in the Communion of the Church But although for the reasonableness of the thing we have thought fit to take notice of it yet we shall have no need to make use of it since not onely in the prime and purest Antiquity we are indubitably more than Conquerors but even in the succeeding Ages we have the advantage both numero pondere men surâ in number weight and measure We do easily acknowledge that to dispute these questions from the sayings of the Fathers is not the readiest way to make an end of them but therefore we do wholly rely upon Scriptures as the foundation and final resort of all our perswasions and from thence can never be confuted but we also admit the Fathers as admirable helps for the understanding of the Scriptures and as good testimony of the Doctrine deliver'd from their forefathers down to them of what the Church esteem'd the way of Salvation and therefore if we find any Doctrine now taught which was not plac'd in their way of Salvation we reject it as being no part of the Christian faith and which ought not to be impos'd upon consciences They were wise unto salvation and fully instructed to every good work and therefore the faith which they profess'd and deriv'd from Scripture we profess also and in the same faith we hope to be sav'd even as they But for the new Doctors we understand them not we know them not Our faith is the same from the beginning and cannot become new But because we shall make it to appear that they do greatly innovate in al their points of controversie with us and shew nothing but shadows instead of substances and little images oâ— things instead of solid arguments we shall take from them their armour in which they trusted and choose this sword of Goliath to combat their errors for non est alter talis It is noâ— easie to find a better than the word of God expounded by the prime and best Antiquity The first thing therefore we are to advertise is that the Emissaries of the Roman Church endeavour to perswade the good People of our Dioceses from a Religion that is truly Primitive and Apostolick and divert them to Propositions of their own new and unheard-of in the first ages oâ— the Christian Church For the Religion of our Church is therefore certainly Primitive and Apostolick because it teaches us to believe the whole Scriptures of the Old and New Testament and nothing else as matter of faith and therefore unless there can be new Scriptures we can have no new matters of belief no new articles of faith Whatsoever we cannot prove from thence we disclaim it as not deriving from the Fountains of our Saviour We also do believe the Apostles Creed the Nicene with the additions of Constantinople and that which is commonly called the Symbol of Saint Athanasius and the four first General Councils are so intirely admitted by us that they together with the plain words of Scripture are made the rule and measure of judging Heresies amongst us and in pursuance of these it is commanded by our Church that the Clergy shall never teach any thing as matter of Faith religiously to be observed but that which is agreeable to the Old and New Testament and collected out of the same Doctrine by the Ancient Fathers and Catholick Bishops of the Church This was undoubtedly the Faith of the Primitive Church they admitted all into their Communion that were of this faith they condemned no Man that did not condemn these they gave letters communicatory by no otheâ— cognisance and all were Brethren who spake this voice Hanc legenâ— sequentes Christianorum Catholicorumâ— nomen jubemus amplecti reliquos verâ— dementes vesanosque judicantes haeretici dogmatis infamiam sustinere said the Emperors Gratian Valentiniaâ— and Theodosius in their Proclamation to the People of C. P. All that believ'd this Doctrine were Christianâ— and Catholicks viz. all they who believe in the Father Son and Holy Ghost one Divinity of equal Majesty in the Holy Trinity which indeeâ— was the summ of what was decreeâ— in explication of the Apostles Creed in the four first General Councils And what faith can be the foundation of a more solid peace the surer ligaments of Catholick Communion or the firmer basis of a holy life and of the hopes of Heaven hereafter than the measures which the Holy Primitive Church did hold and we after them That which we rely upon is the same that the Primitive Church did acknowledge to be the adaequate foundation of their hopes in the matters of belief The way which they thought sufficient to go to Heaven in is the way which we walk what they did not teach we do not publish and impose into this faith entirely and into no other as they did theirs so we baptize our Catechumens The Discriminations of Heresie from Catholick Doctrine which they us'd we use also and we use no other and in short we believe all that Doctrine which the Church of Rome believes except those things which they have superinduc'd upon â—he Old Religion and in which we shall prove that they have innovated So that by their confession all the Doctrine which we teach the people as matter of Faith must be confessed to be Ancient Primitive and Apostolick or else theirs is not so for ours is the same and â—â— both have received this faith from the fountains of Scripture and Universaâ— Tradition not they from us or we from them but both of us from Christ and his Apostles And therefore there can be no question whetheâ— the Faith of the Church of Englanâ— be Apostolick or Primitive it is so confessedly But the Question is concerning many other particulars whicâ— were unknown to the Holy Doctor of the first ages which were no part â—â— their faith which were never put intâ— their Creeds which were not determin'd in any of the four first Generâ—â— Councils rever'd in all Christendom and entertain'd every where with greâ—â— Religion and veneration even next 〈◊〉 the four Gospels and the Apostolicâ— writings Of this sort because the Church of Rome hath introduc'd many anâ— hath adopted them into their lanâ— Creed and imposes them upon thâ— People not only without but again the Scriptures and the Catholick Doctrine of the Church of God laying heavy burdens on Mens consciences and making the narrow way to Heaven yet narrower by their own inventions arrogating to themselves a dominion over our faith and prescribing a method of Salvation which Christ and his Apostles never taught corrupting the faith of the â—hurch of God and teaching for Doctrines the Commandements of Men and lastly having derogated from the Prerogative of Christ who alone is the Author and Finisher of our faith and hath perfected it in the revelations consign'd in the Holy Scriptures therefore it â—s that we esteem our selves oblig'd to warn the People of their danger and to depart from it and call upon them â—o stand
first of all Apostles not first S. Peter and secondarily Apostles but all the Apostles were first It is also evident that S Peter did not carry himself so as to give the least overture or umbrage to make any one suspect he had any such preheminence but he was as St. Chrysostom truly says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did all things with the common consent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing by special authority or principality and if he had any such it is more than probable that the Apostles who survived him had succeeded him in it rather than the Bishop of Rome and it being certain as the Bishop of Canaries confesses That there is in Scripture no revelation that the Bishop of Rome should succeed Peter in it and we being there told that S. Peter was at Antioch but never that he was at Rome it being confessed by some of their own parties by Cardinal Cusanus Soto Driedo Canus and Segovius that this succession was not addicted to any particular Church nor that Christs institution of this does any other way appear that it cannot be proved that the Bishop of Rome is Prince of the Church it being also certain that there was no such thing known in the primitive Church but that the holy Fathers both of Africa and the East did oppose Pope Victor and Pope Stephen when they began to interpose with a presumptive Authority in the affairs of other Churches and that the Bishops of the Church did treat with the Roman Bishop as with a brother not as their superiour and that the General Council held at Chalcedon did give to the Bishops of C. P. equal rights and preeminence with the Bishops of Rome and that the Greek Churches are at this day and have been a long time great opponents of this pretension of the Bishops of Rome and after all this since it is certain that Christ who foreknows all things did also know that tâ—ere would be great disputes and challenges of this preeminence did indeed suppress it in his Apostles and said not it should be otherwise in succession and did not give any command to his Church to obey the Bishops of Rome as his Vicars more than what he commanded concerning all Bishops it must be certain that it cannot be necessary to salvation to do so but that it is more than probable tha◠〈◊〉 never intended any such thing and 〈◊〉 the Bishops of Rome have to the great prejudice of Christendom made a great schism and usurped a title which is not their due and challenged an authority to which they have no right and have set themselves above others who are their equals and impose an Article of Faith of their own contriving and have made great preparation for Antichrist if he ever get into that Seat or be in already and made it necessary for all of the Roman Communion to believe and obey him in all things Sect. XIâ— THere are very many more things in which the Church of Rome hath greatly turn'd aside from the Doctrines of Scripture and the practise of the Catholick Apostolick and primitive Church Such are these The Invocâ—â—â—n of Saints the Insufficiencie of Sâ—â—â—â—ures without Traditions of Faith unto Salvation their absolving sinners before they have by canonical penances and the fruits of a good life testified their repentance their giving leave to simple Presbyters by Papal dispensation to give confirmation or chrism selling Masses for Ninepences Circumgestation of the Eucharist to be ador'd The dangerous Doctrine of the necessity of the Priests intention in collating Sacraments by which device they have put it into the power of the Priest to damn whom he please of his own parish their affirming that the Mass is a proper and propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead Private Masses or the Lords Supper without Communion which is against the doctrine and practise of the ancient Church of Rome it self and contrary to the tradition of the Apostles if we may believe Pope Calixtus and is also forbidden under pain of Excommunication Peractâ consecratione omnes communicent qui noluerint ecclesiasticis carere liminibus sic autem etiam Apostoli statuerunt sancta Romana tenet Ecclesia When the consecration is finished let all communicate that will not be thrust from the bounds of the Church for so the Apostles appointed and so the Holy Church of Rome does hold The same also was decreed by P. Soter and P. Martin in a Council of Bishops and most severely enjoyn'd by the Canons of the Apostles as they are cited in the Canon Law There are divers others but we suppose that those Innovations which we have already noted may be sufficient to verifie this charge of Novelty But we have done this the rather because the Roman Emissaries endeavour to prevail amongst the ignorant and prejudicate by boasting of Antiquity and calling their Religion the Old Religion and the Catholick so insnaring others by ignorant words in which is no truth their Religion as it distinguishes from the Religion of the Church of England and Ireland being neither the Old nor the Catholick Religion but New and superinduc'd by arts known to all who with sincerity and diligence have look'd into their pretences But they have taught every Priest that can scarse understand his Breviary of which in Ireland there are but too many and very many of the people to ask where our Religion was before Luther Whereas it appears by the premises that it is much more easie for us to shew our Religion before Luther than for them to shew theirs before Trent And although they can shew too much practise of their Religion in the degenerate ages of the Church yet we can and do clearly shew ours in the purest and first ages and can and do draw lines pointing to the times and places where the several rooms and stories of their Babel was builded and where polished and where furnished But when the Keepers of the field slept and the Enemy had sown tares and they had choak'd the wheat and almost destroyed it when the world complain'd of the infinite errors in the Church and being oppressed by a violent power durst not complain so much as they had cause and when they who had cause to complain were yet themselves very much abused and did not complain in all they might when divers excellent persons S. Bernard Clemangis Grosthead Marsilius Ocham Alvarus Abbat Ioachim Petrarch Savanarola Valla Erasmus Mantuan Gerson Ferus Cassander Andre as Fricius Modrevius Hermannus Coloniensis Wasseburgius Archdeacon of Verdun Paulus Langius Staphilus Telesphorus de Cusentiâ Doctor Talheymius Francis Zabarel the Cardinal and Pope Adrian himself with many others not to reckon Wiclef Hus Hierom of Prague the Bohemians and the poor men of Lions whom they call'd Hereticks and confuted with fire and sword when almost all Christian Princes did complain heavily of the corrupt state of the Church and of Religion and
the Church hath made her a treasure a kind of poor-mans box and out of this a power to take as much as they list to apply to the poor souls in Purgatory who because they did not satisfie for their venial sins or perform all their penances which were imposed or which might have been imposed and which were due to be paid to God for the temporal pains reserved upon them after he had forgiven them the guilt of their deadly sins are forc'd sadly to roar in pains not inferior to the pains of hell excepting only that they are not eternal That this is the true state of their Article of Indulgences we appeal to Bellarmine Now concerning their new foundation of Indulgences the first stone of it was laid by P. Clement VI. in his extravagant Unigenitus de poenitentiis remissionibus A. D. 1350. This constitution was published Fifty years after the first Jubilee and was a new devise to bring in customers to Rome at the second Jubilee which was kept in Rome in this Popes time What ends of profit and interest it serv'd we are not much concern'd to enquire but this we know that it had not yet passed into a Catholick Doctrine for it was disputed against by Franciscus de Mayronis and Durandus not long before this extravagant and that it was not rightly form'd to their purposes till the stirs in Germany rais'd upon the occasion of indulgences made Leo the tenth set his Clerks on work to study the point and make something of it But as to the thing it self it is so wholly new so merely devis'd and forged by themselves so newly created out of nothing from great mistakes of Scripture and dreams of shadows from antiquity that we are to admonish our charges that they cannot reasonably expect many sayings of the Primitive Doctors against them any more than against the new fancies of the Quakers which were born but yesterday That which is not cannot be numbred and that which was not could not be confuted But the perfect silence of antiquity in this whole matter is an abundant demonstration that this new nothing was made in the later laboratories of Rome For as Durandus said the Holy Fathers Ambrose Hilary Hierom Augustine speak nothing of Indulgences And whereas it is said that S. Gregory DC years after Christ gave indulgences at Rome in the stations Magister Angularis who lived about 200. years since says he never read of any such any where and it is certain there is no such thing in the writings of S. Gregory nor in any histoâ—y of that age or any other that is authentick and we could never see any history pretended for it by the Roman writers but a Legend of Ledgerus brought to us the other day by Surius which is so ridiculous and weak that even their own parties dare not avow it as true story and therefore they are fain to make use of Thomas Aquinas upon the Sentences and Altisiodorensis for story record And it were strange that if this power of giving indulgences to take off the punishment reserv'd by God after the sin is pardoned were given by Christ to his Church that no one of the ancient Doctors should tell any thing of it insomuch that there is no one writer of authority and credit not the more ancient Doctors we have named nor those who were much later Rupertus Tuitiensis Anselm or S. Bernard ever took notice of it but it was a Doctrine wholly unknown to the Church for about MCC years after Christ Card. Cajetane told P. Adrian VI. that to him that readeth the Decretals it plainly appears that an indulgence is nothing else but an absolution from that penance which the Confessor hath imposed therfore can be nothing of that which is now a-days pretended True it is that the Canonical penances were about the time of Burchard lessen'd and alter'd by commutations and the ancient Discipline of the Church in imposing penances was made so loose that the Indulgence was more than the Imposition began not to be an act of mercy but remisness an absolution without amends It became a trumpet a leavy for the Holy War in Pope Urban the Seconds time for he gave a plenary Indulgence and remission of all sins to them that should go and fight against the Saracens and yet no man could tell how much they were the better for these Indulgences for concerning the value of indulgences the complaint is both old and doubtful said Pope Adrian and he cites a famous gloss which tells of four Opinions all Catholick and yet vastly differing in this particular but the Summa Angelica reckons seven Opinions concerning what that penalty is which is taken off by Indulgences No man could then tell and the point was but in the infancy and since that they have made it what they please but it is at last turn'd into a Doctrine and they have devised new propositions as well as they can to make sense of it and yet it is a very strange thing a solution not an absolution it is the distinction of Bellarmine that is the sinner is let to go free without punishment in this world or in the world to come and in the end it grew to be that which Christendom could not suffer a heap of Doctrines without Grounds of Scripture or Catholick Tradition and not only so but they have introduc'd a way or remittinâ— sins that Christ and his Apostleâ— taught not a way destructive of thâ— repentance and remission of sins which was preached in the Name of Jesus it brought into the Church false and fantastick hopes a hope that will make men asham'd a hope that does not glorifie the merits and perfect satisfaction of Christ a doctrine expresly dishonourable to the full and free pardon given us by God through Jesus Christ a practice that supposes a new bunch of Keys given to the Church besides that which the Apostles receiv'd to open and shut the Kingdom of Heaven a Doctrine that introduces pride among the Saints and advances the opinion of their works beyond the measures of Christ who taught us That when we have done all that is commanded we are unproâ—itable servants and therefore certainly cannot supererogate or do more than what is infinitely recompenc'd by the Kingdom of Glory to which all our doings and all our sufferings are not worthâ— to be compar'd especially since the greatest Saint cannot but say with David Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight no flesh living can be justified It is a practice that hath turn'd penances into a Fair and the Court of Conscience into a Lombard and the labours of Love into the labours of pilgrimages superstitious and useless wandrings from place to place and Religion into vanity and our hope in God to a confidence in man and our fears of hell to be a mere scar-crow to rich and confident sinners and at
this opinion to say that it is true or false probable or improbable for these Fathers intended it not as a matter of faith or necessary belief so far as we find But we observe from hence that if their opinion be true then the Doctrine of Purgatory is false If it be not true yet the Roman Doctrine of Purgatory which is inconsistent with this so generally receiv'd opinion of the Fathers is at least new no Catholick Doctrine not believ'd in the Primitive Church and therefore the Roman Writers are much troubled to excuse the Fathers in this Article and to reconcile them to some seeming concorâ— with their new Doctrine But besides these things it is certain that the Doctrine of Purgatory before the day of Judgment in S. Augustins time was not the Doctrine of the Church it was not the Catholick Doctrine for himself did doubt of it Whether it be so or not it may be inquir'd and possibly it may be found so and possibly it may never so S. Augustine In his time therefore it was no Doctrine of the Church and it continued much longer in uncertainty for in the time of Otho Frisingensis who liv'd in the year 1146. it was gotten no further than to a Quidam asserunt some do affirm that there is a place of Purgatory after death And although it is not to be denied but that many of the ancient Doctors had strange opinions concerning Purgations and Fires and Intermedial states and common receptacles liberations of Souls and Spirits after this life yet we can truly affirm it and can never be convinc'd to err in this affirmation that there is not any one of the Ancients within five hundred years whose opinion in this Article throughout the Church of Rome at this day follows But the people of the Roman Communion have been principally led into a belief of Purgatory by their fear and by their credulity they have been softned enâ—ic'd into this belief by perpetual tales and legends by which they love to be abus'd To this purporse their Priests and Friers have made great use of the apparition of S. Hierom after death to Eusebius commanding him to lay his sack upon the corps of three dead men that they arising from death might confess Purgatory which formerly they had denied The story is written in an Epistle impuâ—ed to S. Cyril but the ill-luck of it was that S. Hierom out-lived S. Cyril anâ— wrote his life and so confuted thaâ— story but all is one for that they believe it never the less But theâ—â— are enough to help it out and if theâ— be not firmly true yet if they bâ— firmly believ'd all is well enough 〈◊〉 the Speculum exemplorum it is said That a certain Priest in an extasie saw the soul of Constantinus Turritanus in the eves of his house tormented with frosts and cold rains and afterwards climbing up to heaven upon a shining pillar And a certain Monk saw some souls roasted upon spits like Pigs and some Devils basting them with scalding lard but a while after they were carried to a cool place and so prov'd Purgatory But Bishop Theobald standing upon a piece of ice to cool his feet was nearer Purgatory than he was aware and was convinc'd of it when he heard a poor soul telling him that under that ice he was tormented and that he should be delivered if for thirty days continual he would say for him thirty Masses and some such thing was seen by Conrade and Udalric in a Pool of water For the place of Purgatory was not yet resolv'd on till S. Patrick had the key of it delivered to him which when one Nicholas borrowed of him he saw as strange and true things there as ever Virgil dreamed of in his Purgatory or Cicero in his dream of Scipio or Plato in his Gorgias or Phaedo who indeed are the surest Authors to prove Purgatory But because to preach false stories was forbidden by the Council of Trent there are yet remaining more certain arguments even revelations made by Angels and the testimony of S. Odilio himself who heard the Devil complain and he had great reason surely that the souls of dead men were daily snatch'd out of his hands by the Alms and Prayers of the living and the sister of S. Damianus being too much pleas'd with hearing of a Piper told her brother that she was to be tormented for fifteen days in Purgatory We do not think that the wise men in the Church of Rome believe these Narratives for if they did they were not wise But this we know that by such stories the people were brought into a belief of it and having served their turn of them the Master-builders used them as false arches and centries taking them away when the parts of the building were made firm and stable by Authority But even the better sort of them do believe or else they do worse for they urge and cite the Dialogues of S. Gregory the Oration of S. Iohn Damascen de Defunctis the Sermons of Saint Augustine upon the Feast of the Commemoration of All-souls which nevertheless was instituted after S. Augustins death and divers other citations which the Greeks in their Apology call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— The Holds and the Castles the corruptions and insinuations of Heretical persons But in this they are the less to be blamed because better arguments than they have no men are tied to make use of But against this way of proceeding we think fit to admonish the people of our charges that besides that the Scriptures expresly forbid us to enquire of the dead for truth the Holy Doctors of the Church particularly Tertul. S. Athanasius S. Chrysost. Isido and Theophylact deny that the souls of the dead ever do appear and bring many reasons to prove that it is unfitting they should saying if they did it would be the cause of many errors and the Devils under that pretence might easily abuse the world with notices and revelations of their own And because Christ would have us content with Moses and the Prophets and especially to hear that Prophet whom the Lord our God hath raised up amongst us our Blessed Jesus who never taught any such Doctrine to his Church But because we are now representing the Novâ—lty of this Doctrine and proving that anciently it was not the Doctrine of the Church nor at all esteemed a matter of faith whether there was or was not any such place or state we add this That the Greek Church did always dissent from the Latines in this particular since they had forg'd this new Doctrine in the laboratories of Rome and in the Council of Basil publish'd an Apology directly disapproving the Roman Doctrine of Purgatory How afterwards they were press'd in the Council of Florence by Pope Eugenius and by their necessity how unwillingly they consented how ambiguously they answered how they protested against having that half consent put into the
Oeconomy commanding the image and type of his own body to be made and that the Apostle received a command according to the constitution of the New Testament to make a memory of this sacrifice upon the Table by the symbols of his body and healthful bloud S. Macarius says that in the Church is offered bread and wine the antitype of his flesh and of his bloud and they that partake of the bread that appears do spiritually eat the flesh of Christ. By which words the sense of the above cited Fathers is explicated For when they affirm that in this Sacrament is offered the figure the image the antitype of Christs body and bloud although they speak perfectly against Transubstantiation yet they do not deny the real and spiritual presence of Christs body and bloud which we all believe as certainly as that it is not transubstantiated or present in a natural and carnal manner The same thing is also fully explicated by the good S. Ephrem The body of Christ received by the faithful departs not from his sensible substance and is undivided from a spiritual grace For even baptism being wholly made spiritual and being that which is the same and proper of the sensible substance I mean of water saves and that which is born doth not perish S. Gregory Nazianzen spake so expresly in this Question as if he had undertaken on purpose to confute the Article of Trent Now we shall be partakers of the Paschal supper but still in figure though more clear than in the old Law For the Legal Passover I will not be afraid to speak it was a more obscure figure of a figure S. Chrysostom affirms dogmatically that before the bread is sanctified we name it bread but the Divine grace sanctifying it by the means of the Priest it is freed from the name of bread but it is esteemed worthy to be called the Lords body although the nature of bread remains in it And again As thou eatest the body of the Lord so they the faithful in the old Testament did eat Manna as thou drinkest bloud so they the water of the rock For though the things which are made be sensible yet they are given spiritually not according to the consequence of Nature but according to the grace of a gift and with the body they also nourish the soul leading unto faith To these very many more might be added but instead of them the words of S. Austin may suffice as being an evident conviction what was the doctrine of the primitive Church in this question This great Doctor brings in Christ thus speaking as to his Disciples You are not to eat this body which you see or to drink that bloud which my crucifiers shall pour forth I have commended to you a sacrament which being spiritually understood shall quicken you And again Christ brought them to a banquet in which he commended to his Disciples the figure of his body and bloud For he did not doubt to say This is my body when he gave the sign of his body and That which by all men is called a sacrifice is the sign of the true sacrifice in which the flesh of Christ after his assumption is celebrated by the sacrament of remembrances But in this particular the Canon Law it self and the Master of the Sentences are the best witnesses in both which collections there are divers testimonies brought especially from S. Ambrose and S. Austin which whosoever can reconcile with the doctrine of Transubstantiation may easily put the Hyaena and a Dog a Pigeon and a Kite into couples and make fire and water enter into natural and eternal friendships Theodoret and P. Gelasius speak more emphatically even to the nature of things and the very philosophy of this Question Christ honour'd the symbols and the signs saith Theodoret which are seen with the title of his body and bloud not changing the nature but to nature adding grace For neither do the mystical signs recede from their nature for they abide in their proper substance figure and form and may be seen and touch'd c. And for a testimony that shall be esteem'd infallible we allege the words of Pope Gelasius Truly the sacraments of the body and bloud of Christ which we receive are a Divine thing for that by them we are made partakers of the Divine nature and yet it ceases not to be the substance or nature of bread and wine And truly an image and similitude of the body and bloud of Christ are celebrated in the action of the mysteries Now from these premises we are not desirous to infer any odious consequences in reproof of the Roman Church but we think it our duty to give our own people caution and admonition 1. That they be not abus'd by the rhetorical words and high expressions alleged out of the Fathers calling the Sacrament The body or the flesh of Christ. For we all believe it is so and rejoyce in it But the question is after what manner it is so whether after the manner of the flesh or after the manner of spiritual grace and sacramental consequence We with the H. Scriptures and the primitive Fathers affirm the later The Church of Rome against the words of Scripture and the explication of Christ and the doctrine of the primitive Church affirm the former 2. That they be careful not to admit such Doctrines under a pretence of being Ancient since although the Roman errour hath been too long admitted and is ancient in respect of our days yet it is an innovation in Christianity and brought in by ignorance power and superstition very many ages after Christ. 3. We exhort them that they remember the words of Christ when he explicates the doctrine of giving us his flesh for meat and his bloud for drink that he tells us The flesh profiteth nothing but the words which he speaks are spirit and they are life 4. That if those ancient and primitive Doctors above cited say true and that the symbols still remain the same in their natural substance and properties even after they are blessed and when they are receiv'd and that Christs body and bloud are onely present to faith and to the spirit that then whoever tempts them to give Divine honour to these symbols or elements as the Church of Rome does tempts them to give to a creature the due and incommunicable propriety of God and that then this evil passes further than an errour in the understanding for it carries them to a dangerous practice which cannot reasonably be excus'd from the crime of Idolatry To conclude This matter of it self is an error so prodigiously great and dangerous that we need nor tell of the horrid and blasphemous questions which are sometimes handled by them concerning this Divine Mystery As if a Priest going by a Bakers shop and saying with intention Hoc est corpus meum whether all the Bakers bread be turned
in the questions of Vertue and Vice But if it be not safe to follow it and that this does not make an opinion probable or the practise safe Who says so Does the Church No Does Dr. Cajus or Dr. Sempronius say so Yes But these are not safe to follow for they are but private Doctors Or if it be safe to follow them though they be no more and the opinion no more but probable then I may take the other side and choose which I will and do what I list in most cases and yet be safe by the Doctrine of the Roman Casuists which is the great line and general measure of most mens lives and that is it which we complain of And we have reason for they suffer their Casuists to determine all cases severely and gently strictly and loosly that so they may entertain all spirits and please all dispositions and govern them by their own inclinations and as they list to be governed by what may please them not by that which profits them that none may go away scandaliz'd or griev'd from their penitential chairs But upon this account it is a sad reckoning which can be made concerning souls in the Church of Rome Suppose one great Doctor amongst them as many of them do shall say it is lawful to kill a King whom the Pope declares Heretick By the Doctrine of probability here is his warranty And though the Church do not declare that Doctrine that is the Church doth not make it certain in Speculation yet it may be safely done in practise Here is enough to give peace of conscience to him that does it Nay if the contrary be more safe yet if the other be but probable by reason or Authority you may do the less safe and refuse what is more For that also is the opinion of some grave Doctors If one Doctor says it is safe to swear a thing as of our knowledge which we do not know but believe it is so it is therefore probable that it is lawful to swear it because a grave Doctor says it then it is safe enough to do so And upon this account who could find fault with Pope Constantine the IV. who when he was accus'd in the Lateran Council for holding the See Apostolick when he was not in Orders justified himself by the example of Sergius Bishop of Ravenna and Stephen Bishop of Naples Here was exemplum bonorum honest men had done so before him and therefore he was innocent When it is observ'd by Cardinal Campegius and Albertus Pighius did teach That a Priest lives more holily and chastely that keeps a Concubine than he that hath a married wife and then shall find in the Popes Law That a Priest is not to be removed for fornication who will not or may not practically conclude that since by the Law of God marriage is holy and yet to some men fornication is more lawful and does not make a Priest irregular that therefore to keep a Concubine is very lawful especially since abstracting from the consideration of a mans being in Orders or not fornication it self is probably no sin at all For so says Durandus Simple fornication of it self is not a deadly sin according to the Natural Law and excluding all positive Law and Martinus de Magistris says to believe simple fornication to be no deadly sin is not heretical because the testimonies of Scripture are not express These are grave Doctors and therefore the opinion is probable and the practise safe When the good people of the Church of Rome hear it read That P. Clement the VIII in the Index of Prohibited books says That the Bible published in vulgar Tongues ought not to be read and retain'd no not so much as a compend of the History of the Bible and Bellarmine says That it is not necessary to salvation to believe that there are any Scriptures at all written and that Cardinal Hosius saith Perhaps it had been better for the Church if no Scriptures had been written They cannot but say that this Doctrine is probable and think themselves safe when they walk without the light of Gods Word and relie wholly upon the Pope or their Priest in what he is pleas'd to tell them and that they are no way oblig'd to keep that Commandment of Christ Search the Scriptures Cardinal Tolet says That if a Nobleman be set upon and may escape by going away he is not tied to it but may kill him that intends to strike him with a stick That if a man be in a great passion and so transported that he considers not what he says if in that case he does blaspheme he does not always sin That if a man be beastly drunk and then commit fornication that fornication is no sin That if a man desires carnal pollution that he may be eas'd of his carnal temptations or for his health it were no sin That it is lawfull for a man to expose his bastards to the Hospital to conceal his own shame He says it out of Soto and he from Thomas Aquinas That if the times be hard or the Iudge unequal a man that cannot sell his wine at a due price may lawfully make his measures less than is appointed or mingle water with his wine and sell it for pure so he do not lie and yet if he does it is no mortal sin nor obliges him to restitution Emanuel Sà affirms That if a man lie with his intended wife before Marriage it is no sin or a light one nay quinetiam expedit si multum illa differatur it is good to do so if the benediction or publication of Marriage be much deferr'd That Infants in their cradles may be made Priests is the common opinion of Divines and Canonists saith Tolet and that in their Cradles they can be made Bishops said the Archdeacon and the Provost and though some say the contrary yet the other is the more true saith the Cardinal Vasques saith That not onely an Image of God but any creature in the world reasonable or unreasonable may without danger be worshipped together with God as his Image That we ought to adore the Reliques of Saints though under the form of Worms and that it is no sin to worship a Ray of Light in which the Devil is invested if a man supposes him to be Christ And in the same manner if he supposes it to be a piece of a Saint which is not he shall not want the merit of his Devotion And to conclude Pope Celestine the III. as Alphonsus à Castro reports himself to have seen a Decretal of his to that purpose affirmed That if one of the Married Couple fell into Heresie the Marriage is dissolved and that the other may marry another and the Marriage is nefarious and they are Irritae Nuptiae the Espousals are void if a Catholick and a Heretick marry together
said the Fathers of the Synod in Trullo And though all of this be not own'd generally yet if a Roman Catholick marries a Wife that is or shall turn Heretick he may leave her and part bed and board according to the Doctrine taught by the Canon Law it self by the Lawyers and Divines as appears in Covaruvias Mathias Aquarius and Bellarmine These Opinions are indeed very strange to us of the Church of England and Ireland but no strangers in the Church of Rome and because they are taught by great Doctors by Popes themselves by Cardinals and the Canon Law respectively do at least become very probable and therefore they may be believ'd and practis'd without danger according to the Doctrine of Probability And thus the most desperate things that ever were said by any though before the Declaration of the Church they cannot become Articles of Faith yet besides that they are Doctrines publickly allowed they can also become Rules of practice and securities to the conscience of their disciples To this we add that which is usual in the Church of Rome the Praxis Ecclesiae the Practice of the Church Thus if an Indulgence be granted upon condition to visit such an Altar in a distant Church the Nuns that are shut up and Prisoners that cannot go abroad if they address themselves to an Altar of their own with that intention they shall obtain the Indulgence Id enim confirmat Ecclesiae praxis says Fabius The practice of the Church in this case gives first a probability in speculation and then a certainty in practice This instance though it be of no concern yet we use it as a particular to shew the Principle upon which they go But it is practicable in many things of greatest danger and concern If the question be Whether it be lawful to worship the Image of the Cross or of Christ with Divine worship First there is a Doctrine of S. Thomas for it and Vasquez and many others therefore it is probable and therefore is safe in practice â—ie est Ecclesiae praxis the Church also practises so as appears in their own Offices And S. Thomas makes this use of it Illi exhibemus cultum latriae in quo ponimus spem salutis sed in cruce Christi ponimus spem â—alutis Cantat enim Ecclesia O Crux ave spes unica Hoc passionis tempore Auge piis justitiam ReÃsque doâ—a veniam Ergo Crux Christi est adoranda adoratione Latriae We give Divine worship says he to that in which we put our hopes of salvation but in the Cross we put our hopes of salvation for so the Church sings it is the practice of the Church Hail O Cross our onely hope in this time of suffering increase righteousness to the godly and give pardon to the guilty therefore the Cross of Christ is to be ador'd with Divine Adoration By this Principle you may embrace any Opinion of their Doctors safely especially if the practice of the Church do intervene and you need not trouble your self with any further inquiry and if an evil custom get amongst men that very custom shall legitimate the action if any of their grave Doctors allow it or Good men use it and Christ is not your Rule but the Examples of them that live with you or are in your eye and observation that 's your Rule We hope we shall not need to say any more in this affair the pointing out this rock may be warning enough to them that would not suffer shipwreck to decline the danger that looks so formidably Sect. VIII AS these Evil Doctrines have general influence into Evil Life so there are some others which if they be pursued to their proper and natural issues that is if they be believ'd and practis'd are enemies to the particular and specifick parts of Piety and Religion Thus the very prayers of the Faithful are or may be spoil'd by Doctrines publickly allowed and prevailing in the Roman Church For 1. they teach That prayers themselves ex opere operato or by the natural work it self do prevail For it is not essential to prayer for a man tâ— think particularly of what he says it is not necessary to think of the things signified by the words So Suarez teachesâ— Nay it is not necessary to the essence of prayer that he who prays should think de ipsa locutione of the speaking it self And indeed it is necessary that they should all teach so or they cannot tolerably pretend to justifie their prayers in an unknown Tongue But this is indeed their publick Doctrine For prayers in the mouth of the man that says them are like the words of a Charmer they prevail even when they are not understood says Salmeron Or as Antoninus They are like a pretious stone of as much value in the hand of an unskilful man as of a Ieweller And therefore Attention to or Devotion in our prayers is not necessary For the understanding of which saith Cardinal Tolet when it is said that you must say your prayers or offices attently reverently and devoutly you must know that Attention or Advertency to your prayers is manifold 1. That you attend to the words so that you speak them not too fast or to begin the next verse of a Psalm before he that recites with you hath done the former verse and this attention is necessary But 2. there is an attention which is by understanding the sense and that is not necessary For if it were very extremely few would do their duty when so very few do at all understand what they say 3. There is an attention relating to the end of prayer that is that he that prays considers that he is present before God and speaks to him and this indeed is very profitable but it is not necessary No not so much So that by this Doctrine no attention is necessary but to attend that the words be all said and said right But even this attention is not necessary that it should be actual but it suffices to be virtual that is that he who says his office intend to do so and do not change his mind although he does not attend And he who does not change his mind that is unless observing himself not to attend he still turn his mind to other things he attends meaning he attends sufficiently and as much as is necessary though indeed speaking naturally and truly he does not attendâ— If any man in the Church of England and Ireland had published such Doctrine as this he should quickly and deservedly have felt the severity of the Ecclesiastical Rod but in Rome it goes for good Catholick Doctrine Now although upon this account Devotion is it may be good and it is good to attend to the words of our prayer and the sense of them yet that it is not necessary is evidently consequent to this But it is also expresly affirm'd by the same hand There
is something more this may be done if he impose new Gabels or Imposts upon his Subjects without the Popes leave for if they do not pretend to this also why does the Pope in Bulla Coenae Dominici excommnnicate all Princes that do it Now if it be inquired by what Authority the Pope does these things It is answered That the Pope hath a Supreme and Absolute Authority both the Spiritual and the Temporal Power is in the Pope as Christs Vicar said Azorius and Santarel The Church hath the right of a superiour Lord over the rights of Princes and their Temporalties and that by her Jurisdiction she disposes of Temporals ut de suo peculio as of her own proper goods said our Countreyman Weston Rector of the College at Dâ—way Nay the Pope hath power in omnia per omnia super omnia in all things thorough all things and over all things and the sublimity and immensity of the Supreme Bishop is so great that no mortal man can comprehend it said Cassenaeus no man can express it no man can think it So that it is no wonder what Papirius Massonus said of Pope Boniface the VIII that he owned himself not onely as the Lord of France but of all the World Now we are sure it will be said That this is but the private opinion of some Doctors not the Doctrine of the Church of Rome To this we reply 1. It is not the private opinion of a few but their publick Doctrine own'd and offer'd to be justified to all the World as appears in the preceding testimonies 2. It is the opinion of all the Jesuit Order which is now the greatest and most glorious in the Church of Rome and the maintenance of it is the subject matter of their new Vow of obedience to the Pope that is to advance his Grandeur 3. Not onely the Jesuits but all the Canonists in the Church of Rome contend earnestly for these Doctrines 4. This they do upon the Authority of the Decretals their own Law and the Decrees of Councils 5. Not only the Jesuits and Canonists but others also of great note amongst them earnestly contend for these Doctrines particularly Cassâ—naeus Zodericus the Archbishop of Florence Petrus de Monte St. Thomas Aquinas Bozius Baronius and many others 6. Themselves tellâ— us it is a matter of Faith F. Creswell says it is the sentence of all Catholicks and they that do not admit these Doctrines Father Rosweyd calls them half Christians Grinners barking Royalists and a new Sect of Catholicks and Eudaemon Ioannes says That without question it is a Heresie in the judgement of all Catholicks Now in such things which are not in their Creeds and publick Confessions from whence should we know the Doctrines of their Church but from their chiefest and most leading Doctors who it is certain would fain have all the World believe it to be the Doctrine of their Church And therefore as it is certain that any Roman Catholick may with allowance be of this opinion so he will be esteemed the better and more zealous Catholick if he be and if it were not for fear of Princes who will not lose their Crowns for their foolish Doctrines there is no peradventure but it would be declared to be de fide a matter of faith as divers of them of late do not stick to say And of this the Pope gives but too much evidence since he will not take away the scandal which is so greatly given to all Christian Kings and Republicks by a publick and a just condemnation of it Nay it is worse than thus for Sixtus Quintus upon the XI of September A. D. 1589. in an Oration in a Conclave of Cardinals did solemnly commend the Monk that kill'd Henry the III. of France The Oration was printed at Paris by them that had rebell'd against that Prince and avouched for Authentick by Boucher Decreil and Ancelein And though some would fain have it thought to be none of his yet Bellarmine dares not deny it but makes for it a crude and a cold Apology Now concerning this Article it will not be necessary to declare the Sentence of the Church of England and Ireland because it is notorious to all the World and is expresly oppos'd against this Roman Doctrine by Laws Articles Confessions Homilies the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy the Book of Christian Institution and the many excellent writings of King Iames of Blessed Memory of our â—â—â—hops and other Learnned persons against Bellarmine Parsons Eudaemon Iohannes Creswel and others And nothing is more notorious than that the Church of England is most dutiful most zealous for the right of Kings and within these four and twenty years she hath had many Martyrs and very very many Confessors ia this cause It is true that the Church of Rome does recriminate in this point and charges some Calvinists and Presbyterians with Doctrines which indeed they borrowed from Rome using their Arguments making use of their Expressions and pursuing their Principles But with them in this Article we have nothing to do but to reprove the men and condemn their Doctrine as we have done all along by private Writings and publick Instruments We conclude these our reproofs with an Exhortation to our respective Charges to all that desire to be sav'd in the day of the Lord Iesus thaâ— they decline from these horrid Doctrines which in their birth are new in their growth are scandalous in their proper consequents are inâ—initely dangerous to their souls and hunt for their precious life But therefore it is highly fit that they also should perceive their own advantages and give God praise that they are immur'd from such infinite drngers by the Holy Precepts and holy Faith taught and commanded in the Church of England and Ireland in which the Word of God is set before them as a Lantern to their feet and a light unto their eyes and the Sacraments are fully administred according to Christs Institution and Repentance is preach'd according to the measures of the Gospel and Faith in Christ is propounded according to the rule of the Apostles and the measures of the Churches Apostolical and obedience to Kings is greatly and sacredly urg'd and the Authority and Order of Bishops is preserv'd against the usurpation of the Pope and the invasion of Schismaticks and Aerians new and old and Truth and Faith to all men is kept and preach'd to be necessary and inviolable and the Commandments are expounded with just severity and without scruples and holiness of life is urg'd upon all men as indispensably necessary to salvation and therefore without any allowances tricks and little artifices of escaping from it by easie and imperfect Doctrines and every thing is practis'd which is useful to the saving of our souls and Christs Merits and Satisfaction are intirely relied upon for the pardon of our sins and the necessity of good works is
earnestly and therefore Controversies may become necessary but because they are not often so but oftentimes useless and always troublesom and as an ill diet makes an ill habit of body so does the frequent use of controversies baffle the understanding and makes it crafty to deceive others it self remaining instructed in nothing but useless notions and words of contingent signification and distinctions without difference which minister to pride and contention and teach men to be pertinacious troublesome and uncharitable therefore I love them not But because by the Apostolical Rule I am tyed to do all things without murmurings as well as without disputings I consider'd it over again and found my self reliev'd by the subject matter and the grand consequent of the present Questions For in the present affair the case is not so as in the others here the Questions are such that the Church of Rome declares them to reach as far as eternity and damn all that are not of their opinions and the Protestants have much more reason to fear concerning the Papists such who are not excus'd by ignorance that their condition is very sad and deplorable and that it is charity to snatch them as a brand from the fire and indeed the Church of Rome maintains Propositions which if the Ancient Doctors of the Church may be believ'd are apt to separate from God I instance in their superaddition of Articles and Propositions derived onely from a pretended tradition and not contain'd in Scripture Now the doing of this is a great sin and a great danger Adoro Scripturae plenitudinem Si non est scriptum timeat vae illud adjicientibus detrahentibus destinatum said Tertullian I adore the fulness of Scripture and if it be not written let Hermogenus fear the wo that is destin'd to them that detract from or adde to it S. Basil says Without doubt it is a most manifest argument of infidelity and a most certain sign of pride to introduce any thing that is not written in the Scriptures our blessed Saviour having said My sheep hear my voice and the voice of strangers they will not hear and to detract from Scriptures or adde any thing to the Faith that is not there is most vehemently forbidden by the Apostle saying If it be but a mans testament nemo superordinat no man adds to it And says also This was the Will of the Testator And Theophilus Alexandrinus says plainly It is the part of a Devillish spirit to think any thing to be Divine that is not in the authority of the holy Scriptures and therefore S. Athanasius affirms that the Catholicks will neither speak nor endure to hear any thing in Religion that is a stranger to Scripture it being immodestiae vaecordia an evil heart of immodesty to speak those things which are not written Now let any man judge whether it be not our duty and a necessary work of charity and the proper office of our Ministry to persuade our charges from the immodesty of an evil heart from having a Devillish spirit from doing that which is vehemently forbidden by the Apostle from infidelity and pride and lastly from that eternal Wo which is denounc'd against them that adde other words and doctrines than what is contain'd in the Scriptures and say Dominus dixit The Lord hath said it and he hath not said it If we had put these severe censures upon the Popish doctrine of Tradition we should have been thought uncharitable but because the holy Fathers do so we ought to be charitable and snatch our Charges from the ambient flame And thus it is in the question of Images Dubium non est quin Religio nulla sit ubicunque fimulacrum est said Lactantius Without all peradventure where ever an Image is meaning for worship there is no Religion and that we ought rather to die than pollute our Faith with such impieties said Origen It is against the Law of Nature it being expresly forbidden by the second Commandment as Irenaeus affirms Tertullian Cyprian and S. Augustine and therefore is it not great reason we should contend for that Faith which forbids all worship of Images and oppose the superstition of such Guides who do teach their people to give them veneration to prevaricate the Moral Law end the very Law of Nature and do that which whosoever does has no Religion We know Idolatry is a damnable sin and we also know that the Roman Church with all the artifices she could use never can justifie her self or acquit the common practises from Idolatry and yet if it were but suspicious that it is Idolatry it were enough to awaken us for God is a jealous God and will not endure any such causes of suspicion and motives of jealousie I instance but once more The primitive Church did excommunicate them that did not receive the holy Sacrament in both kinds and S. Ambrose says that he who receives the Mystery other ways than Christ appointed that is but in one kind when he hath appointed it in two is unworthy of thâ— Lord and he cannot have Devotion Now this thing we oughâ— not to suffer that our people by so doâ—ing should remain unworthy of thâ— Lord and for ever be indevouâ— â—â— cozen'd with a false shew of devotion or fall by following evil Guides into the sentence of Excommunication These matters are not trifling and when we see these errours frequently taught and own'd as the onely true Religion and yet are such evils which the Fathers say are the way of damnation we have reason to hope that all wise and good men lovers of souls will confess that we are within the circles of our duty when we teach our people to decline the crooked ways and to walk in the ways of Scripture and Christianity But we have observed amongst the generality of the Irish such a declension of Christianity so great credulity to believe every superstitious story such confidence in vanity such groundless pertinacy such vicious lives so little sense of true Religion and the fear of God so much care to obey the Priests and so little to obey God such intolerable ignorance such fond Oaths and manners of swearing thinking themselves more oblig'd by swearing on the Mass-book than the four Gospels and S. Patricks Mass-book more than any new one swearing by their Fathers soul by their Godsips hand by other things which are the product of those many Tales are told them their not knowing upon what account they refuse to come to Church but onely that now they are old and never did or their Countreymen do not or their Fathers or Grandfathers never did or that their Ancestours were Priests and they will not alter from their Religion and after all can give no account of their Religion what it is onely they believe as their Priest bids them and go to Mass which they understand not and reckon their Beads to tell the number and the tale of
upon the wayes and ask after the old paths and walk in them lest they partake of that curse which is â—hreatned by God to them who remove â—he Ancient Land-marks which our Fathers in Christ have set for us Now that the Church of Rome cannot not pretend that all which she imposes is Primitive and Apostolick appears in this That in the Church of Rome there is pretence made to a power not only of declaring new articles of faith but of making new Symbols or Creeds and imposing them as of necessity to Salvation Which thing is evident in the Bull of Pope Leo the Tenth against Martin Luther in which amongst other things he is condemn'd for saying It is certain that it is not in the power of the Church or Pope to constitute Articles of Faith We need not adâ— that this power is attributed to thâ— Bishops of Rome by Turrecremata Augustinus Triumphus de Ancona Petrus de Ancorano and the Famoâ—â— Abbot of Panormo that the Popâ— cannot only make new Creeds buâ— new Articles of Faith that he can make that of necessity to be believ'd which before never was necessary that he is the measure and rule and the very notice of all credibilities That the Canon Law is the Divine law and whatever law the Pope promulges God whose Vicar he is is understood to be the promulger That the souls of Men are in the hands of the Pope and that in his arbitration Religion does consist which are the very words of Hostiensis and Ferdinandus ab Inciso who were Casuists and Doctors of Law of great authority amongst them and renown The thing it self is not of dubious disputation amongst them but actually practis'd in the greatest instances as is to be seen in the Bull of Pius the fourth at the end of the Council of Trent by which all Ecelesiasticks are not onâ—y bound to swear to all the Articles of the Council of Trent for the present and for the future but they are put into a new Symbol or Creed and they are corrobroated by the same decretory clauses that are us'd in the Creed of Athanasius that this is the true Catholick Faith â— and that without this no Man can be saved Now since it cannot be imagined that this power to which they pretend should never have been reduc'd to act and that it is not credible they should publish so inviduous and ill-sounding Doctrine to no purpose and to serve no end it may without furtheâ— evidence be believed by all discerning persons that they have need of this Doctrine or it would not have been taughâ— â— and that consequently without moâ—â—adoe it may be concluded that some 〈◊〉 their Articles are parts of this new faithâ— and that they can therefore in no senâ—â— be Apostolical unless their being Roâ—man makes them so To this may be added another conâ—sideration not much less material thâ—â— besides what Eckius told the Elector 〈◊〉 Bavaria that the Doctrines of Luthâ—â— might be overthrown by the Fatherâ— though not by Scripture they haâ—â— also many gripes of conscience conceâ—â—ning the Fathers themselves that thâ— are not right on their side and of thâ— they have given but too much demonstration by their Expurgatory indices The Serpent by being so curious a defender of his head shews where his danger is and by what he can most readily be destroyed But besides their innumerable corruptings of the Fathers writings their thrusting in that which was spurious and like Pharaoh killing the legitimate Sons of Israel though in this they have done very much of their work and made the Testimonies of the Fathers to be a record infinitely worse than of themselves uncorrupted they would have been of which divers Learned Persons have made publick complaint and demonstration they have at last fallen to a new trade which hath caus'd more dis-reputation to â—hem than they have gain'd advantage â—nd they have virtually confess'd that â—n many things the Fathers are against â—hem For first the King of Spain gave a â—ommission to the Inquisitors to purge â—ll Catholick Authors but with this clause iique ipsi privatim nullisque consciis apud se indicem expurgatorium habebunt quem eundum neque aliis communicabunt neque ejus exemplum ulli dabunt that they should keep the expurgatory Index privately neither imparting that index nor giving a copy of it to any But it happened by the Divine providence so ordering it that about thirteen years after a copy of it was gotten and published by Iohannes Pappus and Franciscus Iunius anâ— since it came abroad against their wills they find it necessary now to own it and they have printed it themselvesâ— Now by these expurgatory Table what they have done is known to aâ—â— Learned Men. In St. Chrysostomâ— Works printed at Basil these words The Church is not built upon the Maâ— but upon the faith are commanded 〈◊〉 be blotted out and these There is 〈◊〉 merit but what is given us by Christ and yet these words are in his Sermoâ— upon Pentecost and the former worâ— are in his first homily upon that of Sâ—â— Iohn Ye are my friends c. Tâ—â— like they have done to him in many other places and to St. Ambrose and to St. Austin and to them all insomuch that Ludovicus Saurius the Corrector of the Press at Lyons shewed and complain'd of it to Iunius that he was forc'd to cancellate or blot out many sayings of St. Ambrose in that edition of his works which was printed at Lyons 1559. So that what they say on occasion of Bertrams book In the old Catholick Writers we suffer very many errors and extenuate and excuse them and finding out some commentary we feign some convenient sense when they are oppos'd in disputations they do indeed practise but esteem it not sufficient for the words which make against them they wholly leave out of their editions Nay they correct the very Tables or Indices made by the Printers or Correctors insomuch that out of one of Frobens indices they have commanded these words to be blotted The use â—f images forbidden The Eucharist no â—acrifice but the memory of a sacrifice Works although they do not justifie yet are necessary to Salvation Marriage iâ— granted to all that will not contain Venial sins damn The dead Saints afteâ— this life cannot helf us nay out of the Index of St. Austins Works by Claudius Chevallonius at Paris 1531. there is a very strange deleatur Dele Soluâ— Deus ador andus that God alone is to bâ— worshipped is commanded to be blotted out as being a dangerous Doctrineâ— These instances may serve instead oâ— multitudes which might be brought oâ— their corrupting the witnesses and razing the records of antiquity that thâ— errors and Novelties of the Church oâ— Rome might not be so easily reprov'dâ— Now if the Fathers were not againâ—â— them what need these arts Whâ— should they use them thus Their oâ—â— expurgatory
into the body of Christ Whether a Church mouse does eat her Maker Whether a man by eating the consecrated symbols does break his fast For if it be not bread and wine he does not and if it be Christs body and bloud naturally and properly it is not bread and wine Whether it may be said the Priest is in some sense the Creator of God himself Whether his power be greater than the power of Angels and Archangels For that it is so is expresly affirmed by Cassenaeus Whether as a Bohemian Priest said that a Priest before he say his first Mass be the Son of God but afterward he is the Father of God and the Creator of his body But against this blasphemy a book was written by Iohn Huss about the time of the Council of Constance But these things are too bad and therefore we love not to rake in so filthy chanels but give onely a general warning to all our Charges to take heed of such persons who from the proper consequences of their Articles grow too bold and extravagant and of such doctrines from whence these and many other evil Propositions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequently do issue As the tree is such must be the fruit But we hope it may be sufficient to say That what the Church of Rome teaches of Transubstantiation is absolutely impossible and implies contradictions very many to the belief of which no faith can oblige us and no reason can endure For Christs body being in heaven glorious spiritual and impassible cannot be broken And since by the Roman doctrine nothing is broken but that which cannot be broken that is the colour the taste and other accidents of the elements yet if they could be broken since the accidents of bread and wine are not the substance of Christs body and bloud it is certain that on the Altar Christs body naturally and properly cannot be broken And since they say that every consecrated Wafer is Christs whole body and yet this Wafer is not that Wafer therefore either this or that is not Christs body or else Christ hath two bodies for there are two Wafers But when Christ instituted the Sacrament and said This is my body which is broken because at that time Christs body was not broken naturally and properly the very words of Institution do force us to understand the Sacrament in a sense not natural but spiritual that is truly sacramental And all this is besides the plain demonstrations of sense which tells us it is bread and it is wine naturally as much after as before consecration And after all the natural sense is such as our blessed Saviour reprov'd in the men of Capernaum and called them to a spiritual understanding the natural sense being not onely unreasonable and impossible but also to no purpose of the spirit or any ways perfective of the soul as hath been clearly demonstrated by many learned men against the fond hypothesis of the Church of Rome in this Article Sect. VI. OUr next instance of the novelty of the Roman Religion in their Articles of division from us is that of the half Communion For they deprive the people of the chalice and dismember the institution of Christ and praevaricate his express law in this particular and recede from the practise of the Apostles and though they confess it was the practise of the primitive Church yet they lay it aside and curse all them that say they do amiss in it that is they curse them who follow Christ and his Apostles and his Church while themselves deny to follow them Now for this we need no other testimony but their own words in the Council of Constance Whereas in certain parts of the world some temerariously presume to affirm that the Christian people ought to receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist under both kinds of bread and wine and do every where communicate the Laity not onely in bread but in wine also Hence it is that the Council decrees and defines against this error that although Christ instituted after supper and administred this venerable Sacrament under both kinds of bread aud wine yet this notwithstanding And although in the primitive Church this Sacrament was receiv'd of the faithful under both kinds Here is the acknowledgment both of Christs institution in both kinds and Christs ministring it in both kinds and the practise of the primitive Church to give it in both kinds yet the conclusion from these premises is We command under the pain of Excommunication that no Priest communicate the people under both kinds of bread and wine The opposition is plain Christs Testament ordains it The Church of Rome forbids it It was the primitive custom to obey Christ in this a later custom is by the Church of Rome introduc'd to the contrary To say that the first practise and institution is necessary to be followed is called Heretical to refuse the later subintroduc'd custom incurrs the sentence of Excommunication and this they have pass'd not onely into a law but into an Article of Faith and if this be not teaching for doctrines the commandments of men and worshipping God in vain with mens traditions then there is and there was and there can be no such thing in the world So that now the question is not whether this doctrine and practise be an INNOVATION but whether it be not better it should be so Whether it be not better to drink new wine than old Whether it be not better to obey man than Christ who is God blessed for ever Whether a late custom be not to be preferr'd before the ancient a custom dissonant from the institution of Christ before that which is wholly consonant to what Christ did and taught This is such a bold affirmative of the Church of Rome that nothing can suffice to rescue us from an amazement in the consideration of it especially since although the Institution it self being the onely warranty and authority for what we do is of it self our rule and precept according to that of the Lawyer Institutiones sunt praeceptiones quibus instituuntur docentur homines yet besides this Christ added preceptive words Drink ye all of this he spake it to all that receiv'd who then also represented all them who for ever after were to remember Christs death But concerning the doctrine of Antiquity in this point although the Council of Constance confess the Question yet since that time they have taken on them a new confidence and affirm that the half Communion was always more or less the practise of the most Ancient times We therefore think it fit to produce testimonies concurrent with the saying of the Council of Constance such as are irrefragable and of persons beyond exception Cassander affirms That in the Latine Church for aboue a thousand years the body of Christ and the blood of Christ were separately giuen◠the body apart and the blood apart after the consecration
amongst them have made can be entred into the records of Councils and publick decrees In these cases we are to consider who teaches them Their Gravest Doctors in the face of the Sun under the intuition of Authority in the publick conduct of souls in their allowed Sermons in their books licens'd by a curious and inquisitive authority not passing from them but by warranty from several hands intrusted to examine them ne fides Ecclesiae aliquid detrimenti patiatur that nothing be publish'd but what is consonant to the Catholick faith And therefore these things cannot be esteem'd private opinions especially since if they be yet they are the private opinions of them all and that we understand to be publick enough and are so their Doctrine as what the Scribes and Pharisees taught their Disciples though the whole Church of the Jews had not pass'd it into a law So this is the Roman Doctrine though not the Roman law Which difference we desire may be observ'd in many of the following instances that this objection may no more interpose for an escape or an excuse But we shall have occasion again to speak to it upon new particulars But this though it be infinitely intolerable yet it is but the beginning of sorrows For the guides of Souls in the Roman Church have prevaricated in all the parts of Repentance most sadly and dangerously The next things therefore that we shall remark are their Doctrines concerning contrition which when it is genuine and true that is a true cordial sorrow for having sinn'd against God a sorrow proceeding from the love of God and conversion to him and ending in a dereliction of all our sins and a walking in all righteousness both the Psalms and the Prophets the Old Testament and the New the Greek Fathers and the Latin have allowed as sufficient for the pardon of our sins through faith in Jesus Christ as our Writers have often prov'd in their Sermons and books of Conscience yet first the Church of Rome does not allow it to be of any value unless it be joyn'd with a desire to confess their sins to a Priest saying that a man by contrition is not reconcil'd to God without their Sacramental or Ritual penance actual or votive and this is decreed by the Council of Trent which thing besides that it is against Scripture and the promises of the Gospel and not only teaches for Doctrine the Commandments of Men but evacuates the goodness of God by their traditions and weakens and discourages the best repentance and prefers repentance towards men before that which the Scripture calls Repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Iesus Christ. But the malignity of this Doctrine and its influence it hath on an evil life appears in the other corresponding part of this Doctrine For as contrition without their ritual and sacramental confession will not reconcile us to God so attrition as they call it or contrition imperfect proceeding from fear of damnation together with their Sacrament will reconcile the sinner Contrition without it will not attrition with it will reconcile us and therefore by this doctrine which is expresly decreed aâ— Trent there is no necessity of Contrition at all and attrition is as good to all intents and purposes of pardon and a little repentance will prevail as well as the greatest the imperfect as well as the perfect So Guâ—lielmus de Rubeo explains this doctrine He that confesses his sins grieving but a little obtains remission of his sins by the Sacrament of Penance ministred to him by the Priest absolving him So that although God working Contrition in a penitent hath not done his work for him without the Priests absolution in desire at least yet if the Priest do his part he hath done the work for the penitent though God had not wrought that excellent grace of contrition in the penitent But for the contrition it self it is a good word but of no severity or affrightment by the Roman Doctrine One contrition one act of it though but little and remiss can blot out any even the greatest sin always understanding it in the sense of the Church that is in the Sacrament of Penance saith Cardinal Tolet. A certain little inward grief of mind is requir'd to the perfection of Repentance said Maldonat And to Contrition a grief in general for all our sins is sufficient but it is not necessary to grieve for any one sin more than another said Franciscus de Victoriâ The greatest sin and the smallest as to this are all alike and as for the Contrition it self any intension or degrâ—e whatsoever in any instant whatsoever is sufficient to obtain mercy and remission said the same Author Now let this be added to the former and the sequel is this That if a man live a wicked life for threescore or â—ourscore years together yet if in the article of his death sooner than which God hath not commanded him to repent he be a little sorrowful for his sins then resolving for the present that he will do so no more and though this sorrow hath in it no love of God but onely a fear of Hell and a hope that God will pardon him this if the Priest absolves him does instantly pass him into a state of salvation The Priest with two fingers and a thumb can do his work for him onely he must be greatly dispos'd and prepar'd to receive it Greatly we say according to the sense of the Roman Church for he must be attrite or it were better if he were contrite one act of grief a little one and that not for one sin more than another and this at the end of a long wicked life at the time of our death will make all sure Upon these terms it is a wonder that all wicked men in the world are not Papists where they may live so merrily and die so securely and are out of all danger unless peradventure they die very suddenly which because so very few do the venture is esteem'd nothing and it is a thousand to one on the sinners side Sect. II. WE know it will be said That the Roman Church enjoyns Confession and imposes Penances and these are a great restraint to sinners and gather up what was scattered before The reply is easie but it is very sad For 1. For Confession It is true to them who are not us'd to it as it is at the first time and for that once it is as troublesom as for a bashful man to speak Orations in publick But where it is so perpetual and universal and done by companies and crouds at a solemn set time and when it may be done to any one besides the Parish-Priest to a Friar that begs or to a Monk in his Dorter done in the ear it may be to a person that hath done worse and therefore hath no awe upon me but what his Order imprints and his Viciousness takes off when we see Women and Boys
God hath forbidden and to say it is done for God's sake is to say that for his sake we displease him for his sake we give that to a Creature which is God's own propriety But besides this we aâ—firm and it is of it self evident that whoever Christian or Heathen worships the image of any thing cannot possibly worship that image terminatively for the very being of an image is relative and therefore if the man understands but common sense he must suppose and intend that worship to be relative and a Heathen could not worship an image with any other worship and the second Commandment forbidding to worship the likeness of any thing in Heaven and Earth does onely forbid that thing which is in Heaven to be worshipped by an image that is it forbids onely a relative worship For it is a contradiction to say this is the image of God and yet this is God and therefore it must be also a contradiction to worship an image with Divine worship terminatively for then it must be that the image of a thing is that thing whose image it is And therefore these Doctors teach the same thing which they condemn in the Heathens But they go yet a little further The Image of the Cross they worship with Divine honour and therefore although this Divine worship is but relative yet consâ—quently the Cross it self is worshipped terminatively by Divine adoration For the Image of the Cross hath it relatively and for the Crosses sake therefore the Cross it self is the proper and full object of the Divine adoration Now that they do and teach this we charge upon them by undeniable Records For in the very Pontifical published by the Authority of Pope Clement the VIII these words are found The Legats Cross must be on the right hand because Latria or Divine honour is due to it And if Divine honour relative be due to the Legates Cross which is but the Image of â—hrist Cross then this Divine worship is terminated on Christs Cross which is certainly but a meer Creature To this purpose are the words of Almain The Images of the Trinity and of the Cross are to be ador'd with the worship of Latria that is Divine Now if the Image of the Cross be the intermedial then the Cross it self whose Image that is must be the last object of this Divine worship and if this be not Idolatry it can never be told what is the notion of the Word But this passes also into other real effects And well may the Cross it self be worshipped by Divine worship when the Church places her hopes of salvation on the Cross for so she does says Aquinas and makes one the argument of the other and proves that the Church places her hopes of salvation on the Cross that is on the instrument of Christs Passion by a hymn which she uses in her offices but this thing we have remark'd above upon another occasion Now although things are brought to a very ill state when Christians are so probably and apparently charg'd with Idolatry and that the excuses are too fine to be understood by them that need them yet no excuse can acquit these things when the most that is or can be said is this that although that which is Gods due is given to a Creature yet it is given with some difference of intention and metaphysical abstraction and separation especially since if there can be Idolatry in the worshipping of an Image it is certain that a relative Divine worship is this Idolatryâ— for no man that worships an Image in that consideration or formality can make the Image the last object Either therefore the Heathens were not Idolaters in the worshipping of an Image or else these men are The Heathens did indeed infinitely more violate the first Commandment but against the second precisely and separately from the first the transgression is alike The same also is the case in their worshipping the consecrated Bread and Wine Of which how far they will be excused before God by their ignorant pretensions and suppositions we know not but they hope to save themselves harmless by saying that they believe the Bread to be their Saviour and that if they did not believe so they would not do so We believe that they say true but we are afraid that this will no more excuse them that it will excuse those who worship the Sun and Moon and the Queen of Heaven whom they would not worship if they did not believe to have Divinity in them And it may be observed That they are very fond of that persuasion by which they are led into this worship The error might be some excuse if it were probable or if there were much temptation to it But when they choose this persuasion and have nothing for it but a tropical expression of Scripture which rather than not believe in the natural useless and impossible sense they will defie all their own reason and four of the five operations of their soul Seeing Smelling Tasting and Feeling and contradict the plain Doctrine of the Ancient Church before they can consent to believe this error that Bread is chang'd into God and the Priest can make his Maker We have too much cause to fear that the error is too gross to admit an excuse and it is hard to suppose it invincible and involuntary because it is so hard and so untempting and so unnatural to admit the error We do desire that God may find an excuse for it and that they would not But this we are most sure of that they might if they pleas'd find many excuses or rather just causes for not giving Divine honour to the Consecrated Elements because there are so many contingencies in the whole conduct of this affair and we are so uncertain of the Priests intention and we can never be made certain that there is not in the whole order of causes any invalidity in the Consecration and it is so impossible that any man should be sure that Here and Now and This Bread is Transubstantiated and is really the Natural body of Christ that it were fit to omit the giving Gods due to that which they do not know to be any thing but a piece of bread and it cannot consist with holiness and our duty to God certainly to give Divine Worship to that thing which though their doctrine were true they cannot know cetainly to have a Divine being Sect. XIII AND now we shall plainly represenâ— to our charges how this whole matter stands The case is this The Religion of a Christian consists in Faith and Hope Repentance and Charity Divine Worship and â—elebration of the Sacraments and finally in keeping the â—ommandments of God Now in all these both on Doctrines and Practises the Church of Râ—me does dangerously err and teaches men so to do They do injury to Faith by creating new Articles and enjoyning them as of necessity to salvation * â—hey spoil their Hope by placing it