institution that they cannot be seuered or that matrimoniall estate of life is so impure and vncleane that it cannot well consort with Priestly puritie or else vpon an apprehension that thereby they shall be more honourable and regardable to their Laitie or with some such like respects all which are meere phansies and sinfull vanities Againe your Priests by the vowing and performance of vnnecessarie vowes doe approoue the Popes tyrannicall and Antichristian Supremacie which is no lesse then a point of impietie against Christ So that whensoeuer it shall please him to open their eies that they may see the errours in which they formerly walked doubtlesse they are no more tyed to such vowes then all archers are tyed to Robbinhoods lawes of archerie and lesse then S. Paul being conuerted was to the ceremoniall lawes of the Iewes I doe not by this reproue those who comming from Rome do liue in single life but I constantly maintaine that if they do continue still in single life by vertue of their erroneous vowe founded vpon Papall superstitious commaund they doe therein greiuouslie transgresse by which I inferre how idly politike He partaketh with sinne that doth by act or practise maintaine a law of sinne that Doctour was who aduised a Priest who was conuerted from the Church of Rome thus that as hee euer tendered his credit he should not marrie which his idle counsell did make so deep an impression in the Conuerts minde the Doctour was then in a place of great note that whereas before he was doubtfull whether to marry or not he resolued fully to make vse of his Christian libertie and to enter into that course of life being not a little scandalized at the Doctours aduise as in like sort another Priest was at the censure of some other who greatly reprooued him for that euen at the same time when he was conuerted hee entered into the holy state of matrimonie Further to touch some other speciall ends motiues which moue your religious to vow they are doubtlesse vaine and superstitious the superstition of which being opened vnto them the inualidity of their vowes is thereby also opened so that they may for some honest ends as to make vse of their christian liberty to procreate children to shake off Antichrists yoke c. lawfully and freely enter into the state of matrimonie How idle an end is that whereby you make a single life to be more satisfactorious for sinnes then the other How vaine that that no man entring into the estate of marriage can so carefully looke to the charge of soules as those which are vnmarried How pernicious an end is that and most iniurious to Christs death and passion which is indeed the cheifest end all your votaries aime at by which you teach them that by meanes of a solemne profession of your vowes they are made as cleare and free from all their sinnes as the childe or Adult Person which is presently taken See Azor instit tom 2. lib. 12. cap. 5. from the font of Baptisme This is a high point of your superstition to equalize your solemne vowe-profession with the Sacrament of Baptisme Yea some of your Doctours grant that to this your owne pretended tradition of solemne vowing which they denie to baptisme to wit that so often as a professed Person shall renew in his or her minde their former profession ratifying and approuing the same they are thereby anew expiated and made cleare from all their sinnes so potent a lauer and sacrament it is By the which it is most cleare that all your professours haue their vowes grounded vpon most superstitious ends Let vs now make application to some of your Religious especially your Nunnes The Apostle decreeth that younger women and widowes should marrie and that the Juniores viduas nubere volo 1 Timoth. 5. Church shall admit none into the number of Church-widowes you and yours commonly interpret this of your vowing Nunnes before the age of threescore This is the Apostles speciall decree wisely weighing how rare the gift of continencie is especially to widowes Compare now this together with your presumptuous doctrine who to draw young boyes and girles to make profession of chastitie before they can conceiue what chastitie is yea to make profession of chastitie when as some of them know themselues to be luxuriously vnchaste doe gilde ouer your Vowes of profession with such incomparable perfection that you equalize it with Baptisme But this your end being so pernicious the motiues and inducements so superstitious who can doubt but such to whom God shall be pleased to reueale his truth as haue made in your Church superstitious Vowes but that they are as free from them and the All your Authors confesse vna voce that vowes made for a sinfull end are not to be kept obligation of them before God as if they had neuer made them for they are ipso iure iure diuino nullae euen by Gods owne law of no force and validitie and so in all lawes ought to be nullae voide and none and of no force Sixthly out of the twelfth Supposition I euidently Infe ∣ rence Sixth inferre that such as haue not the efficacious and effectuall gift of continencie they are in the case of impossibilitie and so consequently are no more bound to keepe such Vowes then those who haue made Vowes of things apparantly impossible whether naturally or morally impossible it little mattereth as also it is no matter whether the impossibilitie be apparant or not it is sufficient that the conscience of the Votarie telleth him by his often conflicts falls and foyles that he hath not the gift of continencie Neither shall it helpe you to answer and say that such haue the gift of continencie in a remote power possibilitie or sufficiencie to be able to keepe it though infallibly they shall neuer therby actually and effectually keep it for this your answer besides that it is blasphemous against the goodnesse and wisedome of God so it is also idle in it selfe For what would you thinke of that man who should make a Clocke with wheeles barres hammer bell hand and all other parts and instruments belonging to the same and yet hee should so place and order them together that they should infallibly neuer strike would you thinke him wise if hee should say he had made a Clock which had a posse a sufficient ablenesse to strike though infallibly it should neuer strike as being disorderly placed Or what would you thinke of such a ones wisdome if he should be offended that the Clocke did neuer strike Make you application Mr. Flud and see how blasphemously you speake and write of God He giueth for so you all generally teach to all Monkes Priests and Nunnes such sufficiencie of grace whereby they may be able to conteyne yet he so proffereth these his graces in such circumstances of time in such condition of place or in such proportion to others or in such disposition of the
a spurious Ioane her selfe so that there was not any of her stocke which might haue beene twitted with her ignominie so that the discouering of the same by your owne Historians should haue brought no greater profit to your Church then shame by reuealing their deare Mothers turpitude Doth not your Bergomensis and some others relating the History affirme that in respect of the most shamefull turpitude of the tale she was not numbred in the Catalogue of your Popes as Paris lib. de potest Papae Plat. in vitis Genebrard Chronic. Baren Annalls in like sort your famous Ioannes Parisiensis saith of Ciriacus Pope and your Platina Genebrard and Baronius deliuer of some others the point is cleare I go on A third ground of your defence is the impossibility or vnlikelihood of the tale why vnlikely In respect of her wickednesse not so for Iohn the 23. Siluester the 2. Boniface the 8. Alexander the 6. Iohn the 12. Sergius Sabinian with diuers other most wicked Popes of your owne approuing for wickednesse of life haue by many degrees surpassed her Why impossible In respect of her sexe Alac good sir might not she as well liue in the habit of a man vndiscouered as your Euphrasina Mariana Melania with some others whereof your Legendists How diuers women haue liued as men in the habits of men See Raderu in Vâ—ridario 1. p. annotat in Apolinar Epist Petri Antiâ—ch apud Bâ—râ— Ann. 1054. make mention being women liue for many yeares together in Monasteries with your Monkes vndiscouered Why might not the same happen in the Church of Rome as well as in the Church of Constantinople as by yours hath been obiected against the same because they admitted Eunuches to Episcopacy The likeliest matter to haue discouered her sexe might haue beene want of a beard but your Church had taken order for that before for your Masse-Priests and Monks vsed to be shauen Againe Physicians will tell you and that truly that as there be waies to procure the growing of haire where nature had not determined the same so likewise there are waies to hinder the growing of haire where nature had otherwise appointed it whereof your Papisse Ioane being so singularly instructed in all humane literature could not be ignorant and it is to be presumed that she hauing resolued to liue in that sort shee vsed her most cunning meanes to conceale her sexe both to auoide punishment due to such dissembling being against the law of God as also to purchase those honours at which she aimed and which by her excellent learning she knew she was reputed and reported to haue deserued Adde to this that there be women who by nature appeare Semibarbatae halfe bearded vpon whom the Italian prouer begoeth Da donna barbata à huomo raso dio mi guarda From a bearded woman and a shauen man God deliuer me Why might not your Ioane be of some such constitution Why might not she beardlesse by nature liue in Rome amongst breadlesse by Arte as well as some of your mincing women of late yeares being of the age of thirtie pretending to be younger passe the searches at our Portes and liue in Flaunders in the habit of men as though they were men amongst bearded men The case is cleare some of your Gallant Maides which come to you to be Nunnes know well how to case themselues in the habit of Gallant youngsters Ipsae viderint whether any of them did scorch or bee scorched as your phrase is against Galeacius A fourth ground of your reasons ariseth out of some contrarieties which are in Authours touching the time of this Ioanes sitting What of this they are all generally agreed that she sate betwixt Lee the 4. and Benedict the 3. the yeere of our Lord 855. or 856. or the reabouts Shall their varietie concerning the time of her Papacy ouerthrow the truth of the historie beware of that For how familiar a thing is it in your Historians and Cronologists to varie in the setting downe of the order and sittings of your Popes shall such variance make the matter doubtfull if so what then will become of the succession of your Rockes whereon your Church is builded What will become of Saint Peters being and dying at Rome whereon your Papall supremacie is founded concerning which Authours are so diuers and so various The Septuaginta-Translatours Sir and others do they not differ in the account of the worlds age some hundreth of yeares what shall we therefore play the Atheists and either deny Moses credit or the worldes creation Concerning the birth life and death of our Sauiour is there no variance in Authours shall wee therefore blaspheme and call the truth of Christianity in doubt Touching the death of the euer blessed Virgin Mary is there not great varietie and contrarietie in Authours what shall we therefore say she is not dead we may not for then your practise touching her corporall assumption after her death would bee found superstitious Thus by the way I haue refuted in a few wordes your groundes for your deniall of Popisse Ioane In the conclusion hereof I will aduertise you that if you will needs deny the history to take vp and to content your selfe therewith that answere which your Onuphrius makes Onuph Annot. in Plat. in Pap Ioh. 8. you haue great reason to listen vnto him though he be a very fresh writer within lesse then an age for hee amongst your Authours denying this history is the Bell-weather He thus saith and proueth out of Luitprandus Luitprand Ticin lib. 6. cap. 6. 7. an ancient Historian and an obedient childe of the Church of Rome how that Iohn the 8 was a most notorious luxurious and impudike Person who not contenting himselfe like a common Bull to abuse other mens wiues he further kept in his Serralls apart for his lecherous vse three most impudent Strumpets Rainera The best popish defence can be made concerning Pope-Ioane Anna and Stephana Onuphrius guilefully to make his tale seeme more currant calleth one of them Ioane with whom he liued in most detestable sort in hate whereof for his effeminatenesse the Romanes termed him by the name of Ioane And so was the faire childe named and a Pope-Ioane deuised This is your Onuphrius coniecture and the same seemeth more likely because Auentine a Auent hisi lib. 4 pag. 285. no great Fauorite of Popes seemeth so to haue coniectured saue only that Auentine calleth the Strumpet Theodora For my part though I refuse Auentines coniecturall authoritie herein as your men do reiect him in a world of his other narrations yet I aduertise you Master Floode to sticke vnto it for of all your defences it seemeth most likely and yet I ingenuously confesse I am somewhat doubtfull whether I should so aduise you or not For in very truth it seemeth more infamous for your Church to haue had such a Pope-Iohn then such a Pope-Ioane as the Historians relate In the first there should haue
twelue for some inconueniences which his Fatherhood conceiued to be in it wherupon he in his booke of reformation vpon Englands conuersion did Dictatour-like decree an amendment of the same especially in that point because in case of triall for life and death amongst vs in England no man is permitted to haue his Aduocate or Counceler though in all other ciuill causes so much is allowed But this we must leaue to the Lawyers whom it concerneth who are to defend the equitie of their Lawes this I obserue and inferre if Parsons thought a law of so great antiquity he constantly affirmed the same to haue been brought in by William the Conquerour for the ruinating and subuersion of the English worthy either of correction or remoueall for some temporall inconueniences arising Apud Eneam Siluiū de Gestis Conc. Basil Multisaluarentur in Sacerdotio coniugato qui in sterili damnantur See Panor cap. Cum olim de Cleric coning thereout why shall not the losse of innumerable soules for as one of your owne said multisaluarentur c. Many would be saued in a married Priesthood who are damned in a barren Presbiteracie be a sufficient cause to remoue so vnnecessarie and wicked a Law which as it is cause of eternall perdition to many so I boldly and constantly affirme it is cause of sinne in wellny all who vndergoe the same and this I confidently set down both in respect of what I know by experience and what I haue heard from diuers others who haue been intimely acquainted Hieron in dan. Lyran. Hipol de consum with your votaries But be it as it will I doubt not but that of some ancients speaking of Antichrist must bee accomplished in your Pope Simulabit castitatem vt plurimos decipiat He will dissemble chastitie that he may deceiue very many which case standing thus the Pope continuing obstinate in his tyrannical enforcing of such a law I wish Pontifician Priests and others to call to minde that doctrinall and resolute position which is Sa. verbo lex See Azor. Tom. 4. lib. 5. Siluest generally taught by all their Diuines Canonists and Summists to wit that lex humana c. a humane law bindeth not in conscience when it is either vniust or it is vnprofitable or when it is not for the common good or when it bringeth great hurt or when it is very hard to be kept for thou it is reputed in the law to be impossible thus they so that if the Pope and his Ministers shall still continue in their tyrannicall enforcing of such lawes they may bee condemned and contemned yea further who may iustly condemne those which take orders in that Church if at the taking of the same they doe vse some amphibologicall equiuocation or mentall reseruation such as his Ignatian Proctours doe teach their blinde Obedients to vse towards their Soueraignes his lawfull Magistrates thereby to delude and deceiue such tyrannicall proceeding for what is it else then arte artem fallere by honest Arte to deceiue that wicked mans practise Secondly I inferre out of the 5. 6. and 7. suppositions Inference 2 which haue that avowe prouing either idle vnprofitable or vniust or nociue and hurtfull to the common Where necessitie vrgeth dispensation is excusable where vtilitie moueth dispensation is laudable profit I say common not priuate Bernard de cons lib. 3. good and in speciall if hurtfull to the spirituall good of the Vower the same may be for such respects dispensed withall or changed And as wee haue it in the sixth supposition It is sufficient for a dispensation or change if the cause be thought and reputed lawfull and further as we haue it in the seuenth supposition this dispensation is rather to bee called a declaration of the inualidity or nullitie of the vowe then a relaxation or release of the obligation of the same So that if the Prelate or Superiour be wilfully bent that he will not dispense as he is bound and ought otherwise he sinneth greatly then the declaration of learned men touching the vnprofitablenesse hurtfulnesse c. of such a vowe shall be sufficient for clearing and appeasing the conscience of such votaries Now what shall we thinke to be a iust cause for a dispensation of a vowe if that may not be so reputed which Popes Prelates Synodes Doctours the generall voice and noice of all people doe repute to be such as they doe in this case of Nunnes and Priests marrying What said not that your pious Pius the second thus That as marriage was taken away from Priests vpon certaine Pius apud Plat. reasons so there were more reasons to haue the same restored to them againe This said your Pope vpon consideration of the horrible enormities committed in yout Church which saying of his hath been receiued with applause of deuines Canonists Princes Emperors and the voice See Fricius lib. 4. de Eccles in Apologia pro matr sacerdes of all people Much might be said in this kind but the matter is cleere I goe on Thirdlie out of the eight supposition thus I do most Inference Third cleerlie inferre that whereas there meet two vowes together in a Frier Priest Monke or Nunne the one and first which they made to God in baptisme the other which vpon an erroneous conceit and inforced law they made to man in case these two vowes are incompatible and cannot be both kept as they are in him or her who vpon due examination and long triall finde themselues not to haue the gift of continencie then doubtlesse the better and more necessarie of these two must take place which without all controuersie is that which was made to God in Baptisme Now by vertue of that law such as haue not the gift of continencie are bound vnder paine of damnation to hearken to the Apostle declaring and commanding thus melius est nubere quam vri It is better to marry then to burne and thus 1 Cor. 7. 9. Qui non continet nubat He or she who containeth not let him or her marry The Apostle doth not say he that cannot containe let him marrie but thus he that doth not containe let him marry that is who hauing made triall of himselfe or of her selfe and findeth by daily experience either of often lapses or else of morosous desires which is burning let such a one marrie and this is the very case August de virgin cap. 34 Cyprian ep 11. lib. 1 Bern. in serm ad Clerum de conuers whereof S. Austen Cyprian Bernard and some others haue spoken inueighing and exlaiming against such as made pretenced vowes and kept them not affirming that it was better for them to marrie And here I answer an obiection by the way which may be thus made By our first vowe in Baptisme we are bound to keepe all after promises or vowes which we may make either to God or man It is true indeede in such vowes and promises that are iust and
presuiudiciall to his own religion For who is so blockish that doth not here out obserue foure places who so blind as not to see here a double heaueÌ„ of the Papists a twofold state of their blessed further who in those wordes they Câ—ster his foure places for souls departed his two heauens are not yet of that perfection to come into the bighest heauen doth not obserue that their Saints in the first heauen may merit and by good worke obtaine greater perfection who obserueth not also that wise Costorus hath a heauen in which the blessed doe not see God againe who noteth not that this vision supposeth that in this mortall life men may bee perfect in all their wordes workes and thoughts and so presently after death mount vp into the highest heauen the which position with diuers others as it is contrary to their doctrine by which they teach no man to bee void of veniall sins so it is expresly against Gods word affirming that the iust man falleth seuen times a day and riseth againe it is also Prou. 24. 16. most opposit to that of Saint Iames who teacheth that wee all doe offend in many things but these men perfect in Iacob 3. 2. all their workes yea thoughts and words are free from all sinne and so need not so much as to aske forgiuenes of their daily trespasses as they are commanded in our Lords Prayer much more might bee obserued in this vision contradicting their owne principles both in Phylosophy and Diuinitie But I will adde no more but only tell them that this vision carrieth with it not any whit the more credit because holy Briget hath the like in her Briget lib. 4. reuelat cap. 7. reuelations she deliuereth forsooth a double varietie of places for soules damned and a triple varietie of places for the soules to bee purged but because her narration is long and it were too too prolixe to trouble this short Treatise with so impertinent and hereticall fables and baubles I will onely point the Reader to the place where hee may see them Notwithstanding I will not omit in this place to adioyne some of that illuminated Saintesses visions considering that her reuelations bee of late reprinted at Antwerpe with Paul the fifthes priuiledge but hee hath so dealt with Brigett that she hath not bin priuiledged from false fingers and therefore in diuers things she is made to speake diuersly from what she did in her former Editions so playeth the illuminate vice-God with the illuminated spousesse of Christ Brigett in the fourth Booke of her reuelations telleth vs how the Virgine Mary appeared to her declaring Brig li. 4. c. 139. with how many gracious fauours she would cherish Gregory Ibidem cap. 139. 140. 141. 142. 143. the eleuenth a Pope prophane worldly impure disobedient carnall if Brigets owne reuelations bee of credit and in the vpshot the Virgine telleth Brigett that she would pray to her sonne vt ipse dignetur misereri vnire spiritum suum sanctum cum interno sanguine cordis eiusdem Gregorij Papae that hee would vouchsafe to haue mercy and to vnite his holy Spirit with the internall bloud of the heart of the said Gregory Pope belike heere is some hypostatical vnion thought vpon betwixt Gregory the Popes bloud and the holy Ghost For I beseech the Pontificians to tell me what new vnion could the Virgine pray for betwixt Gregories bloud and the holy Ghost except vnion hypostaticall ah vaine and detestable impieties And heere I cannot omit to set downe what Gallonius recordeth of renowmed Philippe Nerius the Galloni in vita ad ann 1595. founder of the congregation of the Oratory in Rome This man forsooth being to bee bowelled after his death if hee was a Saint like Sauerius why might not his guts be kept for relikes as well as the rest of his body the Physicians found that two of his brest ribbes the 4. and the fift were broken and yet so reared vp in bending that in their height they exceeded the bignesse of a mans fist a diuine remedy say these wise Physicians without doubt Gallon ibidem that so the Holy Fathers heart might haue roome to leape and moue vp and downe in the loue of God heare his words habuit ea initium a nimia diuini amoris vi summoque cordis eius ardore quo inter contemplandum vel maxime afficiebatur The same to wit the breaking of his ribs tooke beginning from the too too great force of diuine loue and very great heat of his heart with which he was specially affected in time of his contemplation And to make this more credible This oath of these Physicians is as desperate as that of Baronius pag. following and the miracle more wonderfull he bringeth out certaine Physicians not only to affirme but euen by word and writing with sacred oath to confirme the same that the breaking of the said Fathers ribbs hapned vnto him diuinitus diuinely by miracle and that for diuers causes primo ne contemplationi vacans ex diuini caloris vi abundaÌ„tiaque repentina morte extingueretur deinde vt cor ardentissimos amoris aestus sustinens angustiorem locum sibi acquireret tum vt pulmones facilius praeter consuetudinem dilatarent se postremo vt beneficio loci angustioris tantum noui aeris pulmones ad cor deferrent quantum ad illud refrigerandum satis esset First lest giuing himselfe to contemplation by the force and aboundance of diuine loue he should by sodaine death be extinguished maruaile how The blasphemie of this man is intollerable as likwise that of Turseline who saith that when a brother put his finger into a hole nigh Sauerius his heart there issued out blood and water Tursel vita Sauer lib. 6. cap. 4. the Virgin Marie and S. Paul escaped death if their ribbs were not broken and raised vp secondly that the heart susteyning the most ardent heats of loue might obteyne a more ample place thirdly that the lights might aboue custome more dilate themselues lastly that by the helpe how many tautologies of miracles bee here of a more large place the lights might bee able to bring so much fresh ayre to the heart as should bee needefull to refresh the same What miraculous stuffe haue wee here not onely affirmed but by sacred oath confirmed not by one but by two Physicians where was their reuerence of the euer dreadfull name of God so rashly to prophane it but they may seeme excusable because perhaps they were feed and by fees they liue But inexcusable needs must purpured Baronius be who with oath affirmed Gallon in vita ann 1550. that this his Holy Father Philip Nerius vpon a certaine night as he was walking and falling into a certaine ditch was presently caught by the haires of his head by an Angell and so deliuered How prodigall was Baronius of his oath absolutely to sweare a thing to be true which hee
faith yea already lost from faith to vse Tertullians phrase who are deluded by such they are ouerladen and ouercome with sinne which are drawen away by such but let them still reioyce in such Vt insipientia eorum manifesta fiat That their folly may bee made manifest The which God of his 2. Timoth. 3. infinite mercy vouchsafe to grant and guide the hearts of such as sit at the sterne carefully and vigilantly as they doe to looke after such predicables and transcendents which dare to come sit rest walk remaine nigh the very predicament of substance it selfe to the perdition of diuerse vnstable soules he also vouch safe to open the eyes of all such as by Popish illusions and miracles haue beene drawen to leaue the charity of truth of him that is Via Veritas Vita the Way the Truth and Iohn 14. 6. Life To whom with the Father and holy Ghost be all Praise and Glory for euer Amen A second Addition shewing the vanity of a late pamphlet in which the life and death of one Edmund Gennings Pseudo-Martyr is gloriously set downe COurteous Reader about the time I had finisht this my discourse it pleased a very Reuerend Father of this Church the Right Reuerend Bishop of Bathe and Wels to shew me a petty transmarine pamphlet in print gloriously bedeckt with imagery representing vnto the gazing Reader in pictures the birth life attachment arraignement and execution of one Edmund Gennings who together with one Swithune Wels a merry Cricke and boun Companion was according to the Iustice of the Lawes of this Kingdome put to death in Grayes-Inne-fields the yeere of our Lord God 1591. Hauing cursorily runne ouer the pamphlet I should haue reputed the same the worke of some childish Punie orignorant Wilson but that I obserued cleerely by the two letters prefixed in the Front of the booke and by some other circumstances very cleere that the Authour of the same was Iohn Gennings a Reuerend Priest amongst them and Brother to Saint Edmund their pretensed Martyr Both these Iohn and Edmund were well knowen to me concerning whom and the pamphlet the contents whereof doe so square with the vanitie of Popish miracles I haue heere handled I thought good to adde these few obseruations First that neither Edmund nor Iohn conuersing amongest their fellow Collegiates were euer reputed to be of any note of Sanctity what the learning of Iohn is I cannot say but if a man may take a scantling of his sufficiency by this simple work it must needs be reputed very I take it that the insufficiency of the book is the cause why our Papists do denie any such thing to be in print slender The learning of the Pseudo-Martyr was verie small his short staying in the Colledge not suffering him to be better furnished and againe the weaknesse of his constitution was a great hinderance vnto him in that kinde who otherwise also was not very capable of learning His daily infirmities were a cause that he was made Prefect of the Infirmarie that is appointed to bee an Ouerseer of the sicke whereby hee was freed from certaine scholasticke burdens and duties which were incident to others His effeminate constitution and complexion with carriage incident to the same made him to be beloued of the bearded Iuuentus yea and the weaknesse of his constitution was a reason that hee was by dispensation made Priest before hee was 24. yeeres of age for such is their fashion whom they finde precipitate for Englands mission though they bee imberbes to hasten them away by giuing vnto them the dignitie of Priest-hood and no maruell that the Martyr hasted for England whose daily sicknesse and continuall infirmities hastened him to the graue in a strange Countrey if he had stayed at Rhemes any longer This is all in effect which can bee said touching his carriage for that small time he was in the Colledge and these bee the beginnings of their Martyr and I thinke that he who shall reade the pamphlet set out by his Brother who I doubt not did amplifie what he could and set all his praises vpon the tenter-hookes may not finde any speciall poynt worth noting commending either his learning or his Sanctitie When I obserue how they haue rashly set him forth for so glorious a Martyr I cannot but thinke of an other like Saint who was sent from Rhemes about the same time into England This was one Waterson who whilest Gennings was Prefect of the Infirmary serued vnder one Master Maior in the Sacristy hauing charge to keep the same cleane and to see that Candells water wafer-breades wine and Masse vestiments should be in readinesse for those who were to say Masse This Waterson being of a very rough constitution fitter to make a Ploughman then a Scholler ouergrown in yeares not able to make good construction in Latine no nor to expound ordinarie and vulgar Latine being found not fit for Logicke subtelties was put to study their positiue Grosseries cases of diuinitie I should say in which kinde of learning he made such speedie progresse that vpon a suddaine he was Priested sent ouer into England the which was not done without the offence and dislike of diuerse in the Colledge and others in England also such was the mans sufficiencie and his conuersation in good fellowship c. But obserue what followeth being come into England so inconsiderate and Goodfellowlike was his carriage that he did not long escape the hands of Iustice being taken was according to the lawes executed for his demerites whereupon their notes were so on a suddaine changed concerning the sanctitie of life and glorie of the death of this their Martyr that it was a wonder worthy laughter to heare them Yea they were not ashamed to giue out diuers rumours of miraculous accidents which happened before at and after his death more then this our Pamphleter can after so long consideration finde out for his Saint-brother Which considering I cannot but obserue this point that it mattereth not with the Pope and his Assecles of what life and conuersation their Saints be so it can be prooued that they die stoutly and obstinately for the testimonie of his vnlimited supremacie and it is worthy noting that they doe most exalt and extoll those feruent and fiery Spirits who doe giue to their Romane Ioue absolute power to depose and dethrone Princes and do speake very coldly of such their Martyrs as die for refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance if being questioned about the Popes power to depose and dethrone Princes they answere more moderately and temperately then others doe And here I aduise the weake Reader or any that may be popishly affected not to prize too highly this promptnesse in popish Priests to suffer death for the glory of their Vice-Christ There were of old the Circumcellions A Costro verbo Martiriū Aug. ad Quodunlt haer 69. stellae erraticae wandring starres nominated of that accursed Planet Donatus
Donatists these were so eager after the opinion of Martirdome that if they could not finde Authoritie which would kill them they would destroy themselues or kill each other The Deuill hath neuer wanted his Martyrs yea he hath so preuailed bewitched many that they haue beene cruell Butchers to themselues out of an apprehension of their own miserable estate accounting the most terrible of all terribles death to be the next way and best meanes for and to their felicitie The learned and vnlearned cannot be ignorant but that many Ancient worthies Greeke and Romane Infidel and faithfull haue by daily meditation of deaths power and the sting thereof and by consideration of the benefits that arise from honorable deaths so armed their mindes against the terrours of death that neither death her selfe nor the immanitie of most cruell torments could euer containe them from atchiuing or attempting such honourable enterprises in which they saw their glorious memories should remaine registred for all future posterities And yet in this they were for the most part led by a humane Spirit of such efficacie is Sacra fames gloriae I doe specially note that the condition of popish Martyrs of these times was liuely forelineated in the Martirians who so gloried in the number of their Martyrs that for their bragging in this kinde Antiquitie worthily termed them Martirians For as those Heretikes Epiphan haeres 80. purchased a constancy and fortitude to contemne death by their meditations and Enthusiasticall exercises so likewise these of Rome appeare euidently not to haue this their obstinacie to death from the Spirit of God but As the Martirians did superstitiously bury the bodies of their Martyrs and sing praises to them so do the Papists the very like doe purchase the same by their quotidian and daily exercises in their Seminaries and Colledges appointed specially and ordinarily for the same purpose For as at their entrance and admission into the Colledge they sweare to come into England whensoeuer they shall bee sent so for euer after whilest they are in the Colledge they are admonished by their Rulers and Superiours to arme themselues against death which the lawes here haue appointed for such their comming into this Kingdome so that it is no maruell if so long and serious fore apprehensions and meditations doe obfirmato and make obstinate their mindes for the constant suffering of death which is no more then is daily and vsually to bee seene euen in the prophanest and vilest Malefactours that come to die brauely as the phrase is at Tiburne And to argue against them more clearely if contempt of death be to be admired it is then most highly to bee esteemed in such poore and simple Persons whom their Such worthy examples are most frequent in Acts and Moâ—uments of simple men women of all sorts and of all ages since Antichrists time Papall commandes and most immane inquisitions haue by the cruellest death of fire taken away in Spaine Italy France England and where not For their constancie as that in popish Priests cannot be attributed to any politike or humane set exercises for such an end No no it must needes bee the spirit of God which speaketh in them and enableth them to beare patiently and ioyfully those immane Torments and deaths most cruell and shamefull which the Pope your holy Father hath decreed against them This I haue spoken by the way only as by a touch lest any weakelings should bee scandalized at their obstinate sufferings But let such euer carry that of Ciprian in their mindes Non poena sed causa facit Martirem It is neither death nor the manner of death which maketh a Martyr but the cause Which cause of death if euer in any then in these Pseudomartyrs is most farre from giuing them the crowne of Martyrdome For setting aside a million of reasons which might bee produced to shew the iniquitie of their cause I onely at this present obserue this one If antiquitie did deseruedly hold and decree that such should not bee reputed Martyrs who moued with a seditious Spirit were killed destroying the Idolls of the Heathen the very obiects of Conc Elib can 60. The fathers adde this reason of their decree that no such thing is written or allowed in the Gospell no such thing read to haue beene done by the Apostles their idolaty which not God but the Deuill had raised and erected yea if they thought him worthy of death who at Nicomedia Diocletian and Maximian being then there did rent in sunder the cruell Edict which those Emperours had published against the Christians for the vtter ruine and extirpation of them of their Temples and of all diuine worship If I say Antiquity reputed such worthy of death and would not honour them as Martyrs who so attempted with what face then are your Popes Souldiers to bee accounted Martyrs who seeke the ruine and destruction of their naturall Soueraignes whom the hand of heauen hath set ouer them and doe endeauour to rent in sunder not their Edicts but that knot and band of Allegiance of their Subiects wherein consisteth their Regall authoritie For as cleare as the Heauens it is that if there be no Subiects there can be no Soueraigne and Subiects there cannot bee As all Kings are but as Viceroyâ—s vnder the great God of heauen so likewise all such as are vnder the Ioue of Râ—me to be dethroned by him can be no other then his Viceroyes where full and bound Allegiance is denied as it is by all those who hold and affirme that the Pope hath power to dethrone our Gracious Soueraignes so consequently as cleare as light it selfe it is that in their opinions Paul the 5. is King of England and our most Gracious Soueraigne whom God of his mercy protect as the apple of his eye his Viceroy and Substitute Touching the Contents of this Pamphlet there is nothing worthy a Schollers view there are onely some pretty gazing bookes for their blinde-Obedients to them we will leaue them that which I minde to examine are onely some three idle miracles thrust in for want of better matter I relate not the speciall words of the Pamphlet in respect that I haue not at this present the Pamphlet by me The first is a grand one at the Martyrs birth hee was The first miracle of M. Fd Gennings forsooth borne with a tooth with which sucking his Mothers brest he did so afflict and torment her putting such fearefull presages in her minde thereby that shee was inconsolably troubled But behold she being thus perplexed a Romish Doctour a Prophet entreth in and perswadeth her to be of good cheere for without all doubt said he this ominous tooth of the childe doth forebode that he shall trauaile beyond the Seas and shall returne againe to your and all his friends comforts What a vanitie is this it were a sinne to loose time in refuting of it many there haue been borne with a tooth or