Mass pag. 51 Of their manifold Errours concerning the Church How the Papists devise many notes whereby their Church is described pag. 53 Of Antiquity pag. 71 Of Universality pag. 76 Of Succession pag. 79 Of Unity pag. 80 Of the Power of working Miracles pag. 82 Of the Gift of Prophecy pag. 87 Of Prosperity pag. 89 XX Errours concerning the Members of the Church the Clergy and Laity pag. 97 XI Errours concerning justifying Faith pag. 102 XXX Errours concerning Repentance which they call Penance pag. 104 Five kinds of Indulgences a sixfold profit of them pag. 113 Of the Disposition required to be in those that receive Indulgences shewed in Six things pag. 116 How the Papists hold that Indulgences are profitable for the Dead shewed in Seven things pag. 117 XI Errours concerning Fasting pag. 119 Of their dispensing with Fasts pag. 123 XVII Errours concerning Oaths and Vows pag. 127 XII Errours concerning Marriage Of their divers Rites and Ceremonies in Marriage pag. 131 VII Errours touching Extream Unction Of the Rite and Ceremony used by the Priest therein pag. 135 VI Errours concerning their Sacrament of Order pag. 137 VII Errours concerning Confirmation Their manner of administring the Sacrament pag. 139 Of their Corruptions in Worship pag. 144 Of their Latin Service pag. 145 Of praying for the Dead pag. 148 Of the Canonizing of Saints and the manner of Canonization pag. 149 Of Invocation of Saints of the several persons that are invocated in their Litany pag. 152 Of their Distinction of the two kinds of Worship Latria and Dulia 155 Of Image-Worship of the manner of Worship they give to Images Of the manner of making and way of Consecration of Images 157 Of the Image of the Cross 160 Of Reliques XII errours and abuses noted in the Papists by Chemnitius with divers other things 163 Of the Vigils annexed to Festival-days 172 Of their Wax-Candles and Tapers 173 Of their Holy Water 175 Of their Pilgrimages 177 Of the Agreement between Paganism and Popery shewed in Three and Twenty particulars 181 Of the Papists imitating the Jews and Pharisees shewed in Ten particulars 205 How the Church of Rome now varieth from the old Church of Rome shewed in Twenty particulars and how the Doctrine of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is contrary to the Doctrine of the present Church of Rome THE ANATOMY OF POPERY CHAP. I. THat all men may take a full view of the Papacy and see how it hath encroached upon Heaven and Earth let us consider the Fraud that hath been used by the See of Rome by bringing in Corruptions in matter of Doctrine and Worship Popery is not a single Heresie like that of â—utyâ—hes Arius or Nestorius but a System of Heresies and a common sink of abominable Errours and therefore called Ἀπστασία a general revolt Their Errours about the Scripture are 1. Vid. Turnb Tetrag c. 2. That the Church doth regulate the Scripture and is not regulated by it so making the Church the Rule of Faith That the holy Scriptures are not the only and whole Rule of our Faith and Life in all matters necessary to Salvation 2. That the Church hath Authority to alter as well the things contained in holy Scripture as those that are delivered in the Church by Apostolical Tradition yea the Papists affirm that it is in the power of the Church to alter that which God commandeth in Scripture that is to make Commandements contrary to Gods Commandements And they are divided in the main viz. what this Church is which is the infallible Judg Bâ—xters Sate Religion whether it be the present Church or the former Church whether it be the Pope only at least in case of difference between him and his Council or whether it be a general Council although the Pope agree not as the French and Venetians say yea whether it be the Clergy only or the Laity also that are this Church 3. Bellarm. l. 3. c. 3. They also assert that it is lawful to allegorize Scripture both in the Old and New Testament 4. Ecchii Enchirid. loc de authorit Eccles Pigg l 1. de Hierarch â—ccl s That the Pope is the supreme Judg of all Controversies and that the Scripture hath no authority in respect of us but what is granted to it by the Church For adding some Books to the Scripture which were not from the beginning The Papists being bold upon the Decree of the Council of Trent will that among these the Books of Tobit Judeth Wisdom Ecclesiasticus the first and second of Macchabees should be Canonical likewise the Additions to Esther Baruch with the Epistle of Jeremiah and the Additions to Daniel these they call δευτεÏοκανονικοὶ Canonical in a second degree 5. Stapl. tâ—n l. 3 c. 36 That the Canon of Scripture is imperfect wanting many Divine Revelations therefore some Books have been received as Canonical at one time and not at another some some have been received as Canonical in some Churches not in other Vid. Downham 6. They prefer the Faith and Judgment of the Church of Rome which they say is the internal Scripture written by the hand of God in the heart of the Church before the holy Scripture 7. Bellarm. de verb. Dei l. 1. c. 2. That unwritten Traditions are to be equally believed and to have as great authority as the Scripture that Traditions which they call the unwritten Word are the Rule of Faith 8. They contend that the Customes and unwritten Opinions of the Church of Rome are most certain Apostolical Traditions 9. Blondel Dalaeus They number the Popes Decretal Epistles with the holy Scriptures when yet it is most cleerly proved by Blondel in a just Volume that abundance of them are forgeries and Dalaeus proves it particularly of the Clementines 10. Wide Downham Catal. They say it is Heresie for any to say that it is not altogether in the power of the Church or Pope to appoint Articles of Faith 11. That the Scripture is not sufficient for the refuting of all Heresies as if there were any Heresiebut what is against Scripture 12. Id ibid. That the Church is ancienter than the Scripture that is than the Word of God which is now written because it is ancienter than the writing of it as if it were not the same Word of God which was first delivered by voice that is now in writing 13. That it is not necessary nor convenient for the common People to read the Scriptures but rather dangerous and hurtful 14. That the translating of the Scriptures into vulgar Languages is the fountain of Heresies and they that do it deserve ill of Christian Religion 15. That the Hebrew Copy of the Old Testament the Greek of the New Testament is not authentical 16. Bâ—llaâ—me de verbo Dei l. 3. That the Scriptures are very obscure and hard to be understood even in things necessary 17. That it belongeth not to all the faithful to search into the meaning
a peculiar form of sanctifying it dipping therein as Athenaeus tells us a firebrand taken off from the Altar whereupon they offered their Sacrifices So likewise have they a peculiar manner of making this exorcising the salt first then the water and after that both of them being mixed together which being done both the Papists and the Gentiles do think that it purgeth away sins Of the Papists imitating the Jews and Pharisees in many things 1. THe Pharisees boasted of Moses's Chair as the Church of Rome doth of that of S. Peter and of an imaginary succession 2. The Pharisees were strict maintainers of Traditions and unwritten Word as the Papists are These were strict burdens they laid upon the people Matth. 15.4 They perswaded the people that these Traditions were as necessary as the Scriptures The Jewish Rabbines affirm that during the forty days that Moses was in the Mount Sinai to learn the Law Almighty God taught him in the day-time Sepher Thorah the Book of the Law and by night for want of Candle-light the Law not written or orales Traditiones oral Traditions which they call Simanim and the Thorah without this they say is imperfect And this as well as the Law written Chemnit haâ—mâ—n Eâ—aâ—g ca. 79. they say was delivered by God himself to Moses by Moses to Joshua by Joshua to the Elders of Israel by them to the Prophets from the Prophets to a great Council whose Register and chief Notary they say was Esdras the Scribe who as they affirm committed many of them to writing and gathered them into seventy two Books which they kept till their City and Temple was destroyed and themselves dispersed Afterwards one Rabbi Judas Ben-Simon an holy man as they say having saved that Book gathered the Sum of it into one Book whence afterwards all the Talmudists and Cabbalists took their ground The Papists borrow their esteem of unwritten vanities and traditions from the Jews they tell us they have many things by Tradition from the Apostles themselves who taught them viva voce when they bring never a word out of the Scriptures for the confirmation of them 3. The Scribes taught that children might neglect their duty to their Parents under pretence of a religious Corban that is that whosoever should be liberal toward their Treasury in the Temple and offer freely with this protestation that he meant it not only for his own good but also for his Parents should herein sufficiently discharge his duty to his Parents and owe them no other Service so that by this means it may seem they provided well for their own purses and exempted Children from those duties towards their Parents which the Commandment of God tyed them to perform So do the Papists allow Children to give their Means to Monasteries though their Parents starve for want of maintainance 4. The Jews boasted of the Temple of the Lord crying up the Temple of the Lord and in the meantime profaned it by an evil life Jer. 7. The carnal Jews were much affected with pomp in matters of Religion and many of them men of dissolute lives So it is among the Romanists in those Cities and Countries wherein is most wickedness of life there is also most cost in the Temples and most publick superstitious worshipping of God and the Saints What stately Churches Chappels and Cloisters are in Rome what Fastings what Processions what appearances of Devotion and yet on the other side what Whoredomes Sodomies and Profanations are committed in it so that it was the saying of a certain Frier that there were more Atheists in Rome than in any other City in the world But no where doth sin and wickedness so abound as in Mexico and yet no such people in the world toward the Church and Clergy who in their life-time strive to exceed one another in their gifts to the Cloisters Nuns and Friers some erecting Altars to their best devoted Saints worth many thousand Duckets others presenting Crowns of Gold to the Virgin Mary others Lamps others Gold-chains others building Cloisters at their own charge others repairing them others at their death leaving to them two or three thousand Duckets for an annual Stipend 5. The Jews boasted that their Prophets and Priests could not err saying Jerem. 18.18 The Law shall not err from the Priest and the Council from the antient This is also the boasting of the Church of Rome that the Pope as Pope cannot fall into errour and that the Church of Rome cannot err 6. The Pharisees used vain repetitions in Prayer after the manner of the Heathen thinking to be heard for their much speaking for which our Saviour taxeth them Mat. 6.7 repeating the same things over and over again not out of affection but out of affectation The same doth the Church of Rome repeating the same Prayers while they turn their Beads and binding themselves to a certain number of reiterated words The Pharisees preached Justification by the Works of the Law and the Jews were forestalled with that Doctrine which made S. Paul so careful to confute that Errour in the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians establishing Justification by Faith without the Works of the Law In this the Papists agree with them teaching Justification by Works 8. Our Saviour taxeth the Scribes and Pharisees for their Hypocrisie They pretended great love to the antient Prophets Matt. 23.29 whom their fore-fathers had persecuted and slain and to shew this they used both words and actions They professed that if they had lived in the days of their fore-fathers they would not have joyned with them in their persecution and murther of the Prophets They bestowed cost in adorning the Sepulchres wherein they were entombed But now in the mean-time they hated to death and bitterly opposed Christ then living among them to whom all those Prophets bear witness Thus may you see in the Papists their bitter hatred against the Preachers of the Gospel together with their pretended love to the ancient Doctors their proud conceit of Merit with their glorious outward Performances their gross Idolatry covered under a shew of much reverence to the Saints 9. The Jews were most strict in matters of smallest moment they would pay Tythe of Mint Annis and Cummin but neglected the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith Math. 23.23 So doth the Church of Rome exactly observe distinction of meats and amuse the people about a thousand petty Ceremonies of Candles Pilgrimages Crossings c. and let Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost stand by unsaluted yet therein doth the Kingdome of God consist Thus the superstitious Priests among the Jews made no scruple to hire a Traitor to suborn false Witnesses to Apprehend to Bind to Smite to Scourge to Blaspheme to Condemn the Innocent Lamb of God and to Crucifie the Lord of glory yet made great Conscience not to step over the Threshold into the Judgment-Hall of an Heathen-Judg lest forsooth they should be defiled
Altar after Consecration is not only the Sacrament but also the true Body of our Lord Jesus Christ And that not only the Sacrament but the Body of the Lord is sensually and in truth handled by the hands of the Priest broken and bruised by the teeth of the faithful In the year 1076. Pope Gregory the seventh called a Council to Rome where among many Articles these three Points were resolved and determined That there is no other name under Heaven but that of the Pope That no Book is Canonical without the Popes Authority That all Kings must kiss the Popes Feet The first point attributes unto the Pope that which is attributed unto Jesus Christ alone exclusively to all others Act. 4.12 The second declareth that the Gospels and the Books of the Prophets and Apostles are not to be received unless the Pope approve them by his authority The third attributeth unto the Pope an honour which Jesus Christ and his Apostles never asked or looked for but they have been subject to Emperours have paid them tribute and have appeared before their Judicial Seat neither did they ever give their Feet to any man to kiss In the year 1215. Pope Innocent the third assembled a Council at Rome in the Lateran Church where it was thus resolved If the Temporal Lord care not to satisfie within the year let it be made known to the Soveraign Prelate that from that time he declare his Subjects absolved from his subjection and expose his Country to be seized upon by Catholicks that they may extermine Hereticks In that decision of the Council there are sour pernicious errours as my Author observâ—th 1. The first is an usurpation of the Pope approved by the Council whereby he disposeth of the Temporals of Princes as if the disposition of them belonged to him and divesteth them of their Lands and Dominions without the authority of Gods Word and without any example of the antient Church 2. The second Errour is that it makes ecclesiastical censures which are spiritual corrections to become temporal punishments as if a Priest to lay a penance upon a sinner would cut his Purse or rob him of his Cloak or put him out of his house 3. The third Errour is that this Canon absolveth Subjects from the Oath of Allegiance which they have sworn to their natural Prince and teacheth them to be perfidious and dissoyal with a good Conscience though against the Word of God which saith Thou shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths Matt. 5.33 though it were to thine hurt Psal 15.4 And against the Rules and Examples of the Apostles who have commanded Christians to pay tribute and to be subject to Princes and higher Powers although Princes were Pagans and persecutors in those days Rom. 13.1 2. 1 Pet. 2.13.14 4. The fourth Errour is that in the same Council they preach murther and massacre and set on the people to extermine those whom they call Hereticks which is not only against the Law of God but against that of Nations for even Pagan Princes never permitted their Subjects to fall upon their fellow-citizens and massacre them As for recovering the holy Land at the end of that Council there is a Papal Bull but with approbation of the Council There a Commandment is made to all that belonged to the Croisado to meet in Sicily to begin that journey in July to perswade the people to undertake that voyage the Pope by the Councils autority speaks thus To all that will bear that labour in their own persons and at their charges we grant full remission of their sins of which they shall have contrition and repentance and in the Retribution of the Righteous we promise them in Paradise an Augmentation of eternal Salvation What was that Pope and what that Council that could promise to Souldiers a degree in Paradise above the common sort especially seeing the Pope and his Prelates were not themselves sure that they should never go into Hell But let us hear the rest But to them that will not go in that voyage in their own persons but only shall send fit men according to their means we give full remission of their sins Finally the same Bull with approbation of the Council denounceth to all that will refuse and not care for this Commandment that they shall answer him in the last day of Judgment before the terrible Judg. As if the Pope must then be an Assessour of the Judg or as if he must condemn sinners in the day of Judgment In the year of our Lord 1300. Pope Boniface the eighth instituted the Jubilee every hundredth year in which they that come to Rome for their great pardons should get full more full and most full remission of sins That liberality is fetched from the Churches Treasury wherein the Pope lays up the overplus of the satisfactions of Jesus Christ and the Saints of which Treasure the Pope is the Keeper and the Steward converting them into a payment saith the forementioned Author for those that visit the Roman Stations The following Popes being moved with a fatherly compassion to the people have brought the Jubilee first to every fiftieth year and then to every twentieth year It cannot be said what a Mass of Wealth that Jubilee brings to the Pope and to the Inhabitants of Rome by the Offerings and the Sojournings of Strangers that then flock to Rome from all parts The Satisfaction of Jesus Christ being sufficiâ—nt for the sins of the whole world it is an outrage offered to him when to his sufferings other satisfactions are added as that of Saints and Monks to satisfie the Justice of God for the pain due to our sins By this means they will have God to take two payments for one debt But their second payment is sufficient seeing no man can satisfie for the sins of another and we learn of the Apostle that every man shall bear his own burden Besides those Saints and Monks whose satisfactions the Pope will apply unto others were sinners and had need that Christ should satisfie for them so far they were from satisfying for others and for those for whom Christ hath fully satisfied I pass by the palpable Errour whereby it is pretended that the Saints have suffered more pains than their sins deserved since there is no man be he never so holy but stands in need that God forgive him his sins No man but deserveth eternal death if God deal with him according to the rigour of his Justice The same Pope Boniface the eighth attributeth to himself the Power over the Temporal and Spiritual of all the world which he proveth by Texts of Scripture rarely applied We are taught saith he by the words of the Gospel that unto the Power of the Church two Swords are belonging the Spiritual and the Temporal for the Apostles having said here be two Swords that is here in the Church the Lord did not answer the Apostles it is too much but it is enough Certainly he that
hundred years we were never exempted from civil Wars Here many of our sacred Kings have been deposed and murthered by their near Blood and Kindred how much innocent Blood was shed for the space of five years in Queen Marys days and how many Popish Conspiraces were there in Queen Elizabeths days And this addeth exceedingly to his wickedness that the Pope pretendeth to be a common Father of Christians and the Vicar or Deputy of Christ and under this mask acteth so mischievously against Christ and Christians Other Errours are of the Papists concerning the Church That there are no Catholicks but those of the Roman Church That he is a Catholick who believes all that the Roman Church delivereth whether it be written in the Bible or not That there is no Salvation out of the Roman Church That the sincere preaching of the Gospel and lawful administration of the Sacraments Bp. Downham Caâ—al are not a certain note of the Church That to acknowledg the Roman Pope and to be under him as the Vicar of Christ the only Pastor the Head of the whole Church is a note of the true Church That the particular Roman Church is the Mother Mistress and Lady of all Churches yea the Mother of Faith That the Roman Church did obtain this Primacy from our Lord and Saviour himself That the Roman Church hath power of judging all neither is it lawful for any to judg her Judgment That the Roman Church as it cannot err much less can it fail That there is no sure ground for the authority of the Scriptures but the infallible testimony of their Pope and Catholick Roman Church But the true Church must be discerned by the Scripture and not the Scripture by the Church unless a man would in the dark seek to find out the candle by the candlestick whereas he should rather seek out the candlestick by the light of the candle for the Church is as the candlestick and the Scripture as the light or candle Finally the Papists assert that we are to be subject to the Church without limitation So when in the maintenance of their Opinions they are beaten off from the Scripture they fly to the Church and make use of its authority which is with them in effect the Pope whom they make the Head of the Church and whose Sentence among them giveth all force and authority to that which the Church is said to define Howsoever the Church doth but signifie such a Society as consisteth of Men and Women and therefore set the Pope aside to be absolutely subject to the Church what is it but to be the Servants of Men which Saint Paul forbiddeth and presseth his Prohibition with an argument drawn from the precious Blood of Christ the price of our Redemption And therefore when once Cochlaeus a Champion of Popish Superstition speaking for the gross Idolatry of worshipping Images used this reason Quod Mater Ecclesia hâc in parte audienda esset cui hoc visum fuisset that our Mother the Church herein is to be obeyed whose pleasure it is that Images should be worshiped Brentius a learned Divine is said to have answered Quid si Pater diversum praecipiat what if our Father forbid it no Command of our Mother the Church on Earth can bear us out if our Father which is in Heaven speak the contrary And therefore in yielding obedience to the Church we must except our duty to God and obey her no farther than her commands are allowed by him much more must we reject the tyrannical and presumptuous Mandates of the Whore of Babylon pretending her self to be the Spouse of Christ wanting that authority which belongeth to the Church and yet still challenging far more than the Churches right A great misery of so many millions of poor wretched souls it is to be thus enslaved and a most cursed practice it is of those who go about to bring them again into such Antichristian bondage who now are out of Babylon But among all other Papists how desperately wicked are the Jesuits and how slavish swearing absolute obedience to the General of their Society binding themselves by Oath to do whatsoever he commandeth them Vide Gages Survay of 〈◊〉 Wâ—st Indies without exception though it be to murther Kings and blow up Parliaments with Gunpowder and any such like villanies Of the Members of the Church THe Members of the Church considered severally are The Clergy The Laity Their Errours are 1. That to make a Member of the Catholick Church Bp. Downham Caâ—â—aâ— there is not required Grace or any internal vertue but a profession of Faith is sufficient 2. That the Clergy are not held under civil Laws by any coactive but only directive Bond that is that the Clergy are not subject to the civil Magistrate 3. That Clergy-men are not bound to keep and observe the positive Laws of Princes if they be contrary to the Canons of the Church neither ought they to be cited before the civil Magistrate for any cause or to be judged by him It is absurd saith Bellarmine that the sheep should judg the Shepherd 4. That the goods of the Clergy both ecclesiastical and secular are free from the Tribute and Taxe of secular Princes 5. That the election of Bishops dependeth upon the Pope and that they all receive Jurisdiction from the Pope 6. That single life is always joyned to holy Orders by divine right that Marriage in the Clergy is a greater sin than Whoredom 7. That men are to be prepared for holy Orders by the first shaving 8. That the Clergy-men of the first Order are Priests properly so called which they say are instituted to offer an external and real Sacrifice 9. That preaching is not necessary to the Priesthood and in the Roman Church the greatest part of Priests do not preach They must have some other Charge or Commission besides the Priesthood for to be Preachers 10. There is that which they call Irregularity that which hinders a man from being capable of the holy Orders or performing the Functions belonging thereunto after they have received them Ignorance maketh not a man uncapable of holy Orders Some of their Bishops could not read 〈…〉 l. 1. c. 61. but they give them a co-adjutor for they hold that a man may serve God by an Attorney Yea they confer the sacred Orders upon Infants in the Cradle as Cardinal Tolet the Jesuit teacheth No man can receive nor exercise the Priesthood that hath any notable defect in his Body especially if he hath lost one of the Fingers wherewith they handle the Host That man is irregular also that hath had two Wives An Hermophrodite is not irregular provided that the virile Sexe do prevail as Emanuel Sa in his Aphorisms teacheth Item that man is irregular that hath cut off a member from any other man An Heretick also though converted is uncapable of Orders his Children likewise and his Childrens Children yet in this nevertheless the Pope gives
or their Bishop because they are the Princes of the people of God to whom it belongeth to distribute the common Goods of the Church 5. That the power of Order is not necessary to give Indulgences but the power of Jurisdiction only and therefore the Pope or Bishop may grant Indulgences though they be not in Orders 6. Neither is this power of Indulgences lost by any deadly sin Of the Disposition required to be in them that receive Indulgences 1. THe Papists say that Indulgences Dâ— Willet Controv. may be granted to a sinner and for such works as are done while he is in the state of sin as if a sinful man do contribute toward the recovering of Jerusalem 2. Yet a man cannot perceive the fruit of such Indulgences unless he be in the state of Grace 3. If the good work enjoyned to be done be accompanied or joyned with venial sin it hindereth the fruit of Indulgence 4. That he that will receive benefit by these Indulgences must confess and be truly penitent 5. He cannot enjoy the Indulgence that doth not perform all the works that are enjoyned 6. That Indulgences may be profitable to those that will not though they can satisfie for themselves but do rest in the satisfaction of others How the Papists hold that Indulgences are profitable for the dead 1. THat the Praiers of the living and other works by way of impetration profit the dead ergo the same works being also satisfactory do also benefit them by way of satisfaction 2. That the faithful departed make one Body and one Church with the faithful living therefore say they the satisfactions of the living may be applied to the dead 3. As to the manner how Indulgences are applied to the dead some of them affirm that the Pope may judicially absolve the Souls in Purgatory and that they do belong unto his Jâ—â—â—â—diction and so he may extend 〈◊〉 indulgences to them as unto the living Some say that Indulgenâ—â—◠〈◊〉 profitable to the dead after 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ner of the suffrage of the Câ—â—â—â—â— as the Praiers of it do 〈◊〉 by way of merit impetration satisfaction so Indulgences are granted to the dead as they are satisfactory and so after the manner of a suffrage as it is satisfactory Some of them think that Indulgences do profit the dead of condignity and worthiness 4. They hold that Bishops and other inferiour Prelates cannot apply Indulgences to the dead but only the Pope 5. That Indulgences directly belong to the living indirectly to the dead no otherwise than as the living do perform the works enjoyned for the dead 6. That Indulgences do not profit the dead in common otherwise than as they rejoice one for anothers good but only those Souls are delivered thereby to whom they are particularly intended 7. That the Pope may release unto a man living the pain of Purgatory which otherwise he were subject unto But when the Papists have cast up their accounts they shall find that neither Purgatory nor Pardons will serve their turn their summa totalis will be Christ crucified As for Indulgences and Popes Pardons the antient Councils were never of Council with them the old Fathers never favoured nor so much as savoured them Their Errours concerning Fasting VVE are so far from condemning of Fasting which is so often recommended in Scripture and joyned with Praier that as Praier sanctifieth the Fast so the Fast may add heat unto Praier and bring down the insolency of the Flesh Sobriety preserveth Chastity bridleth Lust and is a help to Watchfulness Our complaint of the Roman Church about Fasting is 1. That she hath changed Fasting into a distinction of Meats They place their Fasts not in Sobriety or Temperance in Meat and Drink neither in a total abstaining from all Meat and Drink for a certain time which was used of the Antients but in abstinence from Flesh and white Meats 2. They put Fasting among Merits and Satisfactions of an exercise of Humility making an occasion of Pride 3. The Pope hath taken this occasion to raise his Empire to set a Rule to the Markets to the Kitchins to the Bellies reserving to himself the authority to dispence having to that effect multiplied Fasting-days to that number that they are more than one quarter of the year taking upon him to give Laws to the universal Church whereas in old time Bishops gave Orders every one in his Diocess without any dependance upon the Prelat of Rome as Doctor Du Moulin noteth 4. That of sins against Gods Law as Fornication Stealing and Lying the least Priests can give the Absolution but eating a bit of Flesh in the holy Week is a sin for which a man is sent to the Bishop or to the Penitentiary And they account that man to commit a more heinous crime who should taste Flesh upon the days forbidden than he that should be taken in Adultery or other wickedness And in Italy and Spain men are in greater danger for tasting Flesh upon the days inhibited than for committing capital crimes 5. In the Roman Church he that hath eaten his belly full of Fish is accounted to have fasted but he that for want of other meat hath eaten a little Flesh is thought to have violated the Fast 6. They lay a strait Yoke upon mens shoulders charging them under pain of damnation to keep their Fasting-days making it deadly sin yea Heresie to transgress them as one Lawrence Staple was persecuted anno 1531 because in Lent having no Fish he did eat Butter and Cheese 7. There are many Mockeries in their Popish Lent-fast 1. They permit most delicate Fishes to be eaten which are more dainty than any Veal or Mutton such as are Pikes Trouts Salmonds Gudgeons Lampreys Oysters c. These use to be Dainties many times in the more costly Banquets of rich men perhaps of Noble Personages The use of these and the drinking of choice Wines are a fit means forsooth to tame the Flesh 2. And that these Hypocrites may seem to fast till evening they sing their Even-song at Dinner-time that afterward they may freely banquet and take their repast as if God did not know the hour of the day but by their Service and Singing 3. In the evening they make a Collation so they call it with divers delicate Sawees Confections Spices Almonds and Wine and in the mean time they bear the World in hand that they fast notably 8. In the Roman Church one man fasteth for another as if a Judg ought to release a Fellon because his Brother hath not dined as a learned man noteth 9. That the Penances of Fasting imposed on a sinner are redeemed with Money and that corporal pains are changed into pecuniary 10. That this opens a wide Gate unto Traffique so far that the Book called the Taxation of the Apostolical Chancery puts a certain price to the Letters of such Dispensations in these Words That a Lay-man may not be obliged to fast upon the days to which he is
Sacrament of Orders they say is to imprint a certain indelible character and mark in him that is ordained which can neither by Sin Apostasie or Heresie be blotted out and therefore a Priest once ordained can never lose his Orders or become a Lay-man again Their Errours concerning Confirmation 1. THat Confirmation is properly and truly a Sacrament it was so decreed in the Council of Trent 2. The Matter of this Sacrament they say is Oyl mixed and tempered with Balm first hallowed and consecrated by the Minister thereof and striked in manner of a Cross upon the forehead of him that is to be confirmed 3. As to the Minister of Confirmation the Papists are here divided Some think that the Bishop is so necessarily the Minister of Confirmation that it can in no wise be committed to Presbyters other of them are of opinion that it may be extraordinarily ministred by Presbyters But Bellarmine saith the Bishop is the ordinary Minister thereof 4. That by this holy Chrism smeered on the forehead the Holy Ghost is given for strength and corroboration against all our spiritual Enemies and to stand constantly in the Confession of our Faith even to death with great encrease of Grace And in this respect say they it giveth more abundant Grace in strengthening us against the Devil than Baptism doth 5. That he will never be a Christian that is not by Episcopal Confirmation chrismated 6. There are God fathers and Godmothers between whom and the Child that is confirmed by that Sacrament there is a spiritual Parentage begotten which hindereth Marriage and which also causeth the dissolution of Marriage notwithstanding the prohibition made by Jesus Christ forbidding the dissolution of Marriage unless it be for Adultery 7. That it ought to be celebrated Fasting 8. That it imprints an indelible character in the Soul 9. This Sacrament is administred in this manner Du Moul. Buckler of Faith p. 337. A Child is presented to the Bishop by a Godfather if it be a Son or by a Godmother if it be a Daughter The Bishop sits down washeth his hands layeth them upon his Breast saith certain Praiers by which he asketh or requireth the seven-fold Spirit Then he asketh the Godfather the Childs Name and dipping his right thumb in the sacred Oil which is called Chrism which they bring in a bottle whereon the Bishop breatheth to sanctifie it speaketh to the Oil saying Ave Chrisma I salute thee Chrism That done the Bishop anointeth the Childs forehead therewith in manner of a Cross saying Bellarm cap. 10. Signo te signo Crucis confirmo te Chrismate salutis in nomine Patris Fili. Spiritus sancti I mark thee with the sign of the Cross and confirm thee by the Chrism of Salvation in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost After that he gives the Child a blow on the Ear to strengthen him in the Faith then he kisseth it and having rubbed his thumbs with crumbs of Bread after many signs of the Cross by him made he commandeth the Godfathers and Godmothers to teach the Child the Creed the Pater noster and Ave Maria. While this is doing the Child if it can stand upright setteth his right foot upon the right foot of his Godfather or Godmother The action ended they bind the Childs forehead with a cloth and upon the Band put certain Golden Spangles in manner of a Cross and so the whole action is ended The Church of England retaineth that which is commendable in this custom where Confirmation is no other thing but a Profession which the Child having attained to the age of discretion maketh to keep the Promise which his Godfathers and Godmothers made in his name when he was baptized and answereth touching his Faith and Instruction which done he receiveth the Imposition of Hands and the Blessing of the Bishop which is not called by them a Sacrament The French Churches instead of that cause Children to be presented at Catechizing and to answer publickly touching their Faith before they admit them to the Lords Supper which is done with Praier that it will please God to extend his Blessing on them CHAP. III. THis is especially to be observed that their Errours are not only about many particular Points but about the fundamental Rule of Faith the holy Scriptures which makes the Disease the more dangerous and the cure more difficult Of their Corruptions in Worship NOw for their Corruptions in worship many are implied in their corrupt Doctrines for they that corrupt the purity of holy Ordinances do frame their Doctrines accordingly seeking to colour such abuses and refusing to reform their Corruptions by the Scripture They seek to wrest the Scripture and corrupt the Sense of it that they may seem to favour at least not to condemn their Inventions Of their Latin Service ALl that is spoken in the Church should be to edification 1 Cor. 14.6 but it is impossible to edifie by that which we cannot understand If we understand not our selves when we speak then we edifie not our selves if our hearers understand us not then we edifie not our hearers if neither of us understand then neither of us is edified I know what they plead for their Latin Service and their Latin Praiers that though it be a Tongue not commonly understood yet it is none of the strange Tongues that the Apostle speaks against for it is one of the learned Languages and besides it was dedicated to the use of the Church upon our Saviours Cross I answer that the Greek and Hebrew are learned Languages too and that they were dedicated upon our Saviours Cross as well as the Latin nay all Languages were as well and better dedicated to the use of the Church by the coming of the Holy Ghost than those by Pilat's writing upon our Saviours Cross It follows not because it was one of the learned Languages it is none of the strange Tongues for any Tongue not understood is to him that heareth it barbarous and strange not ob naturam vocis sed ob imperitiam as Chrysostome noteth on that place Against the use of all such the Apostle speaketh and sheweth that they be as Trumpets uncertainly sounding therefore they serve not for edifying in utiles sunt in quantum ignotae sunt they be unprofitable so far as they be unknown for we cannot say Amen to a Praier when we understand not the matter of a Praier I had rather speak five words saith Saint Paul to the understanding than five thousand in a strange Language Illud plus ostentationis habit iscud plus utilitatis there may be more ostentation on in that but there is more edification in this As it is the work of an Architect to build up an house so of Christians by spiritual endeavours to build up one another but that which is not for the understanding of Christians cannot be for the building up of Christians therefore of no use in the Church
denieth the temporal Sword to be in Saint Peters power doth not regard well the Word of the Lord who said Put up thy Sword into thy Scabbard And to prove that the Temporal of Princes is subject unto the Pope he alledgeth Jer. 1.10 See I have this day set thee over thee Nations and over Kingdoms And he will have that meant of the Ecclesiastical that is the Papal Power which he saith cannot be judged of by any because Saint Paul said The spiritual man judgeth of all things yet he himself is judged of no man Finally he concludes thus Whosoever then resisteth that Power ordained by God resisteth the Ordinance of God c. whereforewe declare say define and pronounce that it is of necessity to salvation to be subject to the Roman Prelate That venerable Pope hath found a proof of his Primacy in the first words of the Bible God in the beginning made heaven and earth These are Laws and Papal Ordinances pronounced with all the forms and inserted into the body of the Pontifical Decrees which to excuse from Errour one must want both conscience and common sense Anno 14.14 a Council was held at Constance to reform the Church in that Council three contending Popes were deposed of whom John the XXII was one for 71 Crimes among others for publickly denying the immortality of the Soul and maintaining that there was neither Paradise nor Hell To that Council J. Husse and Jerome of Prague were invited to defend their cause a safe conduct of the Emperour Sigismond was given them and Faith was sworn unto them that no harm should be done unto them But after some form of Disputation they were seized on and burnt alive And because the Emperour made a scruple to break his Faith the Council declared unto him that he was not bound to keep Faith with Hereticks for which purpose a Canon was made in this form This holy Council declareth that the safe conduct given to Hereticks or defamed for Heresie by the Emperour Kings and other secular Princes thinking thereby to turn them from their Errours with what Bond soever they be bound brings no prejudice to the Catholick Faith or to the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Neither can put any hindrance but that it may be lawful for a competent and Ecclesiastical Judg notwithstanding the foresaid safe conduct to make inquisition of the Errours of such persons and duly to proceed against them as much as Justice shall require if they obstinately refuse to renounce their Errours although they be come to the place of Judgment trusting to that safe conduct declaring that he that made that promise remains not obliged by it after he hath done that which lieth in him The same Council in the fifteenth Session makes an enumeration of the Errours of John Husse The nineteenth Errour for which he is condemned is for saying that the Popes and the Bishops Pardons avail nothing That Council declareth that the Popes Pardons serve a sinner although God hath not pardoned him which is putting the Pope above God since he pardoneth those that have offended God without Gods pardon and since the Popes pardons are in force though God approve them not The same Council takes away from the people the Communion of the Cup. They add that although Jesus Christ did after Supper institute the Sacrament under the two kinds yet the custom of giving to the people one kind only which is the Bread must be held for a Law and those that say the contrary must be driven away as Hereticks and grievously punished by the Inquisitors of heretical perversity In the year 1423. Martin the fifth held a Council at Siena where the same Indulgence was granted to them that would fall upon the Hereticks as to them that go to defend the holy Land Thus Remission of sins and Salvation is proposed as a reward of cruelty and popular fury as if the Pope had said because thou art a murtherer and a wicked man thou shalt have eternal life In the year 1440. the Council of Florence assembled by the authority of Pope Eugenius the fourth defineth and declareth in the last Session that the Roman Church can add to the Symbol and that the Pope hath the primacy over the whole world In the end of the last Lateran Council you have a thundering Bull against Luther who then began to preach there thirty nine Heresies are reckoned the seventh whereof is that the best penitence of all is a new life which yet is a choice sentence of the spirit of God Rev. 2.4 The twenty sixth Heresie of Luther mentioned in that Bull is this assertion It is certain that it is not at all in the power of the Church Pope to make Articles of Faith If this be an Heresie we may expect other Articles of Faith from the Pope and Christian Religion is not yet perfected since other Articles of the Christian Faith may be added such as we know not and such as the Apostles have never taught either by Word or Writing At last the Council of Trent came which having begun in the year of our Lord 1545 lasted 18 years In the fourth Session it was decreed that unwritten Traditions must be received with the same affection of piety and reverence as the holy Scripture That is that the Invocation of Saints the Distinction of Meats the Adoration of Relicks the Honour yielded unto Images the Consecration of Agnus Dei's and of blessed Beads together with many other things must be received with the like Piety Faith and Reverence as the Law of God and the Doctrine of our Redemption in Christ Jesus contained in the holy Scriptures The same Council cannot be excused of Errour for pronouncing in Session the fifth that the Concupiscence forbidden in the Law is no sin The same Council cannot be excused of Errour for decreeing that the Latin vulgar Version of the Bible should be the only authentical thereby authorizing a thousand depravations of the true original Text which are Hebrew and Greek yet since the time of the Council of Trent several Popes have caused that vulgar Version to be revised and have altered many things in it Salmeron the Jesuite endeavoreth to excuse that Decree of the Council speaking thus The holy Synod would oblige us to embrace that Latin Edition and follow it in all things yet not absolutely but upon condition that it be cleansed and re-purged from the Vices and Errours which are crept into it The same Council of Trent hath devised a crafty by-way to prohibit the reading of Scripture unto the people and many Prelates and Doctors in that Council were named and appointed to make an Index or List of Books the reading whereof must be prohibited Now the very first of these prohibited Books is the holy Scripture of which they say in the fourth of those Rules they have set before that Index that the reading of the Bible in the Language of the Country being indifferently permitted brings more harm than benefit
These few Proofs drawn out of the most authentick Rules of the Roman Church will be a pattern more than sufficient to shew to any man that is not resolved to lose himself and that seeks instruction that the Roman Church can err 4. Our Adversaries do devise many Notes whereby their Church is descried Driedo and P. a Soto would have three Hosius four Sanders six Michael Medina ten Cunerus twelve Bellarmine fifteen Socolovius twenty Doctor Favour chap. 4. one the true and oldest Antiquity But there are seven principal which they do most stand upon Antiquity Vniversality Succession Vnity the Power of Miracles the Gift of Prophecy Prosperity Of Antiquity THe Papists make great brags of the long continuance of their Church yea that they can shew the descent of their Church from Adam but they must come short of our Saviour Christ and the Apostles times by five or six hundred years for the most of the Opinions which they now hold The Romanists adulterate Antiquity because it is a Pearl of greatest price but a skilful Lapidary can soon espy the Alchymy it seemeth Gold yet is but brandished Brass it seems a Ruby one of the Stones in Aarons rich array or a Foundation of New Jerusalem where is no counterfeit but it is only a polished Garnet it beareth resemblance of a Diamond but it is digged out of Saint Vincents Rock as good as a Saint Martins Chain So many things are offered by the Papists for Antiquity which upon trial prove meer Novelty worse Vanity a plain Nullity The Roman Church in this point is intolerable for she boasteth of Antiquity but will not suffer the truth of her Doctrine to be examined she will have us to judg of the Truth by Antiquity whereas we ought to judg of Antiquity by the Truth and by Conformity to the Word of God which is the first Antiquity Anno 420. Zosimus Bishop of Rome challenged a prerogative above other Churches that it might be lawful to make appeals from other Churches to that See and to set the better colour upon it he falsly alleadged a Decree of the Nicene Council but there was no such thing found there wherefore it was decreed in the Council of Carthage at that time that none should appeal to Rome Boniface the third purchased of the wicked Emperour Phocas the Title of Universal Bishop Transubstantiation was first concluded against Berengarius anno 1062. under Pope Leo the ninth but not publickly enacted before anno 1216. under Innocentius the third The Dominick Friers were brought in at the same time Auricular Confession was brought in the year before under the same Pope Telesphorus brought in their Lenton Fast Calixtus instituted the four Ember Fasts Hyginus brought in Chrism It is easie to shew by whom every piece of their blasphemous Mass hath been patched together Marriage was first prohibited by Pope Nicholas the second Alexander the second Gregory the seventh The Communion in one kind forged urged and decreed in the Council of Constance not much above two hundred years agone The Church of Rome boasteth of Antiquity and yet as one saith brings new things every day she makes a shew of some old patched Clothes to make the world believe that she comes from far as the Gibeonites did but let a man examine her Doctrine by pieces he shall find she comes not from very far and almost all is new It cannot be proved that the antient Church in many ages after the Apostles excluded the people from the Cup or kept them from reading the holy Scripture or made Pictures of the Trinity or yielded veneration to the Images of Saints or call'd the Virgin Mary the Queen of Heaven or made mention of the Roman indulgences or of the power of the Pope to depose Kings and fetch Souls out of Purgatory c. In a word saith old Doctor Du Moulin as it is now another Doctrine so it is another Church because it is another Religion That true Antiquity is not of our Adversaries side 1. The Greek Church testifieth for the Grecians affirm that their Church is the Mother of the Roman Church and hath born the first prerogative in the orthodoxal verity The Syrians boast themselves to be the first Christians in the world because that St. Peter had his Seat seven year at Antioch before ever he went to Rome 2. The Eastern and Southern Churches do give the priority and priviledg of Antiquity unto the Church of Antioch before Rome Symmachus a Pagan Symmach writing to the Christian Emperours Valens Theodosius and Arcadius he desireth them to have a reverence for the Pagan Religion by reasonÌ„ of her Antiquity If saith he the length of time gives authority to Religion we must keep Faith to so many Ages and follow our Fathers who have so happily followed theirs Then he personates the old Pagan Rome thus speaking to the Emperours Good Princes Fathers of your Countrey respect my years unto which the pious Ceremonies have brought me permit me to use the Ceremonies of my Ancestors This Religion hath subjected the World unto my Laws these holy Services have beaten back Hannibal from the Wails and the Senones from the Capitol Have I been preserved unto this time that I should be rebuked in mine old age The Correction of old age comes too late and is injurious What could Ambrose and Prudentius answer who confuted that Epistle but that the Law of God is more antient than Numa Pompilius the Author of those Ceremonies and that all is new which is not from the beginning and that Errour cannot be authorized by the number of years Our Fathers received it of their Fathers August saith Cresconius sed errantes ab errantibus saith Saint Augustine Of Universality THe Papists say their Church is universal both in respect of time person and place it hath always been in the world and hath flourished in all Countries and Nations ergo it is the true Church That it is universal they first prove by the name of Catholick But if the name Catholick were an unchangeable mark or natural property of any real Church it should be of the Greek Church or Nation unto which the name of Catholick is prime and natural If the real property answering to this name had belonged to the Romish Church the Holy Ghost would have expressed it by a Roman Name and have called the Roman Church the Universal Church at least the Romanists should have called themselves Universals not Catholicks as the learned Doctor Jackson noteth It is easie to consider the vanity of this Assertion Jackâ—on de Eccl. that a Name should be an unseparable property proceeding of the nature of any reality But the Name of a Christian is a more honourable Title than the Name of Catholicks for this was used in the Apostles time Act. 11.26 and by the Apostles themselves allowed but it is not certain that the Name Catholick came from the Apostles Secondly they prove their Universality by the