the mean time these men cannot defend themselves and propagate their own Cause except at the same time they undertake the Patronage of Annas and Caiaphas For what Council will these men ever acknowledge to be vicious and erronious who say that was a lawful and good Council in which the Son of God was most ignominiously condemnâ—d to the Death of the Crossâ— and yet considering what almost all their Councils have been it was necessary for them thus to pronounce of the Council held by Annas and Caiaphas But are they ever like to be the Men which are to reform the Church who are at once the Judges and the Criminals Will they ever lessen their Pride and Ambition Will they depose themselves and give Judgment against themselves that the Bishops shall not be unlearned slow Bellies multiply Benefices carry themselves like Princes nor bear Arms Will the Popes beloved Sons the Abbots decree that that Monk who doth not earn his Bread with the Sweat of his Brows is a Thief or that it is not Lawful for them to live in the City or in a Crowd of Men or of that which belongs to another that a Monk ought to lye upon the bare Ground to live hardly with Herbs and Pease to study hard dispute pray and labour to prepare himself for the Service of the Church It is as reasonable to expect that the Scribes and Pharisees will reform the Temple and of a Den of Thieves will again make it become a House of Prayer 7. THERE were some amongst them who observed that many Errors were crept into the Church Pope Adrian Aeneas Sylvius Cardinal Pool Pighius and othersâ— as we have said After which they had a Council at Trent in the same place where there is one now indicted Many Bishops and Abbots and others who ought to be in a Council met they were alone and there was no body to disturb them whatever they did for they had taken care to exclude all that were for the Reformation and there they sate with a great Expectation six years in the first six months they decreed many things concerning the Holy Trinity the Father Son and Holy Ghost which were pious but no way necessary for those Times and yet of all these clear manifest confessed Errors which had gotten into the Church what one single Error or Corruption have they reformed From what kind of Idolatry have they reclaim'd the People What Superstition have they taken away What part of their Tyranny and Pomp have they abated or diminished as if the World were so blind that it could not see and observe that this is a Conspiracy rather than a Council and that all the Bishops which the Pope have there call'd together are sworn and addicted to his Interest and resolved before hand not to do any thing but what shall please him and encrease his Power and which they see he desireth or that Votes there are not numbred rather than considered and weighed or that the wiser and better part of the Council is not often overborn by the greater but worse part of it And therefore we know perfectly well that many good Men and Catholick Bishops when such Councils were indicted and they saw clearly that Parties and Factions were served by them and that they should lose their Pains and harden the Minds of their Adversaries by their Oppositions without doing the least Good have wisely staid at home and refused to be present in them Athanasius would not come to the Council at Caesarea when he was call'd by the Emperor seeing he should there meet an enraged parcel of Enemies and afterwards when he came to the Council at Syrmium and in his mind foresaw from the Fury and Malice of his Enemies what the Event would be he pack'd up his Carriages and went away immediately St. Chrysostom tho he was call'd four times by Letters from Arcadius the Emperor to an Arrian Council yet staid at home When Maximus Bishop of Jerusalem sate in a Council in Palestine the old Paphnutius took him by the hand and led him out of it and then told him ' t is not lawful for us to consult about these things with wicked men The Bishops of the WEST would not be present at that Council at Syrmium from which Athanasius departed St. Cyril by Letters appealed from the Council of the Patropassians as they were call'd Paulinus Bishop of â—reves and many others would not come to the Council of Milan when they saw the Power and Intrigues of Auxentius for they saw it was to no purpose to go thither where Faction and not Reason would he heard and were Causes would be certainly determined by Affection and Passion and not by Judgment But then all these tho they were to deal with inraged and obstinate Adversaries yet if they had come they should have been freely heard in the Council 8. BUT now no man need wonder when none of us are permitted not only not to sit but not so much as to be seen in their Council so far are we from being freely heard when the Popes Legats and all the Patriarchs Arch-Bishops Bishops and Abbots are in a Conspiracy and united by their common Crimes all sworn in the same Oath only sit and have alone the Power of voting and as if all this were not enough have submitted all their Judgments to the Will and Humour of the Pope alone That he who ought to answer for his own Faults shall give Sentence in his own Cause upon himself when that ancient Christian Liberty which it is absolutely necessary should be very great in Councils is totally taken away I say after all this wise and good Men ought not to wonder if we do now that which they have seen done before in the like case by so many Fathers and Catholick Bishops That is that seeing we cannot be heard in the Council and that the Ambassadors of Princes are had in Contempt and Scorn there and that as if the thing were already determined and agreed we are condemned before we are heard if after all this we had rather sit at home and commit the business to God than to go thither where we shall have no place nor effect any thing But tho we can patiently and quietly bear our own Injuries yet why should they shut Christian and Pious Princes out of their Councils Why do they so rudely and insolently put them out and not suffer them to hear the business of Religion debated or to understand the State of their own Churches as if they were not Christians or could not judge well of it or if these Princes interpose their Authority and do that which they may are commanded and ought to do and which we know David and Solomon and other good Princes have done that is if they restrain the Luxury of the Priests and compel them to do their duty and keep them to it If they pluck down Idols extirpate Superstitions and restore the Worship of
the Emperor it was then thought a sufficient Excuse that they must attend the Reformation and Care of their own Churches tho they saw that the Arrians then prevail'd every where and that their Presence might have been of a mighty consequence for the abating their Rage 11. WHAT if our Bishops should now make the same Answers that they can spare no time from the sacred Ministry that they are totally taken up in restoring and reforming their Churches that they cannot be spared from home five six or seven years and especially in that place where they can do no good for our Bishops have not the same leisure with those who luxuriously spend their time in Palaces at Rome and depend upon the Cardinals and lye at the catch for rich Preferments for our Churches are so miserably ruin'd and perverted by the ill Management of these men that it is neither a small time nor an ordinary Diligence that can reform them And now we see plainly that they design a Diversion and mis-spending of our times that when there is no need of it we may be drawn from Home and so may neither promote the Reformation at Home nor be suffered by them to do it in the Council 12. For the Pope indeed does but dissemble with the World that you may not be deluded he intends no Council nor are you to think that he acts any thing sincerely and truly He that knows not how to dissemble said Lewis the 11th to Charles the 8th his Successor knows not how to Reign And much more he that knows not how to dissemble and conceal his Counsels under the Gravity of his Looks as things go now will never be able to act the part of a Pope for that See is supported meerly by Hypocrisie and is forced to supply the Defects of a natural Strength with pretended Colours and Shews For if the Popes did indeed think that a General Council was of such wonderful efficacy for the suppressing Schisms why did they so very long delay so necessary a means of it Why did they sit still thirty years and suffer Luthers Doctrine to take root Why did they not presently call a Council Why did they at last call the Council of Trent with great unwillingness and reluctancy and more by the Impulse of Charles the Emperor than by their own free Wills and when the Council had sit almost ten years at Trent why after so tedious a Consultation was nothing brought to an Issue Why did they leave their Business undone Who hindred them Who withstood them Believe me in this my Brother the Pope has no design now that a Council should meet or Religion be reform'd which they perfectly despise All their Business Desires and Contentions aim at nothing but the deluding the Minds of Religious Men and the whole World with the Expectation of a General Council 13. THEY see long since that their Revenues are diminished and ruin'd that their Arts have not the same success they have had heretofore that an Incredible number of men do every day fall off from them there is not now that vast concourse of People to Rome men do neither esteem nor purchase their Indulgences Interdictions Benedictions Absolutions and vain Bulls at the Rate they have done the Sales of their Ceremonies and Masses and all that Whorish Paint is not much valued so that a very great part of their Pomp and Tyranny is fallen their Incoms reduced to a lower Ebb than ever they and their Partizans are become the Scorn of Children so that now their whole Concern is at the Stake Nor is there any wonder that those things should fall which were supported by no roots Our Saviour JESUS CHRIST hath put an end to them not by Arms or the force of Soldiers but by an Heavenly Impulse and the Breath of his mouth and he will intirely consume and abolish them by the brightness of his coming such is the force of the Word of God the Power of the Gospel and these are the Weapons which will bring down every high thing which is built up or exalted against the Knowledge of God This Doctrine shall be preached in spite of all throughout the World and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it the Merit-mongers Shops at Rome do now lye desolate their Wares Like the Goods of Porsenna are cried at a low price and there is scarce any to buy them a poor Dealer in Indulgences does now wander about and rarely finds a Fool that will purchase one This Sir is the great Concern from hence spring the Papal Tears and Cares they see this Light sprung out of one small Spark and what now may be the Event when there are so many Fires kindled every where on the Earth and so many Christian Kings and Princes own and prosess the Gospel for these men do no serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Bellies There goes a Story that when Carneades the Philosopher was at Rome and made that memorable Oration against Justice amongst other things he added this That this Virtue if it was a Virtue was not of less use to any part of Mankind than to the Romans for they by Force and Stealth had subdued those Kingdoms to themselves which of right belonged to other men and by a most flagrant Injustice had arrived to the Empire of the World and that if now they should fall to the Exercise of Justice all these must be restored to the right owners which they possess'd so unjustly and so they should be reduced to their Shepherds Cottages and poor cold Sheds which was all they had at first And so now these if they should lay aside their Dissimulation and act sincerely and do their Duty and give every one what was truly their own they must then return to the Staff and Scrip again to Sobriety and Modesty to the Labours and Duty of a Bishop for they have heard what St. Augustin said Bishop is a Name of Labour and not of Honour and that they were no Bishops who sought more to be over the People than to do them good and therefore they see that the spreading of the Gospel is of less advantage to them than to any other men in the World for if ever they should entertain a thought of reforming they are undone and therefore now they fill the World with Tumults and Disorders as Demetrius the Silver-Smith heretofore did when he saw his Trade was going down And this is the true cause why Councils are now call'd and the Bishops and Abbots are assembled for this seems now the cunningest way to prolong the time for some few years by suspending the minds of men with Expectation and in the interim many things as is usual may happen a War may break out some of the Princes may dye and the strange Inclinations of Men towards the Reformation may be blunted by delays and languish by degrees and in the mean time as one said I hope something will be done 14.
our Forefathers who first imbraced and professed the Name of Christ that they conspired amongst themselves against the Government and for that purpose met very early whilst it was yet dark that they murthered Male-Infants gorged themselves with Mans Flesh and in a barbarous manner drank humane Blood and at last putting out the Candles perpetrated Incests and Adulteries and that Brothers lay with their Sisters and Sons with their Mothers without any reverence to their Bloods and Families without Difference or Modesty that they were impious destitute of all Religion Atheists the Enemies of all Mankind and unworthy of the Light or Life 3. THESE things were spoken against the Jews the People of God against Christ Jesus against St. Paul St. Stephen and against all those who in the first Ages imbraced the truth of the Gospel and were called Christians a Name then hated by the Many And although none of these things were true yet the Devil thought it sufficient to his Purpose if they were believed true that so the Christians might incur the publick Hatred and be pursued by all to Ruine and Destruction And thus Kings and Princes being deceived slew all the Prophets of God to a Man they condem'd Isaiah to the Saw Jeremia to be ston'd Daniel to the Lions Amos to the Iron Bar Paul to the Sword and Christ to the Cross and all Christians to Prisons to Racks to Crosses to Rocks and Precipices to wild Beasts and Fires and burnt whole Piles of their living Bodies for nocturnal Lights and by way of Sport and Recreation and never esteem'd them better than the most vile Filth of the Earth the Off-scourings and Scorn of the World thus the first Authors and Professors of the Truth were ever treated 4. WHEREFORE all we who have now undertaken the Profession of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ought to bear it with the less disturbance of Mind if in the same Cause we are treated after the same manner and as heretofore our Fathers so we in this Age are persecuted also with Reproaches Slanders and Lyes only because we teach and profess the Truth 5. THEY roar out in all Places that we are Hereticks that we have forsaken the true Faith and broken the Union of the Church with new Opinions and impious Doctrines 2. That we fetch from Hell and revive the old and long since condemn'd Heresies and sow the Seeds of new Sects and unheard of Broils that we are already divided into contrary Factions and Opinions and we could never yet in any manner agree amongst our selves 3. That we are wicked men and like the Gyants of old have entered into a Rebellion against God himself and live without the least regard to the Deity and without any religious Worship 4. That we despise all good Actions that we do not use any virtuous Discipline that we regard neither Laws nor good Manners nor Right nor Justice nor Equity nor Order that we let loose the Rein and suffer all sorts of Villanies and even provoke the People to all the Licentiousness and Luxury that is possible 5. That our Business and great Design is the subverting Monarchies and Kingdoms that all States may be reduced under the Dominion of the ignorant Multitude and the indiscreet Populace 6. That we have made a tumultuous Defection from the Catholick Church and have shaken the Peace of the World and disturbed the Quiet of the Church by a detestable Schism and that as heretofore Dathan and Abiram rose up against Moses and Aaron so we without any just cause have revolted from the Pope of Rome 7. That we despise the Authority of the Primitive Fathers and antient Councils That we have imprudently and insolently abrogated the antient Ceremonies which have been approved for many Ages by our Fathers and Grandfathers who had better Manners and lived in better Times and that by our own private Authority without the Consent of a Holy and General Council we have introduced new Rites into the Church and that we have not done this for the Sake of Religion but purely out of a contentious Humour that they on the contrary have changed nothing but have retained all things as they were delivered to them by the Apostles approved by the most antient Fathers and have been kept ever since through all the intermediate Ages to this day 6. AND least all this might seem to be only a Calumny and that managed by secret Whispers only with design to excite an Envy against us the Popes of Rome have suborned eloquent and not unlearned Men to undertake the Defence of this desperate Cause and to represent it to the World in Books and long Discourses in the best Colours it was possible to give it to the intent that being elegantly and copiously pleaded unskilful men might suspect there was something more than ordinary in it for indeed they saw that their Cause was every where in a declining Condition their Arts were now seen through and so were the less esteemed their Fortresses were every day undermin'd and their Case stood in need of a powerful Patronage and Defence But then as to those things which they have charged us with some of them are manifestly false and condemn'd by the Consciences of them that object them against us others though in the bottom they are false too yet they have the shew and similitude of truth so that an incautious and unthinking Reader may especially if he be surprised by any of their laboured and elegant Discourses be easily circumvented and deceived and others of the things thus charged upon us are such as we ought to acknowledge and profess and not decline the owning them as if they were Crimes but defend them as things that were well and rationally done For to speak in a word they slander whatever we do even those Actions of ours which themselves cannot deny to be rightly and well done and malitiously deprave and pervert all our Words and Actions as if it were not possible We should do or speak any thing as we ought They ought indeed to treat us with more Simplicity and Candor if they designed truth but on the other hand they do not oppose us with truth nor in a Christan Way or Manner but with Lyes in a close and crafty way and abuse the blindness and ignorance of the Rabble and the want of Learning in Princes to the inflaming their Hatred against us and the Oppression of the Truth This is indeed the Power of Darkness and the Folly of Men who trust more in the Stupidity and benighted Minds of the unpolished Multitude than in the Light of Truth or as St. Jerom expresseth it This is to contradict with shut Eyes the Truth when it is most perspicuous But we bless the great and Holy God our Cause is such that though they never so much desire to defame it yet they can fix no Reproach upon it which they may not with as much Reason and Justice imploy against the
has abrogated all the Decrees of a former The Council of Carthage decreed that the Bishop of Rome should not be call'd the highest Priest or the Prince of the Priests or by any other such like Title but the latter Councils have not only call'd him the High Priest but the Great Pontiff and the Head of the Universal Church The Eliberitan Council decreed that it should not be lawful that what was worshipped should be painted on the Walls of the Churches The Council of Constantinople decreed that Images were not to be endured in the Christian Churches on the other side the second Council of Nice did allow them not only to be erected in Churches but also to be worshiped The Laterane Council under Pope Julius the II. was call'd for no other purpose but to rescind the Decrees of the Council of Pisa thus the latter Bishops frequently oppose the forgoing and some Councils damm up the Lights of others and these men will not be bound even by their own Councils any farther than they please and is for their Convenience and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brings Grist to their Mill. The Council of Basil decreed that a Council of Bishops is above the Pope but the Laterane Council under Pope Leo decreed the Pope to be above a Council And the Pope doth not only carry himself so as if he thought so but also if any man is of the Opinion of this Council he commands him to bo reputed a Heretick I pray Sir what would you do here whatever you say or think either the Pope or the Council will make you a Heretick and all the Popes for some Ages have opposed these Truths of the Council of Basil and therefore in the esteem of the Council of Basil all the Popes for all these last Ages are Hereticks The same Council with one Voice deposed Pope Eugenius for Simony and Schism and named Amideus for his Successor But yet Eugenius did not regard the Decree of the Council and altho he was a Simonist and a Schismatick yet he did not cease to be the Successor of St. Peter the Vicar of Christ and the Head of the Catholick Church and in spite of all retaind his former Dignity and was born as before on the shoulders of Noble Men magnificently and loftily And Amideus a simple man like one unhorsed walked upon his Feet and thought himself happy enough that of a Pope he was become a Cardinal The late Council at Trent made a Decree that the Bishops should teach the People and that no one of them should at the same time have two or more Bishopricks they on the other side contrary to the Canon of their own Council enjoy Pluralities and teach nothing and so they make such Laws as they will not be bound by but when they please at this rate have they ever valued their own Councils and Decrees 22. AND now Sir what reason have we to expect at this time a better Event of things for for what cause upon what hope and Expectation is the Council held be pleased Sir to consider with your self but this one thing what kind of Men they are upon whose Fidelity Learning and Judgment the weight of the whole Council the debating all those great Questions and the sum of the whole Affair depends they are indeed call'd Abbots and Bishops grave Men and great Names and as it is thought of great account in the Management of the Church of God but if you strip them of the Names Robes and Personages of such Men what have they that is at all like a Bishop or an Abbot for they are no Ministers of Christ no Dispensers of the Mysteries of God they do not attend the reading nor teach the Gospel nor feed the Flock nor till the Ground nor plant the Vincyard nor light the Fire nor carry the Ark of the Lord nor perform the Ambassie of Christ nor Watch nor do the Work of an Evangelist they do not fulfil their Ministery they entangle themselves in secular Affairs they hide the Treasure of their Lord and take away the Keys of the Kingdom of God they neither go in themselves nor do they suffer others to enter they beat their Fellow Servants they feed themselves and not the Flock they sleep they snore they feast they fare deliciously they are Clouds without Water Stars without Light dumb Dogs slow Bellies and as St. Bernard said they are not Prelates but Pilats not Teachers but Seducers not Pasters but Impostors the Servants of Christ saith he serve Antichrist And these are the only men to whom the Popes will allow a Place and Vote in the Council in their Judgments and Power will they have the whole Care and Administration of the Catholick Church to be Pope Pius hath now chosen these alone to put his Trust in but O good God! what kind of Mortals what sort of Men are these and yet as they think all these Queries are ridiculous for it is not say they one farthing difference whether they be Learned or Pious or no or what they will or think for in truth it is sufficient if they can but ride upon a Mule and with great State and Noise make the publick Cavalcade to the Council and when they cam◠there say nothing If Sir you will not believe me and conceive I have fain'd all this for Diversion and Sport be but pleased to hear the Honorable Judgment and what the most sacred Faculty of the whole Sorbon decreed in this case that say they which our Master have said concerning a legitimate Assembly is That it is to be noted that to the legitimate assembling of a Council it is sufficient that the Solemnity and Form of the Law be solemnly observed for if any man would bring this in question whether the Prelates that sit there have a good Intention and whether they be learned and whether they have the Knowledge of the Holy Scripture and a mind well disposed to sound Doctrine the Process would be infinite for they it seems who sit as mute as the Statues of Mercury and know not in the least what Religion is will yet answer wondrous well and aptly concerning the sum of Religion and whatever they say cannot possibly err 23. AND all these are bound to the Popes Interest not only by their Error and Ignorance but by the Tye and Religion of an Oath so that if they should chance to think right yet unless they will be prejured they must not speak what they think and openly profess and own the Truth so that they must of necessity be false to God or man for they all swear in this very form J. N. Bishop from this hour forward will be faithful to St. Peter and to the Holy Apostolick Church of Rome to my Lord Pope N. and to his Successors canonically entering I will neither be of Counsel nor in any Action whereby he may lose his Life or Limbs or be taken Prisoner that Counsel which he shall impart
to me by Letters or by Messengers I will discover to man to his Damage I will be a Helper to defend the Papacy of the Church of Rome and the Canons of the Holy Fathers and to retain them against all men Of old when the Priests of Apollo Pythius spoke plainly in favour of Philip King of Macedonia there were some who facetiously said that Apollo began 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Philippize And now we see plainly that nothing is decreed in the Council but by the Will and Consent of the Pope why may we not say that the Oracles of the Councils do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Papize that is speak nothing but what the Pope please Verres of old acted wisely of whom it is reported that being plainly guilty of many Crimes he would not commit his Reputation and Fame to any but confiding men of his own Flock and Party But yet the Pope is many degrees wiser for he will not have any Judges but such as he knows will not determine any thing against his Will because they have the same Interest he hath and esteem all things by the relation they have to their Pleasures and Bellies and yet if they would they could not do otherwise because they are bound to him by an Oath too indeed they place the Bible in the midst of the Council because they would seem not to act any thing against the Prescription thereof and yet they only look upon it at a good distance but never read one word of it in truth they bring with them a prejudicated Sentence and never attend what Christ saith or determine any thing but as it best pleaseth them 24. AND thus is all that Liberty which ought to be in all Consultations and especially in those which concern holy things and which doth best befit the holy Spirit and the Modesty of Christian Men wholly taken away St. Paul saith that if any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his Peace but these men command him to be forthwith taken and hurried to Prison and burnt who shall but mutter any thing to the contrary as the cruel Death of the two holy and stout men John of Hus and Jerome of Prague is an excellent Witness against them which two men they murthered contrary to the publick Faith and were thereby false both to God and Man So the false Prophet Zedechias when he had made himself a pair of iron Horns smote Micaiah the Prophet of the Lord and said hath the Spirit of the Lord left me and come to thee thus having now excluded all others they reign in Councils alone and have the sole Right of Suffrages and so make and divulge such Laws as the Ephesians did of old Let no man said they who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wiser than the rest presume to live here upon pain of Banishment and Transportation for these men will hear none of us About ten years since in the late Council at Trent the Ambassadors of the Princes of Germany and of the free Towns who came thither that they might be heard were excluded out of the Assembly and denied the Liberty of Speech for the Bishops and Abbots said they would suffer no free Debate of the Cause nor would they determine the Controversies by the Word of God and that those of our Side were not to be heard except they would recant which if they refused they were to expect no other terms in the Council but to be condem'd for Julius the III. in his Brief by which he call'd that Council publickly declared that if they did not change their Minds they should be condemned for Hereticks without ever hearing their Cause And Pius the IV. who hath now resolved to call again that Council hath by the prejudice of his own single Judgment commanded all those who have made defection from the Authority of the Church of Rome that is the greatest part of Christendom without ever seeing or hearing them to be taken and reputed Hereticks They are wont to say and that upon all occasions that all things are well and that they will not suffer the least part of their Doctrine and Religion to be altered Albertus Pighius saith that without the Command of the Church of Rome the most plain place of Scripture is not to be believed Now is this their way to restore the Church to her Integrity Is this their seeking Truth Is this the Liberty and Moderation which beâ—its a Council 25. AND altho these things are most unjust and most contrary to the Practice of the ancient Councils and the Usage of modest and good Men in their Deliberations yet it is much more unreasonable that whereas the whole World complains of the Ambition and Tyranny of the Pope of Rome and is perswaded that until he is reduced to a better Order all their Labours for the Reformation of the Church of God will be in vain and nothing will be done yet at last all things are referred to him alone as to the most equal Arbiter and Judge But O good God! to what Man I will not now say any of these things against him that he is an Enemy of the Truth an Ambitious Covetous Proud Man who is already become intolerable to his own But I say that it is the utmost pitch of Folly and Injustice to make him the sole Judge of all Religion who commands all his Dictates to be had in the self same Honour and Esteem as the Words of St. Peter are and saith that in case he should Mislead a thousand Souls and carry them with himself to Hell yet no man ought to reprehend him for it Who saith he can make Injustice to become Justice Whom Camotensis confesseth to have corrupted the Scriptures that he might have a Plenitude of Power And why should I use more words whom his own Companions and Ministers Joachimus Abbas Petrarcha Marsilius Patavinus Laurentius Valla and Hieronymus Savanarola have not obscurly hinted to be the Antichrist To the Judgment and Will I say of this one Man are all things submitted that this very Criminal may be both the Party accused and the Judge of his own very Case that this guilty man may sit aloft upon a Throne and his Accusers stand beneath whilst he gives Sentence for himself for Pope Julius had given us these just and reasonable Laws There is saith he no Council which is valid nor ever shall be unless supported by the Authority of the Church of Rome And Bonifacius the VIII saith that every Creature ought to be subject to the Church of Rome and that as they tender their Salvation And Pope Pascal useth this Expression as if any Councils had given Laws to the Church of Rome when in truth all the Councils have been held and received their Force from the Authority of the Church of Rome and in all their Statutes the Authority of the Pope of Rome is plainly and apparently excepted And another saith
Horse conveyed him to the Lady Ann Warcupps a Widow who entertained him for some time and then sent him up to London where he was in more safety HAVING twice or thrice changed his Lodgings in London Sir Nicholas Throgmorton a great Minister of State in those times furnished him with Money for his Journey and procured him a Ship for his Transportation beyond the Seas And well it had been if he had gone sooner but his Friend Mr. Parkhurst hearing of the restoring of the Mass fled forthwith and poor Mr. Jewel knowing nothing of it went to Cleave to beg his advice and assistance being almost killed by his long Journey on foot in bitter cold and snowy weather and being forced at last to return to Oxon more dejected and confounded in his thoughts than he went out which Miseries were the occasions of his fall as Gods Mercy was the procurer both of his escape and recovery FOR being once arrived at Franckford in the beginning of the second year of Queen Mary's Reign he found there Mr. Richard Chambers his old Benefactor Dr. Robert Horne afterwards Bishop of Winchester Dr. Sands Bishop of London Sir Francis Knowles a Privy Counsellor and afterwards Lord Treasurer and his eldest Son c. these received Jewel with the more kindness because he came unexpectedly and unhoped for and advised him to make a publick Recantation of his Subscription which he willingly did in the Pulpit the next Lords-day in these words It was my abject and cowardly mind and saint heart that made my weak hand to commit this wickedness Which when he had uttered as well as he could for tears and sighs he applied himself in a servent Prayer first to God Almighty for his Pardon and afterwards to the Church the whole Auditory accompanying him with Tears and Sighes and ever after esteeming him more for his ingenuous Repentance than they would perhaps have done if he had not fallen IT is an easie thing for those that were never tried to censure the frailty of those that have truckled for some time under the shock of a mighty Temptation but let such remember St. Paul's advice Let him that standeth take heed least he fall This great Mans fall shall ever be my Lesson and if this glistering Jewel were thus clowded and foil'd God be merciful to me a Sinner Mr. JEWEL had not been long at Franckford before Peter Martyr hearing of it often sollicited him to come to Strasburgh where he was now settled and provided for and all things considered a wonder it is that he did not perish in England For there was no Person more openly aimed at than he because none of them had given wider Wounds than he to the Catholick Cause One Tresham a Senior Canon of Christ-Church who had held some Points against him at his first coming thither now took the benefit of the times to be revenged on him and incited those of Christ-Church and of other Houses to affront him publickly So that not finding any safety at Oxford he retired to Lambeth to Cranmer where he was sure of as much as the place could afford him A Consultation had been held by some of the more fiery Spirits for his commitment unto Prison But he came thither as was well known on the publick Faith which was not to be violated for the satisfaction of some private Persons It was thought fit threfore to discharge him of all further imployment and to license him to depart in peace none being more forward to furnish him with all things for his going hence than the new Lord Chancellor Bishop Gardiner whether in honour to his Learning or out of a desire to send him packing shall not now be questioned but less humanity was shewed to him in his Wife whose Body having been buried in the Church of St. Frideswide was afterwards by publick order taken out of the Grave and buried in a common Dunghill But in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth was removed and her bones mixed with St. Francis And the truth is the Queen who was a bigotted Papist and too much Priest-ridden breaking not only her promise to the men of Suffolk who had stood by her in her greatest necessity and treating them with extream severity for but challenging the performance of her promise one Dobbe who had spoken more boldly than the rest being ordered to stand three days in the Pillory but also her more solemn engagement made the Twelfth of August 1553. in the Council That altho her Conscience was staid in the Matters of Religion yet she was resolved not to compel or strain others otherwise than as God should put into their Hearts a perswasion of that truth she was in and this she hoped should be done by the opening his word to them by Godly vertuous and learned Preachers I say considering how ill she kept her promise to her own Subjects it is a wonder she should keep the Faith given to this Stranger in her Brothers Reign and not by her and I conceive no reason can be given for this but the over-ruling Providence of God who governs the hearts of Princes as he thinks fit BUT well it was for Mr. Jewel that there he was and as much of Mr. Jewel's Sufferings in England had been occasion'd by his great respects he had shewn to Peter Martyr whilest he lived at Oxon So now Peter Martyr never left solliciting him as I said to come to him to Strasbourgh till he prevailed where he took him to his own Table and kept him always with him And here Mr. Jewel was very serviceable to him in his Edition of his Commentaries upon the Book of Judges which were all transcribed for the Press by him and he used also to read every day some part of a Father to him and for the most part St. Augustin with which Father they were both much delighted AT Strasbourgh Mr. Jewel found J. Poynet late Bishop of Winchester Edmund Grindal Arch-bishop of York Sir Edwin Sands J. Cheeke and Sir Anthony Coke Kt. and several other great Men of the English Nation who were fled thither for their Religion And with these he was in great esteem which open'd a way for his preferment upon his return into England after the Storm was over PETER Martyr having been a long time sollicited by the Senate of Zurick to go thither and take upon him the place of Professor of Hebrew and Interpreter of the Scriptures in the place of Conrad Pellican who was almost the first Professor of Hebrew in Christendom and died about this time near an hundred years of Age at last accepted the Office and carried Mr. Jewel with him to Zurick where he lived still with Peter Martyr in his own Family Here he found James Pilkinton Bishop of Durham and several others who were maintained by the Procurement of Richard Chambers but out of the Purses of Mr. Richard Springham Mr. John Abel Mr. Thomas Eton Merchants of London and several
Holy Fathers the Prophets the Apostles against St. Peter St. Paul and even against Christ himself 7. BUT now if they are so ambitious of the Honour of being thought polite and eloquent Slanderers it does so much the less befit us to be mute and careless in the Defence of our most excellent Cause for it is certainly the part only of dissolute Men who can securely and wickedly shut their Eyes when the Divine Majesty is injured to be wholly unconcern'd what is tho' falsly and unjustly said of them and their Cause especially when it is of that Nature that the Glory of God and the Affairs of Religion are at the same time violated for although other and those often very great Injuries may be born and dissembl'd by a modest Christian yet He saith Ruffinus who shall patiently put up the Name of an Heretick does not deserve to be called a Christian Permit us then to do that which all Laws and the very Voice of Nature commands us that which Christ himself did when he was in a like Case assaulted with Reproaches that is suffer us to repel their Defamations and with Modesty and Truth to defend our Cause and Innocence for Christ himself when the Pharisees charged him with Conjuration as if he had entered a Combination with impure Spirits and by their Assistance wrought many Wonders replied I have not a Devil but I honour my Father and ye do dishonour me and St. Paul when he was undervalued by Festus the Proconsul as a Mad-man answered I am not mad most noble Festus but speak forth the Words of Truth and Soberness And the Primitive Christians when they were traduced to the People as Murtherers Adulterers Incestuous Persons and Disturbers of the Government and saw that the Excellence of their Religion might be call'd in question especially if they held their Peace and by their Silence seemed to confess the truth of these Accusations and so the Course of the Gospel might be hindered they thereupon made publick Orations wrote supplicant Books and discoursed before Emperors and Princes in the publick defence of themselves and the Chruch 8. BUT we perhaps may seem not to need any Defence so many thousands of our Brethren in the last twenty years having born testimony to the Truth amidst the most exquisite Tortures and Princes in endeavouring to put a stop to the Progress of the Gospel and to that purpose using several Methods having yet in the end been able to effect nothing and the whole World now beginning to open their Eyes and to see the Light and therefore it may seem as I said that enough hath been spoken and that our Case is sufficiently defended the thing speaking for it self for if the Popes themselves would or indeed if they could consider with themselves the Beginning and Progress of our Religion how theirs without any Resistance without any humane Force hath fallen and in the interim ours hath increased and by degrees been propagated into all Countries and hath been entertained in the Courts of Kings and the Palaces of Princes even whilst it was opposed from the beginning by Emperors by Kings by Popes and almost by all others these things I say are clear Indications that God himself sights for us and doth from Heaven deride and scorn their Projects and Endeavours and that the Power of Truth is so great that no humane Force nor the very Gates of Hell shall ever be able to prevail against it for so many free Cities so many Princes cannot be supposed mad as at this day have fallen from the See of Rome and chosen rather to joyn themselves to the Gospel 9. FOR although Popes have not as yet at any time been at leisure to think attentively and seriously of these things or although other Thoughts may now hinder and distract them or they may think these things light and beneath the Dignity of the Popedom is our Cause therefore to be thought ever the worse or if perhaps they will pretend not to see what indeed they do see and that they choose rather to oppose the Truth even then when they are convinced of it are we therefore presently to be reputed Hereticks because we cannot comply with their Wills If Pope Pius the IIII. had been such a Person as his Name speaks him and as he so much desires to be thought nay indeed if he had but been so good a man as to have esteem'd us as his Brethren or as MEN certainly he would diligently have considered our Reasons and what could have been alledged for and against us and not with so rash and blindfold a precipitancy have condemned without hearing our cause or allowing the Liberty of a Defence so considerable a part of the World so many learned so many Religious men so many Common-wealths so many Kings and so many Princes as he has sentenced in his Bull concerning his late pretended Council 10. BUT now because We are so publickly in this unjust manner noted by him left by our silence we should seem to confess the Crimes charged upon us and the rather because we could in no manner be heard in any publick Council where he would suffer none to have any Suffrage or propose his Judgment who was not first sworn to him and intirely addicted to his Interest for of this we had too great an experience in the last Council of Trent when the Ambassadors and Divines of the Princes and free Cities of Germany were totally excluded out of the Council nor can we forgot that Julius the III. above ten years since took a mighty care by his Rescript that none of our Men might be heard in the Council except it were one that was disposed to recant and change his Opinion For these causes I say we have thought fit by this Book to give an account of our Faith and to answer truly and publickly what hath been publickly objected against us that the whole World may see the Parts and Reasons of that Faith which so many good men have valued above their Lives and that all Mankind may understand what kind of men they are and what they think of God and Religion whom the Bishop of Rome has inconsiderately enough before they had made their Defence without Example and without Law condemn'd for Hereticks upon a bare report that they differed from him and his in some points of Religion 11. AND though St. Jerome will allow no man to be patient under the Suspicion of Heresie yet we will not behave our selves neither sowerly nor irreverently nor angerly tho' he ought not to be esteemed either sharp or abusive who speaks nothing but the truth no we will leave that sort of Oratory to our Adversaries who think whatsoever they speak although it be never so sharp and reproachful modest and apposite when it is applied to us and they are as little concern'd whether it be true or false but we who defend nothing but the Truth have no need of such base
Arts. 12. NOW if we make it appear and that not obseurely and craftily but bona fide before God truly ingeniously clearly and perspicuously that we teach the most holy Gospel of God and that the antient Fathers and the whole Primitive Church are on our side and that we have not without just cause left them and return'd to the Apostles and the antient Catholick Fathers and if they who so much detest our Doctrine and pride themselves in the name of Catholicks shall apparently see that all those Pretences of Antiquity of which they so immoderately glory belong not to them and that there is more strength in our Cause than they thought there was then we hope that none of them will be so careless of his Salvation but he will at some time or other bethink himself which side he ought to joyn with Certainly if a man be not of an hard and obdurate Heart and resolved not to hear he can never repent the having once considered our Defence and the attending what is said by us and whether it be agreeable or no to the Christian Religion 13. FOR whereas they call us Hereticks that is so dreadful a Crime that except it be apparently seen except it be palpable and as it were to be felt with our Hands and Fingers it ought not to be easily believed that a Christian is or can be guilty of it for Heresie is a Renunciation of our Salvation a Rejection of the Grace of God and a departure from the Body and Spirit of Christ But this was ever the Custom and Usage of them and of their Fore-fathers that if any presumed to complain of their Errors and desired the Reformation of Religion they condemn'd them forthwith for Hereticks as Innovators and factious men Christ himself was call'd a Samaritan for no other cause but for that they thought he had made a defection to a new Religion or Heresie And St. Paul the Apostle being call'd in question was accused of Heresie to which he replied After the Way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets 14. In short all that Religion which we Christians now profess in the beginning of Christianity was by the Pagans call'd a Sect or Heresie with these words they fill'd the ears of Princes that when out of prejudice they had once possessed their minds with an Aversion for us and that they were perswaded that whatever we said was Factious and Heretical they might be diverted from reflecting upon the thing it self or ever hearing or considering the Cause but by how much the greater and more grievous this Crime is so much the rather ought it to be proved by clear and strong Arguments especially at this time because men begin now adays a little to distrust the Fidelity of their Oracles and to inquire into their Doctrine with much greater industry than has heretofore been imployed for the People of God in this Age are quite of another Disposition than they were heretofore when all the Responses and Dictates of the Popes of Rome were taken for Gospel and all Religion depended upon their Authority the Holy Scriptures and the Writings of the Apostles and Prophets are every where now to be had out of which all the true and Catholick Doctrine may be proved and all Heresies may be refuted 15. BUT seeing they can produce nothing out of the Scriptures against us it is very injurious and cruel to call us Hereticks who have not revolted from Christ nor from the Apostles nor from the Prophets By the Sword of Scripture Christ overcame the Devil when he was Tempted by him with these Weapons every high thing that exalteth it self against God is to be brought down and dispersed for all Scripture saith St. Paul is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction that the Man of God may be perfect and throughly furnished unto all good Works and accordingly the Holy Fathers have never fought against Hereticks with any other Arms than what the Scriptures have afforded them St. Augustin when he disputed against Petilianus a Donatist Heretick useth these words Let not saith he these words be heard I say or thou sayest but rather let us say thus saith the Lord let us seek the Church there let us judge of our Cause by that And St. Jerom saith Let whatever is pretended to be delivered by the Apostles and cannot be proved by the Testimony of the writen Word be struck with the Sword of God And St. Ambrose to the Emperor Gratian Let the Scriptures saith he let the Apostles let the Prophets let Christ be interrogated The Catholick Fathers and Bishops of those times did not doubt but our Religion might be sufficiently proved by Scripture nor durst they esteem any man an Heretick whose Error they could not perspicuously and clearly prove such by Scripture And as to us we may truly reply with St. Paul After the way which they call HERESIE so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets or the Writings of the Apostles 16. IF therefore we be Hereticks and they as they desire to be call'd be Catholicks why do they not do what they see the Fathers and all other Catholicks have done why do they not convince us out of the Holy Scriptures why do they not try us by them why do they not shew that we have made a defection from Christ from the Prophets from the Apostles and from the Holy Fathers Why do they stand Why do they draw back It is the Cause of God Why then should they fear to commit it to the Arbitriment of the Word of God But if we are Hereticks who submit all ouâ— Controversies to the Holy Scriptures and appeal to those very Words which we know were consigned to writing by God himself and prefer them before all other things which can possibly be excogitated by the Wit of Man what are they or by what Name shall they be call'd who fear and shun the Sentence of the Scriptures that is the Judgment of God himself and prefer their own Dreams and silly Inventions before them and have for some Ages violated the Institutions of Christ and his Apostles for the sake of their Traditions There is a Story of Sophocles the Tragedian that when he was very old he was accused before the Judges by his own Sons for a childish and a silly Person as one that had wasted his Estate by ill managery and stood in need of a Guardian in his old Age to take care of him and it the old Man appeared in Court and instead of a Deâ—ence recied a Tragedy which he had very elaborately and elegantly written just in that time the Suit was depending and thereupon asked the Judges if that Poem were the Work of a childish person 16.
number of Intercessors without any Authority of the Word of God so that as Jeremiah saith According to the number of thy Cities so are thy Gods so that miserable men know not which to apply themselves to and tho they are innumerable yet they have ascribed to each of them their Office and what was to be obtained had and received from each of them but also because they have not only impiously but impudently solicited the Virgin Mary that she would remember she is a Mother that she would be pleased to command her Son and that she would make use of the Authority she hath over him 21. WE say that Man is born and does live in Sin and that no man can truly say his Heart is clean that the most holy Man is an unprofitable Servant that the Law of God is perfect and requires of us a full and perfect Obedience and that we cannot in any way keep it perfectly in this Life and that there is no Mortal who can be justified in the sight of God by his own Deserts and therefore our only Refuge and Safety is in the Mercy of God the Father by Jesus Christ and in the assuring our selves that he is the Propitiation for our Sins by whose Blood all our Stains are washed out that he has pacified things by the Blood of his Cross that He by that only Sacrifice which he once offered upon the Cross hath perfected all things and therefore when he breathed out his Soul said IT IS FINISHED as if by these words he would signifie now the Price is paid for the Sins of Mankind 22. NOW if there be any who think not that this Sacrifice is sufficient let them go and find out a better but as as for us because we know this is the only Sacrifice we are contented with it alone nor do we expect any other and because it was only once to be offered we do not injoyn the Repetition of it and because it was full and in all its Numbers and Parts perfect we do not substitute to it the perpetual Successions of our own Sacrifices 23. THO we say there is no trust to be put in the Merits of our Works and Actions and place all the Hopes and Reason of our Salvation only in Christ yet we do not therefore say that men should live loosely and dissolutely as if Baptism and Faith were sufficient for a Christian and there were nothing more required the true Faith is a living Faith and cannot be idle therefore we teach the People that God hath not call'd us to Luxury and Disorder but as St. Paul saith Unto good Works that we might walk in them That God hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness that we might serve the living God that we should root up all the Reliques of sin that we should work out our Salvation with fear and trembling that it might appear that the Spirit of Sanctification was in us and that Christ himself dwelleth in our Hearts by Faith 24. To conclude We believe that this Body of ours in which we live tho after Death it turns to Dust yet in the last day it shall return to Life again by the Spirit of Christ that dwelleth in us and that then whatever we suffer for Christ in the interim he will wipe away all Tears from our Eyes and that then through him we shall enjoy everlasting Life and be always with him in Glory AMEN CHAP. III. Containing a plain Demonstration of the Causes why and whence Heresies arose in the Church with Instances of all sorts in all Times THESE are the horrible Heresies for which a considerable part of the World at this day are condemn'd by the Pope unheard it had been better to have entered a Contest with Christ the Apostles and holy Fathers for they it was who did not only give a beginning to these Doctrines but commanded them unless they of the Church of Rome will say as perhaps they will that Christ did not institute the Holy Communion that it might be distributed amongst the Faithful or that the Apostles of Jesus Christ or the ancient Fathers said private Masses in all the corners of their Churches sometimes ten and at other twenty in one day or that Christ-and the Apostles deprived the People of the Cup or that That which they now do and that with that eagerness that whoever will not comply with them in it is by them condemn'd for an Heretick is not call'd Sacriledge by one of their own Popes Gelasius or that those are not the Words of Ambrosius Augustinus Gelasius Theodoret Chrisostom and Origen That the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament remain what they were before that that which is seen on the Holy Table is Bread that the Substance of the Bread doth not cease to be nor the nature of the Wine that the Substance and Nature of the Bread is not changed that this very Bread as to what concerns the Matter of it goes down into the Belly and is cast out by the Draught or that Christ and his Apostles and the Fathers did not pray in that Tongue which was understood by the People or that Christ by that one Oblation which he once offered hath not perfected the Work of our Redemption or that this Sacrifice was so imperfect that we need another Either they must say all these things or else they must aver which perhaps they had rather say that all Right and Justice is inclosed in the Cabinet of the Popes Breast and as one of his Followers and Flatterers once said that he may dispense against the Apostles against the Councils and against the Apostolical Canons and that he is not bound by those Examples Institutions and Laws of Christ 2. THUS we have been taught by Christ by the Apostles and Holy Fathers and we do faithfully teach the People of God the same things and for so doing we are called Hereticks by the great Leader and Prince of Religion O immortal God! What have Christ and his Apostles and so many Fathers all erred What are Origen Ambrose Augustin Chrysostom Gelasius and Theodoret Apostates from the Catholick Faith Was the Consent of so many Bishops and Learned men nothing but a Conspiracy of Hereticks or that which was commendable in them is it now blameable in us And that which was Catholick in them is it by a Change in the Wills of Men become schismatical in us Or that which was once true is it now because it displeaseth them become false Let them then produce a new Gospel or at least set forth their Reasons why those things which were so long publickly observed and approved in the Church ought now at last to be recall'd We know that the Word which was reveal'd by Christ and propagated by the Apostles is sufficient to promote our Salvation and all Truth and to convince all Heresies Out of it alone we condemn all sorts of ancient Heresies which they
these as his own tho he would yet he cannot commit Simony But then how well or rationally this is spoken we poor Men cannot see or understand except as the ancient Romans served Victory so they have served Truth for when she once came flying to them they clipt her Wings that she might no more sly from them But what if Jeremias should tell them as we have observed above that these are lying Words And what again if he should say That many Pastors who ought to have dressed have destroyed my Vineyard What if Christ should say that those who should have taken the greatest care of the Temple have made the House of God a Dâ—n of Thieves For if the Church of Rome cannot Err she is more beholding to her own good Fortune than to their Prudence or Care for such are their Lives Doctrines and Diligence that if we are to take our Measures from thence this Church is not only in danger of falling into â—rror but of a total Ruine and Destruction And certainly if that Church can err which hath departed from the Word of God the Commandments of Christ the Institutions of the Apostles the Examples of the Primitive Church and from the Canons and Sanctions of the ancient Fathers and Councils yea and from her own too which will be obliged by neither old nor new Laws by neither her own nor any others by neither Divine nor Humane Laws I say if all this be to err then it is certain that the Church of Rome not only may err but that she hath most wickedly and lewdly erred 11. BUT they say we were once of their Communion but now we are Apostates and have departed from them indeed we have departed from them and we bless the Great and Holy God for it and please our selves mightily in it but then we have not departed from the Primitive Church from the Apostles from Christ we were educated indeed with them in darkness and ignorance of God as Moses was in the Discipline and bosom of the Egyptians We were of your Number saith Tertullian and I confess it but what wonder is there in that Men are made and not born Christians But then I may as well ask them why they have descended from the seven Hills on which the ancient City of Rome stood to dwell in the Plains in the Martian Field to which perhaps they would reply that the Aquaeducts without which they could not conveniently dwell on those Hills have failed Let them then but grant the same liberty in relation to the Waters of Life which they expect we should afford them in regard of the common Family-water The Springs did now fail with them The Elders saith Jeremiah sent their little ones to the Waters they came to the Pits and found no Water they returned with their Vessels empty they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads Or as Isaiah saith The Poor and the Needy seek Water and there is none and their Tongue faileth for thirst They had broken all their Conduits and Water-courses they had stopped up all the Springs and covered the Fountain of Living Waters with mire and mud and as Caligula by shutting up all the publick Granaries enjoyned the People of Rome to fast so they by stopping up the Fountains of the Word of God had enjoyned the People to undergo the Miseries of a destructive Thirst they have as the Prophet Amos saith brought upon the World a Famine Not a Famine of Bread nor a thirst for Water but of hearing the Words of the Lord. Miserable Men went searching about for a small spark of Divine Light to chear their Consciences but they were all gone out and they could find none this was the miserable Condition and State of their Church men lived wretchedly in it with out the Gospel and without Light or Conslation 12. AND therefore how afflictive soever our departure from them may seem to them yet they ought at the same time to consider how just the cause of it was for if they say in general it is not lawful to leave that Society in which thou wert educated this were in our Persons to condemn the Prophets Apostles and Christ himself for why is it not as reasonable to blame Lot for leaving Sodom Abraham for leaving Chaldea the Hebrews for leaving Egypt Christ for leaving the Jews and St. Paul for leaving the Pharisees For except it be granted that there may be a just cause of departure we can see no cause why these may not in the same manner as we are be accused of Faction and Sedition But if we are to be thought Hereticks because we will not obey all their unjust commands what are they Who or what are they to be thought who have contemned the Commands of Christ and his Apostles If we are Schifmaticks who have forsaken them by what name shall we call them who have forsaken the Greeks from whom they first received the Christian Faith the Primitive Church Christ and the Apostles who were their Spiritual Parents For the Greek Church who at this day profess the Religion and Name of Christ altho they have in many things contaminated it yet they still retain a great part of those things which they received from the Apostles And so they have no private Masses no maimed Sacraments no Purgatory nor Indulgences And as to the Papal Titles and magnificent Names they have this esteem of them that whoever calls himself the universal Bishop and the Head of the whole Church is a proud Man and injurious to all the other Bishops who are his Brethren nor will they scruple on this single account to call him Heretick 13. BUT now seeing it is apparent and cannot be denied that they have made a defection from them from whom they received the Gospel the Christian Faith and Religion yea and the very being of a Church what cause is there to be given why they should not return back to them as to their Original Why should they so much dread the times of the Fathers and Apostles as if they had seen nothing Why do they see more or love the Church better than they who delivered what they have to them for as for us we have forsaken a Church in which we could neither hear the pure Word of God nor administer the Sacraments nor invoke the Name of God as we ought which they themselves acknowledge to be faulty in many things and in which there was nothing to retain a prudent Man who thought seriously of his Salvation Lastly We have departed from a Church which is not now what anciently she was and so we have departed as Daniel did out of the Den of Lyons as the three Children did out of the fiery Furnace or to speak more properly we have not so much departed from them as been cast out by them with Execrations and Curses 14. BUT then we have united our selve to that Church in which if they would
Right is devolved to all Princes in common yet has so unjustly usurpt it to himself alone and thinks it sufficient to communicate his design of holding a Council to the Greatest Prince in Christendom as to his Servant But if the Modesty of Ferdinand the Emperor be so great perhaps because he doth not thorowly understand the Papal Arts that he can digest this Injury yet the Pope who pretends to so much Sanctity ought not to have offered him this Affront and thus to have arrogated to himself another Mans Right 12. BUT some of his Party may reply that the Emperor then called the Councils because the Bishop of Rome was not then arrived to that height of Greatness and yet he did not even then sit with the Bishops or at all interpose his Authority in their Deliberations and Consultations Yes as Theodoret acquaints us Constantine the Emperor did not only sit with the Bishops but admonished them to determine the Controversie then depending out of the Prophetick and Apostolical Writings In this Disputation said the Emperor concerning Divine things there is set before us which we ought to follow the Doctrine of the Holy Ghost for the Books of the Evangelists and Apostles and the Oracles of the Prophets do sufficiently shew us what we ought to think of the Will of God Theodosius another Emperor not only sat amongst the Bishops as Socrates saith but also was Moderator of the Dispute and rent the Papers of the Hereticks and approved the Sentiments and Doctrine of the Catholicks And in the Council of Chalcedon the Civil Magistrate who under the Emperor governed that Council condemn'd three Bishops Dioscorus Juvenalis and Thalassius by his Sentence for Hereticks and gave judgment that they should be deposed from that degree In the Third the Constantinopolitan Council the Civil Magistrate not only sate with the Bishops but also subscribed the Canons with them We have read said he and subscribed them In the Second Council of Orange the Ambassadors of the Princes being Noble-men themselves sate and not only voted concerning Matters of Religion but also subscribed amongst the Bishops for thus it is written in the end of that Council Petrus Marcellinus and Felix Liberius two Noble and Illustrions Praefecti Praetorio of Gaul and Patricians have consented and subscribed Syragrius Opilio Pantagathus Deodatus Cariatho and Marcellus honourable Men and Magistrates have subscribed But if the Praefecti Praetorio and Patricians or Noble-men could then subscribe the Councils may not Emperors and Kings do it now There were no need to prosecute so plain and apparent a point as this is but that we have to do with a parcel of Men who use to deny the clearest things oven those things which lye plain and open before their Eyes out of a contentious Disposition and a desire of Victory The Emperour Justinianus made a Law for the correcting the Manner and curbing the Insolence of the Clergy and altho he was a most Christian and Catholick Emperor yet he deposed Sylverius and Vigilius two Popes Successors of St. Peter and Vicars of Jesus Christ as they are now called 13. AND now seeing that Princes have imployed their Authority upon Bishops received commands from God concerning Religion brought back the Ark of God composed Sacred Hymns and Psalms governed the Priests made publick Discourses concerning the Worship of God purged the Temple demolished High Places burnt Idolatrous Groves and have admonished the Priests concerning their Office and given them Laws of Living have slain wicked Prophets deposed Bishops called Councils of Bishops and sate with them and taught them what they should do have punished Heretical Bishops have taken cognizance of Religion subscribed Councils and given Sentence in them and done all this not by the command of another but in their own Names and that rightly and piously shall we say after all this that the care of Religion belongs not to them Or that a Christian Prince who is pleased to concern himself in these things acts ill immodestly and wickedly In all these Affairs the most Ancient and most Christian Kings and Emperors have intermeddled and yet were never accused of Impiety or Immodesty for so doing and will any pretend to find either more Catholick Princes or more Illustrious Examples 14. BUT now if they might do all these things tho they were only Civil Princes and governed their several States Wherein have our Princes offended who tho they are in the same Authority may it seems not do the same things Or wherein consists the wonderful force of their Learning Wisdom and Holiness that contrary to the Custom of all the Ancient and Catholick Bishops who have heretofore deliberated with Princes concerning Religion they should now reject and exclude Christian Princes from the cognizance of the Cause now depending and from all Participation and Congress with them in their Councils But yet it cannot be denied they have taken a prudent care for themselves and the upholding their Kingdom which they foresaw otherwise would soon have perished For if they who are placed by God in the highest Station had once seen and understood these Mens Arts that the Commands of Christ are contemned by them that the light of the Gospel is obscured and extinguished by them that they play tricks with and delude them and shut up against them the entrance into the Kingdom of God They would never so patiently have suffered themselves to be so proudly despised and injuriously scorned and abused But now on the other hand they have rendred all Princes obnoxious and subject to them by their blindness and Ignorance 15. WE as I said before have done nothing in the changing of Religion either insolently or rashly nothing but with great deliberation and slowly Nor had we ever thought of doing it except the Will of God undoubtedly and manifestly opened to us in the most Sacred Scriptures and the necessity of our Salvation had compelled us so to do for altho we have departed from that Church which they call the Catholick Church and thereupon they have kindled a great envy against us in them who cannot well judge of us yet it is enough for us and ought to be so to any prudent and pious man who considers seriously of his Salvation that we have only departed from that Church which may enr which Christ who cannot err so long since foretold should err and which we see clearly with our Eyes has departed from the Holy Fathers the Apostles Christ himself and the Primitive and Catholick Church And we have approached as much as possibly we could to the Church of the Apostles and ancient Catholick Bishops and Fathers which we know was yet a Perfect and as Tertullian saith an unspotted Virgin and not contaminated with any Idolatry or great and publick Error Neither have we only reformed the Doctrine of our Church and made it like theirs in all things but we have also brought the Celebration of ☞ the Sacraments and the
Christ alone and do properly and only belong to him nor was there ever any Bishop of Rome who would suffer so insolent and proud a Title to be given him before the Times of Phocas the Emperor who as we very well know aspired to the Empire by a most detestable Villany the Murther of Mauritius the former Emperor his Soveraign that is till the year of Christ 613. That the Council of Carthage expressly decreed that no Bishop should be called the highest Pâ—ntiff or chief Priest But the Bishop of Rome because he now desires to be so call'd and usurps a Power which belongs not to him besides that he acts directly against the ancient Councils and the Fathers if he dares believe St. Gregory one of his own Predecessors he has taken upon him an arrogant prophane sacrilegious antichristian Title and is therefore the King of Pride Lucifer one that sets himself above his Brethren who has denied the Faith and is thereby become the fore-runner of Antichrist 7. WE say that a Minister ought to have a lawful Call and be duly and orderly preferred in the Church of God and that no Man ought at his own Will and Pleasure to intrude into the sacred Ministry So that a very great Injury is done us by them who so frequently affirm that nothing is done decently and in order with us but all things are managed confusedly and disorderly and that with us all that will are Priests Teachers and Interpreters 8. WE say that Christ has given to his Ministers the Power of Binding and Loosing of Opening and Shutting And we say that the Power of Loosing consists in this that the Minister by the preaching of the Gospel offers to dejected Minds and true Penitents through the Merits of Christ Absolution and doth assure them of a certain Remission of their Sins and the hopes of eternal Salvation Or secondly reconciles restores and receives into the Congregation and Unity of the Faithful those Penitents who by any grievous Scandal or known and publick Offence have offended the Minds of their Brethren and in a sort alienated and separated themselves from the common Society of the Church and the Body of Christ And we say the Minister doth exercise the Power of Binding or Shutting when he shuteth the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven against Unbelievers and obstinate Persons and denounceth to them the Vengeance of God and eternal Punishment or excludeth out of the Bosome of the Church those that are publickly excommunicated and that God himself doth so far approve whatever Sentence his Ministers shall so give that whatsoever is either loosed or bound by their Ministry here on Earth he will in like manner bind or loose and confirm in Heaven The Key with which these Ministers do shut or open the Kingdom of Heaven we say with St. Chrysostom is the Knowledge of the Scripture with Tertullian is the Interpretation of the Law and with Eusebius is the Word of God We say the Disciples of Christ received this Power from him not that they might hear the private Confessions of the People and catch their whispering Murmurs as the Popish Priests every where now do and that in such a manner as if all the force and use of the Keys consisted only in this but that they might go and Preach and Publish the Gospel that so they might be a savour of Life unto Life to them that did believe and that they might be also a savour of Death unto Death to those that did not believe that the Minds of the Pious who were affrighted with the sense of their former ill Lives and Errors after they beheld the Light of the Gospel and believed in Christ might be opened by the Word of God as doors are with a Key And that the wicked and stubborn who would not believe and return into the Way might be left shut up and locked and as St. Paul expresseth it might wax worse and worse this we take to be the meaning of the Keys and that in this manner the Consciences of Men are either bound or loosed We say that the Priest is a Judge but then we say with St. Ambrose that he hath not the Right of any Dominion and therefore Christ reprehended the Scribes and Pharisees with these words that he might reprove their Negligence in teaching Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees for you have taken away the Key of Knowledge and shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men. Seeing then the Key by which a Passage is opened for us into the Kingdom of Heaven is the Word of the Gospel and the Interpretation of the Law and the Scriptures where there is no such Word there is no Key And seeing the same word was given to all and the Key which pertains to all is but one we say that the Power of all Ministers as to binding and loosing is one and the same and we say that even the Pope himself notwithstanding his Flatterers do so sweetly sooth him up with these words I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven as if they belonged to him and to no other Mortal under Heaven except he makes it his Business to bend and subdue the Consciences of Men to the Word of God we deny that even he as I said can either open or shut or hath at all the Keys and altho he â—oth teach and instruct the People which I wish he would sometimes do truly and at last be perswaded to believe it is at least some part of his Duty and Office but yet if he did so his Key would be neither better nor greater than that of others for who made that difference Who taught him to open more learnedly or absolve more powerfully than his Brethren 9. WE say that Marriage is Honorable and Holy in all degrees of Men in Patriarchs in Prophets in Apostles in Holy Martyrs in the Ministers of the Churches and in the Bishops and that as St. Chrysostom saith it is both lawful and just that he should ascend the Episcopal Throne with it and we say as Sozomen did of Spiridion and Nazianzen did oâ— his own Father that a pious and industriouâ— Bishop is nothing the worse for being married buâ— rather much the better and more useful in his Ministery And we say that the Law which by force taketh away this Liberty from Men anâ—ties them to a single Life against their Wills is as St. Paul stiles it the Doctrine of Devils and that from hence as is confessed by thâ— Bishop of Augusta Faber the Abbot of Paleâ—mo Latomus the tripartite Work which 〈◊〉 joyned to the second Tome of the Councilâ— and other defenders of the Papal Party and which is apparent from the thing it self and confessed by all Histories an incredible imâ—purity of Life and Manners and horriblâ— Debaucheries in the Ministers of God havâ— sprung and arisen so that Pius the secondâ— Bishop of Rome was not out when
hâ— said he saw many Causes why the Clergâ— should be denied Wives but then he saw morâ— and greater Causes to allow them Wives again 10. WE receive and imbrace all the Canonical Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament and we give our gracious God most hearty Thanks that he hath set up this Light for us which we ever fix our Eyes upon lest by humane Fraud or the Snares of the Devil we should be seduced to Errors or Fables We own them to be the heavenly Voices by which God hath reveal'd and made known his Will to us in them only can the Mind of Man acquiesce in them all that is necessary for our Salvation is aboundantly and plainly contain'd as Origen St. Augustin St. Chrysostom and St. Cyrill have taught us They are the very Might and Power of God unto Salvation they are the Foundations of the Apostles and Prophets upon which the Church of God is built they are the most certain and infallible Rule by which the Church may be reduced if She happen to stagger slip or err by which all Ecclesiastical Doctrines ought to be tried no Law no Tradition no Custom is to be received or continued if it be contrary to Scripture No tho St. Paul himself or an Angel from Heaven should come and teach otherwise 11. WE receive also and allow the Sacraments of the Church that is the sacred Signs and Ceremonies which Christ commanded us to use that he might by them represent to our eyes the Mysteries of our Salvation and most strongly confirm the Faith we have in his Blood and seal in our Hearts his Grace and we call them Figures Signs Types Antitypes Forms Seals Prints or Signets Similitudes Examples Images Remembrances and Memorials with Tertullian Origen St. Ambrose St. Augustin St. Jerom St. Chrysostom St. Basil and Dionysius and many other Catholick Fathers Nor do we doubt with them to call them a kind of visible Words the Signets of Righteousness and the Symbols of Grace and clearly affirm that in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper the Body and Blood of our Lord is truly exhibited to Believers that is the enlivening Flesh of the Son of God the Bread that comes from above the Nourishment of Immortality the Grace the Truth and the Life and that it is the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ by the Participation of which we are quickned strengthened and fed to immortality and by which we are conjoyned united and incorporated with Christ that we may remain in him and he in us 12. WE acknowledge that there are two Sacraments properly so call'd Baptism and the Supper of the Lord for so many we see were delivered to us and consecrated by Christ and approved by St. Ambrose St. Augustin and the ancient Fathers 13. AND we say that Baptism is the Sacrament of the Remission of Sins and of that Washing which we have in the Blood of Christ and that none are to be denied that Sacrament who will profess the Faith of Christ no not the Infants of Christians because they are born in sin and belong to the People of God 14. WE say that the Eucharist is the Sacrament or visible Symbol of the Body and Blood of Christ in which the Death and Resurrection of Christ and what he did in his humane Body is in a manner represented to our eyes that we may give him thanks for his Death and our Deliverance by it and that by frequenting the Sacrament we may often renew the Remembrance of it and that by the Body and Blood of Christ we may be nourished into the Hope of the Resurrection and of eternal Life and that we may be assured that the Body and Blood of Christ hath the same effect in the feeding of our Souls which the Bread and Wine have in the repairing the Decays of our Bodies To this great and solemn Feast the People are to be invited that they may all communicate together and may publickly signifie and testifie both their Union and Society amongst themselves and that Hope which they have in Christ Jesus and therefore if there was any one heretofore before the private Mass was introduced who would be only a Spectator and yet would abstain from the Holy Communion the Bishops of Rome in the Primitive Times and the ancient Fathers would have excommunicated him as a wicked man and a Pagan Nor was there any Christian man in those times who communicated alone in the presence of others who were only Spectators So Calixtus long since decreed that when the Consecration was finished all should communicate if they would not be deprived of the Communion of the Church and be shut out of it for so saith he the Apostles ordained and the Holy Church of Rome holds And we say that both the Parts of the Sacrament ought to be given to all that come to the Holy Communion for so Christ commanded and the Apostles instituted throughout the World and all the ancient Fathers and Catholick Bishops so practised and if any one shall do otherwise saith Gelasius he commits Sacriledge and therefore our Adversaries who exploding and rejecting the Communion defend the private Mass and a multitude of Sacraments without the authority of the Word of God without any ancient Council without any Catholick Father without any Example of the Primitive Church and without Reason and this against the express Command of Christ and also against all Antiquity in so doing act wickedly and sacrilegiously 15. WE say that the Bread and Wine are the Holy and Heavenly Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ and that in them Christ himself the true Bread of eternal Life is so exhibited to us as present that we do by Faith truly take his Body and Blood and yet at the same time we speak not this so as if we thought the Nature of the Bread and Wine were totally changed and abolished as many in the last Ages have dreamt and as yet could never agree amongst themselves about this Dream For neither did Christ ever design that the Wheaten Bread should change its Nature and assume a new kind of Divinity but rather that it might change us and that as Theophylact saith we might be trans-elemented into his Body For what can be more perspicuous than what St. Ambrose saith on this occasion the Bread and Wine are what they were and yet are changed into another thing Or what Gelasius saith The Substance of the Bread and Nature of the Wine do not cease to be Or then what Theodoret after the Consecration the mystical Symbols do not cast off their own proper Nature for they remain in their former Substance and Figure and Species Or then what St. Augustin saith that which you see is Bread and a Cup as your Eyes inform you but that which your Faith desires to be instructed in is this the Bread is the Body of Christ and the Cup is his