and for his sake takes vs vnto mercy takes off the debt and hand-writing that was against vs and finally admits vs into his heauenly mansions And all this proceedeth not of our merits but of his mercy as now cometh to be shewed in the next place The Second Proposition That Iustification is onely for the merits of Christ by Faith in the affirmatiue THis gift of Grace is no debt no righteousnesse of ours but a fauour of Gods to whom onely all must be abscribed as proceeding from his meere liberalitie by Faith alone by Christ alone in his merit for his passion all rests in his grace no Christ without Faith no Faith without Works no workes of our as we dare stand vnto or relie vpon or interpose betweene God and vs his iudgement and our sinnes mercy excludes merit grace is opposed to workes to this fountaine of Grace we are to haue our recourse and of this mercy and all-sauing faith to looke for saluation and of no other The Third Proposition Not for our owne workesor deseruings in the negatiue WE looke for no saluation from our selues as of our selues who though we be neuer so iust before men yet are sinfull in comparison of God Nor from our owne righteousnesse which is damnable if it be examined in rigor nor from our owne strength and vertue which is but weaknesse our best workes that are tainted wanting foure graynes to make them currant in Gods scale and therefore in the last place it is a most wholesome doctrine and full of comfort that wee are iustified by Faith It is a wholesome doctrine because it agreeth with the word of God and teaching of their owne men full of comfort because it doth not onely hope that we may be saued but breeds y an assurance and confidence in our minds that we imbrace Christ and leaue the world trust to Faith and disclaime merit which doctrine is not so to bee vnderstood as if Faith were barren without Good-workes or that Good-workes were not to be followed of vs if euer we meane to runne the way of saluation which now come in the next Article to be examined Of the Twelfth Article Of Goodworkes ALbeit that Goodworkes which are the fruites of Faith and follow after iustification cannot put away our siâ—nes and endure the seueritie of Gods iudgement yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ and doe spring out of a liuely Faith in so much that by them a liuely Faith may be euidently knowne as a Tree discerned by the fruit This Twelfth Article explained and maintained by the Papists THere is no Article thoroughout all our Doctrine so much seandalized as this of Goodworkes Our Aduersarie the Deuill hath raised vp our Aduersaries the Papists to reproach the whole hoste of Israel and the God of Hostes as if we lead men to loosenesse taught men to eschew Goodworkes as sinnes and neuer so much as studied the point of Sanctification but looke into their Indices expurgatorij hearken vnto their vnpartiall and moderate Papists and the scandall will cease and this Article be cleered from imputation of calumny For taking away all opinion of merit all confidence in Goodworkes making them accessarie after and not necessarie before Iustification embracing them as the fruit and not as the root of a true and liuely Faith and we will be as forward as they to aduance the doctrine of Goodworkes as being inuolued within the doctrine of Faith and incorporated in the Articles of our Religion proouing these Propositions 1. That Goodworkes are the fruite of Faith and follow after Iustification 2. That they cannot put away our sinnes and endure the seuerity of Gods iudgement 3. That springing out of a liuely Faith they are pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ and are to be knowne no otherwise then the Tree is discerned by the fruit The First Proposition That Goodworkes are the fruits of Faith and follow after Iustification FErus a most learned and pious Writer of their owne saith as much in other words Fides radix Faith whereby a man is iustified is the root Good-workes the fruite of our Iustification Now I suppose it will bee easily granted that the root goeth before the fruit both in order of time and of nature Wherefore though it be most true that Good workes haue nothing to doe or doe interuene in the very act of Iustification which is vvrought by free mercy and faith alone and which hath the prime place in our Iustification as being more operatiue in the meanes of our Saluatition yet they doe conuene to and follow after our Iustification a true and liuely Faith is still working by charity which waiteth vpon Faith attired with the ornaments and habillements of Good-workes and they are so necessary by way of consequencie but not of precedencie non causatiuè sed ostensiuè shewing but not causing our Iustification That I dare be bold to argue with Vatablus as Saint Iames doth a posteriori that hee that hath not Good-workes hath no true faith in Christ no Christ no benefit of his passion and shall haue no part in his resurrection hee hath denied the Faith and is already become a reprobate and Infidell but grant that hee hath Faith it is but hypocriticall and without true faith his workes are abhominable and cadauerous and stinkâ—ng in the nostrils of God This is our this is the Papists doctrine concerning Goodworkes built vpon the rocke Faith or Christ against which the slanderous mouthes of Obiectors nor the gates of hell shall euer be able to preuaile The Second Proposition That they cannot put away our sinnes and endure the seueritie of Gods iudgement IF we looke for our saluation from no other person but Christ no other gift but from his Grace no other action but his passion that by his death hath made a ful attonement for vs conquered the Diuel and his Angels pacified and satisfied God and his iustice paying the full ransome for our sinnes and rather more than lesse than we were indebted for so that Christ is now become our onely Sauiour Redeemer Iustificator and all in all both in vs and for vs then it can neither truely nor safely be said that good workes can put away our sinnes and endure the seuerity of Gods iudgement In the best of men Christ Iesus only excepted there is somewhat amisse and in the best of our workes aiming at the best end but proceeding not from a true cause nor ascribed wholly to Gods mercy there is much euill no merit either de congruo or de condigno they are not satisfactory cannot turne away Gods wrath from vs. ¶ The Third Proposition That Good Workes springing out of a liuely Faith are pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ and are to bee knowne
And first For their liues and manners what goodly Popes haue we IT is no matter in what order I ranke them as they liue in no order so I will take them as they first come to my hand And first because there is a common saying amongst vs As merry as Pope Ioane Was there not a Woman Pope amongst them Sigebert Bocace de claris mulieribus c. 99. Iohannes Baptista Egnatius l. 3 c. 4. Chronicon excerptum de diuerfis Chronicis Baptista Fulgosius l. 7. c. 3. Calius 2. Curio l. 14. c. 1. Crantz l. 2. Metrop Fr. Petrarcha Anselmus Rydd And to helpe to make vp a full Iurie Ran. Nygedon ad an 858. And lastly a booke of the Stations of the Church of Rome of great antiquitie remaining in our publike Librarie at Oxford there are many more witnesses yet remaining behind but because they are many and these onely not so much distinguished from the rest as cleane extinguished in your bookes I leaue them to be dressed for your daintie palats by one that is a very expert Cooke Sergius the third begat Iohn the twelfth on the body of Marozzia a common strumpet Luitprandus l. 3. c. 12. Here is a good succession of your Popes you were best pleade this Iohn the twelfth like father like sonne kept his fathers Whore and I know not whole troopes and squadrons of Whores and Queanes and for this very cause was turned out of his Popedome like a knaue as he was and lastly was taken with another mans wife in the very act of adultery and so slaine Hildebrand was hatefull both to God and men you may be sure not without good cause being Antichristed by so many good Writers and free speakers of those times but aboue all commend me to Iohn Auentine who was neither flatterer nor back-biter of any but with a full mouth inuayed sharpely as farre and no otherwise then the truth of the Historie required who hath set him forth in all his liuely colours and who dares take vp the Pensill after Apelles Anno Dom. 978. Gerbertâ—â— alias Syluester Poped it a great Pope and as great a Magician and Necromancer he worshipped the Deuill for riches sake and was promised by him that hee should not die till hee came into Hierusalem Hereupon hee promised himselfe many yeares and bade his soule take much ease for as for that Hierusalem that was aboue he meant neuer to goe to it and for that on earth it was beyond the Seas too farre for his Holinesse to goe but as secure as hee was of his life and happinesse as the Deuill would there was a Chappell called by that name which for the very name of a Chappell he had not of likelihoods visited often where hee ended his vnhappie dayes and after his death see the Iudgement of God his priuie members hands and feete and all the rest were piteously torne and cut off by his owne appointment and it is more then probable that as his body went not to the graue in any decent or Christian sort so his soule went not to Heauen notwithstanding he had the Keyes about him when hee died as Erasmus merrily once said But leauing him vnto his Lord to whom hee doth stand or fall because it shall not be said vnto me Who art thou that iudgest another man I onely note this by the way that it is no strange thing for a Pope to goe to Hell P. Damianus reports of a Bishop of Capua as farre as he remembreth that saw Benedict the Pope riding on a blacke Horse in those infernall Lakes Sixtus 4. was brought vp in the better and the worser Arts. Pope Zosimus was an Adulterer by confession of the Deuill Benedict the ninth got the Popedome by Simoniacall chaffering and marchandizing a small sinne a peccadillo Alexander the sixths vices or abominations rather were recorded in Guicciardine you haue practised to deface the foulenesse of his crimes from out the memory of man but as you haue your Indices so God and the truth haue their Vindices Iohn the 23. was an accursed blasphemer when hee chanced to fall downe on the ground Here I lye quoth he in the Deuils name Iohn the 13. is called a Monster of all vices As Benedict the ninth got the Popedome by Simonie so Iohn the eleuenth got it by meanes of a lewd Harlot it must needs thriue that is so well and truly gotten Leo the tenth his luxurie is knowne out of Iouius in his life Onuphrius hath described Iulius 2. his Houses and Gardens of pleasure but speaketh nothing of his trauels and paines in his Vicarship I haue read of Hadrian the sixth his Peacocks not kept without some Epicureisme and lost with great blasphemie Petrarches red Hat that was offered him if he would be but a Bawde to the Pope for his owne sister might cause the Papists to blush at their bawdy Popes if they had any grace in them Boniface the 8. whose famous sentence it was that if hee lead millions of soules into Hell no man could taxe him for it or say blacke to his eye gaue good tokens of his repentance for vpon Ashwednesday when after the vsuall ceremonies with great solemnitie his Holinesse was to throw ashes vpon their heads he cast it into ones eyes that was of the contrary faction saying in mockerie or blasphemy rather in stead of these words Remember man that thou art ashes and to ashes thou shalt goe Remember Sirra that thou art one of the Gibellines and with the Gibellines thou shalt perish Much more may be said out of Stella that shineth like a bright Starre in those darker Ages and hath most liuely represented vnto vs the liues of their impure vnholy Fathers the Popes But as I began with Pope Ioane so I end my discourse with Pope Eugenius the fourth who whether hee were man or woman God or Deuill I know not but hee made hauock of all things neither fearing God nor regarding man putting all things as it were into a combustion But let their liues be as bad as may be and worse they cannot be yet as long as their doctrine is sound and their teaching good wee may and ought to adhere vnto them it may bee they are impeccable and inerrable by the speciall prouidence of God and assistance of his grace possessing that Chaire that hath that promise but because both Nic-Eymericus in his dayes a famous Inquisitor and Franciscus Pegua his Commentatour do determine this question and resolue vs that the Pope may be accused of heresie and proceeded or informed against by an Inquisitor or any other ordinarie man but his competent Iudges are none but a Generall Councell or a Consistorie of Cardinals the selfe-same doctrine that was preached in the Councell of Constance and Basill we will now see by their leaues what Schismes
liued some hundreds of yeares before Saint Gregorie rent the Vayle in the Church Was he inconsiderato zelo succensus when he did it Who dares say it And both Tho. Bradwardine our profound Doctor and the Councell of Basil haue taught me how to distinguish betweene auctorities and auctorities the former and the latter and whereas it may be obiected for proofe hereof that the Picture of our Sauiour was miraculously depaynted in the Lateran Church as saith Geo. Venetus take that which followeth Sirectè sentiunt qui haec scribunt if that be true which is written of it But to reuer◠to my purpose How doth this doctrine of Gregories that Images may bee but may not bee worshipped agree with that which went before in the seuenth booke of Greg. Register Indict 2. ep 54. to Secundinus The words come not in by way of a Postscript Sic esse oportet but they come in or rather are thrust in the perclose of that long Epistle by head and eares The Images saith this false Gregorie which you sent for vnto me by Dulcidius the Deacon I haue taken care to be conueyed vnto you And it was no small pleasure vnto me to see by this your liuely and earnest affection to contemplate him whose Image you desired to haue before your bodily eyes that seeing his picture you might the better imprint him in your imagination And verily it is not amisse done of vs then to demonstrate inuisible things by visible Iust so a man that loueth and longeth to see his friend or a man that truly loues his wife maketh all the haste he can to see the husband his wife the man his friend comming from the Church or the Bath and doth both meet them some part of the way and reioyce with exceeding great ioy I perceiue by this that you are much inflamed with the loue of your Sauiour because you haue such a longing after his Image And yet I would not haue you to conceiue that wee are so grosse as to worship the Image as a god no no we worship God by the Image who was crucified dead and buried and now sitteth at the right hand of God as we are well taught in the Creed For whilest the outward picture or Scripture representeth the Image to our bodily eyes the eyes of our minds take great comfort in his glorious Resurrection and blessed Passion In consideration whereof we haue caused to be sent vnto you two sultaries or tables wherein are painted the Images of God the Sauiour and of the blessed Virgin the Mother of God and of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul by our foresaid sonne and Deacon You shall likewise receiue a Crosse and a Key that hath been hallowed vpon the body of S. Peter the chiefe of the Apostles that being thus crossed and thus keyed you may bee sufficiently defended from all euill Now let vs rest a while and be thinke our selues first for the time It was written a yeare or two before the other to Serenus and if this better had been true Gregorie had good cause indeed to find fault with his inconsiderate rashnesse that would offer to touch much more to betrample and breake such precious Reliques but Gregory distinguisheth adoration from rememoration and at the most he maketh Images but Lay-mens bookes but this Secundinus to whom he writeth is a seruant of God an Incluse or Recluse and last of all I must be bold to tell you this that this Epistle is not found in any of our ancient Manuscripts saue one that citeth it not out of Gregorie but as Gregories sentence or Gregories opinion taken out of the Decrees of Canons So then if Dominicus Basa or the Cardinals deputed for the reuising and printing of the Fathers out of the Vatican Print were so bold as to mend Gregory out of Gratian or the Decrees I say vnder correction they were more bold then wise and wee are like to haue the Fathers Workes well amended that are reuised after this manner Againe it must be duly considered that Gregory in the Manuscripts wrote fourteene bookes of Epistles distributed and ranked according to the yeares that he sate Pope but you haue confounded the Epistles and made but twelue books wherin notwithstanding there is hysteron proteron I know not how often so that the story of things is much obscured thereby Howsoeuer either Gregory doth contradict that in the ninth booke and ninth Epistle which he had formerly said in his seuenth booke touching the vse and adoration of Images but the truth is this is a patched Epistle and it appeareth out of the Gospell that a new piece put to an old garment will make the rent worse I conclude this Proposition out of learned Papists words To vse Images for adoration and worship were to abuse them crosse to the discipline of the ancient Church for a memoriall or remembrance of the Saints by them we may lawfully vse them or if wee needs must fall to adoration of Saints let vs either imitate their vertues which is the best kind of worshipping them as for reuerence to mute Images the true Church asknowledgeth none but the liuely Images of God And so an end of this Proposition The third Proposition It is not lawfull to paint the Images of the Trinitie or of God the Father c. I Say it is not onely vnlawfull but also impossible cui me assimilastus yet you as if you had better eyes then other men or had been snatched vp with Saint Paul into the vpper Heauen and taken full view of the glorious Maiestie of God haue taken vpon you to paint God with three faces as noteth a good Historian I know there bee some quaint and Polite Missals extant in the publike Library that haue shaped them otherwise Pictoribus atque Poet is quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa potestas And your owne deere Polydore yeelds the selfe same reason If no man euer saw God how shall we be able to make any representation of him Therefore we may safely conclude this third Proposition Painting of God the Father or of the Trinitie was neuer generally receiued of the Church of God The fourth Proposition Adoration of Images crosseth the Scripture LEt Polydore Virgil speake for all the rest God Almightie gaue certaine Lawes and Precepts to bee kept of the Iewes our blessed Sauiour confirmeth them in the new Testament If thou wilt come vnto euerlasting life keepe the Commandements the chiefe whereof is Worship only one God that is worship not the similitude or likenes of any created creature What can be spoken more plaine or to the purpose The fifth Proposition It is repugnant to Reason YF wee bee ashamed to worship the Carpenter that made these images should we not in reason bee ashamed to worship the images that are made by them Againe is it not vnreasonable that beeing forwarned by Salomons example whose heart was turned aside to
This affected and feigned penance may make others beleeue that we are truly sorrowful when there is no such thing We do herein but imitate the old Heretikes against whom Polydor Virgil and Aegidius de Faeno haue sharpened their pennes against them our foolish Papists on Good-friday either in Rome or Spaine come not much behind them and if they belye them not that haue reported it some of them haue died vnder the displing Rod. But true repentance entereth not into the body with the Rod but into the mind by true sorrow the feare whereof is so continually obuersant before their eyes that they will not commit the like sinnes and it were to loose a hundred liues they doe cleane put off the old man and all the affections of a sinfull soule with mind neuer to resume them againe And this I take to belong vnto true repentance Against Auricular confession IF auricular or secret confession be not abused the Church of England doth willingly admit of and subscribe to it the neglect of it hath been inquired of my knowledge in some Visitations and the reuealing of it is forbidden vnder an high paine but this must not be imposed of necessitie but arbitrarie and voluntarie The sicke Penitent may say vnto the Confessour I haue need of the Physitian and the Confessour may reioyne vnto the Penitent Non habeo praeceptum sed consilium do I vrge it not vpon you as a precept but I aduise you as a friend and as your spirituall Pastor and if you be truly contrite God seeth your heart I see but your face you may receiue comfort at Gods hands and I will ioyne my heartiest prayers with yours for the obtaining of the same Man is sinnefull but God is mercifull To consider Confession a little better it is a most forceable weapon to amaze and amate the conscience to picke the purse and steale into a mans priuiest thoughts intruding here vpon Gods office it maketh the Confessour especially if he be a young man a knaue women whores and their husbands Cuckolds Subiects rebell against their Princes worketh Stratagems in States to bee short it serueth to my seeming but to Politick ends and in speciall it tyeth the Laytie fast by the eares to the Cleargie and the Cleargie to the Pope which thereby is become Rex Regum et Dominus Dominantium Touching the first part of this description how is the pore conscience racked and torne vexed and perplexed amongst them They require an exact Catalogue and enumeration of all sinnes and all circumstances I thinke it to be an endlesse worke for who can say how often hee offendeth It is vnpossible so strictly to take the Confession of an ordinary man for one yeere much more of a great sinner for many yeeres But admit it to bee possible yet where is the ballance to make difference of euery graine to weigh euery circumstance is not this a trouble and vexation of the spirit Nay a very hell and torment of the conscience Sure there needes no such matter may it not suffice to beleeue assuredly that my sinnes are forgiuen in Christ though I confesse them not to a sinfull Priest it may bee as bad perhaps worse than my selfe I beleeue it will be found in good writers that before the mouth openeth the heart speaketh and sigheth and cryeth vnto God for mercy and great is the cry thereof in Gods eares of force if I may so say beeing tendred to God in Christ Iesus name to pull downe a full remission of all our sinnes Secondly it is saide to bee a Pick-pocket as well as Purgatorie because of the infinite summes of money that accrew to the Monkes Couents by way of Legacies and to the Popes Coffers by way of Indulgeuces I may call it in this respect the Popes Indies aswell as Krantzius tearmeth it the Popes golden mines I trow the Pope getteth as much by it as the King of Spaine by both his Indies Thirdly it solliciteth and tempteth Priests to much lewdnesse and therefore it was thought good by some of their best learned Papists that young Priests should not intermedle in Confessions and yet who but they that were vsed in Confessions ignorant and foolish lewde and lasciuious as they were It is not I but good Rhenanus that complaineth of this grieuous abuse And therefore our learned Countryman long before this complaint gaue this wholesome aduise That neither young nor old familiar themselues or talke with women because there is no man but might be intangled with these snares if he looked not the better or more warily to his steppes And therefore there was great neede of some such aduise For as Poggius saith in his merry tales there was an Eremite at Padua one Arsininus by name that had sosticited I know not how many women to lewdnesse vnder pretence of Auricular Confession If you list to heare any more Stories of this nature you shall haue them as freely as I haue them from Zuinger and Zuinger from Egnatius and others as out of the same Poggius you may read of a Monke called Albertus that came in Confession to a graue matron of Venice and had the vse of her body telling her when shee began to make somewhat dainty of the matter that he had a reuelation from Saint Michael the Archangell which commanded him to come to her of else God forbid that wee should thinke that a poore minorite would haue attempted any such matter before hee had his warrant There is a third storie of an other minorite that lay with an other matron-like woman which left his breaches behinde him beeing like to be surprized and her husband espying the breeches on the bed asked how they came there she said they were sent her by God and good Saint Francis the poore Cuck old rested contented and durst not for his eares for a long time make this story knowne Now honest Papist is Confession a Sacrament or no Take Sacrament for a signe and it appeareth that it is a signe or rathere cause of much villany and this was the cause why it was abolished in the Primitiue Church vpon a like fact by Nectarius What shall I speake of other Confessions As the Confessions in a Monkes Cowle which was of Souereigne vertue to cure all sicknesses of the soule Monkes Cowles belike haue a speciall vertue If they had said they were good to cure Matrons of the disease of the mother or Maides of the greene sicknesse I would easilier haue beleeued them I am afraide I haue rested too long vpon their Monkes Cowles but it is no matter Erasmus shall make my excuse for this once the best is it is not a matter of faith nor much against good manners vnlesse it be of their side In this â— Tome and elsewhere hee hath giuen them such a cooling carde for their Cowles let them be Cowles of S. Francis or S. Dominicke that
their sundry lusts in sundry kinds They promise and vow continencie but there be that vow the contrary I will not reckon vp their lothsome and filthy diseases which they get out of Amatus Lusitanus or any other for very shame let this suffice for the present 5. Their Riots and excesse in fare You may reade of their Epicureisme and delicacie in fare in Hugo de Folio he hath a set Chapter for it of their stately and sumptuous banquets in Erasmus and therefore we may iudge whether men had not reason to caâ— them Hogges fat Hogges as it were out of the stie that swinishly cared for nothing but for their bellies and their tailes with reuerence of the Reader be this spoken 6. Their Sloth and Idlenesse They leade a pretty kind of idle life that slept or idled out their times it was no maruell that so many men and women went thick and threefold to their Monasteries and Nunneries Io. de Puente he that lately intituled the King of Spaine his Master to the Seigneurie of the whole world thinkes no man worthy to write a lying Storie such as his is vnlesse he come out of a Monasterie or a Cell True for if they onely should write which are the only or especiall liers of the world should we not haue goodly Stories out of their Forge But some are of the contrary mind that they and only they haue been the cause that we haue lost so many good pieces of Antiquitie so many famous Histories by their meere negligence and indiligence 7. Their Discord and dissentions They are called Fratres that is Friars but Fratrum quoque gratia rara est they agree like Cat and Dogge either amongst themselues or towards others I would to God this were not too true and that there were any Monasterie free from this infection Peace as Ariosto saith may be written and painted in their Cloysters and Walles but doubtlesse it is not practized in their liues and conuersations 8. Their Pride is somewhat Lucifer-like it cannot well goe higher they are called Minorites some of them but they may be all called Maiorites 9. Their Wandring vp and downe They can neither truly containe for as I shewed you their Cloysters are but so many baudy houses nor are their Cloysters able to containe them they must be running vp and downe with little Pictures or Tablets of the Apostles which the simple people are made to kisse and giue them money Polydor Virgil in the place quoted in the Margent hath so liuely represented this fault vnto our considerations that I am in a manner constrained to referre you to his learned Writings that desire to be better informed hereabouts 10. Their begging They begge that are fitter to giue and liue idly that are fitter to be set aworke Doth any man deny this It shall be prooued Monkes aswell as other men must liue by the sweat of their browes and labour of their hands Not to worke if a man can and haue an able body is to steale But you will say perhaps this precept is not generall it concernes not Monkes Yes Monkes aswell as other men Guil. de S. Amore hath inferred this doctrine throughout all his booke against the begging Friers but his booke against beggers must be enforced it selfe to begge or else it is neuer like to see light for ought that I know I reade of many Monkes that were Fishers and relieued themselues and others by that honest Trade and I can tell you also of one that was a Smith and exercised the Trade in his Monasterie belike it was hee that made the Tongs that Saint Dunstane vsed when he tooke the Deuill by the nose the Storie is worth the reading in our old Chronicles if a man haue so much faith as to beleeue it But to returne to our begging Friers which take the habite of poore Monkes vpon them for riches sake and so as one notes very well by professing themselues poore they make themselues rich they haue stately houses and are called beggers Vtinam hoc esset mendicare He that should begge with them should not loose by them but of this enough 11. Their pride in Apparrell is one of the twelue abuses noted by Hugo de Folio and he setteth it downe in Folio yee may beleeue him for he knew it too well 12. Their Courting is noted by the same Author who hath taken much paines to reforme them if it were possible and to reduce them to their prime-order It was wont to be said A Monke out of his Cell was like a Fish out of the water But in his time and in all times a man may find some of these Frogges not only at Pharaohs Court that is in the Palaces of Kings and Princes but in the Court of Rome trading with his Holinesse about making and marring of Marriages about vnlawfull Diuorces and Dispensations and I know not what I will not speake of their vnnaturalnesse to Parents which they practise if they doe not teach nor of their children which they doe steale I haue shewed you an expresse Statute of our Vniuersitie of Oxford against it these bee supernumerarious faults but to conclude there is no sinne but they haue a tincture of it and yet like counterfeits they would be like God without sinne as he is know all things as he doth are in all places they are P. Rebuffus words some of them too sharpe to be Englished and ioyned with a little prophanenesse to my seeming which may well become a Popish Writer Of Miracles I Had here thought to haue concluded but that a fit and iust occasion is giuen me by a late accident that fell out here in Oxford to speake somewhat although not much of this point of Miracles the patration of them is made a speciall note of their Church in diuers bookes that were lately scattered in the night about our Colledges and Halles and in the Cities and fields bookes that we haue heard of long since whereof some of them are throughly refuted because I say the euill one that hath sowed these Tares amongst our good Wheate while the good Householder slept as his manner is confides belikes in his cause and triumphs vpon this point more then any other I will therefore take so much paines as to insist vpon this point a little I will not take vpon mee to answer all it needeth not let one or two serue for all the rest The Author of my Lord of Londons supposed Legacie makes this his sixth motiue That true Miracles haue been wrought for proofe of the Catholike religion but not any for Protestancy and hee reckons vp diuers most stupendious Miracles in the primitiue Age and later times in this World and the New I meane both the Indies and he concludeth with this Epiphonema O misery and feeblenes of Nouelisme in doctrine which is
to their office and functions to assist the Pope in doing good and preaching the Gospell or visiting the sick or suruaying their Diocesses Lastly 〈…〉 Pope to whom he poore Wicelius deceiued by a counterfcite Epistle of Anaclâ—tus erring the errour of the Pontifician by misinterpreting the words of our â—uiour Thou art Peter giueth a kind of Supremacie but not in that latitude that now it is taken hee summoneth to appeare before the Tribunall Seate of God if he did not his best to reforme the corruptions of the Clergy in generall not exempting his Holines as some flatterers and pick-thankes did and the foule abuses of the Court of Rome which were spread abroad throughout all the World in bookes printed to the shame of that See and iust reproofe of his Holinesse and hee did verily thinke in his conscience that if they did not the sooner begin to reforme the Sectaries by Colloquies or Councels not by fire and sword ere long be they would loose all Germanie that began then to dance after Martins Luthers Pipe and greedily to imbrace his doctrine for the very filthinesse and abominable or innominable sinnes of their Clergie 14. Lastly what shall I speake of their Holy water qua nihil immundius that was vnholy their Thurification that was to be reiected because the sent thereof was not pleasing in Gods nostrils abuse of Confession Baptisme Excommunication which were too too much abused You see our Wicelius was a true reformer of the Church a moderate Papist at the least and no dissembler of the faults of his age of the Church doubtles in time he might if he had not bin too much awed by their great ones to whom as became a peaceable man he shewed all manner of outward obedience I say he might haue prooued an other Martin Luther though moued with a cleane coÌ„trary spirit so powerful is the Spirit of God to change our purposes and alter our nature when and as it pleaseth the Diuine prouidence Concerning Ant. de Dom I know not well what to say but to cry out Digitus Dei God had a finger in disposing of his comming ouer and suffering him to fall that other might rise and to write so directly against the Church of Rome as to my seeming for the most points no man hath done better though himselfe were neuer in the right hauing a good head but a corrupt and equluocating heart from the beginning which well became him that was tutored by and brought vp vnder the Iesuites Now albeit his conuersion were most fained and his Apostacie most certaine and true whatsoeuer he proposed to himselfe the heart is a Closet wherein none may enter but God God so disposed of both for his glorie that his person should relapse from our Religion and himselfe returne with the Dog to his old vomit and his elegant and substantiall bookes though they be mute should speake and proclaime to all the World the vnauoideable truth of our Religion now publikely professed and established in the Church of England Thus doth the diuine prouidence bring light out of darknesse and make good effects spring from the roote of euill causes as better shall appeare when we come to giue you my obseruations about the bookes that are purged I will onely touch vpon the Author of the Historie of the Councell of Trent whom because Ant. de Dominis whom I cannot call Ant. de Dommo because hee serued more Masters called Pietro Soare I will also call him by that name doth so farre shew to euery one-eyed Reader that the Councell of Trent though it were called against and condemned Martin Luther and his Religion yet if the Councell had been free and their voyces decisiue without the Pope though the Italian Bishops were three to one in number and there had been no foule play in calculating the voyces still I say leauing the Clokebag behind the Councell of Trent might haue turned Lutheran and sate at Witenberge aswell as there for their propositions and reasons which as D. Stapleton saith may be fallible and deceitfull but the conclusion is that which they did and we must look after if we will suffer our selues to be hoodwinckt and as very fooles as they I am not ignorant that there be some in the world moderate Papists that haue taken as iust and as great exception as we doe or can vnto the Councell of Trent and I would not haue the Christian Reader ignorant of this that I haue intreated of this largely in another set Treatise which if it shall be thought worthy by the Church of England to whom I doe yeeld and owe all submission may haue the happinesse with some other Treatises of mine to see the light Of the bookes printed vnpurged so much by way of caueat for the printed purge Copies take gentle Reader these few notes into thy Christian consideration 1. That I propose not to my selfe any exact handling of the Controuersies questioned betweene vs and the Papists per viam Thomae as they say by way of opposition or obiections and answeres out of Scripture Councels Fathers midled aged first aged and all aged Writers before Martin Luther my weake and wearied legges at this time will not suffer me to expatiate so farre yet my studies I confesse and naturall disposition to rip vp and vnfold the controuersies and vnriuit them out of the secrets of true Antiquitie driue that way my purpose is if God will to giue you a taste onely of that fruit which may be expected out of their sundry Indices Expurgatorij if they be well and narrowly sought after and looked into I haue but seuen or eight of them some that fell into my hands by casualty at the surprizall of the Towne of Cadiz others by the prouidence of God and great care and industrie of the Founder of our great Librarie Sir Thom. Bodley the Pâ—olomey of our â—ges and wonderfull preseruer of bookes I haue by my selfe and my friends amassed and shouelled together some thirtie Quire of Paper of Catholike restitutions and restored some one or two hundred seuerall Authors and out of them I haue gathered this small Introduction or Manuduction vnto Diuinitie sorted according vnto the especiall Articles of Religion controuerted at this day betweene vs and the Papists deliuered in as plaine and familiar manner as I could possibly deuise for the capacitie of the vulgar Protestant or Papist 2. I haue not taken all that may be taken or gathered out of the Articles that the booke might not rise to too great a bulke I haue neither collected all that is contained in the seuerall Indices but a third or fourth part only nor all that is contained in my said collections but the most pertinent and proper places 3. Neither is it to be vnderstood that all that are recorded by them for Papists are indeed Papists but supposed ones as Laeuinus Lemnius Io. Spondanus c. whose testimonies are sparingly miscited by mee in following the common errour
the Papists will haue no great cause to bragge of their Souereigne vertues hereafter To hold you no longer about Confession seeing Confession is not of any diuine institution but an ordinance of the Church as both Polydore Virgil and Erasmus doe proue it but instituted by the Fathers vpon iust occasion and abrogated againe by the same vpon as good an occasion The surest way for vs is to make our humble and secret Confession to God who is best able to forgiue the same and to free vs both à paena et à culpa yet for the auctoritie of the Church of England that perswadeth is leauing it Arbitrarie and for sundry good reasons that inforce it to my seeming if thou canst be so happy as to finde a wise learned and discreet Minister feare not to make known thy sinnes vnto him there is no ragge of poperie in this if thou bee true to the Minister and the Minister vnto thee But if no such Minister bee to bee found or not at hand men may confesse themselues one to another one neighbour to another without any scruple of conscience the Papists will giue thee leaue and so doe I and heere I end my discourse of Auricular Confession Of Satisfaction and Contrition A Word or two of Satisfaction and Contrition the other two parts of Popish Penance that I may giue some satisfaction to my pore seduced Countrymen if God shall moue their hearts and that they hate not to be reformed otherwise whole bookes of this argument will bee bootlesse non persuadebo etiam perswasero I may plant and others may water but it is God onely that giueth the increase First of Satisfaction if the Papists meane publike Satisfaction to the Church for some publike scandall giuen or priuate Satisfaction for some priuate wrongs done or scandall taken God speed them I question them not it is a Canon of the Church of Rome in force and practise in the Church of England that he that offends publikely and by his offence doth scandalize the whole Church should make a publike acknowledgement thereof and for priuate wrongs or persons the holy Scripture which is regula sufficienâ—isfima willeth vs in expresse tearmes to go and reconcile our selues vnto our neighbour and then come and offer this is a kinde of Excommunication ipso facto if we do it not But if they meane Popish Satisfactions whereby they thinke they do promerite or postmerite God with such satisfactions or sacrifices God is not pleased Proue the lawfulnesse of them out of Scripture and Traditions of the Church and we will vse them till when we leaue them In the meane time there is a kinde of Satisfaction which I will make bold to commend vnto you out of Antonius Magnus in the Bibliotheque of holy Fathers and that is the amendment of your wicked liues Touching Contrition seeing that the Papists acknowledge that the heart may be so contrite that the body may be saued in the day of iudgement both à paena et à culpa without doing any penance at all or very little grace being sufficient of it selfe to do away all our sinnes as is largely shewed by Ant. de Dominis who hath also taken great paines to score vp the Errours of Popish Contrition the chiefe whereof is filthy gaine the bane of the soule and indiuiduall companion of Purgatory and Penance bee ruled by mee this once if your Confessour seeke you and not yours hee will perswade you truly to repent and sorrow and satisfie God if you will by your surety Christ if they speak of any other sorrow or any other satisfaction take heede of Wolues that destroy the flocke ne potius pecuniam quà m animarum salutem quaerere videantur they rob you of your money and giue no satisfaction to your hunger-starued soules The 20. Article Of the Authority of the Church THe Church hath power to decree rites or Ceremonies and authority in Controuersies of faith And yet it is not lawfull for the Church to ordaine any thing that is contrary to Gods word neither may it so expound one place of Scripture that it bee repugnant to another Wherefore though the Church bee a witnesse and a keeper of holy writ yet it ought not to decree any thing against the same so besides the same it ought not to enforce any thing to bee beleeued for necessity of saluation This 20. Article explained and maintained by the Papists IT is a true saying of good vse in opening of Controuersies that qui bene distinguit bene docet I will therefore for the better vnderstanding of this point First distinguish of Rites Ceremonies and Traditions Secondly propose certaine Theses Thirdly confirme them according to the method which I haue confined my selfe vnto either out of Papists or out of old Manuscripts Of Traditions Rites and Ceremonies as I take it from the Papists some are diuine appertaining to pietie perpetuall and immutable Some are humane of the Tradition of the Church for the better gouernment and policy of the same which are variable and mutable both in regard of time and of place Thirdly there are some infrugiferous carnall hypocriticall or Pharisaicall and these are neuer to be admitted or being once admitted by conniuence of gouernours or the industrie of the Deuill that will if hee may sowe Tares amongst Wheat must be speedily rooted out and abrogated My Propositions are these 1. DIuine Rites or Ceremonies must bee taken out of the word of God or the continuall succession of the Church 2. All Apostolicall Rites are not perpetuall 3. Humane Rites and Ceremonies may bee made by the Church according to the Scripture are of like obseruation euen in things indifferent if they be once ratified till the Church doe abrogate them 4. They must be thus conditioned First not meerely offensiue for their multitude Secondly mysterious for their signification Thirdly decent for the ornament of the Church Fourthly tending to piety and not superstition Fiftly putting no affiance or confidence in them Sixtly not lasting but Arbitrary according vnto the times Countries and seasons 5. The Primitiue Churches had but a few 6. All Iewish Ceremonies are abolished 7. Diuine Constitutions are to bee preferred before humane inuentions pure and without mixture 8. Humane Rites must as neere as may bee consist in inward and not externall matters aswell for the end as for the thing 9. If Ceremonies do offend or otherwise be to bee abrogated it is not for any priuate man to demolish them but they must fairely and orderly be vnmade by the Authority of the Church that first made them 10. As they are to be seuerely punished that contemne the setled orders of the Church so if there bee no contempt we are not rashly to censure them The first Proposition SVch Traditions as are mentioned in the Scriptures and haue beene obserued in all ages by a continuall succession aut extraditione Apostolorum percontinuas success