purpose vnlesse he had first beene forced by some adiuration so your Bishop of Rome obserueth the same method of proceeding in our time in such criminall actions as are intended against the children of God CHAP. V. Of the Church Representatiue ANd what shall we say of your Church which you name representatiue and of your whole Ecclesiasticall hierarchy You teach that like as vnder the Law there was many Leuiticall sacrificers which had the charge of the ordinary sacrifices by turnes so also in the church there must be Priests whose office is to consecrate the true and naturall body of Christ Iesus and to make his mysticall bodie perfect who doe all affirme that they are of the generation and tribe of Leui as it is to be seene in your decrees The Deacons you write haue succeeded vnto the Leuites the Subdeacons vnto the Nathinneans the Porters vnto those which had the same charge in Salomons temple the Readers vnto the Prophets and concerning the Exorcists and Virgers you do attribute the beginning of these vnto the Kings Dauid and Salomon And what is this else but to play the Iewes We confesse that the Romish Clergie hath succeeded vnto false Iudaisme but with a smaller pretence and farre greater corruption whether it be in the doctrine or in the externall forme of the Church Goe to as I find three sort of people in Ierusalem through whose hands the Redeemer of the world passed to wit the Iewes bearing the name of Gods people in the meane time open enemies and exceeding great persecutors of the sonne of God the Romanes poore infidels without God and finally Herod and his followers as middle ones betweene these two extremities halting on both sides so also may the like number be found in your Church of those that haue plotted against Iesus Christ. Your Clergie men which vnder the name of the people of God stirred vp kindled the persecution among the members of Christ Iesus Next the poore ignorant ones who with their implicite or intricate faith differ not much from those Romane Pagans finally those of the middest who would baptise a marriage betweene the Gospell and the Masse as the Herodians did with Gentilisme and Iudaisme And like as the false Prophets and sacrificers among the Iewes did bragge themselues that they had the Law and the key of knowledge so doe you say that the Pope hath all manner of knowledge inclosed within his breast That it belongeth vnto him to giue authoritie to the holy Scripture That the Decretals are in the same rancke with the Scripture and that if any person doth attempt against them his sinnes shall neuer be remitted vnto him That d we ought deuoutly to leane and rest vpon the constitutions and determinations of Councels which are composed of the Doctors and sophists whom your Bishops carrie at their arses That the Bishops are not Counsellers but Iudges of the Scripture to be briefe That the Pope is Caput you will know your owne babling omnium Pontificum à quo illi tanquam à capite membra descendunt de cuius plenitudine omnes accipiunt Hic est ille Melchisedech cuius sacerdotium non est caeter is comparatum And when will you leaue off doting CHAP. VI. Of ceremonies YOu brag and boast your selues so much of the reading of the Fathers and why doe you not call to remembrance that which S. Hierome writeth That such as obserue the Iewish ceremonies haue fallen into the snare of the Deuill And the greater part of your Popish ceremonies are they not from the Iewes They are so much reuerenced that it were a mortall sin to reiect the smallest of them howbeit your owne Canons teach that ceremonies may be changed That it must be holden for a thing indifferent that is not against the Catholicke faith neither yet against good manners That such customes as haue beene brought in according to the diuersitie of times of wits or of places ought to be cut away whensoeuer opportunitie is offered the reason being annexed thereunto which is because they oppresse religion with a seruile burden which the mercy of God will haue to be free in the celebration of a few sacraments the same being most perspicuous and euident Wherefore then doe you ouerlode the Church with this burden so weightie Wherefore I say doe you restore againe those Iewish ceremonies already suppressed by the truth of the Euangell Why doe you not content your selues with the Apostolicke simplicitie How well did S. Gregorie Nazianzene say That God ought not to be honoured by outward ceremonies but by the puritie of the soule by the ioy of the Spirit by heauenly meditations which are the lampes that giue light vnto the whole body of the church And what would S. Austin say if he were aliue againe and did behold this great masse of ceremonies wherewith the poore soules are ouerburdened and smoothered Truly he should haue cause to renew his complaints which while he was yet aliue he left vnto vs in his admirable writs And would to God that S. Bernards wish were in your hearts and mouths who desired to see a good Councell wherein ceremonies and traditions might not be stubbornely defended nor superstitiously obserued But let vs returne to your Church representatiue CHAP. VII Of Cardinals AND from whence shall we say that your Cardinals are come Those Cardinals I say who being pickt out of the order of great Lords doe exhaust and emptie Kingdomes through their vanities and superfluities You shall peruse that which the venerable Cardinall of Cambray and one of your French men to wit Nicolas de Clemang is haue written as likewise the Councell of Constance which proponed a reformation I will be content here to produce onely Andreas Barbatius who in a little Treatise-that he compiled of the beginning of Cardinals doth attribute the same vnto that which is written Domini enim sunt cardines terrae posuit super eos orbem which was said before by the Canonist Ostiensis And what is it to corrupt the Scripture if this be not Behold then your Church replenished with Sacrificers with Leuites and other officers who keepe their ranckes in the Chauncels of your Temples and sing their course about one after another a manner of doing which they attribute to King Dauid although the primitiue Christians did sing together CHAP. VIII Of Sacrifices and Altars WHat doe you lacke more but sacrifices and altars We say indeed that our Lord being Sacrificer after the order of Melchisedech hath left no sacrifice to be reiterated for the remission of sinnes hath ordained no Sacrificers after him to offer him vp but Bishops and Pastors indeed to minister his Word and Sacraments vnto vs the seales of the promises contained in the same who by a translation but not properly may be termed Sacrificers and their charges and offices sacrifices but after the same manner that S. Paul
if wee would say lodged in the streetes and lanes Furthermore you haue after the like manner that the Pagans haue those little Images named Oscilla pourtraits made after the likenesse of the mouth and you vow to your saints the resemblance of your diseased members and other parts of the body that you may recouer your health and the walles of your Churches are like vnto the walles of the temples of those Aesculapian Gods which were pictured with armes and legs and other parcels of mens bodies which proceeded of the inuention of Hercules of whom the Grecians as witnesseth Arabon haue learned to consecrate vnto their Gods tables and boordes containing the inscription of the diseases whereof they thought they had beene cured through their helpe And your superstition hath ouerflowed so farre that you haue done as much for beasts And Cato maketh mention of the requests and prayers which the Romanes made for the health of their bessts which that poore Gentile mocked Moreouer from whence come your Agnus De is and such other trash to which you attribute so many vertues against all manner of diseases but from the ancient sorcerers and magicians which had wont to make certaine Images for the Angels for the Demons and Planets that they might serue for the like antidote and preseruatiue against dangers We shall neuer haue done I will conclude therefore that you are Gentiles by imitation who adore your Gods after the same manner who lodge your Images reliques on Coushions in the Churches as these did their Gods on the puluinar which was a certaine place in the fore part of the Theater that so they might bee the better seene CHAP. XXVIII Of Reliques VVHO doubteth but Sathan is the author of adoring reliques The Historiographers Ruffinus and Socrates beare sufficient record writing of the body of Babilas Martyre And the conclusions which the Fathers made being assembled in councell at Constantinople in the time of Leo to wit that the worshipping of Reliques was meere Idolatrie declareth sufficiently in what ranke wee ought to place them in the Church of God The third and fourth age after Iesus Christ were ignorant of this new fashion which smelleth altogether of Idolatry S. Austin would not admitte those reliques S. Chrysostome condemneth and reprooueth the same By what gate then haue they entred into Christianisme Such as are skilfull in profane Histories are not ignorant of the transportation of Theseus his bones which Simon remoued from the Isle Scyros into Athens and that Antigonus did in like manner with the reliques of Demetrius which in great pompe and solemnity hee transported from Syria into Grecia And concerning the religious honour wherewith the Gentiles worshipped the reliques of their dead behold here what S. Cyrillus Alexandrin e saith In old time saith he when certaine men had hazarded themselues in the battell of Marathon in defence of whole Grecia and had died valiantly fighting against the armie of Xerxes there was a custome among the Athenians to assemble themselues at their sepulchres and to praise them highlie once in the yeere Moreouer Plato himselfe saith of those that haue liued well and died nobly that they are become like Daemons and that wee ought to serue them after their death and worship their shrines Eusebius also maketh mention of the same Gentiles who made their supplications neere to the shrines where the ashes of those were kept whom they thought to haue beene valiant And in these passages of Eusebius and Cyrillus concerning the Gentiles is this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Ruffinus interpreteth thecas These were the shrines and pots wherein the ashes were kept This inuention therefore hath proceeded from the Gentiles vnto the Christians and these heathenish examples haue beene the cause of this foolish imitation in Constantine the first Christian Monarch whose chiefe occupation was to studie curiously how to finde out the bones and ashes of such as were holden for Saints before whose pottes and cophins the Emperour Theodosius did likewise bow downe himselfe A custome that hath beene renued since in S. Ambroses age where they continued to seeke after them to carie them from place to place and to recommend them to people From this custome which the Pagans had to conserue religiously the spoiles of their Gods for according to Apuleius they did so terme their reliques proceeded the difficulty which was made in granting to the Christians the body of their Bishop Polycarpus thinking that they would make a God thereof and adore the same And Eusebius doth learnedly remarke the answere returned by the Christians protesting that it was not vnto the true God alone that they did this homage And these puluinares or beds finely trimmed in the fore part of the Theater where those reliques were doe they not argue from whence they haue proceeded and to whom the first inuention of this Idolatry ought to be attributed In the time of Paganisme they carried them at Processions they were shewed on the Theaters as they vse to doe with the napkin of Chambery which is now transported into Thurin It is the same worship it is the same seruice that is vsed now in your Churches towards the bones of your dead The Turkes and Mahumetans haue also the reliques and ashes of their Saints whom they name Sehidun and yeelde the same honour to them that you doe to yours CHAP. XXIX Of the feast Corpus Christi VVHere haue you found that the bread of the holy Supper ought to be adored And what is the foundation of your adoration Truely Gentilisme is the groundstone and pile whereon you leane which adored one Iupiter Pistor It is true that you haue other presuppositiōs to wit that the bread is changd into the true body and the wine into the true blood of Christ Iesus the body must needs be accōpanied with the blood the blood must needs be accompanied with the body and both being together cannot be without a soule Christs soule cannotbe without the Deity there upon as on the top and finall end of your building you ground this adoration which is the only Helena for whose cause this warre was enterprised Pope Honorius was the author thereof the yeare 1226. Vrbane encreased the same much through eestablishing of the solemne feast of sacri Crustuli as you tearm it the yeer 1264. which was ordained to continue for euer by the councell of Vienne the yeere 1310. And this feast is cōmonly called among you the day or the feast of the holy Sacrament which you beleeue to be the Sacrament of miracles And that day which is so solemn is dedicated for promenying your Hoste too and fro through the townes and countrey with as much mirth gladnes as the Romans were wont to vse in certaine playes wherof Suetonius maketh mention at
appertaineth vnto the blood of Christ Iesus and not to any other to wit the remission of sinnes And finally the doctrine of the Iubilee importeth as much as if the blood of Christ were of smaller worth at one time then another CHAP. XXV Of the conception of the virgin Mary YOu keepe holy the feast of the conception of the virgin Mary and beleeue that shee was conceiued without originall sinne an opinion grounded vpon the Thalmud of the Rabbins and principally of Rabbi Iuda the sonne of Simon who saith that the matter whereof the mother of the Messias was to be engendred was created before Adam had sinned and was thus preserued in a little boxe from generation to generation without any spot or corruption and gathereth these misteries out of the words of the Psalme O Lord looke downe from heauen and beholde and visite the plant that thy right hand hath planted And why haue you not learned of S. Bernard that shee taketh no delight in those counterfeit honours Which hee speaketh of purpose of the feast of the Conception and of Origene That her chiefe honour is to bee saued iustified and redeemed through the blood of her sonne And your idolatrie by the contrary hath mounted vnto such blasphemies as to attribute vnto the virgin Mary and to transferre vnto her in all your Offices all whatsoeuer the Prophets and the Psalmist spake of God and of Iesus Christ. O Lord how long CHAP. XXVI Of the Lymbus EVen to the Lymbus the antichamber of hell haue you stretched forth your armes that you may draw from thence the tradition of those master Carpenters the Cabalists or the Thalmudists And such as are versed in the reading of their bookes know how that they beleeue that the Patriarches and others the first Fathers are still lodging there and looking for the comming of their Messias And doe you know where they haue found the Godmothers of this building Euen at hand in the booke of Ecclesiastes which saith That there are some iust men who perish in their iustice Is not this to ground the borders and suburbs of hell vpon a place which neither farre nor neere approcheth any waies vnto this Thalmudicall exposition We are not ignorant what your proofes are concerning the Lymbus and chiefly how you haue caused wrest that place of S. Peters which is so much chatted among you toward that side Howsoeuer the matter goeth yet it is wonderfull that you haue thus stumbled and that so long agoe sith it appeareth manifestly that the Apostle speaketh not there of the old faithfull Fathers but contrariwise of the vnfaithfull for example whereof hee bringeth forth those that perished in the flood because they would not hearken vnto Christ Iesus that preached vnto them spiritually by the mouth of Noah CHAP. XXVII Of the Law YOu haue that also common with the Iewes who were euill taught and thinke that the doctrine of the Gospell abolisheth the Law For to what end tendeth the calumny of your Sorbonique Doctors and Iesuites against the Christian Church in accusing her that shee hath abolished good workes and made way vnto all manner of disorder Indeede we say after S. Paul that we are iustified by faith in Iesus Christ and not by the workes of the Law and concerning the morrall law as it killeth vs in regard of vs that are transgressors thereof for whose instruction it was giuen so also wee are iustified through the same in Iesus Christ as in him that hath payed the debt which the law required of vs and hauing fully accomplished and ratified all the promises thereof in all those that beleeue And what is to be seene there that is not Apostolicke And when you say that you are able to fulfill Gods law are you not like him that vaunted himselfe that hee had fulfilled all the commandements euen from his youth head Is there not a fine harmony betweene you and that proud bragging Pharisie We beleeue better to wit that the regenerate man cannot fulfill the law of God the same notwithstanding being iustly required at his hands because it is iust in it selfe and because it was giuen vnto the first man while hee was yet in the estate of innocency and fell afterwards through his owne fault from all abilitie to fulfill the same and we all in him From thence it is that S. Austin saith to vs Who is he that is able to accomplish the Law in all points but he by whom all the commandements of God are fulfilled that is to say Christ Iesus And a little after But all the commandements are thought to be fulfilled when that which is not fulfilled is pardoned And so speaketh hee in more then a hundred places And S. Ambrose Prosper Aquitannus S. Bernard and all the Fathers To what purpose then your Pharisaicall pride and disdaine here to disanull the effect of the Crosse CHAP. XXVIII Of Iustification ANd concerning Iustification like as the Iews being euill aduised did teach that man was iustified by the workes of the Law so likewise you attribute iustification before God vnto the merits of good workes And that which you acknowledge touching the merits of the death of Christ Iesus is by you so restrained and tyed to that which precedeth Baptisme that the satisfactions of men are much esteemed and valued at an high rate as all your bookes doe testifie And if some of you doe at any time presse to speake of of Christ Iesus and of his vertue it is done with so much ignorance and sophistry that it is perceiued incontinent that as yet you haue not learned to renounce your false and counterfeit righteousnes to the end that you may destroy that which is in Iesus Christ. CHAP. XXIX Of opus Operatum FVrthermore like as the Iewes who were Iewes onely in name were contented with the letter without the spirit that is to say they thought that they had deserued much if with their bodies and lips they had drawne neere to the temple to the sacrifices the sacraments without faith or any true repentance for which cause they were bitterly checked by the Prophets In like manner your Doctors haue made the poore superstitious people beleeue that to bee present at diuine seruice to rehearse certaine words without vnderstanding or deuotion in the minde to be present and behold their sacrifices and sacramentall signes were as many meritorious workes although they had beene without all deuotion and inward feeling euen like to a stone or a logge of wood So grosse an errour and so preiudiciall vnto spirituall and euerlasting life as if one should teach such persons as are diseased of any bodily and mortall disease that it should be sufficient for them to trust to the Physicians skill and to the Apothecaries boxes not knowing what they were or taking any receipt or as if one should say to a poore hungry man that if he would be filled it should be sufficient for
f 2. Reg. 5. g Ioan. 5. h Thom. part 4. quast 71. art 2. in Math. 6. i De consecr dist 3. Can. Aquam k In his first discourse of miracles l Bellarm. tom 2. pag. 12. of the first edition m Epiphan cont haeres lib. 1. tom 1. sect 9. n Epist. ibidem sect 17. o Psal. 51. p Num. 19. Leuit. 14. a Ioseph Antiquit lib. 6. b De caelesti Hierar cap. 4. part 1. 2. c Lib. 1. Caeremon Pon. ti 7. Luke 7. 1. Timoth. 5. a De Consecr dift. 1. Can. Consecrationem §. Qualiter b Durand rat lib. 1. rubr de dedicatione Ecclesiae c Esa. 56. Math. 21. d Orig. hom 2. in Exod. e Tertul. Apol. cap. 39. f Gal. 5. a Math. 23. b Mark 12. Luke 12. c Math. 23. a Galatinu de arcanis Catâ—â—l veritatis lit 10. cap 6. Gabriel Biel in expositione Canonis lect 4. b Genes 49. Galat. lib. 10 c. 16. de arcan Cathol verit Garetius de praesentia corporis Christi ciass 9. alleg 1. a Gerard. Lirich lib. 3. b Durand lib. 4. de sexta parte Canonis Ioa. 12. c Lin woâ—dus de celeb Missae d Alexand. Hales 4. quaest 53. in 4. art 3. Liturg. Basil. pag. 60. Liturg. Chrysost. page 85. a Innocent lib. 5. cap. 13. de offic Missae b Durand racioÌ„ lib. 4. part 4. c Isa. 9. a Leuit. 6. b Of the Mysticall sence of lights see Durand rat l 6. rubr de bened baptis rub de 7. diebus post pascha b Of the Mysticall sence of lights see Durand rat l 6. rubr de bened baptis rub de 7. diebus post pascha c Extrauag de celeb Missae cap. finis d Durand rat lib. 4. rub de accessu c. e Galat. 3. Heb. 10. a Can. Is qui. dist 34. ex Conc. Tolet Can. 17. Canon Christiano dist 34. Can. tenere dist 31. b Leuit. 20. Monachisme c Euseb. lib. 8. Euang praeparat In the booke called the Exposition of Mysteries Psal. 80. Bernard Epist. 174. a MareioneÌ„ etiaÌ„ ex parte sapit illud dogma quo patrum animae in inferis dicuntur fuisse teste Irenaeo l. 1. c. 29. b Eccles. c. 7. v. 17. c 1. Pet. 3. a Rom. 3. v. 27. Galat. 2. v. 16. b Gal. 3. v. 19. c Rom. 3. v. 30. d Galat. 3. v. 13. 2. Cor. 1. 20. e August retract lib. 1. cap. 19. f Aug. de verb. Apostoli serm 13 g Augustin de perfect instit ratiocin 6. in Ioa. tract 3 cap 9. Despiritu literae cap. 9. Ambros. lib. 9. Epist 71. 73. Prosp. Aquit in Seut 34. in Epigr 43. in Psal. 118. Bernard in Cantic serm 50. Socrat. hist. tripart lib. 9. cap. 38 Ignat. epist. ad Magnesios a 1. Cor. 9. b Leuit. 19. c 1. Timoth. 6. d Marsil Patau in defensor Pacis part 2. c. 25. a Can. Ego Ludouicus dist 63. b Exod. 18. ver 13. 21. Num. 15. v. 33. Leuit. 24. v. 11. 2. Chron. 19. vers 18. c Deut. 17. v. 8. Leuit. 12. a Gal. 5. Effects of heresies b Iuuen. Satyr 2 Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes c Tertul. aduer Marcion lib. 4. d Lib. cont heres e Ad quod vult Deum f Lib. 1. cap. 20. de haeres Simonians Eunomius de haeres ad quod vult Deum h Bernard sup cant serm 67. Eumenius i Ireneus apud Eusebium liber 5. Histor. cap. 20. Florinus k In suo commonitorio m Epiph. haeres 63. Origene n Hieren epist. ad Auitum o Cal lib. 2. Iust. cap. 1. Sect. 5. lib. 3. c. vlt. sect vlt p 2 Cor. 3 v. 18. q Eph. 4. v. 24. r Col. 3. v. 10. s Gratensis in assert diffens t Ambr. de Paradiso August in Euchir c. 45. Prosper lib. de gratia Dei Tertul. lib. contra Iudaos u Epiph. haeres 64 Messalians Proclus x Theod. lib. 4. de haeret fabulis y Rom. 7. v. 7. 13. v. 9. Pepuzians z August lib. haeres ca. 27. a Articulo 13. ex iis quos Leo damnauit b Theod. lib. 3. de haerec fabulis Cornelius Papa apud Euseb. li. 6. hist. cap. 33. Nouatians c Hieronym in 15. cap. Ezec. Sabellius d Epiph. haeres 57 Arrius Tritheites e Hieronym in praefat dialog contra Pelagia August li. de hae res cap. 49. Manicheans f August lib. 22. contra Faustum Donatistes August lib. de vnit Eccles. c. 12. Aerius h Hieronym in 65. cap. Isa. Chrysost. 2. serm de Lazaro August serm 66. de temp Theophil ad 25. cap. Math. i Hom. 7. ad popul Antioch k Cyprian de simplie praelat cibatur cap. lâ—qâ—i tur Dominus 24. quaest 1. Item ad Corn. Hieronym in Tit. c. 1 et in epistola ad Euge 11. Episcopum citatur can legimus dist 93 et Canâ—euidenter 1. quaest 1. l Theodor. lib. de fabulis Iudaeorum Iouinian m Can. si quis carnem dist 30. Can. delitiae Can. Quisquis Can. quod dicit dist 41. Can. si quis presbiter dist 30. n Esa. 7. v. 14. * Eze. 44. v. 2. o Tom. 1. serm de humana generat Christi p Serm. de natalib Mariae Et in comment in 1. Pet. Vigilantius q Tamen Vigilantius ab Hieronymo sanctus Presbiter dictus est epist. 13. ad Paulin. r Lib. 20. de ciuit Dei cap. 10. s Eccles. 9. v. 5. Esa. 63. v. 16. Pelagians t 1. Cor. 7. v. 14. u Mat. 10. et 11. Nestorians x Constantinus Christianam fidem Catholicam sanctissimam hares appellauit apud Euseb. Eccles hist. lib. 10. cap. 5. y Nam haereticorum communione leges diuinae humanae pijs interdicunt 2. Ioan v. 10. 24. quaest 1. ci quae dignior c. 13. extrauag de haereticis z This is your part likewise Sirs to defend the Arrianisme of Liberius for which he is excommunicate by S. Hilary the Monothelisme of Honorius for which hee was condemned by the 6. and 7. Councels The opinion of the soules sleeping with Iohn 23. The opinion that the soules of men dy with their bodies like those of beasts and that there is no euerlasting life with Iohn 24. condemned for this cause by the Councel of Constance Session 11. * August lib. de Trinit in Proâ—mio a Ad Rust. Monach Manicheans b Insua Cosmopaeia in principio Geneseos a Idem sentiebat Valentineanus vt est apnd August har 11. Damasc de haeres b Leo epist. 96. Euticheans c Epiph. l. 1. tom 2. haeres 24. Basilides Marcion Manicheans d Bellarm de Eucharist lib. 1. c. 2. lib. 3. c. 6. omnium Pontificioruus similis est coniuratio Helcesceans Theodor defabulis haeretic l. 2. Eutiches f Nec Deus est nec homo sed quiddam est inter etrumque g In lib. sentent Prosperi Mohomet h Alanus lib. 2. de Eucharist c. 8. i Ioan 20.