which in hast was left or forgotten running with it to carry it to the rest in the Bonefire brake his Leg. Here was Lex Talionis Bone for Bone And to this day for a perpetual Monument in the very place where they burnt his Bones tho the Townsmen for their own profit have often essayed to bring the Water that way it never holds but still makes a Bank Thus far the Doctor I shall conclude this Weeks Task with a Copy of John Wickliff's Answer or Resolution to King Richard touching the Right and Title of the King and Pope which was as follows It being demanded whether the Kingdom of England may lawfully in case of necessity for its own defence detain and keep back the Treasure of the Kingdom that it be not carried away to foreign and strange Nations the Pope himself demanding and requiring the same under pain of Censure and by vertue of Obedience To which Wickliff return'd this Answer Setting apart the Minds of Learned Men what might be said in the matter either by the Canon Law or by the Law of England or the Civil Law It resteth saith he not only to persuade and prove the Affirmative part of this Doubt but the Principles of Christ's Law And first I prove it thus Every natural Body hath Power given it of God to resist against his Contrary and to preserve it self in due Estate as Philosophers know very well in so much that Bodies without Life are endu'd with such a kind of Power as it is evident unto whom hardness is given to resist those things that would break it and Coldness to withstand the Heat that dissolveth it For so much then as the Kingdom of England after the manner and phrase of the Scriptures ought to be one Body and the Clergy with the Commonalty the Members thereof it seemeth that the same Kingdom hath such Power given it of God and so much the more apparent but how much the same Body is more precious unto God adorned with Vertue and Knowledge For so much then as there is no Power given of God unto any Creature for any end or purpose but that he may lawfully use the same to that end and purpose it followeth that our Kingdom may lawfully keep back and detain their Treasure for the defence of it self in what case soever necessity do require the same Secondarily the same is proved by the Law of the Gospel for the Pope cannot challenge the Treasure of this Kingdom but under the Title of Alms and consequently under the pretence of the Works of Mercy according to the Rule of Charity But in the Case aforesaid the Titel of Alms ought utterly to cease Ergo the Right and Title of challenging the Treasure of our Realm shall cease also in the presupposed necessity For so much as all Charity hath his beginning of himself it were no work of Charity but of meer madness to send away the Treasures of the Realm unto Foreign Nations whereby the Realm it self may fall into Ruine under the pretence of such Charity It appeareth also by this that Christ the Head of the Church whom all Christian Priests ought to follow lived by the Alms of Devout Women Luke 7. 8. He hungred and thirsted he was a Stranger and many other Miseries he sustained not only in his Members but also in his own Body as the Apostle witnesseth 1 Cor. 8. He was made poor for your sakes that through his Poverty you might be made rich whereby in the first endowing of the Church whatsoever he were of the Clergy that had any Temporal Possessions he had the same by form of a perpetual Alms as both Writings and Chronicles do witness Whereupon St. Bernard in his second Book to Eugenius that he could not challenge any Secular Dominion by Right of Succession as being the Vicar of St. Peter writeth thus That if St. John should speak unto the Pope himself as Bernard doth unto Eugenius were it to be thought that he would take it patiently But let it be so that you do challenge it unto you by some other way or means but truly by any Right or Title Apostolical you cannot so do For how could he give unto you that which he had not himself That which he had he gave you that is to say Care over the Church but did he give you any Lordship or Rule Haâ—k what he saith Not bearing Rule saith he as the Lords in the Clergy but behaving your selves as Examples to the Flock And because thou shalt not think it to be spoken only in Humility and not in Verity mark the Word of the Lord himself in the Gospel The Kings of the Gentiles rule over them but thou shalt not do so Here Lordship and Dominion is plainly forbidden to the Apostles and darest thou then usurp the same If thou wilt be a Lord thou shalt lose thine Apostleship or if thou wilt be an Apostle thou shalt lose thy Lordship for truly thou shalt depart from the one of them If thou wilt have both thou shalt lose both or else think thy self to be of that number of whom God doth so greatly complain saying They have Reign'd but not through me they are become Princes and I have not known it Now if it do suffice to Rule with the Lord thou hast thy Glory but not with God but if we will keep that which is forbidden let us hear what is said He that is the Greatest among you saith Christ shall be made as the least and he which is Highest shall be as the Minister and for Example set a Child in the midst of them so this then is the true form and institution of the Apostle's Trade Lordship and Rule is forbidden Ministration and Services commanded Thus far St. Bernard as cited by Wickliff upon this occasion THE COURANT. Tory. NAY now all 's out I thought this 't would come to at last for D me if I did not always suspect as much I ever lookt upon Catholics as fine civil Gentlemen and for their Church I have a great Veneration because she is a true Church and a Mother Church and their Worship is very glorious and decent What an absurd thing 't is to imagine that ever such Holy Loyal Men as their Priests are should be guilty of Treason Yet I did but say a Twelve-month ago there was no Popish Plot and a Whiggish Son of a Whore gave me a slap i' th' Face and threaten'd me with Newgate for presuming to give the King and Three Parliaments the Lye But it should seem Tempora mutantur I hope e're long a Man may say and swear too That there never was any such Plot at all with Impunity and without Controul Truem. Prethee what makes you so merry about the Gills this Morning Hast thou been at Breakfast with the Painter at Aldersgate on his Whig-Pye whose Crust was made of Gammer Celier's Meal and baked in the red hot Oven of Dr. Tantivy's Skull Tory. No no but on a better
being abandon'd by Ladislaus King of Sicily and seeing it was impossible for him to stem the tide of opposition thought it would be more Honourable for him to seem to part with his pretended Popedome freely of his own accord than to be turn'd out And so sends Charles Malatesta his Proctor to make a Renunciation for him who to perform the Pageantry came into the Council all arraid in the Pontifical Robes and was seated in the Chair of state wherein Gregory's name he solemnly Renounces the Papacy and in token thereof pulls of all his Trinkets decently and in order which so pleased the Reverend Gray beards that they presently made Gregory Legate of Pisa And so good Night poor Pope Gregory But the third Gamster stout Benedict defies the People at Constance and all their works He swears he is Christs Viccar I marry is he and so he will continue in spight of their Teeth He says Constance is not a place fit or free and therefore none of his Subjects shall come there However the Synod at Constance Cite and cite him again and again to appear before their Worships but he seem'd to reguard them no more than Parson Hickeringal in our times does the Gentlemen of Doctors Commons And tho after several Messengers in vain the Emperour himself undertook a tedious journey to persuade him to submit yet still he stood it out not only contemning their Authority but thundring out Curses Deprivations and Excommunications and abundance of such Church-Granados at them all which they declare Null and void and proceed against him very vigorously and in the up shot declare him to be a Perjurer a Sâ—â—ndalizer of the Church an Abetter and promoter of Schism 〈◊〉 Heretick wandring out of the way of Faith c. And for these and the like offences they sentence him not only to be depriv'd of his Papal Dignity but also to be cut off from the Church as a dried and withered Member and withall forbid all Persons to obey him on pain of Excomunication But all this would not do for tho almost all his Consorts of Eminency and Power had abandon'd him for Rats always fly from a falling house yet he still persisted in his pretensions to the Popedome continuing saith Crantzius in Metrop l. â— c. 1. Idolum cum Idolis suis Cardinalibus An Idol with the Idol Cardinals of his own making Yea in ipso mortis articulo when he was just going out of the World Anno 1414. he adjur'd the Cardinals that remain'd with him in the Fortress of Paniscola whether for safety he had retreated that they should forthwith chuse him a Successor Which accordingly they perform'd Electing one Giles Munion a Chanon of Barcelona whom they call'd Clement the Eighth but this pitiful shadow of a Pope about 4 years after Renounced his Charge was content to stile himself Pope no longer and what afterwards became of him we do not at present meet with in the Histories of those times Having thus clear'd the decks of the Three contending Popes and for 2 years or upward there having been never an one at all during which time the Council lookt upon themselves as keepers of the Liberties c. They now began to bethink themselves of chusing a new Pope but first to prevent such Rogues as the last John was from vaulting into the Chair they contrive a Test to be taken by all succeeding Popes in the words following â— N. Elected for Pope profess with heart and mouth unto Almighty God whose Church I take upon me to Govern by his help and to blessed St. Peter the prince of the Apostles so long as I shall continue in this frail life firmly to believe and hold the holy Catholick Faith after the Traditions of the Apostles of general Councils and of other holy Fathers and namely of the 8. general Councils the first of Nice the second of Constantinople Ephesine the third 〈◊〉 the fourth the fifth and sixth of them of Constantinople the seventh of Nice and the eighth of Constantinople and also of the general Councils of Lateran Lions and Vienne willing to observe the same Faith inviolate even to the uttermost and to Preach and defend the same even to the spending my Blood and Life as likewise by all means possible to prosecute and observe the Rites of the Sacraments Canonically delivered to the Catholick Church And this my profession and confession by my command being written out by the Notary of the Arches of the holy Church of Rome I have subscribed with mine own hand and sincerely with a pure mind and devout Conscience I offer it to Almighty God upon such an Altar c. In the presence c. Then they appoint a Committee to proceed to the Election who in 4 days agree upon one Columna who being chosen on St. Martins Eve would needs call himself Martin the 5 th and being brought in before the Emperor and Council was Enthron'd with mighty Pomp and Solemnity THE COURANT. Tory. BUT were not you too rash last bout in stiling Mrs. J. Mother Cellier's younger Sister Truem. I hold my self as much oblig'd to retract any thing that may seem a Scandal on the innocent as I do esteem it my duty to Advertise the publick of ill Peoples designs Now tho there were probable inducements that the Paper emitted in her name might be put upon her as the Narrative which Celliers own'd is known to have been seen in Gadburies Hand-writing before 't was in Print yet since I am satisfied that Mrs. J. has always professed her self of the Church of England and never that I can find Herded with the Romanists but on all occasions has expressed a superlative Zeal and Affection to His Majesties Person and Government I must wish a Deleatur on that passage for as I am resolv'd ever to oppose and detect the designs of Papists so never in the least to reflect on any tho of never so inferior quality that are His Majesties Friends Tory. I wish the Observator would practise the same Candour for in the midst of his pretended concern for his native Country Norfolk he most scurrilously reflects on a Reverend Magistrate by calling him tho unhappily true short sighted Pug and we expect by his ungrateful returns that in his next he will reproach him too for taking Bail for Murder and living Litigiously amongst his Parishioners and Neighbours but if he do the Devil a Peny more of Contribution shall he get from the Crape-Gowns of Dumpling-shire Truem. This to me is all Arabick prethee no riddles how go matters in the Town Tory. Hang 't I know not what to think on 't 'T is pitty that excellent Writ De Haeretico Combâ—rendo is out of date some Friends of mine in the West would have made brave use on 't is it not pitty that those who can send an honest Christian to the Devil for not paying an Easter-twopence cannot plague him for the sin of not putting off his Hat But have the
such incorrigible Bunglers as our Irish Rascals let 'um be damn'd blacker than Luther Printed for Langley Curtis 1682. The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY April 21. 1682. Quae si cum sociis Stultus cupidúsque bibisset Sub dâ—mina Meritrice fuisset turpis excors Vixisset Canis Immundus vel amica Luto Sus. The Grand Question Whether the Church of Rome be in any kind to be esteem'd a Church of Christ entred into the Reasons why the same is here discuss'd The definition of the Church and how divided HAving deduc'd our History somewhat below the year 1400. and being Arriv'd at those times wherein our Ancestors in England first of all were brought to Capital sufferings for the purity of Religion and were to use the Apostles phrase Hebr. 12. 4. forced to resist unto Blood the wicked Impositions of the no less cruel than Idolatrous Papal Hierarchy It will be convenient if not necessary to inquire what opinion we ought to have of the Church of Rome in its present state A task we undertake not meerly for diverting the Reader tho sure variety in all other things delightfull will not here be offensive nor the intermixing Polemicks with History be censured since we find precedents of it in the best and most approved Authors But we do it for his satisfaction too that he may make the truer Judgment of those many Tragical Scenes all fill'd with fire and fagot Blood and horror Popish fury triumphant and Pious Innocence torn and mangled and Butcher'd with a thousand Barbarities For though to each Judicious peruser the very prospect of these Cruelties is enough to satisfy him that these are the Talons of the Vulture not the sweet Breathings of the Holy Dove practises of the Synagogue of Satan not of the Church of the meek and mercifull Jesus yet some hot and superficial Readers especially in this debaucht and unhappy Age may be apt to say Here 's a Clutter indeed with a parcell of Peevish Fellows what if they were burn't or hang'd out of the way whose fault was it why would they not conform and honestly come to Church if the Church of Rome be a true Church wherein a man may go to Heaven why did they trouble themselves and the world and make a Schism and disturb the Government you make a stir and call them Martyrs but for ought I know they were Follies Martyrs rather than Gods and I remember I have seen a Book Intituled Semper Iidem or a parallel betwixt the antient and modern Phanaticks Printed here at London with I think Authority I am sure publickly and without any trouble to the Bookseller Richard Lownds at the White Lyon in St. Pauls Churchyard 1661. which renders Oldcastle Bishop Latimer Woodman c. as errant Whiggs and Raskals as ever liv'd a sort of turbulent Hereticks that interrupted the Churches Tranquility and would needs be turning the world upside down though they knew neither why nor wherefore c. Suppose one should meet a Spark of this mettal and such frequently now adays at every Coffee-house you may meet with is it not fit my honest Country men should be ready provided to Confute his Folly and do right to those Glorious Worthies who did not sacrifice their Lives to a sullen Obstinacy or factious Freake but for the pure truths of God worth a million of Lives and departed from Rome because she was so far departed from God that if they had further accompanied her afterdivine Grace had open'd their eyes to see her Abominations they must necessarily have fallen into Eternal perdition To Demonstrate this therefore it will I think be not unworthy your while and presently too lest the Disease come upon us before the Medicine be provided and black darkness surround us e're every body be sufficiently Acquainted with it's Hellish Nature to consider the three points following viz. 1. Whether the present Church of Rome ought in any sort to be esteemed a true Church of Christ 2. Whether any person Living and Dying in the Communion of that Church and understanding her Doctrine and practises and joyning therein may ordinarily be saved 3. Whether any person as suppose a Protestant out of fear compliance c. may be present at Mass understanding the same without committing of grievous sin These Three particulars we shall endeavour in this and some following Sheets to discourse of with all plainness and Candor so far from any violation of Charity that we thereby only design a most necessary Caution to prevent poor missed souls from precipitating themselves into endless Ruin and Destruction As to the first Quaery touching the present Roman Churches being a Church of Christ two things are to be premised and explained 1. What we mean in this debate by Church of Christ 2. What we understand by the Church of Rome 1. The word Church taken in its full Latitude signifies the whole company of all those whom God by his word and spirit calls to the knowledge and profession of his truth and from its members being called forth and separated from the rest of the world that live in gross and avowed Atheism or Idolatry without the knowledg and acceptation of those supernatural verities the Incarnation and Crucifixian of the Son of God for the sins of men upon the terms held forth in the Gospel it is termed the Church in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived from the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evoco to call out or from The Church thus absolutely and simply considered in this Latitude is but one as the State and Company of the Kingdom of great Britain is but one since all and every one called to this Grace of how different estate qualities or condition soever belong one way or other to this Company but in this Church thus considered there are sundry differences and respects that is the persons called to the Faith of Christ are of diverse sorts for some part of the Church is already reduced from this mortal life and Crowned with that Glory whereunto they were called when here on Earth and thence stiled the Church Triumphant the other part is that which is successively abiding in this world which for that time is called the Church Militant because it lies as it were in the Camp always alarm'd and fighting against Hells Triple League the world the Flesh and the Divel under the Banner of our Lord the blessed Jesus and patiently waiting for the victory But amongst these latter there are again two sorts First such as are effectually called and these are the Elect only whom God not only calls but chuses by his free Grace inspiring them to obey that calling and to live Holily worthy of such their vocation and who shall infallibly be Saved in the life to come and this Company we call the Invisible Church because only God knows who are His and tho we see the men and by their fruits charitably hope
they are Gods Elect yet to speak precisely no mortal eye can infallibly discern them to be such since many times the Bristol-stone glitters as bright as the Diamond and Hypocrites make as fair outward shew as the real Saint The second sort therefore of the militant Church are Hypocrites and â—nâ—ound members who are not effectually called but disobey the truth whereof they make profession These distinctions being thus premised we proceed to acquaint you what we mean by a true Church of Christ and we shall do it in the very words of our mother the Church of England in the 19 th Article of her Faith The visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of Faithfull men in the which the pure word of God is Preached and the Sacraments be duly Administred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of Necessity are requisite to the same So that here we see wherever the word of God is sincerely preach'd and heard and the Sacraments Administred according to Christs Institution there is a Church of God for those are the marks whereby the Church may be known So that the visible Church which is also Catholick or Vniversal under the Gospel not confined to one Nation as before under the Law consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true Religion And particular Churches which are members thereof are more or less pure according the doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embraced Ordinances Administred and publick Worship perform'd more or less pure in them And not only the purest particular Churches under Heaven are subject both to mixture and Error but some may and have so degenerated as to become no Churches of Christ but Synagoges of Satan tho yet there shall to the end of the world be a Church on Earth to Worship God according to his will against whom the Gates of Hell shall not prevail Now whether the present Church of Râ—me be not one of these Apostatized Adulterous Churches against whom such a Divorce is sued out we shall proceed to Inquire as soon as we have told you what we mean by the Church of Rome And that is The whole Church of Rome as it is a Body consisting of one vissible head the Pope and of all Papists wheresoever Clergy and Laity professing themselves members of that Head and owning the Faith and Doctrine thereof This Body or Company I say is not in any sort to be accounted a true visible Church of Christ which I conceive will appear by diverse Arguments of which I shall give you one at present That Church which over throweth the main and proper cause of our Salvation is no true Church of Christ But the Church of Rome overthroweth the main and proper cause of our Salvation Therefore the Church of Rome is no true Church of Christ The Major I presume no man will deny and for the Assumption 't is notoriously evident for they have overthrown the principal and fundamental Article of Justification which is the Head and summ of all Religion they err in the Efficient Cause of our Justification which is the free Grace and favour of God which they deny building it upon mans merit of Congruity or works preparatory and dispository to Justification c. Coupling it with mans free-will They Err in the material cause Christ Obedience this they deny to be our Obedience or the matter of our Justification They Err in the Form of our Justification which it the Imputation of Christs Righteousness unto us They Err in the Instrumental cause to wit the Justifying Faith denying is to be a certain particular trust or Assurance in Gods mercy for the Pardon of our Sins They Err in the very Meritorious cause Christ our Redeemer several ways overthrowing all his Offices They Err also in the final cause of Justification being the free Gift of Eternal Life while they say the same is merited by the Condignaty They overthrow the very Fundamentals of Religion by denying the sufficiency of the Scriptures for the Rule of Faith and the necessity of its being known to Gods people They deny the right use of the Sacraments whilst they attribute unto them Grace ex opere operato and teach that their efficacy depends on the Intention of the Priest They deny the truth of Christs humane Body by their absurd whimsey of Transubstantiation and the vertue of His only and all alone sufficient Sacrifice by their propitiatory Masses c. So that 't is plain they have Corrupted or abandoned the main and proper Fundamentals of Salvation consequently has no Claim to the Title of a Church of Christ THE COURANT. Tory. HAVE you seen the famous Panegyrick the Sacrificâ— to the Rising-Sun Truem. No nor can guess what you mean But I have heard that amongst all sorts of Idolaters they were only a parcel of forlorn servile debauch'd effeminate Hen-hearted Chicken-soul'd Persians that worship'd the Sun rising And since you mention that word it puts me in mind what I read the other day in a Pamphlet Entituled A warning against the dangerous practises of Papists written by one Thomas Norton in good Queen Bess's days Anno 1586. Let it be well-weigh'd saith he what they mean to the Realm That under colour of Succeeding so far undermine the Head of our Country that they convey the countenance favour and supportation of a great corrupt number of such as may frame themselves any hope of Gain that way to persons that by such kindled Ambition may be the more hastily embolden'd This to do is to shew us a Sun rising to whose Worship they would fain draw us from our Sun declining as they suppose No no our Queen is our true Sun and whatever shining Thing they would set up in her time is no right Sun but an unlucky Comet And it is not yet Noon I trust with our Sun or if it be I hope yet God will lengthen the day to our Sun for his Honour-sake as he did to Joshua and rather have all good Subjects so to hope if the residue of that day may be so spent as Joshuah spent it and for which God did prolong it viz. To rid the World of God's Enemies Let it be considered what Hopes Anticipation and most dreadful Mischiefs which I fear and abhor to name the encouraging of such succeeding which is the work of Papists may minister where the only Person of our most dear and precious Soveraign standeth between them and their desired Effect the utter undoing of us all and specially where the power of Revenge may by possibility fall into their hands for whose sake it should be attempted It is no small mischief danger and appalling of our Faith and Courage when our Prince must be defended against those that by possibility may aspire to be our Princes themselves and to 〈◊〉 it upon good Subjects I dispute no Titles I have no reach beyond our Queen I can see nothing beyond our Queen 〈◊〉 a Chaos of Misery therefore I am
true Ordination Therefore no true Church The Assumption we have already Demonstrated For first for Administration of Sacraments the Priests Power is respectively and specially limited to their Eucharist and Pennance 2 ly That Eucharist is a meer Idol and blasphemous Sacrifice and no true Sacrament at all 3 ly The very Words of Christ used in true Ordination of all Orthodox Churches which are understood of Dispensing the Word and Sacraments the Church of Rome perverteth and wresteth to Absolution and most impudently faith That to understand it of Dispensing the Word of God is to wrest the sense contrary to the Institution of this Sacrament of Pennance But now a like Objection will occur thus If in the Church of Rome there be not true and lawful Ordination why then when any of their Priests are Converted to the true Faith and Church of Christ are they not Re-ordained To this we may Answer That although their Ordination were altogether unlawful and unwarrantable according to the Institution of the Church of Rome yet coming to us of the true Church after the paring and shaving off of their Power of Sacrificing and of Sacramental Binding and Loosing and Pennance and Restoring to the Word of God prophaned and abused by them to a wrong sense its Original and true meaning whilst the Priest so Converted openly Renounces the Mass and witnesseth his Abhorrence and Detestation of all that abominable Sacrifice and subscribes to the Articles and Doctrine of our Church they are hereupon Received and their Ordination now stands good which before was vitious and Anti-christian See for this more fully Mr. Francis Mason's Book of Ordination L. 5. Ch. 12. The same Reason is to be given of the Ministry of the Church of England which in times past was derived and descended from that false and Corrupt Church Some will say The Church of Rome is as a Diseased Body which though never so Corrupt is yet still a true Body for he is really a Man to whom the Definition of a Man agreeth indued with a reasonable Soul though his Body be never so much Diseased as with the Plague or Leprosie I Answer Many deceive themselves and others with this Comparison They should first prove the Church of Rome to be a Living Church before they can properly compare the Body of it to the Body of a Living Man for else it is a meer Petitio Principii a shameful begging of the Question For I deny the Church of Rome to be an Organical Body to wit a Living Body No no It is a meer Corrupt and stinking Carcass and as a dead corrupt Corps is not to be accounted an Organical Body as wanting the Soul to Actuate it and so cannot be called truly a Man or a Mans Body but Cadaver a Corps No more is the Church of Rome no less Dead than Diseased a true Church for a dead Member can but Equivocally be call'd a Member Nor will it follow That because there may be an hidden Church of God within the borders of the Church of Rome Therefore the Church of Rome is a true visible Church For if any amongst them be of the Number of Gods Sacred ones before their Effectual Calling they are Members of that Antichristian Church but being Call'd they are no more of it but in it and there being in it will never prove it a true Church It may be alledged That the Church of Rome hath only added to the Foundation not taken away or subtracted from it and the Nature of an Addition is not directly to deny but by Consequence at most I Answer We have already proved That they have destroyed the Foundation and that both by Subtraction and Addition As their Traditions and Decrees overthrow the Foundation of the Scriptures for if the Scriptures affirm one thing and their Traditions another These are obey'd and those rejected What say you to Invocation of Saints doth it not directly overthrow the pure Worship of God and Faith in him alone Doth not the Mass directly overthrow the one and only Sacrifice of our Lord upon the Cross And so of the rest The COURANT. Tory. WEll I 'le say that for Roger he 's a brisk mettlesome laborious old Wretch He writes four or five Observators a week Truman Do not call it writing man but casting or say he is so often troubled with the Hickup or overflowing of the Gall. The old Gentleman delights much in calling other people Monkeys but sure 't would make a Stoic smile to see how like an Ape he sits cracking of Nits on the Head of the Tory Plot. Tory. Why What would you have him do scribble all the year round about Brass-screws and Antipendiums Trum. Now you speak of that old business I can tell you a story that is altogether as strange and much more true than the transmutation of the Screws Some Years ago there was a very great parcel of English Rogues and Biddle's Catechisms seiz'd by a Friend of mine the obscenity of the first and the Blasphemies of the second against the blessed Trinity deserving a suppression But some Casuists resolve That though Books be unfit to be sold yet it may not be unfit to take money for them So it happened that these very Books by Art Magic were invisibly convey'd to Cambray-house where a certain old Lady then had Lodgings and upon paying down a pretty round Sum to a Friend in a corner the self-same Books of their own accord came one Night out of a Window into a Cart and so disprsed themselves into most of the Stationers Shops about Town There is one J. S. still living who they say can attest this Miracle Tory. But what is all this to honest Roger Trum. Nothing nothing at all I only told it to prove that there is such a thing as Necromancy and Black-Art in the world And therefore to return to Mr. L'Estrange what think you of his owning Observ Numb 129. That he has been forty times at Mass beyond the â—eas I dare challenge him and all his Admirers to pâ—oâ—e that he was so often at any Protestant Church in twenty years time And I cannot fathom the Policy of this Declaration unless it were to give old friends an Item that for all his late sacramental Rant he does not forget them Tory. You must note he did not trudge to those forty Masses out of devotion nor curiosity but purely out of duty for I have been told that when he was abroad he was a little Retainer to Cardinal Van Hess and officiated in his Chappel in the way of his proper Calling playing in Consort on the Base-Viol So that probably he was not at Mass under the Character of a Papist but as Fidler in ordinary to his Eminence But see how in his last Observator Numb 132. he boxes about the Statute 25 Ed. 3. and will needs have the words Eldest Son and Heir to be understood not only of the Eldest Son but of any other Heir Trum. Though
meaning Nomen non facit Episcopum sed vita c. It is not the Name but the Life that makes a Bishop If a Man have the Name of a Prelate and does not answer the reason thereof in sincerity of Doctrine and integrity of Life but live scandalously in open Sin he is but a Nomine-tenus Sacerdos A Bishop or Priest in Name not in Truth Yet still Wickliff did not deny but that such an ones Ministerial Acts were valid for so in the same Treatise p. 138. he saith Unless the Christian Priest be united unto Christ by Grace Christ cannot be his Saviour Nec sine falsitate dicit verba Sacramentalia Nor can he pronounce the Sacramental words without Lying Licet prosint Capacibus The notwithstanding they are available so far that the worthy Receiver is thereby nothing hinder'd from partaking of the Grace signified Obj. 3. They pretend that Wickliff maintain'd That it was not lawful for any Ecclesiastical persons to have any Temporal Possessions or property in any thing Answ This is falsly imputed to him he only tax'd the Abuses of the Revenues given to so many Abbies Priories and Monasteries tending only to Superstition and the keeping so many Drones in idleness And therefore he was of opinion That our Kings might dispossess them thereof and give them Genti facienti Justitiam to good and godly Uses The Poverty he exhorted to was no other than that which St. Paul recommends viz. Having Food and Rayment therewith to be content He did not debar Ministers from actual having but from Covetous affecting the things of this World which are to be Renounc'd saith he Per Cogitationem Affectum in the Mind and the Affections Obj. 4. They charge him with asserting That God ought to obey the Devil Answ This is so senseless and improbable a Slander that no Man in his Wits can believe it And on the quite contrary Wickliff in his Commentary on Psal 112. Expresly affirms That the Devil can do nothing without God's permission Obj. 5. Well but if they cannot fix Blasphemy upon him they will charge him with Treason This is a frequent Stratagem of the Devils and his Instruments If thou suffer this Man thou art not Cesar ' s Friend said the Jews of old not that they cared for Cesar but only to gratifie their own Revenge Thus the Papists charge Wickliff as a Teacher of Sedition and an opposer of Magistrates and that if a Civil Magistrate be in a mortal Sin he is no longer to be obey'd Answ There is much craft and malice but very little truth and no reason for this Slander Wickliff indeed in several of his Works admonisheth the King and all other inferiour Officers and Magistrates that he beareth not the Sword in vain nor hath his Office for nought but to discharge well and truly the part and Office of a King by seeing wholsom Laws duly executed and Justice impartially administer'd And tells him That if he be defective in such his Duty by suffering the Sword of Justice to rust in its Scabard and his People to perish for want of good Governance then he is not properly and truly a King that is in effect and operation for so the words must necessarily be understood being spoken by way of Exhortation But otherwise so far was Wickliff from mutinying himself or persuading others to any act that was Rebellious that never any Man in those times did so stoutly assert the King's Supremacy in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil against all usurped foreign Jurisdiction for which amongst many others he gives this reason That otherwise our Soveraign should not be King over all England but Regulus parvae partis a petty Governour of some small parts of the Realm Nor does any thing tending to countenance Rebellion appear in any of his Works that are extant But the Friars and proud Clergy having an inveterate spleen against Wickliff and there happening to fall out about the same time a grievous Insurrection of the Commons under Wat Tyler occasioned chiefly upon a civil score about Taxes Commons and Servitude but much augmented by one John Ball a Priest and one of Baal's Priests too for ought I know for he does not at all appear to be any of Wickliff's Followers therefore in spight to Wickliff they cast the odium of that Frantic Tumult upon him and his Doctrine But indeed as Wickliff was a person of extraordinary Learning and Piety so that in substance he held and taught the very same Doctrines as are at this day maintained by the Church of England is demonstrated by the Learned Dr. James Oxford Library-keeper in his Book Intituled An Apology for John Wickliff shewing his Conformity with the now Church of England c. Printed Anno 1608. However to the end the vulgar Reader may better judge of this reverend man and his Works I shall here produce some few passages out of two of his Books Printed by the said James from the Original Manuscripts remaining one in Bennet Colledge Cambridge the other in the Publick Library at Oxford The English being excusable considering 't was wrote above 300 years agoe in his complaint to King Richard the Second and his Parliament Article 2. He hath these words Nothing ought to be damned as errour and false but if it favour errour or unrightewiseness against Gods Law And Article 4. He prays That Christ's teaching O beleave of the Sacrament of his own Body that is plainly tawght by Christ and his Apostles in Gospels and Pistles mayen be tawght openlie in Churches of Christen People and the contrary teaching and false beleave is brought up by cursed Hypocrits and worldlie Priests unkunning in Gods Law which say they are Apostles of Christ but are Fools And he concludes that Article with these words As Christ saved the wordle by writing and teaching of foure Evangelists so the Fiend casteth to Damme the wordle and Priests for letting to Preach the Gospel by these four by fayned Contemplation by Songs by Salisbury use and by worldly business of Priests And in his Treatise against the Orders of Friars Ca. 4. runs thus Friars sayen that if a man be once professed to their Religion he may never leave it and be saved though he be never so unable thereto for al time of his life and they wil nede him to live in such a state ever more to which God makes him ever unable and so nede him to be damned Alas out on such heresie that Mans Ordinance is holden stronger than is the Ordinance of God For if a man enter into the newe Religion against mans ordinance he maie lawfully forsake it but if he enter against Gods Ordinance when God makes him unable thereto he shall not be suffered by Antichrist's power to leave it And if this reason were wel declared sith no man wote which man is able to this new Religion by Gods dome and which is not able no man should be constrained to
pardon and as to the former shall endeavour now to satisfie him which is Touching the Troubles and Opposition that Wickliff met with If the strength or policy of Man could have stifled those Truths which he delivered his Doctrine had long since been extinct for the Pope was soon alarm'd therewith and bestir'd himself amain to get Wickliff silenc'd but such Esteem had he by his Vertues and Learning obtain'd that when Gregory the Eleventh in the year 1378. sent his Bull to the University of Oxford expostulating with them for suffering him there to spread his Tenets Walsingham the Historian tells us That the Heads of the Vniversity were long time in suspense whether they should receive such the Pope's Bull with Honour or reject it with Contempt Yet at last the Reverence they bore to his Un-holiness prevailed with them to entertain his Bull with Respect However we do not find that they did any thing effectually against Wickliff But the Archbishop of Canterbury was very violent against him twice he was actually convented before him and other Bishops and thrice summoned to appear The first time he escaped by the favour of the Duke of Lancaster who would needs have a Chair for him that he might sit which the Bishops would not admit in their presence and so a Quarrel arose and nothing then was done The second time he got off by means of a Messenger who just as they were about to pass Sentence upon him came in from the Queen charging them immediately to desist The third time he prudently absented himself and did not obey their Summons because he had intelligence that the Bishops had plotted his Death by the way devising the means and encouraging certain Russians thereunto However in his absence the Bishops with the Rabble of Friars to assist them took upon them to examine and censure his Writings meeting for that purpose at the Gray-Friars London where just as they were going about their business happen'd a most terrible Earthquake which much daunted them yet at last they proceeded to pick out 9 Articles or Propositions which they condemn'd as Heretical and 23 others as Erronious And then they got the King's Letters forbidding his Books and Doctrines to be publish't yet still he remain'd firm and constant and laboriously both by preaching and writing propagated the Gospel and God wonderfully preserv'd him out of the hands of his Enemies continuing Parson of Lutterworth in Leicestershire and so died in peace in a good old Age in the year 1387. Nor was his Doctrine confin'd only to England but shone and gave light into Regions far remote Some say that to avoid the fury of the Clergy he himself for some years withdrew into Germany and there preached the Gospel but I do not find sufficient Ground for that opinion but rather believe the Truth might be propagated there by some of his Followers and in particular Cochleus in his History of the Hussiâ—es l. 1. tells us Petrus Payne Anglus Discipulus Wiclephi Pragam cum Libris illius profugerat One Peter Payne an Englishâ—man one of Wickliff ' s Scholars who was sent with other Legates to the Council at Basil where he disputed for three days together touching the Civil Dominion of the Clergy fled into Bohemia and carried with him some of Wickliff ' s Books Some of which were Translated by John Huss into the Bohemian Language as the same Cochleus relates who also affirms That one of the Bishops of England wrote him word Esse sibi adhuc â—odie duo maxima Volumina Wiclephi quae mole suâ videantur aequare opera B. Augustini That he had then by him two Volumes of Wickliff ' s which were almost as large as St. Austin ' s Works Of which many it seems are since lost or destroy'd by the Papists but divers of them are yet extant What opinion the University of Oxford had of the Learning and Piety of this good Man appears by that Testimonial which they publickly gave of him under their Common Seal dated October 5. 1406. which you may read in Mr. Foxes Acts and Monuments fol. 112. And now being in his Grave one would have thought he had been beyond the Sphere of Activity of the most inveterate Malice but such is the nature of Papal Cruelty that its Rage extends almost to the other World and with a Barbarity more than Heathenish violates Sepulchers for 41 years after Wickliff's Death the Council at Constance the very same Conventicle that Decreed That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks made an Order for taking up his Bones and burning them in these words For as much as by the Authority of the Sentence and Decree of the Council of Rome and by the Commandment of the Church and the Apostolical See after due Delays granted this Holy Synod hath proceeded unto the Condemnation of the said John Wickliff and his Memory having first made Proclamation and given Commandment to call forth whosoever would defend the said Wickliff or his Memory if any such there were but none did appear And likewise Witnesses being examined by Commissioners appointed by Pope John and his Council upon the Impenitency and final Obstinacy of the said John Wicliff reserving that which is to be reserved as in such Cases the Law requires and his Impenitency and Obstinacy even unto his end being sufficiently proved by evident Signs and Tokens and also by lawful Witnesses of Credit therefore the Sacred Synod declareth determineth and giveth Sentence That the said John Wickliff was a notorious obstinate Heretic and that he died in his Heresie Cursing and Damning both him and his Memory This Synod also Decrees and Ordains That the Body and Bones if they may be discerned and known from the Bodies of other faithful people be taken out of the Ground and thrown away far from the Burial place of any Church according to the Canon Laws and Decrees Pursuant to this worshipful Decree The Archdeacon and Official of the Diocess shortly after came with their Officers to Lutterworth Church where Wickliff lay buried and having disinterred his Bones they with much Formality burnt the same and turn'd his Dust into Ashes which Ashes they also took and threw into the River as if they would Interest all the Elements in their Inhumane Pageantry Touching which I find in a most Learned Treatise written by Dr. Hoyle Professor of Divinity in Dublin Colledge Entituled A Rejoinder to Mr. Malone ' s Reply concerning the Real Presence p. 654. this remarkable passage The Doctor having discours'd of the taking up the Bâ—nes of Bucer and Fagius adds these words I cannot upon so good an occasion but glance at the like more than Savage usage of Wickliff and signifie to the World a strange Accident not yet observed in Print by any and which my self learned of the most aged Inhabitants and they within a few hands from the very Eye-witnesses and is a common Tradition in all Lutterworth A Child finding one of Wickliff's Bones
Dish by half have you not seen Nat. Thompson's Loyal Intelligence Numb 98 Truem. Honest and Loyal quotha If to invent and publish continual Lies and Scandals be honest if to abuse Government with false Reports engage publickly to vindicate Papists in all Cases divide His Majesty's Protestant Subjects and in a word to do all that the Devil can suggest to imbroil the Nation be to be Loyal then your Thompson may claim those Titles Tory. Pshaw this is only spight because he there openly tells all the World That the pretended Popish Plot was nothing in the World but a meer Contrivance of old Dr. Tongue 's Truem. Yes and he contriv'd the Gunpowder-Treason too and brought in the Spaniards in 88. He murder'd Sir Edm. Godfrey or else he kill'd himself as L'Estrange modestly hiâ—ts in his last Observator 'T was Tongue writ all the Letters from Coleman and the rest of the folks at St. James's to La Chese and the Devil knows who besides 'T was Tongue Tory. Leave your Fooling young Tongue out of pure Remorse of Conscience will prove it Truem. Leave your Roguing and your pitiful ridiculous Shammings has not this very young Tongue set forth at large how he was at first Trapan'd to suggest that Story against his Father in a Book printed by Mr. C in the New Exchange but for I know not what reasons stifled and never suffer'd to be publisht Has not this young Tongue an hundred and an hundred times with Tears in his Eyes bewail'd and repented of that unnatural Villany Nay but a fortnight ago he voluntarily declar'd That the sense thereof lay so heavy upon him that if ever he got out of Prison where he was like to starve and had scarce Clothes to cover his Nakedness he would forthwith Transport himself to the West-Indies for his shame for that false and wicked Accusation was so great that he should not be able to walk the Streets And is this pitiful Tool again furbusht up to make a new Attaque But on the contrary what if this be only a Contrivance of the Popish Traytors and their Implement Nat What if herein he most impudently abuses both old Tongue and young Tongue and the public Then no doubt His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council the Judges and all Inferiour Magistrates and every Protestant English-man will think it necessary to punish exemplarily the Villain that in Print has broach'd such an horrid Scandal on the Honour Justice Prudence and Safety of the Nation For what that desperate pragmatic Huszy Celliers publisht in her Libel for which she was deservedly Pillory'd was nothing so mischievous in its Nature and Tendency as that which Thompson in this Paper does audaciously affirm for which if he scape Scot free it must be by the strength of that Proverb The Devil helps his Children Printed for Langley Curtis 1681-2 The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY Jan. 13. 1681-2 Imperante florente Nequitiâ Virtus non solùm Praemiis caret sed etiam sceleratorum pedibus Calcatur supplitia luit The horrible Schism between Popes and Anti-Popes for fifty years together HAving dispatcht what we thought necessary to say touching Wickliff 't is now time to return to the prosecution of our History of Popes having left off with Pope Gregory the Eleventh See our Third Volume Numb 67. who died Anno Dom. 1378. The attentive Reader cannot but have observ'd in the course of this History many Schisms in the Papal Chair that is several pretenders at one time each of them bearing himself as the true and only Infallible Head of the Church But now we come to speak of Schisma omnium gravissimum The most grievous of all Schisms as the Jesuit De Bussieres tells it for it lasted half an hundred years Pope against Pope and the States of Europe and all the Churches of this part of the World divided or rather rent and torn asunder whilst these scuffling Fathers repeal the Acts one of another and Condemn each others Canons and Ordinances yea Curse and Excommunicate and openly pronounce one another to be Antichrist and all this in Books publisht and yet extant concerning that matter And therefore the Relation of this so famous quarrel which we shall recite as briefly as the matter will bear cannot but be well worthy the Reader 's considerate notice Gregory being dead the people of Rome flockt to the Cardinals pressing them by all means that they should chuse an Italian to succeed him for if a French-man should be Elected 't was odds but he would remove the Papal Seat again to Avignion and then Rome would be undone St. Peter be dishonour'd devout People leave off their coming in Pilgrimage to his Shrine and twenty other mischiefs would follow The Cardinals promised them fairly all should be done to the Glory of God but were no sooner got into the Conclave but they were all in a confusion instead of being assisted with the Holy-Ghost for there were 14 French Cardinals who stickled might and main to have one of their number chosen but then a new Contest happening amongst themselves which should be the Man and the people abroad crying no French man no French-man and threatning to cut all their Throats if they did not elect an Italian partly through fear aud partly in spight to each other and a little bribing too in the case they at last chose one Bartholomew Archbishop of Barry a Neâ—politan who was then absent but made hast to Rome and took upon him the name of Vrban the Sixth Theodoric à Nyem who was his Secretary l. 1. c. 1. tells us That before his Popedom he was a very honest fellow but Magistratus indicat virum Preferment strangely alters a Man and commonly for the worse for as soon as he was in the Chair he was as proud as Lucifer in so much that when one day Otho Duke of Brunswick Husband to Joan Queen of Naples who immediately on his being chosen had sent him 40000 Ducats in Gold and Silver to defray his first Expences making a Collation for his Holiness drank to him on his Knees this â—â—scally Servant of Servants out of meer Pride would not for a long time take the Cup out of the hand of so great a Prince kneeling before him 'till one of the Cardinals blushing for him cry'd Holy Father it is time to drink and then the insolent Preâ—ate vouchsafed to accept it But his Pride had quickly a check if not a fall for within 3 Months the French Cardinals requested Leave of him that because the weather was very hot they might for change of Air retire to Anagnia which being granted they appoint their Rendezvous at Fundi and to reinforce their Party wheadle thither three Italian Cardinals by promise privately made to each of them That they would make him Pope alledging That the Election of Vrban was not free but obtain'd by the Tumults of the people c. But
rectifie this disorder that the Church might no longer appear as a Monster with a pair of Heads and people not know which to obey as Chief Pastor and therefore were importunate with him to renounce the Papacy urging that nothing could be more glorious than an abandoning his private Interest for the advantagâ— of the public And the rather was this to be expected from him since at his Election he had promised to lay down whensoever things should be adjusted with Rome In order to which he assur'd him That that Pope which should be made in Rome after Innocent should do the like every one concluding That if those Favourites one of France and tother of Italy were but once dispossess'd of the Keys which they both exercis'd at that time tho sure one of their Keys at least must needs be but a Picklock and a third indifferent person chosen he would every where be acknowledg'd the certain and undoubted Pope Benedict gave them the hearing but gravely answer'd That he alas good Man valued not the honour and was weary of the trouble but could not without offending God consent to the Proposals for renouncing the Church and abandoning the Flock of Christ which by the common consent of so many good and worthy Electors was committed to his cure and custody and was unwilling to bring a thing into question which he had so legally obtain'd But as for what respected the removal of the Schism and restoring Concord to the Church there was nothing which he more passionately desired and he would condescend to any Assembly or Council for the debating or setling thereof provided in a secure place in which every one might speak his mind freely For his own part he declar'd and swore to it too That in case the Schism could not be taken away by any other means he would Renounce upon condition the other at Rome would do the same for otherwise it would be to no purpose to solicit it The three Princes were not so short-sighted as not to see through Benedict's Veil of Hypocrisie and how loth he was to quit the Chair and he on the other side apprehending lest they should make use of more powerful Arguments of Force to oblige him to comply with their Requests fortified himself in his Palace and was besieg'd there for five or six Months 'till being weary of so close and tedious a Confinement he embark'd on certain Gallies on the Rhosn and so escap'd into Catalonia which was his own Country And indeed many suppose the before-mention'd Princes were instigated by the French Cardinals to get him remov'd chiefly for that reason because he was a Catalonian not a French-man and that they might bring in one of their own Country-men to succeed him Upon the death of Innocent which happen'd in November 1406. the Italian and other Cardinals which were at Rome enter'd into the Conclave and all solemnly swore upon the Holy Evangelists which their Dean held in his hand That every of them respectively would if he were chosen renounce the Papacy provided the French or Catalonian Anti-pope renounc'd his Anti papacy first This was done to satisfie the French who having brought up a custom of Pope-making according to their own mode it seem'd an unsurmountable difficulty to bring them out of it with Reputation unless the Italians would thus meet them half way At last in the Conclave at Rome Angelo Corraro a Venetian and Cardinal of St. Mark was chosen and assumed the name of Gregory the 12 th And to make as they thought sure work before he came out of the Conclave they made him promise in Writing under the hand of a Public Notary and also gave him his Oath to perform the fore-mention'd Condition But see the Faith of Popes no sooner was he setled in his Pontificial Gears but he found too much sweetness in the place to leave it so easily and indeed in this matter only his Brother Anti-pope were well agreed for he too notwithstanding his said solemn Promise did not care for leaving the Seat of Infallibility and so each of them shuffled and cut about the place of Congress and whatever Town was nam'd the other side wanted not Objections and so no Agreement was like to succeed Whereupon the Cardinals finding themselves shamm'd declar'd against them both as Faith breakers and unfit for the Holy Chair And now the Cardinals of the French Faction resolv'd to abandon Benedict and the Italians Gregory and to get another indifferently chosen In order hereunto the Cardinals both of Avignion and Rome met at Pisa and by common consent Deprive both Gregory and Benedict all the Nations except Catalonia and the Scots and some few petty Princes concurring with them therein and having so done they proceed to elect a new Pope and make choice of Peter Philargo a Fryar Minor and Archbishop of Milan who took upon him the name of Alexander the Fifth who was wont to say he had been a rich Bishop a poor Cardinal and a beggarly Pope But for all this Decree of the folks at Pisa the two old ones would still be Popes alledging That the Convention at Pisa was neither a free nor a general Council and that Matters were not there fairly and Canonically Transacted and therefore they would not abide by their doings but would appeal to a general Council And to secure themselves Gregory fled towards Romagna and stay'd some time at Rimini where he was magnificently entertain'd And as for Benedict he having held a Conventicle in the City of Perpignan by the intervention of his own Friends retires into the Castle of Panischola So that now we had no less than three Popes all in view and at the same instant for still the condemned Popes desisted not from exercising their Papal and Ecclesiastical Functions they consecrated Bishops and created Cardinals and particularly Gabriel Condolmero who was afterwards Pope by the name of Eugenius the Fourth was by Gregory made Cardinal at Lucca Now if a Succession from right and lawful Popes and Bishops be necessary it must be granted That if the Roman Church is not such but miserably interrupted vitiated and confounded by these Popes of whom no Man can say which was the Right and yet their several Ordinations pass'd in the crowd and multiplied no doubt in time into many thousand Descendents deriving Episcopacy and Priesthood from this corrupt Fountain which seem indeed according to the Notions which these Men advance at another time to be but so many Nullities And yet where is there any Bishop or Priest in all Italy or France that is Infallibly sure that he himself holds not by the same crackt Title But to return to the Story Alexander saith Theodoric a Nyem was one that lov'd to live delicately and to drink strong Wines he was wholly rul'd by Balthazar Cossa Cardinal Deacon the most profligate Villain that one shall read of who succeeded him by the name of John the 24 th or as some reckon the 23 d
The said Alexander died when he had held the Chair 8 or 9 Months and Baptista Panaetius of Ferrara a Cardinal in his 56 th Sermon tells us That the said Balthazar caus'd him to be poison'd by Marsilius de Parma his Physician brib'd thereunto with a vast sum of Money on purpose that he himself might follow him in his Papacy And how the said Balthazar got it at last as to the manner is very pleasant for as soon as Alexander was dead being at Bononia and having by his former Administration got the chief Power into his hands he commanded the Cardinals to Elect a Pope such as he might approve of and they offer'd several to him of whom he thought none fit enough At last they requested plainly to shew who he was for Give me then saith he the Cloak of St. Peter a Garment which they fling upon the new elected Pope and I will give it to him that shall be Pope Which being done he put it on his own shoulders and said Papa ego sum It is I am Pope and was as good as his word For tho several of the Cardinals mutter'd and grumbled yet none durst oppose him This Prank of his is credibly related by Johannes Stella in his Book De Pontificibus To fix himself firm in his Seat he courts Sigismund King of Hungary and gets him elected Emperour and summons a Council at Rome where a very odd accident fell out which Nicholas Clemangis Archdeacon of Bayeux a Man famous in those times delivers as follows At the first meeting of the Council Mass being said after the accustomed manner to invocate the Holy Ghost no sooner was the Council sat and Balthazar himself in a Chair provided for him higher than the rest but boâ—eld a dreadful ill-favour'd Screechowl the presage they say of Calamity with an horrible voice flew over their heads and seated her self upon the middle Beam of the Church with her Eyes directly fixt upon the Pope Behold said some of the lewd Italian wits the Spirit in the form of an Owl Balthazar the Pope himself seeing how she glar'd at him at first blusht for shame then began to sweat and by and by in confusion broke up the Council And at the second Session she was there again in the same manner and the Pope would have drove her away by noise and clamours but she would not stir 'till assaulting her with Pikes and Staves having receiv'd several blows she fell down dead before them all THE COURANT. Tory. BUT do'nt you perceive by the last Observator that old Roger has a Months mind to stand next Election one of the Candidates for his n'own Country of Norfolk when it shall please God and the King to bless us with a Parliament Truem. No truly for tho the doting fellow talks a little freakishly yet we understand true English Norfolk Dumplings as well as himself and are satisfied That the generality of Free-holders not only there but throughout the Nation too are to use his own phrase more clarified in their Vnderstandings than to chuse either Knaves or Beggars Besides that Gentleman has the same Antipathy to Parliaments as some folks have to Cats he sweats and swouns and is ready to run away at the sight or very smell on 't Nor has he any reason to ambition a place in an Assembly which he has so grosly and impudently abus'd That when ever They meet he knows his Ears will not be able to make Atonement for the petulancy of his Tongue and the French Itch of his Fingers 'T is true he has already dubb'd himself a Body Politic sometimes his own silly self is forsooth the Government sometimes the Church and in his own conceit makes as great a Figure in the World for Loyalty as Mother Celliers or her younger Sister Mrs. Elianor James with her Sham-Papeâ—s of Adviso's Alas Man he has places enow already is he not Mouth Extraordinary of Faction Principal Forger of Flams and Shams Grand Engineer for Bedaubing all Evidence of the Popish Plot The mighty Artist at Blanching of Blackamoors Supream Scavenger of the Town into whose Cart all the Popish Kennel-rakers that cannot find Stowage in Took and Thompson empty their Durt which he most industriously two or three times a week subtlely unloads at Protestants Doors And then For the whole Gang we hair-brain'd Tories call He 's Knight o' th' Shire and represents you All. Tory. Well! But he tells you the French King does not make all these Advances into Flanders meerly to pick up Cockle-shells or catch Whitings Truem. No I 'le warrant him nor does he contrive the mighty Haven at Dunkirk and expensive Fortifications there to make a Retreat for Herring-Busses But that wise and haughty Monarch has no doubt an Eye on enlarging his Empire and in subserviency thereunto prosecutes the poor Dissenters alià s Huguenots or Protestants within his Dominions that he may the more plausibly engage the Pope to favour his Enterprizes and lull Princes of that Communion asleep Nor is it my business to enquire why the Progress of his Arms were not stopt long since when means however diverted were not wanting or to look over old printed Letters to find who it was talk'd of Interests inseparable This I will only say That whether in other Parts of a different Religion and Interest where a Popish and French Plot is apparently discover'd to be working in their very Bowels it may be of use towards obviating his Designs to divide Protestants and worry one another to the undoing of many thousands nay hundreds of thousands of Families damping of Trade consequently lesseâ—ing the Revenue and embroiling Affairs and all this for a parcel of acknowledg'd Trifles or imaginary Stories forg'd by a knot of ill Men who have no other means to screen themselves from the Justice they apprehend out of conscious Guilt may still be a Question Tory. Pish you are harping on the Popish Plot but the same Author frankly tells you 'T is nothing but a Vision of Dragons in the Moon Truem. Right he 's indeed pleas'd to call it so but I humbly conceive The King the Nation and especially as 't is worded the City has little reason to thank him for that Complement Printed for Langley Curtis 1681-2 The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY Feb. 10. 1681-2 Quem mihi dabis de numero Praelatorum qui non magis invigilet subditorum evacuandis Marsupiis quam extirpandis vitiis Bernard ad Eugen. The calling of the Council of Constance The horrible villainies there prov'd against Pope John he is Deposed A Council is above the Pope The two other Popes likewise casheir'd c. VVE are Remarking on the life of Pope John the 23 d. or 24 th as others call him for the business of Pope Joan has made such a confusion amongst the Johns that the best Historians disagree in their reckoning how he wheadled himself into the Popedom you have heard
Sacrament of the Body of Christ saying that it ought to be Ministred in both kinds and that after the words of Consecration pronounc'd there still remaineth material Bread in the Sacrament 2. He doth Err as touching the Church for that he doth not allow and admit that the Church signifieth the Pope Cardinals Archbishops and Clergy but saith this signification was drawn from the Schoolmen 3. That he hath said That Tempral Princes and Lords may take away the Temporal possessions of the Church and Clergy without any offence 4. He teacheth that all Priests are of like power and therefore affirms That the reservations of the Popes Casualties the ordering of Bishops and the Consecration of the Priests were invented only for Covetousness 5. That he erreth concerning the Church forasmuch as through Contempt he doth not fear Excommunication 6. He erreth by holding That a Man being once Ordain'd a Priest or a Deacon cannot be forbidden from the Office of Preaching c. Upon these and other the like Articles the Council proceeded against him in his sickness and tho he often offer'd to defend his Cause yet they would neither allow him any Advocats nor permit him publickly to be heard And in their Ninth Session they declared Quod non obstantibus salvis Conductis Imperatoris Regum c. Possit per Judicem competentem de Haeretieâ pravitate inquiri That notwithstanding any safe Conduct granted by the Emperor or any Kings Inquisition many be made against any Man for Haeresy by a Competent Judge and process to be made according to Law To relate the whole proceedings would be too tedious how malicious and unjust his accusers were how stout and faithful to him were several Bohemian Noble Men representing his Innocence to the cruel Fathers but all in vain nothing but his Blood would satisfy and so they proceed to pass the following sentence upon him The most sacred General Council of Constance Congregated together and representing the Catholick Church for perpetual memory of the thing As truth doth witness that an evil Tree bringeth forth evil Fruit so it cometh to pass that the Man of most damnable memory John Wickliff through his pestiferous Doctrine not through Jesus Christ by the Gospel as the holy Fathers in times past have begotten faithful Children but contrary to the wholesome Faith as a venemous root hath begotten many wicked and pestilent Children whom he hath left behind him successors and followers of his perverse and accursed Doctrine against whom this Sacred Synod of Constance is forced to rise up as against Bastards and diligently with a Sharp-knife of Ecclesiastical Authority to cut up Errors out of the Lords field as most hurtful Brambles and Briars lest they should grow up to the destruction of others Forasmuch then as in the holy General Council lately celebrated at Rome it was decreed that the Doctrine of John Wickliff of most damnable memory should be Condemned and his Books burnt as Haeretical yet 〈◊〉 John Hus here personally present in this Sacred Council not the Diciple of Christ but of Wicliff an Arch Haeretick hath taught and affirmed the Articles of Wickliff which were Condenm'd by the Church of God Wherefore after diligent Deliberation and full Information this most Sacred Council declareth and determineth the Articles abovesaid which are sound in his Books wrot with his own hand and which he hath own'd not to be Catholick nor worthy to be taught but that many of them are erroneous some wicked other some to be offensive unto godly Ears many of them to be temerarious and seditious and the greater part of them to be Notoriously Haeretical and doth condemn all and every the Books which the said Hus hath wrot in what form or phrase soever they be or whether they be Translated by others and doth decree That they shall be publickly burnt in the presence of the Clergy and People c. And the said Synod doth pronounce the said John Hus an Haeretick and a Seducer and obstinate Person and such an one as doth not desire to return again to the Lapp of our holy Mother the Church neither to abjure the Errors and Heresies which he hath openly Preached and defended wherefore this most Sacred Council decreeth and declares That the said John Hus shall be deposed and degraded from his Priestly Orders and Dignity Since this sentence mentions Degrading it will not be amiss to consider the manner how that Ceremony is perform'd Which is thus The party to be degraded is attir'd in all his Priestly Vestments and holdeth in the one hand a Chalice filled with Wine mixed with Water and in the other a Guilt Paten with a Wafer Then kneeling down the Bishops Deputy taking from him these Trincats Charges him to say no more Mass for the Quick or the Dead Secondly scraping with a piece of Glass his fingers ends he Enjoyns him never to Hallow or Consecrate any thing and Thirdly rasing his shaven Crown and stripping 〈◊〉 of his Priestly Vestments he is Clothed in a Lay habit and delivered into the Power of the Secular Magistrate Thus was poor Hus serv'd and withal a Capp put on his head all painted over with Devils and this word Haerisiarcha or Ring leader of Hereticks inscribed thereon and so was burnt in the Month of July 1415. He behav'd himself at his Martyrdom with a wonderful Cheerfulness and seems to have had a Spirit of Prophecy for whereas Hus in the Bohemian Tongue signifies a Goose he told them You now roast a Goose but after a 100 years there shall a Swan rise up out of my Ashes which was fulfill'd in Luther who just 100 years after Hus's Death began to appear in opposition to the Pope Likewise during the time of this Council one Jerome a Learned Godly Man of the City of Prague hearing of the manyfold injuries done unto Hus voluntarily came to Constance with an intent to defend his Cause but not being able to procure any safe Conduct there was returning back again to his own Country but taken on the Road and brought bound into Constance and there by the Council Condemn'd and Burnt and his Ashes thrown into the River Rhyne as Hus's likewise had been so Industrious were the Romish Clergy to destroy all Memorials of these faithful Servants of God whose Names do yet survive all their impotent malice and remain Registred in the Book of Life in Heaven and pretious to all good Men on Earth What esteem the godly Nobles of that Age had of Mr. Hus may partly appear by a Letter of 54 Noble Men of Morauia under their Hands and Seals to the said Council THE COURANT. Tory. PRethee are Miracles ceas'd No no There 's a New Saint lately come over call'd Cess Process that does daily Wonders Dam Ignoramus is an Ass to her Tory. What kind of Feats does she Profess can she sham Godfryes Murder and Esquire Thin's and make the World believe That they both kill'd themselves or that it was done Justly
of October 1678. to License Thompson's Narrative touching the manner of finding Sir Edm. Godfrey's Body assign'd for a Reason That he did not know but if he should License it he might offend some great persons at Whitehall Tory. O! but Thompson Numb 128. says That 's a false and scandalous Aspersion And Observator Numb 111. says 'T is a damn'd Lie Truem. 'T is not a Straw matter what those two Gentlemen say their veracity is notorious Mr. L the Printer went with Thompson then to L'Estrange stood by heard the words and at that instant took particular notice of them because he admir'd what might be the mysterious meaning and is ready to depose the same upon Oath when ever-lawfully required And as for the reason L'Estrange now gives viz. It was before the King and Council and he durst not meddle with it That 's no reason at all for tho the Inquiry after the Murderers might be before the Honourable Board as indeed it was before all the Magistrates in the Nation yet what harm or offence could it be in the mean time to publish a true Narrative of the matter of Fact when how and in what manner the Body was found It might also be noted That L'Estrange refused to License two Elegies on the same Gentleman which were both Licensable as appears in that one of them after his refusal was Licens'd by my Lord Bishop's Chaplain who sure understood his business as well as Roger and the other after a long ruffle and threatning to Complain Roger made shift to License himself but not without 2 or 300 Oaths and Curses Tory. I confess I always observ'd Mr. L'Estrange mighty tender in Licensing any thing that might reflect on the Roman Catholicks 'T was sometime before the discovery of the Plot the Parsons Sons had a publick Feast and some body had made a Copy of Verses on that occasion wherein having reckon'd up what excellent Men in all Professions Clergy-mens Sons had prov'd the Author concludes thus Blush Romanists at your unjust Restraints Our Church fills Earth with Hero's Heaven with Saints Whilst from your Cells a spurious Issue springs To â—ifle Subjects and to Murder Kings These two last Lines were such an abomination to our Friend that he would not License the Paper unless they might be cross'd out and cross them he did before he would sign it tho in some of the Copies the Printer maâ—e bold to insert them Mr. Birch was the Bookseller who is ready to attest this business And so much at present for L'Estrange Now here 's Thompson's second Letter to Mr. Prance what have you to say to that Truem. I say That Paper is the perfect Resemblance or indeed a Demonstration of the whole Genius and Nature of Popery in general for what is Popery but Lies and Nonsense obtruded upon the World with the height of Impudence And just such is that Letter The shameless Author of which opposes Legal Oaths and Judicial Records with pitiful Surmises and forged Flams Affirms over and over again with a ridiculous Effrontery things that half the Town know to be false and others which common sense can never admit as that of his Shoes being glaz'd with walking on the Grass and the Hay seeds in the sâ—ams and his Face being Fly-blown c. and all this in the midst of a very cold snowy October Is it not pleasant to hear him tell the world That Mr. Brown the Constable who first moved the Body and the Surgeons that view'd it and the Maid that wash'd the Clothes who have all sworn there was no Blood are no competent Witnesses and yet this Sir Nicholas Nemo with his unknown Knights of Bo peep on their bare Say so 's must be credited Does not Thompson own himself a prodigious wretch in putting his name to this Paper so directly contrary to what he himself printed just at the time when the thing happen'd and yet now to take not one word notice thereof tho so home charg'd upon him by the Ghost Is it not absurd vapouring to cry Such and such and such things shall be prov'd by undeniable Witnesses and yet after so many Challenges not be able to name one 'T is true he intimates as if one Wren had something to say but sure I am it cannot be that Sir Edm Godfrey kill'd himself for I my self have many times heard that Wren say and swear That he deserv'd part of the 500 l. Reward as being an occasion of the discovery of Mr. Prance's being in the Murder and that before ever Mr. Prance was seiz'd he had such violent Suspitions or Impulses as he call'd them that he was concernâ—d in 't that he could not rest in his Bed a nights And will this Man after all this swear That Prance knew nothing of it Tory. There is I am told another Gentleman tho not named yet hinted at in that Paper that is to help on the Job with a civil Oath or two upon occasion a certain pragmatical primatical Tittle-tattlecal pretended Councellor at Law But we 'l Adjourn our Discourse of him 'till next bout Printed for Langley Curtis 1681-2 The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY March 24. 1681-2 Omne meum Nil meum An Apology in Answer to an Accusation of Plagiarism Tolling of Ave's in honour of our Lady People forc'd to do Penance for not bringing Litter for a Proud Prelates Horses as he would have them The story of the Lord Cobham and Sir Roger Acton entred into T Is pleasant to consider how many little Artifices the Devil and his Instruments ill Men have vented their Malice against this poor innocent Weekly Sheet and how Sedulous they have been and are either if they could totally to suppress or at least to asperse and Calumniate It. This makes me hope It may have done some Execution against the Kingdom of Antichrist or that it may be of use to the Protestant Religion since the Advocates of Popery do so Rave and fret against it But that which I shall particularly take notice of at present is The Gentleman that calls himself the Observator who Numb 14. has the Forehead to Affirm That All the Pacquets are stoln A charge so general and apparently False that it deserves no Answer but Contempt or Pity But afterwards he comes and Asserts That out of Foxes Acts and Monuments and the Magdeburgh Centuries I furnish this Weekly History To this I Reply First That if any body pretends to give the World an Account of things Transacted Two or three hundred Years or more before himself was Born 't is twenty to one if he will deal like an honest Man but he must Consult Historians that have Treated of those Affairs else what he Writes will be Fiction and Invention not History Secondly If he means that I make use of no other Authors but Foxe and the Centuriators 't is notoriously False I having for carrying on this Work perused many
Tory. Well go on and prosper I hear Natt is like to have but a hard Bargain of it But I am for Sam 's Coffee-house to wait on the Guide to the Inferiour Clergy the Reverend Squire Roger how neatly he comes off about saying That he would not License a Narrative of Sir Ed. B. Godfreys Murder for fear of offending some Great Persons at White Hall Pap. Well! what says he to that I hear 't is Sworn against him Tory. Why he says What if the Printer do swear it 't is not the first time that a Perjur'd Rascal has Sworn against L'Estrange Papist Yes and in the same Observator Num. 114. is very angry with some body for declaring That he would rather believe Prance he should have added and Three more upon Oath than Mr. L'Estrange's single Protestation on the Sacrament Well if the World can meet with no better proofs than these and his Preface to the Proposals for Reunion with the Church of Rome to prove L'Estrange no Roman Catholique I shall still have the Charity to esteem him One and so my Service to him Printed for Langley Curtis 1681-2 The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY March 31. 1682. Nulla Ratione fieri potest ut in rectè factis effugias Invidiam Quis enim Umbram effugiet Invidiae nisi pariter Virtutis Lucem effugerit The Story of Sir John Old-Castle continued A severe Law against Lollards A note touching the Oath of Sheriffs The strange manner of putting Sir John to Death Tyburn whence the Word deriv'd Sir John vindicated from Treason and the Imputation of Debauchery the reason of that latter Scandal OUr last acquainted you with the Grounds of Sir John Old-Castle's Troubles and what an honest Christian Answer he gave in Writing to the Bishops touching the Four Articles whereon principally they accused him yet therewith they were nothing satisfied but would needs have a more direct Answer and giving him time to consider of it that he might know how to please them sent him a silly Blasphemous Scroll containing their Creed and Determination in those Points which was as follows First The Faith and Determination of Holy Church touching the blessed Sacrament of the Altar is this That after the Sacramental Words be once spoken by a Priest in his Mass the material Bread that was before Bread is turned into Christs very body And the material Wine that was before Wine is turned into Christ ' s very Blood And so there remaineth in the Sacrament of the Altar from thenceforth no material Bread nor material Wine which were there before the Sacramental Words were spoken How believe you this Article Secondly Holy Church hath Determined That every Christian Man living here bodily upon the Earth ought to be shriven to a Priest Ordained by the Church if he may come to him How feel ye this Article Thirdly Christ Ordain'd St. Peter the Apostle to be his Vicar here on Earth whose See is the Holy Church of Rome and he granted that the same Power which he gave unto Peter should Succeed to all Peters Successors which we now call Popes of Rome by whose Power in Churches particular be Ordained Prelates as Arch-bishops Bishops Parsons Curates and other Degrees more whom Christian Men ought to obey after the Laws of the Church of Rome This is the Determination of Holy Church How feel ye this Article Fourthly Holy Church hath Determined That it is Meritorious to a Christian Man to go on Pilgrimage to Holy Places and there especially to Worship Holy Reliques and Images of Saints Apostles and Martyrs Confessors and all other Saints besides approved by the Church of Rome How feel ye this Article I cannot say whether the Lord Cobham on the Receipt of this Scrole did more admire or pity their Blindness But on the Twenty fifth of September in the before mention'd Year 1413. he was again Conven'd before them where the Arch-bishop telling him That he was Cursed and adviseing him to desire Absolution The Knight reply'd God had said by his Holy Prophet Maledicam Benedictionibus vestris Mal. 2. 2. Which is as much as to say I will Curse where you Bless And afterwards kneeling down on the Pavement and lifting his hands towards Heaven he said I here Confess me unto thee my Eternal Living God That in my frail Youth I Offended thee most grievously in Pride Wrath and Gluttony Covetousness and Letchery and many Men have I hurt in my Anger and done many horrible Sins for which Good Lord I ask thee Mercy And then weeping bitterly he said to the People who in great Numbers flock'd to hear his Examination Behold good People for the breaking of God's Law and his great Commandments they never yet Cursed me but for their own Laws and Traditions most cruelly do they handle me and other Men. And being question'd by the Arch-Bishop about his Belief he Answer'd I Believe fully and faithfully the Vniversal Laws of God I Believe that all is true which is contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Bible Then proceeding to Examine him touching the Four Articles before specified A Long Discourse happen'd which you may Read and worth reading it is in Foxe but too tedious to be here Recited his Answers were quick and pertinent and amongst others he has this Expression Rome is the very Nest of Antichrist and out of that Nest come all the Disciples of him the Pope is the Head the Prelates Priests and Monks are the Body and these pil'd Friars are the Tail In fine they proceeded to a Definite Sentence against him whereby they Condemn him as a most pernicious detestable and obstinate Heretick and order him to be delivered over to the Secular Power to be put to Death in pursuance whereof he was carryed back to the Tower from whence he made some means shortly after to escape and remain'd for near Four Years in Wales till he was taken and put to Death as by and by we shall acquaint you This Escape of his enraged the revengful Clergy and therefore a Sham-Plot was set on foot to bring all his Friends and whoever had any favour for Wickliffs Doctrine into a general odium and danger In those days it seems St. Giles's Fields were a Woody lonesome place full of Bushes and Thickets and very probably being so near the Town many good People not daring for fear of Discovery to Assemble in the City might meet there for the Worship of God and hearing his Word This according to the Common Construction of Malice is Rumour'd to be a Conspiracy against the Government and upon this suggestion our Historians who by the way either were Monks or such as borrow from those that were came thither at Midnight and finding some persons there caused them to be Apprehended and shortly after Sir Roger Acton and several others of them Parsons in his Second Part of Three Conversions pag. 197. says Thirty seven but Sir Richard
mystery Roger has more than once been tampering with this Mr. Tongue and at Christmas last renew'd his Intrigue with him much about the same time Fairwell and Pain began privately to broach their Sham now if Godfrey's Murder could have been turn'd off and people been made believe that Dr. Tongue and Dr. Oats contriv'd and invented the whole Scheme of the Plot so Artificially that it deceived the King and four Parliaments and all the Judges c. Then how innocent would the poor Roman Catholicks appear and what glorious Martyrs Whitebread Coleman and the rest But this trinkling with young Tongue taking wind Roger cries Whore first and fills the World with Exclamations that Mr. Tongue forsooth had a Plot upon But Roger Roger for all your Lapwinging there is more of this matter known than you are aware of and there will come a day of Reckoning Printed for Langley Curtis 1682. The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The fourth Volume FRIDAY May 26. 1682. Quocunque aspicies nihil est nisi Terror Orcus That the present Faith of the Church of Rome is to be refused upon pain of Damnation The Woes threatned to them that abide in her Communion Greater the Sin and more sore the punishment of such as revolt unto her The Judgment of the ancient Divines of the Church of England in the Case TO reinforce and corroborate what we offer'd in our last of the extream hazard all that continue in the Romish Church at this day do run in Relation to their Eternal State We shall now advance and endeavour to Demonstrate the following Proposition viz. That the Faith of the Church of Rome is to be refused upon pain of Damnation And First For Explanation of the Terms By the Faith of the Church of Rome is understood the Doctrine of the said Church delivered to be believed of all men that 〈◊〉 to be saved as matters revealed by God to that end And this is â—â—â—sidered as one individual or singular thing for though indeed it be divided into several Articles of which it consists yet it is conceived by themselves as one intire Body because they are all knit together by the same Bond namely by being assented to and believed upon one and the same reason and all to be received on pain of the same Anathema Thus Fisher the Jesuite under the Mask of A. D. in his Treatise of Faith Ca. 4. Faith must be intire whole and sound in all points and it is not sufficient stedfastly to believe some points mis-believing or not believing other some or any one For not to believe any one Point whatsoever which God by revealing it doth testify to be true and which by his Church he hath commanded us to believe must needs be damnable as being a notable Injury to Gods Verity and a great disobedience to his Will And that Chamaelion the Arch-bishop of Spalatto when he was return'd to his Vomit in his Consilium Reditûs p. 20. asserts the same All Articles saith he of Faith determined by the Church are fundamental none of them may be deny'd without Heresie Thus every Member of the Church of Rome must as stedfastly and absolutely believe the least point of Reliques Images Purgatory c. delivered by the Council of Trent as the greatest mysteries of the Godhead Trinity Incarnation c. And if he deny any of the former he is no less an Heretick than if he deny'd any of the latter Yea though he believe all that they propound to be believed save some one he is for want of believing that one if he know that the Church propounds it to be believed a Miscreant or Mis-believer The reason of which is this that if the Church may err in one thing it may err in another and so can be no sure foundation of Faith Now to refuse the Faith of the Church of Rome is nothing else but not to acknowledge the Doctrin by her delivered to be true but to abhor it as false not of every particular point but of all joyntly together For we freely acknowledge that the Papists do hold several great mysteries of Divinity truly and soundly wherein we also agree with them but yet we may not receive their Faith for true as it is by them delivered for one Intire body of Divinity revealed by God to be believed by all men that will â—e saved So that to refuse the Faith of the Church of Rome is not to believe that it is true or to believe that it is false and this we say is required by every man upon pain of Damnation Which words Vpon pain of Damnation are not so to be understood as if we presumed to pronounce sentence of Condemnation against all that continue in the Church of Rome we have disclaim'd such Temerity but thereby is meant that the believing that Doctrin as a matter of Faith is a thing in it self damnable that is such as maketh a man liable to damnation How it shall fall out with particular men in the event we neither know nor take upon us to inquire only we say that their mis-belief is such a sin as setteth them in a state of Damnation To prove this we must consider That there are Two ways by which sin leadeth a man into the state of damnation The one is the desert or fitness it hath to procure damnation The other is the actual meriting or deserving of Salvation Into the former sin casteth a man off it self Into the latter he falleth as by sin so by the Ordinance or Decree of God who hath laid the penalty of Damnation upon it Hence ariseth this Argument against receiving the Faith of the Romish Church That which maketh a man unclean in Gods sight hath a fitness to procure Damnation For unclean things are unmeet for the presence of God and consequently meet for Damnation But the Faith of the Church of Rome maketh a man unclean in the sight of God For it is erroneous in so high a nature as we have proved that it makes a man guilty of High Treason against God by Installing the Pope in the Throne of God giving him Power and Authority to determine as a Judge what is matter of Faith and what not without any Commission or Warrant from God Nor do they only give him authority to Interpret the Scripures but also allow him to set up a Forge of Tradition where he Hammers what he listeth and Vends it to be received upon pain of Damnation for the word of the ever living God What is it to fulfill that of the Apostle 2 Thes 2. 4. To sit in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God if this be not And must not all they needs be accessaries to this High Treason that acknowledge such his Usurp'd Authority and yield obedience to it Or how can it be reasonably denied that there is a worthiness and fitness in the Faith of the Church of Rome to procure Damnation Therefore
sentiments that good man had of the Church of Rome in those days that it was even become Babylon but also because the Papists by their Expurgatory Indices have utterly endeavour'd to suppress it leaving out the said whole passage in such Editions of that Author's works as are Printed amongst them being as follows That we are to fly out of Babylon according to the admonitions given in both Testaments thou confessest but dost suppose that flight is not to be understood Corporally changing the place but spiritually not imitating the Corrupt manners of the wicked Truly what thou say'st is not amiss yet sufficeth still not for a full resolution Was not the Patriarch Abraham commanded to depart out of his own Country and from his kindred and fathers house non solum Affectu sed etiam Effectu not only in Affection but actually nay his bodily departure is first commanded and then he is enjoin'd to withdraw his very mind and thoughts from it too and the reason is because the Inhabitants were Idolators Turn over the whole Canonical History and thou shalt not find that God hath ever poured down his Vengeance upon any Babylonical Congregation of men but that first consulting the safety of the Righteous if any were amongst them he called them forth left being cover'd with the wicked as it were under the same Roof they should perish in they same destruction Thou wilt say perhaps whether shall we fly there is no place where Babylon is not no City that is not Drunk with the Cup of her Fornication But tell me I pray have you seen all the Cities that you can give so absolute a sentence of every corner Our Saviour teaches his Disciples if they were Persecuted in one City to fly unto another and lest they should make this very objection that there were no Cities to which they could retire themselves he taketh away the excuse by adding Verily I say unto you that you shall not go to all the Cities of Israel until the Son of man come plainly intimating thereby that there should be always Cities dedicated to the honour of his name unto which in times of Persecution they might fly now what Persecution is more to be avoided than that which constrains men to do that which is wicked execrable and contrary to the Law of God where not only sound Doctrine is not received but such are cruelly tormented that contradict their wills what wilt thou do there where if thou propose any thing that is good no man will hearken to thee and if any man commit wickedness thou shalt be constrained to imitate it where if thou give sound Judgment of any thing they will say thou art beside thy self a Fanatick but if thou art furious and mad thou shalt be counted wise and if thou withstand the violence of their perversness thou shalt reap to thy self another fruit but an iâ—placable hatred with the danger of thy Life what is it to be made drunk with the Cup of Babylon but by a long conversation there to be so infected with Contagion as following the wandring multitude to embrace falshood for truth for whereas thou sayst that that man flieth from Babilon according to the Exhortation of the Prophet who though he may live in the midst of a wicked and perverse Nation differs from them nevertheless in his life and Conversation know that this indeed sufficeth as long as the violence of the fury compelleth not a man to wickedness and so long as Gods mercy tollerateth the sins of the place not yet grown to full height But where their state is desperate and past hope of amendment and from all parts send up a continual cry to Heaven for vengeance whoever willfully abideth there and dreadeth not the Thunderbolts of divine wrath how different so ever he may be in his private sentiments and manners is guilty of a sinful stupidity 'T is true if thou seek here an assured settled Rest in all respects thou seekest Impossibilities and wilt never find it neither within or without thee All things are full of War confusion danger every thing encompassed with snares and subtleties neither canst thou retire the within thy self but they follow thee But yet notwithstanding though there be something of Babylon every wheere yet that Babylon is not every where that is the mother of Fornications and Abominations of the Earth whose Judgment as John saith is Ascended up to the Heavens which hath made drunken all the Nations with the Wine of her Whoredom and constraineth all her Inhabitants to Commit Fornication to Blaspheme to eat things sacrificed to Idols and to Worship the Dragon with which impieties whosoever is polluted how can he find peace within himself except he hate the Fornications of that Whore forsake Condemn and detest them To which whosoever shall adhere is made one body with her because so long as he converseth with her he cannot be freed from her manners being by force and fury drawn unto them c. Thus far Clemangis on that subject and that the Church of Rome at that time was grown the very Babylon which he describeth wherein was Confusion and every evil work is apparent from the Histories of that Age. Pope Martin dying Anno 1431. one Gabriel Condelmere a Venetian descended of a mean family was Elected and assum'd the name of Eugenius the 4 th and holding a Consistory immediately after his Coronation such a multitude flockt together that the whole Pallace totterd and the people run out in such confusion fearing it would fall upon their heads that one Bishop was Kill'd Some Informers giving this new Pope notice that Martin his Predecessor had left vast Treasures to his friends and Nephews he would needs force them to surrender it to him and in order thereunto Imprisoned the said Martins Vice-Chamberlain and great heart-burnings arose in the family of the Colunni against him Pope Martin before his death had assigned a Council and sent thither as his Legate Julian Cardinal of St. Angelo who had began the meeting but Eugenius had little stomach to Confirm it because they had been so sawcy as in the very second session to declare That the Pope himself in those things that appertain to faith is bound to obey a General Council which if he refus'd to do unless he repent Let him be duly punisht And indeed he endeavoured to play a Shamm by offering to refer it to Bononia under pretence that the Greeks who were now upon some overtures for a Reconciliation with the Latin Church could more easily repair thither But the Emperour Sigismond fearing delays wrot to him very earnestly of the mischiefs that would happen by such Translation of the Council and how much all Christian Princes would be dissatisfied therewith And withall prepares to come himself into Italy whereupon the Pope more out of fear than good will approves of the Council of Basil and confirms the Legantine power of Cardinal Julian The Emperour Sigismond comes to Rome
acknowledge him the said Sigismund as King But before this Treaty was fully perfected Ziska dies Some say that he should bequeath his Skin to make a Drum of or that his followers should carry it about with them thinking thereby to fright their Enemies but this I conceive but a Fable and yet 't is little more than what our valiant King Edw. the 1 st did who on his Death-bed commanded that his Bones well boil'd from the flesh should in a fit Vessel be carried about by his Son 'till he had Conquer'd the Scots telling his Son that as long as he had his Fathers Bones with him none should overcome him This is certain that after his Death the Bohemians call'd themselves Orphans as having lost the common Father of their Country man nor will it be amiss to insert here his Epitaph written on his Tomb in the City of Tabor as we find it before the History of the Abbot of Vrsperge I John Ziska rest here in the skill of Military Affairs not inferiour to any of the Emperours or famous Captains of old A severe scourge of the pride and covetousness of Clergy-men and a most valiant Defender of my Country That which Appius Claudius being blind did for the Romans in well counselling and furious Camillus in valiantly exploiting the same have I done for my Bohemians I was never wanting to the good fortune of the war nor it to me I have foreseen though blind all advantages and opportunities of well doing and with Ensigns display'd have fought eleven times in the open Field ever victorious It seemed to me most fit and honourable to take in hand the most just cause of the miserable and hungry against the delicate fat and full-cram'd Priests and in this doing I have found the assistance of God giving a Blessing to my arms if their envy had not hindred it no doubt I should have merited to be numbred amongst the illustrious men nevertheless my Bones lye here in this sacred place without asking the Pope any leave and in spight of his Teeth John Ziska the Bohemian an Enemy of Priests that are covetous of dishonest gain but in a godly zeal After his death the Pope and Emperour thinking the Hussites much discouraged thereby as in truth they were sent several great Armies against them but still they were strangely discomfited for the Bohemians saith Monstrelet feared neither death nor torments their very Women took arms and fought and the dead Bodies of many of that Sex were found amongst the slain in several Battels Wherefore being not able to extirpate them by War they are invited to come in order to hearing their demands and giving them satisfaction to the Council of Basil Indeed most of the Bohemian Churches being sensible of the perfidious treachery used to Huss and Jerome at Constance were loth to send any Deputies thither but the Nobility over-rul'd the matter that some should be dispatcht to render a Reason for the Innovations in Religion laid to their charge Commissioners were therefore chosen and sent amongst whom the most eminent were John Rokizane of Prague and Nicholas Episcopius of the Taborens both famous Divines and of the Nobility Procopius the General of the Taborens and William Rastka Baron of Postupiez and others who being honourably conducted in their passage and courteously received at Basil They declared that at Constance they had been condemn'd unheard though they held nothing but according to the Scriptures and then exhibited the four Requests and Articles following desiring that the Council would grant them or allow them to defend them by Argument 1. That the use of the Cup may be restored to the people and that the Service of the Church might be in their own Tongue 2. That Clerks or Ministers might usurp no Authority in Seculars 3. That the word of God might be freely Preached without disturbance 4. That there may be publick punishment of publick offences These Articles being read the Popes Legate demanded if they had nothing else to propound because he had heard it reported that they affirmed that the Orders of Monks were from the Devil Procopius made answer from whence else I pray can they derive their original which was instituted neither by the Patriarchs nor Prophets neither by Christ nor his Apostles However a Conference was appointed and 40 days some say 50 the Disputation lasted and when the Bohemians could not be confuted by Arguments they were at last wheadled into a composition John Rokisane being himself corrupted with the hopes of an Arch-bishoprick seduced others of the Commissioners and so matters were subtilly carried that leave being given by the Council that they should enjoy the use of the Cup in other matters they were brought to consent These four Articles with some Explanations were afterwards named the Concord and Commissioners were sent into Bohemia from the Council and Emperour to declare that Realm was received again into the Bosome of the Church and a Diet being there Assembled on that occasion Rokisane very rhetorically explained and magnified the benefits of this agreement whereby so much War Bloodshed and Devastation as otherwise might have happen'd to the Kingdom was prevented and now he was pleased to mention the Pope and Cesar in other Language than heretofore when he was wont to stile the one the Whore and the other the Beast This Rokisane continued a pitiful Hypocrite long after and at last died uncomfortably Anno 1471. The craft of the Council in granting the Cup to the Bohemians provided in all other things they would submit was considerable for hereby they set at variance the Calixstines and the Taborites and consequently prevented all their further endeavours of Reformation and the pure professors of the Gospel henceforwards were as much hated and persecuted by those that enjoy'd the use of the Cup as by those that disown'd it It was no little grief to many especially of the zealous Taâ—orites to depart in this manner from the Doctrine and Discipline of Christ delivered to them by Huss and return again to the profession of the Church of Rome nor could they ever be wholly brought over to embrace it but the truth has remained still amongst them and great Persecutions have they suffered even to our times as by the History thereof brought down to the year 1632. and Printed at London Anno 1650. appears To return to the Council of Basil the other most material Decrees they made were 1. That no Actions Suits or Controversies should by Appeals be carried up to be decided in the Courts at Rome which were above four days distant from thence 2. A Regulation of the Cardinals that they should not be above 24 in number and to exclude the Popes Nephews and Kindred from that office 3. Against the payment of Annals or first fruits to the Pope 4. Against Priests keeping Concubines 5. They brought two new Holy-days into the Church viz. The Conception and the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary As long as