answer he only says that he knows not why I mentioned Becan if it be not to let men know that I am acquainted with the Books of great Divines Such as are acquainted with Scholes and Books of Divinity do know for what kind of Dïvines the Summary Theology of Becan was made for such as have not time or other requisits to go deeper Truly when I take points of Divinity in hand to resolve upon them I am not wont rest upon the Memorandums of Becan I allow Mr. I. S. the glory of being more conversant in this Writer And indeed I find them svmbolize in one thing which is to put off pressing arguments of their Adversaries with a flout or sarcasm fitted more to a vulgar applause than to the satisfaction of solid understandings This I observed sometimes in Becan which made me regard him less but very often in Mr. J. S. Another proof of the mans truth and talent is to say that all the arguments contained in my discourse are found in Bellarmin as also the answers of them with which I ought to have bin contented without giving him the trouble of answering me Say you so Sr then the answers you return to me either are of Bellarmin or of your own making if of Bellarmin your cause is desperate when your ablest Champion could produce no better defence of it if of your own making you have betrayed your trust in building the credit of your cause upon so weak a ground and not producing the soundest reasons that were for it in an occasion of so great expectation for certainly he must be very blind that will not see by what is said in this Treatise that your answers are very weak impertinent and often ridiculous But of all this you have an excuse in the condition of your cause The greatest wits are too weak to support it Look upon Scotus in 4. dist 10. q. 3. shivering the arguments of Aquinas and others in favor of Transubstantiation and you will see wit and learning triumph in his discourses Look upon the same Scotus engaged in defending Transubstantiation to comply with the Lateran Council against his own fentiments as he confesses and you will find him ridiculous as may appear by what I related of him above chap. 23. How strong and formal is Suarez in defence of Christian verities against Infidels how faint and wavering in the defence of Purgatory Indulgences c. as seen above chap. 31. It s a complaint grown very common among your party against Bellarmin that the Arguments he objects against the Romish Tenets are stronger then his Answers to them and certain I am it was not for want of wit or will in him to advance the Roman interest it was the condition of the Cause You brag of Austerities used by some orders of the Roman Church If this be a rule of perfection Pagans there be that exceed you in it afflicting their bodies with desperate Austerities even to the destruction of soul and body together It is one of your calumnies to say Protestants should condem fasting and corporal afflictions discreetly used and without Hypocrisy to curb the lust of the