of Rome as what it ought to doe For this is rather an admonition then a commendation and with a praise giueth warning of duty Wherefore you shall doe well Calander as S. Peter warnes you if you alwaies giue attention to the holy Scripture as to the candle to the Church as to the candle-sticke so long as it containeth and vpholdeth that candle giuing light to all the house For if it bee bereft of the light of her sunne and being blinde endeauours to make others blinde also while it makes new Articles of the faith and conceales the old it doth retain the name of a Church but it hath altogether lost the nature that which may very truely be spoken of the Church of Rome § 128 You doe very vnaduisedly traduce the Church of Rome saith Saturnine by whom you thinke that new Articles of the faith were made for the Articles of the faith which it propoundes are diuided into two sortes One are of immediate Reuelation Others are drawne and fetcht from thence What articles of faith the Church maketh The Church doth not make new Articles of the faith of the first sort But the Church maketh Articles of the second sort which ought to bee beleeued with the Catholicke faith as the case requireth if it thinke them necessary Therefore Vincentius Lyrinensis thinketh that the life of propheticall and euangelicall doctrine must be directed by the rule of Ecclesiasticall and Catholike sense so that he doth in vaine brag of the text of scripture who reiecteth the sense of the Church § 129 Then Patriott how absurdly is it said saith he that the Church doth not make immediate reuelations of God Vnlesse that be more absurd to thinke that to fetch and draw from is the same which to make for an Article must first be made before a doctrine can be drawne or fetcht from the same Therefore that is said to bee an Article of the faith which is drawne from an Article Foolishly Articles are principles deductions are conclusions An article is one thing a conclusion drawne from the article is another which often is so contrarie that it vtterly ouerthroweth the article As it shall bee made cleare in the explication of your creede For I confesse with Vincentius Lyrinensis that the line of propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine is to be directed by the rule of the ecclesiasticall and catholicke sense For the ecclesiasticall and catholicke sense must alway agree with the Propheticall and apostolicall text For where the text doth faile vs the glosse cannot helpe vs. Whence I conclude that nothing can bee Catholicke and Ecclesiasticall which is not Propheticall or Apostolicall Now because Vincentius doth restraine the propheticall and apostolicall line to the cannon of the Scripture which he confesseth to be more then sufficient for faith it followeth that nothing contrarie to the canonicall Scripture can be Ca holicke though it bee so determined by the Church Wherefore Calander if the Church of Rome haue cast any article of faith into the Creede of the second sort which is contrarie to an Article of the first sort and haue added an ecclesiasticall glosse disagreeing from the definition of canonicall Scripture that Church shall sooner leaue off to be the Catholicke Church then that Article shall beginne to be Catholicke Let vs come therefore to the Creede and let vs intreat Argentine if hee please to open it vnto vs. Then Argentine I will doe it and very willingly and § 130 I will so professe it as it is propounded by the Bull of Pius the 4. to be a forme of an Oath of the profession of the orthodoxall faith 1 I William Argentine doe firmely admit and hold the Apostolicall and Ecclesiasticall traditions and other ordinances and constitutions of the Church of Rome The Popes creede Traditions Scriptures according to the Romane sense 2 I doe firmely hold and admit the holy Scriptures according to that sense which the mother Church hath and doth hold whose right it is to iudge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scripture neither will I euer admit it or expound it but according to the ioynt consent of the fathers 3 I professe that there be seauen Sacraments truely and properly of the new Law 7 Sacraments ordained by our Lord Iesus necessarie for the saluation of mankind Baptisme Confirmation the Eucharist Penance Extream vnction Orders Matrimony I admit the receiued and approoued rites of the Catholicke Church Originall sin and iustification 4 I admit and hold all and euery those points concerning originall sinne and iustification which were determined in the holy Councell of Trent The Masse 5 I professe that there is offered vp in the Masse vnto God a true proper propitiatorie sacrifice for the quicke and the dead Transsubstantiation 6 I beleeue that in the holy Eucharist the body and blood of Christ is truely and really and substantially and that there is made a change of the whole substance of bread into his body and of the whole substance of wine into his blood which change or conuersion the Catholicke Church calleth transsubstantiation I confesse also that vnder one kinde onely whole Christ is receiued and a true sacrament Purgatorie 7 I constantly hold that there is a purgatorie and that the soules there deteined are holpe with the praiers of the faithfull Adoration of Saints 8 I hold that the Saints raigning with Christ are to be worshipped and to be called vpon and that they offer vp their prayers to God for vs and that their reliques are to be worshipped The worshipping of Images 9 I firmely hold that the Images of Christ and the euer blessed Virgin and of other Saintes are to bee had and to be adored with due worshippe Indulgences 10 That the power of indulgences was left by Christ and that the vse of them is very auaileable for saluation The supremacie of the Pope 11 I acknowledge the Catholicke and Apostolicke Romaine Church to be the mother and mistris of all Churches and I vowe and sweare true obedience to the Byshoppe of Rome the successour of blessed Peter the Prince of the Apostles and the Vicar of Iesus Christ The authority of the Councell of Trent 12 I vndoubtedly likewise receiue all other thinges defined and determined by the holy Canons and Occumenicall Councells chiefly of the holy Councell of Trent and I reiect and accurse all things contrarie and all heresies reiected by the Church This true Catholicke faith without which none can § 130 be saued at this present I voluntarily professe I will procure as farre as lyeth in me to be wholy vncorruptly and constantly kept and taught by Gods assistance to my liues end I the same William promise vow and sweare so help me God and these his holy Euangelist And I stand in feare of that which the most holy Father added It shall not bee lawfull for any man to infringe this authoritie of our ordination inhibition
It is wicked what peace what consent what agreement can be with the holy scriptures and mans traditions with free will and Gods grace with inherent iustice and imputed righteousnesse with mans satisfactions and my blood procuring their saluation what holy society and vnity can there bee with the inuocation of dead Saints and the prayers to the liuing God with the popish Masse and the Lords supper with Christian faith and Antichristian distrust You see it is wicked now marke how dangerous Sweete is the name of peace the opinion of vnitie is delightsome But what true Christian doth doubt that that bond of peace is most sure which is knit together with the truth and vnitie of the Spirit Whence it followeth that sweete destruction is included in that peace which is made with falsehood I adde that there cannot possibly bee peace between the seede of the woman and the seede of the serpent betweene the lambe and Antichrist betweene those where God hath set euerlasting hatreds Fire and water will better agree then Christ and Antichrist wherefore I aduise Protestant Kings and Princes that they make perfect that reformation of the Church by my helpe which by my helpe they haue begunne First that they compose all home differences chiefly in the Articles of the doctrine of the Gospell with quiet and Christian conference for it is to bee feared that inward dissention will bring backe againe the outward enemy Secondly that they resist the common Aduersarie with common helpe and counsell for there is danger that if euery one resist not all will be surprised Thirdly that they may the better defend their Christ let them at once set vpon Antichrist for hee hath more courage that doth inuade then he that doth defend Lastly if they cānot in all points fulfil the prophecy yet let them banish the beast out of their Dominions For it is impossible that Christ and Antichrist should dwell together In the end I aduise both sides that in the deliberation of this great businesse they preferre not worldly wisedome before heauenly wisedome secondly that the euill custome of men bee not preiudiciall to the eternall truth of God Thirdly that sluggish doubtfulnesse do not put of and procrastinate this so noble and so worthy an enterprise Lastly that the deceitfull condition of peace with Antichrist doe not crosse the desire of recouering libertie So that euery one of you being content with his own kingdome and territories shall not busie himselfe about inuading others but will cast about how he may preuaile and ouerthrow the Deuill and his eldest sonne the Romane Antichrist i. not one wicked man but all the Kingdome of vnrighteousnesse Euery one of you haue a iust cause of his owne and now you haue a faire offer made you The truce made betweene Caesar and the Turke offers a fit occasion to represse the insolencie of this Bishoppe after you will more easily repell the Turke And seeing you haue both a iust quarrell and fit oportunitie against the beast let there not be wanting a will in you If Christ the Sauiour ô ye renowmed Kings and Princes do speake thus secretly vnto you and inwardly warne you shall he not perswade you though he were not of power to punish you The rather seeing he hath shewed that the Pope is a Capitall enemie to Gods testament and kingly gouernment The Pope hath cast such proiects and Rome takes such counsells that kingly Maiestie and popelike Maiestie cannot long stand together Our sinnes makes the Bishoppe great who if he rise to that greatnesse which hee aimeth at in his minde Kings of necessitie must fall to the ground My Dialogue shall make it plaine if it please you to vouchsafe to read it wherein pragmaticall Antichrist first enters the stage Glory to God PRAGMATICALL ANTICHRIST OR HJLDEBRAND BROVGHT TO LIFE OR The first Dialogue of Christian obedience due to Kings against Antichristian rebellion couered vnder the shew of Catholike RELIGION The Speakers be sixe 1. MICHAEL CALANDER 2. William Argentine two noble Romane Catholikes Laickes as they be termed one more gentle the other more fierce 3. George Velbacel an old Priest Calanders Confessor 4. Robert Saturnine a Iesuite Argentines Guest one more milde and moderate the other more violent and bitter 5. Antonius Patriotta a Professor of the reformed Diuinitie 6. Carolus Regius a common Lawyer either of them a Maintainer of our Religion Countrie and King AFter that Paule the fift had sent two bulles into England wherein hee § 1 had forbidden his Catholike sons as he stiles them to take the Oath of Allegeance and obedience I remember there was speech after the end of Easter Tearm that two Lay noble Romane-Catholickes Michael Calander and William Argentine went aside out of the city into their country-house to aduise about their affaires It was said that old George Velbacell the Archpriest whom age and custome had made more milde and gentle went with them together with his keeper that he might ease the trouble of his long imprisonment with some country delight There followed not long after a wandring Iesuite younger in yeares a man of a fiery spirit his name was Robert Saturnine He that he might conceale his Priesthood couered his bald pate with a Gregorian or periwigge and seemed by his attire to be a Courtier There happened at that time to arriue to Calander a man full of curtesie and hospitalitie Antonius Patriotta and Charolus Regius one of them a Doctor in Diuinity the other a great Councellour at Law both of them an aduersarie to Poperie yet so that they could finde in their hearts to loue the person of a Papist if they thought him an honest man and a faithfull subiect to their King and Countrey They came of purpose to perswade Calander their olde acquaintance to take the Oath of supremacie if it might be if not at least the oath of Allegeance lest if he did refuse it hee might giue iust occasion to our worthy King to be alienated in minde from him and so might bring some trouble to that Noble and auntient Familie § 2 Here Calander vpon a scruple of conscience which the Popes two bulles did seeme to inflict to the superstitious old man Patriotta said that hee tooke a pause for a while and to haue answered at the last with teares in his eyes Let vs lay aside for a time these sad discourses Antonie and Charles and let me lead you being weary of your iournie into your chamber where you may repose and refresh your selues before supper And that you may not be ignorant what guests you are like to finde in my house I dare be bold to tell you whom euer I haue found my trusty and faithful friends to haue beene earnest Disputants not dangerous informers and to haue gauled the Papists not with your accusations but your arguments my old familiar friend Argentine shall be with you at Supper and Velbace◠my Confessor who hath taken the oath of Allegeance himselfe
other popish writers subscribe That with a few others did Bellarmine attempt against the Scripture which the boldnes of many popish writers more learned were afraid to attempt And will you hearken to this fellow Calander in a chiefe article of faith as he calls it so far dissenting from his owne side or dare you securely admit of those whom you see as the Madianites mutually wounding them-selues in a cause of such importance Saturnine who seemeth to bee no other thing but very Bellarmine himselfe proceedeth from Christ to Peter from Peter to the Pope from the Pope he falleth to the Popes chaire and hee proueth that the Church is to be founded vpon that rocke out of testimonies borrowed and framed out of Ierome Austin and Cyprian Cic de erat Cicero makes mention of a certaine mad fellow who finding a small boate on the sea-shore purposed to build a great ship of it Papists like mad-men These mens madnes is like who finding Peters chaire in the Fathers do dreame that the Church must be built vpon the chaire Ierome to Damasus I am vnited in communion saith he to your blessednes that is to Peters chaire I know that vpon that rock the Church is builded that is vpoÌ„ the chaire as you relate it Jerome misalleaged But Ierom thus I following after none chiefest but Christ 〈◊〉 vnited to your Blessednes c. You passe by Christ in this sentence as if he were a man vnknowne and you curtall Ieromes words wherein hee confesseth that he doth follow none chiefly but Christ You make mention of Peters chaire Vpon that rocks saith Ierome I knowe that the Church is â—aide Why should you not rather referre That rocke to Christ that goeth before then to Peter that followeth after in the sentence chiefly when Ierome doth adde the word I know that the Church is builded vpon that rocke Now that Christ is that rocke wheron the Church is builded â—one at all doubteth but that Peter is that rocke many deny And yet you are so mad that you will build the ship of the Church vpon the chaire as it were vpon a small boate You haue well Saturnine by rasing out the name of Christ shauen away the sentence as a beard with Ieromes sharpe rasor I shall maruaile much if Austin when he cannot endure that Peter should bee the foundation of the Church would suffer the Pope to be and if when he did remoue the person of Peter from this honor hee would admit Peters chaire But when he makes mention of Peters seat that said he is the rocke Is it so indeed let vs adde the wordes following recken vp said he all the Priests from the very seat of Peter and in that order of Fathers marke who succeeded one another that is the rocke against which the proud gates of hell shall not preuaile Then Saturnine while you are handling another § 161 matter Patriot you doe confirme by Austens authority another article of the Catholicke faith of the Pope Peters successour But said he againe to the confirmation of an article of the Catholicke faith Austens authoritie without the testimonie of the Scripture cannot be sufficient in the iudgement of Austen himselfe who speaketh of the matter as he had heard that the Byshop of Romes seat was the seat of Peter and that in that seat some succeeded others but hee makes it no article of the faith Wherefore when he speaketh that is the rocke it cannot be referred either to the seat or to the succession of Byshoppes in the seat For therein hee should contradict himselfe who makes Christ the rocke of the Church Apostles rockes in respect of doctrine vnlesse rather he referre it to Peter so vnderstood as I said with the rest of the Apostles who in respect of doctrine may in some sort be called rockes But it is not said you will say he is the rocke but shee is the rocke therfore the reference is not to the person in this place but to the seat i. to the chaire As though by the deceit and carelessenesse of writers greater faultes then these had not crept into Austens workes then she for he Although what hinders why shee is the rocke may not aswell bee referred to the person of Peter as those wordes in the Gospell vpon this rocke c. are referred to the person of Peter by the Rhemistes But let that be granted you for a time which you shall neuer euict that Peters chaire is ment in that place Austen saith not that is the rocke whereon the Church is builded but that is the rocke which the gate of hell shall not vanquish So he doth not promise that Rome shall alwaies withstand but doth testifie that Rome did then resist the gates of hell while it kept that faith vncorrupt that Peter left vnto them For if hee should now liue and make diligent search hee should not finde Rome in the middest of Rome This Rome not old Rome Our Romaines at this day are no Romaines they are but the carcasses of those Romaines who receiued their first faith from Paul and Peter which these men haue breathed out as their soules § 162 And now let Cyprian make answer for himselfe who affirmeth that the like power was giuen to all the Apostles by Christ Lib. de vnitat Eccles and that the rest of the Apostles were the same that Peter was being endowed with the same fellowshippe of honour and power Let him make answere for himselfe how he could lift vp Peters chaire aboue the chaires of the rest and would not haue it forsaken for iust cause which he did oppose in an vniust But Cyprian as both Ierome and Austen and other fathers haue iust cause to complaine Contra Stepha Corruption of Fathers after their death that so many bastardly bookes are brought in the place of those that were right and true And false sentences deceitfully foysted in and true violently cast out that now being dead they are constrained to speake and holde their peace according to other mens pleasures not their owne Now Ierome at your command conceales that which he vttered before Cypr. de vnit Eccles Now Cyprian speaketh that which he neuer meant He that forsaketh Peters chaire whereon the Church is built doth he trust that he is in the Church Cyprian writ thus a little before Christ doth build his Church vpon Peter alone How Peter the first stone in order not in power meaning that Peter was the first stone that was placed vpon Christ the foundation vpon whom the rest in their order were to bee builded First therefore in order not in power therefore he said that equall authoritie was giuen by Christ to all the Apostles but that it tooke the beginning from vnitie that the Church may be shewed to be one The foundation therefore of the building in Cyprian is nothing else but a beginning The rest of the Apostles were this which Peter was being endowed
the foundations of mans saluation laid by the Apostle as it shall plainly appeare by the discourse vpon the popish Creede Antonie Marinarius did withstand that wicked decree euen in the Councell it selfe who taught the perseuerance of the faithfull was secure and their securitie to be perseuered in Ambrose Catharinus did likewise resist who maintayned that a sonne of God by the certaintie of faith doth know that he is in the state of grace as any man may be sure that there is Rome yea and that without doubting or feare so that he openly did resist the Councell Albertus Pighius did afterward oppose himselfe who of set purpose doth defend that our righteousnesse is imputed to vs by faith alone vnto life The Councell of Colen may thee ioyned to these wherein many learned Diuines True it is say they and it is required to the iustification of a man that he certainely beleeue not only in generall that they who do truly repent shall obtaine mercy by Christ but that the man that beleeueth shall obtaine forgiuenesse of his sinnes by faith in Christ which they learned out of the Apostle by the interpretation of Bernard Thou hast Gentle Reader the Glasse of Christ the summe of the Apostolike doctrine to be set before the doctrine of the Trent Councell who doth strike vs with a curse for the same more fully hereafter to be propounded and maintayned The power whereof is such that it doth clip the winge of humane pride that it doth aduance the glory of Gods grace that it doth stirre vp an earnest desire of godlines and doth fasten a sure anchor of saluation that the sonnes of God may be made lowly in sinne thankefull in blessing holy in life and cheerefull in death This doctrine Trent Councell doth ouerthrow from whence those twelue articles of faith proceeded which Pius the 4. brought into the forme of a Creede enioyned to be publikely professed of his by his Bull vnder an oath which though they had their birth and beginning from heretikes yet they carry the name of the true faith and counterfeit the Apostles to be their parents that the greater store of Christians may be induced to receiue them As wee heretofore haue heard that Lambert counterfeting the name and kindred of the Earle of Warwicke had many followers when in truth he was the bastard of a villanous Priest So if any shall compare these twelue bastardly and false articles of the Popes creede with the true and right articles of the Apostles creede hee shall finde them to be as like the Apostles as the bastard of Simon the Priest was like the soone of the Duke of Clarence The schoolemen and the Canonists haue had great adoe between them whether the Pope could make any new articles of the faith Bellarmine as a worshipfull moderator takes vp the matter in Tortus He diuides the articles into two sorts He writes that some are of immediat reuelatiō others drawn fetch from them which notwithstanding are to be receiued with a catholike beleefe How foolishly I shall shew hereafter now only I shew what they hold Articles of the first sort Bellarmine denieth may be made of the Pope As much as if he should deny the sunne could be made by the Pope so many ages fastned to his globe by the hand of God The articles of the second stampe hee doth plainly affirme may be made by the Pope as if he should say that he professeth himselfe to be the author and maker of that booke whereof he is the expounder and interpreter Now the Iesuites haue diuided those that were drawne from the first into two other kindes which are so cunningly coucht together that they can hardly be distinguished Some of them consist in practise whereby treason is nourished other consist in doctrine wherby superstition is cherished Those they scatter mystically and closely these plainly and openly Those I call practicall and mysticall which concerne the Popes power in deposing of Kings by the sentence of excommunication and absoluing subiects from the oath of fealtie and conspiracies and rebellions to be concealed vnder the seale of confession and Clerkes to bee exempted from the iudgement of a secular Prince and the power of the Pope aboue the Councell and other wicked conclusions of the same kinde with the schoole of Paris hath lately condemned And a certaine Priest termed a more moderate answerer that hee may more couertly and freely teach the professed articles of superstition doth ouerthrow those mysticall articles of rebellion for which cause he complayneth that their salary is denyed him and the Priests of his order by the Pope Whom I thinke good hee should answer as the Asse answered Balaam Am not I thine Asse whereon thou wert wont to ride euen till this day Tell me if euer I did the like before and now I haue once offended in telling the truth why wilt thou beate mee and take my prouender from me If such Priests will giue eare to me let them forsake so vnthankfull and vniust a master and come ouer to our side For I feare lest while they secretly sow their open articles of superstition among our Country-men that they will draw them from the faith of Christ and beget schollers for Iesuites whom they will infect with their hidden articles of rebellion and bring them from their allegeance and obedience to the King These are fetcht from the first bastards borne of bastards vipers bred of vipers the last more wicked than the former shortly bringing forth an of spring more vilanous Those that are fetcht from immediate revelations as they bee supposed make truth the way for heresie as the authors thereof pretend iustice for wickednesse But this is the disposition of all heretikes that out of a generall truth propounded they alway assume and draw out heresie which as a witch doth cast in a sacred furie into their deceiued mindes The Pelagians from the generall allegation of Gods grace and helpe do gather a speciall rule of their heresie which as poyson they distill more easily into the mindes of their simple Auditors The Papists holding those articles of Christ generally do infuse hereticall poyson deepe into their mindes being seasoned with the sweet of those generals I will giue you one example which doth farther spread it selfe They beleeue in generall that Christ is ascended vp into heauen and sits at the right hand of God and shall come from thence to iudge both the quicke and the dead Yet the Priest doth daily bring Christ from thence to wit out of heauen into the sacrament so that he is corporally present in the sacrament when it is manifest that hee is conteyned in heauen till all things be fulfilled But here they distinguish that Christ shall come once from heauen visibly to iudgement but commeth invisibly euery day into the sacrament O notable deduction that ouerturneth the principle from whence it is drawne O notable distinction which doth by distinguishing vtterly ouerthrow the
I heare of some I hope they bee but a few false brethren like to Ianus are wont to bee though lightly bitten and reprehended Who if they be not ours they might doe very well if they would more open themselues if they be ours as I rather desire let them fauour our holy labours vnlesse they desire to heare of some writer of ours which Lelius a certaine criticall reprehender heard out of Martiall When Lelius carpeth mine and keepeth in his verse Or let him hold his prate or else his owne rehearse For it is both greeuous and vnseemly that their writings should be closly bit with a Theonine tooth by false brethren whose throates are first assailed with a leonine crueltie by open enemies There is almost none of our writers who haue not written that the Pope is Antichrist But there be certaine men among vs very moderate forsooth and politicke who would not haue the Aduersarie so angered and stirred vp with so sharpe a conclusion and that thereby all hope of composition and peace betweene the parties should bee cut off betweene whom they thinke to bee a great difference of wordes but little or none at all of things that God is alike deare to each Church and that the liturgie of each is alike accepted of God that saluation is in both when each doth rest vpon Christ the foundation that a Papist may although halting come to heauen and that the hatred of Papists is not so great as we make it and that it is not conceiued by their owne accord but that it is encensed by such bitter disputations and that the quarrell had been ended if certaine hot spirited Theologians had not encreased the controuersie These luke-warme Christians that seeme to bee of no side and of both sides seeme to dispute soberly and politickly But your religious wisedome Christian Reader doth better vnderstand that the Romane Synagogue is full of idolatrie and that it doth therefore hate God and by Moses iudgement is againe hatefull to God neither was Caine prouoked with any iniurie of Abels but by his owne malice and hatred of godlines And though both of them were wont to sacrifice to God in Adames house yet Caines sacrifice was reiected Abels accepted and the worke pleased God for the person not the person for the worke that which Saint Gregorie gathereth out of Moses because the person was first made righteous by faith as the Apostle taught Heb. 11. and that therefore there is no lesse difference of worship and faith betweene a Protestant and a Papist then was betweene Caine and Abell And that the Synagogues anger against our Church is as implacable as Caines against Abell and Ismaels against Isaac and that before it was stirred vp with the blast of contention it was moued with hatred of the promise And as the hatred of Ismael against the promise which he derided being couered with a visard of circumcision brake out against the sonne of the promise so the hidden and secret hatred of the Synagogue of Rome against the holy scriptures the tables of the promise as I said being couered with a certaine shew of voluntarie religion did greiuously breake and burne out against our Church the heire of the promise so that Agar doth not leaue off to persecute Sara againe the Haidmayde her Mistris in the house of Abraham And when it can bee proued that Caines sacrifice was as well accepted of God as Abels then I will grant that the Papists Masse be as acceptable to God as the Liturgie of the Protestants and when it can be euicted that Christ alone apprehended by faith without our workes is not the foundation of the church I wil grant that the same is the foūdation of both Churches Lastly when it shall appeare that Ismael the sonne of the handmaide borne by the power of nature is coheyre of the house of Abraham with Isaac the sonne of the free woman borne by the force of the promise then I will grant that an obstinate Papist may come halting to heauen In the meane time I will warne these luke-warme and halting Protestant that they will giue sentence in Gods matters according to the certaine truth of God not out of their prevaricating charitie and that there be no middle counsell to be taken neither let them trust the Pope being more ioyntly and easily intreated by them will be the more easie and gentle to them Whom we by short conclusions out of holy Paul and Iohn excellently expounded by notable worthies of our Church although a little more bitterly and roughly then seemeth good to some we shew to be Antichrist I confesse that this is a weighty and darke prophecie whose importance doth reiect the vanitie of tales whose obscuritie requireth more cleare light of interpretation So it falleth out sometime that the exposition is larger the conclusion shorter For a short exposition and a long conclusion are faultie alike when hard and controuersies of importance are handled For a short exposition wants light and a long conclusion wants sharpenesse of wit The Aduersarie doth offend in both while hee is busied in the interpretation of the prophecie for it doth lessen things of weight neither doth it make plaine matters obscure For hee doth depresse the excellencie of the prophecy by stuffing it vp with the vanitie of many fables and being satisfied with vncertaine coniectures of Fathers and with their naked names hath not driuen away the obscuritie So it falleth out that from strange and vnkinde expositions of the prophecie they gather weake and idle conclusions In the vnfoulding of this mysterie the holy fathers haue stood vs in good steed and more had if they had beene Prophets But whenas they Daniel being the Authour doe teach that the vnderstanding of the prophesie is to be taken from the performance of it and grant that truth is the daughter of time we that are fallen vpon the endes of times conferring all the parts of the prophecie betweene themselues with great study and reuerence and bringing light to the text out of the context and to the context out of the euent because Christ hath opened the booke that was sealed vp nor called it an a A thing sealed hidden apocrypse but an b A thing opened and reuealed apocalypse we do from thence more confidently drawe a conclusion not as an Article of faith but as asure demonstration of the doctrine of Christ Although the popish Synagogue which without any testimonie of Scripture makes this the thirteenth Article of their faith I beleeue that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ may iustly pardon the reformed Church if being taught by so many testimonies of Scripture it make this to be an Article of their faith I beleeue that the Pope is Antichrist Now I did foresee that when I made a looking glasse for Paul the 5. it would come to passe that the Iesuites who do so often traduce the King of great Britaine with their slanderous and infamous libels
Church At the last he calleth Luther that falling starre That falling starre not Luther and the Lutheranes Heretikes and the Protestants Locusts whose armie he brought out of the bottomelesse pit when hee fell Of that anone now I demand how an abiect silly Fryer as they call him out of his cloyster that examineth all things by Scriptures can bee that starre falling from heauen not that great Lucifer much lesse that little Luther can be called the falling starre but some great Byshop as loftie as the starres Lucifers mate who a good while since hath forsaken heauenly doctrin and holy life and hath betaken himselfe to earthly businesses and wicked manners that is hath fallen from heauen to earth For then are Byshops said to stand in heauen What the fall of a star meaneth when they performe their duties and then fall to the earth when forsaking holy life and doctrin they seeke after worldly matters But this doth not agree with the Pope onely for many other starres hauing beene pulled downe by the Dragons taile are falne to the earth The Popes key and the effects of it True But none besides the Pope is of that power as holy Iohn ascribes vnto him For the key of the bottomlesse pit was giuen to this falling starre This great Byshoppe while he shined as a starre in the Church that is in heauen he vsed the key of heauen committed to him as he ought but after he fell from heauen he tooke to himselfe the key of the bottomlesse pit Therefore Antichrist the Angell of the bottomlesse pit is the key keeper of hell Apoc. 9.1 1. Tim. 4.1.3 Whereof blessed Paul giueth a double reason One that by that his key hee brought into the Church the doctrine of Diuells in forbidding meates and marriages Another that lifting vp himselfe aboue all that is called god that is aboue Kings and Emperours hee doth shut them out of their kingdomes and thereby hath brought the darkenesse of the bottomlesse pit into the common wealth Is not this the liuely image of the Pope who assoone as he left of to be a starre by his fall began afterward to be a foolish fire Ignis satuus Whose key is now no longer the key of heauen but of hell For his hatred to that doctrine and gouernment that proceede from God is a most certaine brand of Antichrist Of the key I shall speake more hereafter in the Creede CHAP. VI. Wherein Antichrist is proued an Apostata and vniuersall Bishop WHom Saint Iohn tearmeth a falling starre Saint Paul tearmeth an Apostata from the faith and makes him a Captaine not of a particular but an vniuersall Apostasie whom he so sets downe with his proper markes that he seemeth to haue pointed his finger at the Church of Rome to whom euery way they doe agree She forbiddeth marriages and meates not in open blasphemie as some old Heretickes did but in hidden hypocrisie as the forenamed Apostataes as the Apostle noteth Whence I inferre thus The head of the vniuersall and generall Apostasie is Antichrist The Pope is the head of the vniuersall and generall Apostasie Therefore the Pope is Antichrist Therefore Antichrist is not a Iew or head of the Iewes who cannot be said to haue departed from Christ before they came to him but an Apostaticall Christian Lib. 4. Epist 32.34.38 And as it is obserued by Gregorie the great A Bishoppe beleigerd with an armie of Priests not a Bishop onely but an vniuersall Bishop Not that hee alone for that cause did depose all other Bishops but that he aduanc'd himselfe before all others Whence againe I argue thus An Apostaticall Christian an vniuersall Bishop is Antichrist The Pope is an Apostaticall Christian and an vniuersall Bishoppe The Pope therefore is Antichrist And that title of vniuersall Bishop Pope Gregorie calleth wicked prophane sacrilegious Whereunto to consent is nothing else saith he but to lose the Faith As hee writ to Anianus and thereby to aduance himselfe in honour aboue the Empire as he writ to Mauritius which whosoeuer doth as Iohn Bishop of Constantinople did already and Ciricius did afterward he doth pronounce him confidently to be the follower of Lucifer and the fore-runner of Antichrist The Pope first vniuersall Bishop Pope Gregory was a true Prophet alas too too true a Prophet for within fiue yeers after that King of pride whom he foretolde to be so neere at hand with his army of priests did vsurpe that chaire from whence Gregory did deliuer that Oracle and hath held it now aboue 1000. yeeres being first called the vniuersall Bishop Then vniuersall Prince because he hath the iurisdiction ouer all Bishops As first Boniface that falling starre After that vniuersall Prince created out of himselfe because he had the soueraignty ouer all Kings and Emperours as Gregorie the seuenth So that the Bishop of Rome is by a Bishop of Rome prophetically concluded to bee for his treason Lucifer Lastly Lucifer and Antichrist for the losse of his faith Antichrist But the Bishop as themselues affirme cannot erre in his definitiue sentence for hee hath the Spirit assistant and tied to the Chaire The Bishop therefore is Antichrist for that I may cast vp all into a short summe Antichrist is a falling starre a degenerating shepheard a domineering Bishop CHAP. VII Antichrist within the Church in stead of God and how he lifts vp himselfe against God DOe you not behold your selfe in this Looking-glasse Paul the fift suffer not your selfe to bee deceiued by those men who imagine Antichrist to be an outward aduersarie whom the Apostle doth make an homebred stubborne Traytor for as he doth abuse the name of a King against a King so he doth oppugn Christ in the name of Christ Whom therefore Paul doth place within the Church not without it and sitting not in a bodily gesture but in a spirituall gouernement Besides that Theod. in 2. Thess 2. the thrones of Kings are called the seats of Bishops And he sitteth not in a materiall Temple for Temple is not any where so taken in the new Testament as Bellarmine confesseth therefore in the spirituall Church for the which the Temple of God is alwaies taken as the Fathers expound it Chrysostomus Oecumenius Hieronimus ad Algasium quae 11. who all affirm he shall sit in the Church not in the Temple of Ierusalem Antichrist hee sitteth in the Temple of God not in the Temple which hee shall re-edifie in Ierusalem as is imagined for that should not bee called the Temple of God but of the Diuell Againe he is said to sit against the Temple as Augustine did well translate it out of Greeke as if he were the Temple of God that is the Church Wherein the wretched man bearing rule doth not thinke himselfe to bee God much lesse God alone as Bellarmine dreameth Antichrist is not such a foole but in stead of God for he sitteth as God and taketh vpon him as he were God
truth and power to be ouercome by errour and wickednesse Assuredly hee will neuer suffer it The Christians therefore haue no cause to feare the Pope hath no cause to insult For the Pope alone hath all the markes of Antichrist The Pope alone therefore is Antichrist CHAP. XLII The scope and conclusion of the whole worke I Haue finished the Glasse Paul the fift set before you to see your selfe before others to look on themselues wherein Antichrist is fully set downe as in preface Heere you may see contained his right and true marks the false being reiected and cast by Euery of them in seuerall and all of them ioyntly together doe prooue the Pope to be that great Antichrist Hence it followeth that Popery is Antichristianity What hee is and who he is appeares out of the preface What he doth and what he teacheth out of the Dialogue diuided into three bookes First comes vpon the stage Antichrist pragmaticall In the two other bookes Antichrist dogmaticall There he carries himselfe like a Rebell heere like a Sophister there he doth impaire the glory of the Empire heere the truth of the Gospell there hee doth vndermine the faithfulnesse of subiects heere the faith of Christians The first booke doth propound the rules and grounds of Christian fealty and obedience toward Kings against Christian rebellion shadowed ouer with a shew of Catholike religion The other two doe erect the foundation and pillers of Christian doctrine and faith against the Antichristian heresie compacted of twelue new articles of the faith brought into the forme of a creede by Pius the fourth whereupon I call it the Popes creede I doe solemnely professe that I am afaithfull seruant of Christ and the King I doe not take vpon me being the meanest and the least of all other to giue warning vnto Kings once already warned by the great King not therefore to bee warned of any but of Christ the King of Kings Let Iesus Christ therefore bee in our thoughts a while who although he be absent in body yet present in spirit hath an interest and being yea and a gouernment also in the spirits of all Christians and chriefly of all Princes his bountie is to be loued his maiesty is to be dreaded euen of Kings for as the powerfull gouernment of Kings is to be dreadfull to their owne subiects so the most powerfull gouernment of God is to bee dreadfull to Kings of God I say manifested in the flesh who being present with them in spirit seemeth thus to speake and complaine CHAP. XLIII THE PROSOPOPEY I AM not ignorant who am ignorant of nothing ô yee Christian Kings and Princes that the Byshop of Rome my Vicare as he calles himselfe my Aduersarie The Pope both an hereticke and traytor as he carries himselfe hath beene a Teacher of heresie in the Church and a Practiser of treason in the common-weale for these many yeares For euer since hee was made the vniuersall Byshop he hath done nothing else but corrupted my Gospell and peruerted your Empire And no maruell for out of the corruption of the Gospell doth follow the dissolution of the Empire For whereas I haue erected by the Gospell a twofould pillar of gouernment Authoritie in Magistrates and Allegeance in Subiects it is strange to see the Gospell peruerted in the mindes of men how each pillar of gouernment falles to the grounds The greatest fault whereof is in the Byshops treacherie and in your slothfulnesse that whereas I had submitted all Byshops vnder your power and iudgement you haue suffered one to fly out so farre aboue the rest that he dare not onely rebell against yours but against my Maiestie also That therefore the ancient dignitie of the Empire may be recouered being lost and for euer maintained being recouered my counsell to you is that the truth of the Gospell shaken and long weakened by the Popes tyrannie may at last be restored by your princely authoritie For what is more reasonable then that I should haue you defenders of my glory whom I haue appointed Ministers of my power And if it were in question heretofore whether that Byshoppe were that Antichrist He is so prophetically described by my beloued Disciples Iohn and Paul that now it is out of question seeing that euent hath laid open and made cleare the prophecie For all the partes of the prophecie are so plainely interpreted All notes of Antichrist agree with the Pope of the succession of the persons the nature and disposition of the King and kingdome the acts of the beast the impression of the Character the number of his name the scituation of his seate the time of his reuealing the cuppe of the whore the kind of his marchandise the fall of Babylon lastly the comming in and going out the birth and death of Antichrist the last answering the first and the middle answering both with such a consent and barmonie inferring things to be fulfilled by things that are fulfilled that I could not haue made it clearer if I had named the Byshop of Rome himselfe And Antichristianity is well defined by my Apostle to be not iniquitie but the mysterie of iniquitie For if Antichrist had appeared to you in his owne likenesse you needed not to haue beene so carefull about the businesse Now that hee doth insinuate himselfe with a counterfet holinesse and a dissembled sanctity how many millions of innocent men hath he cosoned and deceiued with his hidden mysticall wickednesse But let the visard be taken off from this hidden Antichrist then none can hereafter be deceiued but he that will wittingly and willingly be deceiued Beware therefore that the old trickes and stratagemes being laid open beguile you no more He faineth himselfe to be the Prince of the couenant and yet he hath altered my couenant Hee pretendes himselfe to be a Keeper of my will and testament and yet he hath not only raced and defaced my testament The Pope hath altered Christ his Testament and brought in a new but hath foysted in one of his owne He termes himselfe the foundation of the Church and chalengeth to him my peculiar title and yet hee doth with cunning deuises subuert and ouerthrow my Church He makes a shew of great zeale to my crosse and yet doth annihilate the power of the crosse The holy Scripture makes mention of Gods double gouernment the Legale and Euangelicall The legale which hath the condition of working annext vnto it do this and thou shalt liue Ierem. 31.31 Heb. 8.5 ad finem The Euangelicall requireth the condition of beleeuing Beleeue and thou shalt be saued But it requireth faith not as a worke but as an instrument whereby you may receiue the promises of the spirit therefore that is called a conditionall this a free conuenant Where there is no couenant there is no faith and where there is no faith there is no saluation Humane faith doth rest vpon an humane couenant heauenly faith vpon a heauenly couenant Heauenly faith is
you for all the sorrowes they haue endured For what else could haue extorted that Law from so mercifull a Queene which you ere-while blamde as bloody For your Iesuites after the sending in of Pius the fifts Bull came swarming into England as Campion Parsons and many others and did mightily labour to put that Bull in execution and did propound it as the thirteenth Article of their faith That there was no more obedience to be shewed to a Queene excommunicated The seditious doctrine of Iesuites gaâ— that seuere law when it came to practise and deposed then presently followed the rebellion in the North. It was therefore your seditious doctrine that begat so seuere a law Your schoole hath made the Catholike doctrine of Rome a Catechisme of rebellion Your Logicke first made a Papist and a Traytor to be all one your Societie was the first ouerthrow of the Roman-Catholikes estate For your Papists behaued themselues quietly for the first eleuen yeeres while Pius the fift that old credulous dotard was induced by the false whisperings of the English Catholikes as they call them shewing that their powers were so strong that they could resist the Queenes forces had excommunicated the Queene by his Bull and depriued Her of her kingdome and had released her subiects from the Oath of their Allegeance and being so released stirred them vp to take armes against Hir. But the old man quickly found his error and corrected it with his dispensation that the Papists to redeeme their troubles so hee speaketh should shew outward obedience to Queene Elizabeth but restreyned with two conditions one things so standing thother while the publike execution of the Bull might be performed that is to say while they had so much power as by force they might ouercome the Queene Rebellion among Iesuites is an article of faith Hence among the cases of conscience brought into England by you sprang out the 55 Article Where a Catholike being demanded Doe you beleeue that the Pope can put the Queene from her authoritie he is taught to answer notwithstanding any feare of death I do beleeue it For this question doth appertaine to faith and requires a confession of faith Behold your Catholike faith which this present oath is said by the Pope to crosse it is the chiefe head of Iesuitisme which we may call the marrow of Poperie And are you now in a chafe Saturnine that a few Iesuites are hangde vp for Traytors who make treason an article of their faith And doe you not thinke the King hath a iust cause to take away their heads Alaâ—us who haue with such coniuring bewitched the consciences of subiects that they thinke that warre holy iust and honorable which is raised against their Prince But what if they were not only messengers and masters § 8 but authors and actors of rebellion The Iâ—suites and authors and actors of rebellion and haue entred into the most cruellest conspiracy that euer was since the creation not onely to depose the King and absolue his subiects but to rase out the King and Kingdome and to blot out the English nation and to root out the men out of the earth for euer and that not the guilty onely but the innocents also according to that olde tyrannicall practise Cicero pro Diatore Let our friends perish so our enemies perish also And they would haue the Catholikes with heretickes The Martyrdome of the Kingdome of England as wee seeme to you the noble with the ignoble and the fathers to bee Martyrs with their sonnes For what else was that gun-powder treason deuised by you but the Martyrdome of the King and Kingdome § 9 Then Saturnine you doe great wrong to the Iesuites saith he whom you faine to bee the Authors of Catesbies conspiracy for that which they heard onely vnder the seale of confession thought it was meet to bee concealed about the martyrdome of the kingdome as you call it which God wote hurt no body being only deuised and not performed Garnet therefore the chiefe Iesuite did wrong to the Iesuites saith Patriotta who when himself had nourished that euill humor in Catesby whom hee would haue to bee the head and heart of the whole conspiracy a right Cateline and an apt scholler who concluded by a very wicked consequence out of the bull of Clement the eight wherein the Pope had excluded the King being an hereticke as hee writ from entrance into the Kingdome concluded I say that being entred he was by all meanes possibly to bee expelled out of that wicked proposition which now is in question hee suckt out that most pestilent poyson of that vnheard-of treachery But when Garnet would haue him the cheife worke-man in this conspiracy hee ioyned vnto him diuers other counsellers out of his owne tribe nay out of his owne bosome And lest that liuing messe of Iesuites being singularly inspired with the spirit of the Pope of Rome Garnet Greenwell Gerard. Parsons should lay the whole fault vpon a Lay-traitor now dead let it be vnderstood that it was confest by Garnet being now ready to die vnder his hand by a voluntarie confession Hee writ that Greenwell with Catesby was heard of him The Traytor betraies himselfe not confessing but consulting That Greenwell with Gerard were not onely authors but actors who declared their guiltinesse of the fact by their flight That Baldwine and Parsons were acquainted with it whereof he set on Fauxe that Fire brand in Germany The other made acquainted by him of the villanous treachery came flying against the day out of Italie into Lyons in France as it were on pilgrimage to S. Winefreds well as a crow to carrion that like another Nero hee might with a detestable pleasure neerer behold the fire most furiously consuming each part of his country But this Martyrdome of the King and Kingdome as you call it was not brought to effect What then As though we are ignorant that Antichrist doth deliuer many to death and doth assigne many more That hee doth thirst after more blood then he doth spill We were all Martyrs in your intention but not in execution That the mischeefe was deuised we attribute it to your malice that it tooke no effect to Gods mercy Which mooued the neuer-suspecting heart of the King the most mildest of all that are haue beene or shall be that out of those letters whereof little reckoning was made he smelt out the kind of danger and I may almost say the verie gun-powder it selfe and so was made an instrument of the publike safetie Hence riseth a double bond one that bindeth the King to God the other that more neerely for euer bindeth vs to the King There is no want either of counsell and care to the King and his prudent and faithfull Counsellers but when neither care nor counsell can preuent such blinde and secret conspiracie both thankes are to be giuen to God for our deliuerance past whereof I doubt wee
derogation will statute decree and commandement or by any rash attempt to withstand it If any shal presume to attempt any thing against these let him know that he shall incurre the displeasure of almightie God and of blessed Peter and Paul his Apostles Giuen at Rome at Saint Peters in the yeare of the incarnation of our Lord 1564. in the Ides of Nouember and of our Byshopricke the first You haue heard of mee Calander the 12. open and § 131 knowne Articles of the Popes Creede Secret Articles drawne from the former Now if it please you take them which are drawne from them more hidden and vnknown I hope my old friend Saturnine will giue me leaue to open vnto you seeing your time is not long and are not farre from heauen and doe daily expect the houre of your departure to open I say to you the inward sense of the creede and to furnish you as it werewith prouision in this your iorney that when you depart hence Saint Peter the Porter of heauen may the sooner let you in being thus prouided The Masters speake wisedome among those that bee perfect they haue certaine hid mysteries all which they doe not lay open to all but some certaine to some as these are thought best to agree with their capacities and desires Neither will I poure out all I will reserue the mysticall sense of euery Article to be found out by the practise In the meane time by your fauour Saturnine the order being somewhat inuerted I will propound the primacy the eleuenth Article in order the first in authoritie whereon all the rest depend which I desire you with some of your best reasons to defend now rather then at any other time wherein it is fiercely impugned by the assaltes of the Heretickes of our time § 132 I beleeue therefore that Saint Peter was very certainly appointed in the Scripture to be the primate The primacy is the chiefe head of faith and the cheife foundation of the Catholike faith as Bellar in Torto most plainly grounded vpon the Scriptures and Prince of the Apostles and of the vniuersall Church and that the Pope of Rome Peters successor is the heire of this primacy and vniuersal principality in the whole who being the key-keeper of eternall life the Pastour of the vniuersall flocke the head and foundation of the vniuersall Church the infallible rule of faith the cheife iudge of all causes and persons hauing the same tribunall with Christ and the same consistorie in steade of Christ nay in steade of God nay as God himselfe vpon earth and therefore I hold him to bee reuerenced and worshipped I beleeue the chiefe inward power annexed to the primacy is of 2 sorts Sacred Temporall The sacred whereby the Byshoppe of Rome as the spirituall Lord can by excommunication driue away Kings and Princes from the flocke of Christ not onely Heretickes in the faith as rauening wolues but Catholickes also if they proue wicked as outragious rammes and to depriue them of all gouernment and free their subiectes from the Oath of fealty and Obedience The temporall whereby the Pope as Lord of the temporalties in earth can dispose of all crownes and them directly Princes saucily resembled to Wolues Rammes by Bellarmine or indirectly in order to the spiritualls as it set downe by you Saturnine in the former Dialogue can take from one and bestow vpon another as hee shall thinke it to be auaileable to the spirituall end And I vow and sweare spirituall obedience to the chiefe Prince my spirituall Byshoppe of Rome according to those mysticall rules which our Masters haue prescribed to the cureent right of the present Church and the preseruation of the same Here Saturnine you seeme not halfe wary enough § 133 Argentine said he who not contenting your selfe with a publicke profession of the faith Popish misteries not to be reuealed which Pius the 4. did prescribe especially to the more learned sort but haue published the hidden and secret Articles drawne from thence i. Mysteries as wee call them and that in the presence of Heretickes which before the creede was set out ought to haue beene beleeued of you but ought not to be reuealed It seemes then said Patriott as Aristotle had some strange bookes which he writ to all and other subtill bookes which he writ for them of the wiser sort which were said to be set out and not set out So the Pope hath some doctrine that is populare and other that is mysticall that many of the doctrines of your Church seem to be Proserpinaes mysteries Yet you see sometime how they fall from men that bee not so euill disposed and come abroad into the world Then Argentine as much as euer I hated heresie so § 134 much I loue the Catholicke faith whereof I need not be ashamed seeing Calander required it at my handes and you were present who can stoutly maintaine the same against any cauelling Hereticke whatsoeuer That was very necessarie said Calander seeing other were here who could as stoutly make answere Therefore let vs ignorant Lay-men learne let the learned teach It is your part to answere mine to demaund It is an olde song of the Papists a learner must beleeue but a truer a learner must aske You beleeue too many things Argentine as there be many men who bee too incredulous in many thtngs so I feare that in many things many be too credulous When we beginne to beleeue that wee ought not wee will not beleeue that wee ought How oft and that without cause may you heare it among vs It is a matter of faith which ranging out of the circuite of holy Scripture I suppose reacheth farther then it ought These doctrines therefore of the Catholicke faith as they are called which are brought by our men into the forme of a creed the state and drift of euery cotrouersie being briefly and truly propounded I could wish they were soundly disputed and discust by you But chiefly that primarie Article of the supremacy whereof I desire not to know all but the most chiefe pointes as also of the rest that the errors of the Church of Rome now doting for age as they be well obserued by certaine honest Pontificians may appeare vnto vs. § 135 Those certaine Pontificians Saturnine said must be very honest I warrant you that reproue our Father the Pope and accuse our mother the Church of dotage For whereas you desire to haue the Articles of the Catholicke faith discust Calander you are in a great error For they are in all humilitie to be receiued not curiously to be discussed For as Austen saith well the simplicity of beleeuing not the quicknesse of vnderstanding is required in a Christian man That he may with reuerence beleeue what the Church teacheth not wittily discusse it and may humbly submit himselfe to the iudgement of the Church without any discourse § 136 But said Calander if you confesse that our mother the Church hath