by those souldiers being witnesses that he rose in spight of all their power and policy So his lying in the grave three daies was to answer to Ionas his type in the whales belly and to make good the prophecie of Hosea 6.2 after two daies he will revive us and the third day he will raise us and we shall live in his sight But you will say he did not lie in the grave three whole daies and nights yet according to the Jewish account he might be said so to do for a day is reckoned by evening and morning Now the former evening and Good Friday on which he was buried made the first day then Friday evening and the Sabbath following made the second day and the Sabbath evening and the next morning of his Resurrection was the third day It may be you may think it strange that Christ would lie in the grave on the Sabbath day but this he did to shew the work of redemption was finished and therefore he rested the seventh day as God was said to do after the six daies work of creation Also to shew that with him was buried the ceremoniall part of the Sabbath namely the seventh day formerly appointed And surely the first Christians so understood it and therefore they kept their holy meeting afterward upon the first day of the week Rev. 1. which St Iohn called the Lords day Now in all this time Christs body corrupted not First because he was without sin which is the cause of corruption and therefore he was preserved by the power of God Psal 16.10 Beside men that die violent deaths are not so apt to corrupt as those that die of diseases by which they are partly corrupted before they are dead otherwise a dead body may possibly be without corruption sixty hours and upwards and Christ was dead not much above forty and so might justly be said not to see corruption By all which he gave us a pledge of an eternall sabbath of rest and that our bodies after death should rise incorruptible And this doctrin of Christs buriall is full of comfort and instruction Of comfort because that now this storm of Gods anger is allaied by our Jonas being cast into this whales belly of the grave which by his body is fanctified for us It teacheth us also to bury our sins with Christ Rom. 6.4 and there let them lie as dead carcasses separated from us for ever and grow loathsome and at last wear out of memory in respect of either by affection or practice and we may live to newnesse of life by vertue of Christs resurrection Mathe. But before I enquire of you the mystery of Christs resurrection I pray resolve me what you think of Christs descending into hell which is an Article of that Creed commonly called the Apostles and in that of Athanasius but not in the Nicene Creed nor in any other that I know Phila. You put a Question of great controversie yet of more then needs if the phrase of hell were rightly understood For in the Old Testament it hath two names given to it namely 1. The congregation of the dead Pro. 21.16 according to which translation it may be understood for the grave and if it be translated word for word with the Hebrew then it may be taken for the depths of water In caetu Riphaim or Gigantum in which the rebell giants of the old world were drowned which Job calleth Sheol infernus or the low place Job 26.7 and so doth David Sheol Psal 16.10 which is translated the grave Afterward about the captivity it is called Tophet or Gehinnom Gebenna which are only words borrowed from that execrable place in the vallie of Hinnom where the Jews burned their children in sacrifice to Moloch i. the devill to expresse hell which they beleeved to be a place of torment This term or word held long among the Jewes and Christ used it as the vulgar expression in his time Mat. 5.22 yet Luke 16.23 he useth another word as it is in the Greek text namely Hades which there signifieth hell for it is said Hades the rich man was in hell in torments But it is taken oftner for the grave and the condition of men deceased as Gen. 42.38 Iob 7.9 Psal â—â— â— Pro. 23.14 Acts 2.31 1 Cor. 15.55 and most plainly Rev. 20.13 death and Hades i. the grave shall be cast into the lake of fire Now see how Christ may be said to descend into these for into the grave he had descended and therefore it need not be said again in relation thereunto that he descended into hell If taken for the waters what should he do there 1 Pet. 3.19 except you will suppose that he went to preach to the rebellious spirits that were there imprisoned for their disobedience in the daies of Noah But how he went and when and wherefore how whether in soule or body or both then in what time whether before he rose or afterward and why whether to preach for their conversion or to confirm their damnation would be resolved or whether he went thither to suffer any thing or to triumph surely not to suffer for us for on the crosse all his sufferings were finished nor to triumph for that he did upon his crosse Col. 2.14 15. Beside we are to consider where Hell should be if Christ descended locally thither for we conceive it to be a place ordained for the devill and his angels and wicked men Now if the Devill and his be not yet confined thither what should Christ descend thither for either to confirm damnation or to triumph over them that were not there Now that they are not yet confined to the place appointed is plain because St Paul calleth him the Prince that ruleth in the aire because yet they have great liberty in tempting men Also because the devill besought Christ not to torment him before the time And because both St Peter 2 Pet. 2.4 and St Iude ver 6. say that they are as yet only reserved in chains of darknesse to the judgement of the great day Just Mart. Iren. l. 5. c. 26. Hieron in 6. cap. Ephes Drusius Aug. lib. de civit dei l. 8. c. 22 23. And so held the fathers of the first 400. yeers after Christ St Peter in his second Epistle the second chapter the ninth and seventeenth verses saith so of wicked people Therefore some writers of great account have said that from the earth to the firmament is not a meer empty space but full of spirits which were cast down from the high heavens into these lower parts of the aire as into a prison till the last judgement together with other wicked of their society Now descension cannot properly be applied to the aire but rather ascention Therefore by Christs descending into hell we may as I judge safely understand those inward sorrowes which he suffered in his agony in the garden and on the crosse which pressed him to
a mutual emanency one in the other and an eternall emanency one from the other for they be each in each Aug. de Trin. Christ is in the Father and the Father in him and the holy Spirit in both so they be all in each For the Son is in the bosome of the Father and the Father in the Image of the Son the holy Spirit in the breath of each and they both in his operations 3. All in each for one is possessed of the other 4. All in all the whole essence being in every person And yet 5. But one in all because all three are but one God And take heed of thinking therefore 1. That there is no God 2. That there be no persons in the God but only relations Socin Patrisp offices or dispensations For so we may count the Father to suffer not the Son for our redemption 3. That they be only like one another in substance Arri. Eunom Tritheit but not of the same substance or of an unlike substance but of one and the same substance And take heed of thinking they be three gods for there is but one God in essence though three persons in subsistence one God in being though three persons in the manner of that being Nor may you like the Mahometans acknowledge one God without persons or like the Indians denie the Son of God Mahom. Indians because then they say God must have a wife These people only understand carnall generation not spirituall and in what they know naturally therein they abuse themselves Jude ver 10. and speak evill of what they know not For they perceive not how the soule begets children namely the thoughts and words without female conjunction This high knowledge of God should teach us to admire him whom we cannot comprehend and therefore to serve him in faith fear and reverence Psal 2.11 especially in his Temple and service Psal 138. and so say with Job O Lord what I know not do thou teach me so that in thy knowledge I may find felicity We must not think this knowledge to be superfluous since it is life eternall to have it John 17.3 Mat. 16.18 and that Christ so much approved St Peter for acknowledging it I know all men cannot apprehend this alike yet if we desire that Christ would shew us the Father John 14.8 and that we may have his Spirit he will not denie it to him that asketh him especially if we lament for the losse of the excellent knowledge no doubt he will reveal so much of it to us as shall acquire eternall life Mathe. What means hath God given us to know him by Phila. Two means his Works and his Words His Works Natura naturans naturata and the book of Nature naturated by the power of God His Word is the book of Nature naturating i. of God himselfe without which revelation man cannot apprehend God at all or very darkly The reason whereof is 1. Because Adam seeking curious knowledge beyond the light which God gave him in nature he lost that light of God which by nature he had and despoiled himselfe of that image and character of God which God had impressed upon him and so fell into false conceptions of God in his generations and by himselfe into a more obscure apprehension of him in his time 2. This dark knowledge of God in man ariseth from the depravation of his affections which desires to know God sensibly as men behold Princes which cannot be in this world 1 Cor. 15. no more then flesh and blood can inherit heaven till it be mortified by death and fermented in the grave and refined at the resurrection Moses desire was exuberant to see Gods glory in visible appearance For though God was pleased to be represented by Angels in shapes of men in the Old Testament yet he hath no shape For to what will ye liken me saith God 3. Men being not read in Scriptures are oftentimes driven by some accidents in the world and change of times and strange events above or beside reason to think that either there is no God or else that God is not just Psal 37.36 Psal 73.1 2 3. Wisd 1.1 2. 4. Because we find all things fall alike to all and a naturall succession of things to be as they were alwaies so they think we are all born at adventure and all things come by nature or fortune 5. It comes by the devils craft deluding men with vanity and making them not to think of God and so bold to perpetrate horrible sins through blindnesse and hardnesse of heart whereas if they did but consider Gods waies and footsteps in Scripture in making all things and in disposing them to their severall ends and orders the rare knowledge given to man above other creatures the peace of his mind when he doth well the terrors of his conscience in doing ill the impression and stamp of Elohim upon his Magistrates whom he calleth Gods the strange vengeance following wicked men to them whom temporall Judges either do not or cannot punish Besides prodigious signs in heaven of future calamities So to see monstrous births terrible earthquakes which though they have naturall and second causes yet why they are not alwaies or oftner or not at all or in this place more then that must needs be the rule of some superiour power But yet nothing of all these leads us to the knowledge of God like the Scripture Mathe. Why so Phila. Because the Scriptures are the word of the true God of whom nothing can testifie better then his own word and truth therefore Christ saith Search the Scriptures for they testifie of me Secondly because they clearly set forth God in his nature attributes and works Mathe. How prove you the Scripture to be the Word of the true God Phila. Because it alone doth treat primarily of that God who is Trinity in Unity three persons in one Godhead and of their relations one towards another and their operations in and towards man 2. Because it is the most ancient truth as the true God is the ancient of daies Now what is most ancient and first is true Moses writings are most ancient upon which the rest of the Bible is a comment and the New Testament is a perfect complement and is therefore called grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ John 1.17 because he brought to man by the Gospell the love and favour of God and brought the truth prophesied into fact and performance But this Moses is the ancientest writer Eupolem Masius whom some call Musaeus some Trismegistus as some have thought the Aegyptian Serapis to be a monument of Joseph Sure enough he was the oldest writer of divine Revelation if not of any other He lived in the time of Cecrops King of Athens Aug. The oldest writing the Greeks have is the wars of Troy which fell out in the time of Israels Judges which was three hundred
beleeving if not by justice yet by mercy if not by our deserts yet by Christs merits by which we attaine so great honour that those Angels that never sinned Heb. 1.14 are yet made our servants to minister to us And the rather we should endeavour to know him because now he may be known though in former time he hid himselfe yet now he hath revealed himselfe not only by his attributes in Scripture but also in his Son Heb. 1.2 by whom we may apprehend him by operations in himselfe and toward us Mathe. What are the operations of God in himselfe Phila. They be such as concern the three persons among themselves in relation one to the other as the Father begetting the Son eternally Opera ad intra or divisa the Son giving from the Father procession to the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost receiving this proceeding and returning the glory thereof to the Father and the Son so glorifying themselves in themselves This operation never had beginning nor never shall have ending because God can never cease to be what he is in essence nor as he is in subsistence Now these operations distinguisheth one person from another because in these what the one doth the other doth not The Father is not begotten but the Son and the Holy Ghost proceeds from both for Christ sends him from the Father John 1â— 5 John 15.26 And this is part of that glory which Christ saith he had with the Father before the world was But beside this God may be said to have other operations in himselfe Opera ad extra or indivisa which are common to all the three persons And these are said to be either internall or externall The internall are such as his praescience and predestination Interna by which he decrees all things to their proper ends and man also and this is an operation wherein the whole Trinity hath an equall hand wherein is contained the whole counsell of God 2 Tim. 2.19 which is the firm foundation on which every thing depends and by which he knoweth among men who are his And by this determinable counsell Christ was delivered into the hand of wicked men and men are predestinated to the adoption of children in Christ Jesus according to his will and so by him we obtaine an inheritance Acts 2.23 Eph. 1.5 being predestinate according to his purpose Eph. 1.11 who worketh all things after the counsell of his own will And so he hath saved us and called us to an holy calling not according to our works but his purpose and grace which was provided for us in Christ 2 Tim. 1.9 before the world began In whom those that he foreknew Rom. 8.29 them he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son which are called elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father 1 Pet. 1.2 By which we may perceive that God was never sedent nor cessant before he made this world but had both his personall and internall operations by which also he did in time produce his externall works of creation and providence Mathe. How is predestination to be understood rightly Phila. 1. Predestination and election are much of one likenesse only election argueth that God chuseth one and not another and predestination argueth that God ordains some to glory and passeth by others though all taken out of the same nature and lump and though both these are in the divine mind at once yet election relates more to person and predestination more to the means by which those persons should be made happy For predestination is a decree of God Mat. 24.24 causing in time such effectuall grace in those that are elected that it will infallibly bring them to glory and therefore it is said that the elect are not to be seduced for it is Gods pleasure to give them the Kingdome Luke 12.32 who hath chosen them in Christ before the world that they should be unblameable before him 2. You must know that predestination looks upon all men in the same condition as Israels father was an Amorite and their mother an Hittite even of those Nations whom God cast out of Canaan But that in predestination there is such grace prepared that makes the elect become both holy and happy 3. You are to conceive neverthelesse that this grace prepared for the elect doth not impose any necessity or violent constraint upon their wils Abul in 3. Reg. c. 12. Cant. 1.4 Aug. de lib. arbit but causeth a free endeavour to vertue by a sweet perswasion of the heart to make Gods will ours who makes us by his divine motion of unwilling man to become willing Nor doth Gods passing by others called reprobation or not electing exclude such from all possible means of happinesse but it permits them by the freedome of their own will to neglect or abuse the means which is the just cause of their damnation Hos 13 9. for mans perdition is of himselfe God destinates none to sin but to punishment for sin and therefore predestination is not in Scripture applied to the reprobate because predestination in Gods is of the means i. grace and the end i. glory But reprobation is of the end i. punishment not of the means i. sin for predestination doth direct a man to that which by nature he cannot attain but reprobation destinates no man to aim at sin to which nature of it selfe is too prone when God passeth by it in his election but only preordains men to punishment deserved by sin So that as predestination necessitates no man to good works so Gods not predestinating some doth not necessitate anothers will to evill works no more then a Kings chusing one for his favorite doth necessitate him to do vertuous actions against his will nor another to be traiterous with his will For the decrees of God takes not away the liberty of mans will Mathe. But surely as predestination causeth salvation so Gods preterition or rejection of men causeth their damnation Phila. Wicked men are not damned because they are not predestinated but because they live and die in sin For rejection in God is only a deniall of election which may stand with a possibility of avoiding sin and damnation So all men in Adam were not elected yet all men in Adam had a certain power to stand so that as predestination is not a bare ordination of a man to eternall life by such a sufficient means as makes the event possible but it provides to make the means efficacious So reprobation excludes no man not elected from all means of salvation necesarily but permits them to be lead by their own will so that predestination of some 2 Tim. 2.19 doth not damn others by necessity of consequence but in the infallibility of Gods prescience as Joseph did foresee the seven years famine but did not cause it Mathe. But why doth God looking on all in the same
image of creatures Gen. 4.26 vid. R. Kim Rom. 1.23 Some to root out Gods revelation of himselfe to man by raising persecutions against those that professe it but especially against Christ and the Gospel which declares the manhood with God by Christs birth and mans redemption by Christs death And this argueth his first sin to be rebellion against the truth determined to be in due time manifested to the world Indeed Christ saith he did not abide in the truth nor indeed could abide it He did not abide in God who is truth it selfe nor in true obedience in which he was created nor in the truth determined concerning Christ to be mans Redeemer And indeed this seems to be truth from which he fell especially 1. Because Christ cals this Truth by way of eminence before Pilate saying I am come to witnesse the truth i. of Gods purpose and promise And he cals the Jewes the children of the Devill because they went about to destroy him and Judas a devill because he fell from him who was the Truth And because both refused to stand by his grace and favour as the Devill also did who hath ever been an opposer of this truth from the beginning as by preventing Adam of the sacramentall shadow of the tree of life and Cain of the comfort of true sacrifice both which were types of Christ And since that he made the Jewes to despise the figures of him Num. 21.56 in the Manna and Rock-water 1 Cor. 10.9 so he hath raised up many since Christs comming in the flesh to deny his Divinity or the truth of his Humanity Saviourship or justification power wisdome or holinesse And thus like the devill they love not that truth which was the actuall fulfilling of all the types law prophecies and promises in which regard it is said John 1. that Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ And I think the rather this was the main sin because neither he nor Judas never repented of it whom Christ called a devill for it is a sin cannot be repented of because committed directly against the method of God Christ and the Spirit of grace which is the only cause and means to true repentance So that he still setting himselfe like the Highest by designing to himselfe mans obedience and worship Mat. 4. sheweth his naturall pride 2. In seeking to destroy mans body and soule by tempting him to misbeleeve or disbeleeve his own redemption by Christ he sheweth his innate spight and envy 3. In striving to crosse Gods proceedings in nature or grace sheweth his rebellion from the beginning Mathe. But doth one devill do all this mischiefe in all men and all parts of the world at once this would argue a kind of infiniteness Phila. No sure for men are led aside by their own corruption and tempted of concupiscence to which the devill joins himselfe not only the Prince of Devils but some of his crew who are most fit to improve that temptation of a mans concupiscence Drusius quotations in lib. munus novum as we see one undertakes to seduce Ahab by becoming a lying spirit in the mouths of his Prophets Which was one of Pythons train whose way is by lies to delude people And the Scripture seems to intend some such thing by giving certain names to them as to some principall heads as Beelzebub whom the Jewes thought to be the Prince of Devils his name signifieth a master flie Jupiter Muscanius vide Clem. Alex. in protrept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Lord of flies Some say from his buzzing temptations which like flies swarm about us Others say because he drove away flies when the people sacrificed to him He is called the god of Ekron because they worshipped him So we find that God forbids consulting with familiar spirits Deut. 18.11 which in Hebrew is Schoel Aug. in 2. lib. de doct Christia cap. 23. and translated Python whom some writers take to be the head of that rank and order So we read of Belial a spirit of rebellion a vessell of wrath and ruine So of one Asmodeus a convincer and punisher Tobit 3.8 that strangled Sarahs seven husbands So of Satan who works deceits with Witches and Magitians and inflicts many miseries on mankind Revel as on Job c. 1. We read of another called Abaddon the master of misrule and confusion So of one Astaroth the chiefe head of all devilish accusations and so is all one with Diabolus the devill So we read of Mammon who tempteth to rapine and covetousnesse not that these only use such temptations for no doubt they officiate one for another and each faculty is imploied by each to mans ruine as the good Angels in their offices to mans good And it may be questioned whether these names signifie rather their persons or their faculties as Belemoh their beastly nature and Leviathan their vast increase in evill and Serpent their crafty folds windings and subtilties which Angels as they are dispersed in the world so they disperse their venome through the world Mathe. Doe they retain nothing of their created nature but evill Phila. Yes but they turn it all into evill They have their first knowledge and power but yet no farther then God permits them to use it for they are reserved like prisoners in chains by which they are confined For 1. They know not God with any comfort nor know his intentions nor his determinations whom he means to save or condemn for then it were in vain to tempt the one and needlesse to tempt the other Nor 2. Have they any certain knowledge of future events but make collections either from the stars or prophecies of Scripture or from mens temper or their actions and endeavors and therefore their answers in Oracles were dark and doubtfull as when he told the Pope he should die at Bethelem Sylvester it proved at a Monastery so called He told a King of England that he should not die till he had been at Jerusalem it proved that he died in a chamber so called Yet they beleeve and tremble because they fear justly they shall never enjoy the mercy they beleeve and because they do already feel partly the judgement ordained for them Againe they are stinted in their power they cannot do what they would Job was hedged in and till God opened a gap the devill could not invade him and when they are suffered to invade man yet are they subjected to the power of Christ and his Ministers Mathe. Are not these Angels in hell as yet Phila. No for had they been fixed to that sphere of punishment upon the fall they could neither have tempted Adam Aug. lib. 8. de civ dei c. 22. Jude 6. v. 17 nor us upon earth but they carry their hell about with them viz. the seat of damnation and the sense of Gods eternall displeasure Mathe. Where do you think Hell to be Phila. It is hard to say because the Scriptures do
Phaenicia and Palestina and beat the army of Heraclius also and composed the Alcoran for their Religion by the help of some Jewes and Sergius the Nestorian Heretick that denied the personall union of two natures in Christ and also by the help of John of Antiochia an Arrian Heretick who made it a medlie of the Pagan-Jewes and Christian Religion Saracen per. to the acknowledging of which Mahomet ordained all whom he conquered should be compelled by fire and sword which proved a terrible plague to many Christians Mathe. But what other persecutions arose from one Christian to another Phila. As they suffered from the Arrians and Eutychians so they did afterward from the Roman when ambition and covetousnesse 〈◊〉 made the Bishop of Rome rich potent and universall Therefore you must know that after the Empire began to stand like Nebuchadnezzars image on two legs the East and West part much decaied till Pope Leo the third perceiving the decay of the East proclaimed Charls the great Emperour in the West Mathe. How did the Pope first get to such an height to proclaim the Emperour Phila. You must know that before the reign of Constantine most of the Bishops of Rome were Martyrs or Confessors to the number of thirty from Linus the first Bishop who began to govern the Church of Rome after Peter and Paul had suffered But after the reign of Constantine and his sons the Bishops of Rome grew in higher esteem more and more First in being made Patriarchs together with the Bishops of Alexandria and Antiochia by the generall Councill of Nice for the timely suppressing of heresies But he got the start of them all and was accepted as the prime Bishop both in regard of the antiquity of his See and also because his seat was in the most ancient imperiall City Rome But he began to encroach and usurp authority exceedingly as others did who succeeded him But when I say such an one succeeded next I mean not alwaies the next in person but in regard of his office though some came between for my intent is not to make an absolute direct chronology or catalogue of them but to shew which of them was most active in advancing Antichristian Tyrauny though here and there some of them were of better condition Therefore as Pope Zepherinus before the Emperour Constantine Popes pride begins to appear Zepherinus Innocent Caelestius would have no Bishop condemned till his cause was heard by the Bishop of Rome So afterward Innocentius the first the predecessor to Zozimus writ to the Councill of Carthage that no Decree could be firm till allowed by the Chair of Rome whom Caelestinus followed and urged submission of the Church of Carthage to the Chair of Rome and therefore they should receive Appiarius whom they had excommunicated for appealing from his own Bishop to the Bishop of Rome but they regarded him not Faelix the third did also excommunicate Acacius Bishop of Constantinople because he absolved Petrus Moggux the Eutychian heretick without his leave upon which Acacius did as much for him But Gelasius his successor was more peremptory Gelasius for he plainly declared that the Church of Rome should be the Judge of all Churches but be judged by none nor would be reconciled to the Eastern Bishops except they would excommunicate Acacius and raze his name out of the catalogue of Bishops He also made bold to excommunicate the Emperour Anastasius for favouring the Eutychian heresie which example was by his successors put in execution upon Emperors without being hereticks So Faelix the fourth excommunicated also Athanasius Patriarch of Constantinople for heresie And Bonifacius the second Faelix upheld the authority of the Roman See against the Church of Carthage and Hippo and maintained Eutalius appeale to Rome against Aurelius Bishop of Carthage and Augustine Bishop of Hippo and a Councill of two hundred reverend Fathers so much did Rome affect superiority And by all these proud Prelates Vigilius had got stomack enough to resist the Emperour and his fifth generall Council of Constantinople though he came in not by the door but by means of Theodora a wicked Empresse who had caused Silverius Bishop of Rome to be banished who succeeded Boniface the second and placed Vigilius for bribes and base promises in his Chaire Pelagius the first that succeeded Vigilius was more crafty then peremptory for though he was vexed at Honoratus Bishop of Millain because he ordained Paulinus to succeed Macedonius Bishop of Aquileia without his leave yet he put it as a contempt of the Emperour Justinian in his relation of it to Narses the Emperours generall hoping to creep into sovereignty the more securely under colour of respect to the Civill Magistrate John the third and Benedict the first did not stickle much because the Lombards at that time much oppressed Italy Pelagius the second was elected without the knowledge of the Emperour but that was excused by the Popes Embassadour Gregory because that Rome was so strictly besieged that no messenger could be sent unto him This Gregory the first succeeded Pelagius by the choice of the Clergy and people of Rome he seemed unwilling to accept it and wrote letters to the Emperour to refuse their choice which were intercepted and other letters sent to desire the Emperours condescension He first set up the stile that the Popes use still in their title the servant of the servants of God in opposition to John the foster-Patriarch of Constantinople Servus servorum Dei who usurped the stile of universall Bishop and called him the forerunner of Antichrist yet he basely flattered Phocas the Emperour in his Epistles who had murthered his Lord Mauritius his wife and children This Gregory forbad spirituall men to marry Marriage forbidden to the Clergy but was forced to recall it because of their fornication and murthering of young infants so begotten But though this Pope did declaime against the title of universall Bishop and Fabianus his successor did not claim it yet his next successor Boniface the third did obtain it of Phocas by absolving him the murther of Mauritius namely to be Bishop of Bishops and that the Church of Rome should be the head of all Churches After him came Boniface the fourth obtained of Phocas the heathen Temple called Pantheon because it was built to the honour of all the heathen gods and dedicated it to all Saints and appointed an holiday to be kept in their honour so Idolatry crept in which afterward was the cause of much persecution for he took it from the heathen gods and by it made gods of the Saints Theodalus succeeds him and brings in Antichrist by an Ordinance that none should marry that woman that had been witnesse with him at Baptisme which was never forbidden by Gods Law or Gospell So Boniface the fifth who succeeded him constitutes that no man who took sanctuary for any crime should be violently taken out from thence Popes usurpation over civill power
marriages and thought fit it were permitted Paulus the second succeeds him He was as unlearned as Pius was learned He like some schismaticks now accounted humane learning heresie and so they may see their error is popish while they condemn learning as if it were popery Next comes Sixtus the fourth Innocentius the eight Alexander the sixt who imprisoned and banished many Cardinals Then followed Pius the third and next Julius the second who by the Emperour Maximilian and the King of Spain and France's aids spoiled the Venetians of many territories yet he received them again into favor and so discontented the Emperour and the King of France that they thought to depose him by their Councill at Pisa But he called another Councill at Rome which disanulled all they did at Pisa He lived in wars all his time Leo the tenth succeeds him He endevoured to suppresse Martin Luther but could not Adrianus the sixt followed and threatned the Duke of Saxony for maintaining Martin Luther Clement the seventh succeeds who poisoned many and was poisoned himselfe Paulus the third followeth whose authority in England was abrogated by King Henry the eighth who called himselfe supreme head in his own dominions in all causes Ecclesiastick and Civill He cursed King Henry the eighth of England therefore and interdicted the Kingdome ratified the order of Jesuites and called a Councill at Trent where the Protestants would not appear because they said that Councill was not lawfully called and the Pope sate Judge who was the party they were to accuse of errors and abusing the Church He carried the Councill to Bononia Iulius the third followed who brought it back again to Trent and sent in Queen Maries daies Cardinall Pool to absolve England from the interdiction of Paul the third But havock was made in England of Protestants Paulus the fourth followed who hated Charls the Emperour who resigned his government to his son Ferdinand and died in a Monastery The Pope approved not this election but Ferdinand esteemed not of his approbation Pius the fourth followed In his time the Councill of Trent called by Paul the third was dissolved which had sate six yeers only of eighteen But before that he sent an Embassador into England to invite the Clergy to that Councill but Queen Elizabeth would not suffer him to land Nor would the Germans send any Scotland also revolted from popery He massacred Protestants at Montalto in Italy to the number of eighty because they met at an house to hear a Sermon They were drawn out one by one and their throats cut but none recanted their Religion Pius the fifth followed who with the Venetians and the King of Spain and his own aids overcame the Turks at Lepanto under the conduct of John of Austria Gregory the thirteenth followed He founded a new Colledge for Jesuites and gave it great revenues to bring up schollers to convert the Germans The Guises faction and the Queen Mother made an horrid massacre in Paris of the Protestants whom they called Huguenots 1572. Which act this Pope commended and sent Charls King of France 40000. Duckats to set forward the war against them This Pope set forth a new Kalender Sixtus the fift followed who excommunicated the King of Navar and the Prince of Condie both Protestants Now was Henry the third killed by a Frier Clement the eighth absolved Henry the fourth King of France from the excommunication of Sixtus the fifth upon his abjuration of the protestation by his Orators which King was slain by a proselyte of the Jesuits called Ravilack Mathe. I desire to know how the Protestant Religion came in and whether it be ancient and how it hath been persecuted by the Pope his adherents whether Princes or Prelates and by what heresies opposed for the Papists still upbraid us that our Religion was begun by Luther who began an innovation in the time of Pope Leo the tenth Against whom Henry the eighth of England did write and obtained the title from the Pope of Defender of the faith Phila. You are to understand that the substantiall points of the Protestant Religion are the same which are grounded upon Scripture and maintained from the Primitive times by the Church Christian but obscured in tract of time by divers heresies and popish traditions which like tares and weeds over-grew the good seed which yet still appeared in divers places of the field of the Catholike Church plain enough to prove a visible being both of the truth and professors of it till the Protestants made a more full declaration of it by refining the old truths from the drosse of heresie and popish superstition Mathe. I desire to have a more plain view of those hereticks that turned from Gospell truths And secondly how the Pope sell off being that the Roman Church did oftentimes excommunicate those hereticks And thirdly how the Protestants came to reform themselves they being once in the bowels of the Romish Church Phila. You know I have shewed many already among the persecuting hereticks yet it shall not be irksome to me if it be not to you to view them a little better especially the Manicheans who sprung up before Arrius with which heresie Augustine was entangled but the Lord God that bringeth good out of evill converted him by the pains of Ambrose Bishop of Millain and he became a great light to Gods people and a confuter of that cursed heresie Manicheus opinions were that there were two beginnings one evil and the other good which is all one as to say there be two Gods No wonder if their patron Manes called himselfe the Holy Ghost Maniches as Montanus did if he proceeded from such principles This Manes forbade flesh and wine neglected the old Testament ascribed the sin of man not to his free will Vid. Aug. cont Mani but necessity because he said mans body was made of the substance of the Prince of darknesse He died a fearfull death Theo. l. 4. c. 4. For as Arrius voided his guts at a draught-house before he came to dispute against the truth so this Manes was sent for being a Persian by the King of Persia to cure his son who died in his hands and he was imprisoned but escaped yet heard of in Mesopotamia was taken and flead Socrat. l. 1. c. 21. and his skin stuffed and set up at the gate of the City Mathe. Sir lest it be too much trouble to you and no great benefit to me to recite all the heresies I desire only the chiefe of them which do directly oppose true Religion Phila. I intend so and therefore first I will shew you the ancient heresies and then the modern that you may see how far the latter are raked out of the former We find some holding God to be like a man because Gen. 1.21 God is said to make man after his image Anthropomorphites but that in the soule and the endowments thereof wisedome and righteousnesse The Author of this heresie was
called Dunce of the Town in Scotland where he was born but of a most subtile wit But God still stirred up some to maintain the cause of his truth As Arnoldus de nova villa a Spaniard who held in his time That the devill had seduced the world from the truth of Christ That the faith then commonly taught was the faith of devils That Christian people were led by the Pope to hell That the Cloisters had no charity and falsified the doctrine of Christ That the Ministers did not well to mix Philosophy with Divinity That masses are not to be celebrated nor that Priests ought to sacrifice for the dead All which the Protestants hold Gulielmus de Sancto Amore a Master of the University of Paris applied all the texts of Scripture that make against Antichrist to the Pope and his Clergy and proved the Friers to be false Prophets and writ against their wilfull poverty shewing that Christ when he said Mat. 19.21 Go and sell all thou hast and give it to the poor did not intend actuall but habituall poverty namely that we should not impoverish our selves when no need requireth but that in our affections we should be ready so to do when the confession of Christ and his glory shall require it that then we be ready to leave all for his sake So say the Protestants also But this man was condemned for an heretick and exiled and his books burnt So Laurence an English man and a Master of Paris 1300. and Peter John a Minorite and Robertus Gallus a Dominican Frier wrote that the Pope was Antichrist and Rome was great Babylon and that the Pope was an Idoll that had eies but would not see the abominations of his Church for desire of riches So the Protestants hold likewise Robert Gostred Bishop of Lincoln would not admit at the Popes command for an Italian boy to be one of the Prebends of his Church but writ to him that it was a devilish sin to defraud the people of the preaching of the Word by setting those in place that could not perform the Ministeriall office but only take the milke and wooll of Christs sheep He prophecied in his sicknesse that the Church should not be delivered from Romes Aegyptian bondage but by a bloody sword So think the Protestants Marsilius Patavinus affirmed that the Pope had not authority over other Bishops much lesse over the Emperour 1400. lib. defens pacis and that the Pope and the Clergy should be subject to Magistrates and that the head of the Church is Christ and that he never appointed any Vicar to be universall head thereof that Bishops ought to be chosen by the Clergy and that the marriage of Priests is lawfull and that St Peter was never at Rome that the Church of Rome is a den of theeves and that Popish doctrine leads to eternall death So hold the Protestants also Michael Cesenas Provinciall of the Grey Friers writ against the Popes pride and supremacy and cals him Antichrist and Rome Babylon the great whore drunk with the blood of the Saints that there were two Churches one of the wicked very flourishing wherein the Pope reigned the other of godly men afflicted over whom Christ reigned So hold the Protestants This man had many followers The Pope cursed him and burned many of them as they did also the Protestants John Wickliffe a Professor of Divinity in Oxford in King Edward the thirds time wrote many learned books of Logick and Philosophy Morality and Divinity and of the speculative Art He discovered the error of the Papists about Sacraments and so made himselfe many enemies But he had many friends and followers beyond the seas as John Huss and Jerome of Prague In whose defence fifty four Nobles of Moravia writ sharp reprehending the popish party for taxing Bohemia and Moravia with heresie Mr Moor. And many Nobles of England about the year 1385. did maintain Wickliffs doctrine namely Lord Montague Lord Clifford Earle of Salisbury Lord Latimer and Nevill Mathe. What were the points of Wickliffs doctrine Phila. That the substance of bread and wine remained in the Sacrament of the Altar after the words of consecration 2. That it is not found that Christ instituted or confirmed a Masse 3. That it is presumption to affirm that the children of the faithfull dying unbaptized are damned 4. That in St Pauls time there were but two orders of Clerks namely Elders and Deacons 5. That the causes of divorcement for spirituall consanguinity or affinity are not founded on the Scriptures 6. That he which is in the Church most serviceable and humble is Christ neerest Vicar in the Church militant 7. That if extrme or corporall unction were a Sacrament neither Christ nor his Apostles would have omitted it 8. That whatsoever the Pope commandeth without a cleare deduction from the Scriptures is to be accounted hereticall 9. That it is folly to beleeve the Popes pardons 10. That it is not necessary to beleeve the Church of Rome to be the supreme head of other Churches 11. That a Priest may preach the Word of God with authority from the Pope 12. That the Church of Rome is the synagogue of Satan nor is the Pope the Vicar of Christ nor of his Apostles 13. That if any man enter into a private Religion he is made thereby the more unfit to serve God The Protestants follow these positions John Huss the Bohemian followeth Wickliffe in time and doctrine for which he was burnt by the Councill of Constance though he was promised safe conduct His great offence was that he appealed to Jesus Christ which they took for a contempt of the Apostolike See Some report of this good Martyr that though they burnt the Goose for so Huss signifieth yet out of his ashes should rise a Swan so Luther signifieth that should trouble them worse then he had done So Luther did indeed Jerom of Prague died also as did John Huss about the year 1415. Hieronymus Savonarala an Italian Monk was a great adversary to the popish Clergy yet preaching nothing but the plain word of God as touching 1. The free justification in Christ through faith 2. That the communion ought to be administred in both kinds 3. That popish pardons were of no effect 4. Denied the Popes supremacy 5. Preached against the filthinesse of the Cardinals and Clergy 6. That the Keies were not only given to Peter 7. That the Pope did neither follow the life nor doctrine of Christ and that he attributed more to his own pardons then to Christs merits and therefore was Antichrist 8. That the Popes excommunications are not to be feared and he that doth fear them is excommunicated of God 9. That auricular confession is not necessary All which he stood unto with two Friers who were all three hanged openly and then burned And now began the Art of Printing which did ruine the Pope more then preaching Martin Luther was by the speciall providence of God called
forth to fight the cause of truth against the Pope even out of the Cloister of Augustinian Friers in the reign of the Emperour Charls the fifth who much endeavoured to suppresse him 1. By convening the estates of Germany at the Town of Worms But before I come to his story you may see that there was in every age some that professed the Protestant tenets of Religion before Luthers time I could reckon abundance more but I avoid prolixity and reserve the reader to the Catalogues and Martyrologies of Religious men I return therefore to Martin Luther who being summoned appeared at the Convention at Worms but would revoke nothing of his writings which were concerning 1. The grounds of Christian Religion The second contained a reproofe and detection of papacy and popish doctrines and manners The third sort contained an opposition of those particular persons who did abet and maintain the Roman tyranny and deface his writings none of which he would recant He had safe conduct back again to his own Country but the Emperour to please the Pope who had not yet confirmed him in his Empire sent out a Writ of outlawry against Luther and all his adherents commanding Luther to be apprehended and his books burnt Then followed another Convention at Norinbergh of the estates of Germany to suppresse Luther to which the Pope excited them by his Legate Cheregatus But the estates found it dangerous to proceed with rigor against him but desired to reserse it to the next free Councill called in Germany and in the mean time they would take care to prevent disorders But in the mean time an hundred grievances at least were presented by the Germans to that Convention and by them to the Pope the chiefe whereof were 1. That many things were prohibited by humane constitution that were not prohibited of God and many things rejected which were of God commanded 2. That the Popes pardons were insufferable which perswading the people of the power of them was the cause of many abominations committed because for mony they might be pardoned 3. That Ecclesiasticall men are free from the secular power whatever they commit 4. That Priests are suffered to have Concubines for monie and the chaster men are compelled to pay monie for them and so may have them if they will But no answer came either from Pope Adrian or Clement the seventh after him though he sent Cardinall Campeius to the next Convention at Norinberg But Ferdinand the Emperours brother and Cardinall Campeius the Duke of Bavaria and some Bishops Joan. Sleidan Comment assembled themselves in a Conventicle at Ratisbone and ratified certaine Articles against Luther and his books Afterward were two other Conventions at Spiers in the first many bils of complaints were put up against Monks and Friers and the priviledges of the Clergy above the Civill power Also against holy daies and that the difference of meats and ceremonies might be free and that the Emperour would appoint a Provnciall Councill since a generall could not be had in Germany for matters of Religion or else suspend the decree of Worms against the followers of Luther and himselfe the last was granted And at the next convention at Spiers was by a few Princes decreed That such Cities as had altered Religion should make no farther change and that other places should obey the decree of Wormes till a generall Councill That all men should use the masse that would even where it was abolished That Anabaptists should be punished to death and ministers should teach by the Churches interpretations That the doctrine of the Lords Supper should not be received That no Princes should receive strangers that for Religion came to their dominions This was resisted by the Duke of Saxony and the Prince of Brandenberg and the Princes of Luneberg and the Landgrave of Hesse and some others and made protestation against it and that name is given to all that decline the Romish Religion The name Protestants To these did cleave fourteen Cities who appealed to the Emperour and a generall Councill or a Provinciall They sent Embassadors to the Emperour who handled them very roughly with threatnings Therefore the Protestants bound themselves in a Covenant at Smalcaldy to assist each other if any of them were pursued for Religion This discontented the Councill of the Empire The Emperour published a decree that though the confession presented to him at the Town Augusta was consuted to which the Protestants were not suffered to reply The Augustane Confession but willed to return to the Romish Church yet he would give them a space to return In which time they should keep peace and alter Religion no farther but suffer every man to follow the Church of Rome that pleased The Protestants answered they could not obey that decree with a safe conscience Therefore the Emperour set forth another Decree wherein he confirmed the Romish Religion in all points and that his Court called the Chamber should proceed against the Protestants in judgement and that no Protestant Prince should bear office in his Court and that all Papists should be taken into his protection against their own Princes therefore the Protestants and their Embassadors met again at Smalcaldy and confirmed their league begun Vlricus Zuinglius after this being Preacher of Zurick shewed himselfe also against the Popes pardons and other corruptions he was opposed by the popish preachers The Senate of Zurick appoints a publike disputation Zuinglius sets out seventy Articles before hand to be disputed of Faber Stapulensis whom the Bishop of Constance sent to dispute against Zuinglius declined the disputation and referred it to a generall Councill Therefore the Senate proclaimed throughout all their territories that the traditions of men should be abolished and the Gospell of Christ purely taught out of the Old and New Testament Against which the Helvetians convened at Lucerna and decreed that no man should deride the Masse and that Luther should not be mentioned that Images should not be violated and that all decrees of the Bishop of Constance should be obeied and in 1625. appointed a disputation at Baden to maintain popish tenets of transubstantiation and the Masse invocation of Saints and for the maintenance of Images and Purgatory which Ecchius offred to maintain and prove He was opposed by Oecolampadius Preacher of Basil and others Zuinglius was not permitted by the Senate of Zurick to be there because the Helvetians were his fierce and deadly enemies It was concluded that all should remain in that Religion they had hitherto kept and should admit of no new doctrine in their dominions but should sollow the authority of the Councill The Senate and people of Berne not content herewith one of the chiefe Cities of Helvetia assigned a disputation there to be held called all the Bishops about them thereunto granted safe conduct to all that would come thither The disputation was to be decided by Scriptures the Propositions to be disputed upon were