Apostolicum solium annos decem menses septem tenuisset praecipiti morbo ex humanis ereptus est Raynald ad an 1352. n. 21. as their own Writers witness But Luther had eat a lusty Supper and was merry and jocular the Evening before And so had several of their Popes the next Evening before they died Pope Paul II after he had supp'd most jollily and perswaded himself that he had many Years to live the same Night died of an Apoplexy (o) Et cum annos plurimos vivere sibi persuaderet anno salutis nostrae 1471. v. Kal. Augusti hora secunda noctis cum eo die laetum consistorium habuisset jocundissime caenasset Apoplexia correptus vitam cum morte mutavit Johan Stell Anno 1464. p. 262. Pope Leo X led constantly a merry Life but his Death happen'd in the highest excess of Feasting Mirth and Jollity and so suddenly that there was not time afforded for Absolution and Extreme Unction (p) Ex hujus victoriae nuncio Leonem Pontificem ingenti diffusum gaudio referunt in qua Apoplexia correptus nullis perceptis Sacramentis aetatis anno quadragesimo sexto nondum exacto decessit inopina morte Raynald ad an 1521. n. 108. Die insequenti laetitiae pompam sua morte clausit inopina quidem adeâ— ut ne Sacramentis quidem munitus suerit N. 109. And if Luther jested the Day before he died methinks it might have passed without any severe Censure since Sir Tho. More the Pope's Martyr was so sportful upon the Scaffold and died with a Jest in his Mouth But what credit is to be given to his Enemies we may learn from those monstrous Tales they spread concerning his Death not only after but long before it Such as that horrible Miracle wrought at his Funeral for the Conviction of Hereticks which he confuted with his own Hand And it is not unpleasant to read how they contradict one another One says That he purged out his Entrails like Arius Another That his Mouth was distorted and his whole right Side turned to a duskish Colour But above all commend me to Thyraeus the Jesuit He confidently tells us That in a Town of Brabant named Cheol there were many Persons possess'd with Devils who were brought thither to be cured by the Intercessions and Prayers of the Saint of the Place That these poor Creatures were on a sudden deliver'd from these Evil Spirits and that this was the very Day that Luther died That the day after the Devils return'd again into the same Bodies and being asked whither they were gon the day before answer'd That by the Commandment of their Prince they were call'd forth to attend the Soul of their Grand Prophet and Companion Luther This Fable as ridiculous as it is malicious is quoted at large and credited by as considerable a Man as Florimond de Ramond (r) De la Naissance de l' Heresie l. 3. c. 11. p. 332. He I say that shall reflect upon these things will not be apt to believe the Reports of his Adversaries If we take the account of his Death from Sleidan we shall find it very different and such as was every way becoming a most pious and devout Christian (s) Jo. Sleid. Comment l. 17. But it will be said that he was his Friend and therefore as little to be credited as his Enemies Hear therefore what many Learned Men of the Church of Rome say who cannot be suspected of any partiality in Favour of him The Fathers in Trent saith Father Paul and the Court of Rome conceived great hope seeing that so potent an Instrument to contradict the Doctrine and Rites of the Church of Rome was dead c. and the rather because that Death was divulged throughout Italy with many prodigious and fabulous Circumstances which were ascribed to Miracle and the Vengeance of God tho there were but the usual accidents which do ordinarily happen in the Deaths of Men of sixty three Years of Age (t) Hist of the Counc of Trent l. 2. p. 149. So that in Father Paul's judgment there was nothing in his Death but what was common Yea that the very worst Circumstances were no other than such Accidents which happen also many times to VERY GOOD CHRISTIANS is acknowledged by a late Adversary (u) Spirit of Mart. Luth. p. 104. who hath written a Book on purpose to disparage him Yea that he died in great Honour as well as piously another hath informed us After Supper says Thuanus immediately before the Night in which he departed when he was ask'd Whether in the Eternal Life we shall know one ather he said that we should and confirmed it by Testimonies of Scripture As many strove who should best express their Love to him while he lived so neither by Death could they be drawn from loving him The Citizens of Mansfield contended that he ought to be buried with them because that was his Native Soil but the Authority of Frederick the Prince Elector prevail'd that he should be carried to Wittenberg and there honourably Interr'd (w) Post caenani proxime ante noctem qua decessit cum rogaretur num in illa sempiterna vita simus alter alterum agnituri ita esse aiebat Scripturae testimoniis confirmabat Ut certatim eum vivum c. Thuan. Hist l. 2. And indeed the transcendent Honour that was done to his Memory seems to be that which chiefly provoked his Enemies to set their Inventions on work to defame him The Cardinal 's next Instance of an unhappy End is Zuinglius And why is his Death reckon'd unhappy Because he was slain in a War against Catholicks (x) Zuinglius in bello contra Catholicos trucidatus est Bellarm. But is it a strange thing for a Man to be kill'd in a War Does every one that so ends his Days die miserably If so How many Millions hath the Pope brought to a miserable End in sending them to the Wars against Saracens and Hereticks O that they 'l say is a glorious Death that merits the brightest Crown in Heaven But Zuinglius was kill'd in a War against Catholicks But stay the Cardinal makes them Catholicks too soon he supposes them Catholicks before Zuinglius was kill'd whereas he was to prove them Catholicks by his being kill'd for his unhappy Death is the Note now under debate by which they were to be known to be of the true Church But that his Death could be no Argument that God disapproved the cause in which he died is evident because to the great grief of our Adversaries the Reformed Religion which they hoped would have died together with him made a greater Progress after his Death than it had done before I shall speak but a word to the two next because the Cardinal's Spite is chiefly against Calvin who brings up the rear Oecolampadius says Bellarmin in the Evening went well to Bed and in the Morning was by his Wife found dead
Cardinal clearly distinguished between these two Notions his Reader might easily have seen how far the Light of Prophecy may be said to be a Mark by which to know the True Church viz. so far as to do Him and his Cause no manner of Service For in the latter Sense it may be admitted to be such a Mark inasmuch as the accomplishment of those Prophecies which concerned Christ shew'd that Jesus was He and that his Doctrine was of God. But then this Light of Prophecy comes no other way to be a Mark of the True Church than as 't is an Argument or if you will call it so a Mark of that Doctrine the Profession whereof makes the Church So that when we have made the best we can of this Note the Church is still to be known by the Religion it professeth tho that Religion is known to be Divine as by other Arguments and Testimonies so also by the accomplishment of Prophecies And yet even here we must be something cautious in laying down the fulfilling of Predictions as an Argument to prove the Truth of Christianity For there are some Prophecies both in the Old and New Testament that in part have been and will in time be fully accomplished by such Persons whose Doctrine we are by no means to follow For Antichrist was foretold as well as Christ and when he comes and fulfils all that has been said concerning him so long before the accomplishment of those Predictions is a Mark upon him not that we should receive but that we should reject him and his Doctrine So that 't is not barely the fulfilling of Prophecies but of such Prophecies only as described the Characters of that Person whom we were bound to hearken to and to obey in all Things that is an Argument of True Doctrine And in this Sense we are not unwilling to admit the Light of Prophecy to be a Mark of the True Church tho it be a very improper way of speaking Since the Doctrine it self which is demonstrated to be a Divine Doctrine comes to be the proper Note of the Church and the Light of Prophecy is left to be one of those Arguments by which the Doctrine is demonstrated to be Divine But this way of marking for the Church is very uncomfortable to the Cardinal's Friends because it will force them to acknowledg that 't is not the Church that makes the Religion but the Religion that makes the Church He therefore finding no advantage to his Cause by this Notion of Prophetick Light wholly insists upon the former and makes the Gift of foretelling things to come to be one Note of the Church and doubts not but to shew it in his own and will not allow it to be in any other So that these two Things must come under Examination I. Whether it be a Note of the Church II. If it be Whether he has sufficiently proved that they of the Roman Church have it and no others I. Whether it be a Note of the True Church The Cardinal offers to prove that it is by three Arguments huddled up together which being distinguished are these 1. That as Christ promised the Gift of Miracles so he also promised the Gift of Prophecy to the Church 2. That none knows Future Contingencies but God only 3. That it is a certain Note of False Doctrine if a Prophet foretells any thing and it does not come to pass Let us now see what all this will amount to 1. Christ promised the Gift of Prophecy to the Church no less than the Gift of Miracles To which it might be sufficient to say that as Miracles notwithstanding such a Promise are no Note of the Church so neither is Prophecy such a Note meerly because it was also promised And there is the same Reason for the one as there is for the other for neither the one nor the other was promised to last always in the Church And we have been told sufficiently that the Notes of the Church according to Bellarmin himself must be Characters that are inseparable from it Now the place by him produced is so far from proving that the Gift of Prophecy should flourish in every Age that there are pregnant Intimations in it of the contrary He refers us to the Prediction of Joel applied by St. Peter to the Church Joel ii 18. Acts ii 16. And because he refers us to it thither we will go and not as he does take Things for granted which ought to be discoursed but bring forth the Text and see what Argument it will afford The Apostles as the Chapter shews spake with Tongues to the amazement of all the Strangers that heard them But the Unbelieving Jews mocked and said they were Drunk Upon which Peter lightly passing by that absurd Reproach told them that this was that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel And it shall come to pass in the last Days saith God I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall Prophesy and your young Men shall see Visions and your old Men c. And again I will pour out in those Days of my Spirit and they shall Prophesy Now tho Prophecy in the strict Sense signifies foretelling Things to come yet it is here put for Supernatural Gifts in General and particularly for speaking Divine Things by Inspiration and likewise for speaking with new Tongues which is undeniably evident from hence that the Apostle's speaking of the wonderful Things of God in Tongues they had never learn'd was by St. Peter affirm'd to be foretold in this Prediction of Joel So that the Cardinal ought to have been very much afraid to make what was promised in Joel a Note of the Church for by this means he has made it unavoidably necessary for those of his Communion the Young Men and the Old Men c. to speak with Tongues by Inspiration which is in effect to unchurch his own Party And therefore I imagin his Followers will not follow him in this nor advance the Promise in Joel into a Note of the Church but will rather say that the fulfilling of it in the first Age of the Church was a Testimony to the Truth of Christianity and that the Prediction of Joel was accomplished tho the same extraordinary Gifts were not continued in every Age afterward 2. He says That none knows Future Contingencies but God only which if it should prove that a Church is there where the Gift of Prophecy is yet it does not prove that there is no Church where that Gift is not unless it be an inseparable Mark of the Church to have all those future Events made known to one or other in it which God only knows Our Saviour said of that Day and Hour when Himself should come to judg the World no Man knoweth but the Father only Does it therefore follow that God must have revealed it to one or other in the Church If because God only knows Future Contingencies
the receiving of Apocryphal Books into the Canon of Scripture and other Opinions and Practices in the Christian Church And for the Doctrine of Transubstantiation as it is against the common Sense of Mankind and destroys the certainty of every thing else so the Jews upon all occasions object against it We have a Witness beyond Exception even of the Roman Church who brings in the Jews objecting against this Doctrine Fortalitium Fidei Lugd. Anno 1525. and representing the unreasonableness and absurdity of it from fourteen several Heads of Argument which I may not here represent to the Reader because it would be too great a Digression Nor do I find this Learned Author who writes in Defence of the Roman Church and attempts to answer these Objections alledging that this was the Doctrine which was taught by the Hebrew Doctors The Jews have so far abhorred this Doctrine Decret Gregor l. v. Tit. vi cap. 13. Accepimus autem c. and so far detested Christians upon this account that they were wont when they made use of Christian Nurses to force them to throw away their Milk for three Days together before they gave suck when it happened that at Easter these Nurses had received the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ This Pope Gregory complains of and decrees upon it that Christians should not for the future be Servants to the Jews J. Albo Ikkarim And Josephus Albo disputes against this Doctrine of Transubstantiation very vigorously And so do many others V. Nizach vet p. 255. in their Books against Christians And many more Testimonies might be produced Lipman Nizachon p. 11. were not most of their Books printed in Italy where it is not safe for them to be too plain And Learned Men do very well know that the Passage in Joseph Albo against this Doctrine of the Roman Church hath been expunged in one Edition of that Author 'T is very well known that all the later Jews are against this Doctrine And that Trypho the Jew and the most ancient Writers have not objected it against Christians is only an Argument that this Doctrine was not so old as that time in which they lived This Doctrine the Jews are certain cannot be true because if they are not certain of the Falsity of this they have no Certainty of their own Religion nor can ever be convinced of the Truth of ours The Truth is this is one great occasion of hardening them against Christianity and we are never like to see them come into the Christian Church till this Doctrine of Transubstantiation and the Worship of Images be removed out of it But then the Practice annexed to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation of worshipping a Creature is so dangerous that even they who own the Doctrine confess if that be not true they cannot be excused from Idolatry God give us a just Sence of these things that we may not hereafter have besides our own Sins which will be load great enough the Obstinacy of the Jews in great measure to answer for THE END LONDON Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1687. The Fourteenth Note of the CHURCH EXAMINED VIZ The unhappy End of the Church's Enemies Decima quarta Nota est Infelix exitus seu finis eorm qui Ecclesiam oppugnant Bellarm. L. iv c. 17. de Notis Ecclesiae IMPRIMATUR July 27. 1687. Guil. Needham IF he be an unwise Builder who pulls down what he intends to build up then Cardinal Bellarmin tho one of the Master-Builders of the Church of Rome deserves not to be reckon'd one of the wisest For he must shut his Eyes close who does not plainly see that he frequently defeats his own Design by giving Notes which conclude that Church to be false which he design'd to prove was the only true one Such for instance is that which is now to be consider'd as shall in the Sequel of this Discourse be made appear The Confutation of which cannot be difficult since I find nothing in the whole Chapter that hath so much as the shew of an Argument Whereas some of his Notes are guarded with a pretence at least of Scripture Reason and Antiquity this is exposed naked to the Assaults of its Adversaries without so much as a Paper Shield to protect it He tells us indeed many Tragical Stories of unhappy Deaths some of which are true some doubtful and others false some of Persons who were deadly Enemies other of Persons who were zealous Defenders of the true Church But had the Stories been all certainly true and had the Persons who thus died been all of them implacable Enemies of the Church of Rome yet what does it signify unless he had also proved That when a Person dies an unnatural Death the meaning of it is That that Church of which he professed himself a Member is false and the Church he opposed the only true one But how unwise soever he was in the choice of his Note he was so wise as not to attempt the proof of this unless the Citation of this Scripture may pass for a Proof Praise his People O ye Nations for he will avenge the Blood of his Servants and will render Vengeance to his Enemies (a) Deut. 32.43 God will avenge the Blood of his Servants therefore if a Protestant die an uphappy Death the Church of Rome is the only true Church But why did the Cardinal send out this Note so forlorn For a good Reason because no Defence could be found for it But why did he then bring it into the Field Because he knew it was Popular and might serve the Cause better than another that was never so well fenc'd For will not he dread to oppose the Church of Rome who is persuaded that God will set a Note of Vengeance upon those that do so Will not he stedfastly adhere to it who believes that that is a certain way to an happy Death In short whosoever can be persuaded to believe that the Church of Rome is by this Note distinguish'd from all other Churches he will as much dread to turn Protestant as he does to die the most prodigious sort of Death But the Mischief is That however serviceable this pretended Note may be to them among weak and undiscerning Persons it will do there as much disservice among those who are judicious and able to examine it For when they shall once see what a palpable Cheat it is and in case that it were a Note of the true Church that the Church of Rome hath the least Reason of any Church in the World to pretend to it they will be thereby disposed to break off from the Communion of that Church which contradicts its own Marks and betake themselves to some other Church which hath a better Title to them For the effecting of which I shall proceed in this Method I. I shall premise some Things as preparatory to what follows II. Shew that this can
England to settle all and reconcile the Nation to the Church of Rome These things were so well known that Strada the Jesuit after a Narrative of this lamentable Overthrow for fear it should be made use of to the disadvantage of his Catholick Cause as if Almighty God had manifestly favoured the Hereticks in the conclusion of all effectually confutes this last Note of Bellarmin's For when he had intimated what an Unhappiness it was to the Queen and Her Subjects that they had not the good Luck to be conquered as the Pope and the Spaniard had most lovingly designed Neque se magis pios venditare potuerint quia fortunatiores fuêre nisi forte c. he tells us that the English could not therefore boast they were the more Holy because they had been the more Fortunate unless perhaps they should think the Misbelief of the Saracens and Turks were to be preferred before the Christian Religion because in many successful Engagements they had often defeated the Forces which the Christians had with much labour brought together To this we willingly agree and are glad that our Cause does not stand in need of such weak Supports But then if good Success will not be allowed to make for us when it is on our Side there can be no reason it should be brought as an Argument against us when it happens to be on Theirs After this it would be superfluous to reckon up any more of Queen Elizabeth's Felicities he that would undertake to recount them all must write the History of her Reign And whoever is acquainted with that will find it true what Anne D'est Dutchess of Guise and Nemours to whose House the Queen had been no Friend was wont ingenuously to acknowledg That she was the most Glorious and Fortunate Woman that ever swayed a Scepter Thuan. lib. 129. This Testimony which was given her by so great a Person that could not possibly be suspected of Flattery is very considerable but the Character that was bestowed upon her by King James the First some time before he succeeded her in the Throne is greater than this and more to be valued because of the Impartiality and Wisdom of the Royal Author His Words concerning her are these There is a LAWFVL QVEEN there in England presently reigning K. James his Works p. 147. who hath so long with so great Wisdom and Felicity governed her Kingdoms as I must in trew Sincerity confess the like hath not been read nor heard either in our Time or since the Days of the Roman Emperour Augustus The Authority of so great and wise a Prince may be enough not only to secure her Memory from the malicious Attempts of envious trifling Pens but to put the Happiness and Prosperity of her Government out of question And if Bellarmin's Note of Temporal Felicity might be suffered to take place her Example alone would be sufficient to prove the Church of England the true Church and the Imputations of Heresy and Schism which are wont to be urged with so much Clamour must by Consequence be retorted upon His. But I hope I have shewed that this can be no Note that if it were the Instances he has brought do not prove what he would have and that others may be pleaded as plausibly for the contrary side And indeed any that considers it must needs wonder that the Cardinal's Mind should be so blinded with Worldly Success and Greatness or whatever it were as to cause him in the last Place where we might have expected his greatest Strength to put in such a frivolous Note that may be easily turned a thousand several ways that will fit the Alcoran as well as the Council of Trent and at best makes his Church altogether as various and uncertain as the Fortune of War. I should here have made an end but that I have met with a late Writer that undertakes to shew the Vse and great Moment of the Notes of the Church c. And he tells us that Cardinal Bellarmine after others hath Pag. 1. to very good purpose lent his helping Hand to shew us the City on a Hill and hath given us Marks which one would think carry Majesty in their Faces And a while after he imagines that the Author of the Discourse concerning the Notes of the Church Pag. 3. durst not let them pass by us in their Majestick Train lest his Reader with Saba 's Queen should be daz'led at the Glory transported as she was that there was no Life in her For says he they seem to a single not malignant Eye even triumphant Notes of the militant Church And then he leads them out in great State Pag. 4. as he thinks As first Let me have leave to reckon them Ay with all my Heart well then The Name Catholick how sacred to all those who own any of the three Creeds really and veritably The Second its Antiquity How indubitable and above all suspition of Novelty And so he goes on and shews them all in good Order till he comes to the three last and there he draws the Curtain as if he were afraid any Body should see their Majestick Faces Pag. 5. To say nothing concerning the Confession of Adversaries and unhappy Exit of the Churches Enemies Here are two of the Number which he does but just give us a little glimpse of and then pops 'em away presently out of sight But poor Temporal Felicity is served worst of all it has not the Honour to be so much as named he has not bestowed one Syllable upon it though I take it to be as Triumphant a Note as any of the rest But for all that it was cunningly done to drop it for he could not choose but be aware that the Hereticks might sometimes pretend to a share of it Now when he had given us such a view of the Majestick Train as he thought fit he concludes the Paragraph with an artificial Epiphonema adorned with a very Pathetical Ingemination These These are the NOTES which like a Bill in Parliament deserve what a second Reading Parturiunt Montes O the virtue of Butler's Rhetorick But really I am afraid that These These NOTES These Triumphant NOTES as they are by him drawn up would be so far from being thought worthy of a second Reading that they would certainly be thrown out of the House However I have look'd steadily upon them more than once as they are represented by him and as they are laid down in the Cardinal 's Original and I have not yet been able to discover the Majesty one would think they carry in their Faces but in my Opinion some of their Faces would have been a great deal better if they had had any Foreheads I have carefully beheld their Majestick Train in its full length and yet never fell in a Swoon with Saba's Queen nay I have not had so much as the least Qualm of Fear or Admiration upon me and my Eyes were so far