is not visible but invisible so our altar also is not visible but invisible The second abuse is in the confession of the Priest that he saith in the entring of the Mass I confess to God Almighty and to the blessed Virgin and to all the Saints that I have sinned In the which are sundry absurdities First that this confession is made not only to God but also to the dead who neither sees the secrets of the hearts nor yet are able to give remission The secōd is in the prayer that is set down in the latter end of it saying I pray thee blessed Mary all the hee Saints and shee Saints of God to pray to God that I may have mercy wherein are two horrible abuses one that he makes no mention of Jesus Christ our only Mediator 1. Tim. 2.5 desires him not to make intercession for him Next that he prays unto the Saints departed and makes them Intercessors and Mediators who neither knows our necessities and the secrets of our hearts neither is able to hear or help us which wants all warrant out of the Word of God Rom. 10.14 1. Tim. 2.5 1. John 2. 1. Jer. 17.5 Psal 50.15 Jer. 29.12 Matth. 6.9 James 1.17 Gen. 20.1.2 2. Kings 6.6 2 Chron. 6.30 Isa 63 17. Eccles 9.6 And seeing prayer is a honor only due to God Jesus Christ is our only Mediator and Intercessor therefore this prayer to Saints departed is both idolatrous and injurious to Christ his intercession and mediation This confession was instituted by Pontian and Damasus Popes anno 335. and 368. The third abuse is the absolution pronounced to the beholders of the Mass Amen Brethren and sisters by the mercy of our Lord Jesus by the help and sign of the cross by the intercession of the Virgin Mary by the merits of the Apostles and of all the hee Saints and shee Saints God give you mercy First this agrees not with their privat Masses where the Priest and the Clark only are present For how can the Priest speak truly Amen brethren and sisters since none is present but the Clark only Next that which is only proper to Jesus Christ to his death merits and intercession to make the Father merciful unto us and to make him to forgive us our sins is taken from him here and communicat unto the Virgin Mary and the merits of all the hee Saints and shee Saints and which is most horrible unto the sign of the cross that by her intercession their merits and the help of the sign of the cross God might have mercy What horrible idolatry is this to joyn such helpers to the Son of God who is a perfect Savior To joyn the merits of flesh and blood to his merits as though his were not sufficient to obtain salvation And as though men were not only able to merit eternal life to themselves but also had such aboundance of merits that they served to obtain mercy for others and so not only to make them saviors of themselves but of others also And that which is yet more horrible idolatry and blasphemy if worse can be to joyn with him the help of the sign of the cross Therefore in their Breviary they say Keep us Lord with thy peace c. whom thou hast redeemed by the tree of thy holy cross And in a Hymn O cross hail O cross only hope increase righteousness to the godly and forgive the guilty And in their Breviary they say We adore thy cross O Lord. Now what is it to mock God if this be not To substitut creatures yea a very stock and a tree in the room of the Son of God and to ascribe redemption unto it and to pray for righteousness and remission at the same to adore it and to call it their only esperance What place is left then to the blood and death of Christ The fourth abuse is in this prayer of the Mass We pray thee Lord for the merits of thy Saints whose relicks are here to forgive me all my sins Where first he makes no mention of Christ or his merits Next he prays to God that for the merits of the Saints he may be forgiven so he puts them in the room of Christ Thirdly they have the relicks of the Saints in such account that they have made a law that it shal not be lawful to celebrat any Mass but upon such altars where the relicks of some Saints are De consecrat dist 1. cap. Placuit But to what purpose is this To make their altars commendable and their sacrifices acceptable But hath not the Priest as he thinks in his hands Christ Jesus the Holy of the Holiest And is there relicks of Saints more precious and worthy then his blood is yea and what relicks I pray you for the most part Not of Saints but of harlots and brigands yea they have so multiplied their relicks that they have made some of them to have mo heads then one to have mo legs and arms then they were born with As for example Peter his whole body is buried in Rome in Vatican Annal. Eccles Tom. 1. 3. and yet the half of him is in another part of Rome Via Ostiensi Onu d. 7. urb Eccles cap. de Basilica another part in Constantinople Bellar. lib. 2. de Eccles trium cap. 3. 4. and his head kept in the fourth place Romae Onu ibidem and another part of his head in the fifth place Romae Onu ibidem another part of his head in the sixth place Pictavi◠Calv. admon de reliq and yet sundry of his teeth in other parts Onu ibidem So that if he had as many bodies and bones and teeth and heads and arms and legs as are said to be his and are kept as his relicks his body were monstrous And the head of S. Barbara was shown in so many parts that it behoved her to have seven bodies or at the least seven heads Luther postil in Evang. fest exalt cruce And that which is yet worse they honor them adores them and prays unto them the which is so manifest by the ordinary practise of their Church that it needeth no probation Unto this we may joyn the fifth abuse their images upon the hostes of their Mass and the rest of their Idols and Images which they call the Books of the Laicks wherewith they fill their Temples and Chapels which they honor adore and pray unto saying unto a stock Thou art my father and to a stone thou art my mother not only without commandment or example in the Scripture but contrary the express commandment of God given out of Mount Sinay in horror and fear so that the Mountain shook and Moses himself feared Thou shalt make thee no graven Image to worship it And contrary the whole Scripture Exod. 20. Deut. 4.15 Isa 40 15.16 Jerem 10.3 Acts 17.29 Rom. 1.23 1. Cor. 10.14 1. John 5.21 Rev. 9.20 21.8 And also the doctrine of the Fathers Tertull. lib. de corona
dwelleth wherein I shal rest for evermore I look to get entry at the new Jerusalem at one of these twelve gates whereupon are written the names of the twelve Tribes of the children of Israel I know CHRIST JESUS hath prepared rowm for me why may I not then with boldness in his blood step in unto that glory where my Head and LORD hath gone before me JESUS CHRIST is the door and the Porter who then shal hold me out VVill he let them perish for whom he hath died VVill he let that poor sheep be plucked out of his hand for whom he hath laid down his life VVho shal condemn the man whom GOD hath justified VVho shal lay any thing to the charge of the man for whom CHRIST hath died or rather risen again I know I have grievously transgressed but where sin aboundeth grace superaboundeth I know my sins are red as scarlet and crimson yet the red blood of CHRIST my LORD can make me as white as snow as wool VVhom have I in heaven but him Or whom desire I in earth beside him O thou the fairest among the children of men the light of the Gentils the glory of the Jews the life of the dead the joy of Angels and Saints My soul panteth to be with thee I will put my spirit into thy hands and thou wilt nâ—â— put it out of thy presence I will come unto thee for thou casts none away that comes unto thee O thou the only delight of mankind Thou camest to seek and save that which is lost Thou seeking me hast found me and now being found by thee I hope O LORD thou wilt not let me perish I desire to be with thee and do long for the fruition of thy blessed presence and joy of thy countenance Thou the only good Shepherd art full of grace and truth therefore I trust thou wilt not thrust me out of the door of thy presence and grace The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth by thee VVho shal separat me from thy love Shal tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword Nay in all these things I am more then a conqueror through thy Majesty that hath loved me For I am perswaded that neither death nor life Principalities nor Powers nor hight nor depth nor things present nor things to come nor any other creature is able to separat me from the love of thy Majesty w ich is in CHRIST JESUS my LORD I refuse not to die with thee that I may live with thee I refuse not to suffer with thee that I may rejoyce with thee Shal not all things be pleasant to me which may be my last step by which or upon which I may come unto thee When shal I be satiat with thy face When shal I be drunk with thy pleasures Come LORD JESUS and tarry not The Spirit saith Come the Bride saith Come Even so LORD JESUS come quickly and tarry not Why should the multitude of mine iniquities or the greatness of them affright me Why should I faint in this mine adversity to be with thee The greater sinner I have been the greater glory will thy grace be to me unto all eternity Oh! unspeakable joy endless infinit and bottomless compassion O Ocean of never-fading pleasure O love of loves O the hight and depth and breadth and length of that love of thine that passeth knowledge O uncreated Love Beginning without beginning and ending without end Thou art my glory my joy and my gain and my crown Thou hast set me under thy shadow with great delight and thy fruit is sweet unto my taste Thou hast brought me into thy banqueting-house and placed me in thine orchard Stay me with thy flagons and comfort me with thine apples for I am sick and my soul is wounded with thy love Behold thou art fair my Love Behold thou art fair thou hast doves eyes Behold thou art fair my Love yea pleasant also our bed is green The beams of our house are Cedars and our rasters are of firr How fair and how pleasant art thou O Love for delights my heart is ravished with thee O when shal I see thy face How long will thou delay to be to me as a Roe or a young Hart leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills As a bundle of myrrh be thou to me and ly all night between my breasts Because of the savor of thy good oyntments thy name is as oyntment powred out therefore desire I to go out of the desert and through to the place where thou sittest at thy repose and where thou makes thy flocks to rest at noon When shal I be filled with thy love Certainly if a man knew how precious it were he would count all things dross and dung to gain it I would long for that scaffold or that ax or that cord that might be to me that last step of this my wearisom journey to go to thee my LORD Thou who knowst the meaning of the spirit give answer to the speaking sighing and groaning of the spirit Thou who hast inflamed my heart to speak to thee in this silent yet love-language of ardent and fervent desires speak again unto my heart and answer my desirs which thou hast made me speak to thee O Death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of Death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to GOD that giveth me the victory through JESUS CHRIST What can be troublesome to me since my LORD looks upon me with so amiable a countenance And how greatly do I long for these embracements of my LORD O that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better then wine O that my soul were the throne wherein he might dwel eternally O that my heart were the Temple wherein he might be magnified and dwel for ever c. If there were no more but these heavenly breathings of soul they do speak forth what earnest desires and groanings this holy Man had for the full enjoyments of GOD and what full assurance of faith he enjoyed As he was extraordinary in prayer so he was marvellously diligent in the rest of his Masters Work For as I was assured by an old reverend and godly Minister who knew the truth thereof he preached twise every week day from nine to ten in the morning and from four to five at night beside his work on the LORDS Day and catechising and visiting of families and of the sick In his preaching he had a deep impression of the great and dreadful Majesty of GOD upon his spirit that made him speak with great boldness and authority The learned and godly M. Boyd of Trochrig relateth in his Commentary upon the Ephesians chap 6. vers 19.20 praelect 91. pag. 1101. how that M. Welsch being called to preach before the University of Saumur one of the most learned Auditories in France although he
upon the cross Fourthly I will ask you to what purpose serves the personal sacrifice of Christ in your Mass It must be for one of two to wit either to satisfie for our sins and therefore ye call it a propiciatory sacrifice or else to apply that satisfaction once made by his death upon the cross unto us the which ye affirm also of it But for neither of these is Jesus Christ to be offered up again therefore for no cause is he to be sacrificed in your Mass Not for the first to satisfie for our sins because the Scripture saith plainly that he hath satisfied for our sins by his once oblation upon the cross never to die again and therefore our Savior saith upon the cross It is finished And our redemption and satisfaction is ascribed only to his death once made and his blood once shed Heb. 1. 6. 10. John 19 28. And your selves will not deny this but the death of Christ is a sufficient ransom and satisfaction for all the sins of the world and therefore Bellarmine lib. 1. de Missa cap. 25. grants this That the vertue of his once offering up upon the cross is infinit and everlasting to sanctifie us so that there needs not another sacrifice of the cross or the repetition of the same And the truth of this is manifest for if Christ must be offered up in the Mass to satisfie for our sins he must die again and suffer again For what is it to satisfie God but to pay to God that which we ow And what ow we unto him for our sins but death for death is the stipend of sin So that to satisfie God for our sins is to die for our sins therefore we say Christ hath once satisfied for our sins because he hath once payed our debt which is death that is he hath once died for our sins So then either Christ hath not fully satisfied for our sins by his once death upon the cross which is impiety to think or else the Lord craves a debt already payed over again which is blasphemy or else Christ needs not to be offered up in your Mass to satisfie for our sins And so your sacrifice of the Mass avails not for to satisfie for our sins Let us come to the next If ye will say He is offered up in the Mass for to apply the vertue of the death of Christ unto us which your Church also sayes First I say Christ is applyed to us when he is offered not to God in a sacrifice but to us in the Word and Sacraments therefore he should not be offered up to God in a sacrifice but offered to us in his Word and Sacraments that he may be applied to us for it is the Word and Sacraments which outwardly applyes Christ and his death to us and not a sacrifice for in a sacrifice the thing which is sacrificed is offered to God and not applyed to us Next I say if your sacrifice serves but to apply the vertue of Christ his satisfaction unto us then it is manifest the satisfaction is already made For first the salve must be made before it can be applyed So your Church here errs which saith Your sacrifice of the Mass is propiciatory to appease the wrath of God and also applicatory to apply the same to us I say thirdly if Christ should be sacrificed again that the vertue of his death may be made effectual in us then also should he be conceived again in the womb of the Virgin born again die again and rise again that the vertue of his incarnation birth death and resurrection should be applyed unto us for will you sayâ— That he must be sacrificed again to apply the vertue of his sacrifice upon the cross unto us and what reason then can ye pretend for you wherefore he should not be incarnat again die again and rise again that the vertue of these may be applyed to us Do you think this absurd What is the cause then that ye will not blush at the other Fourthly I say if your sacrifice of the Mass be an application of Christ his sacrifice then it is not the sacrifice it self for the applying of the salve is not the salve itself and therefore since you say that it is the applying of Christ his sacrifice wherefore should ye say that Christ is sacrificed in it for these two cannot stand together Fifthly in Baptism the sacrifice of Christ and the vertue of his death is truly applyed unto us and yet ye will confess that Christ is not sacrificed in Baptism Wherefore then may not the vertue of his death and sacrifice be applyed to us in the Sacrament of the Supper and yet he not sacrificed again in it And last of all neither you neither any creature should appoint or make mo means of the applying of Christ and his death to us then is set down in his Word But his Word only sets down the inward operation of Gods Spirit applying it to us and faith upon our part apprehending it and the Word the Sacraments and Discipline proponing and confirming the same unto us But never a syllable in the whole Scripture that the Lord hath appointed your sacrifice of the Mass to apply the death of Christ unto us Seeing therefore your sacrifice of the Mass neither satisfies for our sins for Christ by his death hath done that sufficiently nor yet applyes the satisfaction once made by the death of Christ unto us for that is done by the Spirit and faith inwardly and by the Word Sacraments and discipline outwardly and that sufficiently Therefore your sacrifice of the Mass is needless and serves to no use in the earth Fifthly the Scripture ever conjoins With the sacrifice of Christ his death so that he cannot be sacrificed but by dying as the Scripture plainly testifies Heb. 9.25.26 Not that he should offer up himself often for then must he have often suffered from the foundation of the world The same may be seen also in sundry other places whereof I have quoted a few Heb. 7.27 and 9.14 So the Scripture saith if he must be often offered up he must often suffer And Bellarmin lib. 1. de missa fol. 725. saith That if there he not a true and a real slaughter of Christ in the Mass then the Mass is not a true and real sacrifice But the Scripture saith plainly that he hath but once died and I suppose you will not say that he is to die again Therefore seeing he cannot die again he cannot be offered up again For the Scripture acknowledgeth no sacrifice of Christ but that which is joined with his death Sixthly Bellarmin grants that in all external sacrifices the sacrifice must be changed lib. 1. de missa cap. 2. fol. 693. 604. It is also required saith he in a true sacrifice that that which is to be sacrificed be utterly destroyed And in another place cap. 27. lib. de Missa fol. 726. cap. 2. fol. 604.
Antichrist is called an adversary that is opposed and contrary to God and that not in life only but in doctrine Religion and government and that not in one point only but almost in all the substantial points thereof The which mark the Popes of Rome bear and that not only in their lives but also in the whole substantial points of Religion And to make this clear besides that which hath been spoken we shal compare the doctrine of Jesus Christ and the government of his Kingdom set down in the Scripture with the doctrine of the Popes and the manner of their government that the contrariety of them may be known so that it shal be seen that cold is no more contrary to heat and black to white then Papism to Christianity and the Religion of the Church of Rome to the Religion of Christ Jesus The doctrine of Christ stands especially in these two things in the knowledge of his person and in the knowledge of his offices And therefore the Apostle saith I desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified 1. Cor. 2.2 And Christ himself saith It is life eternal to know thee to be the only true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ John 17 3. The doctrine of the Popes of Rome overthrows both And first to prove this concerning his person the Scripture testifies that Jesus Christ is conceived of the substance of the Virgin Mary and that he hath but one true body made of the seed of David and of the seed of the woman Rom. 1.3 Gal. 4. 4 and not many and that he is like unto us in all things except sin Heb. 2.17 The doctrine of the Church of Rome is that Christ Jesus his body is made of the bread and wine in the Sacrament their doctrine makes him to have as many bodies as there is bits of bread in the Sacrament and not to be like his brethren in all things except sin Bellar. lib. 3. de Eucharistia fol. 399. Pope John 22. lib. orat in scr antidotarius animae for his brethren can be but in one place at once with their own due proportion visibly But their doctrine of Transubstantiation makes him to be both in heaven and earth at once in heaven visibly in earth invisibly in heaven with his own quantity and proportion in earth without his natural proportion and not in one place of the earth only but in innumerable places thereof at once so that this main foundation of mans salvation without the which there is no eternal life concerning the truth of Christs manhood made of the woman is utterly defaced and overthrown by the doctrine of the Popes of Rome in making him to have infinit bodies not made of the feed of the woman but of bread and wine or at the least made of two diverse substances And as they overthrow the doctrine of his person so they overthrow the doctrine of his offices His offices are three a Prophet a Priest and a King which are all overthrown by them As he is a Prophet he hath revealed his Fathers whole will unto his servants John 1.18 and hath left it in register in his latter Testament and hath forbidden to add empair or to alter the same Deut. 4.2 and hath pronounced a wo a curse unto them that adds empairs or alters the same Rev. 22.18 Gal. 1.8 and that because it is sufficient to make a man wise unto salvation and to make the man of God perfect unto every good work 2. Tim. 3.15.16 and because it is pure and perfect and easie to all them that will understand it Prov. 8.9 Psal 19.8.9 13. 119. But they have many wayes corrupted this Testament of Christ by mingling and adulterating the same First in that they give divine authority to the Books called Apocrypha which are humain Concil Trident. Sess 4. Next in receiving and commanding others to receive traditions with equal reverence and affection with the Scripture Thirdly in their corrupt Latin translation which they have made authentical which some of themselves confess have missed sometimes the meaning of the holy Ghost Bud. annot prior in Pandect Andrad lib. 4. Arias Montanus Tom. 8. Bibl. Reg. in praefat Fourthly in joyning with the Commandments of God their own commandments and that not as things indifferent but as necessary to salvation Concil Trident. Sess 6 cap. 10. Fifthly in condemning all sense and meaning of the holy Scripture but that which they hold themselves Sess 4. Last of all in quarrelling the Scripture of imperfection obscurity and ambiguity calling it dead and dumb like a nose of wax They therefore who have altered added and corrupted the Testament of Jesus Christ confirmed by his death which he hath left in writ for to instruct his Church in all things and to make her wise to salvation and perfect to every good work doth spoil the Lord Jesus of his Prophetical office But the doctrine of the Church of Rome hath done so Ergo they spoyl Jesus Christ of his Prophetical office Thirdly they are no less sacrilegious and injurious to his Priesthood His Priesthood stands in two things First in purchasing unto us by the vertue of that one sacrifice once offered up upon the Cross an everlasting redemption Next in making continual intercession for us with his Father Heb. 9.11.12 15.24.25.26.27.28 the which both are overthrown by the doctrine of the Church of Rome As to the first it is overthrown many wayes as first our Savior saith That his soul was sorrowful unto the death and that he swat drops of blood Matth. 26.37.38 and he sent up strong cryes and supplications with tears in the dayes of his flesh Heb. 5.7 Luke 22.44 and therefore he thrise upon his knees prays That if it had been possible that cup might be removed from him Matth. 27.39 And upon the Cross through the sense and feeling of that wrath he breaks forth in that complaint My God my God why hast thou forsaken me All which do testifie that he suffered more then a common death to wit the terrors of the wrath of God which was due to the sins of all the elect But the doctrine of the Church of Rome ranverseth this doctrine of our salvation and teacheth that Christ suffered not the wrath of God upon his soul which if it be true then Christ hath not payed our debt sufficiently for our debt was not only the natural death of the body but the wrath of God upon the soul and therefore the Scripture saith The soul that sinneth shal die the death Ezech. 18.20 Secondly the Scripture testifieth that Christs death and blood is a sufficient ransom for our sins and a sufficient satisfaction unto the justice of God Heb. 10.10.14 John 19.28 1. Tim. 2.6 1. Pet. 2.24 1. John 1.7 They by the contrary joyn to his satisfaction the satisfactions of men both in this life and in the life to come in Purgatory and that not only for their own sins but for
Church and as Bellarmin sayes as hath been said before If ye go this far as ye do indeed and as Bellarmin doth and your self must do if ye be a right defender of your Catholick faith here or else there is no ground whereupon ye can build the puretie and truth of your Church and Religion Then I say that your ground is as false and erroneous as the stuff that ye build upon it for both they have failed and have been interrupted as shal be proved afterward And mark this Christian reader as the Philistins Church wherein they praised their God Judg. 16. and mocked Samson the Lords servant had two chief pillars whereon the whole house leaned and was born up so hath the Church of Rome two chief pillars whereon the whole weight of their Church and Religion hings the one whereof is this that the Church cannot err the other that the Pope is the head of the Church Take these two from them their house must fall and their Religion can stand no longer For when they are brought to this strait that they see they cannot defend their Religion neither by the testimonies of the Scripture nor yet by the examples of the Church of God when she was in her greater purity and sincerity they are compelled to lay this as a ground to hold all their errors on that the Church of Christ cannot err So take this ground from them their Church and Religion cannot stand Now as to the testimonies which ye quote out of the Old Testament out of Luke 1.33 in the New Testament they only prove that the Church and Kingdom of Christ shal endure for evermore and that his covenant made with her is everlasting The which cannot exeem the militant Church from erring in points of doctrine for both the chaff and evil seed in the Church that is these that are called but not chosen may err and that to death and damnation and yet his Church and Kingdom and his covenant remaineth sure stable and inviolate for the Lord only offers his covenant unto them and they through incredulitie reject it and so he is not bound to sanctifie or save them much less to keep them from error And as for these who are called and chosen all these promises are made and performed in every one of them and the covenant of God is so sure in every one of them that our Savior saith None of them can perish John 10.28 And yet for all this every one of them may err in doctrine suppose not to death and damnation which ye will not deny And if ye would infinit examples not only of the Saints of God of the laicks as ye call them but also of the Priests Prophets Apostles yea and of Popes also and of your own Doctors and Bishops as a cloud of witnesses would stand up and avow the same in your face Now I gather seeing that the militant Church here on earth hath but two sorts of persons in her these that are called and chosen and these that are only called but not chosen and both may err in points of doctrine the one finally to death and damnation the other may err suppose not finally to death and damnation and yet the covenant of God remain sure everlasting and inviolate with his Church Therefore I say the promises of the stabilitie of Christs Kingdom and the perpetuitie of his covenant made with her cannot exeem the militant Church from erring in points of doctrine So ye have lost your vantguard Let us come to the rest and see if they will favor your cause any better then the former hath done The next place ye quote is Matth. 16.18 Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shal not prevail against it And because ye trust that there is not a testimony of Scripture which shal fight more for you then this let us therefore try it to the uttermost and see how far it can be stretched out What argument will ye frame out of this place For if you gather no more but this Christ hath promised that the gates of hell shal never prevail against the Church that is built on the Rock that is on Christ Therefore the Church that is built on him shal never be all utterlie extinguished and abolished by Satan Then Bellarmin tells you that ye spend but time in proving of this for we grant it That the Church of the chosen shal never perish But if you go further and say That the Church of Christ shal never err because Christ hath promised that the gates of hell shal not prevail against it then I say either that exposition is false or else the gates of hell should have prevailed long since against your Church for when it prevailed against the rock whereon the Church was built it prevailed against the Church For raze and overturn the foundation of a house the house cannot stand seeing the standing of the house consists on the firmness sureness of the foundation thereof Now the rock whereon ye say the Church is built unto whom this promise is made is Peter and his successors the Popes of Rome for so ye all with one consent expone the same Rhemists annotation upon this place Seeing then that they are the foundation of the Church as ye say and the gates of hell hath prevailed against them as I shal prove by the grace of God it must follow if your exposition be true that the gates of hell hath prevailed not once only but at many times against â—he Church For first Peter himself erred in a matter of doctrine when he thought with the rest of the Apostles after the resurrection of Christ the Kingdom of Christ not to be heavenlie but earthlie not spiritual but like the Kingdoms of this world proper to Israel Acts 1.6 not common to all by vertue of the promise and also he is commanded to preach the Gospel to the Gentils doubting nothing Acts 10.20 Which testifies that he doubted before whither the Gospel should be preached to them or not and therefore erred in a matter of faith and that after he had received the promise of the holy Ghost And also he erred in the abrogation of the Ceremonial Law Acts 10.14 for he believed that some meats were unclean after the death and resurrection of Christ and therefore he refused to eat thereof And this was a matter of faith also And last of all the holy Ghost testifies that he went not a right foot to the truth of the Gospel Gal. 2.11 and therefore was rebuked by the Apostle Paul to his face And as for them whom ye call his successors the Popes of Rome not only may they be hereticks but also some of them have been hereticks And therefore if your argument be good the gates of hell both may and have prevailed against them That they may be hereticks I will fetch no other witnesses but your own Councils Canons Cardinals
of purpose in repeating the sentence omit to say He that is not baptized but he that believeth not shal be damned for he saw that faith only might suffise to salvation and without faith nothing can suffise Justly then might your Popes sentence and your own be said to be cruel in our confession But how prove ye this doctrine of yours to be Christs Ye cite John 3.2 where our Savior saith Except a man be born again c. which say ye is properly meant of the Sacrament of Baptism Upon the which ye infer the necessity of the same Whereunto I answer that interpretation of yours is false for our Savior speaks not here of the Sacrament of Baptism and that for these reasons First our Savior speaks here generally of all men and not of infants only and therefore he saith Except a man be born c. speaking to Nicodemus who was a man and not an infant so that if your exposition were true all men that died without baptism and not infants only are excluded from heaven But that is false for first the good thief was not baptized with water and yet our Savior said to him This night thou shall be with me in paradise And therefore our Savior speaks not here of the Sacrament of Baptism for he speaks of that new birth by water and the spirit without the which none can be saved but this thief and others were saved without the Baptism of water therefore he speaks not here of it Next our Savior in that place speaks of that new birth by the spirit and water which is so absolutly necessary to the salvation of all men that it admits no exception This cannot be denyed But Bellarmin makes two exceptions against the absolut necessity of Baptism one of the martyrdom the other of true conversion and pennance whereof saith he either of them supplies the want of Baptism lib. 1. de Baptis cap. 6 Therefore our Savior speaks not here of the Sacrament of Baptism Thirdly if we will believe Christ Jesus expounding himself and Scripture expounding Scripture I say by water is not alwayes meant the Sacrament of Baptism but the purifying grace of Christ which is called the water of life so our Savior speaks in John 4.11 and 7.38 And in that same sense water is here added to the spirit to expound the more sensibly the efficacy of the Spirit in washing and cleansing us as fire is added to the Spirit in the third of Matthew 11. verse He will baptize you with the Spirit and with fire which is not properly understood of any natural fire but taken figuratively to expound more sensibly the force and efficacy of the Spirit in burning up our corruption Fourthly what an absurd thing were this which should follow if your exposition were true that for the want of the sprinkling of a little water the infants should perish that are in the covenant seeing they were not the cause of the want of it Further I say that suppose Baptism were here meant yet there is no such necessitie as ye suppose for if martyrdom and pennance may supplie the want of this water as Bellarmin confesseth how much more may the holy Ghost supply the want of the same in infants and if any thing may supply the want of it then it is not so absolutly necessary that all these infants are damned that wants it 2. Our Savior speaks as generallie and absolutlie Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you John 6.53 which ye interpret of the other Sacrament so that if your interpretation were true the Eucharist should be as absolutly necessary to the salvation of infants as you say Baptism is But the first you will not grant Therefore the other must also be falfe 3. If here ye would infer a necessity of Baptism then I say at that same time it began to be necessary for he saith not He that shal not be born again c. but he that is not born c. But Bellarmin saith lib. de bapt cap. 5. It was not necessary while Christs death yet not while the Pentecost fifty days after his death therefore it is not like that any necessity of Baptism is here understood for it had been good reason that Christs Baptism which was ministred while he lived in the flesh should have been as necessary as the Apostles Baptism which was ministred afterward But the first was not absolutly necessary as Bellarmin testifies therefore neither is the second And last of all lest ye should say all this is our exposition the Master of the Sentences expounding this place sent lib. 4. distinct 4. cap. His autem who suppose he be of this judgement with you concerning infants departed yet he saith that this place is to be understood of them who might have been baptized but contemned the same therefore this place imputes no absolut necessity of it As for the rest of the places of Scripture which ye quote they serve nothing to prove such an absolut necessitie of Baptism as ye suppose but only sets down the effects of the same which are sealed up in the hearts of the believers by the holy Ghost as the inward worker and Baptism as the outward instrument as our salvation through the death of Christ 1. Pet. 3.20.21 Tit. 3.5 Mark 16.16 our union with Christ Gal. 3.27 and with his death Rom. 6 3.4 and remission of sins regeneration mortification of the old man Acts 22.17 and 2.38 1. Cor. 6.11 And therefore Circumcision in whose room Baptism is succeeded it is called the seal of righteousness which is by faith Rom. 4. Take away therefore your exposition from these places and there will no such absolut necessitie of Baptism follow here as ye suppose And therefore Bellarmin the learnedst of your writers lib. 1. de sacr bapt cap. 4. because he knew that these places which ye quote here could not prove such an absolut necessitie of Baptism nor have no appearance to prove the same doth not cite one of them for the proof of the necessity except only the third of John leaving all the rest And as for that of Augustin we grant he was of that mind that Baptism was necessary to infants but he was also of that judgement that the Eucharist was necessary unto them and yet your Roman Church nor you neither I hope will subscribe to this error of his Seeing therefore you dissent from him in the necessity of the one and that upon good ground of the Scripture why may not we also dissent from him in the other having so many grounds and reasons out of the Word of God to the contrary as hath been said And this for the first point Now let the Christian Reader judge upon whose side the Word of God is SECTION VII Whither a man by the help of the grace of GOD may perfectly keep the Commandments Master Gilbert Brown SEcondly our doctrine is that a man
here that he offered up his body and blood under the forms of bread and wine in the Supper in a propiciatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead Therefore he commanded not this sacrifice of your Mass to be done to the end of the world And whereas ye restrict this commandment Do this only to the Pastors ye have to understand that as there is something here which Christ did which is proper to them as to be the dispensers of these heavenly mysteries so there is some actions here which is common also with them to the people as to receive to eat to drink these Sacraments of his body and blood in his remembrance Seeing therefore this commandment Do this is to be referred to the whole actions of the Supper seeing there is some actions in the same which the other Christians should do also therefore this commandment Do this is not to be restricted to the office of the Pastors only which ye do but common with them to the actions of the people Now to your conclusion Seeing say ye your Priests do the same in this sacrifice which our Savior did how can I say that your Religion in this was not instituted by Christ If you do the same that he did indeed I will grant you it But ye do not the same which our Savior did Therefore your Religion in this is not instituted by Jesus Christ The which I prove First Christ took bread and wine in this Sacrament and gave it to be eaten and drunken and bread was eaten and wine was drunken by his Disciples But your Priest takes bread and wine and conjures the substance Of it away by your transubstantiation and only remains the forms of the bread and wine behind therefore you do not the thing which Christ did Secondly Christ took bread and brake it you take bread and hangs it up and keeps it in a box to carry to the sick and in processions Thirdly Christ took bread and gave it to his Apostles your Priests like gluttons in the sacrifice of your Mass eats it up every whit himself alone Fourthly Christ gave a Sacrament to strengthen mens faith but your Priests gives a sacrifice to redeem mens souls Fifthly Christ gave it to be eaten your Priests gives it to be worshipped Sixthly Christ gave bread your Priests say they give God Seventhly Christ gave the cup to his Disciples saying Drink ye all of this your Priest drinks all himself and takes away the cup from the people both in your sacrifice and Sacrament Eightly Christ instituted the Supper and commanded the Church to celebrat the same as he had instituted it but the Mass hath been clamped up by many sundry Popes one made the Confiteor another the Introit another the Kyrieeleison another the Gloria in excelsis and so forth of the rest as shal be proved afterward Ninthly Christ intending to celebrat his Supper changeth not his garment but the Priest going to say his Mass doth nought but clothe and unclothe and every garment carrying a great mystery The Priest saying Mass must have his head and beard shaven and upon his head a circle of hair which they call a crown imitating the Priests of the Gentils in this Baruch chap. 6. v. 30. and not Christ and his Apostles Tenthly Christ in the Supper used common bread but the Popish Priest must expresly use other manner of bread baken betwixt two irons which is properly Wafers Eleventhly Christ made his Supper upon a table the Popish Priest must have a consecrat Altar with some pieces of relicks put in the hole of it or else a marble stone in the borders whereof are little pieces of cloth which they call Corporales to say his Mass on Twefthly Christ in the celebrating of the Supper preached and taught his Apostles the Popish Priest mumbleth betwixt his teeth certain prayers he turneth to and from the Altar one while his back another while his face to the people now goeth he from one side of the Altar unto another now he singeth with an high voice now with a low voice now he lifts up his arms now he casteth them down Briefly he seemeth to be a man wholly mad not knowing what countenance for to use Thirteenthly Christ in the Supper spake in a vulgar tongue that all might understand the Popish Priest in their Masses speaks in a strange tongue which the most part of themselves understands not Fourteenthly Christ first brake the bread and then gave it to his Apostles the profane Priest first speaketh certain words over the bread in his Mass and then breaketh it or the accidents of it as they say at their pleasure Fifteenthly Christ after he had broken the bread saith This is my body the Popish Priest speaks the words without breaking of the bread and not content with the words of Christ he addeth this word enim unto them Therefore you cannot M. Gilbert but speak against the light of your own conscience when you say that your Priests doth the same in their Mass that Christ did in the Supper And here I appeal your conscience before the terrible and everliving God and before Jesus Christ that shal judge the quick and the dead whither ye do not speak in this against the light of your own conscience or not And whether your Priests in your Mass do the same which Christ did in the Supper or not Think you not that you must stand before the living God and give a reckoning of these things Repent in time and cease to deceive the souls of your Countrey-men any more But to conclud this What ado hath your Mass with the Supper of Christ What likeness is there between the one and the other In the Supper which Christ instituted in the Scripture we are remembred of his death and passion upon the cross whereby he appeased the wrath of God for our sins and of our duty towards him whereby we acknowledge in our consciences that we are obliged to die to sin seeing it behoved the eternal Son of God by his death upon the cross to redeem us from the same upon the which arises an earnest thanksgiving in the hearts and mouthes of every true Christian for so great a salvation purchased so wonderfully as by the death of the eternal Son of God In your sacrifice of the Mass is there any such thing Is there any remembrance of his death suffering there Is his death shown to the people in a known language that they may understand it Is there any acknowledging of any duty there for his death Is there any true thanksgiving there No none But in stead of these a heap of words in an unknown language and a diversity of apish gestures and Morish and Juglers tricks to feed the eyes of the poor people which neither the people nor yet many of your selves do understand In the Supper we are also admonished of our spiritual conjunction with our neighbor and of our duty towards him in that
That which is offered is ordained to a true real and voluntar destruction But Christ now being glorified cannot be changed and utterly destroyed therefore he cannot be sacrificed if your selves speak true or else as oft as he is sacrificed in your Mass he is utterly destroyed which is blasphemy Seventhly the Scripture saith Where there is remission of sins there is no more offering Heb. 10.18 That is all external propiciatory sacrifice ceases but remission of sins is already obtained by the death of Christ as the Scripture testifieth Heb. 1.3 and your selves will not deny Therefore there needs no more oblation of Christ in your Mass for the same Eightly the Scripture saith That without shedding of blood there is no remission Heb. 9 22 But in your sacrifice of the Mass there is no shedding of blood as your selves grants For ye call it an unbloody sacrifice therefore by your sacrifice of the Mass there is no remission of sin Further the Scripture acknowledges no other Priest of the New Testament but Christ only These Priests saith the Apostle to the Hebrews 5. and 7. speaking of the Priests of the Old Testament were many because death hindered them to indure but he speaking of Christ because he abides for ever hath an everlasting Priesthood which cannot pass from one to another So Christ is the only Priest of the New Testament Now if it be true which you say that Christ is offered up in your Mass and that by your Mass-Priests then are there mo Priests of the New Testament then Christ which is plain against the Scriptures What will you say to this That Christ is the principal Priest of the New Testament and yours are secondary Priests and under him by whose ministery he offereth up himself to God But first was not the Priests of the Old Testameâ—t only secondary Priests This you will not deny seeing their sacrifices were figurs of his and their Priesthood figurs of his Priesthood But the Apostle oppones the Priesthood of Christ not to another principal Priesthood but to the Priesthood of men which was but secondary and saith it cannot stand with that secondary Priesthood in the Old Testament therefore it cannot stand with your Priesthood of the New Testament And the reason which the Apostle alledges will not only serve to exclud the Priests of the Old Testament that was but secundary Priests also but also all other sacrificing Priests whatsoever of the propiciatory sacrifice of the New Testament For the reason is because he bides for ever and hath a Priesthood which cannot pass from one to another which will serve as well against your Mass-Priests as against them For they are mortal as the Priests of the Old Testament were and his Priesthood cannot pass from one to another as it might have done among the Priests of the Old Testament and also doth among your Priests For to what purpose should your Priesthood and sacrifice serve seeing Christ his sacrifice hath fulfilled all the types of all the sacrifices of the Old Testament If you say to signifie Christ his sacrifice to come as theirs did then that is false for he is sacrificed already But if you say to signifie and represent his sacrifice already done then I say what needs him to be sacrificed again for that purpose For the Word and Sacraments doth represent him sufficiently and so your Mass needs not to represent his sacrifice And if you say it represents his sacrifice then I say it is not one with that sacrifice of his upon the cross which you will be loath to grant For your Church saith that it is one with that in substance And I say further if your will say with Bellarmin lib. 1. de Missa cap. 25. That this place of the Apostle only excluds absolutly the multiplication of Priests in the same dignity and power with Christ that then they exclud yours also For if you offer up the same sacrifice which he offered up then you have the same power and dignity which he had But this you say you do For it is no matter of the difference of the manner since the sacrifice is one Seeing therefore Christ God and Man which ye say ye offer up in your Mass is of that same dignity which he was of when he was offered up upon the cross and seeing the equal dignity of the sacrifice makes the equal dignity of the Priest that offers it up therefore sacrilegious are your Mass-Priests and excluded here by the Apostle And thirdly I say this is a vain distinction of yours of principal and chief Priest and secondary Priests For this is the nature of this sacrifice of Christ that it cannot be offered up by none but by himself And fourthly if your Mass-Priests be but Ministers in this sacrifice and Christ the principal as you say who offers up himself by you then I say as ye offer up Christ as instruments for your sins and the sins of the people it should follow that Christ offers up himself in your Mass by you for his own sins and the sins of the people But this is blasphemy and expresly gain-said by the Scripture Heb. 7.27 And last of all I say seeing as your Church saith Christ his sacrifice in the Mass is one with that sacrifice upon the cross therefore as Christ offered himself upon the cross without the ministery of secondary Priests so should he be offered up in your Mass without the ministery of the same or else it is not one with that So your Mass-Priests are no wayes to be called secondary Priests to Christ except in that respect that Judas with the band of men of war and hie-Priests were the instruments and ministers of Christ his taking death and crucifying even so you are the instruments and ministers of the crucifying of Christ dayly in your Mass so far as in you lyes and in this respect keep ye your style of Mass-Priests And because they have a common distinction in their mouthes of a bloody and an unbloody sacrifice For they affirm that sacrifice of Christ upon the cross to be bloody and that sacrifice of him in the Mass to be unbloody Therefore I will take away this refuge and vain starting-hole from them And first I say this distinction of theirs of a bloody and unbloody sacrifice of the self same thing that is sacrificed wants all warrant in the Word of God For there is not so much in the whole New Testament as a syllable that tells us that there is a proper sacrifice of Christ which is unbloody and you are never able to bring one instance to the contrary Secondly I say it is repugnant to the Scripture Heb. 10.10 11.12.14 for the Scripture only acknowledges such a sacrifice of Christ as is joined with his death as hath been proved before See Heb. 9.24.25 Not that he should offer himself often for then should he have suffered often since the beginning of the world Now if the Apostle his argument be true
that Christ cannot be offered up often because then he must die often then this doctrine of yours is against the Scripture that saith Christ may be offered up often and yet not die often But if you will say this is spoken of that bloody sacrifice I grant that and I say the Apostle knew not nor never spake of another sacrifice and therefore your doctrine is vain that would have another sacrifice then ever the Apostles in the whole Scripture have made mention of And I say thirdly this distinction of yours cannot stand with your own doctrine for if there be a true sacrifice of Christ properly in your Mass as ye say then his blood must be truly shed and he must truly die for this is the nature of all such sacrifices for sin as Bellarmin grants it lib. 1. de missa fol. 725 saying If there be not a true and real slaughter of Christ in the Mass then is not the Mass a true and real sacrifice And also In all true real external sacrifices the sacrifice must be a thing sensible and must be made holy of a prophane thing as Bellarmin confesses and these conditions he requires in the definition of the same but this I hope ye will not say of Christ for he is holy always and is insensible in your sacrifice and cannot be slain again therefore properly there can be no true sacrifice of Christ in your Mass by your own doctrine To conclud this then For these causes we reject this abomination of your Mass First because Christ cannot be offered up in a sacrifice but he must die also as hath been proved and the Scripture testifies that he hath once died and all Christians confesses it Secondly because the death of Christ is a sufficient satisfaction for our sins and so we need not that he should be offered up again to satisfie for the same Thirdly because the Spirit of Christ and faith by the outward means of the Word and Sacraments and censures is a sufficient mean to apply him to us and so we need not the sacrifice of the Mass for that end Fourthly because Christ only is the Priest of the New Testament who hath no successors and whose Priesthood cannot pass from one to another because he lives for evermore and he only can be sacrificed by himself and therefore he only can offer up himself which he hath once done upon the cross Fifthly because the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross is perfect and the vertue of it indures for ever and it cannot nor should not be reiterat Sixthly because the Scripture propones Christ now sitting in glory at the right hand of his Majesty and not under the forms of bread and wine in your sacrifice And seventhly because it is but the devise of man wanting God to bear witness to it in the Scripture repugnant to that only one sacrifice of his upon the cross abolishing the fruits of his death and passion turning the Sacrament of the Supper in abominable idolatry causing men to worship a bit of bread as the Son of God And last because it spoils men of the fruit of the Sacrament Therefore in all these respects it is abominable to be detested and in no sort to be communicated with Unto this I will adjoin some testimonies of some of the ancient Fathers whereby it is manifest what their doctrine and judgement was concerning this point Clemens Alexandrinus lib. 1. Paedagog cap. 2. in strom who was near the Apostles days saith We sacrifice not at all unto God meaning with a real and external sacrifice but we glorifie him who was sacrificed for us And then he subjoins what kind of sacrifices they offered up to God to wit a sacrifice spiritual of themselves of prayer and of righteousness And upon what altar to wit upon the altar of our souls with the parfume of their prayers Justinus Martyr saith in Tryphon in expos fidei I dare saith he affirm that there is no other sacrifice perfect and acceptable to God but supplications and thanksgiving And he saith That Christians have learned to offer up these sacrifices only Tertullian saith advers Judaeos That it behoves us to sacrifice unto God not earthly but spiritual things so we read as it is written A contrit heart is a sacrifice to God Origen saith in Epist. ad Rom. in homil 2. in Cant. lib. 8. contra Celsum The blood of Christ is only sufficient for the redemption of all men what need then hath the Church of any other propiciatory sacrifice And as for the sacrifice of Christians he saith They are their prayers and supplications It was a common reproach wherewith the Christians were charged by the Pagans three hundred years after Christ that they had no altars unto the which their common answer was That their altars were a holy soul not corruptible altars but immortal altars If then the Christians had no material altars the first three hundred years after Christ as Clemens Alexandrius lib. 7. Strom. Origen ibid. contra Celsum Minutius Foelix lib. 2. 4. and Arnobius do testifie therefore it must follow they had no external sacrifices nor Masses all that time so there was no Masses the first three hundred years after Christ seeing there was no altars Epiphanius saith contra Marc. haeres 42. 55. That God by the coming of Christ hath taken away all the use of sacrifice by that one sacrifice of Christ Athanasius saith in orat 3. contra Arrianumâ— That the sacrifice of Christ once offered up hath accomplished all things and remains for ever and that he is a Priest without succession The same saith Basile in Isaiae cap. 1. And he saith further There is no more question of a continual sacrifice for there is but one sacrifice which is Christ and the mortification of his Saints Because it were over longsome to set down the sentences of the rest therefore I will only quote them Irenaeus lib. 4. cap 34. Cyprianus de baptismo Christi Athenag in Apolog. pro Christianis Lactant. lib. 6. cap. 26. Euseb de demonst lib. 1. cap. 6. lib. 3. cap. 4. Greg. Nazianz. in Pasch orat 2. Euseb Nissen de coena Domini Chrysost advers Judaeos orat 4. in Joh. homil 17. ad Heb. homil 13. homil de cruce spirit 3. in Matth. hom 83. ad Heb. hom 26 hom 17 hom 7. Cyrillus lib. 1. contra Julianum ad Hebraeos homil 11. Ambrosius ad Hebâ— cap. 10. ad Theod. Epist 28. in Epist ad Rom. cap. 12. Hieronymus in Isaiam cap. 1. in Psal 26 49 50. Augustinus de fide ad Petrum Diacon cap. 2. de Trinitate lib. 4 cap. 1. 14. in Psal 49. de civitate Dei lib. 10. cap. 4. 6 Idem de tempore I would desire M. Gilbert to read the same And if he will believe them I am sure he will leave off to be a
Image of these who were first authors of their Orders 2. The Basilidians worshipped Images Irenaeus lib. cap. 23. and used invocations so do you 3. Carpocras had some painted Images in great estimation both of others as also of Christ Irenaeus lib. 1. cap. 3.24 So do the Papists paint Christ and say that his form was painted by Luke the Evangelist 4. The old Idolaters did excuse their Idolatry that they did not worship the Images but the thing represented by the Image August in Psal 113. in con 2. Lactant lib. 2. cap. 2. So do you excuse your Idolatrie 5. It was the custom of the old Idolaters to afflict and whip their own bodies that they might please their own Gods Iren. lib. 1. cap. 21. So do some of you now 6. It was their custom also to light candles at noon day in the time of their service Iren. lib. 6. cap. 2. So do you 7. Basilidians and Carpocratians kept secret their doctrine counting all other men dogs and swine Iren. lib. 1. cap. 23. Epiph. haeres 24. So do you keep secret your mysteries from the common people and will not suffer the Scriptures to be read of all lest say ye precious pearls be cast before swine 8. Marcosij they spake some Hebrew words in Baptism to astonish and affray the hearers Iren. lib. 1. cap. 18. But you are worse who in all your service speak nothing but an unknown language and that say you to make their mysteries to be had in greater reverence 9. The Heracleonits anointed their dead with oyl balm and water superstitiouslie August de haeres cap. 16. Epiph. haeres 36. and so do you 10. Marcion and the Pepuzian hereticks permitted women to baptize Epiph. haeres 42. au ad quod vult cap. 27. So do you 11. The ossenes taught that it was not needful that prayers should be made in a known language Epiph. haeres 19. ante Christum So do you and therefore your prayers are in Latin 12. The Messalians affirmed Baptism only to serve for the washing away of the sins going before it Theodoret. divin decret cap. de Bapt. So do you 13. The Tatians and sundry other hereticks affirmed marriage impure Epiph. haeres 46 So doth your Pope Siricius in their Priests Gratianus Epist. 82. cap. Proposuisti 14. The Manichees damned marriage in their elect and perfect but suffered it in the rest August Epist. 74. So do the Papists in their Priests and religious men they damn it but they do tolerat it in the laicks and yet the Spirit of God calls it A doctrine of Devils to forbid marriage 1. Timothy 4.1.2.3 15. The Manichees they had the Communion under one kind So doth the Papistical Church The Council of Constance so decreed it against the Scriptures with these hereticks Such like their Fasting and your Fasting is alike For they made choise of meats and abstained from flesh but yet used their delicats and so do you 16. The Manichees affirmed there was two beginnings so doth Augustinus Steuchus a Papist in sua Cosinopoea in principio Genes where he saith That the crystallin heaven is coeternal with God The which if it be true then certainly it is God For that which is without beginning is God and so there are two Gods If Calvin or any of us had written such how would heaven and earth have been filled with cryes against us 17. Montanus an heretick received the whole Scripture but yet he denyed that it contained all doctrine needâ—ul to salvation Epiph. haeres 48. So doth the Papists And from this error springs their traditions their ceremonies infinit in number partly Jewish partly Ethnick 18. This Montanus was the first who prescribed certain laws of fasting the Scripture appointing no such thing Apollo apud Euseb lib. 5. cap. 17. So doth the Papists their fastings are upon their prefixt and set days 19. Montanus taught that smal faults was to be suffered for after this life neither was the souls to be delivered from the prison till they had payed the utmost farthing Tertull. de anima in fine So doth the Papists also 20. Such like the doctrine of the Montanists was that Abrahams bosome was beside Hell or in the uppermost part of Hell 21. That the Patriarcks before the coming of Christ were in Hell 22. That only the Martyrs souls go immediatly to Paradise 23. That prayers and oblations should be made for the dead 24. That extream unction should be given after Baptism 25. That the sign of the Cross should be used as testifieth Tertullian in lib. de animo de coron milit All which your Church hath renewed 26. Helcesaitae made two Christs one above another beneath So doth your Church make two Christs one in heaven having a true natural body with his own essential properties in a certain place visible another in earth made of the bread and wine with all the essential properties of a true body invisible in the Sacrament 27. Sampsaei kept the dust of the feet and the spittle of two women which they worshipped as Goddesses which they affirmed did serve to cure diseases and which they used as amulets Epiph haeres 53. haeres 19. ante Christum So doth your Papistical Church keep the relicks of Saints worship them and carry them about as serving either to preserve or to recover health The like also was the superstition of the Ossens 28. Cathari gloried in the merit of their works and affirmed that they were made righteous with an inherent righteousness Isid etymol. cap. 8. de haeres Christ. The Papistical Church in this heresie goeth beyond them for both they glory of their works and affirm that we are justified with an inherent righteousness 29. The hereticks called Angelici and also the Caini they worshipped Angels Aug. ad quod vult cap. 39. Epiph. haeres 38. So do the Papists 30. The hereticks called Apostolici admitted none in their number but those who vowed wilful poverty and chastity August de haeres cap. 40. Epiph. haeres 61. So the Papists admit none to their religious Orders but such who vow both 31. There were some hereticks who went bare-footed August ex Philastrio quorundam cap. 68. So do the Franciscan Friers and those who are called Coâ—digeri 32. The Donatists denyed that the true preaching of the Word was a note of the pure Church and therefore Augustin in sundry places calls them back to the Scriptures So doth your Church 33. The Collyridians worshipped Mary and therefore they are called Idolaters by Epiphanius haeres 74. So do the Papists 34. Armenij worshipped the Cross of our Lord and therefore they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is worshippers of the Cross Epiph. in Panoplia So do the Papists 35. The Pelagians affirmed Adam would have died suppose he had not sinned So doth Augustinus Steuchus a Papist of great name in his Annotations upon the 2 of Genesis He saith Death is natural and sin is not the cause of
solemn bargan with the Devil that if he would promote him to the Popedom he would give him both soul and body afterward obtains the same He had a copperhead in secret which alwayes gave him answer of that which he demanded of the Devil He asked of the Devil how long he should live Who doubtfully answering him that he should not die while he said Mass in Jerusalem He rejoycing at that and never being purposed to go to Jerusalem yet not being ware of the Devil his subtilty on a certain day went to a certain place in Rome which was called Jerusalem and there saying his Mass in that Temple is suddenly taken with a fever and knowing by the noise of the Devils his death to be at hand in the anguish of his soul confessed his devilry and as Benno a Cardinal writes he desires his hands and tongue and as some other write his privy members also to be cut off with the which he sacrificed to the Devil and blasphemed God Now judge thou Christian Reader whether this seat and throne and office of the Popedom be of God or not which the Devil can give and hath given to men and which men can obtain by devilry And judge whether these men whom they call the Head light and foundation of their Church be Christs Vicars or the Devils Vicars or not Yea judge whether they are the very men of sin and sons of perdition and the Antichrists which the Scripture foretold should come in the Church or not But yet this did not fear his successors for they followed his footsteps in these devilish arts as witnesseth Platina Sabellicus Volateran Benno a Cardinal and John de Pineda part 3. lib. 19. Benedictus the 9 he was so skilled in these devilish arts of Magick that before he was made Pope in the woods he called upon these evil spirits and by his devilry caused women to follow him for to satisfie his filthiness He by these his devilish arts obtains the Popedom and makes his former companions Magicians his most familiar counsellers But he fearing himself sold the Popedom unto his fellow Magician called Joannes Gratianus who was afterward called Gregory the 6. for 1500. pound Platin saith that by the judgement of God he is damned for the selling of his Popedom So after he is deposed he is suffocat by a Devil in the woods and so he perisheth Of whom it is reported that after his death he was seen monstrously to appear to a certain Hermit in his body like a Bear in his head and tail like an Ass and being asked how he was so monstrously transformed He answered I wander in this shape because I lived in the Popedom without reason without a law and without God Out of thy own mouth thou art condemned There was such tumults contentions and great slaughters for that throne betwixt Sylvester the 3. and Benedict his faction that Benno a Cardinal saith The Church was rent in pieces and by heresies under the color of sweet honey was suffocat And Platin a Papist saith That the good was oppressed and rejected and they that might do most by pride and ambition clamb up to that throne But Gregory the 6. buyes the Popedom as hath been said and so at one time there are three Popes which have three seats in Rome whom Platin calls Teterrima monstra most ugly monsters Gregory the 7. called otherwise Hildebrand that most ugly monster he having by the means of Brazutus poysoned six Popes his predecessors to make a way to himself unto the Popedom climbs up to that devilish throne that same night without consent either of people or Clergy Of whom Benno a Cardinal writes that he was a notable Magician that when it pleased him he would shake his slieves and sparks of fire would come out whereby he deceived the minds of the simple Of whom the said Cardinal reports also that coming to Rome at a time he left his book of his Magical and devilish arts behind him through forgetfulness and remembring himself he sends two of his most faithful servants about it charging them straitly that they opened not the book but they the more they were forbidden were the more curious and so opening the book and reading it behold the angels of Satan appeared to them in such a multitude that scarcely did the two young men remain in their wits and the Devils said unto them Wherefore have ye called us Why do ye weary us Tell us what we shal do otherwise we will fall upon you Unto whom one of them answered Pull down these high walls which are near Rome Who went and did it quickly and so the young men came to Rome exceedingly terrified This same Cardinal reports of him that he seeking by many deceitful means to put down the Emperor hearing that the Emperor resorted often to a certain Church to his prayers and having searched the place where he used to bow himself hired a villain to lay great stones over the beams of the Temple where the Emperor prayed that they falling on the Emperor might crush him in pieces and so it might be reckoned for a miracle of Gods judgements But it fell not out so for the stone being so heavy fell backward upon him and breaking a table that was among the beams the stone and the miserable man fell down upon the floor of the Church and so the miserable villain is crushed in pieces with the same stone which he had prepared for the destruction of the Emperor The same Cardinal also reports that he sought a response of the Sacrament of the Lords body against the Emperor as the Pagans wont to do at their Idols but when he got none he cast it in the fire For the which cause the Bishop of Porteous in open pulpit saith that Hildebrand and we should be burnt quick He excommunicats Henry the 4. deposed him from his Empire and set up Rodolphus Duke of Suevia in the Empire and sent him a Crown with this verse Petra dedit Petro Petrus Diadema Rodolpho He loosed all his subjects from their oath of obedience to him and forbad his Bishops and Clergy under the pain of excommunication to acknowledge him This Emperor with his wife and son came in the Winter and stood before his Palace bare-footed three dayes in linning clothes and all that time could not get access to this proud Antichrist who answered that his Holiness was not at leasure Antoninus and Vincentius say that he granted to a Cardinal in the time of his death that by the instigation of the Devil he stirred up hatred enmity and warrs among many Of whom also Cardinal Benno writes That seeing the Devil could not get Christ subverted by the Pagans he labored to subvert his Name under the shape of a Monk and pretence of Religion The most cruel arrogant and treasonable tyrant Pope Alexander the third he continues a debate for that Satanical Seat twenty years first with Victor then with Paschalis Calixtus and
blood But Dominicus saith he not being void of that perfection of love he took a three-fold correction out of his own hand every day not with a cord but with an iron rod even to the effusion of his blood and for his own faults which were very few another for them that were in Purgatory the third for them that were in the world And so deduces this comparison through all the parts of Christs life And in the end he saith That being to depart from this world he comforts his disciples saying Let not this trouble you for in the place where I go to I shall be more comfortable to you then if I were with you For after death ye shall have me a better Advocat then ye could have in this life What blasphemies these are judge thou Christian Reader and yet they are authorized by the Church of Rome because they serve to establish the Popes supremacy For Gregory the 9. canonized him as a Saint anno 1223. and appointed a festival day to be kept to his honor And he that writes these things is an Archbishop of Florence a man famous among them To him that will joyn himself to this Order of Franciscus and Dominicus for to merit the Kingdom of heaven to redeem their own souls or the souls of their friends as their Bull of Fraternity saith The Provincial gives him the Bulls of Fraternity by the which is made capable of all the merits of the Convent of the merits of all the Friers of that Province of their Masses prayers fastings abstinences devotions watchings disciplins c. Whereby as though it were too little for them to be Saviors of themselves they teach that they have such abundance of merits as also may serve for others They have a prayer to Thomas Becket in their porteous book who was made a Saint by Alexander the 3. in these words Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro te impendit fac nos Christe ascendere quo ille ascendit that is Make us O Christ to ascend to heaven by the blood of Thomas which he shed for thee Mocking as it were the blood of Jesus Now as for the Virgin Mary what title is proper to Jesus Christ which they have not ascribed unto her What honor or worship is given to Jesus Christ which is not given to her Damascene saith praying to the Virgin Mary I shall be saved by hoping in thee Thou is the salvation of mankind Antoninus saith part 3. summa tit 12. part 4. tit 15. cap. 14. para 7. That all they upon whom the Virgin Mary turns her eyes are necessarily justified and saved And that Christ because he is both Advocat and Judge together is too rigorous for this cause saith he God hath provided an Advocat meaning of the Virgin Mary in whom nothing is to be found but sweetness And he saith The Seraphims willing to have retained Mary as she mounted to heaven Not saith she for it is not meet that man should live his alone speaking of the everlasting Son of God who sits at the right hand of his Father I am given to him for to be a help to that work of redemption by my compassion and to that work of glorification by my intercession to the intent that if he threaten to destroy the earth as in the time of the Deluge I may appear before him as the rain-bow to the intent that he may remember his covenant And which is yet worse if worse can be another Papist saith applying that which is only spoken of Christ to her God saith he said to her in her birth I have given thee to be a light to the Gentils to the intent that thou may be our salvation applying it blasphemously to Mary to the end of the world and a light to be revealed to the Gentils And again he saith That all graces which run down from the Father and the Son come by her who saith he is a Mediatrix between God and men And no grace comes from heaven but through her hands and all grace enters in her and comes out of her And he saith She is a Mediatrix of salvation of conjunction of justification of reconciliation of intercession of communication And to be short he saith The Father hath given to her the half of his Kingdom the which was signified in the persons of Assuerus and Ester and that he hath retained to himself justice and hath left to her to exercise mercy So that we may appeal from the Court of the Justice of God to the Court of the mercy of the Virgin Mary Whereby they most blasphemously prefer and lift her up above the Lord for that Judge unto whom appellation is made must be superior unto these Judges from whom the appellation is made therefore they blasphemously prefer the tribunal of Mary to the tribunal of the God of heaven And what shal I speak of her Letanies Psalteries and Hours Of her Hours where she is called the Queen of mercy who hath bruised the Serpents head which thing is spoken only to the first parents of the Son of God Gen. 3. and the restorer and Savior of mankind the most godly and most holy the gate of heaven the shining port of life the mother of grace and mercy our life our hope who makes the world to shine by the light of the brightness of her peace who only hath deserved to be next in honor to the Trinity by whom the whole world lives next God She is called the comfort of the desolat the salvation and hope of all them that put their trust in her the fountain of salvation grace godliness joy comfort The Queen of heaven and star of the sea whom the Sun honors the promise of the Prophets the Queen of the Evangelists the teacher of the Apostles the comfort of the Martyrs the salvation and consolation of the quick and the dead the bottomless fountain of all grace the port of paradise the Lady of glory the Queen of joy the Lady of Angels the joy of the Saints the only hope of the miserable the Empress of the Angels the comforter of sinners the keeper of the heart the praise of all the Saints And of her is sought in her Hours and Letanies all these graces generally which are only proper to God through Jesus Christ to give as Protection receiving in the time of death refuge in the time of misery remission of sins the keeping of soul and body holiness of life staying of the pest calming of the seas perseverance in grace the eschewing of sin salvation and eternal life And that by her merits and prayers their sins may be forgiven and that being redeemed by her they may climb up to heaven And they pray to Mary and John Baptist by the Redeemer making Christ a Mediator between them and them And they pray to Christ to defend them from his anger and from the anger of his mother And they pray her to give her self