to be altogether the seruant of sinne because he is ouercome of sinne this free in part because he is made free by the Sonne not appointing him free in part lest he make him sacrilegious nor this altogether a seruant lest he might make him sluggish He doth not therefore take from the vnregenerate all power of willing but all power of well-willing that he may not lift vp the crest of his naturall pride and he granteth to the regenerate some power of well-willing that he may not weaken the strength of spirituall diligence And that God may giue life to the dead and renew and repayre the lost image of God z Ephes 3.10 he doth fasten and imprint the true knowledge of God and our selues into the minde and righteousnesse and holinesse into the will of man he doth enlighten the blinde with the light of his wisdome shining into him he doth couer him being naked with the robe of his righteousnes put vpon him and being vnsauorie he doth season him with the salt of his holinesse infused into him Whereby a 1 Cor 1.30 Christ is said to be made of God to the faithfull man wisdome righteousnes and sanctification Paul makes mention of a twofold righteousnesse and life of a Christian one whereby hee liueth before God thother whereby he liueth before men b Gal 2.20 By faith before God by apprehending of Christ c Gal. 5.6 by loue before men by the practise of holinesse So that good workes are not the cause of iustification but iustification is the cause of good workes as d Aug de Spi li. Austin affirmeth neither do we attaine faith by virtues but virtues by faith as Bede gathereth out of Gregorie One order is in morall matters another in heauenly one in Aristotle another in Paul e Arist 3. ethi There a man must doe iust things iustly before he be iust Here a man must be first iust in another before he can do iust things and iustly in himselfe As Christ is made sinne for vs so wee are made the righteousnes of God in Christ f 2 Cor. 5. vlt. For Christ himselfe most holy was made sinne by the imputation of our sinne we sinners therefore are righteous only by the imputation of the righteousnesse of Christ At g August in Euchirid c. 41. Austin doth expound the Apostle and Anselme Austin He therefore is sinne as wee are righteousnes not ours but wee are Gods not in our selues but in him as he is sinne not his owne but ours not in himselfe but in vs. So Austin So h Ansel in loc Anselme He is sin saith he as we righteousnesse not ours but Gods not in vs but in him as he is sinne not his owne but ours not in himselfe but in vs. Both of them doe acknowledge with vs the imputed righteousnes of Christ with the Apostle howsoeuer the Synode of Trent doe make inherent righteousnesse the forme of iustification and the Rhemists too prophanely scoffe at the imputation of righteousnes which Pighius that arch-papist doth confesse A sinner therefore dead in himselfe liueth righteous in Christ and liueth not to himselfe but to God but yet so liueth that he feeleth in himselfe the fight of the spirit and the flesh which the Apostle acknowledgeth not onely in other Christians but in himselfe for the comfort of others I do not that good I will saith the Apostle but the euill I would not that I do which a bad man did not badly expresse I hate and what I hate against my will must be What I would cast away to beare is greife to me But that the Apostle speaketh of the motions of concupiscence whereto the will doth not consent this of the beastly affections whereto the will is wholy addicted Which notwithstanding by the working of the naturall conscience hee saith he hateth But assoone as a man begins to liue in God sinne begins to dye in man For it hath receiued a deadly wound in the roote in respect of guiltinesse while it be cured by perfect buriall it remaines dead not cut off that we may be humbled not imputed lest we should be cast downe Sin dwelleth in vs as a Iebusite subdued not expelled subdued it taketh feare from vs not expelled it shakes off securitie that to striue with it it is farre more safe than to haue no enemie at all In this fight Gods grace doth helpe vs strengthning vs with a double sacrament of Baptisme and the Lords Supper there the fountaine of regeneration is powred out here the bread of life is set before vs there is a healthfull bathe to wash vs when we are fowle here is a spirituall feast to feede vs when we were faint so that from each we may take strength to resist So the power of God is made perfect in our infirmitie which when out of our owne skarres it stirreth vp in vs a courage to fight so from helpe ministred from thence it puts into vs sure hope that we shall ouercome For it bringeth griefe out of the fall for sinne and stirreth vp strife out of griefe with sinne and out of strife bringeth the victorie of sinne So out of poyson it gets a remedy and out of the sicknesse it getteth health Neither doth it in the meane while depriue vs of inward comfort while wee waite for the eternall tryumph But in the fight it shewes vs the propitiation after the fight which endeth in death it presently openeth the holy place of holyest so that neither peace of conscience is wanting to them being aliue and their soules shall haue rest when they are dead Thus it commeth to passe that these broken relikes of sinne in the sonnes of God by Gods grace do much profit when out of them they make an antidote against pride neither are puft vp with the merits of their owne works Wherby the doctrine of Trent ought to be accounted the more abominable which doth decree that eternall life is to be restored to the faithfull for the merit of workes which the Apostle propoundeth not as the reward of a seruant but the inheritance of a sonne not payed for spirituall obedience but giuen to the spirituall generation as Austin expounds the Apostle the crowne of righteousnesse in respect of Christ who merited a crowne of mercy in respect of vs for whom he merited to be giuen by the iust iudge not for the weight of mans merit but for the force of Gods promise to be rendred according to their workes not for their workes Gregor in 7. Psal peniten as Pope Gregorie distinguisheth out of the Apostle The studie therefore of good workes is to be vrged because God shall iudge according to thy works but merit is to be detested because it shall neuer saue thee for good works For whatsoeuer you do well is of God not of the merit of man but of the blessing of God You doe owe it therefore to God as the creature to the Creator as
and that which is crooked as the Philosopher well said yet let vs yeeld so much to our Aduersaries either ignorance or obstinacie that as wee haue brought out the true and right notes of Antichrist out of the text of Scripture so wee may refute the false and fained proceeding out of the braine of man Bellarmine writes honestly that the opinions of the Fathers about Antichrist which cannot be prooued out of the Scriptures are not to be held as certaine truths or to bee beleeued as matter of faith I would hee would follow his owne rule we should sooner agree among our selues And he hath reiected some of their fables in this cause the Scripture being his guide but I thinke hee refused other mens deuises herein that with greater authoritie he might shew foorth his owne Some of them as false and absurd others as more probable but false for all that both of them he doth reiect Why so I pray Because they cannot be prooued out of the Scripture Who would not thinke that this man dealeth with vs in good sooth Of the generation of Antichrist 1 Antichrist is not as he saith borne of a Virgin 2 He is not the Deuill as Hypolitus thought 3 He is not a Deuill incarnate 4 He is not Nero brought to life againe These opinions saith he are absurde Others are more probable neither true 1 Antichrist is not a bastard as Damascen said 2 He is not of the Tribe of Dan as 12. Fathers do thinke and all Papists almost besides Bellarmine Do you not see Paul the 5. how your Bellarmine reiecteth twelue Fathers in this cause and giues his own side the slippe He denieth the old Tribe of Antichrist we looke he should deny his Countrey anone Hee denieth him to be of Dan by and by he will deny him to be a Iew. For as for the Tribe of Dan Bellarmine alloweth Hyeromes opinion Why This cannot saith hee be prooued out of the Scripture Although for the Tribe diuers Papists bring texts as probable as Bellarmine doth for the nation But those this plaine dealing man forsooth hath reiected Doe you not see how your men disagree in this matter that you may no more tell our men of their disagreements CHAP. XXVIII Of the Nation Religion Office and seat of ANTICHRIST BVT Antichrist saith he shall be by Nation a Iew by Religion circumcised and for a time a keeper of the Saboth by his office Messias for he shall especially come for the Iewes sake and shall be accepted of them for Messias and he shall sit at Ierusalem in the Temple of God reedified by himselfe A lyer must beare a memorie Messias of the Iewes saith he shall come not in his owne name but in Gods name So Bellarmine Bellarmines contradiction But Antichrist shall come not in Gods name but in his owne saith Bellarmine Antichrist therefore is not the Messias of the Iewes But he proueth out of two places of the Scripture that Antichrist is the Messias of the Iewes one if another shall come in his owne name saith Christ Ioh. 5. him you shall receiue Whereout of a compound supposition of an indefinite person if another hee doth inferre a simple proposition definitely that is that Antichrist absurdly nor well applied to the purpose Which sets downe that that Antichrist shall come a little before the end of the world Those Iewes therefore whom Christ spake to then aliue now dead could not receiue Antichrist for Messias Vnlesse peraduenture as he tells vs Enoch and Elias shall returne before the end who shall resist Antichrist A great absurdity so he imagines the Iewes that Christ spake to shall rise againe before the generall resurrection to receiue Antichrist But see how vntowardly the parts of this tale hangs together For he saith That Enoch and Elias should be killed of Antichrist and after three daies and a halfe liue againe and that it shall come to passe afterward that the Iewes being conuerted by that miracle shall kill their Messias in the mount oliue and shall returne to Christ who shall come 45. daies after Which dreame of his he refuteth in another place which he bringeth The Apostle saith that to them who receiue not the loue of the truth to their saluation God will send the working of error to beleeue lies and so to be iudged with the iudgement of condemnation 2. Thess 2.9 Wo be to those saith he who haue not receiued Christ The Iewes Although the Apostle saith not who receiued not the truth 1. Christ but who receiued not the loue of the truth as false Christians But how shall God punish those Iewes God shall send vpon them the working of error that they might beleeue a lye 1 Antichrist and should bee damned Therefore the Iewes shall receiue Antichrist for Messias But Bellarmine doth affirme that the Iewes shall bee conuerted by Enoch and Elias and therefore shall bee saued The Apostle speaketh of men reiecting Christ and therefore to be condemned he speakes not therefore of the Iewes But the Apostle saith that Antichrist is sent to them who would not receiue Christ which of the Iewes is true of the Christians false Yea he saith that he is sent to seduce those who haue not receiued the loue of truth which doth well agree with the Papists those false-christians Who although they receiue Christ The Papist receiue Christ but not the loue of Christ receiue not the loue of Christ But the Apostle speaketh of the time past Who haue not receiued the loue of truth not in the future Therefore he vnderstandeth the Iewes who before the Apostle wrote this refused to beleeue the preaching of Christ and his Apostles But the Apostle speaking of the sinne and punishment of Antichristians which presupposeth a sinne going before did expresse their sinne in the pretertense which is not to be referred to the time of the Epistle which Paul writ but to the time of the punishment which he enioyned But if the Iesuite doe vrge the pretertense so farre as if the Apostle should vnderstand that Antichrist should be receiued of them only who had reiected Christ before that time hee must hold that he must be receiued of them in the end of the world who were dead a thousand fiue hundred yeares before And is not this a worthy demonstration A popish absurdity whereby he proueth that Antichrist shall bee in Office the Messias of the Iewes to be receiued of them in the end of the world whence as one error begets another he concludeth that he is by nation a Iew by Religion circumcised c. I haue wonne it now that Antichrist is an Apostata-christian It followeth therefore that hee can by no meanes bee an Infidell Iew who as yet was not come to Christ I prooued that hee was an inward and hypocriticall enemy who denied Christ secretly indirectly It followeth then that the Iew no waies can be an outward and professed enemy who denieth Christ directly and plainely
the like destruction Apoc. 16. 17. c. This the seuenth Angell which powred out his viall into the aire doth notably set out There went a great voyce from heauen out of the throne saying It is finished And there were made lightnings and sounds and thunders and a mighty earth-quake such an one as was not since men inhabited the earth And the great city was diuided into three parts and the cities of the Heathen fell and great Babylon came into remembrance with God to giue vnto it the cup of the indignation of his wrath And euery Iland did flie away and the hils were not found and a great haile like talents fell downe from heauen vpon men and men did blaspheme God for that great plague of haile What maruell if when the Creator is offended all the creatures be likewise offended for as then the stars abiding in their order course did fight from heauen against Sisera for Deborrah so now the lightnings and thunders and wonderfull earth-quakes and the mighty talentary haile shall when God is angry fight for his Church against great Babylon And as then the victory at the waters of Megiddo so these now shall not bee attributed to the force of men but the powers of heauen So likewise in the 20 of Iohn when Sathan shall be loosed after a thousand yeeres by whom Gog and Magog shall bee mustered to battell the tents of the Saints and the beloued city shall bee besieged but hee addeth that fire shall issue out of heauen from God which shall consume the enemies In which place Iohn doth not vnderstand those enemies whom Ezechiel describeth the Seleucidae inhabitants of Syria and Asia the lesse For Gog doth signifie Asia the lesse deriuing the name from Giges their king Magog is Hierapolis the chiefe seat of Idolatry in Syria builded by the Scythians by them so called So that in Ezechiel Gog is taken for Asia the lesse and Magog for Syria now because the Seleucidae were the most outragious cruell enemies of the Iewes by whom after their captiuity and before the comming of the Messias they were to endure most greeuons afflictions therefore by a vsuall prouerbe among the Iewes the cruell enemies of the Church are called Gog and Magog The enemies of God called Gog Magog And why which Iohn did apply to the setting out of the enemies of the Christian Church whom Sathan in the latter dayes vnder the conduct of Antichrist should stirre vp to warre against the Saints Not therefore the same whom Ezechiel describes but the like called Gog and Magog consumed and deuoured by fire sent from God out of heauen that the conquest being got not by earthly but by heauenly powers might take away courage from the Antichristians and encrease it in the Saints In the meane time one of the seuen Angels chap. 17. had conference with Iohn saying Come and I will shew thee the condemnation of the great whore which sits vpon many waters that is people nations and tongues with whom the Kings of the earth haue committed fornication and the people haue beene drunke with the wine of her fornication who after they haue a long time fought on the beasts side a against the Lambe at last being conquered by the Lambe who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords shall ioyne their forces against the Beast The order in destroying of Antichrist and shall deuoure and consume by fire the Babylonish whore left naked forsaken of all men And marke in what order the victory shall proceede First Antichrist is consumed with the spirit of the Lords mouth that is with the ministery of the word but with the brightnesse of the Lords comming is cleane abolished So saith Paul so Iohn After the preaching of the eternall Gospell by the second Angell followeth the spirituall fall of Babylon denounced by the third Angell chap. 14. Babylon is falne Afterwards Gods decree of Antichrists ruine being published by the seuenth Angell his destruction followes shewed by one of the seuen Angels and the outward ouerthrow of Babylon procured by Princes That prophesie is fulfilled this is to bee fulfilled let that which is fulfilled win credit to that must be fulfilled There followeth at the last the last condemnation and euerlasting destruction of the whore chap. 18. proclaimed from heauen by another Angell Babylon that great city is falne is falne Antichrists Metropolitane seat is now become a dwelling place for Diuels An exhortation to come out of Babylon and a cage for euery vncleane spirit and euery vncleane bird There is ioyned by him an heauenly admonition to them who as yet abide in Babylon Come out of her my people lest as you bee partakers of her sinnes you likewise be partakers of her plagues Heere the Angell speaketh to all Papists cheefely to them that be simple and ingenuous that they be careful of their saluation if the words of God cannot mooue them let his deedes moue them if they will not hearken to men let them hearken to Angels if they feare not temporall punishments let them feare eternall let them come out of Babylon with all speede lest as they be found partners of her sinnes they be found partners likewise of her plagues which the Angell doth describe very liuely in the verses following While at the last the last Angell being of great strength tooke vp a stone as it were a mill stone and cast it into the sea saying with such force shall Babylon that great city bee cast and shall neuer be found againe Where the most bitter lamentations of her louers and the exceeding ioy and triumph of the Saints is described In which battell whereof the Angels prophesie there is no cause Comforts for Gods children in respect of the Captaines why the Antichristians should lift vp their mindes or Christians deceiue theirs For if wee looke vpon the captaines of either side on that side the Lambe on this Antichrist on that side the inuincible lion on this a silly beast shal fight If we look vpon the subsidiary souldiers on that side Souldiers most valiant Princes conuerted by Christ shall fight on this side with old doating Priests forsaken by Christ If we look for souldiers from heauen we shal haue the Angels fellow-souldiers in this battell whom we had fellow-witnesses of the Gospell So heauenly bands shall fight with earthly forces If we look for the authors of this war God on this side shal fight with the Diuell Authors powre and eternity with weaknesse and rottennesse If we looke to the causes of this warre the truth and the pure worship of that one euerliuing God Causes written religion sound faith heauenly magnanimity shall fight with deceipt with idolatry with superstition with perfidiousnesse and feare And if God doe suffer some of his souldiers to fall in the quarrell that they may rise againe and come to him will hee suffer his cause to be lost will he suffer his
truth and power to be ouercome by errour and wickednesse Assuredly hee will neuer suffer it The Christians therefore haue no cause to feare the Pope hath no cause to insult For the Pope alone hath all the markes of Antichrist The Pope alone therefore is Antichrist CHAP. XLII The scope and conclusion of the whole worke I Haue finished the Glasse Paul the fift set before you to see your selfe before others to look on themselues wherein Antichrist is fully set downe as in preface Heere you may see contained his right and true marks the false being reiected and cast by Euery of them in seuerall and all of them ioyntly together doe prooue the Pope to be that great Antichrist Hence it followeth that Popery is Antichristianity What hee is and who he is appeares out of the preface What he doth and what he teacheth out of the Dialogue diuided into three bookes First comes vpon the stage Antichrist pragmaticall In the two other bookes Antichrist dogmaticall There he carries himselfe like a Rebell heere like a Sophister there he doth impaire the glory of the Empire heere the truth of the Gospell there hee doth vndermine the faithfulnesse of subiects heere the faith of Christians The first booke doth propound the rules and grounds of Christian fealty and obedience toward Kings against Christian rebellion shadowed ouer with a shew of Catholike religion The other two doe erect the foundation and pillers of Christian doctrine and faith against the Antichristian heresie compacted of twelue new articles of the faith brought into the forme of a creede by Pius the fourth whereupon I call it the Popes creede I doe solemnely professe that I am afaithfull seruant of Christ and the King I doe not take vpon me being the meanest and the least of all other to giue warning vnto Kings once already warned by the great King not therefore to bee warned of any but of Christ the King of Kings Let Iesus Christ therefore bee in our thoughts a while who although he be absent in body yet present in spirit hath an interest and being yea and a gouernment also in the spirits of all Christians and chriefly of all Princes his bountie is to be loued his maiesty is to be dreaded euen of Kings for as the powerfull gouernment of Kings is to be dreadfull to their owne subiects so the most powerfull gouernment of God is to bee dreadfull to Kings of God I say manifested in the flesh who being present with them in spirit seemeth thus to speake and complaine CHAP. XLIII THE PROSOPOPEY I AM not ignorant who am ignorant of nothing ô yee Christian Kings and Princes that the Byshop of Rome my Vicare as he calles himselfe my Aduersarie The Pope both an hereticke and traytor as he carries himselfe hath beene a Teacher of heresie in the Church and a Practiser of treason in the common-weale for these many yeares For euer since hee was made the vniuersall Byshop he hath done nothing else but corrupted my Gospell and peruerted your Empire And no maruell for out of the corruption of the Gospell doth follow the dissolution of the Empire For whereas I haue erected by the Gospell a twofould pillar of gouernment Authoritie in Magistrates and Allegeance in Subiects it is strange to see the Gospell peruerted in the mindes of men how each pillar of gouernment falles to the grounds The greatest fault whereof is in the Byshops treacherie and in your slothfulnesse that whereas I had submitted all Byshops vnder your power and iudgement you haue suffered one to fly out so farre aboue the rest that he dare not onely rebell against yours but against my Maiestie also That therefore the ancient dignitie of the Empire may be recouered being lost and for euer maintained being recouered my counsell to you is that the truth of the Gospell shaken and long weakened by the Popes tyrannie may at last be restored by your princely authoritie For what is more reasonable then that I should haue you defenders of my glory whom I haue appointed Ministers of my power And if it were in question heretofore whether that Byshoppe were that Antichrist He is so prophetically described by my beloued Disciples Iohn and Paul that now it is out of question seeing that euent hath laid open and made cleare the prophecie For all the partes of the prophecie are so plainely interpreted All notes of Antichrist agree with the Pope of the succession of the persons the nature and disposition of the King and kingdome the acts of the beast the impression of the Character the number of his name the scituation of his seate the time of his reuealing the cuppe of the whore the kind of his marchandise the fall of Babylon lastly the comming in and going out the birth and death of Antichrist the last answering the first and the middle answering both with such a consent and barmonie inferring things to be fulfilled by things that are fulfilled that I could not haue made it clearer if I had named the Byshop of Rome himselfe And Antichristianity is well defined by my Apostle to be not iniquitie but the mysterie of iniquitie For if Antichrist had appeared to you in his owne likenesse you needed not to haue beene so carefull about the businesse Now that hee doth insinuate himselfe with a counterfet holinesse and a dissembled sanctity how many millions of innocent men hath he cosoned and deceiued with his hidden mysticall wickednesse But let the visard be taken off from this hidden Antichrist then none can hereafter be deceiued but he that will wittingly and willingly be deceiued Beware therefore that the old trickes and stratagemes being laid open beguile you no more He faineth himselfe to be the Prince of the couenant and yet he hath altered my couenant Hee pretendes himselfe to be a Keeper of my will and testament and yet he hath not only raced and defaced my testament The Pope hath altered Christ his Testament and brought in a new but hath foysted in one of his owne He termes himselfe the foundation of the Church and chalengeth to him my peculiar title and yet hee doth with cunning deuises subuert and ouerthrow my Church He makes a shew of great zeale to my crosse and yet doth annihilate the power of the crosse The holy Scripture makes mention of Gods double gouernment the Legale and Euangelicall The legale which hath the condition of working annext vnto it do this and thou shalt liue Ierem. 31.31 Heb. 8.5 ad finem The Euangelicall requireth the condition of beleeuing Beleeue and thou shalt be saued But it requireth faith not as a worke but as an instrument whereby you may receiue the promises of the spirit therefore that is called a conditionall this a free conuenant Where there is no couenant there is no faith and where there is no faith there is no saluation Humane faith doth rest vpon an humane couenant heauenly faith vpon a heauenly couenant Heauenly faith is
and went about to perswade others to do the same And he had almost preuailed with me but that the most Holy Father did interpose his greater authoritie A third guest Argentines shadow I will conceale by your leaues vnlesse you will assure me that you will procure him no harme which cannot well be without my danger It is his part to dispute against the obedience of subiects which in his minde hereticall Kings doe vniustly exact of them and to obiect the strongest reasons he can for the authoritie of the Pope in deposing such Kings and releasing their subiects from the oath of Allegeance And if you can wipe away and weaken his obiections you shall easily perswade me and my Argentine too I thinke to performe the oath of fealtie and obedience to our King Then Patriotta truly said he so he attempt nothing § 3 against the King and kingdome and dispute as it were in the schoole to search out the truth and not in an assembly to moue sedition I giue you my honest promise I will not take on me the part of a spie and leaue of to be a guest nor cast off the dutie of a friend while I reteyne the dutie of a subiect Here Regius as one that knew the danger of the law better pausde a while yet following his purpose that I may gaine a lost sheep to the King I will said he borrow so much of the law that I may heare a Iesuite disputing And vpon this condition said Calander smiling I will name you my third guest in habite a Courtier in profession a Iesuite Father Robert Saturnine And thus all the guests meeting together in the Parlor Patriotta said that after they had courteously saluted one another as the manner is they sate downe to a costly supper and that it might not be a dumbe feast the Priests did wisely dissemble their inward griefe of minde with forced and pleasant discoursing When supper was ended they were all brought into a gallerie and there sometime walking and sometime sitting they continued their conference about the matters in question till it was late in the night § 4 Here Calander beginning whereas your comming said he was euer welcome to me Velbacel and Saturnine then neuer more welcome then in this dangerous time wherein there is a great and a greeuous controuersie not onely betweene Catholikes and Heretikes but betweene Catholikes and Catholikes about the oath of Allegeance and the Popes authoritie in deposing hereticall Kings and the absoluing the subiects from their obedience due to them as it is thought As it falls out betweene you two one of you disswades me that I should not sweare the other perswades me that I should sweare Thus we Laicke-Catholikes are torne asunder by you the Priests and so distracted in this quarrell betweene the Bishop and the King that we know not in the world what to doe Wherefore when I was desirous that you should discusse your contrarie reasons in this matter of difference and by the discourse and bending of your wits some sparkes of truth might appeare to the satisfaction of our consciences see of a sodaine there are met two great learned men Antonius Patriotta and Carolus Regius two shrewd Aduersaries that I may say the truth in the whole busines of Religion but yet without malice vnknowne happily to you but very friendly to me so that you need not feare that your conference come abroad so it be done freely not licentiously § 5 Then said Saturnine your promise made to me CalaÌ„der doth make me feare no danger from these Gentlemen your friends Therefore I lay aside that person and habit which the necessitie of the time not mine owne will and desire hath cast vpon me and I take to me the person of a Iesuite Although I haue not forgot the last Tearme of all that an holy Priest condemned by the Queenes Law was cruelly put to death O Dracos Law written with bloody letters Good words I pray you saith Patriotta it was not § 6 the Queenes law but the Popes Bull that hanged that Priest For when there were two Priests condemned for one offence the King offered life to them both if they would take the oath of Allegeance The one of them tooke it thother refused it The one of them liues by the mercy of the King the other died by the commandement of the Pope Now tell me whether it were the Queenes law or the Popes Bull did hang him O Hipponactean Bull whose seuerall lines Hipponax a Poet of Ephesus who being painted by Bubalus in such manner that he was laught at made such bitter verses against the Painter that foâ— shame he hung himselfe The Iesuites deceiued the Pope with false alarmes Câ—â— lib. 1. cap. 11. as seuerall lambickes brought the Priest to the gallowes But in the forefront of it he wisheth health and apostolicall benediction to his sonnes the Roman Catholikes but within it there is conteyned a curse and destruction to you all Belike your Pope did sweeten the edge of the cup that the poyson within might go downe more merily This bitter cup the Pope hath mingled for you Calander and Argentine and the rest of the Lay-Papists The Iesuite hath wisht it to you who being the Popes intelligencer signified that the power of the English Papists was greater then the Protestants if hee would that outward forces were ioyned with them as Cominaeus writes that the Burgundian spies being deceiued with the mist and darknesse of the night deceiued the Duke of Burgundie telling him that the forces of France were greater and neerer when as they tooke the longer bryars and brambles in the field for iauelins lances So the false reports of the Iesuites deceiued the Bishop whereby he tooke rash and vntimely counsell to send his Bulls vnto you Hence the Pope as Pius the fift had done before him compiled an horned argument wherewith hee strooke his sonnes on both sides and droue them to that exigent that either they must runne vpon the point of the Queenes law if they obeyed not the King or incurred the Popes curse if they obeyed him For he driues them whose calamities vndertaken for the Catholike faith he doth miserably deplore either to hell or the gallowes For of necessitie they must either be damnde or hangd if you beleeue the Pope damned vnlesse they obey the inhibition or hangd if they obey it Is this the saluation of Paul the fift that he sendeth to his sonnes is this his Apostolicall blessing Doth the pitifull Father thus blesse his sonnes that haue hitherto endured so great afflictions for reteyning as he writes the Catholike faith He hath well rewarded your holinesse that hath sent his Papists in a bad cause with a false feare of hell to certaine death vpon the gallowes § 7 And the Roman-Catholikes Saturnine may not only thanke the false messages sent to the Pope The Iesuites false doctrine hath troubled the Papists but the pestilent doctrine broached by
you for all the sorrowes they haue endured For what else could haue extorted that Law from so mercifull a Queene which you ere-while blamde as bloody For your Iesuites after the sending in of Pius the fifts Bull came swarming into England as Campion Parsons and many others and did mightily labour to put that Bull in execution and did propound it as the thirteenth Article of their faith That there was no more obedience to be shewed to a Queene excommunicated The seditious doctrine of Iesuites gaâ— that seuere law when it came to practise and deposed then presently followed the rebellion in the North. It was therefore your seditious doctrine that begat so seuere a law Your schoole hath made the Catholike doctrine of Rome a Catechisme of rebellion Your Logicke first made a Papist and a Traytor to be all one your Societie was the first ouerthrow of the Roman-Catholikes estate For your Papists behaued themselues quietly for the first eleuen yeeres while Pius the fift that old credulous dotard was induced by the false whisperings of the English Catholikes as they call them shewing that their powers were so strong that they could resist the Queenes forces had excommunicated the Queene by his Bull and depriued Her of her kingdome and had released her subiects from the Oath of their Allegeance and being so released stirred them vp to take armes against Hir. But the old man quickly found his error and corrected it with his dispensation that the Papists to redeeme their troubles so hee speaketh should shew outward obedience to Queene Elizabeth but restreyned with two conditions one things so standing thother while the publike execution of the Bull might be performed that is to say while they had so much power as by force they might ouercome the Queene Rebellion among Iesuites is an article of faith Hence among the cases of conscience brought into England by you sprang out the 55 Article Where a Catholike being demanded Doe you beleeue that the Pope can put the Queene from her authoritie he is taught to answer notwithstanding any feare of death I do beleeue it For this question doth appertaine to faith and requires a confession of faith Behold your Catholike faith which this present oath is said by the Pope to crosse it is the chiefe head of Iesuitisme which we may call the marrow of Poperie And are you now in a chafe Saturnine that a few Iesuites are hangde vp for Traytors who make treason an article of their faith And doe you not thinke the King hath a iust cause to take away their heads Alaâ—us who haue with such coniuring bewitched the consciences of subiects that they thinke that warre holy iust and honorable which is raised against their Prince But what if they were not only messengers and masters § 8 but authors and actors of rebellion The Iâ—suites and authors and actors of rebellion and haue entred into the most cruellest conspiracy that euer was since the creation not onely to depose the King and absolue his subiects but to rase out the King and Kingdome and to blot out the English nation and to root out the men out of the earth for euer and that not the guilty onely but the innocents also according to that olde tyrannicall practise Cicero pro Diatore Let our friends perish so our enemies perish also And they would haue the Catholikes with heretickes The Martyrdome of the Kingdome of England as wee seeme to you the noble with the ignoble and the fathers to bee Martyrs with their sonnes For what else was that gun-powder treason deuised by you but the Martyrdome of the King and Kingdome § 9 Then Saturnine you doe great wrong to the Iesuites saith he whom you faine to bee the Authors of Catesbies conspiracy for that which they heard onely vnder the seale of confession thought it was meet to bee concealed about the martyrdome of the kingdome as you call it which God wote hurt no body being only deuised and not performed Garnet therefore the chiefe Iesuite did wrong to the Iesuites saith Patriotta who when himself had nourished that euill humor in Catesby whom hee would haue to bee the head and heart of the whole conspiracy a right Cateline and an apt scholler who concluded by a very wicked consequence out of the bull of Clement the eight wherein the Pope had excluded the King being an hereticke as hee writ from entrance into the Kingdome concluded I say that being entred he was by all meanes possibly to bee expelled out of that wicked proposition which now is in question hee suckt out that most pestilent poyson of that vnheard-of treachery But when Garnet would haue him the cheife worke-man in this conspiracy hee ioyned vnto him diuers other counsellers out of his owne tribe nay out of his owne bosome And lest that liuing messe of Iesuites being singularly inspired with the spirit of the Pope of Rome Garnet Greenwell Gerard. Parsons should lay the whole fault vpon a Lay-traitor now dead let it be vnderstood that it was confest by Garnet being now ready to die vnder his hand by a voluntarie confession Hee writ that Greenwell with Catesby was heard of him The Traytor betraies himselfe not confessing but consulting That Greenwell with Gerard were not onely authors but actors who declared their guiltinesse of the fact by their flight That Baldwine and Parsons were acquainted with it whereof he set on Fauxe that Fire brand in Germany The other made acquainted by him of the villanous treachery came flying against the day out of Italie into Lyons in France as it were on pilgrimage to S. Winefreds well as a crow to carrion that like another Nero hee might with a detestable pleasure neerer behold the fire most furiously consuming each part of his country But this Martyrdome of the King and Kingdome as you call it was not brought to effect What then As though we are ignorant that Antichrist doth deliuer many to death and doth assigne many more That hee doth thirst after more blood then he doth spill We were all Martyrs in your intention but not in execution That the mischeefe was deuised we attribute it to your malice that it tooke no effect to Gods mercy Which mooued the neuer-suspecting heart of the King the most mildest of all that are haue beene or shall be that out of those letters whereof little reckoning was made he smelt out the kind of danger and I may almost say the verie gun-powder it selfe and so was made an instrument of the publike safetie Hence riseth a double bond one that bindeth the King to God the other that more neerely for euer bindeth vs to the King There is no want either of counsell and care to the King and his prudent and faithfull Counsellers but when neither care nor counsell can preuent such blinde and secret conspiracie both thankes are to be giuen to God for our deliuerance past whereof I doubt wee
are too forgetfull and continuall praiers are to be powred out for the time to come that hee may alwaie defend both the King and Kingdome of Britannnie against their secret and diuellish deuises For Gods help beginnes there where mans helpe failes as Philo saith In the meane time let vs take heede that when Gods prouidence is not wanting to vs we be not wanting to Gods prouidence § 10 Let Saturnine goe shake his eares that calles Queene ELIZABETHS Law cruell which condemneth such Priests as haue beene the deuisers teachers executioners of treason And let the Romane Catholikes themselues iudge Calander and Argentine whether in this waighty busines they ought to follow such guides who doe not onely reach and offer to vs and you but drinke to the Laity a large draft out of that cup which being guilded ouer with a vaine title of religion but indeede being full of most bitter poison the Pope hath mingled and prepared Very vntowardly I assure you Wherein they deale as those doe who meaning to make others drunke vse to make themselues drunke first For what drunkennesse of the minde is this or madnesse rather to make two things most neerely knit together by the commandement of God Eccles cap. 5. cap. 8. v. 1. seuer and part asunder by the inhibition of man And whereas Ecclesiastes doth draw from faith and obedience to God as a necessarie effect out of a proper cause faith obedience toward the King althogh he be euill to put these two chiefe duties of a Christian so well agreeing and so neerly vnited into another ranck of such things as be cleane contrary and opposite as if one being set downe The cheefe head of the Popes bull the other were taken away As the Popes bull doth pretend concluding in bad Logicke but in worse Diuinitie that the Oath of Allegeance toward the king cannot be performed with faith reserued toward God § 11 Another horned argument of the Popes In the mean time the lay-people are at a maze when they be enforced by you Saturnine that if they haue not at all taken the Oath of obedience that they should stoutly refuse it if they haue taken it that they speedily retract it Hence it is that they which refuse it bee guilty of secret treason they that retract it haue their conscience troubled with manifest periury I am not ignorant that it seemes a Distinct 19. q Siâ—om sacriledge to you to dispute of the Popes action b Extraâ— Io 22. cum inter non nullos Heresie to doubt of his power c Causa 25 qu. 1. viâ—latores ibid gloss blasphemarâ— Blasphemie against the holy Ghost either to say or doe anie thing against the Popes canons and decrees d Distinct 4. si Papa although hee draw infinite numbers of people by heapes into hell as Boniface speaketh Such an holy phrensie hath distracted mens minds that whatsoeuer hath proceeded froÌ„ the Pope althogh it be against the commandements of Christ against the examples of the Primitiue Church although it bee manifestly conuinced to bee against Iustice and common sense yet they thinke it must bee receiued as an Oracle from God But make not ship-wracke of your estates or liues Calander and Argentine I aduise you that laying aside all seruile preiudice you earnestly consider what you haue to doe Then Saturnine the losse of a mans estate or life is § 12 lesse then the losse of his soule which is made by the forsaking of Gods Law Malac. 2.7 For the Law of God is forsaken when as the will of the chiefe Priest whose lippes doe preserue knowledge as Malachie witnesseth is neglected True sayd Patriotta so long as the lippes of the cheife Priest doe preserue the Law so that the voice of the Law and the voice the Priest doe agree But if the Law doe faile from the Priest as Ieremy foretold might come to passe that the Law may bidde one thing and the Priest another then without doubt we are not now to obey the Apocryphall voice of the chiefe Priest Sum Syluest verbo obedien num 50. but the canonicall authority of the Law as Syluester that Catholike Doctor gaue warning If the Pope enioyne any thing vnder the paine of excommunication which sauoureth of sinne in the performance whereof it is presumed there will succeede a scandall of soules and bodies in the city then the Pope is not to be obeyed Then Calander being somewhat mooued started vp from his seat and said that hee greatly wisht that the chiefe Priest would resolue his owne Dilemma and withall did much commend the clemencie of the King who had vsed the Oath of Allegeance for distinction sake that hee might truely discerne the true Catholike subiects from the treacherous And added further that it was newes to him which hee heard from Patriotta about the Iesuites whom if it did appeare by Garnets voluntary confession to haue beene the principall authors of the gun-powder-treason he would neuer heereafter receiue any Iesuite into his house The subiect of the whole Dialogue but because saith he we are met together to know the reasons of faithfull obedience to the Prince of what sort soeuer he be and of the power of the Bishop of Rome in deposing hereticall Kings and absoluing subiects from their faith and obedience while these things bee argued by you that bee learned on both sides wee that bee vnlearned Laickes doe promise you our best attention § 14 Two foundations of Christian obedience due to any King 1. The perpetuall commandement of Christ 2. The practise of the ancient Christians Then Patriotta First I will lay downe saith he two grounds or foundations of faithfull obedience to bee performed of all subiects to kings as well euill as good Pagans as Christians Hereticks as Catholikes 1. On the perpetuall and immutable commandement of Christ 2. The other the example of the first Christians and chiefly of the Bishops of Rome for 800 yeeres and more after Christ Let vs consider them both against the cheife head of the Popes bull wherein he affirmeth but prooueth not The bull that the oath of allegeance and obedience to King Iames cannot be kept with reseruation of the Catholike faith and saluation of your soules Matth. 22.21 Why then did Christ say Giue to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods by which words what meant he else then that Christians should giue ciuill obedience to the Emperour and spirituall obedience to God Why did hee make good this commandement with his owne example when he sealed his obedience with payment of tribute for himselfe and for Peter Christ therefore gaue in charge that Christians should faithfully obey Tyberius a Pagane and a most cruell Emperor and that which is more obeyed him himselfe and shall the Pope forbidd the faithfull Papists to obey King Iames a Christian and a most mercifull Prince and shall he dare to
of excommunication that the Catholikes shall not take the Oath of Allegeance or else retract it being taken And it is to be doubted that to whom the definition of heresie doth agree whether heresie the thing defined doth agree That Grosthead being dead seemeth with his definition as with his Crosier-staffe to strike the Pope vpon his brest Then Saturnine What Schismatikes saith he what § 21 Sigebert what Vincentius what Grosthead with his Crosiers staffe do you reckon vp As if they were not all condemned by the Church because they were at contention with the head of the Church But that wee may not seeme rather to contend with the authorities of men then of God Paul the Apostle forbad to salute an Heretike yea he warneth that after the first or second admonition we should auoide him If it be not lawfull to salute an Heretike is it lawfull to serue and obey an Heretike Paul teacheth that we sacrifice an heretike as hatefull to God as a great sacrifice to him and tha◠we flie from him as from a gangrene And shall it not be lawfull to cut of the gangrene and cast it away lest it doe infect vs when as we are bidden to cut off our owne flesh if it be affected with a gangrene Now saith Patriotta you shew your selfe a right Iesuite § 22 when as Paul did forbid that we should salute an Heretike How heretikes are to be delt withall but auoide him after the first or second admonition in one word he did forbid voluntarie societie not necessarie dutie familiar salutations which curtesie affords not reuerent obseruance which pietie imposeth priuate acquaintance whereby soules are infected not publike obedience whereby gouernment is maintained It is not lawfull to salute an Heretike will you not therefore pay an Heretike the money that is owing him yes that I would say you I demand againe whether the debt of obedience be not more iust then the debt of money which is of greater force a debt contracted in your owne consent or that which is imposed vpon you by the commandement of God § 23 Here Saturnine We owe nothing saith he to Heretikes Nothing said Patriotta Doth not the seruant owe faithful seruice to his Master being an Heretike he oweth it you say to an Infidell not to an Heretike You trifle If you owe it to an Infidell which doth oppugne the faith doe you not owe it to an Heretike who only doth erre in the faith Doth not the wife owe faithfull obedience to her husband though he be an heretike yes when nothing may be the cause of diuorce but adulterie as Christ teacheth no not infidelitie it selfe as Paul saith Lastly children are bound to obey their Parents in the Lord although they be Heretikes Therefore shall not subiects much more obey the Prince Lord of the familie the husband of the common weale the publike father of the country although he be an heretike for heresie doth not dissolue the bond of dutie but breaketh of the knot of acquaintance But heresie is a gangrene as the Apostle faith But although we are commanded to cut of all heresie as a gangrene yet are we not commanded to roote out euery heretike It were wrong with the Papists if this your opinion were setled in our mens mindes But we leaue these parts of cruell Surgeons to your selues who presently betake your selues to lanching and fearing and alwaies vse the cutting knife and fire and look not for easier and gentler remedies But seeing in this quarrell you seeme to buckle with vs with weapons out of the Scripture which you doe seldom handle whereby you proue that Kings in right may be and in fact haue been depriued that subiects may by a word be absolued as by a word they were bound with an oath of obedience Goe to let vs see before you come to the second foundation the practise of Christians what you can say against vs in the former Then Saturnine I will freely speake saith he what I § 24 verily thinke God had not securely prouided for his Church if he had not sent some holy stout Prophets and Preists who might with their Church discipline correct and keep vnder such Kings as were wicked and tyrannous when they grew desperate Examples out of the old Testament 1. Saul and might remooue them being the hatred of God and men the shame to religion and the burthen to the people Therefore we read the first King ouer Gods people because he seemed to take vpon him the spirituall function was excommunicated by Samuel at Gods commandement and put from the possession of his Kingdome although after Dauids annointing and his owne deposing he held it by tyrannicall force many yeeres and did often attempt to murther both Dauid the competitour of the kingdome and Samuel the executioner of Gods decree as he had slaine foure-score and fiue of the holy Preists the Nobites Who knoweth not that a speciall Prophet was sent § 25 of God to Ieroboam King of Israel 2. Ieroboam who did denounce the iudgement of God against the King and the Kings race because he had separated the people by a wicked schisme from the ancient and true worship of God begunne at Ierusalem and had erected a new altar in Bethel whereby the schisme and diuision from the Apostolike See is properly prefigured and ordained a new Cleargy a hunger-starued and contemptible out of Aarons order such an one as yours is The sinne was afterward so seuerely punished according to the censure of the Prophet that there was none left of the Kings stocke to make water against the wall The King did very fondly lay hold vpon the man of God to kill him because hee thought the denouncing of Gods iudgement was treason against the Kings crowne and dignity § 26 3. Ozia We read likewise that Ozia the King of Iuda beeing puft vp with intolerable pride not content with the honour of a King did insolently presume to vsurpe the spirituall and Priestly office being stoutly withstood by Azaria and 80. other Priests and violently expelled out of the Temple and that because he threatned and resisted the Priests he was strucken with a filthy leprosie and therefore not onely cast out of the Temple but by their authority separated from the company of men which was a speciall figure of the Priestly authority vnder the new Law which may excommunicate Kings as well as others for heresie which is a spirituall leprosie and committed the gouernment of the Kingdome to Iotham his sonne An apparant example that it is lawfull for Priests to take armes and by force to bring vnder the wickednesse of Kings when as they deeme it is auailable for the preseruation of religion and the honour of God § 27 The zeale of the good Priests in the depriuing of that wicked Queen Athalia is worthily commended 4. Athalia whom Iehoida the cheefe Priest with a power of the Priests and Commons did command to be
derogation will statute decree and commandement or by any rash attempt to withstand it If any shal presume to attempt any thing against these let him know that he shall incurre the displeasure of almightie God and of blessed Peter and Paul his Apostles Giuen at Rome at Saint Peters in the yeare of the incarnation of our Lord 1564. in the Ides of Nouember and of our Byshopricke the first You haue heard of mee Calander the 12. open and § 131 knowne Articles of the Popes Creede Secret Articles drawne from the former Now if it please you take them which are drawne from them more hidden and vnknown I hope my old friend Saturnine will giue me leaue to open vnto you seeing your time is not long and are not farre from heauen and doe daily expect the houre of your departure to open I say to you the inward sense of the creede and to furnish you as it werewith prouision in this your iorney that when you depart hence Saint Peter the Porter of heauen may the sooner let you in being thus prouided The Masters speake wisedome among those that bee perfect they haue certaine hid mysteries all which they doe not lay open to all but some certaine to some as these are thought best to agree with their capacities and desires Neither will I poure out all I will reserue the mysticall sense of euery Article to be found out by the practise In the meane time by your fauour Saturnine the order being somewhat inuerted I will propound the primacy the eleuenth Article in order the first in authoritie whereon all the rest depend which I desire you with some of your best reasons to defend now rather then at any other time wherein it is fiercely impugned by the assaltes of the Heretickes of our time § 132 I beleeue therefore that Saint Peter was very certainly appointed in the Scripture to be the primate The primacy is the chiefe head of faith and the cheife foundation of the Catholike faith as Bellar in Torto most plainly grounded vpon the Scriptures and Prince of the Apostles and of the vniuersall Church and that the Pope of Rome Peters successor is the heire of this primacy and vniuersal principality in the whole who being the key-keeper of eternall life the Pastour of the vniuersall flocke the head and foundation of the vniuersall Church the infallible rule of faith the cheife iudge of all causes and persons hauing the same tribunall with Christ and the same consistorie in steade of Christ nay in steade of God nay as God himselfe vpon earth and therefore I hold him to bee reuerenced and worshipped I beleeue the chiefe inward power annexed to the primacy is of 2 sorts Sacred Temporall The sacred whereby the Byshoppe of Rome as the spirituall Lord can by excommunication driue away Kings and Princes from the flocke of Christ not onely Heretickes in the faith as rauening wolues but Catholickes also if they proue wicked as outragious rammes and to depriue them of all gouernment and free their subiectes from the Oath of fealty and Obedience The temporall whereby the Pope as Lord of the temporalties in earth can dispose of all crownes and them directly Princes saucily resembled to Wolues Rammes by Bellarmine or indirectly in order to the spiritualls as it set downe by you Saturnine in the former Dialogue can take from one and bestow vpon another as hee shall thinke it to be auaileable to the spirituall end And I vow and sweare spirituall obedience to the chiefe Prince my spirituall Byshoppe of Rome according to those mysticall rules which our Masters haue prescribed to the cureent right of the present Church and the preseruation of the same Here Saturnine you seeme not halfe wary enough § 133 Argentine said he who not contenting your selfe with a publicke profession of the faith Popish misteries not to be reuealed which Pius the 4. did prescribe especially to the more learned sort but haue published the hidden and secret Articles drawne from thence i. Mysteries as wee call them and that in the presence of Heretickes which before the creede was set out ought to haue beene beleeued of you but ought not to be reuealed It seemes then said Patriott as Aristotle had some strange bookes which he writ to all and other subtill bookes which he writ for them of the wiser sort which were said to be set out and not set out So the Pope hath some doctrine that is populare and other that is mysticall that many of the doctrines of your Church seem to be Proserpinaes mysteries Yet you see sometime how they fall from men that bee not so euill disposed and come abroad into the world Then Argentine as much as euer I hated heresie so § 134 much I loue the Catholicke faith whereof I need not be ashamed seeing Calander required it at my handes and you were present who can stoutly maintaine the same against any cauelling Hereticke whatsoeuer That was very necessarie said Calander seeing other were here who could as stoutly make answere Therefore let vs ignorant Lay-men learne let the learned teach It is your part to answere mine to demaund It is an olde song of the Papists a learner must beleeue but a truer a learner must aske You beleeue too many things Argentine as there be many men who bee too incredulous in many thtngs so I feare that in many things many be too credulous When we beginne to beleeue that wee ought not wee will not beleeue that wee ought How oft and that without cause may you heare it among vs It is a matter of faith which ranging out of the circuite of holy Scripture I suppose reacheth farther then it ought These doctrines therefore of the Catholicke faith as they are called which are brought by our men into the forme of a creed the state and drift of euery cotrouersie being briefly and truly propounded I could wish they were soundly disputed and discust by you But chiefly that primarie Article of the supremacy whereof I desire not to know all but the most chiefe pointes as also of the rest that the errors of the Church of Rome now doting for age as they be well obserued by certaine honest Pontificians may appeare vnto vs. § 135 Those certaine Pontificians Saturnine said must be very honest I warrant you that reproue our Father the Pope and accuse our mother the Church of dotage For whereas you desire to haue the Articles of the Catholicke faith discust Calander you are in a great error For they are in all humilitie to be receiued not curiously to be discussed For as Austen saith well the simplicity of beleeuing not the quicknesse of vnderstanding is required in a Christian man That he may with reuerence beleeue what the Church teacheth not wittily discusse it and may humbly submit himselfe to the iudgement of the Church without any discourse § 136 But said Calander if you confesse that our mother the Church hath
no errors The Pope of Rome doth erre by the Papists iudgement Peter de Aliaco a Cardinall Adrianus Pope The three Legates of the Trent councel I wonder that Peter de Aliaco a very learned Cardinall granted that there were many things not only in manners but in faith had neede of reformation Why did Adrian the sixt ill touching the fountaine it selfe say that all mischiefe came from the cheife Byshoppe into the whole Church and promised reformation of all things by his Legate Cheregatus to the Germaines I wonder also why the three Legates in the Councell of Trent did apply that Prophesie of Ieremy to themselues and to the popish people This people haue committed two great euills They haue forsaken mee saith the Lord the fountaine of liuing water and haue digged to themselues cisternes that can hold no water And in the Councell it selfe Cornelius the Byshoppe of Bitont did openly acknowledge the Apostasie of the Church of Rome in the chiefe heades both of doctrine and life I would to God saith he that they had not falne wholy from religion to superstition from faith to infidelitie from Christ to Antichrist from God to Epicurisme saying out of a wicked heart and with an impure mouth There is no God Neither did any Shepheard or Pope care for these things For all of them sought their owne and not one of them all sought for those things that belong to Iesus Christ § 137 I wonder also why after that Councell many not onely priuate Doctours did plucke in peeces the decrees of that Councell as Sixtus Senensis Canus The councell of Trent reiected by their owne side Lindanus the Byshoppe Catharinus Pighius Ouander Ferus and many more but Pope Pius himselfe confest that the worshippe of the Church of Rome had much swarued by continuance of time from the ancient institution Therefore these reuerend Doctours Cardinalls and holy Byshoppes doe giue mee both cause and leaue greatly to doubt Neither doe I desire only that the chiefe Articles of immediate Reuelation be discust which I embrace with all faith and reuerence but these articles of the second sort which are supposed to be fetcht from the first and in truth doe altogether ouerthrow them For whereas by the aduice of Austen the simplicitie of beleeuing noâ— the quickenesse of vnderstanding is required not an humble desire of learning things necessarie but a curious desire to seeke after high mysteries is forbidden by him For the simplicitie of beleife Implicite faith blinde Idoll doth as well shut out brutish ignorance as presumptuous knowledge I can therefore no longer adore that blinde Idoll implicite faith whereby we are taught to receiue with all reuerence what the Church teacheth and to beleeue as the Church beleeueth though wee doe not well know what the Church beleeueth Bellarm de iustific lib. 1. cap. 7. Neither can I giue credit to Bellarmine saying that faith doth consist in the assent not in knowledge and may better be defined by ignorance then vnderstanding Whence our learned aduersaries do too truly conclude that as Cleargy poperie was before nothing else but a catechisme of treason so Laicke-popery was nothing else but meere idiotisme and as they worthily laugh at the fox-like craft of our Doctors so likewise the asse-headed ignorance of our schollers Such faith which the colliar had so commended by Staphilus A certaine colliar being at the poynt of death Apolâ—g Staphi pars 1. pag. 53. was tempted by the Diuell and demanded what faith he held the colliar answered I beleeue and die in the faith of the Church of Christ The Colliars faith And beeing againe demanded what was the faith of the Church answered as it § 138 were in a circle it is that faith that I holde and so the Diuell being vanquished by this answer fled away if we may beleeue Staphilus Therfore the faith of a Romish Catholike is the Colliars faith that is a circular faith I pray you Saturnine teach mee first before I giue my assent and write to that reuerend Bellarmine that hee will prouide that implicite faith which is nothing else but blinde and affected ignorance bee put out of the creede wherewith the grauity and wisdome of the Catholike religion is greatly defaced I haue learnt at last to distinguish between the fictions of mans braine and the doctrines of Christian faith the foundations wherof are not the opinions of men but the oracles of God and those which are committed to writing by the Prophets and Apostles by inspiration of God wherein all necessarie principles of faith and precepts of life are plentifully contained as I heare it affirmed by the fathers Let vs now come to the creed § 139 Wherein first I demand whether the supremacy of Peter with such things as depend thereon haue her foundation directly in the Scripture as the Cardinall writeth in Tortus For I hold no doctrin necessary to be beleeued vnlesse it bee founded on the Scripture as Pope Gregorie the first reacheth I am a bad Text-man and I reade the bookes of the Prophets and Apostles but seldome the reading whereof the Church hath forbidden to vs lay-men fearing lest by reading we should fall into heresies But I am both ashamed and repent of that my ignorance and negligence Yet I leaue not off to reuerence the fathers both olde and new whose sonne I professe my felfe to bee and not their seruant I account them for schollers in the Scripture not masters witnesses and interpreters thereof not arbitrators and iudges Neither am I so much mooued with their names as with their reasons I seeke not then what they bring out of themselues but what they prooue out of the Scripture in the cause of faith I will henceforth admit of no definition of the Church vnlesse it relie vpon a manifest testimonie of holy Scripture or at the least a necessarie conclusion drawen from thence I will not haue the matter ordered by bare authority but let thing with thing cause with cause and reason striue with reason neither am I led with the number of arguments but with the waight * Number doth oppresse the memory waight doth beget knowledge Neither am I delighted with circumstances I desire breuity And I will preferre one sound argument shortly and directly concluded out of the Scripture before all the quirkes of men brought for pompe and shew Neither will I suffer any of you to leape from this one poynt to another before I see this bee fully sifted and discussed among you Buckle vp your selfe therefore Saturnine to set the onset and confirme the supremacy of Peter and the succession of the Pope and that power which you say is annext to the supremacie out of the holy Scripture but that you may not swarue from the state of the question remember that you are to prooue the primacy not of order and distinction which is granted to Peter but the primacy of power and iurisdiction which is denied For
other popish writers subscribe That with a few others did Bellarmine attempt against the Scripture which the boldnes of many popish writers more learned were afraid to attempt And will you hearken to this fellow Calander in a chiefe article of faith as he calls it so far dissenting from his owne side or dare you securely admit of those whom you see as the Madianites mutually wounding them-selues in a cause of such importance Saturnine who seemeth to bee no other thing but very Bellarmine himselfe proceedeth from Christ to Peter from Peter to the Pope from the Pope he falleth to the Popes chaire and hee proueth that the Church is to be founded vpon that rocke out of testimonies borrowed and framed out of Ierome Austin and Cyprian Cic de erat Cicero makes mention of a certaine mad fellow who finding a small boate on the sea-shore purposed to build a great ship of it Papists like mad-men These mens madnes is like who finding Peters chaire in the Fathers do dreame that the Church must be built vpon the chaire Ierome to Damasus I am vnited in communion saith he to your blessednes that is to Peters chaire I know that vpon that rock the Church is builded that is vpoÌ„ the chaire as you relate it Jerome misalleaged But Ierom thus I following after none chiefest but Christ 〈◊〉 vnited to your Blessednes c. You passe by Christ in this sentence as if he were a man vnknowne and you curtall Ieromes words wherein hee confesseth that he doth follow none chiefly but Christ You make mention of Peters chaire Vpon that rocks saith Ierome I knowe that the Church is â—aide Why should you not rather referre That rocke to Christ that goeth before then to Peter that followeth after in the sentence chiefly when Ierome doth adde the word I know that the Church is builded vpon that rocke Now that Christ is that rocke wheron the Church is builded â—one at all doubteth but that Peter is that rocke many deny And yet you are so mad that you will build the ship of the Church vpon the chaire as it were vpon a small boate You haue well Saturnine by rasing out the name of Christ shauen away the sentence as a beard with Ieromes sharpe rasor I shall maruaile much if Austin when he cannot endure that Peter should bee the foundation of the Church would suffer the Pope to be and if when he did remoue the person of Peter from this honor hee would admit Peters chaire But when he makes mention of Peters seat that said he is the rocke Is it so indeed let vs adde the wordes following recken vp said he all the Priests from the very seat of Peter and in that order of Fathers marke who succeeded one another that is the rocke against which the proud gates of hell shall not preuaile Then Saturnine while you are handling another § 161 matter Patriot you doe confirme by Austens authority another article of the Catholicke faith of the Pope Peters successour But said he againe to the confirmation of an article of the Catholicke faith Austens authoritie without the testimonie of the Scripture cannot be sufficient in the iudgement of Austen himselfe who speaketh of the matter as he had heard that the Byshop of Romes seat was the seat of Peter and that in that seat some succeeded others but hee makes it no article of the faith Wherefore when he speaketh that is the rocke it cannot be referred either to the seat or to the succession of Byshoppes in the seat For therein hee should contradict himselfe who makes Christ the rocke of the Church Apostles rockes in respect of doctrine vnlesse rather he referre it to Peter so vnderstood as I said with the rest of the Apostles who in respect of doctrine may in some sort be called rockes But it is not said you will say he is the rocke but shee is the rocke therfore the reference is not to the person in this place but to the seat i. to the chaire As though by the deceit and carelessenesse of writers greater faultes then these had not crept into Austens workes then she for he Although what hinders why shee is the rocke may not aswell bee referred to the person of Peter as those wordes in the Gospell vpon this rocke c. are referred to the person of Peter by the Rhemistes But let that be granted you for a time which you shall neuer euict that Peters chaire is ment in that place Austen saith not that is the rocke whereon the Church is builded but that is the rocke which the gate of hell shall not vanquish So he doth not promise that Rome shall alwaies withstand but doth testifie that Rome did then resist the gates of hell while it kept that faith vncorrupt that Peter left vnto them For if hee should now liue and make diligent search hee should not finde Rome in the middest of Rome This Rome not old Rome Our Romaines at this day are no Romaines they are but the carcasses of those Romaines who receiued their first faith from Paul and Peter which these men haue breathed out as their soules § 162 And now let Cyprian make answer for himselfe who affirmeth that the like power was giuen to all the Apostles by Christ Lib. de vnitat Eccles and that the rest of the Apostles were the same that Peter was being endowed with the same fellowshippe of honour and power Let him make answere for himselfe how he could lift vp Peters chaire aboue the chaires of the rest and would not haue it forsaken for iust cause which he did oppose in an vniust But Cyprian as both Ierome and Austen and other fathers haue iust cause to complaine Contra Stepha Corruption of Fathers after their death that so many bastardly bookes are brought in the place of those that were right and true And false sentences deceitfully foysted in and true violently cast out that now being dead they are constrained to speake and holde their peace according to other mens pleasures not their owne Now Ierome at your command conceales that which he vttered before Cypr. de vnit Eccles Now Cyprian speaketh that which he neuer meant He that forsaketh Peters chaire whereon the Church is built doth he trust that he is in the Church Cyprian writ thus a little before Christ doth build his Church vpon Peter alone How Peter the first stone in order not in power meaning that Peter was the first stone that was placed vpon Christ the foundation vpon whom the rest in their order were to bee builded First therefore in order not in power therefore he said that equall authoritie was giuen by Christ to all the Apostles but that it tooke the beginning from vnitie that the Church may be shewed to be one The foundation therefore of the building in Cyprian is nothing else but a beginning The rest of the Apostles were this which Peter was being endowed