when at any time they are conferred withall about their Religion presently not being able to answer their refuge is to referre vs ouer to their Priests of whose learning and iudgement they haue such a perswasion that though Scripture and reason be against them yet their opinions preuaile more with them then either of these So that hence it is most euident that as the Iewes are bound to beleeue all that their Cachamim teach and not to stand to examine what it is that they teach so the Romanists are bound by their Religion to entertaine into their Creed whatsoeuer is taught them by their ordinary Pastours without all enquirie and search into their doctrines whether they bee true or false And as this is one chiese cause of the Iewes obstinacie against Christian Religion so is it also of that miserable superstition which raigneth in the Church of Rome for if the people were but perswaded that their learned Doctours might erre and deceiue they would certainely suspect their doctrines and try them by the touchstone of the holy Scriptures and so at length might be reclaimed from their errours thus they march together in this point also 20. Againe the Romanists are like vnto the Iewes in their doctrine and practice of praying for the dead for they hold and teach that prayer sacrifice is to be offered for the dead grounding their opinion partly vpon the example of Iudas Maccabeus who as they affirme procured sacrifice to bee offered by the Priests for the dead that had trespassed by taking to themselues the idolatrous iewels of the Iamnites and partly vpon the Thalmudical traditions of diuers of their ancient Rabbines but they haue no ground nor warrant for the same in the word of God for as concerning the bookes of the Maccabees they themselues acknowledge that they are not Canonicall Scripture and for the Scripture we finde no such precept or example in the whole volume of the olde and new Testament neither is it likely that God would haue omitted in the law that kinde of sacrifice for the soules of men where he prescribeth sinne-offerings for bodily pollutions and euery light trespasse if he had thought it necessarie That this is the opinion and practice of the Iewes their practice at this day beareth witnesse for they vse to say ouer the dead bodies a certaine prayer called Kaddish by the vertue whereof as they thinke they are deliuered out of Purgatory especially if it bee said by the sonne for his father and if hee haue no sonne by the whole Congregation on their Sabboth dayes And that this also is the doctrine and vsage of the Church of Rome besides their Bookes their Masses for the quicke and the dead their Diriges and Trentals doe sufficiently testifie And that they fetch this custome from the Iewes may appeare by two reasons first because one mayne argument of theirs which they call a demonstration to proue the lawfulnesse hereof is deriued from the example of the Iewes as we may see both in Galatinus Coccius and our late English Apologists And secondly because as it is confessed by their owne Bredenbachius it is not found in all the writings of the Apostles and Euangelists in the new Testament and we may adde hereunto neither in the olde vnlesse by distorted and misalledged texts which are not worth the answering except onely that fore-named passage of the Maccabees which notwithstanding is corrupted both by the Translatour and also the Relatour Iason Cyreneus as is vnanswerably proued by our famous Country-man Doctour Reynolds the word Dead being cogged into the Text by some cunning Iuggler which is not in the Originall wherein lyeth the pith of the argument And therefore it must needes follow that the Romanists doe merely Iudaize herein And for the Fathers which they alledge for the proofe of this article let their owne Cassander giue satisfaction who affirmeth that the ancient Church vsed prayers for the dead either as thankfull congratulations for their present ioyes or esse as restimonies of their hope and desire of their future resurrection and consummate blessednes both in their bodies and soules and this hee proueth out of Cyprian Augustine Epiphanius Chrysostome and ancient Leiturgies 21. Againe they Iudaize in their doctrines of Limbus Patrum and Purgatorie for Purgatorie it hath beene alreadie touched in the former section and for Limbus Patrum it is coâ—sessed by our aduersaries themselues that it is the tenent of the Iewish Rabbines warranted as they say onely by a Text in Ecclefiasticus which being both corrupted in the translation as our worthy Champion Doctour Whitaker hath proued and being also no part of Canonicall Scripture doth plainely shew that it is a mere Rabbinish conceit hatched in their brainsick Thalmud and not bred in holy writ Yet our Romanists lay fast hold on the same opinion without any other certaine ground to build it vpon For as touching the places of Scripture collected by them to proue this assertion they are either so impertinent or distorted that the meanest iudgement may easily discry their weaknesse for either they are deriued from a word of an ambiguous signification as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the speach of Iacob Gen. 37. 35. which signifieth sometimes the graue and sometimes hell by the confession of their great Bellarmine or from a Parable as that place in Luke 16. concerning Abrahams bosome confessed by Maldonate to be parabolicall because bodies are not yet tormented in hell but here is mention of a finger and a tongue or from an allegorie as is that place of Zacharie 9. 11. where is mention made of loosing Prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water which both Salmeron and Bellarmine acknowledge to make more for Purgatory then for Limbus but in truth for neither it signifying literally nothing else but the deliuerance of the Israelites out of the Babylonish captiuity and tipically the redemption of the Elect from the bondage of Sathan and hell which they are liable vnto or lastly are merely impertinent as those places Heb. 11. 39. 4. 1. Reg. 28. 1. Pet. 3. 19 the first whereof intendeth the consummate and perfect blessednesse of body and soule which the Fathers had not attayned vnto The second meaneth not the true Samuel but the deuill in his shape and likenesse and the third is to bee referred not to Christs dâ—scension into hell but to the operation of his Diuinitie which he exercised from the beginning of the world preaching by the mouthes of iust men as both S. Augustine and Aquinas expound the place How can any sound conclusion now be drawne from Texts that are either equiuocall or allegoricall or parabolicall or impertinent and all by their owne confessions Therefore it must needes follow that seeing this doctrine hath no sure foundation in Gods word but is founded vpon the Iewes prophane Thalmud that it is no better then a mere Rabbinish
faith he doth neuer erre Gretzer saith that the generall lawfull and ordinarie Iudge of controuersies is the Bishop of Rome whether hee define any thing alone or with a Generall Councill this Iudge is always infallible Staplet on saith that the foundation of our Religion is placed of necessitie vpon the authority of this manâ— teaching in whom wee heare God himselfe speaking And another of them saith Si toâ—us mundus sententiaret contra Papam If the whole world should determine against the Pope yet we must stand to his sentence To conclude the Canon Law saith that it were heresie to thinke that our Lord God the Pope might not decree as hee doth yea that his rescripts and decretall Epistles are not Canonicall Scripture 34. Thus we see the Pope is that which they meane by the Church and he is the onely compendious Iudge and therefore when they talke of the Church it is but a vayne vaunt for when all comes to all they entend nothing by the Church but their Lord God the Pope as the Canonists call him who is ens secundae intentionis compofitum ex Deo homine Abeing of the second intention compounded of God and man and quasi Deus in terris c. as it were a God vpon earth greater then man and lesse then God hauing the fulnesse of power Now by this that hath beene said the truth of my second proposition doth euidently appeare to wit that the Romanists will allow no other Iudges in matter of controuersie but themselues alone and so giue iust cause to all that are not blinded with errour at least to suspect their Religion if not vtterly to abandon it which is the conclusion necessarily following vpon these premises 35. Which that it is of most necessarie consequence appeareth by this because it is against all reason that the same should be both the party and the Iudge yea in equity is it fit that we should stand to his iudgement whom we accuse to be a falsifier of the Scripture and euen Antichrist himselfe or that that Church should bee our Church which wee affirme and proue to be an Apostate and an harlot seeing that a Iudge should be indifferent and vnpartiall and not a party as the Church and Pope of Rome is in all cases of controuersie depending betwixt them and vs as for example in the controuersie of the Church the question being which is the true Church The Iudge to determine thereof we say is the Scripture they cry The Church meaning their owne Church as I haue shewed Doe they not by their doctrine aduance themselues into the tribunall seate and make their Church the Iudge whether it bee the Church or no so in the question touching the Popes Supremacy who shall be Iudge whether this supreme power be in the Pope or no Mary the Pope himselfe for they admit no other Iudge Sure he must needes gaine the cause when hee is thus his owne Iudge If this bee not a plaine tergâ—ueâ—sâ—tion I know not what is if this doth not bewray the weakenesse of their cause let any indifferent man consider and giue sentence 36. For as on ourside in the question of the Kings Supremacie whether euery King in his owne dominion bee the supreme Gouernour of the Church vnder Christ or no if wee should in this case admit no Iudge but the King himselfe Or in the question of our Church whether wee be the true Church of Christ or no if wee should refuse all other triall saue that which ariseth from the iudgement of our owne Church and the Bishops and Prelates thereof would not all men laugh at our folly and thinke our cause weake and desperate So may all men thinke of the Romish Religion that it be wrayeth manifest folly in the maintayners and apparent weakenesse in the grounds thereof in that it will not bee iudged but by itselfe especially seeing it is the property of selfe-loue whereof no man liuing is freed to make men blinde in their owne causes and partiall on their owne sides To conclude therefore as the Lion in Esope that challenged to himselfe the whole prey that was caught and would not stand to the equall partition of his fellow-hunters proued himselfe thereby to be a tyrant and his title naught so the Pope of Rome and his Proctours in refusing to be iudged by any saue themselues and by that right clayming a title to the truth discouereth both his tyrannie ouer the Church of God and the holy Scriptures and the badnesse of his weake cause seeing truth like a chaste matrone though it be slandered yet is so bold and powerfull that it feareth not to bee tried by those that are the greatest enemies thereof Spectatum admissirisum teneatis amici MOTIVE VI. That Religion doth iustly deserue to bee suspected which doth purposely disgrace the sacred Scriptures But such is the Religion of the Church of Rome Ergo c. OVr Aduersaries may fitly be likened to churlish and angrie Mastifes whose property it is to rend with their teeth those that are vnarmed and not able to resist but if they meet with an armed man that can keepe them off and entertaine them with sharpe blowes then they wreak all their teene vpon the cudgell or weapon wherewith they are annoyed so they seeing themselues well banged and beaten by our men at Armes I meane our Champions that defend the quarrell of our Church with the staffe of the Scripture and their hairy scalpes wounded with the stones fetcht out of Dauids scrip fall a snarling and biting the staffe and the stones which haue beene the instruments of their sorrow whereas if they finde any without a staffe in his hand or a stone in his sling that is vnfurnished with Scripture to fight with them ouer him they domineere take him captiue and leade him to their denne for a prey This their malice against the sacred Scripture which is the only engine of their destruction I hope by Gods fauourable assistance so to discouer in this Chapter that they themselues shall euer bee reputed as blasphemers of the truth and their religion as odious and abominable to all posterity 2. The Maior or first proposition in this demonstration though it bee of an vndoubted truth yet for the greater illustratio thereof two poynts are to be considered first what this Scripture is which is opposed against and secondly what they are to be esteemed which oppose themselues vnto the Scripture The Scripture contained in the Olde and new Testament is in a word the holy and sacred word of the eternall God which to haue said of it is an ascription of the greatest dignitie vnto it as can bee deuised for if it bee the holy and sacred word of the eternall God then must it needs be perfect excellent pure vpright cleane permanent wife sweet and what else may be spoken for the setting forth of the excellency of a thing all which attributes are giuen
the word of God Now from hence thus I reason If the word of God written be the onely ground of faith then that Religion which will not acknowledge it dependance onely vpon the word written is not to be beleeued but to be suspected as erronious but the word written is the onely ground of faith as hath beene proued therefore that Religion which disclaymeth it dependance only vpon the word deserues iustly not to be beleeued but to be suspected as erronious And in this regard the Romish Religion though it be in our Pater noster to wit vnder the last petition Deliuer vs from euill yet it should neuer come into our Creed to repose our faith and our saluation vpon it 4. Thirdly the Scripture as it is the fountaine and foundation of true Religion So it is the rule of faith and the touchstone of doctrines and the ballance of the Sanctuarie to weigh truth and falshood in that the one may be discerned from the other This the Prophet Esay teacheth when hee calleth vs to the Law and to the Testimonie saying that if any speake not according to that word there is no light in them From which place thus I reason that whereunto we must resort in all controuersies and doubts for resolution that is the rule of faith but such is the Scripture by the testimonie of the Prophet therefore the Scripture is the rule of faith In like manner we may conclude out of S. Peter who saith that We haue a more sure word of the Prophets whereunto wee must take heede as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place till the Day-starre arise in our hearts If the word of the Prophets was a sure direction to the Church of God before the Gospell was written then much more is the whole Scripture contayning the word of the Prophets and of the Apostles together but S. Peter affirmeth the first therefore the second must needs follow For this cause when one asked our Sauiour what hee might doe to bee saued hee referred him to the Scripture for his direction What is written how readest thou And so Abraham referreth the rich gluttons brethren to Moses and the Prophets and Christ telleth the Saduces that this was the cause of their errour because they knew not the Scriptures Out of all which Texts thus I argue If there were any other rule of faith besides the sacred Scripture our Sauiour and Saint Peter would neuer haue sent vs ouer to the Scripture alone but would haue poynted out vnto vs some other meanes but they send vs to the Scripture alone and therefore that alone is the rule and ballance of our faith 5. And this the very title and inscription of the Scripture doth intimate for why is it called Canonicall but because it containes the Canon that is the rule of faith and life The Fathers with one consent agree in this truth Saint Basil calls the Scripture Canonem recti normam veritatis The Canon of right and the rule of truth Chrysostome sayth that Assertio diuinarum legum c. The assertion of the law of God is a most exact Ballance Squire and Rule Saint Augustine calleth it Statera diuina Gods ballance or a diuine ballance these bee his words Non afferamus stateras dolosas Let vs not bring deceitfull ballances to weigh what we will and how we will saying This is heauie that is light but let vs bring that diuine ballance out of the holy Scriptures as it were out of the Lords treasurie and by it weigh all things or rather acknowledge them being weighed by the Lord. Tertullian giueth to the Scripture the same name so doth Gregory Nyssen and our Countriman venerable Bede to passe ouer all the rest as he is reported by Gratian in his decrees telleth vs in most plaine termes that In sacris literis vnica est credendi pariter viuendi regula praescripta The onely rule both of Faith and Life is prescribed vnto vs in the holy Scriptures Now if this be so as it is meere madnesse to affirme the contrary then that religion which doth refuse to be tryed by this rule and to be weighed in this ballance doth giue iust cause of suspition that it is but light stuffe and crooked ware 6. If a man should offer to his creditor a piece of gold for payment and should refuse to haue it either tryed by the touch-stone or weighed in the ballance he might iustly suspect that it was but either light or counterfeit so may any of good sense rightly suspect that religion to bee both light and counterfet which refuseth to be examined by the rule of Gods word especially which is the second branch of the first proposition if it not onely refuse to be tryed by the Scripture but also will admit no tryall nor Iudge but it selfe for as by reason wee conclude that such a man hath an euill cause in hand who in Westminster Hall refuseth to haue his matter tryed by the law and will admit no Iudge but his own opinion that man to be guilty which standing at the bar of iustice accused of some great crime denyeth to be tryed by the verdict of his Country according to the law so likewise the cause of Religion being called in question that must needs in any equall iudgement bee deemed vnsound and guilty which will not stand to the verdict and sentence of the Prophets and Apostles who are the Iury to trye all cases of conscience and of the Spirit of God speaking in the Scripture who is the onely Iudge to heare and determine all questions of doubt which may arise in matters of faith and will be censured and iudged by none but it selfe 7. Against this truth all the Romanists and especially the Iesuites and of the Iesuites chiefly Bellarmine conflict and fight with foote and horse sailes and oares tooth and naile and all they can doe for herein lyeth the very bloud and life of their Religion And if this bee wrung from them that the Scripture is the onely iudge and rule of faith Actum est de regno Pontificio The Romish kingdome goeth to wracke vtterly and therefore they mainely contend to proue first that the Scripture is not the Iudge of controuersies secondly that it is not properly the rule of faith and if it bee a Iudge it is a dumbe one that cannot speake and if it be a Rule it is a partiall and imperfect one not totall and absolute 8. These two positions Bellarmine laboureth to prooue by many sorts of Arguments first from testimonies of the Olde Testament secondly from testimonies of the New thirdly by the authority of Bishops and Emperours fourthly by the witnesse of the Fathers lastly by reason I passe ouer the foure first sorts of Arguments as being sufficiently answered by others and come to the last which are deriued from reason the slightnesse whereof doth plainely discouer the vanity of this their opinion
thinke it fit for vs to say so for humility sake but also that wee were so in truth and indeede Let Saint Bernard for an vpshot wipe away this distinction Wilt thou saith he say that Christ hath taught thee to say so for humility sake true indeed it was for humility but what against truth And thus none of these shifts and distinctions can deliuer this doctrine from opposition to the Gospell for it followeth ineuitably if the best be no better then vnprofitable seruants then none can worke such works whereby hee may not onely merite for himselfe eternall life but hauing a surplusage of redundant merits bestow some of them for the supplying of others wants 100. And thus wee haue a short view of the cleere and manifest oppositions that are betwixt the doctrines of the Gospell and the doctrines of the Church of Rome And we see with what subtill and intricate distinctions they labour to reconcile them together but truth is naked and needeth no such shiftings Both the one and the other therefore namely their direct opposition to the Gospell on the one side and their elaborate diflinctions to make good their cause on the other doth euidently euince the conclusion of this ninth demonstration that that Religion which is built vpon such desperate and dangerous principles cannot be the truth of Christ but the doctrine and Religion of Antichrist The X. MOTIVE That Religion which nourisheth most barbarous and grosse ignorance amongst the people and forbiddeth the knowledge and vnderstanding of the grounds of the Christian faith cannot be the truth but this doth the Romish Religion ergo c. 1. IN the first proposition of this Argument the Romanists hold the Wolfe by the eares not knowing whether it be better to graunt or to deny it for if they graunt it to bee true it will flye in their faces because they are guilty of the contents thereof and if they deny it it will bite them by the fingers for all men will condemne them of shamelesse impudency for denying so apparant a truth Therefore as the beast which Pliny calleth Amphisbaena so it stingeth both wayes But of two euils the lesser they must of necessitie deny it or else they must condemne their owne practice of impietie which sure they will not doe though for their labour they gaine to themselues that name which so frequently and imperiously they impute vnto vs Shamelesse Heretikes they speake it of vs in the spirit of malice but it shall be prooued of them by sound reason and that in this demonstration ensuing by Gods assistance 2. For the confirmation therefore of the first proposition a word or two though whatsoeuer can be spoken thereof is but to adde light vnto the Sunne First therefore the Scripture standeth foorth and condemneth ignorance so plainely that nothing can be more euident Salomon telleth vs That they which hate knowledge loue death And the Prophet Esay That the people were carryed into captiuitie because they had no knowledge And the Prophet Hosca That they were destroyed for lacke of knowledge Our Sauiour affirmeth that the cause of erring in the Sadduces was the ignorance of the Scripture And Saint Paul coupleth these two together in the Gentiles Darkned cogitations through ignorance and strangers from the life of God where he plainely sheweth that ignorance and destruction are inseparable companions as sanctified knowledge and saluation are And to omit infinite other passages of holy writ our Sauiour directly concludeth that he which knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall bee beaten with many stripes and he which knoweth it not and therefore doth it not shall be beaten too but with fewer stripes By which he giueth vs to know that though some kinde of ignorance may extenuate and lessen the fault yet none especially if it bee of matters which we are bound to know and may be attayned vnto doth excuse from all fault but is blame-worthy and punishable by Gods iustice 3. Thus speakes the holy Ghost in the Scripture and doubtles in reason it must needs be so for wherin doth a man differ from a beast but in reason and vnderstanding and wherein doth one man differ from another but in the enlightning of reason by diuine knowledge which is the matter subiect of true Religion Religion being nothing else but the knowledge and profession of the diuine truth the want whereof must needs be a subuerter and destroyer thereof A Physicion that is ignorant of the grounds of his Arte we account a Mountebanke and Imposter And what I pray you can they be lesse that professe ignorance and that in the most difficult Art of all other the Art of Christianitie Besides all confesse that ignorance is a defect and blemish of the soule and that the more knowledge a man hath the neerer he is vnto perfection because hee is the more like vnto God but the chiefe end of Religion is to purge away the blemishes to make vp the breaches of the soule to renue Gods Image defaced therin that so we may be made like vnto him euen perfect as he is perfect How can then true Religion teach ignorance which is such an enemy vnto perfectiō or how can that be true religion which nourisheth ignorance inioyneth it vnto most of her professors followers 4. Let the fathers bee Iudges of this cause Saint Augustine sayth in one place that Ignorance as a naughty mother bringeth forth two wicked daughters falshood and doubting And in another that the knowledge of God is the engine by which the structure of charity is built vp Saint Bernard sayth that both the knowledge of God and of a mans selfe is necessary to saluation For as out of the knowledge of a mans selfe commeth the feare of God and out of the knowledge of God the loue of him so on the contrary from the ignorance of a mans selfe commeth pride and from the ignorance of God desperation Saint Chrysostome sayth that knowledge goeth before the imbracing of Vertue because no man can faithfully desire that which hee knoweth not and euill vnknowne is not feared The like song sing all the rest of the Fathers whose testimonies I thinke needlesse to accumulate being so wel knowne to all men 5. And that they may bee vtterly without excuse heare what their owne Doctours affirme Aquinas confesseth that omnis ignorantia vincibilis est peccatum si sit eorum quae aliquis seire tenetur All vincible ignorance that is which may bee auoided is sinne if it bee of those things which a man is bound to know But such is the ignorance maintained in the Church of Rome not onely vincible but affected wilfull and voluntary Bellarmine also acknowledgeth that ignorance is a disease and wound of the soule brought in as a punishment of originall sinne And confesseth out of Saint Augustine that it is the cause of errour For Two euils are
it is Romish is not the true Catholique Religion of CHRIST but the seduction of Antichrist THE PREAMBLE THat which Ireneus an ancient and godly Father of the Church speaketh of all Heretickes that all the Helleborus in the world is not sufficient to purge them that they may vomit out their follie may truely be spoken of the Church of Rome and her adherents that it is a difficult matter if not almost impossible to reclaime her from her errors and to heale her wounds All the balme of Gilead will not do it nor all the spirituall phisicke that can be ministred for there are two sinnes which of all other are most hard to bee relinquished Whoredome and Drunkennesse the one because it is so familiar and naturall to the flesh the other because it breedeth by custome such an vnquenchable thirst in the stomacke as must euer anon be watered with both which spirituall diseases the Church of ROME is infected She is the Whore of Babylon with whome the Kings of the Earth haue committed fornication and who hath made drunke with the Wine of her fornications all the Inhabitants of the Earth In regard of the first Ieremie prophecied of her that though paines be taken to heale her yet shee could not be healed And in regard of the second Saint Paul prophecied that GOD would send them strong delusion that they should beleeue lies that all they might bee damned that receiued not the loue of the truth Notwithstanding though the hope bee as little of the reclaiming of most of them as of turning an Eunuch into a man or making a blacke Moore white yet I haue propounded in this discourse a strong potion compounded of ingredients which if they bee not past cure may purge and cleanse them of their disease and reduce them to the sanity of Christian Religion Which if their queasie stomackes shall eyther refuse to take or hauing taken shall vomit vp againe and not suffer them to worke vpon their consciences yet this benefit will arise that God shall be glorified the truth manifested and all that loue the truth confirmed and they also themselues that are so drowned in error that they will rather pull in others ouer head and eares vnto them and so drowne together then be drawne out of the myre by any helpe shall be conuinced in their consciences of their most grosse apostacie With this confidence towards Gods glorie and the good of his Church though with little hope of recouering them from their obdurate blindnesse I enter into my intended taske desiring the Lord to giue a blessing to these poore labours which I consecrate to my Lord and Master Iesus Christ whom I serue and the Church his Spouse of which I professe my selfe to bee one of the meanest members MOTIVE I. That Religion which in many points giueth libertie to sinne is not the truth but such is the Religion of the Church of ROME ergo c. THe first proposition is an vndoubted truth and needs no confirmation especially seeing S. Iames describeth true Religion by these attributes pure and vndefiled And S. Paul calleth it the mysterie of godlinesse and the doctrine according to godlinesse And herein consisteth an essentiall difference betwixt the true Religion and all false ones so that it must needs follow that that Religion which is essentially the cause and occasion of sinne and openeth a wide window to vngodlinesse cannot be the truth of God but must needs fetch it beginning from the deuill who is the author of all euill The Gospell indeede may by accident be the occasion of euill as S. Paul saith The law is the occasion of sinne for it stirs vp contention and strife and discouers the corruptions of Mans heart and by opposing against them as a damme against a streame makes them to swell and boyle and burst forth beyond the bounds howbeit here the cause is not in the Gospell or Lawe but in the corruption of mans heart which the more it is stirred the more it rageth and striueth to shew it selfe But neuer yet was the doctrine of godlinesse the cause of wickednesse nor the pure and vndefiled Religion of Christ Iesus an essentiall procurer and prouoker vnto sinne 3. This therefore being thus manifest all the question and difficultie remaineth in the second proposition to wit that the Religion of the Romish Church is such as openeth a gappe vnto sinne and giueth notorious libertie and scope to vngodlinesse and that not by way of accident or occasion but necessarily as the cause to the effect Qua data necessariò soquitur effectus as the Logicians speake and therefore being an â—npure and defiled Religion and the mysterie of iniquitie not the mysterie of godlinesse it cannot be that true Religion which Christ our Sauiour brought with him from heauen and left here vpon earth blamelesse and vnspotted like himselfe to be the way to lead vs vnto heauen where hee is 4. That the Romish Religion is a polluted and defiled Religion tending to libertie and loosenesse Let the indifferent Reader iudge by these few instances deriued out of the verie bowels of their Church and being articles of their faith and grounds of their Religion And first to beginne with their doctrine of dispensations whereby they teach that the Pope hath power to dispense with the word of God and with euery commandement of the Law and not onely with the Law but with the Gospell and Epistles of Paul to what horrible loosenesse and lewdnesse of life doth it tend for to omit that it containeth in it open blasphemie by their owne rule which is that In praecepto superioris non debet dispensare inferior the inferiour may not dispense with the precept of the superiour by which the Pope dispensing with Gods lawe is not oneâ—y equalled but exalted aboue God what sinne is there bee it neuer so hainous which there is not libertie giuen to commit by this licencious doctrine 5. Incest But Pope Martin the first gaue a dispensation to one to marrie his owne sister and not his wiues sister only as some of the Romish crue would dawbe ouer this filthie wall because it is in Antoninus Cum quadam eius germana for Siluester Prieriâ— Bartholomeus Fumus and Angelus de Clauafio speake more plainely Cumsua germana that is with his owne naturall sister Another Pope dispensed with Henry the eight to marrie his sister in law and with Philip of Spaine to marrie his owne Niece and Clement the 7. licenced Petrus Aluaradus the Spaniard to marrie two sisters at once and no maruaile seeing it is the very doctrine of the Romish Church that the Pope can dispense in all the degrees of Consanguinitie and Affinitie saue onely with the Father and his daughter and with the Mother and her Son Sodometrie But Pope Sixtus the fourth licensed the Cardinall of Saint Lucie and his familie to vse freely that sinne not to bee named in the
is against nature And from hence sprang the sect of the Nicholaitans whose chiefe opinion was this that if so be they could abstaine from lawfull marriage it was no sinne to defile themselues with any other filthy or vnlawfull copulation Here wee may behold a perfect mappe of the Romish single life with the fruits thereof This happened in the first period of the primitiue Church 31. Afterward in the Nicene Synode when some went about to prohibite marriage to the Clergy Paphnutius a great learned Father of that assembly gaine-said with great vehemency the proceeding of that decree giuing this for one principall reason that it would bee the cause of horrible impurity and obscaenity in the Ecclesiasticall order which to bee a true prophecie the euent afterward hath manifestly declared After this about the sixe hundreth yeare of our Lord it is reported of Gregory the great that when hee sawe the heads of more than sixe thousand infants taken out of a Fish-pond he sighed and confessed that the decree of single life in the Clergie was the cause thereof and therefore condemning that decree he commended the Apostles counsell that it was better to marrie then to burne and added this moreouer that it was better to marrie then to giue occasion to murder 32. After this in the yeare eight hundred and sixtie Huldericus Bishop of Augusta in Germany in his Epistle to Pope Nicholas the first most liuely describeth the filthy fruites of Popish single life his words be these Nullum tam graue facinus c. There is no so great offence which is not to be admitted to the end that a greater then that may bee auoyded Notwithstanding many flatterers desirous to please men not God vnder a false show of continency commit greater sinnes to wit they defile their Fathers wiues they abhorre not the embracings of men and bruite beasts though they be of the most holy order they make no scruple to abuse other mens wiues And when as certaine Bishops and Archdeacons are so giuen ouer to lust that they cannot abstaine neither from adulteries nor incests nor other filthy and vnnameable sinnes yet they affirme that the chaste marriages of Priests doe stincke in their nosthrils and forbid yea constraine Clergie men to abstaine from them saying that it is more honest to be entangled with many whores in secret then to be tyed to one wife in publique But woe be to you Pharisecs which doe all to be seene of men These be the expresse words of that reuerend Bishop after he thus concludeth Whilest the Clergie are constrained by Pharisaicall fury to giue ouer the lawfull fellowship of one wife they are made fornicators adulterers and workers of other most filthy abominations and that which with teares we behold all of them rage in such wickednesse Hence it is that the Church of God is so scandalized and the Clergy so despised Who seeth not by this testimony of this great learned man in the very heate and middest of Popery what fruites this doctrine then brought forth 33. After in the yeare one thousand and eightie when that brand of hell Hidlebrand otherwise called Gregory the seuenth sate in the Romane seate who laboured earnestly to bring in that tyrannicall decree vpon the Clergie in Germanie Auentinus thus writeth Gratum hoc fuit scortatoribus quibus c. This was acceptable to whoremongers to whom now it was lawfull in stead of one wife to haue the fellowship of sixe hundred harlots Hence many false Prophets tooke occasion by fables and miracles to cast mists ouer the truth and by drawing places of Scripture to their purpose to deceyue the people In a word when as very few did truely make warre with lust and some did faine continency for gaine sake the greatest part vnder the honest name of chastitie did commit whoredomes incests adulteries euery where without punishment thus writeth Auentine touching those times 34. After this in the yeare 1102. in a Synode at London where Anselme the Archbishop of Canterbury laboured with tooth and naile to interdict Priests of the vse of lawfull marriage allowed before vnto them by King William many opposed themselues against him saying it would be very dangerous Ne dum mundicias viribus maiores appeterent c. Lâ—st while they desired greater purity then their strength was able to beare they should fall into horrible vncleannes to the great ignominy of Christian Religion And when as notwithstanding Anselme had effected this prohibition the next yeare after complaint was made vnto him that in stead of marriage forbiddeÌ„ the horrible sin of Sodomie raigned ouer all England and from the Clergie crept also into the Laity which he endeuoured to restraine also but all in vaine for the ordinance of God being neglected what can the wisdome and lawes of man doe good 35. But were the latter ages any whit better reformed peraduenture in these sixe hundred yeares last past the Popish Cleargie were more holy and lesse licencious Let Saint Bernard be iudge of his times If saith he according to the Prophecie of Ezekiel we should digge through the wall that we might looke into Gods house there will peraduenture appeare within the wall a filthy abomination for after fornications succeede adulteries after incests the passions of ignominie and works of filthinesse are not wanting I would to God that it neither behooued the Apostle to write these things nor vs to relate them that it might not be beleeued that such abominable lust possessed the mind of man Alas the enemie of mankind hath besprinckled the body of the Church with the execrable ashes of Sodome that many of the very ministers therof And in the end he thus concludes Many I say not all yet many they can neither be hidden for multitude neither do they seeke to be hidden for impudency I say many seeme to haue giuen libertie to the occasion of the flesh aÌ„bstaining from the remedie of marriage and bursting forth into all manner of wickednesse Againe the same Bernard in another place thus complaineth Tolle de Ecclesia c. Take from the Church honourable marriage and the bed vndefiled and thou shalt fill it full of whoremongers incestuous persons buggâ—rers and all kind of vncleane ones And a little before in the same Sermon he giueth the reason hereof Omni immunditiae laxat habenas qui nuptias damnat He that condemnes marriage le ts loose the reynes to all vncleannesse 36. Robert Holket an English man and a Dominican Frier that liued in the yeare of our Lord one thousand three hundred and fortie thus complaineth of the corruption in the Clergie of his time Sed proh dolor c. But alas in these daies the saying of Iob is verified Behold they that serue the Lord are not stable and constant c. For of the Priests some be Angels of Sathan by discord and contention some Apostatious by pride some bee filthy spirits by rioutousnesse and
An officious lye and a lye in sport are but veniall sinnes saith Molanus the same Authour affirmeth that if any man steale some little thing suppose an halfe peny as Bellarmine giueth instance whereby no notable hurt is caused this is to bee esteemed no mortall sinne Againe rash iudgement though consent bee added thereto is regularly but a veniall sinne so also is the painting of the face saith Molanus Cardinall Caietane reckoneth vp a number such like as for example Partiality in iudgement and acception of person if it be not pernitious Flattery when we praise one for veniall euils and it be without any manifest hurt Ambition that is an inordinate desire of honour if it be not for euill deeds or immoderate Arnogancie whereby a man attributeth that to himselfe which is farre aboue him if it be without preiudice of his neighbour Craft if it bee not ioyned with damage Couetousnesse as it is opposed to liberality that is an inordinate desire of money and greedy keeping of it being gotten because it is not against but besides charity Contempt of our neighbour and Superiour in small trifles To contend in words against a known truth if the opposite falshood be not pernitious To rayle vpon our neighbour to his face if it proceede from passion or bee but a light reproach Curiositie if it bee naked without some other euill ioyned with it To mocke and scorne our neighbour if in a small matter Drunkennesse if it be not full and compleat to wit if a man drinke till the house seeme to goe round and yet is not depriued of reason yea if it bee of purpose and with full intention For a childe not to reuerence his Parents so that it be free from notorious iniurie and contempt To deceiue if in a small mater Gluttony is then onely mortall when a man makes the delight in eating the last end Hypocrisie to wit thus farre forth if a man faine himselfe to be good in some thing when hee is not or better then he is Filthy speech is most vsuall but veniall To disdaine a mans neighbour is commonly but a veniall sinne To iudge rashly of our neighbour is either veniall or mortall according to the greatnes of the thing where of we giue iudgement Idlenesse if it haue no other mischiefe to accompany it These and a number such like are reckoned vp by that Author to which I might adde many more out of other Romish writers but these may suffice for our purpose to demonstrate what liberty this doctrine giues to loosnesse For hence men may be bold to sweare to curse to raile to back-bite to steale to be drunke to be idle c. cloke all vnder this vaile They are but veniall sinnes Yea and because the common people are not able to vnderstand their nice distinctions of against and beside charitie surreption and irruption great and small dammage c. therefore often grosse and great sinnes creepe in vnder the name of venials if this be not a doctrine of liberty what is 40. The sixt and last doctrine tending to loosnesse the last I meane of those which I intend to propound in this Discourse for there are many more that tend to the same end is their doctrine of implicite and infolded faith where by they teach that if a man know some necessary poynts of Religion as the doctrine of the God-head of the Trinitie of Christs incarnation and Passion c. it is needlesse to busie himselfe about the rest by a particular or distinct knowledge but it sufficeth to giue assent to the Church and to beleeue as the Pastors beleeue This implicite faith is the mother of ignorance and this ignorance say they is the mother of deuotion but what kind of deuotion I pray you such as the mother is such is the daughter a blinde mother and a blinde daughter such a deuotion and zeale which the Iewes had when they crucified Christ or as Saint Paul had when he persecuted the Church of Christ or which the Gentiles had when they thought they did God good seruice by putting to death the primitiue Christians Like Poliphemus when his eye was bored out by Vlisses dashed himselfe against euery rocke so doe these blinde Romanists the eye of knowledge being bored out by this pernitious doctrine dash themselues against the rocke of Heresie in matter of faith and impietie in manners for all errour in doctrine ariseth from ignorance of the Scriptures You erre not knowing the Scripture and the power of God saith our Sauiour and erring in manners proceedeth from the same fountaine for if the hyding of Gods word in the heart is a preseruatiue against sinne as the Prophet Dauid auoucheth then the ignorance of Gods word must needs be the cause of many errours and enormities in life To this agreeth the opinion of Chrysostome Scripturarum ignoratio haereses peperit haec vitam corruptam inuexit haec sursum ac deorsum omniamiscuit The ignorance of Scripture hath bred heresies brought in corruption of life and turned all things vpside downe And also of Saint Hierome who sayth plainely Ama scientiaÌ„ Scripturarum carnis vitia non amabis Loue the knowledge of the Scriptures and thoushalt not loue the vices of the flesh Whereby hee giueth vs to vnderstand that where there is no loue of knowledge there must needs be the loue of vice the reason is manifest because the Scripture is a most exquisite rule and exact squire to try all our actions by as Chrysostome calleth it and a straight and inflexible rule as Gregory Nissen termeth it Now if this rule squire and ballance be hid from vs how can we square our actions aright how can wee giue them their iust poyse and weight As the Carpenter that hath lost his rule and line cannot but erre grosly in his worke So the Christian that is depriued of this knowledge of Gods word must needs runne into infinite foule and grosse enormities 41. From this fountaine conioyned with those which went before springeth the monstrous corruption of manners in all places whâ—â— Popery raigneth especially in Italie and Rome vnder the Popes nose They obiect to vs the great and horrible disorder and corruption which is among Protestants but we on the other side as we stand not to iustifie our selues in this kind but rather be waile the prophanenesse of all estates in these dayes euen vnder the Gospell so we dare boldly say that in the time of Popery heretofore and in places where it now swayeth their impiety and prophanenesse doth as farre exceed ours as a great mountaine doth a little molehill Of all Countries in the world Italie is the Popes owne peculiar and yet that is the very siacke of the world for sinne witnesse Aencas Siluius who liued almost two hundred yeares since who sayth
that it was the Italian fashion to liue by robberie and to trample vnder focte all equity and religion And for the moderne times witnesse the common prouerbe An Englishman Italionate a deuill incarnate Rome is the Popes owne â—eate for it is the spirituall Babylon built vpon seuen hils and yet that is the sincke of Italy witnesse their owne Mantuan I pudor in villas c. Vrbs est iam tot a lupanar Depart honesty into Villages the Citie is wholly become a Stewes and Trauailors report it was neuer so euill as it is at this day witnesse their owne pasquill Roma vale vidi satis est vidisse reuertar Cum leno aut meretrix scurra cynaedus ero Now farewell Rome I haue thee seene it was enough to see I will returne when as I meane Bawde Pander Knaue to bee As if there were none but such at Rome 42. And this the best of them against their wils acknowledge when they confesse Rome to be mysticall Babylon for why is Rome so stiled in the Scripture but because it resembleth the Assyrian Babylon in pride idolatry filthinesse and especially in most cruell persecution of the Church of God and for the same cause it is called spirituall Sodome and Egypt Sodeme for pride and filthines Egypt for Idolatry and cruelty The Popes court is the Popes owne Sanctum Sanctorum if in reuerence to that holy place I may so say yet that is the sincke of the Citie Witnesse Catherina Senensis that holy woman whom Pope Pius the second canonized for a Saint who thus complained that in the Court of Rome where should bee a delicate Paradise of vertues she sound a stincke of hellish vices Concerning the whole state of the Romane Church both Laiâ—ty and Clergy heare what the iudgement of Durand was in his time Desperata est salus Romanae Ecclesiae c. The saluation of the Romane Church is desperate of which is verified the sayings of the Prophet Esay It shall be a bed of Dragons and of Petrus de Alliaco a Cardinall in his time Ad eum statum venit c. The Romane Church is come to that state that it is not worthy to be gouerned but by reprobates And of Platina himselfe the Popes owne Secretary Hac nostra aetate sayth he vitia cò crcuerunt c. In this our age vices are so increased that they seeme to haue scarce left vs any place in Gods mercy c. After the Councell of Trent which promised a reformation heare how a Bishop of their owne Espensaeus complaineth All hope saith he of reformation is taken away where vnder the Sunne is there greater licenciousnes clamour impurity I will not say madnesse and impudency then in this Citie such and so great as none can beleeue but he which hath seene it none can deny but he which hath not seene it I could heape vp many like testimonies for the clearing of this poynt but it is needlesse seeing that all that haue either gotten experimentall knowledge by their trauailes or speculatiue by their reading can will iustifie the truth of this position that in no place of the world more impiety atheisme impurity cruelty poysoning trechery all maner of villanie raigneth then in Italy the Popes owne dominions and in Rome vnder his Holinesse nose So that for shame but that the whore of Babylon and her adherents haue brazen foreheads they may cease to lay that imputation of loosnesse and wickednesse of life vpon vs and our Religion and assume the aspersion of it vnto themselues being farre more guilty and their religion directly tending thervnto by these six maine grounds which I haue in this first motiue propounded to the iudgement of euery indifferent Reader The Lord of his mercy open our eyes that we may discerne the truth and our hearts that we may loue it and embrace it MOTIVE II. That religion which maintaines by the grounds thereof things forbidden by all lawes both of God of Nature and of Man cannot be the true religion but such is the religion of the Romane Church Ergo. THe first proposition in this reason is vnquestionable and without controuersie for the law of God is one part of true religion as the Gospell is the other and therfore whatsoeuer contradicts this law is opposite vnto true religion and so cannot be true religion it selfe for truth is not opposite vnto truth but falshood and the lawe of nature is nothing but the law of God engrauen in the hearts of all men by the instinct of nature which Tullie calleth a lawe engendred not imposed borne with vs not laid vpon vs. And the positiue laws of men if they be good are nothing els but extracts out of the law of God characters of the law of nature That religion therefore that crosseth all these lawes by allowance of such things which are by them all condemned cannot in any wise be the true religion but must needs stand guilty of falshoode and errour Now that the Romish religion is such which is the second proposition in the reason that is my taske to proue and I hope I shall by inuincible arguments make good the same 1. And first what can bee more contrary to the lawes of God of Nature of Man then treason and rebellion against Princes for the lawe of God commandeth ciuill obedience to the Magistrate by the first precept of the second Table and our Sauiour in the Gospell biddeth to giue to Caesar those things that belong vnto Caesar and Saint Paul chargeth euery soule to be subiect to the higher powers because all power is of God euen tyrannicall power as our Sauiour confesseth to Pilate Thou hadst no power ouer mee except it was giuen thee from aboue where he acknowledgeth that Pilates power though he was a tyrant was of God and therefore submitteth himselfe vnto it As for the law of nature it requireth as much of all for as in the bodie naturall all the outward members and inward faculties are gouerned by reason residing in the head and in the body oiconomike all the familie is directed by the Father or Master thereof so in the body politique all the members of a Common-wealth must by natures decree be obedient to the King or gouernour whom to resist is to rebell against nature as it is against nature for the member to mutiny against the head or for children and seruants to be disobedient to their Fathers or Masters Neither are the lawes positiue any whit behinde for no offence by lawe is more seuerely punished then crimen laesae Maiestatis that is high treason against the Kings person or State and that not onely in this our Kingdome but in all others as is sufficiently knowen 2. Now that the Romish doctrine and religion is a supporter of treason and an animater of traytors against their Soueraignes I call to witnesse first their owne principles and secondly their
Passeouer Pentecost feast of Tabernacles of Trumpets reconciliation new Moones Purim and dedication but these haue their Holy-dayes for euery Saint for the Crosse Corpus Christi All Saints All Soules and what not insomuch that their friend Erasmus complaineth that in Ieromes age there were few Holy-dayes besides the Lords day but now that there is neither end nor measure in the multitude of them The Iewes obserued a few fasting dayes by Gods appointment and others taken vp by their owne tradition as the second and fift day of the weeke but the Romish fasts exceede both in number and superstition for besides two dayes in euery weeke euery Saints Eue almost is a fasting day with them besides their Lent fast continued whole sixe weekes without intermission if to abstaine from flesh and glut themselues with other viands as nutritiue to the body be to be termed a fast The Iewes Priest-hood was distinguished but into two maine orders Priests and Leuites and these later assigned to some few distinct offices about the Temple but the Romish Priest-hood is pestered with a swarme of the seuerall orders of Friars Monkes Anchorites secular and regular Priests that almost serue for nothing but to consume the fruits of the earth The holy garments for the Leuiticall Priest-hood were but few in number in comparison of the Romish vestments for the high Priest of the Iewes had but sixe garments appointed to him the Ephod the brest-plate the Robe the linnen coate the girdle and the crowne and for the inferiour Priests but foure linnen coats bonnets linnen breeches and girdles but the Romish haue sixe garments in token of perfection and the Bishops nine because there are as they say nine orders of Angels in all fifteene answerable to the fifteene degrees of vertues What should I reckon vp their manifold crossings kissings kneelings whisperings washings anoyntings spittings breathings saltings with an infinite number besides of vaine and strange obseruations which are vsed in their Church which the Iewish Synagogue may not compare withall either for multitude or strangenesse And thus they are not onely equall to them but farre exceed them in the number of their Ceremonies And this is euen confessed by many of their fauourites for Cornelius Agrippa saith that Christians are now more oppressed with ceremonies then the Iewes were in former times And Polydore Virgsll that a very wood of Iewish and heathenisâ— ceremonies pestered the Lords field Yea Saint Augustine complaineth of the same superstition in his time when Antichristianisme was but in breeding when he saith that the Church was pressed contrary to Christs mercifull institution with such a seruile burden of Ceremonies that the state of the Iewes vnder the law was mâ—re tolerable then the condition of Christians seeing they were subiect onely to Gods ordinances and not to humane presumptions as Christians are But if he had liued at this time and seene the fruitfull multiplication of them in respect of his age how would hee haue complained And thus in respect of multitude of Ceremonies the Romish Church is by many degrees before the Church of the Iewes 5. To descend to particulars The Iewes had their sacrificing Priests whereof one was their chiefe Priest and the other of an inferiour ranke The Romanists in an apish imitation haue their sacrificing Priests too the Pope their chiefe and the vnder-shauelings his vassals as if Aaron was a type of the Pope and not of Christ or as if all Christians were not Priests vnder the Gospell both which are euident in the new Testament but we no where find that the high Priest of Ierusalem was a type of the high Priest of Rome or that the Ministers of the Gospell are sacrificing Priests This latter is confessed by Bellarmine who saith that the Christians of the Primitiue Church did purposely abstaine from the names of Temple and Priesthood vntill the dayes of Tertullian lest that they should seeme to haue retained some Iewish Ceremonies Why then doe they now entertaine those names whereof the purer times were ashamed do they not shew thereby that they are degenerated from that primer purity which they so much bragge of And yet we doe not dislike the name of Priest if it bee rightly taken for such an one as ministreth in holy things betwixt God and the people but that the Ministers of the Gospel should be sacrificing Priests is Iewish as also that the man of Rome should be the Arch-priest on earth whereas we haue but one high Priest euen Christ our Sauiour who hauing once offered himselfe a sacrifice for sinne sitteth for euer at the right hand of God And that we may plainely see that in their Hierarchie they imitate the Iewes Bellarmine is a sufficient witnesse who to proue that there ought to be a visible Monarch in the Church alleageth that Aaron was not onely a type of Christ but also of the Pope because the sacrifices of the law did not onely represent the bloudy sacrifice of the Crosse but also the vnbloudy sacrifice of the Masse Which if it be true then there can be but one high Priest in the Church of Christ as there was but one in the Church of the Iewes for the argument will stand thus in good moode and forme being built vpon their owne ground As the Church of the old Testament was gouerned so ought the Church of the new but the old was gouerned by one onely high Priest therefore the new ought also to haue but one onely for either he must shew that there were two high Priests in the Church of the Iewes one subordinate vnto the other or conuicted by his owne principle he must acknowledge that there ought not to bee two in the Church of Christ or at least confesse that this argument is lame drawne from the imitation of the Iewish Hierachy and then if it be not true which he affirmeth what will be the sequell therof but either ignorance in symbolizing those things which are no wise matches or impiety in dethroning Christ from his office and setting the Diademe vpon the Popes head and so that in their Romish Hierarchy they are the Iewes Apes in that thing which most tendeth to the dishonor of Christ 6. As they imitate the Iewish Priest-hood so do they also their Altar and sacrifices for they are not content with the name of the Lords Table which name was vsed both by the Apostles and primitiue Church For which cause as testifieth Arnobius Cyrill and Chrysostome they were challenged by the Pagans of impiety nor yet to take the name of Altar and Sacrifice in an improper signification as some of the later Fathers did calling the Lords Table an Altar because on it was represented the sacrifice of the Crosse and the action in the Eucharist a sacrifice because it was a commemoratiue representation of that sacrifice as their writings plentifully testifie but they will haue a very Altar in proper phrase of speach and
in this poynt Now here a double taske lyeth vpon mee first to proue this to bee their doctrine and secondly to shew how this doctrine tendeth to the empeachment of Gods glorie 4. That this is the doctrine of the Church of Rome let the Councill of Trent which they call their Church representatiue and which being approued by the Pope cannot erre as they affirme be Iudge Thus it decreeth and bindeth the decree with a curse Si quis dixerit c. that is If any man shall say that mans free-wil being mooued and stirred by God doth nothing cooperate by assenting to God moouing and calling it whereby it may dispose and prepare it selfe to the obtaining of the grace of iustification and that it cannot dissent if it will but like a thing without life is not at all actiue but meerely passiue Anathema sit Let him be accursed This Riddle of the Councill of Trent for so most of the decrees thereof are rather to bee termed then Canons of faith is thus expounded by Andradius interpretation who was present at the same Councill and knew the meaning of those holy Fathers to wit that there is in euery man by nature a power and ability Ad inchoandas perficiendas spirituales actiones that is To beginne and to effect spirituall actions but that power and ability is so fettered with the chaines of sinne that vnlesse grace come and helpe to set it free it can doe nothing as a man weighed downe with yron shooes though he hath power in himselfe to go yet cannot except his yron shooes be put off or as a bird caught in a snare hath power to flie yet cannot except the snare be broken c. By these two similitudes he illustrateth the sentence and meaning of the Councill whereby it euidently appeareth that this is the plaine doctrine of the Church of Rome that of the regeneration and conuersion of a sinner the spirit of God is not the sole cause but that with the spirit Mans free-will doth concurre and so both together make the ioynt efficient cause 5. The later Romanists and especially the Iesuites to passe ouer the grosse positions of the former Schoolemen do more plainely deliuer the meaning of their Church concerning this poynt Let vs heare Bellarmine speake Cooperamur Deo c. We cooperate with God saith he not onely as our Aduersaries would haue after iustification but euen in very iustification it selfe and in the beginning of faith And after he peremptorily concludeth Non nisi cooperantibus nobis Deus salutem nostrum operaturâ— that is God doth not worke our saluation without our owne helpe cooperating with him We are beholding to Bellar. for setting down plainly our opinion For this we hold that after the first grace wherin we are meerely passiue we then begin to will and worke our owne saluation but yet not of our selues as from our selues but onely of his grace wherewith as we are preuented to beginne so we must continually be accompanied that wee may perseuere for if God withdrraw his grace neuer so little we are â—ure to sinke as Peter did in the water which is the very opinion of Saint Augustine for in his Enchiridion ad Laurentium thus hee saith Deus nolentempraenenit vt velit volentem sequitur ne frustravelit that is God preuenteth a man being vnwilling that he may will and followeth him being willing lest he should will in vaine And of Saint Hierome who thus speaketh Non sufficit mihi quod semel donauit nisi semper donauerit peto vt accipiam cum accepero rursus peto that is It is not sufficient for me that he hath giuen me grace once vnlesse he doe alwaies giue I pray that I may receiue and when I haue receiued I pray againe And againe of Saint Augustine Hominis non libera sed Dei gratia liberata voluntas that is Mans will is not free but freed by the grace of God And in another place Eatenus libera quantenus liberata that is It is so farre-forth free as it is freed and no further 6. But to proceed Coster another Iesuite is a little more plaine and grosse Liberum arbitrium c. Free-will saith he doth prepare it selfe to iustification by the ayde of God not yet inhabiting but onely moouing and helping not onely suffering but also working and doing And againe in the same place Man being fallen into the darke pit of sinne that he may be drawne out againe doth not onely receiue and suffer but coworketh with the grace of God and prepareth himselfe by beleeuing trusting and vndertaking the duties of piety vntill arising vp to the Sonne of Righteousnes he be replenished with the diuine light of grace as Ieremie being baled out of the dungeon helped those which pulled him out by putting the cloutes and cordes vnder his arme-holes Salmeron another Iesuite is yet more palpable Liberum arbitrium non partem c. Free will saith hee doth not worke one part and the grace of God another but to euery action is extended aswell free-will as grace But Ecchius surpasseth all the rest for plainenesse for thus he writeth The beginning of our saluation we haue from Gods mercy but to yeeld to Gods wholesome inspiration is in our power c. Thus with an impudent forehead they marry together Gods grace and mans will in the act of Regeneration betwixt which a diuorce was made by the fall of Adam and so remaineth irreconciled till we be engrafted into the second Adam by faith 7. Hence it is that the Councill of Trent is bold to affirme that when equall grace is offered vnto two that one is conuerted and the other remaineth in his infidelity the cause is in their wills in that one entertaineth the other reiecteth the grace that is offered And to hold this saith Molynâ— another Iesuite is a matter of faith And this is the doctrine of Thomas their great Clerke It is in the power of our free-will saith he to hinder or not to hinder the receiuing of diuine grace And another more fully and foully thus dareth to speake If it be demanded why this man is conuerted and that man is not the helpe of God being giuen alike to both the reason is to be assigned to free-will namely because the one would bee conuerted and the other would not And this also Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth Gods motion saith he leaueth man altogether free to be conuerted or not to be Lastly they doe not onely hold that we haue a power in our wills to moue towards our owne conuersion and freely to will or nill the accepting of Gods grace offered but also to perseuere to the end after grace receiued This the Iesuite Molyna doth in expresse words set downe when hee saith That the perseuerance of men in good dependeth vpon their owne free cooperation and the dayly particular diuine helpe And this is the
in the seuenteenth chapter he auoucheth that the proportion betwixt the worke and the reward is ratione operis in respect of the worke Now I confesse that some of them affirme indeed the reason of meriting of our workes to arise partly from this that we are adopted the sonnes of God and haue vnion with Christ and so they are made meritorious by the dignity of the person which worketh them and partly because they proceede from grace and also partly by reason of the promise which God hath made vnto them whereby hee bindeth himselfe that he will reward them but let all these be granted though all of them bee denyed by many of their owne Writers who attribute merite to the worke without relation either to the person or to grace or to the promise yet it will not free their doctrine from palpable impiety as the sequent discourse shall I trust make apparant After that I haue in opposition to this doctrine set downe the summe of that which we hold touching the dignity of good workes I omit to name their merit of cōgruity because most of themselues are ashamed of it 28. This is therefore that doctrine which our Church maintaineth concerning good workes First wee beleeue assuredly that good workes are necessary to saluation but so Vt via regni non causae regnandi as the way to the Kingdome not causes of raigning and as signes of our Election and forerunners of our future happinesse as Saint Bernard testifieth This with one consent we all teach and the Romanists that slander vs with the contrary assertion cannot produce so much as one sentence out of any of our Writers which being rightly vnderstood doth import the contrary as shall be hereafter fully proued Secondly wee hold that as they are necessary in respect of vs so they are acceptable and well pleasing to God not for their own sakes but for our faith-sake in Christ in whome onely the Lord is well pleased both towards himselfe and all his members Thirdly we beleeue that they are not onely thus acceptable and well pleasing in Gods sight but also that the Lord will reward them assuredly both in this life with temporall blessings and in the life to come with eternall happinesse according to that of our Sauiour Whosoeuer shall giue vnto one of those little ones to drinke a cup of cold water in the name of a Disciple he shall not lose his reward But lastly we constantly assure our selues that this reward is not giuen of God for the merite or desert of the worke but of the meere grace and mercy of God for the merits of Christ according to that of Saint Bernard The mercy of God is my merite and of Saint Augustine God bringeth vs to eternall life not for our merits but for his owne mercy For a reward is not onely taken for a due debt in Scripture but also for a free gift as may appeare by comparing Mat. 5. 46. with Luk. 6. 32. In the one place wherof the Holy Ghost vseth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of the one and the same thing So that the summe of our doctrine is this in few words wee renounce not good workes but the merit of workes and wee verily beleeue that Christ is the store-house of all merite and that out of him there is no merite to be found in any no not in the iustest that euer liued and yet the merits of Christ as his righteousnesse are made ours by imputation and in that sense onely we may bee said to merit and deserue eternall life As for our best workes though they bee wrought in vs by grace yet passing through the corrupt channell of our defiled nature they get themselues such a tincture and staine as in regard of the corruption which cleaueth close vnto them they can deserue nothing at Gods hand if he should lay them to the rule of his iustice and not weigh them in the ballance of his mercy This is our doctrine and that it is so I appeale to Bellarmine himselfe who confesseth that by faith alone wee doe not exclude other vertues but the merit of them and that we make good workes necessary to saluation Necessitate praesentiae non efficientiae as he termeth it By necessitie of their presence not by necessitie of efficiencie Let vs therefore now come to the examination of both these doctrines and search which of them doth giue most glory to God and honour to Christ our Sauiour in this maine pillar of our Redemption 29. And first doth not that doctrine tend manifestly to the embasing of Gods mercy which teacheth men not to relie wholly vpon that for their saluation but partly vpon their owne merits Especially seeing grace and workes merit and mercy cannot stand together no more then light and darknes as the Apostle teacheth If it be of grace it is no more of workes or else were grace no more grace but if it be of workes it is no more grace or else were worke no more worke So may we truely say If saluation be of mercy then it is not of merit or else were mercy no more mercy but if it be of merit it is no more of mercy or else were merit no more merit and so by kindling the fire of merits they vtterly dry vp the fountaine of mercy And for that cause Saint Bernard maketh the mercy of God his onely merit And Saint Augustine disclayming all merits and laying clayme onely to Gods mercy saith as before God bringeth vs to eternall life not for our merits but for his owne mercie And in another place His promise is sure not according to our merits but according to his mercy And Chrysostome saith That no man sheweth such conuersation of life as that he may bee worthy of the Kingdome of heauen but it is wholly the gift of God In all these places merit is opposed vnto mercy as things of their owne condition incompatible and therefore one must needes exclude the other And sure in reason it must needs be so for mercy is free Grace is not grace in any sort if it be not free in euery sort sayth Augustine but merit requireth the reward of debt Mercies obiect is misery and vnworthinesse but merit is dignity and worthinesse and therefore cannot bee the obiect of mercy Mercy reioyceth against iustice but merit appealeth vnto iustice and challengeth God of vniustice if it bee not recompenced Lastly in mercy God is the Agent and sinfull Man the Patient but in merit righteous Man is the Agent and God the Patient And therefore betwixt these two things Merit and Mercy there is such a disproportion and contrariety that they cannot be reconciled together 30. I but they say our workes are not meritorious of themselues but partly as they proceede from grace and are wrought in vs by Gods Spirit and so it is Gods mercy that we
glory of God and the merits of Christ And therefore the conclusion must needs follow being built vpon an vnmooueable foundation that that Religion which maintaineth such doctrines is not the truth of Christ but the seduction of Antichrist MOTIVE V. That Religion deserueth to be suspected which refuseth to be tryed by the Scriptures as the perfect and alone rule of faith and will bee iudged and tryed by none but it selfe But such is the Religion of the Church of Rome Ergo. THe first proposition in this Argument though it be most true and cannot without any shew of reason be contradicted yet that it may be without all doubt and exception it shall not be amisse to strengthen the same by sound and euident proofes deriued both out of Gods word and consent of ancient Fathers The Proposition consists of two parts first that it cannot be the true Religion which will not abide the alone tryall of the Scriptures Secondly that it will bee iudged and tryed by none but it selfe let vs consider of both these seuerally 2. And concerning the first if the Scripture be the fountaine of all true religion the foundation and basis of our faith the Canon and rule of all the doctrines of faith and the touch-stone to trye truth from falshood then to refuse to be iudged and tryed by the Scriptures alone is plainely to discouer that there is something in it which issued not from that fountain which is not built vpon that foundation which is so oblique and crooked that it dares not to be applyed to that rule and which is counterfeit and dares not abide the touchstone Now that the Scripture is such as I haue said let the Holy Ghost speaking in the Scripture beare witnesse Search the Scripture saith our Sauiour for in them you thinke to haue eternall life and they be they which testifie of me therefore the Scripture is the fountaine of all true religion for what is the Religion of Christians but the right knowledge of Christ Iesus This caused Saint Paul to say I desire to know nothing but Christ Iesus and him crucified Againe the Scriptures are able to make vs wise vnto saluation through faith in Christ Iesus and are profitable to teach to improue to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute and perfect to euery good worke Therefore the Scripture is the onely fountaine of true Religion for what is true Religion but spirituall wisedome and holy perfection the one in contemplation the other in action the one in knowledge the other in practice for these two ioyned together do make a man truly religious but the Scriptures afford both as it is cleare in that saying of S. Paul and may be confirmed by another like speech of Salomon who affirmeth that the commandements of God will make a man to vnderstand righteousnesse and iudgement and equity and euery good path Righteousnesse and iudgement pertaine to knowledge equity and euery good path belong to practice And for this cause Origen compareth the Scriptures to Iacobs Well from whence not onely Iacob and his sonnes that is the learned and the skilfull but his sheepe and cattell that is the simple and ignorant doe drinke that is deriue vnto themselues the waters of life and saluation and therefore where the knowledge of the Scriptures flourished not as among all the Heathen both Romanes Grecians and Barbarians before their conuersion there no true Religion shewed it selfe but their Religion was all false and deuillish for in stead of the true God they worshipped dumb creatures and mortall men yea deuils themselues as Lactantius sheweth All which proceeded from hence that they had not the word of God for their guide which is the onely fountaine and well-spring of true Religion 3. Againe as it is the fountaine from whence so it is the foundation vpon which our faith relieth whether wee take faith for the act of beleeuing or for the matter and obiect of our beliefe Ye are built saith S. Paul vpon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Christ Iesus himselfe being the chiefe corner stone By the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles is meant the Propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine as all Expositours that I haue read yea their owne Aquinas and Caietane with one consent auouch and to bee built vpon this foundation is to haue our faith to relye and depend vpon it onely as a house relyeth onely vpon the foundation and without a foundation cannot stand that therefore is no doctrine of faith that is vpholden by any other foundation neither hath that any good foundation which is not built vpon the Propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine they build vpon sand that build vpon humane traditions euery stormy puffe of winde will shake the house of that faith but they which heare the word of Christ and keepe it build vpon a rocke against which neither the raine flouds nor windes no not the gates of hell are able to preuaile because they are grounded vpon the rocke which rocke indeede is Christ to speake properly as not onely S. Peter confesseth 1. Pet. 2. 7. but euen Christ himselfe that is this rocke Math. 16. 18. when hee saith Vpon this rocke will I build my Church that is vpon this truth that Christ is the Sonne of God yet the word of Christ may also be called the rocke because it is as firme and durable as Christ himselfe And that wee may know that Gods word onely is the foundation of faith S. Paul telleth vs plainely that faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of God If any of them say as they doe that the word of God is not onely that which is written in Scripture but that which is vnwritten deliuered by tradition let them shew as good reasons to proue their traditions to be the word of God as we doe to proue the Scripture and we will beleeue them but since they cannot let them beare with vs if we vnderstand the Apostles words as spoken onely touching the written word and the rather because we haue for the warrantize of our interpretation both S. Paul himselfe in the same Chapter verse 8. when he saith This is the word offaith which we preach Where hee sheweth what is that word which is the ground of our faith namely the word preached And S. Peter who hauing magnified the word of God with this commendation that it endureth for euer presently expoundeth himselfe of what word hee spake saying And this is that word which is preached amongst you That is the word of the Gospell which was not in part but wholy and fully as preached by mouth so committed to writing And thus S. Basil also interprets it for he saith Quicquid est vltra scripturas Whatsoeuer is out of the Scriptures diuinely inspired because it is not of faith is sinne for faith is by hearing and hearing by
vnderstanding by the Aspe and Cockatrice Lyon and Dragon the Emperour Frederick vpon whose necke hee set his foote vsing those words and all other Kings and Emperours and to proue that he so vnderstood the place when as the Emperor disdayning this pride made answere Not to thee but to Peter the holy Father treading on his necke replied Et mihi Petro Both to mee and to Peter Which storie though it bee branded by Baronius with the marke of a fable yet it is auouched by a full Iurie of witnesses and especially two Gennadius the Patriarke of Constantinople and a Venetian Historian that liued about that time which last onely differeth in the Popes alledging of the Text for he makes the Pope to say not in the second person thou but ambulabo I will walke vpon the Lion and the Adder Againe they interpret that place of Esay 49. 23. They shall worship towards the face of the earth and licke the dust of thy feete as a Prophecie of the Popes sublimitie For saith Turrian the Iesuite Where is this verified but in the kissing of the feete of the Bishop of Rome and yet who knoweth not that this is nothing else but a manifest prediction of the glory of the Church and the conuersion and subiection of Kings and Princes to the Religion of Christ What a wresting of Scripture call you this Are not these strange interpretations 25. But yet heare them which are more strange and ridiculous In the 28. of Esay 16. verse wee read Behold I will lay in Sion a stone a tried stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation This all know being taught by the interpretation of S. Peter 1. Pet. 2. 6. is to be vnderstood of Christ only and none other yet Bellarmine vnderstands by this tried precious corner stone not Christ but Peter that is as he saith Sedes Romana The Roman Sea Againe we read Iere. 26. 14. Behold I am in your hands doe with mee as you thinke good and right This Text Bonauenture alledgeth to proue that Christ is in the Priests hands at the Masse as a Prisoner not to bee let goe till he haue payd his ransome that is till he haue giuen remission of sinnes contrary to the manifest sense of the place Hosea 1. 11. We read that the children of Iudah and Israel shall be gathered together and appoint themselues one head answerable to that Ioh. 10. 16. There shall be one fold and one shepheard which places properly appertayning to Christ and his Church are ordinarily and blasphemously alledged to proue that the Pope is the head of the Church Againe Cant. 5. 11. His head is as fine gold And Cant. 7. 5. Thy head is like the mount Carmel One of which is the speech of the Church to Christ and the other of Christ to the Church but Bellarmine interprets the first to be spoken Christ and the second of the Pope These be his words The Bridegrome compareth the head of his Spouse to mount Carmel because though the Pope be a great mountaine yet he is nothing but earth that is a man and the Bride compareth the Bridegromes head to the best gold because the head of Christ is God 26. But let vs come a little to the new Testament are they any thing more shie and cautelous in this then in the olde Heare and then iudge Matth. 28. 18. our Sauiour saith to his Disciples All power is giuen vnto me in heauen and earth This in the booke of Ceremonies is expounded of the Pope and also by Stephen the Archbishop of Patauy in the Councill of Laterane Luc. 22. 38. the Apostles say vnto Christ Behold two swords and he answered It is sufficient By this place of Scripture Boniface the eighth challenged to himselfe both temporall and ecclesiasticall authority because Christ said two swords were sufficient and bade Peter not cast away one of them but put it vp into the sheath This exposition flat contrary to the meaning of the Text was not only deuised by a Pope but also approued by Bellarmine and Molina the Iesuite and Balbus with diuers others though I confesse reiected by Stella Maldonate and Arias Montanus But what are these to a Pope that cannot erre and to such an Emminent Cardinall as Bellarmine is So likewise they expound that Text Matth. 17. 24. Solue pro te me Pay for thee and me To signifie that Christs family hath two heads to wit Christ and Peter because they two onely payd and that Peter was chiefe ouer the rest of the Apostles because none of the rest payd as if paying of tribute was a signe of preeminence and not rather of subiection as Iansenius expounds it So Baronius alledgeth that of Act. 10. 13. Arise Peter kill and eate to proue the Popes power to excommunicate the Venetians Kill that is excommunicate and eate that is bring them to the obedience of the Church of Rome This is goodly stuffe indeede sure they stand in neede of arguments to proue their cause that are driuen to these silly shifts So our Country-man Fisher to proue iustification by workes alledgeth that Text of S. Peter 1. Pet. 4. 8. Loue couereth the multitude of sinnes which he expounds thus that loue expiateth and purgeth away the guilt of our sinnes in the sight of God contrary to the direct sense of the holy Ghost Pro. 10. 12. 27. It is a wonder to see how both Bellarmine and all the Patrones of Purgatory wring and wrest the Scripture to vnderprop the Popes Kitchin The Scripture cannot name fire and purging but presently there is Purgatory as Esay 4. 4. and 9. 18. Mal. 3. 3. nor a lake where there is no water but there is Purgatory as Zachar. 9. 11. nor things vnder the earth Phil. 2. 10. Apoc. 5. 3. but there is Purgatory and yet they themselues confesse that they know not whether it be vnder the earth or no because the Church hath not yet defined where it is And Bellarmine bringeth in eight diuers opinions touching the place of Purgatory but two of their expositions touching Purgatory I cannot ouerpasse left I should depriue the Reader of matter of laughter in the midst of this serious discourse and them of commendation of wit for they are witty aboue measure the one is Mar. 13. 34. where it is said in a Parable that a certaine man going into a strange Country leaueth his house and giueth authority to his seruants and commandeth the Porter to watch This man going into a strange Country signifieth the soule say they which by death departeth out of this world his leauing authority with his seruants signifieth that he commandeth his executors to procure with his goods the prayers suffrages of the Church whereby he may be freed from Purgatory hee commandeth the Porter to watch that is he giueth part of his goods to his Pastor that he may diligently
call the Scripture a dumbe Iudge some a dead Letter and without a Soule others dead Inke others a Nose of Waxe to be wreathed this way or that way others say that it is no better then Aesops Fables without the authority of the Church all of them ioyne in this that it is not simply necessary that it was written not to rule our faith but to be ruled by it and that Christ neuer commanded his Apostles to write any Scripture and that it is subiect and inferiour to the Church all these and many other bitter and blasphemous speeches they belch out against the Scripture whereby they plainely bewray their cankred hatred against the Scripture and all because they finde it contrary to their humour and an enemie to their Religion 33. Thus the Minor proposition in this demonstration is I hope sufficiently prooued to wit that the Religion of the Church of Rome doth professedly disgrace the holy Scripture as both by their doctrine their practice and their blasphemous speeches against it doth manifestly appeare and so the conclusion is of necessary and vndeniable consequence that therefore it deserueth to be suspected and reiected of all those that professe themselues to be friends to the Scripture and hope from it either consolation in this life or saluation in the life to come MOTIVE VII That Religion is to be abhorred which maintaineth commandeth and practiseth grosse and palpable Idolatry but so doth the Religion of the Church of Rome Ergo c. WHen I consider the fearefull Idolatry of the Church of Rome which for that cause is called The Whore of Babylon and The Mother of fornications Reuel 17. 1. 2. I cannot choose but wonder that any should be so bewitched with the sorceries of this Iezabel or made drunke with the wine of her fornication that they should take her marke vpon their forheads and right hands and ioyne with her in her abominations and not rather come out of her with all speed as they are admonished by the Angell lest they bee partakers in her sinnes and haue a share also with her in her plagues but then againe remembring that which S. Paul faith that the comming of Antichrist should be in all deceiueablenesse of vnrighteousnesse and that God should send vpon them strong delusion to beleeue lies I turne my wondering at their sottishnesse into the admiration at Gods Iustice and Truth the one in punishing their contempt of his Gospell with such a giddinesse of spirit and the other in making good his owne word after such an euident and manifest manner that there by it most clearely appeareth that the Pope of Rome is that Man of sinne and Sonne of perdition there spoken of euen that Antichrist which exalteth himselfe aboue all that is called God and sitteth in the Temple of God as if he were God As this appeareth in many grosse errors which they hold so in none more then in the horrible idolatry practised and preached defended in this Antichristian Church of which I may truely say as Plutarch said of the heathen that they mingle heauen with earth because they made Gods of men men of Gods So these whilst they giue diuine worship to earthly creatures as the crosse pictures of Christ and to the Saints in heauen or attribute earthly affections to heauenly creatures make a plaine mixture of heauen and earth spoyling the Creatour of his honour due vnto his Dietie and adorning the creature therewith and ascribing that vnto men which is onely proper vnto God That the Church of Rome is guilty of this impiety I hope by Gods grace so to proue in this Motiue that no Iesuite though neuer so subtill shall bee able with any shew of sound reason to hisse against 2. The first proposition in this Argument though it be of so euident a truth that it needeth no further demonstration yet because S. Paul saith that an Idoll is nothing in the world and thereupon some may peraduenture conclude that Idolatrie is a matter of nothing and a small and triuiall sinne I will therefore very briefly shew the greatnesse and haynousnesse of this sinne and how odious and abominable it is in the sight of God As touching therefore that phrase of Saint Paul An Idoll is nothing it is not to bee vnderstood either in respect of matter for euery Idoll hath a materiall being and subsisting as the matter of the Calfe which the Israelites made in the Wildernesse was gold and of the brazen serpent which was abused also as an Idoll was brasse and of those Idols which the Prophet Esay declameth so against were wood nor yet in respect of forme as Bellarmine and Caietane would haue it As though the Apostle should meane thus that an Idoll though it hath matter yet it hath no forme that is to say is the representation of such a thing as hath no being in nature for many of the Idols of the Gentiles were of such things as truly were but the Apostles meaning is as Tertullian obserues and many other both of ancient and late Writers that an Idoll is nothing in respect of that which it is intended to bee that is that it is no God nor hath any part of the Diuinitie in it which deserueth to bee worshipped or that it is nothing in regard of efficacie and power that is as the Psalmist speaketh is not able to doe either good or bad to hurt or to helpe to saue or to kill and this interpretation is authorized by S. Augustine and S. Chrysostome the one saying thus There are Idols indeede but they can doe nothing neither are they Gods the other thus Sunt Idola sed ad salutem nihil sunt There are Idols but they auaile nothing to the attaynement of saluation and it is also approued by many other Expositors both ancient and moderne Protestants and Papists and is most agreeable to the whole current of the Text. This then that S. Paul saith That an Idoll is nothing is both so farre from extenuating the sinne of Idolatrie that it aggrauateth the same and also so farre from clearing the Church of Rome from the guilt of that crime that it rather layeth a greater stayne thereof vpon it 3. As for the greatnesse of the sinne it may appeare by three considerations first of the precept for there is no one commandement of the Law so frequent in the whole Scripture and so strictly vrged and mounded and fenced about with so many reasons as that is against Idolatrie as we may see in the Decalogue Secondly in respect of the punishment denounced against and inflicted vpon the committers thereof to wit not onely eternall death from the iustice of God which is the wages of all sinne vnrepented of but also temporall death from the iustice of man as being vnworthy to breathe this common ayre or to tread vpon the earth that thus sinne against the Maiestie of God and that
man should say that a man may bee iustified by his owne works wrought by the power of nature without the diuine helpe by Christ Iesus and Bellarmine seemeth to affirme as much in this place Yet Andradius that famous Interpreter of that forenamed Councill one of the most learned men of his age and that knew well the mysteries of that Councill doth tell vs that by diuine helpe the Councill vnderstood not the grace of regeneration and speciall worke of Gods sanctifying Spirit but heroicall motions stirred vp in the vnregenerate and vnbeleeuers and that by this speciall helpe they might doe works void of all fault and meritorious of saluation And Bellarmine confesseth in other places that they are good suogenere that is morally and Salmeron the Iesuite that they dispose and prepare a man for iustification and the same Councill of Trent in the seuenth Canon following doth curse them that shall say they are sinnes or that they deserue the hatred of God Now if these kinde of works be good in their kinde and preparatiues to iustification and not sinnes nor deseruing the hatred of God but such as whereby the Heathen were saued then it is a probable falsehood in Bellarmine when he saith by their doctrine that these works doe not iustifie nor helpe any thing to the iustification of a sinner 10. Secondly it is false also which he affirmeth concerning the second kinde of works to wit of preparation that though they proceede from faith and grace yet they doe not iustifie for Bellarmine in another place doth not stick to say that this faith iustifieth by way of merite and deserueth forgiuenes of sinnes after a certaine manner and here in this place that these works proceeding from faith doe merite after their manner and obtaine remission of sinnes which if it be true then it must needes be false which he sayd before That they make not our works to concurre with the merits of Christ for the remission of sinnes which is the point of opposition and that which also he affirmeth here That these works doe not iustifie seeing remission of sinnes is of the verie essence of iustification for none haue their sinnes forgiuen but they are iustified and none are iustified but they haue their sinnes forgiuen they concurre in one if they bee not one and the same And therefore if these works merite remission of sinnes they must needs also merite iustification And thus Bellarmines distinction doth no waies free their doctrine from opposition to the doctrine of the Gospell 11. The Gospell teacheth that hee which repenteth and heareth the promise ought to beleeue it and bee perswaded that not only other mens sins but euen his owne are pardoned for Christs sake and that he doth please God and is accepted of God and in this faith ought to come vnto God by prayer But the Church of Rome teacheth that a man must alwaies doubt of the remission of his sins and neuer be assured thereof which doubting as Chytraeus truely speaketh is plainely repugnant to the nature of faith and a meere heathenish doctrine 12. Bellarmine answereth here not by a distinction but by a negation denying flatly that the Scripture teacheth any such doctrine that a man may be assured of the remission of his sinnes and his reconciliation with God and this hee seemeth to prooue by two arguments one because it is contrary to other plaine and manifest places of Scripture another because all Gods promises almost haue a condition annexed vnto them which no man can iustly know whether hee hath fulfilled or no. 13. It is good for Bellarmine here to vse a plaine negation for their doctrine is so manifest that it will admit no distinction the Councill of Trent hath put that out of all question and distinction For it teacheth in expresse words that no man ought to perswade and assure himselfe of the remission of his sinnes and of his iustification no though he be truly iustified and his sinnes be truely and really pardoned This doctrine is so euident that Bellarmine could neither distinguish as his custome is nor yet deny it and therefore hee freely confesseth it and yet Gropper condemned it as an impious doctrine and Catharinus at the Councill of Trent defended the contrary that the childe of God by the certainty of faith knoweth himselfe to be in the state of grace And so did also Dominicus a Sotâ— and diuers others of their owne stampe But there is great cause why the Church of Rome should maintaine this doctrine of doubting very peremptorily for as Chemnitius well obserueth all the Market of Romish superstitious wares is built vpon this foundation for when as the conscience being taught to doubt of solution doth seeke for some true and sound comfort and not finding the same in faith through the merits of Christ then it flyeth to it owne works and heapeth vp together a bundle of superstitious obseruations by which it hopeth to obtaine fauour at Gods hands hence arise voluntary vowes Pilgrimages Inuocations of Saints works of Supererogation priuate Masses sale of Pardons and a number such like trash and when as yet they could not finde any sound comfort in any of these at last was Purgatory found out and redemption of the soules of the dead out of that place of torment by the suffrages and prayers of the liuing Now the Romanists fearing lest these profitable and gainefull wares whereby an infinite tribute is brought into their coffers should be bereft them haue barred out of their Church this doctrine of certainty of saluation by faith of which if mens consciences bee once perswaded they will neuer repose any more confidence in those superstitious trumperies 14. But we with Luther may boldly say that so odious and impious is this doctrine that if there were no other error in the Romane Church but this we had iust cause of separation from them and with Chytraeus that it is repugnant to the nature of faith and a meere heathenish doctrine For it doth not onely nourish mens infirmities who are too much proâ—e to doubting but euen encourage them thereunto and teach that we ought to doubt But that we may come to the point is not this indeede the doctrine of the Gospell that wee should not doubt of our saluation why then doth our Sauiour command all to repent and beleeue the Gospell By which he plainely teacheth where true repentance goeth before there beleefe in the Gospell that is assurance of forgiuenesse of sinnes by the bloud of Christ doth follow and that wee ought euery one to be thus assured seeing this is a precept Euangelicall which doth not onely giue charge of doing the thing commanded as the Law doth but also inspireth grace and power to effect it as Saint Augustine well informeth vs when he saith The Law was giuen that grace might bee sought and grace was giuen that the Law might bee fulfilled Why doeth Saint Paul say
haue no colour of defence And so this doctrine doth not onely vphold ignorance in the simple but also herefie among the learned As for example to prooue the intercession and patronage of the Virgine Mary they alledge that text of Genesis falsely translated Ipsa conteret caput Serpentis She shall bruise the Serpents head whereas the Hebrew truth hath most euidently He or It meaning the Seede of the woman and not Shee Againe to prooue their Masse Sacrifice they alledge that of Gen. 14. 18. Melchizedek obtulit panem vinum erat enim sacerdos whereas in the Hebrew text is no word that signifieth to offer but to bring foorth and the coniunction causall is also wanting They extenuate originall sinne by the corrupt translation of that text Gen. 8. 21. For whereas in the originall it is Figmentum cordis est tantum malum The frame of the heart is onely euill their translation hath The cogitation of mans heart is prore vnto euill To prooue their inuocation of Saints they obiect that of Iobs thus translated Ad aliquem Sanctorum conuertere which in the Hebrew is not an affirmatiue proposition but an Ironical Interrogation thus To which of the Saint wilt thou turne To proue that no man can be sure of the remission of his sinnes and saluation they alledge that corrupted text Eccles 9. 1. Nescit homo vtrum amore vel odio dignus sit whereas in the originall it is nothing but thus No man knoweth loue or hatred all things are before him That their Church cannot erre they labour to prooue by the promise of our Sauiour Ioh. 14. 26. where their translation thus speaketh Spiritus sanctus suggeret vobis omnia quaeâ—unque dixerâ— vobis but in the originall it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaecunque dixi vobis Whatsoeuer I haue told you That Matrimony is a Sacrament they prooue by that place Ephes 5. 32. where their translation hath a Sacrament for a Mysterie So for their Merite of works they produce Heb. 13. where in their translation the word Merite is vsed which is not extant in the Greeke So to prooue that after Baptisme there remaine no Relikes of sinne they vse that text Heb. 9. 28. Christus semel oblatus est ad multorum exhaurienda peccata now where all is drawne out there nothing remaineth and yet in the originall there is no such word Lastly the Councill of Trent it selfe to prooue that the Church may dispense with the Sacraments contrary to Christs institution and alter them abuseth that text 1. Cor. 4. 1. where the Ministers are called Dispensatores mysteriorum Dei whereas the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth no such matter Thus wee â—ee great cause why they should stand vpon this vulgar Latine onely because it affoords vnto them such pregnant proofes for the defence of their grosse errors It defends them and their errors therefore they haue reason to defend it And thus by forbidding the Scriptures to bee read of the people they multiply ignorance and by allowing onely their Latine translation for authenticall they hatch heresie 14. Secondly their doctrine which commandeth Prayers to be made publikely and priuately in an vnknowne tongue tendeth to the same end for though touching priuate prayers they agree not amongst themselues some affirming that the people ought not to say their Pater noster Aâ—e Maria and Mattens in any tongue but the Latine because this hath beene the ancient custome of the Church as they pretend Others that it is lawfull to pray in our natiue tongues but yet if we doe pray in Latine it is not vnfruitfull Notwithstanding their continuall practice sheweth their most approoued opinion for among them all you shall hardly finde one in an age that vseth any other but Latine prayers but as for publike prayers in the Church it is the doctrine of the Councill of Trent armed with a curse that no part of the Diuine Seruice and publike Leiturgie bee celebrated in a knowne tongue Now how can this but noozle the people in ignorance when they are taught to babble out in their deuotions like Parrats without vnderstanding what they say Surely this must needes bee a blinde deuotion and an ignorantzeale when the tongue shall pray or rather prate and the heart not vnderstand what it vttereth for if true deuotion be a religious offering vp of the whole man both body and soule and euery facultie and part of both to God by way of spirituall sacrifice then certainely that cannot bee true deuotion but blinde delusion when the affection and the tongue shall bee lifted vp in prayer and in the meane while the vnderstanding shall be idle not knowing what the affection and tongue doth seeing the proper worke of the intellectiue part of the soule is to know and vnderstand which by this meanes it is depriued of And this is that which both Aquinas their Angelicall Doctor purposely confesseth and Rabbi Bellarmine also himselfe though vnawares for the one saith that he which vnderstandeth not what he prayeth is depriued of the fruit of his deuotion and the other that except the prayer be vnderstood no consolation at all can be reaped thereby Ignorance therefore must needes bee cherished by this doctrine seeing the vnderstanding which is the seat of knowledge is muffled and the best fruit that can arise hence-from is blinde zeale and ignorant deuotion by which the Iewes crucified Christ the Gentiles persecuted the Church of Christ and taught that in so doing they did God good seruice for deuotion without zeale is like an Arrow shot out of a childs Bow which falleth to the ground without doing hurt or good and zeale without knowledge is like a Shippe carryed with full winde and displayed Sailes without a Pilot to sterne and guide it in the right course 15. Thus for the maine doctrine Now the accessarie attending vpon it is more dangerous then the maine it selfe for they are taught not onely thus to pray but that these prayers are meritorious of saluation and that hee which saith a certaine number of them shall haue thus many dayes and thus many yeeres pardon as 3000. dayes for saying a short prayer in the Primer ten thousand dayes for saying fiue Pater nosters before the Vernacle twenty thousand dayes for saying a short prayer at the Leuation yea a hundred yeeres for saying our Ladyes Psalter euery Saturday yea fiue hundred yeeres for saying a short prayer which Saint Gregory made and a number such like as hath beene before sufficiently discouered Now if pardon of sinnes and saluation may be merited by mumbling vp euery day on their Beades these short and vncouth prayers what need any seeke for further knowledge in the word of God If these bee sufficient as they make the people beleeue then all further instruction must needs be thought vnnecessary and so it cannot choose but follow that a deluge of blindnesse
Dominick the other of Saint Paul were written these words On Pauls By this man you may come to Christ On Dominicks But by this man you may doe it easilier because Pauls doctrine led but to faith and the obseruation of the Commandements but Dominicks taught the obseruation of Councils which is the easier way All this and asmuch more might be produced to this purpose But I conclude the point with the censure and confession of their owne Cassander who out of the writings of William Bishop of Miniatum concludeth with him that as if officious lyes should bee added to the holy Scriptures there would remaine no authority nor weight in them So no errour nor falshood should be tolerated in Images and Pictures in the Church seeing that an errour not resisted is receiued for a trueth And in the same place the same Cassander doth bewaile the abuse of Images in the Church of Rome affirming that superstition was too much pampered thereby that Christians were nothing behind the Heathō in the extreme vanity of framing adorning and worshipping of Images Thus farre Cassander out of which we may perceiue the chiefe lessons that are learned out of these Lay bookes to wit ignorance superstition and Idolatry And therefore no maruaile if all these vices raigne in the midst of their Church as plentifully as amongst the Heathen themselues 19. Fourthly they deliuer for sound doctrine that whereas Saint Iohn sayth that they which haue the anointing of the holy Ghost know all things Hee meaneth not that euery one should haue all knowledge in himselfe personally but that euery one that is of that happy society to which Christ promised and gaue the holy Ghost is partaker of all other mens graces and gifts in the same holy Spirit to saluation And thus whereas Saint Iohn meaneth that euery true Christian both by the outward preaching of the word and by the inward vnction of the Spirit hath a distinct knowledge of all things necessary to saluation They say that it is sufficient if he be partaker of another mans knowledge though he be empty voyde himselfe Then which what can be a greater nourisher of ignorance and quencher of knowledge For if I may bee saued by anothers mans knowledge and faith And if it bee not required that I should know al things necessary to saluation in my owne person but may haue a share of another mans knowledge what need I greatly seeke for knowledge my selfe And why may I not repose the hope of my saluation vpon other men And heereby wee may obserue their grosse absurdity In the case of iustification they teach that wee are not made righteous by the righteousnesse of Christ imputed vnto vs though hee bee the head of the body of the Church and the Spirit that animateth it proceedeth from him and yet heere they say that a man may be made wise and knowing by the knowledge of other their fellow members in the same body abiding in the vnity of Christs Church What is this but to aduance the members aboue the head or at least to forget themselues not caring what they say so that they maintaine the cause they haue in hand 20. I but Saint Augustine sayth If thou loue vnity for thee also hath he whosoeuer hath any thing in it it is thine which I haue it is mine which thou hast And againe in another place hee sayth When Peter wrought miracles he wrought them for me because I am in that body in which Peter wrought them In which body though the eye seeth and not the eare and the eare heareth and not the eye yet the eye heareth in the eare and the eare seeth in the eye c. Therefore all the grace and knowledge that is in any other of Gods Saints either liuing or dead is ours by participation And so that which was sufficient in them for their saluation is also enough for vs for ours though wee haue little or none of our owne Thus reason our Rhemists in the place before quoted But I answere first with our reuerend learned countrey-man Doctor Fulk that Saint Augustine vnderstandeth that place of Saint Iohn of an actuall and personall knowledge inspired by the holy Ghost concurring with the outward ministery of the Church and not of any generall knowledge infused into the Church to bee transfused and dispersed among the members by an imputatiue participation Secondly if a man may know by another mans knowledge why may not a man bee righteous by anothers righteousnesse And if the knowledge of our fellow members may bee imputed to vs that wee thereby may bee saide to know why may not the iustice of our head bee so imputed vnto vs that thereby wee may bee made iust These things are so paralell that the one being granted the other needs must follow Thirdly and lastly that communion which is betwixt the members of a body either naturall or mysticall is not an actuall translation of gifts from one to another but either a participation in the fruit of those gifts or a generating of the like in others by doctrine example exhortation prayers and such like meanes And so wee may truely say that euery one that is in the body of Christ reapeth fruit and benefit by all the graces and gifts that euer haue or shall belong to any member thereof though not for merit yet for comfort instruction edification and increase of grace And againe as one candle lighteth another and one steele sharpeneth and whetteth another So wisedome and grace is deriued from one to another either by naturall commerce of speech or patterne of example Thus much did Saint Augustine intend and no more and therefore it neuer came into his minde to thinke as these idle braines would make him that the knowledge which resided in the Saints of God is actually in all Gods Children or that they are partakers of their gifts and graces to their saluation For he that will be saued must beleeue for himselfe and know for himselfe and liue godly for himselfe If hee doe all these things by a proxy hee must also goe to Heauen by a proxy and not by himselfe This doctrine therefore is a manifest breeder and maintainer of such grosse ignorance as both Saint Augustine and all other holy men haue alwayes condemned for a sinne 21. A fift doctrine from whence ignorance springeth and ariseth is their prohibiting of Lay men to dispute touching matters of faith and that vnder paine of excommunication This Nauarre propoundeth as the doctrine of their Church neither is it contradicted by any other Aquinas goeth further and sayth that it is vnlawfull to dispute of matters of faith in the presence of those that are ignorant and simple And Bellarmine taketh away from the people all power of iudging of their Pastours doctrine saying that they must beleeue whatsoeuer they teach except they broach some new doctrin which hath not beene heard of in the Church before And if they
of Gregory their owne Pope who allowing onely an historicall vse of them forbad them to bee worshipped as testifieth Agrippa Indeed wee confesse that there was in these Primitiue times of the Church an historicall vse of Images as may appeare by that statue of our Sauiour at Cesarea mentioned by Eusebius and the Pictures of Peter and Paul in the same author and of the good shepheard seeking the lost sheepe painted vpon their Chalices in Tertullian But wee shall neuer finde in any good author that either they were receiued into Churches or worshipped in any religious manner 46. Lastly it is a knowne and confessed truth that Images were neuer generally receiued inioyned vpon the Church vntill the second Nicene Council which was eight hundreth yeeres after Christ and also that the decree of that Councill was abrogated by another Councill held at Frankeford not long after so that it is manifest that the petigree of this bastard is of no great continuance not fetched from the Primitiue Church which is the thing we haue in hand to prooue but springing vp in the more corrupt times when superstition had darkned the light of true Religion and almost banished it out of the world 47. Another article of their Religion is that the Pope hath a supremacy of power ouer all euen Princes not onely in spirituall matters but euen in temporall which to bee a late deuice not warrantable by true antiquity may be easily demonstrated For vpon those words of Saint Paul Let euery soule bee subiect to the higher powers Chrysostome and Occumenius write thus That whether it bee a Priest or a Monke or an Apostle hee must bee subiect to the ciuill Magistrate for this subiection doth not ouerthrow piety and if an Apostle then the Pope as Aeneas Siluius who was after a Pope himselfe inferreth yea Espensaeus goeth further and sayth that not onely Chrysostome but Theodoret Theophilact and all the Greeke Doctours and in the Latine Church Saint Gregory and Saint Bernard did from that place teach that eueryl Apostle and Prophet and Priest was commanded to acknowledge subiection vnto Emperours Saint Ambrose sayth plainely that the Church lands and Church men themselues did pay tribute to the Emperour and if tribute then subiection Saint Augustine sayth that it is generale pactum societatis humanae abedire Regibus suis The generall couenant and bond of humane societie to obey Kings If the Pope then bee a man by Saint Augustines rule hee must bee subiect yea Gregory the first himselfe auoucheth plainely that power ouer all men is committed by GOD Dominorum meorum pietati to the piety of my Lords where hee not onely subiecteth all none excepted to the Imperiall power but also calleth the Emperour his Lord but now the Pope is the Emperours Lord and not the Emperour the Popes as Bellarmine speaketh without blushing when he sayth Non sunt ampliùs Reges Clericorum superiores c. Kings are not any longer superiours to Clerks and therefore Clerks are not bound to obey them by Gods Law and thus in generall the Pope had not this supremacy till Gregories time 48. For particulars one part of this supremacy is that the Pope is absolutely aboue a Councill which notwithstanding was condemned by the Councils of Constance and Basill And as Cardinall Cusanus confesseth was not acknowledged in the dayes of Saint Augustine Pope Gregory and other Fathers and Councils which liued before the first six hundreth yeere Another part is that appeales should bee made to the Pope from all places which the Councils of Chalcedon Africke Mileri and Constantinople vtterly withstood and interdicted A third is that peculiar cases of conscience should bee reserued to the Popes consistory which their owne Salmeran confesseth to haue not beene vsed in the time of Cyprian who liued two hundreth and fourty yeeres after Christ A fourth is the claime of Inuestitures which by consent of history was brought in first by Pope Hildebrand as witnesse Malmsbury Nauclerus Sigibert with others A fift authority to depose and molest Princes which no Orthodoxall Father for the space of 1000. yeeres taught or approoued as sayth their owne Barclay and the first Pope that practised this was Hildebrand surnamed Gregory the seuenth as witnesseth Espensaeus or at the highest Gregory the third who attempted this rebellious practice against Les the Emperour for defacing Images as Platina confesleth A sixt a supereminent prerogatiue in calling Councils and dissoluing the Acts thereof at his pleasure both which are notorious nouelties for the first eight generall Councils were called by Christian Emperours and the decrees of Councils were of so sacred authority that the better sort of Popes in the purer times put great Religiō in changing them or varying from them in any respect witnes Aeneas Siluius Victorine and Cardinall Cusanus Lastly a seuenth the fountaine of Episcopall Iurisdiction challenged to reside in the Pope alone and from him to bee imparted to other Bishops at his pleasure which was a doctrine not known in Saint Cyprians time nor in Saint Ieromes as hath beene shewed before In a word there is no colour of antiquity for any part of this transcendent Iurisdiction and yet the very soule and life of Popery consisteth therein 49. Of the same stampe is their doctrine of receiuing the Sacrament vnder one kinde and withholding the cup from the peoples this was first decreed by the Council of Constance and afterward established by the Trent conuenticle and hath euer since beene practised in the Church of Rome vnder paine of excommunication But that it is a grosse innouation wee need no further testimony then of the two foresaid Councils the one whereof sayth that in the Primitiue Church both kinds were receiued and that this custome of one kinde onely came afterward in and the other striketh with anathema all them that shall say that the Catholike Church hath not altered this custome vpon iust causes by which words it confesseth that there is an alteration of ancient custome now what the causes were of this alteration I will not here report let the Reader behold them in Bellarmine Gerson and Lyranus and wonder that Christs ordinance the generall custome of the primitiue Church should be altered annihiled vpō so sleight friuolous and foolish grounds adde vnto these Councils the wirnesse of their owne Cassander who directly affirmeth that this custome of communicating vnder one kinde inuaded not the Latin Church vntill the yeere of our Lord 1300. To the same purpose might bee alledged their owne ancient Lyturgies the decrees of their owne Popes and the generall doctrine of their schoole and lastly the consent of Fathers all which doe most clearly proue this doctrine to be a nouelty if not an heresie Their Lyturgies are plaine that the cup was ministred to the people and not appropriated to the Priests as may be seene in them Among their
malice in this kinde and surely I thinke that labour might be well bestowed in searching this stinking puddie to the bottome and discouering their malice so to the beholding of all that men might see their poyson and beware of such Serpents and high time it is to lay hand to this plough for a double danger ariseth from this dealing of theirs First it confirmeth their owne followers in their hatred against the truth and the professors thereof For they are perswaded that whatsoeuer is written or spoken by a Priest or Iesuite is certainly true it being allowed as all their writings commonly are by the authoritie of the Church and the Censors and visiters appointed for that purpose and therefore account it a deadly sinne once to call the credit thereof into question And secondly it inueigleth and seduceth many vnsettled Protestants Whilest reading such lying Pamphlets they are either not able to discerne their falshood or not carefull to examine the truth by contrarie euidences to preuent both which dangers it would be a worke much beneficiall to the Church of God and profitable to the cause of Religion if some zealous Protestant would vndertake this taske in a ful iust volume to decipher their malice and discouer their slanders to the ful but I leaue that to the guidance of Gods wisedom proceed in my purposed discourse to the next point 98. Their last trick is forgerie for when neither by treacherie nor cruelty nor periurie nor lying nor slaÌ„dering they can worke their wils but that their Religion groweth euery day more odious then others at last as the most desperate practice of alâ—â—he rest they fal to forging like Physicions that seeing their patient in a desperate case minister vnto him desperate medicines that shall either ridde him of his disease or of his life and that quickly such a medicine is this which if it take not place to cure their sicke Religion it will doubtlesse vtterly ruine and vndermine the foundation thereof and depriue it of the vitall spirit And this last wee haue rather cause to hope then they the first seeing it hath pleased God to reueale to the world the mischieuous mysteries of their Indices expurgatory which whosoeuer shall but duly consider must needs iudge their cause to lye a bleeding and ready to giue vp the ghost when they are driuen to such miserable shifts for the defence thereof 99. The common Lawes and ciuill Courts punish forgerers with slitting their noses branding their foreheads cutting off their eares pillorie imprisonment and diuers other such like fearefull censures the Ecclesiasticall Lawes are as seuere against such persons and the very Heathen Tully condemned Gabinius as a light and loose person for infringing the credit of the publike Records of the Citie and commendeth Metellus as a most holy and modest man because when hee saw a name but blurred in the tables he went to Lentulus the Pretor and desired a reformation thereof and a better care to be had in their custodie By all which we may see how great and odious a crime forgerie is and in what ranke they are to be reputed by all Lawes that defile their consciences with so foule a sinne 100. Of which that the Church of Rome is guiltie is so manifest that none that hath either read their Bookes of Controuersies with iudgement or seene their three chiefe Iudices Expurgatorij one of Rome another of Spaine the third of Antwerp can make any question And if any desire to be fully satisfied concerning their dealing in this kind let them haue recourse to Doctor Iames his learned and laborious discourse where he shal see this wound searched to tho quicke and the corruption thereof discouered to the whole world and so searched and discouered that by all their wit and policy they shal neuer be able to hide the filthines thereof notwithstanding that the Reader that hath not that booke may haue a little taste of their dealing and assurance of the truth of this my proposition I will offer vnto his view a few instances of their forgerie and those so plaine and palpable that by no colourable excuse they can be auoyded 101. Forgerie is committed two wayes first by counterfeiting secondly by corrupting counterâ—â—iâ—ing 〈…〉 Records and corrupting true Touching counterfeiting take foure instances in sâ—eed of fourescore and those out of Bellarmine onely first those â—â—elâ—e Treaâ—isâ—â— intitled â—◠〈…〉 Christi operibus are resolutely censured by Bellarmine to bee none of Cyprians and yet the same Bellarmine alleadgeth them ordinarily to proue many points of his Religion vnder Cyprians name as to proue the Virgin Marie to bee without sinne and Baptisme to be necessarie to saluation and that the Sacraments containe grace in them and that there are more Sacraments then two with diuers other points Secondly the Commentaries vpon Pauls Epistles ascribed vnto Saint Ambrose are censured by Bellarmine peremptorily to bee counterfeit And yet the same Bellarmine produceth them to proue traditions Peters supremacie Limbus Patrum that one may be holpen by anothers merit and that Antichrist is a certaine man and in a word most questions controuerted Thirdly liber Hypognosticon Bellarmine concludes that it is none of Saint Augustines yet hee alleadgeth it as Saint Augustines to proue Euangelicall Councels so Liber ad Orosium is confessed by Bellarmine to bee none of Saint Augustines and yet hee is alleadged by him in another place to proue the Booke of Ecclesiasticus authenticall Lastly the Commentaries vpon the Epistles that goe vnder the name of Saint Ierome are iudged by Bellarmine to bee none of his and yet he produceth testimonies out of them to proue the necessitie of traditions Peter to be the rocke of the Church and that children may without their parents consents enter into a religious Order And this is ordinarie not onely in Bellarm but in all other of their writers as you may see particularly and plainly discouered in Doctor Iames his Treatise touching the corrupting of Scripture Councels and Fathers by the Prelates and pillars of the Church of Rome By which wee may note First their conscience in that they know them to be Bastards and yet obtrude them as true borne Secondly their fraud in that when they make little for them or it may be against them then they brand them with counterfeit but when they speake on their behalfe then they are as true as steele and thus with a blunder of counterfeit Fathers they dazle the eyes of the ignorant but the wise will iudge discreetly and learne to discerne the Lion by his paw 102. Touching their corrupting of true Authors I will vrge against them but foure examples as in the former but those most famous and three of them corrupted by their most famous Iesuite Bellarmine The first is of Chrysostome in his seuenteenth Homily vpon Genesis where he readeth Shee shall obserue thy head and thou shalt obserue her heele whereas as Philip Montanus a
they done it to gaine any thing thereby in disputation but onely to keepe the common people from infection whereas they spare none neither Fathers nor Councels nor moderne Writers and that not so much lest the common sort should bee infected as that the learned might be depriued of those weapons wherewith they might fight against them and wound their cause Seeing the case now so stands that hee which can muster vp together the greatest armie of Authours to fight vnder his colours is thought to haue the best cause their dealing then with vs is like that of the Philistims against the Israelites who despoyled them of all weapons and instruments of warre that they might dominiere ouer them with greater securitie but ours is not so towards them And therefore both in this and all the former respects it is a miserable vntruth and a desperate cuasion to say that wee are more guiltie of this crime then they are 107. Lastly whereas in his first answere hee pleadeth the lawfulnesse of the fact let vs heare his reasons to moue thereunto and in the interim remember that in prouing it to bee lawfull hee confesseth it to bee done But why is it lawfull Mary first because the Church being supreme Iudge on earth of all Controuersies touching faith and Religion hath authoritie to condemne Heretikes And therefore also the workes of Heretikes and if this then much more to correct and purge their Bookes if by that meanes shee can make them profitable for her vse and beneficiall to her children To which I answere two things First that it is not the Church that doth this but the sacred Inquisitors to wit certaine Cardinals and Lawyers deputed to that office who for the most part are so farre from being the Church that they are often no sound members thereof Iâ— it be said that they haue their authoritie from the Pope who is vertually the whole Church why doe they then speake so darkly and say the Church hath this authoritie when as they might in plaine termes say that the Pope hath it but that hereby they should display the feeblenesse of their cause and the fillinesse of this reason for thus it would stand Why is it lawful for Books to be purged because the Pope thinkes it lawful And must not he needs think so when the Authors crosse his triple crowne and speake against his state and dignitie Adde hereunto that it is a fallacie in reasoning when that is taken for granted which is in question For we deny their Synagogue to be the true Church and much more the Pope to bee the supreme Iudge and therefore till those things be proued the reason is of no effect 108. Secondly most of those things which are purged by them are so farre from being heresies or errours that they are the most of them sound doctrines of faith grounded vpon the authoritie of Gods sacred truth for they blot out many things in both olde and new Authours that they themselues dare not accuse to bee hereticall as that place in Saint Cyril before mentioned touching the power of faith which is no more in direct termes then that which is said in the Scripture Act. 15. 15. that faith purifieth the heart and that in the Basil Index of Chrysostome The Church is not built vpon a man but vpon faith and those propositions which are commanded by the Dutch Index to be wiped out of the Table of Robert Stephens Bible to wit that sinnes are remitted by beleeuing in Christ that he which beleeueth in Christ shall not die for euer that faith purifieth the heart that Christ is our righteousnes that no man is iust before God and that repentance is the gift of God with a number of like nature These they purge out of Stephens Index which notwithstanding are directly and in as many words recorded in the Booke of God and so it may iustly be thought that they are so farre from clenfing Bookes from the drosse and dregs of errour that they rather purge out the pure gold and cleare wine of truth and leaue nothing but dregs and drosse behind 109. His second reason is because nothing is more dangerous to infect true Christian hearts then bad Bookes Therefore it is not onely lawfull but needfull and behoouefull to the Church of God that such Bookes should bee purged and burned too if it bee so thought meete by the Church to the end that the sinceritie of one true faith and Religion might be preserued I answere all this is true which he saith but are they heresies which they purge no they are sound and orthodox opinions for the most part as hath beene proued in the answere to the former reason And doe they it to keepe Christian men from infection no their chiefe end and drift is to depriue their aduersaries of all authorities that make against them that so they might triumph in the antiquitie of their Religion and noueltie of ours which is one of their principall arguments which they vse though with euill successe for defence of their cause dealing herein as Holofernes did with the Israelites at the siege of Bethulia breaking the Conduits cutting the pipes and slopping the passages which might bring vs prouision of good and wholsome waters out of the cisternes of olde and new Writers this is their purpose and no other whatsoeuer they pretend for if they meant any good to Gods people for preuenting of infection they would haue purged their lying Legends of infinite fables their Canon Law of horrible blasphemies and their Schoolemen of many strange opinions Yea they would haue condemned the Bookes of Machiauel and of that Cardinall that wrote in commendation of the vnnaturall sinne of Sodomie and a number such like filthy and deuillish Writings which are printed and reprinted among them without controulement And againe is it vnitie in the true faith and religion that they seeke no it is conspiracie in falshood and consent in errour and not vnitie in the truth till the Romish Religion bee proued to bee the true Religion which can neuer be this reason is of no force to iustifie their proceedings Lastly is it Christian policy no it is deuilish subtletie and craftie forgerie for the case so stands betwixt them and vs as in a tryall of land betwixt partie and partie wherein hee that bringeth best euidence and witnesse carrieth the cause now if one partie either suborne false witnesses or corrupt true or forge euidences to his purpose or falsifie those that are extant all men will count him as a forger and his cause desperate and iudge him worthie the Pillorie so betwixt vs the question is who hath the right faith and the best title to the Church Our euidences are first and principally Gods Word then the writings and records of godly men in all ages now then they that shall purge pare raze blurr falsify or corrupt any of these must needs bee thought to bee subtle and craftie companions and not honest
and plain-dealing men The case then thus standing this practice of theirs cannot be termed Christian policy but plaine subtlety to giue it no worse a name 110. His last reason is drawne from the practice of the Church of God in all ages which hath alwaies forbidden the Bookes of Heretikes to be read and condemned them to the fire and to this purpose he produceth diuers fit and pertinent authorities to which I answere first that he fighteth herein without an aduersarie for we confesse that this was a necessarie and commendable practice to prohibit condemne burne and abolish all such Bookes as tend to the corrupting of the Christian faith and also to preuent them in the birth that they may not come to light but yet for all that this alloweth not their purging and paring of Bookes for they cannot giue vs one example in all antiquitie of this dealing except it bee drawne from Heretikes whose practice it hath beene to depraue the Scriptures themselues and the Decrees of Councels and the Bookes of ancient Fathers as witnesseth Bellarmine in many places of his workes and Sixtus Senensis and almost all other of their side III. Secondly the Fathers condemned onely the Bookes of Heretikes but our holy Inquisitors condemne not onely those whom they call Heretikes as Caluine Luther Beza Melancthon but mangle and purge the Fathers themselues and their owne deare children whom they dare not condemne for Heretikes as this Author himselfe confesleth those they chop and change wriâ—he and wring bend and bow as they list which is so much the more intolerable because being profest Romanists they durst not vary from the receiued opinions of the Church of Rome except mere conscience inwardly and some forcible reason outwardly mooued them thereunto 112. Thirdly and lastly the Fathers when they condemned any Heretike or hereticall Booke did it openly to the view of the World and not secretly in a corner not ascribing vnto them other opinions then they held eyther by adding vnto or detracting from their writings But our Romish correctors like Owles flye by moonshine and so closely câ—rtie their businesse that they would haue none to discry them yea they denie and abiure this trade I meane in respect of the Fathers and in a word they make almost all Authours to speake what they list for if any thing dislike them deleatur let it be wiped out or at least mutetur let it bee changed or addatur let something bee added vnto it that may change the sense and turne the sentence into a new mâ—ld of all these their Iudices Expurgatorij afford plentifull examples so that they can no wayes colour their forgerie and false dealing by the examples of the Fathers or Primitiue Church For this is a new tricke of legerdemaine of the Deuils owne inuention found out in this latter age of the World which hath beene verie fertile in strange deuices 113. Now then to conclude and to leaue this Priest with his vaine and idle reasons to be fuller confuted of him whom it more neerely concerneth and whose credit is touched by him Hence two necessarie conclusions doe arise one that they are guiltie of forgerie and corrupting of Authours by their owne confessions and secondly that they adde hereunto impudencie and shamelessenesse which is alwayes the marke of an Heretike and that first in defending their owne vniust and false dealing by reasons as if their wits were able to maintaine that snow was blacke and the Crow white and secondly in translating the crime from themselues vnto vs without all shew of reason not caring what they say so they say something for the honour of their mistresse the whore of Babylon and defence of her cause 114. Now then seeing it is manifest that they labour to vphold their Religion by these vniust vngodly and deuillish practices as treason crueltie periurie lying slandering and forging this conclusion must needes bee of necessarie consequence that therefore their Religion is not the truth of God nor their Church the true Church of God It is the iudgement of their owne learned Iesuites touching this last crime that wee may conuince them out of their owne mouthes that forging of false Treatises corrupting of true changing of Scriptures and altering of mens words contrarie to their meaning be certaine notes of heresie what can the Church of Rome be then lesse then hereticall that not onely doth all this but now at length professeth and maintaineth the doing thereof as lawful and profitable MOTIVE XIII That Religion the doctrines whereof are more safe both in respect Gods glorie mans saluation and Christian charitie is to bee preferred before that which is not so safe but dangerous But the doctrine of the Protestants Religion is more safe in all those respects and of the Papists more dangerous ergo that is to be preferred before this and consequently this to bee reiected THe first proposition is so euident and cleare that our aduersaries themselues will not deny it neither can it by any good reason bee excepted against for as it is in bodily physicke that medicine is alwayes preferred which bringeth with it lesse danger to the life of the patient and if it misse curing cannot kill so is it in the spirituall physicke of the soule which is Religion that doctrine deserueth best acceptance which is most safe and least dangerous for the soules health And as desperate medicines if they bee applyed by a skilfull Physicion argue a desperate case in the patient so desperate doctrines proue a desperate cause Neyther will any wayfaring man when two wayes are offered vnto him the one whereof is full of manifold perils and the end doubtfull the other safe from dangers and the end certainly good not choose rather the safer and certainer way and leaue the other so men like Pilgrimes trauelling towards the heauenly Canaan the way of Poperie on the one side and of Protestancie on the other being seâ— before them if they bee well in their wits will choose rather that way which is both the safer in the passage and the certainer in the end There is no doubt then in this first proposition and therefore let vs leaue it thus naked without further proofe and come to the second and examine whether our Religion or the Romish is the safer that all men may imbrace that which by euidence of demonstration shall appeare to be so and resuse the contrarie and here notwithstanding all the former pregnant arguments whereby the falsitie of their Church and Religion is plainly discouered wee put our selues againe vpon a lawfull tryall and referre our cause to the iudgement not of twelue men but of the whole world that if our euidence bee good wee may obtaine the day and the mouthes of our aduersaries may be stopped if not we may yeeld as conquered to bee led in triumph by them to Rome yea to the Popes owne palace to kisse his feet and receiue his marke on our
New Testament many things are wanting What can be more plaine Yet Lindanus is more plaine for he calleth Traditionem non scriptam c. The vnwritten tradition that Homericall moly which preserueth the Christian faith against the inchantments of Heretikes and the true touch-stone of true false doctrine and the Aâ—acian buckler to be opposed to all Heretikes and in conclusion the very foundation of faith To this fellow adioyne Melchior Canus as a coÌ„panion in blasphemy who saith That many things belong to Christian faith which are contained in the Scripture neither openly nor obscurely To conclude all in one summe without any further repetition of priuate mens opinions wherein much time might be spent the voyce of their whole Church represented in the Councill of Trent is this That traditions are to bee receaued pari pietate with the same reuerence and affection wherwith wee receiue the Scripture it selfe Thus wee haue a view of the doctrine of the Church of Rome touching the insufficiency of the holy Scripture both in part and whole Out of all which these two impious conclusions doe necessarily arise First that traditions vnwritten are equall if not superiour in dignity and authority to the written word of God and secondly that without the helpe of them it is not able to bring vs either to a sauing faith in this life or to the end of our faith in the life to come then both which what could be spoken more iniurious either to the Word it self or to the Maiestie of that Spirit from whom it proceeded And that their blasphemy might be known â—o all men Bellarmine more like a Iulian then a Christian doth not onely affirme the Scripture to be vnsufficient and imperfect but also not simply necessary and to that end he maketh a good round discourse and bringeth in long Leaden arguments which indeed are not worth the answering for they are meere sophisticall collusions as any one of meane iudgement may easily discerne Neuerthelesse by this we may see what an honourable opinion and affection these fellowes beare towards the Scripture when as they dare to affirme that they are not simply necessary but may bee wanting and remoued without any great hurt to the Church of God 12. The third iniurious doctrine whereby open disgrace is offered to the holy Scripture is concerning the authority thereof compared with the Church for this they teach and hold That the authority of the Scripture doth depend vpon the Church and not the Church vpon the Scripture And so by consequent that the Scripture is inferiour to the Church and not the Church to the Scripture whereas we on the contrary affirme and defend that the Church wholly dependeth both for authoritie and existency vpon the Scripture and so is euery way inferiour to the Scripture and not the Scripture vpon the Church 13. This blasphemie of theirs may more euidently be discerned if we obserue what they vnderstand by the Church to wit not the Primitiue Church which was in the time and immediately after the Apostles but the succeeding and present Church and that not the whole Catholicke Church which is dispersed ouer the world but the Church of Rome which holdeth vpon the Pope as the Vicar of Christ and in this Church not the whole body but the Pastours and Prelates assembled in a Councill yea and lastly not the Councill neither but the Pope who is totus in toto all in all and in whome all the members meete and resolue themselues as lines in the center as is before declared This is their Church and to this Church of theirs they subiect the Scriptures euen the word of God to the Pope of Rome that is God himselfe to a mortall sinnefull man For as Nilâ—â— the Archbishop of Thessalonica saith To accuse the Scripture is to accuse God so to debase the Scripture is to debase God 14. That wee may see this to be true and that wee lay no false imputation to their charge heare them speake in their owne words and let Bellarmine leade the Ring If we take away saith he the authoritie of the present Church and of the Councill of Trent then the whole Christian faith may bee called in question for the truth of all ancient Councils and of all poynts of faith depend vpon the authority of the present Church of Rome Marke he saith not vpon the authority of the Scripture but of the present church of Rome where he doth manifestly preferre the authority of the Church before the Scripture not onely of the Church but of the Church of Rome as if there were no Church but that and not the Church of Rome as it was in the purer and primer times but the present Church corrupted and depraued with infinite errours Againe in another place he concludeth That the Scriptures doe depend vpon the Church and not the Church on the Scriptures which position he confesseth in the same place to haue beene in other places maintained by him And yet elsewhere he disclaimeth this opinion as none of theirs and calleth it a blasphemy that it is his I haue shewed already though he be ashamed of it as he may well be and therefore exore suo by his owne iudgement he and all the rest are guilty of most grosse and intolerable blasphemie But that you may see that it is the generall receiued doctrine of them all for the most part heare others as well as him vttering their spleene against the Scriptures Siluester Prierias saith that Indulgences are warranted vnto vs not by the authority of the Scripture but by the authority of the Church and Pope of Rome which is greater And againe That the Scripture draweth it strength and authority from the Church and Bishop of Rome Eckius saith that the Scripture was not authentical but by the authority of the Church and putteth this proposition among hereticall assertions The authority of the Scripture is greater then the Church Pighius also affirmeth the same that all the authoritie of Scriptures doth necessarily depend vpon the authority of the Church and calleth all that hold the contrary in scorne Scriptuarij that is Scripture-men or such as maintaine the Scripture Cardinall Hosius goeth further and commendeth a blasphemous speech of one Hermannus as a godly saying That the Scriptures are of no more force then Aesops Fables without the testimonie of the Church and addeth presently of his owne that vnlesse the Churches authority did commend vnto vs the Canonicall Scripture it should bee of little account with vs. The like is deliuered by Coclaeus by Canus Stapleton Andradius Canisius and generally all other of that side that handle that question 15. Onely to palliate the matter they bring in a distinction to wit that this dependance of the Scriptures authority vpon the Church is quoad nos in respect of vs not quâ—adse in respect of it selfe and declaratiuè for declaration sake
not effectiuè as the cause thereof which distinction first implieth a contradiction for the authority of a thing is quoad extra in respect of others not quoad intra in respect of it selfe that is rather to be termed dignitie and excellencie then authority secondly that being granted yet it importeth a falshoode in them and concludeth directly our purpose for by it the last resolut on of our faith should not bee into the Scripture but into the authority of the Church which is contrary both to truth and to their owne principles For why doe they attribute that infallible authority to the Church but because the Scripture saith so as they themselues acknowledge And then to affirm that the Church is of greater authority in respect of vs is sufficient to â—uince that in respect of vs they preferre the Church before the Scripture What is this but to offer open iniury and disgrace to the holy Scripture especially seeing a Iesuite of their own is bold to say that a man may mordicus tenere and propugnare acerrimè strongly hold stoutly maintaine a doctrine contrary to the word of God and yet bee no Heretike vnlesse the opposite to that opinion be defined by the Church in his time 16. The fourth and last doctrine whereby they offer iniurie to the Scripture is this That the Pope may dispense with the Law of God This the Popes vassals do not onely affirme but euen confirme and auouch For thus they teach Potestas in diuinas leges ordinariè in Romano Pontifice residet Power ouer the lawes of God remaineth ordinarily in the Pope of Rome and that the Pope may dispense against the Apostles yea against the new Testament vpon great cause and also against all the precepts of the olde Testament The reason whereby they confirme this braue doctrine is this that where the reason of the law faileth there the Pope may dispense but the reason of the law always faileth where he iudgeth it to faile for speaking definitiuely he cannot erre therefore the Pope may dispense with the precepts of the Olde New Testament where and when he list Now what can be more iniurious to the Scripture then this for first they set the Pope aboue the scriptures because he that taketh vpon him to dispense with the law of another challengeth to himselfe a greater authority then the other according as their owne rule is In praecepto superioris non debet dispensare inferior The inferiour may not dispense with the commandement of the superiour Secondly they equall him to God himselfe for whereas there is no exception nor exemption from the law of God but this Nisi deus aliter voluerit Except God otherwise appoynt they instead thereof put in this exception Nisi Papa aliter voluerit And lastly they make the law of God a maimed an imperfect law in that as their diuinity is it cannot giue sufficient direction to mans life for practice of duties and auoyding of sinnes in all cases without the Poprs dispensation and the interposition of his superwise authority 17. From their iniurious doctrines lâ—t vs come to their malicious practice against the Scripture that both by their precepts and practice their enmity to the Scriptures may fully appeare First therefore whereas the language wherein the Scriptures were originally written is indeed the true Scriptures because that is the immediate dialect of the holy Ghost and the translations of it into other tongues are no farther to bee regarded then as they agree with the originall yet the Church of Rome in the Councill of Trent hath canonized the vulgar Latine aboue the Hebrew and Greeke and hath â—nâ—oyned it onely to be vsed in all readings disputations sermons and expositions and not to be reiected vnder any pretence whatsoeuer vpon paine of Anathema Yea Bellarmine with the rest of that crue accuse the Greeke and Hebrew of many corruptions and iustifie the vulgar Latine aboue them as most free from corruptions whereas notwithstanding for one corruption which they would saine fasten vpon them there are to be found twenty in this and that by the confession of many learned of their owne side 18. Besides those corruptions which are supposed to be in the originals are either none at all as may easily be prooued and is already sufficiently by our learned Diuines or else such as are not of that weight to derogate from the perfection of the Scripture in things pertaining to faith and good manners as Posseuine and Sixtus Senensis confesse or at least are but errours of the Writers which no Booke is free from growing either from humane infirmity or from the mistaking of the letters in the Greeke and prickes in the Hebrew which last is but a late inuention of the Massorites and no essentiall part of the Text whereas on the contrary the errours which are extant iâ— the vulgar Latine are many of them contrary to the grounds of faith as that one for all in the third of Genesis where the Latine readeth ipsa conteret caput tuum she shall bruise thy head which they apply vnto the Virgin Marie being in the originall ipse his and in the Septuagâ—nt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Hee vnderstanding Christ our Sauiour Here wee see a fundamentall poynt of saith ouerthrowne not onely in accommodating a Prophecy of Christ vnto the Virgin his mother but also in ascribing vnto her the worke of our RedeÌ„ption signified by the bruising of the Serpents head And as in this so in many other places which I willingly for breuitie sake â—uerpasse And yet for all this by their doctrine and practice their Latine Translation is onely authenticall Yea so impudent is a Bishop of theirs that setting forth the Bible in diuers Languages he placeth the vulgar Latine betwixt the Hebrew and the Greeke as Christ betwixt two theeues as blasphemouslâ— he speaketh This is therefore a notable iniuricus practice of theirs against the Scripture 19. To which adde second no whâ—t inferiour to the former which â—â— their forbidding the Scripture to bee translated into the mother tongue of euery Nation to the end that it may be to the common people as a Booke sealed vp and that they might not reade nor be exercised therein This prohibition is both contrary to the practice of all the Saints of God both vnder the Law and the Gospell for it was their daily exercise to meditate vpon the Law of God continually and to search the Scriptures whether those things which they heard were so or no and to the plaine precept of Christ and the Apostle bidding vs to search the Scriptures and to haue the word of God to dwell plentiously in vs and to the doctrine of all the ancient Fathers who with one consent exhort and perswade to the diligent reading of them as may appeare by the places quoted in the margent And beside is most iniurious to the Scriptures themselues
brought into the world sayth Saint Augustine by originall sinne ignorance and difficulty from which two other fountaines of euils doe arise to wit error griefe For ignorance bringeth forth error and difficulty griefe And our Countrey-man Stapleton telleth vs plainely that Zelus sine scientia est vehemens cursus in deui◠in quo quantò curris velociùs tantò a via aberras longiùs peccas absurdiùs Zeale without knowledge is a violent course in a wrong way wherein the swifter wee runne the further woe wander and sinne the groslier Thus they themselues write and therefore I wonder how the same men should dare to allow that which in their own consciences they condemne or nourish that in the people which they confesse to bee a sinne a wound and disease of the soule and the way to perdition I know not how they will distinguish and shift off that saying of Saint Paul Blessed is he that condemneth not himselfe in that which hee alloweth vnlesse it bee either by saying that they condemne not ignorance in all but onely in the Lay people as if Lay people had not souls to saue aswel as Priests Or that they allow of it not simply in regard of it selfe but in respect to a further good to wit the increase of deuotion as if euill were to be done that good might come thereof which Saint Paul giueth a God forbid vnto and sayth that their damnation is iust that are of that minde I leaue therefore this first proposition confirmed by Scripture reason Fathers and their owne Doctours and come to the second wherein out of their owne grounds they shall bee conuinced of this grosse impiety 6. That the Romish Religion doth nourish and maintaine most grosse and barbarous ignorance amongst the people and take from them the key of knowledge First their owne confessions Secondly their doctrines And thirdly the fruits and effects of both in the whole rabble of their multitude Priests and people shall euince For their confession The Rhemists doe plainely confesse that knowledge in things wee pray for is not required of Christians but that ignorance is to bee preferred before it and that ability to professe the particulars of our faith is not necessary no when possibly we are to dye in the defence of the same faith How contrary is this to that which Saint Peter teacheth that eueryman be ready to giue an answere of the hope that is in him Hosius saith that to know nothing is to know all things and ignorance of most things is best of all How contrary to that which our Sauiour teacheth This is eternall life to know thee and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ The same Hosius with Stephylus and others commends the Colliers faith to be the onely faith whereby euery vnlearned man may trye the spirits resist the Deuill iudge of the right sense of Scriptures and discerne true doctrine from false c. And what was the Colliers faith Mary being at the point of death and tempted of the Deuill answered I beleeue and dye in the faith of Christs Church Being againe demanded what the faith of Christs Church was answered that faith that I hold And thus hee beleeued as the Church beleeued and the Church as he and yet he neither knew what the Church nor himselfe beleeued This is a braue faith and worthy to bee canonized to all posterity for conquering the Deuill But what if the Deuill departed from the Collier not because hee was scarred with his bugbare faith but because he perceiued him safe enough intangled in his snare and so needed not to tempt him any more being already sure enough his owne Where was his faith then Sure I am it is farre vnlike to that faith which the Scripture speaketh of which is often called by the name of knowledge and not of ignorance as Esay 53. 11. Iohn 17. 3. 7. Againe another affirmeth plainely to wit Linwood their Lawyer that for simpler people it is sufficient to beleeue the articles of the faith implicuè that is confusedly and infoldedly and not distinctly and plainely as a bottome of yarne folded together which lieth in a small compasse and not raueled out at the length that it may bee seene and discerned in euery part And their Angelicall Doctour Aquinas compareth Gods children to asses and their teachers to oxen because it is said in the first Chapter of Iob that the oxen did plow and the asses fed by them that it is sufficient for them in matters of faith to adhere vnto their superiours And in the same place hee concludeth that a man is bound to know no more explicitely but the Aritcles of the faith As for all other doctrines of Religion conteined in Scripture it is enough to beleeue them implicitely And againe in another place hee sayth that knowledge doth occasionally hinder deuotion and therfore that simple men and women that are voyd of knowledge are for the most part most inclined to deuotion But I confesse he speaketh this of such knowledge as is not sanct fied but puffeth vp how be it hee should then haue ascribed the impediment of deuotion vnto the pride that accompanieth knowledge and not to knowledge Hence grew that notorious celebrated prouerbe of the Romish Synagogue that Ignorance is the mother of deuotion And it goeth for currant amongst them all as yet vncontrolled But how opposite is the very sound thereof to that which holy Scripture teacheth that ignorance is the mother of errour and of folly Prou. 7. 7. and of destruction Hos 2. 6. Thus wee haue their open confession and what should follow but their open condemnation 8. But peraduenture the Iury requireth fuller euidence let them list therefore to their doctrines diuers whereof either directly maintaine ignorance or at least by necessary consequence driue thereunto and they are such as are not the particular opinions of priuate men but the approoued doctrines of their Church so that a man cannot bee an entyre Romanist but he must needes subscribe vnto them and subscribing vnto them must also needs confesse that that monstrous ignorance which is in the Church of Rome doth issue out of their corrupt fountaine To come therefore vnto them 9. The first doctrine that breedeth and nourisheth ignorance amongst them is their locking vp the Scripture in an vnknowne tongue that the common people being ignorant of the learned tongues may not be able to read them much lesse to vnderstand them to their comfort which that is so hath beene partly declared already and may further bee demonstrated for Bellarmine affirmeth that it is not necessary for the Scripture to be translated into our Mother tongue And Azorius another Iesuite going a step further saith that it is not expedient for the sacred volumes to be translated into Mother tongues because thereby the vnitie of the faithfull should be detrimented and diuers causes of errors and heresies would spring vp
And Salmeron a third Iesuite descending yet a stayre lower saith that the translation of the Scripture should be onely tillinguis of three tongues that is Hebrew Greeke and Latine in honour of the Trinitie Or as another saith Because thâ—se three tongues were onely sanctified vpon the Crosse Herevpon the Councill of Trent decreeth the olde vulgar Latine Translation of the Bible to be onely authenticall and alone to bee vsed in all publike Lectures Disputations Preachings and expositions And though Pope Pius Quartus forbade onely as Bellarmine saith such to read the Scripture as had not licence thereunto giuen them by their Priest or Confessor to wit such as could receiue no damage but profit by their reading yet Pope Clement the eighth as another Iesuite confesseth tooke away all faculty of giuing licence to any to read the Scripture or to retaine with them the common Bibles or any parts of the Old and New Testament in the Mother tongues so that as wofull experience hath taught it was in times past in this Land and is now in those places where the bloudie Inquisition is exercised a sufficient marke of an Heretike and cause of fire and faggot to bee found with a translated Bible in their houses or hands 10. This is their doctrine which how it ingendreth and nourisheth ignorance who seeth not seeing first it locks vp the fountayne of knowledge that few or none of the common sort can drinke of the waters thereof cleane contrary to that famous saying of learned Origene who compareth the Scripture to Iacobs Well where not onely Iacob and his Sonnes that is the Learned but also the Cattell and the Sheepe that is the rude and the ignorant doe drinke and refresh themselues but these men barre out the poore sheepe and driue them away from the waters of life to no other end as it may be thought but that they should pine away with thirst and liue and dye in blindnesse and ignorance For if all sound and true knowledge is to be found in holy Scripture and therein is the whole counsell and will of God reuealed vnto vs so farre foorth as it concerneth our saluation it being the Epistle of the great Iehouah to his poore Subiects to enforme them of his will and pleasure how should they possibly clime to this true and sauing knowledge who are debarred from the place and meanes where it is to found and had and not permitted to reade this Letter or heare it read vnto them contrary to that doctrine of Nazianzene who saith that all Christians ought to come to Church and there read themselues or if they be not able heare others read vnto them the word of God 11. If they reply and say that it is enough for them to know the Traditions of the Church I answere that if there were as certaine ground for their Traditions to prooue them the word of God as there is of the Scripture then this allegation might carry some shew of reason but the vncertainty nouelty mutability and absurdity of many of them doe plainely shew that it is no safe course to repose the strength of our saluation vpon them but rather to flye to that foundation which is immooueable If they say that the people must be content for their knowledge to depend vpon their Priests and to draw it from their lippes and so by that meanes may attayne a sufficient measure of instruction I answere that the Priests are for the most part as ignorant as the people as shall be shewed afterward and if any be furnished with gifts yet they seldome teach the people and when they doe they preach in stead of Gods word their owne inuentions idle tales and meere tales and fables witnesse Cornelius Agrippa and Dante their Poet two no great enemies but fast friends to Popish Religion Now if a man should bee constrained to sup vp whatsoeuer euery sottish Priest or idle Fryer or craftie Iesuite doth belch foorth without examining doubtlesse hee should sucke downe much poyson in stead of wholsome iuyce If they say that there is multiplicity of good Bookes written to this end to instruct the people in the grounds of Religion and to stirre them vp vnto godlines and deuotion I answere there is indeede a great number of such Bookes which are so farre from gendring sound knowledge that they are no better then baits of Antichrist seruing to allure men vnder shew of deuotion vnto Idolatry and Apostacie from God for if they were sound and true why should Gods Booke which without all question is most sound bee prohibited and they admitted Why is it not lawfull to examine them by that rule and why should all Bookes else which any thing make against their Religion be suppressed and by great penalties forbidden Surely this sheweth that all their Bookes of deuotion are but rotten stuffe and meere hypocriticall deuices to deceiue the simple 12. Lastly if they say that all our translations are false and erronious and therefore that our Bibles are not the word of God I answere that indeede it is impossible to haue a Translation so exact perfect that no fault nor imperfection shuld be found therin neuertheles the chief faults in our translations are for the most part in respect of proprietie of words and phrases which are nothing repugnant to holy doctrine or good life and not in any materiall or substantiall poynt of faith and those also are not frequent but heere and there dispersed which can no waies hinder the profite to be gathered by the rest of the Scripture and if for some corruption in translations the Bible should not bee read then none but the originall Hebrew and Greeke should bee in vse for all translations are imperfect yea their so much extolled vulgar authorized by the Councill of Trent wherein the Diuines of Louane obserued many errors and Isidorus Clarius a Spanish Monke professed that hee found eight thousand fau'ts though for his plaine dealing hee was plagued by the Inquisitors and after that it was decreed authenticall by the Councill a thing worth the noting yet it was corrected and castigated by the authority and commaundement of sixe Popes successiuely Nay the Hebrew and Greeke copies themselues should not bee permitted for euen they if wee will beleeue the Romanists are full of corruptions but as Bellarmine saith of the corruptions in the Hebrew text so wee may truely of the imperfections in our translations Non sunt tanti momenti vt inijs quâ— ad fidem bonos more 's pertinent sacrae Scripturae integritas desideretur that is they are not of such moment that they can hinder the integrity of the Scripture in those things which pertaine to faith good manners 13. Moreouer besides all this it is no maruell if they contend for their vulgar Latine Bible that it should be onely authenticall seeing many Romish errors are thereby maintained which in the truth of yeâ—â—â— originall