receive them But if that Expression to thee will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven be to be understood as spoken to all the rest as well as to Peter why then should not all that was spoken as well what went before as what follows after tho spoken to St. Peter yet be common to all the Apostles There is saith Hillary one happy Rock of Faith which Peter confessed with his Mouth and again upon this Confession of Peter's is the Church built and not much after this Faith is the Foundation of the Church And after the same manner the other Fathers also Jerome Cyril and Bede say the Church is built not upon Peter but upon the Faith of Peter that is on Jesus Christ the Son of God whom Peter by an Heavenly instinct confessed Peter saith St. Augustin was so call'd from the Rock not the Rock from Peter nor did Christ say I will build my self upon thee but I will build thee upon me And Nicholas Liranus tho he is not always a good Author for you know in what Age he lived yet he rightly took this upon this Rock saith he that is upon Christ and therefore the Church cannot depend upon any man by reason of his Dignity and Ecclesiastical Power for many Popes have proved Apostates 28. IN what then is this Papal Authority placed In Teaching but they teach nothing in administring the Sacraments but they do not administer them in feeding but they feed none Now this is all the Power which Christ bestowed upon the Apostles Go ye said he into all the World and preach the Gospel c. hence forward ye shall be Fishers of Men and as the living Father sent me so I send you But as to these whither go they what do they teach what do they preach what do they fish for from whence go they or by whom are they sent their 's is nor Apostolick Authority but Pride and an intolerable Lordship usurped by Force and Tyranny None of us saith Cyprian calls himself Bishop of Bishops or compells his Partners to a necessitated Obedience by a Tyrannical Terror Seeing every Bishop may use his Liberty and Power according to his own Discretion as he cannot be judged by another so neither can he judge another And as the other Apostles saith he were the same which Peter was so all Bishops are endowed with this equal Partnership both of Honour and Power And St. Jerome saith greater is the Authority of the World than that of any City Why then do you produce to me the Custom of one City Why do you vindicate that Paucity from which this Pride arose against the Laws of the Church Where-ever a Bishop is setled whether at Rome or Eugubium whether at Constantinople or Rhegium he is of the same Worth and of the self same Priesthood the greatness of Riches and the Humility of Poverty makes not one Bishop superior or inferior to another And St. Gregory saith Peter was a principal Member in the Body John Andrew and James were the Heads of particular People and yet all of them are Members of the Church in one Head yea the Saints before the Law those under the Law and those under Grace and all those who make up the Body of our Lord the Church are to be accounted Members and no man ever yet desired to be call'd an UNIVERSAL 29. THIS is that Power which some men defend so stoutly in this Age so that whatever they think of the Popes Life or Religion yet they would have this Authority Sacred and untouched as if the Church of God could not be safe without it or as if without the Popes Will and Consent a Council could be no Council and that if the whole World should think contrary to what he doth it would be nothing And therefore when you see Sir that these things are thus ill managed you ought not to wonder that when nothing is now sincerely and truly acted in Councils our Men had rather stay at home than travail so far to no purpose to a Place where they are sure to lose their Labour and their Cause too 30. BUT Sir you say in the next place it is a Sin to change any thing in Religion without the Consent of the Pope and a Council Why Sir the very Popes themselves have changed almost the whole State of the Primitive Church without any Council and tho this is indeed a very specious and winning Proposition yet it is made a Cover and Defence for most foul Errors for they only seek to delay the Minds of Men with a tedious Expectation that by lingring and weariness they may take off their Edge and Keenness and so by degrees make them cast off all Hopes of a Reformation For what would they have the People of God be deceived err be deluded and involved in Error and in the Ignorance of God and be led into eternal Ruine and Destruction whilst the Pope calls a Council and the Abbots and Bishops meet debate settle things and then return home Is it not lawful for any of us to believe in Christ to prosess the Gospel to worship God rightly and truly to fly from Superstitions and Worship of Idols except these men please to give us leave In truth the state of the Church of God were very deplorable if in the midst of so many far spread gross blind foul apparent and manifest Errors so that our very Enemies themselves cannot deny them nothing could be done for her Relief without the Concourse of the whole World and a General Council or at least of such a Council as we cannot hope for with any certainty and the event of which if we now had it is much more uncertain When of old the Persians invaded Greece and began to destroy all before them and the Lacedemonians whose valour was then much famed amongst the Grecians and therefore it was but reasonable they should have been the first in the defence of their Country yet because they had an ancient Custom and a Superstitious conceit that had possessed them from the time of Lycurgus that it was ominous and unfortunate to begin a Martial Expedition at any other time than that of the full Moon therefore they sat still and suffered their Enemies to plunder and burn their Country whilst they were foolishly expecting that period of the Moon which was most opportune and fitting to begin their defence in But at last they bethought themselves and cried There is equal danger in the delay The safety of the Church is in danger the Devil like a ramping and a roaring Lyon goes about seeking whom he may devour simple men are easily drawn into the snare and tho they are very often touched with a Zeal for God yet out of Ignorance and Misperswasion they persecute the Son of God And as Nazianzen saith When they think they are in Arms for Christ they do really fight against him And the Bishops who ought in the first place to
is clear from all Histories and they themâ—elves cannot deny it that they are descendâ—â—d from Hagar yet as if they were the Children of Sarah the free Woman the Wife of Abraham they will needs for the Name and Race sake be call'd Saracens 21. SO the false Prophets in all times who â—pposed themselves to the true Prophets of God to Isaiah to Jeremias to Christ and â—is Apostles boasted of nothing so much as â—f the Name of the Church Nor did they so â—ercely persecute them and call them Doâ—erters and Apostles upon any other account 〈◊〉 much as because they departed from their Society and would not observe the Customs of their Ancestors And if we be obliged to submit to the Judgment of those Men who then governed the Church and will regard neither God nor his Word nor any thing else it cannot be denied but that the Apostles made Defection from the High Priests and Priests that is from the Catholicâ— Church and without and against theiâ— Wills innovated in many things which pertained to Religion and consequently werâ— rightly condemned according to the Lawâ— And so as they say Antaeus was to be lifteâ— by Hercules from the Earth his Mother beforâ— he could be conquered by him So our Aâ—â—versaries are to be lifted up from that Motheâ— of theirs the vain Pretence and Shadow 〈◊〉 the Church or else they will never yield 〈◊〉 the Word of God So as Jeremiah saith 〈◊〉 not so much boast that you have the Tempâ— of God with you that Conâ—idence is Vainâ—â— for these are saith he lying Words And thâ— Angel in the Apocalyps they say that they 〈◊〉 Jews but they are the Synagogue of Sathan Aâ— when the Pharisees boasted that they were 〈◊〉 the Stock and Blood of Abraham Chrâ—â— told them they were of the Devil their Fathâ—â— for you do not resemble Abraham your 〈◊〉 as if he should have said you are 〈◊〉 what you so much desire to be call'd 〈◊〉 impose upon the People by vain Titles anâ— abuse the Name of the Church to the Ruiâ— of the Church and therefore they ought 〈◊〉 the first place to prove this truly and plainâ— to us viz. that the Church of Rome as it 〈◊〉 now managed by them is the true and Oâ—â—thodox Church of God and that it agrees with the Primitive Church of Christ and his Apostles and of the Holy Fathers which Primitive Church we doubt not was the Catholick Church We indeed will readily grant that there is no cause why we should forsake their Society if we could once perswade our selves that Ignorance Error Superstition the Worship of Idols the Inventions of Men and they very often quite contrary to the Holy Scriptures did either please God or sufficiently promote our Salvation or if we could once believe that the Word of God were only written for some years and after that were to be abrogated or that the Words and Laws of God were intirely to be submitted to the Wills of Men so as whatever he saith or commandeth except the Bishop of Rome wills and commands the same too it were to be esteemed void and not spoken But in that we have departed from a Church whose Errors are attested and manifest and which has apparently departed from the Word of God and whereas we have not so much departed from her as from her Errors and that not turbulently and injuriously but quietly and modestly in all this we say we have done nothing contrary to Christ and his Apostles For the Church of God is not of that nature that it cannot possibly be darkned with any Spots or sometimes not need a Reformation for if it were so what need were there of all those Councils and great Meetings without which as Aegidius saith the Christian Faith cannot stand for saith he as often as Councils are intermitted so often is the Church left by Christ Or if there be no danger that the Church can take dammage what need is there of the insignificant as they have ordered the Matter Name of Bishops Why are they call'd Pastors if there be no Sheep that can go astray Why are they call'd Watch-men if there be no City that can be betrayed Why Pillars if there be nothing that can sink down into Ruine when not supported by them In the very beginning of the World the Church of God was begun and she was then instructed by a heavenly Word which God sent out of his own Mouth She was furnished with Ceremonies taught by thâ— Spirit of God by the Patriarchs and Prophets and so she was preserved and brought down to those times in which Christ shewed himself in the Flesh 22. BUT O immortal God! How ofteâ— was She in the mean time and how horrible darkned and diminished For where wâ—â— She when all Flesh had corrupted their waâ— upon the Earth Where was She when then was only eight Persons and not all those neither Chast and Pious whom God was pleaâ—ed to rescue out of a common Ruine and preserve alive in a general Destruction Wheâ— Elijah so bitterly and mournfully complain'd that he only was left of all the Earth whâ— did truly and rightly worship God Wheâ— Isaiah said the Silver of the People of God that is the Church was become Dross and the once Faithful City was become an Harlâ—â— and that in her from the Head to the Sole 〈◊〉 the Foot there was no soundness in her wholâ— Body or when Christ said that the House of God was by the Scribes and Pharisees turn'd into a Den of Thieves for the Church of Christ like a Corn-field if it be not ploughed and broken tilled and dressed instead of Wheat it will bring forth Thistles Darnel and Nettles And therefore God from time to time sent Prophets and Messengers and at last Christ himself to reduce the People into the right way and to restore the sinking Church to her former Strength and Beauty And now let no man say these things could only happen under the Law when the Church was under the Shadow and in her Infancy when Truth was covered with Figures and Ceremonies and nothing was yet brought to perfection when the Law was not written on the Hearts of Men but on Tables of Stone tho this Pretence is very ridiculous for there was then the same God the same Christ the same Spirit the same Doctrine the same Faith the same Hope the same Inheritance the same Covenant and the same efficacy in the Word of God And Eusebius faith that all the Faithful from Adam were indeed Christians tho they were not so call'd Let no man I say speak thus for St. Paul the Apostle found the same Errors and Defects under the Gospel in the highest Perfection and the greatest Light so that he was forced to write thus to the Galatians whom he had just before setled I am afraid of you least I have bestowed upon you Labour in vain and that you have to no purpose
whatever the Pope approves or disapproves we ought also to approve or disapprove and what the Pope allows no other man may disallow And another Flatterer who has lost all Modesty saith that altho the whole World should contradict the Opinion of the Pope in any thing yet it seems but reasonable to stand to the Iudgment of the Pope And another no less impudently saith it would be a sort of Sacriledge to dispute concerning an Action of the Pope who tho he is not a good man is yet ever presumed to be such And another more impudently The Pope saith he hath a Heavenly Will and therefore in those things which he wills his Will is instead of a Reason to him nor is there any man who may say to him why dost then act thus And that I may pass by many other things which might be alledged here because they are without number and at length come to a Conclusion Pope Innocentius the IX more impudently than any other useth these words This Judge the Pope may neither be judged by the Emperor nor by Kings nor by the while Chrgy nor yet by all the people O immortal God! how little is wanting of the Pride of Luciser I will ascend above the North and I will be like the most highest If all these things are true and the Popes have not belyed the World what need is there of a Council or if they will hold a sincere and free Council let all these things be condemn'd as dishonest and insolent Lyes and let them not only be laid aside as to the court and use of them but be razed out of all Books that the sum of Affairs may never more be left to the Will and Lust of one man and he too for many most just causes suspected But now on the contrary the Popes say they cannot err and that the Word of God is to be regulated according to their Prescription and besides all this before they enter upon their Papal Dignity they take an Oath that they will maintain the Faith of many late Councils in which all things are most fearfully depraved and they promise most religiously that they will not change any thing and therefore what wonder is it that no good is done by Councils that Errors and Abuses are not taken away that the Ambassadors of Princes are to no purpose call'd together from such distant places out of all Lands and yet I hear that there are some good men at this time who not well considering what they say tho they condemn the Pride of the Pope and his Persian State and Magnificence and his Epicurean Contempt of all Religion yet they would preserve for all that his Authority safe and intire and tho sometimes they confess him to be Antichrist yet for all that as soon as he ascends that Chair they do not question but he is the universal Bishop and the Head of the universal Church of Christ and here they please themselves as if the Holy Ghost were necessarily fixed to the Pope Court in the Adrian Mole but there is a Proverb that the Place doth not sanctifie the Man but the Man the Place And St. Jerome as he is cited by them saith they are not the Children of the Saints who hold their Places but those who imitate their good Actions for otherwise as Christ said the Scribes and Pharisees sate in Moses his Chair and he commanded his Disciples to acknowledge and submit to their Authority so far as they answered out of the Word of God What saith St. Augustin hath Christ said more here than that the Voice of the Shepherd was heard out of the Mouth of a mercenary Servant for sitting in that Chair they teach the Law of God therefore God teacheth by them but if they will teach their own things do not hear them do not do them for St. Paul saith Antichrist the Man of Sin shall sit in the Holy Place and therefore St. Jerome doth well admonish us thou dost attend St. Peter but then consider Judas thou submitest to Stephen but cast an Eye towards Nicholas as the same time Church Dignity doth not make a Christian Thus St. Jerome and certainly it is said that Marcellinus the Pope did sacrifice to Idols Pope Liberius was an Arrian Pope John the XXII was a Heretick in the point of the immortality of the Soul Pope John the VIII was a Woman and in her Popedom by a lewd Lust committed Adultery and in a Procession in the midst of the Pomp before the Eyes of the Bishops and Cardinals she brought forth a Child and Liranus saith that many Roman Popes apostized from the Faith of Christ and therefore we must not trust too much to Places Successions and vain Titles of Dignity The impious Nero was descended from Metellus the Pious and Annas and Caiaphas succeeded to Aaron and an Idol hath often been put in the place of God 26. BUT Sir I beseech you what is that vast Power and Authority that they so very insolently boast of Or from whence had they it from Heaven or from Men Christ say they said to Peter upon this Rock will I build my Church in these words the Papal Power is confirm'd for the Church of Christ is placed upon Peter as upon its Foundation but Christ in these words gave nothing to St. Peter apart from the rest of the Apostles neither did he here make any mention of the Pope or City of Rome Christ is that Rock Christ is that Foundation No man saith St. Paul can lay another Foundation than that which is already laid which is Jesus Christ 27. And St. Augustin upon this Rock saith he I will build my Church by the Words upon this Rock saith he is understood the Confession made by Peter saying thou art Christ the Son of the living God for saith he it is not said thou art a Rock but thou art Peter but the Rock was Christ And St. Basil upon these words upon this Rock that is saith he upon this Faith I will build my Church And the most ancient Father Origen the Rock saith he is every Disciple of Christ after he hath drunk of the Spiritual Rock which follows and upon every such Rock is all the Churches Doctrine built Now Sir if you will suppose that the whole Church is built only upon Peter what will you say of John the Son of Thunder and all the rest of the Apostles Or shall we dare to say that the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against Peter only but against the rest of the Apostles and Heads of the Church those Gates may prevail or rather is that Saying that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail to be understood of all and every one of them of whom it was spoken and so is that other Expression to be taken too upon this Rock will I build my Church And are the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven given only to Peter by Christ or was no other of the blessed Apostles to
Holy Fathers the Prophets the Apostles against St. Peter St. Paul and even against Christ himself 7. BUT now if they are so ambitious of the Honour of being thought polite and eloquent Slanderers it does so much the less befit us to be mute and careless in the Defence of our most excellent Cause for it is certainly the part only of dissolute Men who can securely and wickedly shut their Eyes when the Divine Majesty is injured to be wholly unconcern'd what is tho' falsly and unjustly said of them and their Cause especially when it is of that Nature that the Glory of God and the Affairs of Religion are at the same time violated for although other and those often very great Injuries may be born and dissembl'd by a modest Christian yet He saith Ruffinus who shall patiently put up the Name of an Heretick does not deserve to be called a Christian Permit us then to do that which all Laws and the very Voice of Nature commands us that which Christ himself did when he was in a like Case assaulted with Reproaches that is suffer us to repel their Defamations and with Modesty and Truth to defend our Cause and Innocence for Christ himself when the Pharisees charged him with Conjuration as if he had entered a Combination with impure Spirits and by their Assistance wrought many Wonders replied I have not a Devil but I honour my Father and ye do dishonour me and St. Paul when he was undervalued by Festus the Proconsul as a Mad-man answered I am not mad most noble Festus but speak forth the Words of Truth and Soberness And the Primitive Christians when they were traduced to the People as Murtherers Adulterers Incestuous Persons and Disturbers of the Government and saw that the Excellence of their Religion might be call'd in question especially if they held their Peace and by their Silence seemed to confess the truth of these Accusations and so the Course of the Gospel might be hindered they thereupon made publick Orations wrote supplicant Books and discoursed before Emperors and Princes in the publick defence of themselves and the Chruch 8. BUT we perhaps may seem not to need any Defence so many thousands of our Brethren in the last twenty years having born testimony to the Truth amidst the most exquisite Tortures and Princes in endeavouring to put a stop to the Progress of the Gospel and to that purpose using several Methods having yet in the end been able to effect nothing and the whole World now beginning to open their Eyes and to see the Light and therefore it may seem as I said that enough hath been spoken and that our Case is sufficiently defended the thing speaking for it self for if the Popes themselves would or indeed if they could consider with themselves the Beginning and Progress of our Religion how theirs without any Resistance without any humane Force hath fallen and in the interim ours hath increased and by degrees been propagated into all Countries and hath been entertained in the Courts of Kings and the Palaces of Princes even whilst it was opposed from the beginning by Emperors by Kings by Popes and almost by all others these things I say are clear Indications that God himself sights for us and doth from Heaven deride and scorn their Projects and Endeavours and that the Power of Truth is so great that no humane Force nor the very Gates of Hell shall ever be able to prevail against it for so many free Cities so many Princes cannot be supposed mad as at this day have fallen from the See of Rome and chosen rather to joyn themselves to the Gospel 9. FOR although Popes have not as yet at any time been at leisure to think attentively and seriously of these things or although other Thoughts may now hinder and distract them or they may think these things light and beneath the Dignity of the Popedom is our Cause therefore to be thought ever the worse or if perhaps they will pretend not to see what indeed they do see and that they choose rather to oppose the Truth even then when they are convinced of it are we therefore presently to be reputed Hereticks because we cannot comply with their Wills If Pope Pius the IIII. had been such a Person as his Name speaks him and as he so much desires to be thought nay indeed if he had but been so good a man as to have esteem'd us as his Brethren or as MEN certainly he would diligently have considered our Reasons and what could have been alledged for and against us and not with so rash and blindfold a precipitancy have condemned without hearing our cause or allowing the Liberty of a Defence so considerable a part of the World so many learned so many Religious men so many Common-wealths so many Kings and so many Princes as he has sentenced in his Bull concerning his late pretended Council 10. BUT now because We are so publickly in this unjust manner noted by him left by our silence we should seem to confess the Crimes charged upon us and the rather because we could in no manner be heard in any publick Council where he would suffer none to have any Suffrage or propose his Judgment who was not first sworn to him and intirely addicted to his Interest for of this we had too great an experience in the last Council of Trent when the Ambassadors and Divines of the Princes and free Cities of Germany were totally excluded out of the Council nor can we forgot that Julius the III. above ten years since took a mighty care by his Rescript that none of our Men might be heard in the Council except it were one that was disposed to recant and change his Opinion For these causes I say we have thought fit by this Book to give an account of our Faith and to answer truly and publickly what hath been publickly objected against us that the whole World may see the Parts and Reasons of that Faith which so many good men have valued above their Lives and that all Mankind may understand what kind of men they are and what they think of God and Religion whom the Bishop of Rome has inconsiderately enough before they had made their Defence without Example and without Law condemn'd for Hereticks upon a bare report that they differed from him and his in some points of Religion 11. AND though St. Jerome will allow no man to be patient under the Suspicion of Heresie yet we will not behave our selves neither sowerly nor irreverently nor angerly tho' he ought not to be esteemed either sharp or abusive who speaks nothing but the truth no we will leave that sort of Oratory to our Adversaries who think whatsoever they speak although it be never so sharp and reproachful modest and apposite when it is applied to us and they are as little concern'd whether it be true or false but we who defend nothing but the Truth have no need of such base
not yet asswaged or the Sword diverted from the necks of the Christians in truth it is no wonder that Men are Men tho they are call'd Christians CHAP. IV. Containing an Account of the Rule Lives and Manners of the Popes and Papists who would seem to be the only Head and Members of the Holy Catholick Church BUT whilst these men so bitterly reflect upon us Why do they not sometimes think what they themselves are Are they who have so much leisure to attend what is done at a distance in Germany and England so forgetful or so blind that they cannot see what is done at Rome Are we to be impeach'd by them whose Lives are so dissolute as no honest modest man can without blushing tell their Story 2. WE do not now intend to bring to light all those Villanies which may much better be buried with them it becomes neither our Religion nor our Modesty and Shamefacedness and yet he that will needs be call'd the Vicar of Jesus Christ and the Head of the Church may easily consider with himself what those things are which he hears and sees and suffers to be done at Rome for we will go no further in giving an account what they are Let him make use of his own Memory Let him be pleased to consider that they are his own Canonists who have taught the People that simple Fornication is no Sin as if they had learned from the heathen Comedian this Doctrine that it is not a sin for a young Man to Whore Let him consider they are his own again who have determined that a Priest is not to be deposed for Fornication Let him remember that Cardinal Campejus Albertus Pighius and many others oâ— his Lawyers have taught that the Priest whâ— keeps a Concubine lives much more chastly and holily than he who has a lawful Wife I hope he hath not forgotten that there is at Româ— many thousands of publick licensed Whores and that he levies upon them yearly by way of Tax thirty thousand Duccats He can not forget surely that himself is a publick Pimp and from this base Profit doth as dishonorably and wickedly encrease his Revenues and Pleasures Were all things well and Holy at Rome when Pope Joan a Woman of a dissolute Life was the Head of their Church and when for two years she had in that Holy See prostituted her self to the Lust of others at lenght in a publick Procession in the sight of all the Cardinals and Bishops in the open Street she brought forth a Child 3. BUT why should we mention their Concubines and Pimping for these are common and publick Crimes at Rome and not unprofitable neither for the Misses there do not sit without the Gates with their Faces vailed and covered as in ancient times but they dwell in Pallaces and stately Houses and pass to and fro in the most publick Streets without Masks as if their Trade were not only Lawful but Honorable but why should I use many words their Lusts are sufficiently known to the whole Earth St. Bernard writes thus truly and freely of the Popes Family and of the Pope himself Your Court receives good Men sometimes but it makes none good Evil Men thrive there good Men are ruined And whoever he was who wrote the Tripartite Work which is commonly joyned to the Lateran Council he saith thus There is now so prrvailing a Luxury not only in the inferior Clergy and Priests but also in the Prelates and Bishops that it strikes Horror into the Hearers of it 4. BUT these things are not only usual and even for the sake of the Custom approved as most of their Vices are but they are now become so well known by their long use that they are putid ripe for Iudgment For who has not heard what Petrus Aloisius the Son of Paul the III. designed against Cosmus Cherius Bishop of Fano What Jo. Casa Arch-Bishop of Benevento the Popes Legate at Venice wrote of a Sin to be abhorred whilst with a Iewd Eloquence and abominable Words he commends what ought not to be named Who knows not that Alphonsus Diazius a Spaniard was sent from Rome into Germany of purpose to murther the most innocent and holy Man John Diazius his own Brother only because he had imbraced the Gospel and would not return to Rome which he accordingly did But they may pretend perhaps that such things as these are may sometimes happen in the best constituted Governments and that there is excellent Laws against them 5. Be it so But what Law passed upon these Pests Petrus Aloisius when he had attempted the Villany I have hinted at was ever after in the Bosom of Paul the III. his Father and his Joy Diazius after he had assassinated his Brother was delivered ouâ— of the hands of the Law by the Interposition of the Pope Johannes Casa Arch-Bishop of Benevento is yet alive and at Rome and live under the Eyes and in the Sight of his Holiness They have stain infinite numbers of our Brethren only because they truly and purely believed in Jesus Christ but then of that infinite number of Harlots Sodomites and Adulterers who have they at any time I will not say slain but excommunicated or so much as touched What are Fornications Adulteries Pimping Sodomy Parricides Incests and the like no sins at Rome or if they be why are they so easily born as it they were not Sins in the City of Rome that Bulwark of Sanctity and by the Pope the Vicar of Christ the Successor of St. Peter that most holy Father 6. O Holy Scribes and Pharisees to whom this Sanctity was never known O Sanctity and Catholick Faith St. Peter did never teach these things at Rome nor St. Paul live there at this rate They did not publickly exercise the Trade of Pimping they took no Tribute of the Whores they did not openly and freely tolerate Adulterers and Parricides they did not admit them into their Bosoms their Families their Councils nor into the Congregations of Christian Men. These Men ought not to have aggravated so much the Faults of our Lives it had been much better to have approved their own to the World or at least to have concealed them a little more from the Eyes of Men. 7. FOR as for us we retain and use our ancient Paternal Laws and administer Church Discipline seriously and diligently as far as we possibly can in so much Corruption of all things both as to Manners and Times we have no Stews nor Herds of Harlots and Concubines nor do we prefer Adulteries before Marriage nor do we exercise Pimping nor raise Money from Whore-houses neither do we suffer Incests and flagitious Lusts our Aloise's or our Casa's or our Parricidical murthering Diasio's do not go unpunished for if these things had pleased us there had been no occasion of separating from the Society of those Men where these rare things flourish and are in great esteem and so we had also
under Boniface the 8th when the Papal Power was at the highest about two hundred years before Huldericus Zuinglius began to preach the Gospel or indeed was born But from that time to this all things there have been in the greatest Tranquility and Quiet that was possible not only in relation to foreign Wars but intestine Commotions so that if it were a sin to deliver their Country from a foreign Dominion which oppressed them with great Insolence and Tyranny yet it is unjust and absurd to load the Reformation with the Crimes of others or them with those of their Fore-fathers 14. BUT O immortal God! Shall the Bishop of Rome accuse us of Treason Will he pretend to teach the People Subjection and Obedience to Magistrates Or has he any regard to Majesty Why then does he suffer himself to be call'd by his Flatterers the LORD OF LORDS which none of the ancient Bishops of Rome ever did as if he would have all Kings and Princes whoever they were and wheresoever be no better than his Vassals and Slaves Why does he boast that he is the KING OF KINGS and that he has the Right of commanding them as his Subjects Why does he force Emperors and Monarchs to swear Obedience to him Why does he boast that his own Majesty is seventy seven times greater than the Majesty of the Emperor and that forsooth because God made two great Lights in Heaven and because the Heavens and the Earth had not two several but one single Beginning Why have he and his Followers in that like the Anabaptists and Libertines shaken off the Yoke and exempted themselves from the Jurisdiction of all Civil Powers that they might with the greater liberty and security plague the World 15. WHY has he his Legats that is a crafty sort of Spies as it were in ambush in the Courts Councils and Chambers of all Kings Why doth he as his Interest requires set Princes at variance amongst themselves and at his pleasure fill the Earth with Seditions Why does he proscribe and take for an Heathen and Pagan whatever Prince withdraws himself from his Dominion and promise his Indulgences so freely if any man will by any means whatsoever assassinate his Enemys Doth he preserve Empires and Kingdoms or at all consult and desire the Publick Peace You ought O pious Reader to pardon us if these things seem a little more sharp and eager than becomes a Divine for so great is the Provocation so great and so impotent with all is the Ambition of the Popes that it cannot be expressed in other or milder Words For he had once the Insolence to say in a publick Council that all the Authority of all the Kings in the World depended upon him He out of Ambition and Desire to Rule distracted the Roman Empire and tore in pieces the Christian World he absolved the Italians and amongst them himself from the Oath wherein they were obliged to the Emperor of Greece with great perfidy and solicited his Subjects to revolt from him and call'd Charles Martell the Great out of France into Italy and after a new and till then unheard of manner made him Emperor He deposed Chilperick King of France an innocent Prince only because he did not like him and set up Pipin in his Place He would if he had been able have cast out Phillip the Fair another King of France and have adjudged the Kingdom of France to Albert King of the Romans He broke the Power of Florence tho his own Country which was then a most flourishing City and changing its free and peaceable State he delivered it up to the Lust of one man He made all Savoy to be torn in pieces by the Emperor Charles the 5th on the one side and Francis the First King of France on the other scarce leaving to the miserable Duke one City to shelter himself in 16. I am weary of Examples and indeed there is nothing more troublesome than to enumerate the great Actions of the Popes of Rome of this nature I pray of whose Party were they who poisoned the Emperor Henry the 7th in the Eucharist and they who did the same to Pope Victor in the holy Chalice Who exercised the same Art upon our King John of England in a common Table Cup whoever they were and of what Party soever this is certain they were neither Lutherans nor Zuinglians Who is it that at this day permits the greatest Kings and Monarchs to kiss his Feet Who is it that commands the Emperor to hold his Bridle and the King of France his Stirrup Who was it that cast Francis Dandalus Duke of Venice and King of Crete and Cyprus under his Table to gnaw the Bones with the Dogs who crowned Henry the 6th the Emperor at Rome not with his Hands but with his Feet and then with his Foot kicked his Crown off again adding that he had power to create Emperors and to depose them Who armed Henry the Son against Henry the 4th his Father and caused the Son to take his Father Prisoner and having shaven and treated him ignominiously to cast him into a Monastery where he pined away with Hunger and Sorrow who was it that trod insolently upon the Neck of the Emperor Frederick and as if this had not been a sufficient Affront subjoyned out of the Psalms of David Thou shalt walk upon the Asp and the Basilisk and shalt tread the Lion and the Dragon under thy Feet Where is there such another Example of despised and injured Majesty in all History except in Tamberlane the Scythian a fierce and a barbarous Prince and in Saphores King of Persia All these were Popes all of them Successors of St. Peter all most Holy Men whose Words were every one of them to be Gospel to us 17. IF we be guilty of Treason who reverence our Princes who submit to them in all things as far as the Scriptures will permit us what then are these Men who have not only done all these base things but have also extol'd them as generous Actions Do they thus teach the People to revere Magistrates or can they with any Modesty accuse us of being Seditious Men the Disturbers of the Publick Peace and Contemners of the Majesty of Princes For as for us none of us shake off the Yoke nor imbroil Kingdoms nor dispose of Empires nor do we reach Poison to our Kings nor put out our Feet to them to kiss nor do we insultingly tread upon their Necks No our Profession our Doctrine is this That every Soul whose ever it is whether it be a Monk or an Evangelist or a Prophet or an Apostle it ought to be subject to Kings and Magistrates and so the Pope himself except he affect to seem greater than the Evangelists Prophets and Apostles ought to acknowledge and call the Emperor his Lord as the ancient Popes in better times ever have done We publickly teach that
these as his own tho he would yet he cannot commit Simony But then how well or rationally this is spoken we poor Men cannot see or understand except as the ancient Romans served Victory so they have served Truth for when she once came flying to them they clipt her Wings that she might no more sly from them But what if Jeremias should tell them as we have observed above that these are lying Words And what again if he should say That many Pastors who ought to have dressed have destroyed my Vineyard What if Christ should say that those who should have taken the greatest care of the Temple have made the House of God a Dâ—n of Thieves For if the Church of Rome cannot Err she is more beholding to her own good Fortune than to their Prudence or Care for such are their Lives Doctrines and Diligence that if we are to take our Measures from thence this Church is not only in danger of falling into â—rror but of a total Ruine and Destruction And certainly if that Church can err which hath departed from the Word of God the Commandments of Christ the Institutions of the Apostles the Examples of the Primitive Church and from the Canons and Sanctions of the ancient Fathers and Councils yea and from her own too which will be obliged by neither old nor new Laws by neither her own nor any others by neither Divine nor Humane Laws I say if all this be to err then it is certain that the Church of Rome not only may err but that she hath most wickedly and lewdly erred 11. BUT they say we were once of their Communion but now we are Apostates and have departed from them indeed we have departed from them and we bless the Great and Holy God for it and please our selves mightily in it but then we have not departed from the Primitive Church from the Apostles from Christ we were educated indeed with them in darkness and ignorance of God as Moses was in the Discipline and bosom of the Egyptians We were of your Number saith Tertullian and I confess it but what wonder is there in that Men are made and not born Christians But then I may as well ask them why they have descended from the seven Hills on which the ancient City of Rome stood to dwell in the Plains in the Martian Field to which perhaps they would reply that the Aquaeducts without which they could not conveniently dwell on those Hills have failed Let them then but grant the same liberty in relation to the Waters of Life which they expect we should afford them in regard of the common Family-water The Springs did now fail with them The Elders saith Jeremiah sent their little ones to the Waters they came to the Pits and found no Water they returned with their Vessels empty they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads Or as Isaiah saith The Poor and the Needy seek Water and there is none and their Tongue faileth for thirst They had broken all their Conduits and Water-courses they had stopped up all the Springs and covered the Fountain of Living Waters with mire and mud and as Caligula by shutting up all the publick Granaries enjoyned the People of Rome to fast so they by stopping up the Fountains of the Word of God had enjoyned the People to undergo the Miseries of a destructive Thirst they have as the Prophet Amos saith brought upon the World a Famine Not a Famine of Bread nor a thirst for Water but of hearing the Words of the Lord. Miserable Men went searching about for a small spark of Divine Light to chear their Consciences but they were all gone out and they could find none this was the miserable Condition and State of their Church men lived wretchedly in it with out the Gospel and without Light or Conslation 12. AND therefore how afflictive soever our departure from them may seem to them yet they ought at the same time to consider how just the cause of it was for if they say in general it is not lawful to leave that Society in which thou wert educated this were in our Persons to condemn the Prophets Apostles and Christ himself for why is it not as reasonable to blame Lot for leaving Sodom Abraham for leaving Chaldea the Hebrews for leaving Egypt Christ for leaving the Jews and St. Paul for leaving the Pharisees For except it be granted that there may be a just cause of departure we can see no cause why these may not in the same manner as we are be accused of Faction and Sedition But if we are to be thought Hereticks because we will not obey all their unjust commands what are they Who or what are they to be thought who have contemned the Commands of Christ and his Apostles If we are Schifmaticks who have forsaken them by what name shall we call them who have forsaken the Greeks from whom they first received the Christian Faith the Primitive Church Christ and the Apostles who were their Spiritual Parents For the Greek Church who at this day profess the Religion and Name of Christ altho they have in many things contaminated it yet they still retain a great part of those things which they received from the Apostles And so they have no private Masses no maimed Sacraments no Purgatory nor Indulgences And as to the Papal Titles and magnificent Names they have this esteem of them that whoever calls himself the universal Bishop and the Head of the whole Church is a proud Man and injurious to all the other Bishops who are his Brethren nor will they scruple on this single account to call him Heretick 13. BUT now seeing it is apparent and cannot be denied that they have made a defection from them from whom they received the Gospel the Christian Faith and Religion yea and the very being of a Church what cause is there to be given why they should not return back to them as to their Original Why should they so much dread the times of the Fathers and Apostles as if they had seen nothing Why do they see more or love the Church better than they who delivered what they have to them for as for us we have forsaken a Church in which we could neither hear the pure Word of God nor administer the Sacraments nor invoke the Name of God as we ought which they themselves acknowledge to be faulty in many things and in which there was nothing to retain a prudent Man who thought seriously of his Salvation Lastly We have departed from a Church which is not now what anciently she was and so we have departed as Daniel did out of the Den of Lyons as the three Children did out of the fiery Furnace or to speak more properly we have not so much departed from them as been cast out by them with Execrations and Curses 14. BUT then we have united our selve to that Church in which if they would
against King John another of our Princes the Bishops and Monks and some part of the Nobility and absolved all his Subjects from that Oath of Allegiance they had taken to him and at last by the highest Impiety not only deprived him of his Kingdom but his Life and they wounded Henry the VIII a most noble Prince with their Curses and Excommunications and stir'd up against him sometimes the Emperor and sometimes the King of France and as much as in them lay exposed our Kingdom to be a Prey and a Booty to them like a company of silly men as they were to think so great a Prince would be frighted with Vizors and Rattles or that so great a Kingdom could be devoured at one mouthful and as if all this had not been enough they would needs make England a tributary Province and yearly most unjustly exacted a considerable Revenue out of it so much has the Friendship of the City of Rome cost us Now if they extorted these great Advantages from us by Impostures and ill Arts there is no reason why we should not by good Methods and Laws recover them back again but if on the other side our Kings induced by an Opinion of their simulated Holiness in the darkness of those times freely bestowed these things on them upon the account of Religion there is now very good reason that our latter Kings having discovered the Error of their Ancestors should take them away again they being possess'd of the same Power with the former Kings for every Donation becomes void when it is no longer approved by the Will of the Giver but it can never seem a Will which is clouded and impeded by Error The Conclusion THUS I have acquainted thee my Reader that it is no new or strange thing to see the Christian Religion in these days upon its Restitution and Revival in the World entertain'd with Slanders and Reproaches for the same things happened to Christ himself and his Apostles And yet least thou shouldest be misled and imposed upon by these Clamors of our Adversaries we have represented to thee what the whole manner of our Religion is what we believe concerning God the Father concerning his only Son Jesus Christ and concerning the Holy Ghost what our Opinion is concerning the Church the Sacraments the Ministry the Holy Scriptures the Ceremonies of the Church and all the other parts of the Christian Religon We have declared also that we detest as pernicious to the Souls of Men and plagues all those Ancient Heresies that have been condemn'd by the old Councils and Holy Scriptures That we have reduced into practise again as much as we can possibly the Ecclesiastical Discipline which our Adversaries had much weakned and that we punish all Licentious Courses of Life and Debauchery in Manners by our ancient and established Laws and that with as much 〈◊〉 as is fit and possible That we pâ—â—serve all Kingdoms in the same State we found them without any Diminution or Mutation and preserve the Majesty of our Princes intire as much as we can possibly That we have departed from that Church which they had made a Den of Thieves in which they had left nothing sound or like a Church and which they themselves confessed to have erred in many things as Lot left Sodom or Abraham Chaldea not out of Contention but out of Obedience to God and have sought the certain way of Religion out of the sacred Scriptures which we know cannot deceive us and have return'd to the Primitive Church of the ancient Fathers and Apostles that is to the beginning and first Rise of the Church as to the proper Fountain 2. THAT we have not indeed expected the Authority or consent of the Council of Trent in which we saw nothing was manag'd well and regularly where all that entered took an Oath to one Man where the Ambassadors of our Princes were despised and ill treated where none of our Divines could be heard where Partiality and Ambition openly carried all things and according to the Practice of the Holy Fathers and the Customs of our own Ancestors we have reformed our Churches in a Provincial Synod and according to our Duty we have cast off the Yoke and Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome who had no just Authority over us nor was like either Christ or St. Peter or the Apostles or indeed like a Bishop in any thing Lastly we do all agree amongst ourselves in all the Doctrines and Points of the Christian Religion and do with one Spirit and one Mouth worship God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 3. WHEREFORE O Christian and Pious Reader now thou feest the Reasons and Causes of the Reformation of Religion with us and of our Departure from them thou oughtest not to wonder that we should rather choose to obey our Saviour than Men. St. Paul hath admonished us that we should not be carried away with every Wind of false Doctrine and especially that we should mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which we have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly and by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the Hearts of the simple Their Impostures accordingly like Batts and Owls do now sometime since begin to flie and steal away before the rising Sun and cannot indure the Light of the Gospel and altho they were in some sense built and heaped almost up to Heaven yet they sink down into Ruins of their own accord For thou oughtest not to think that those things happened accidentally or by chance It was certainly the Will of God that in these times the Gospel of Jesus Christ should in defiance of all opposition be spread abroad in the World and therefore men being moved by the Word of God freely betook themselves to the Doctrine of Christ and as for us we sought neither Riches nor Pleasure nor case by this Change for our Adversaries abound in all these and we had a much larger Share of them whilst we continued with them 4. NOR do we decline Concord and Peace with Men neither but yet we will not continue in a State of War God that we might have Peace with Men. The Name of Peace saith St. Hilary is Pleasant but then Peace and Servitude are not the same thing for if according to their desire the Name of Christ should be supprest the Truth of the Gospel betrayed their wicked Errors be dissembled the Eyes of Christian Men be deluded and a plain and apparent Conspiracy be carried on against God himself this is not saith that great Man Peace but the conditions of a most base Slavery There is saith Nazianzen an unprofitable Peace and there is an useful sort of Discord for we must pursue Peace with Conditions as far as 〈◊〉 lawful and in us lyeth and unless these Limitations may attend it Christ himself came not to bring Peace into the World
you what my Judgment is but as another saith as far as I know and may which I doubt not will give you an intire Satisfaction 3. WE wonder say you that no Ambassadors from England are come to the Council I beseech you Sir are the English the only Nation who have not come to the Council Have you Sir been at the Council your self Have you taken an exact Account Have you told them exactly by Poll Did you Sir see there all the other Nations come together from all Parts of the World except the English But Sir if you are so mightily in love with Wondering why did you not admire this too that neither any one of the three great Patriarchs of Constantinople Antioch nor Alexandria nor Presbyter John nor the Grecians Armenians Medes Persians Egyptians those of Barbary Ethiopia or the Indies did not come to the Council too for is there not many in those Nations who believe in Christ have they not Bishops are they not by Name and in reality Christians And Sir did Ambassadors come from all these Nations to the Council or will you rather say the Pope did not call them or that they are not bound by your Ecclesiastical Sanctions 4. BUT Sir we have much greater reason to wonder that when the Pope hath beforehand condemn'd us and publickly pronounc'd us excommunicated as Hereticks without ever hearing us make our Defence or alledging any thing against us he should afterwards call us to the Council for to condemn and punish men first and then to call them to Judgment is a very absurd way of Procedure a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Cart before the Horses But Sir I would very gladly be inform'd if the Popes Intentions be to consult with us concerning Religion in this Council whom he has condemn'd for Hereticks as I said or if he intends we shall stand at the Bar and be obliged forthwith to change our Minds or be immediately condemn'd again one of these things is new or without Example and stiffly denied to those of our Perswasion by Pope Julius the third and the other is ridiculous if he thinks the English so silly as to come to the Council for no other purpose but to be accused and make their Defence as well as they can and before his Holiness especially who is long since accused himself not only by us but by his own party of many great Crimes 5. BUT Sir if England only seems so stubborn to you where are the Ambassadors of the King of Denmark the Princes of Germany and the King of Sweden of the Switzers of the Grisons of the Hanse Towns of the Realm of Scotland and of the Dukedom of Prussia and now when so many of the Christian Nations are absent from your Council it is a most foolish thing to speak of none but the English but why do I speak of them the Pope himself will not vouchsafe to come to his own Council and did you not wonder at this too for what Insolence is this for any one man at his Pleasure when he will to call together all the Christian Kings Princes and Bishops and to require them to yield Obedience to him in it and in the mean time not meet them there himself Sure I am when the Apostles call'd a Council at Jerusalem St. Peter the Apostle of whose Chair and Succession the Popes glory so infinitely would not be absent But I suppose the Pope Pius the 4th who now sits in that Chair remembers very well what betided John XXII that he had no good Fortune at his Appearance in the Council of Constance for he came thither a Pope but returned a Cardinal and therefore the Popes ever since have very wisely taken care of themselves and kept out of reach and at home and have stoutly withstood all Councils and free Debates for above forty years since when Dr. Martin Luther was assaulted with all manner of Curses and Thunderbolts by the Pope because he had begun to preach the Gospel and reform Religion by the Word of God and with all Humility begged that his Cause might be reserved to the Hearing and Determination of a General Council he could not be heard for Leo the X. saw very well if the thing had been refer'd to a Council that his own Concerns would be brought in danger and that he might hear what he would not 6. THE Name of a General Council sounds well if it be conven'd as it ought and Men would lay by their Passions and refer all things to the Word of God submitting to the Truth only but if Piety and Religion are openly oppress'd if Tyranny and Ambition are confirm'd if Factions Gluttony and Luxury are encouraged there can then be nothing thought of that is of worse Consequence to the Church of God And all this I have said upon a Supposition that there is such a Council somewhere as you mention and yet I heartily believe there is none at last but if indeed there be any where any Council at all it must be a very obscure private Council for tho we are at no very great distance from the Place yet we could never hear what Bishops were met nor what was done nor indeed whether any Bishops at all would meet And about twenty months since when this Council was first call'd by Pope Pius Ferdinandus the Emperor made answer that tho all other things were agreeable yet the Place the Pope had chosen did very much displease him for that tho Trent was a fine City yet it was not convenient for all the Nations and besides could not possibly entertain that great Number of Persons who did usually follow a general Council And almost the same Answer was generally given by all the Christian Princes and some of them answered much more sharply and therefore we thought all these fine Shews would together with the Council end in smoak 7. BUT I pray Sir who call'd this Council and assembled the World together you will say Pope Pius the IV. and why he rather than the Arch-bishop of Toledo by what Authority and Example of the Primitive Church and by what law hath he done this did Peter Linus Cletus or Clemens thus put the World in commotion by their Edicts this during the Integrity and Prosperity of the Roman Empire was a sole Prerogative of the Emperor but now that the Power of the Empire is diminished and that the several Kingdoms in Christendom have shared the Imperial Power amongst them this Power is devolved to all the Christian Kings and Princes Now Sir search all the Annals and gather together all the Memoirs of Antiquity and you shall find that all the ancient Councils as those of Nice Ephesus Chalcedon and Constantinople were call'd by the Emperors of Rome Constantinus Theodosius the First and Second and Martianus and not by the Popes of Rome 8. POPE Leo a Man sufficiently kind to himself and who did not in any thing neglect the Authority of his
when he had it concealed himself fourteen days on the English Coast then privately took Ship and arrived at Antwerp in the night and before day took Coach and so got safe to Strasbourgh the 30th of October 1553. Burnet To. 2. p. 246. Ib. p. 245. July 13. 1556. Humfrey p. 90. English life Dr. Peter Heylyn faith the contrary and that Wittingham Williams and Goodman were Zunglians before they left England who were the chief Promoters of the disorder at Frankford Ecclesia Restaurata p. 228. Conclusion Section 2. p. 141. Hiller C. H. The news of the Queens death came to Zurick the last of November Mart. Letters March 30. Heylyn's Eccl. Restaurata p. 301. Rastal was a common Lawyer and published his Book in 1563. Harding was then Prebendary when Mr. Jewel was elected and gave his vote for him Humf. p. 140. Dr. Burnett's History of the Reformation Tom. 2. Dr. Heylyn Eccl. Rest p. 349. 1562. Humfrey's in the Life of Jewel p. 177. Peter Martyr's Letter to Bishop Jewel concerning this Book is dated Aug. 24. 1562. English Life Before his Works Humfrey p. 234. Page 187. Heylyn p. 328. 1562. In the LXIII of his Age. 1564. 1567. 1569 1570. 1570. Humfrey's p. 111. April 5. 1571. Memory Industry Common place Books Diaries Languages His Greek Learning Travail His Humour Gratitude Preaching Page III No friend to the Disenters The 〈◊〉 to the first Tom. of Col. by Dr. 〈◊〉 Fuller's C. H. lib. 9. Sect 3. n. 3. Humfrey's In a short Paper written by this good Bishop against certain frivolous objections made against the Government of the Church of England Printed at Londâ—n 1641. Bishop Whitgift in the defence of the Answer to the Admonition tells us Cartwright was the man and that hereupon the Faction used the Bishop most ungratefuly and depitefully p. 423. Prov. 22. 15. Liberality Charity Mr. Hooker Dr. Walton 〈◊〉 Mr. Hooker's Life Lib. 2. §. 6. Truth ever persecuted Tertul. in Apologia Cor. Tacitus Tertul. in Apolog c. 7. c. Plinius John 8. 9. 10. Mar. 11. Marcion ex Tertullianâ— Aelius â— Lactan. Tertul Apolog. c. 2 3. and 7. 8 9. Tertul. Apolog. â—ap â— Sueton in Nerone Juvenal Sat. 1 Tim. 4. The Accusations of the R. Catholicks John 8. 49. Act. 26. 25. †Quadratus Justinus Melito Tertullian Quadratus a Disciple of the Apostles and Bishop of Athens wrote Books for the Christian Religion and made an Oration in the Defence of it before Hadrian the Emperor by which he put a stop to a furious Persecution then moved against it Anno Christi 128. Spondanus Justinus the Martyr a Christian Philosopher wrote an Apologetick Oration for the Christian Religion with great freedom and truth which he dedicated to Antoninus Pius the Emperor and his adopted Sons Marcus and Lucius and to the very Senate and People of Rome Anno Christi 150. for which he lost his Life Melito Bishop of Sardâ—s wrote an excellent Apology to Aurelius the Emperor for the Christians which he presented to that Emperor in the tenth year of his Reign Anno Christi 172. Baronius Tertullian wrote a very learned and a sharp Apology for the Christian Religion which was some few years since made English It was first published by the Author without his Name in the year of Christ 201. in the very City of Rome and did great service to Christianity which was then most miserably oppressed by the Lies and Defamations of the Pagans which did it more hurt than all their other Fury Acts 24. 14. Tertul. in Apolog 2 Cor. 10. 4. 5. 2 Tim. 3. 16. De Vnitate Eccl. c. 3. contra Max. lib. 3. c. 14. In prim cap. Aggei Acts 24. 14. Coll. 2. 14. Actâ— 3. 2â— Tract 30. in Joan. Epist ad Dardan Fulgentius ad Regem Thrasi mundum De Simpl. Praelatorum Chap. 47. * The Title of Pontifex Maximus was that of the Roman Heathen Priests and cannot properly be rendred into English any other way than by that of Priest it being not of the same nature with the Word Bishop yet have the Popes of Rome usurped this very heathen Title Gregory lib. 4. Ep. 76. 78. 80. lib. 7. Ep. 69. 2 Tim. 3. 13. Math. 23. 13. Luk. 11. 52. Math. 16. 19. In Titum Hom. I. Theoph. ad Titum Euseb lib. 18. c. 5. in Monodia sua super Basilium 1 Tim. 4. 1 * Huldericus Platina in vita Pij secundi Gal. 1. 8. Chrysost ad AEphe Ser. 3. De conser dist 1. cap. Omnes * But now in the Decretum under the Name of Anacletus De consecratione Dist 1. cap. comperimus a In Joan. cap. â— b De Sacra l. q. c. 4. c In Dialo l. 2. d In Sermone ad infantes de Consecratione e In Math. 15. Gen. 2. 23. John 6. 56. In coena Domini In Johan tract 50. Lib. de caerem. Eccl. Rom. Purgatory August in Psal 85. in Enchiriâ—io c. 6. 7. de civitate Dei lib. 21. cap. 26. lib. 11. contra Pelegian lib. Hipognostcon 5. Of Cerâ—monies â— Cor. 1â— 40. Prayer in our own Tongue Mediators and Intercessors Jerem. 2. 28. 11. 13. Original Sin 1 John 2. 2. 4. 10. Col. 1. 20. Heb. 10. 14. John 19. 30. Sacrifice Of good Works Ephes 2. 10. Col. 1. 10. Phil. 2. 12. Distinct 36. Lector in Glossa Distinct 81. Presbyter * George Paris an Arrian was burnt in the Reign of Edward the 6th April the 4th 1551. for Heresie tho he was a German by Nation Godwins Annals * Those who were call'd Zuinglians when this Piece was written afterwards were call'd Calvinists and the other Name is now not commonly known but Zuinglius was the Author of the Doctrine and Calvin of the Discipline of this Sect of turbulent men Steven Gardiner in Sophist Diab Richard Faber Recantatio Berengarii Scholer Glossa Guimundus De Conscoral Dist 2. Ego Berengarius Gardiner De consecratione Dist 2. species Glossa Euseb H. 3 Lib. 4. By Ministers here I suppose the Decons are meant 3. Quest 7. lata ext de Bigamis Quia circa Gen. 38. 14. In Concilio dilectorum Cardinalium To. 3. De consideratione ad Eugenium Paul IIII. In Apol. c. 45. Rom. 2. 13. Math. 22. 21. John 19. 12. Rom. 13. 1. 5. Amos 7. 10. It had been infinitely for the Honor of the Reformation if the same Modesty Loyalty and Duty had ever attended the Professors of it But alas our Author lived and wrote in a critical Moment before the Scotch Tumults the Civil Wars of France and the Revolt of the Netherlands those that have confirm'd the truth of the Popish Objections by ill Principles which they borrowed from them and worse Practises shall do well to consider what Answer they will be able to give in the Day of Judgment for the Sin and Scandal they have brought upon the Reformation but when all is done blessed be God the Church of England and her Children have maintained this Doctrine inviolably and the Honour of that