the Parisian French King or Charles our Kentish English Innocentius 3 Extra de Excessu Prâ—lat Soveraigne Nay it is the saying of the Pope Articulos solvit Synodumque facit generaleÌ„ thatis the Pope hath power to call a generall Councill and to disanul every particular Article Thus farre hee fareth for the opposing of the old Creed then for the composing of a new Though some affrighted with the absurd audacity of this assertion doe seeme to mince it yet the whole Church of Rome concur in the conclusion The Pope hath power Edendi novum Aquin. 22 â— â— artic 10. Symbolum saith Aquine to publish a new Creed Condendi to compose a Creed writeth Vigâ—erius Ordinandi novum Symbolum to ordaine or authorise a new Creed quoth Gabriel Biel. Finally what these and other Papists have avouched in words Pope Pius the fourth maketh good de facto in deed by whose authority the Trent Creed is published with Pij 4. Bulla annâ— 1564. twelve articles also as a parallell to the Apostles Creed and urged with as authenticall injunction First to beleeve the doctrine of traditions 2 The authority of the Church of Rome to expound the Scriptures 3 that there are seven Sacraments 4 all the points concerning originall sinne and justification as they are defined by the Councill of Trent 5 The Masse and that it is offered a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead 6 Transubstantiation and that the Lords Supper is to be received but in one kind 7 Purgatory and prayer for the dead 8 Invocation or praying to the dead as also worshipping of Saints and their Relâ—ques 9 The adoration of Images 10 Indulgences 11 The Popes Supremacy namely that the Romane is the mother mistres mater magistra of all Churches and that the Pope is Peters successour and Christs Vicar and finally to beleeve all the definitions of all Oecumenicall Councills but especially of their last of that of Trent And that these are the Catholike faith extra quam nemo salvus esse potest which except a man do beleeve he cannot be saved The subscription running as peremptorily as if they were the very Dictates of the Apostles or of Christ himselfe Profiâ—â—or spondeo voveo juro that is I professe I doe beleeve promise vow and sweare that I will obey all these Articles of the Catholike faith This man therefore who contradicteth old Lawes maketh new Lawes and breaketh all lawe I thinke I may lawfully call him lawlesse and conclude him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The very Antichrist Thus these lawes of God both of constraint and consent both Scripture and the Creed are infringed by this man of sinne without impediment with like facility doth this hornet break through those cobwebs humane lawes be they oecumenicall for all nations or oeconomicall for all families Those lawes of nations are of two sorts when faith is either contracted betwixt equals by an oath or exacted from inferiours by Allegiance Each way is no way to bind the Pope who is everie way boundlesse and lawlesse The law of oathes is so generall amongst nations as that all nations observe them as most sacred and inviolable in so much that Pagans would not infringe them Regulus would be rather tortured than perjured though he could have escaped by breach of oath It was Aristotles saying that he who did double in his oath for that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sweare with a mentall addition Arist Rhetor. 18. ad Alex. hath neither feare of Gods vengeance nor shame of mans reproofe and Dionysius in Plutarch was condemned by all whose saying was that children were to be mocked with toyes and men with oathes Surely it shall be easier for those Pagans at that day then for some Christians Some Christians said Matchiavell make oaths Matchiav Hist Flor. lib. 3. obligations not equall to profit they use oaths not to observe them but rather to deceive those that put their trust in them And I take it that no one thing hath done such harme and brought such shame to Chriâ—â—â—â—dome as this particular Simancha teacheth very solemnely Simancha Inâ—â—it Cath. cap 4. art 14. edit Hiss Fides data haereticis non est servanda nec a privato nec a magistratibus quod exemplo Concilij Constantiensis probatur Nam Iohannes Huss Hieromus legitima slamma concremati sunt quamvis permissa illis securitas est Promises quoth he are not to bee kept with Heretikes neither by private men nor yet by publike Magistrates He proveth it by a precedent froÌ„ the Councill of Constance by whom Iohn Husse and Ierome of Prage were legally burned although from theÌ„ they had received a safe conduct Trâ—nt Hist lib. 1. And the same had beene practised on Luther also at the Diet of Wormes in the yeare 1521 had not the noble disposition of Charles 5 the Emperor and the plaine opposition of Lewis the noble Elector Palatine preserved him Finally Becanus doth avouch Perjury by a maxime juramentum non est vinculum iniquitatis that is an oath is no obligation of iniquity iniquitie he esteemeth it for a Papist to performe his promise to an Heretike or a Protestant although hee sealed it by swearing an oath which all sober men suppose to bee the surest and most solemne obligation of all others yet of all others the Popes themselves are the most remarkeble patternes and patrons of perjurie About the yeare 1080 Rodolphus duke of Saxony instigated by Pope Hildebrand or Gregory 7 to rebell against Henry 3 the Emperor joyned battell with him wherein having his soldâ—â—â—s cut in peeces and his hand Pless myster Opposit 40. cut off Loe said he to his friends and followers with this hand I plighted my troth to my Leige Lord Henry but the Popes authority importunity urged me to the breach of that oath and now in the same hand I have received my deaths wound and so be dyed On the two and twentieth of May 1526 Trent Hist lib. 1. there was a confederacy betwixt Pope Clemens 7 Francis 1 of France and the Princes of Relation of the Religion in the West Sect. 15. Italy against Charles 5 the Emperor under the name of the most Holy League wherein the King was absolved from his Oath taken in Trent Hist lib. 5. Spaine And some thinke the Pope had promised the King to dispence with that Oath before hee made it vpon the hope whereof hee also tooke it Anno 1556 Paulus 4 by Cardinall Caraffa perswaded Henry 2 of France to breake his league and oath made with Spaine though the Princes of the Blood and the Grandies of that Kingdome abhorred the infamie of oath-breaking yet he received absolution from the Pope and such an overthrow from the Spaniard at Saint Quintin that it made his whole Kingdome to tremble and totter Instances are infinite I will adde onely two one most remarkable the other most miserable The first
mysterio creâ—â—ntes quae majores docent Those that shall beare any burden their guides shall please to lay upon them such Creatures I thinke are called Asses But not to exasperate them with so grosse though their owne title Like sheepe they feed onely in such pastures as their Pastors will put them into nay they taste no Fodder but onely such as the Hand of their Shepherd puts into their mouth being therein inferiour to the very sheepe and other unreasonable Creatures For such a Papist his implicite faith being defined will prove no better then a Creature that beleeveth he knoweth not what and crediteth it hee knoweth not why resembling the patient which received this pracipe from his physitian Si vis saâ—ari de morbo nescio quali Accâ—pâ—as Herbam qualem sed nâ—scio vel quam Ponâ—s nescio ubt sanabere nescâ—o quando If to be cured your worship please Of I know not what 's yoâ—r dâ—sease Be sure you take to heale the same The hearbe I have forgot the name Tye't to your body fasten it there But for the place I know not where Doe all this I assure you then You shall be well I know not when Here is ill rithme say you but worse reason say I that reasonable men should be selfeblinded with an implicite faith whereby according to St Pauls prediction concerning the servants and slaves of Antichrist for ought they know or can say to the contrary They beleeve a lye Now Men Fathers and Brethren heare our desence which I make unto you Our Adversaries and we accord that the Scriptures are the Word of God and that that Word doth teach us our salvation and that the Church doth expound the Scriptures and direct us to our salvation Here is the disserence We bid the people beleeve the Church but with the Scriptures they command them to beleeve the Church but without the Scriptures yea against tho Scriptures to beleeve it and not to reade them or if they doe reade them and by reading them their Consciences doe gainsay their Popish Doctrine yet must they beleeve the Catholike Romane Church notwithstanding Quid miserius est misero non miserante seipsum August But alas who can bee more deafe than those that will not heare who can bee more blinde then those that will not see and who can be more deluded than those that will beleeve a man and will not see that God himselfe gainsayeth him in the Scriptures These are the people Isay 5. 13. who are gone into Captivity because they have no knowledge These miserable miserable Captives are our owne Countrymen inthralled in a strong Delusion that they beleeve a lye The Lord deliver them and in his blessed time shew his Truth and mercie unto them Amen Amen SERMON XXVI 2 THESS 2. 12. That they might all be damned Popish points that are damnable Latine prayers Inhibition of the Scriptures Merits The Communion in one kinde Worshipping of Images THE first part of this Verse containeth the last part of this Discourse that the Antichristians shall be damned This is the point remaining indeed the great point concerning the great Antichrist But I have lossened this great point by anticipation I have already declared this their Eternall passive propertie that they shall all be damned when I described their persons out of the 10. verse Antichrist shall deceive them that perish whereof I am resolved to returne no repetition I am neither curious to enter into the mysteries of the Creator nor desirous to inquire after the miseries of the Creature It is no delightfull disputation to the good to discourse of the damnation no not of the bad I leave them therefore to the Will of God which will be done on them if it be not done by them onely the Text saith Those that adhere to Antichrist shall be damned I can say no more I am sorry if Gods will were otherwise that I can say so much out of a bleeding unfeined compassion towards our blinded and seduced Countrymen Therefore passing this cause I proceed to two consequents both being of great consequence first for the point secondly for the profession Once more I undertake to make it evident that this point of Antichrist is necessary to be knowne by every Christian and for the Profession of Popery I will propose what positions it principally containeth directly Damnable and Antichristian For the first I must say it againe and again that the knowledge of the point of Antichrist is necessary very necessary Let my tongue teach you this truth out of the mouthes of our adversaries from the perswasion of one and from the precedent of another Lessius perswadeth us that there are many Less ad Lectorem de Antich things in Daniel Paul the Revelation valde est Ecclesiae eorum notitia necessaria and the knowledge of them is very necessarie for the Church To wit at what time Antichrist is to come what actions he will performe by what markes he may be knowne Vt fideles possint tempestive moneri ne ab illo circumveniantur that the faithfull may bee admonished in time lest they be deceived by him The practice of Malvenda is worthy of our imitation Malvenda calâ—e and admiration he concludeth his bookes with this protestation This worke saith he concerning Antichrist cost mee twelve yeares labour in which I day and night sermè continuo labore assedimus I imployed my whole study without almost any interruption Though I cannot perswade you yet beleeve themselves that the knowledge of this point of Antichrist is worth your labour and worthy of indefatigable disquisition Moreover revise the doome of my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall be damned who follow Antichrist Dangerous if not desperate is the forlorne estate of those franticke persons who will Hoodwinke themselves being to passe over a Bottomlesse Gulfe when they have nothing but a plancke to transport them The pit the bottomlesse pit the bottomlesse pit of Hell is under the path of Antichrist and wee have nothing but the knowledge of him to support us Whither therefore doe they travell who neglect and contemne direction in so perilous aâ—ourney I will shut up my sentence with the saying Cyrillus Catechesâ— pag. 15. of Saint Cyrill of Hierusalem altering onely some syllables therein Cave itaque tibi O Homo c. Therefore have a care to thy selfe O man and strengthen thy soule The Church doth witnesse to thee in the sight of our living God praedicat tibi de Antichristo the Church doth preach unto thee concerning Antichrist concerning whom it is good that we should admonish you before-hand therefore O man strengthen thy selfe The dayes of Antichrist are declared unto you therefore it is your duty not onely to remember them your selves but absque invidiâ omnibus trade to teach them to all without envy Si silium habes if thou hast a sonne according to the flesh instâ—ll this knowledge into him quod
thy Christian head but let Humility be the Flower of that garland O be not high-minded Thinke not thy owne chickens the whitest or thy owne opinions the truest The right way to bee baptized that is to be washed from errour is to imitate the humble Ethiopian Act. 8. 31. to crave a guide to understand the Scriptures Thus putting away pride prejudice and profit if a man read the Scriptures carefully heare the Church charitably and esteeme of himselfe modestly I dare say it confidently that such a man shall understand the truth sufficiently And for a motive to put these meanes in practise let the phrase of my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remember us that to be in an errour is to be out of our wits Let us therefore labour to settle our mindes and to be resolved in our Religion Wee must not forget it Such as are out of the truth are out of their wits The Lord therefore settle our mindes and preserve us from all spirituall madnesse Having dispatched the Heresie it followeth that I discourse of the Fallacy Which in the first place we finde here related to be threefold by spirit by word and by letter The first fallacy or tricke whereby seducers did deceivâ— the Thessalonians was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit that is the pretence of some Vision Revelation Inspiration or Spirituall information Thus 1 Iohn 4. 1. Beleeve not every spirit that is yeeld noâ— credence to every Doctor who doth gild oveâ— his doctrine with the pretence of the spirit oâ— spirituall infusions So the Scholia interprâ—â— this phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 false prophets say they use to plead for their false doctrine This say they is the dictate of the Spirit an extraordinary gift we are indued with The second meanes to deceivâ— these Thessalonians was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by word whether spoken or written S. Paul calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inticing words Coloss 2. 4. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shew of wisedome Coloss 2. 23. so speake the Scholia also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Certaine persons say they by their eloquencâ— and inticing words perswaded the poore Thessalonians That the day of the Lord would come in their age And finally the last fallacy is set downe in the next words nor by Letter as from us Two wayes did the seducers endeavour to deceive the Thessalonians in this kinde by quotation and falsification Some did quote that place of St. Paul in the 17. verse of the fourth chapter of the former Epistle Then we which are alive shall be caught up this they alledged that the Thessalonians in their owne persons should see the comming of Christ in that age Others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 others forged Epistles and spred them abroad under the name of S. Paul say the same Scholia Here then we discover three fountaines of errours and false doctrine Inspiration Disputation and Quotation By Inspiration and the Spirit they deceive the Ignorant By Disputation and Word they deceive the Learned By Quotation or Letter or mis-alledging the Scriptures they deceive both the Learned and the Ignorant S. Paul doth arme them against all these with this Caveat Bee not shaken in minde nor troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by Letter as from us The first sort support their errours by Inspirations These are the Enthusiasts both old and new In old time Montanus and the Montanists in our time Monetarius and the Anabaptists seduce ignorant people by pretended Inspirations This foule errour doth evidently appeare from the act and effect thereof First God doth governe naturall things according to the nature of them therefore hee doth usually and ordinarily instruct men since they have bodies by corporall meanes and not by immediate spirituall infusions Againe these visions may be suggested by the Evill spirit Let them therefore confirme them by Miracles and then peradventure we may beleeve them or rather by the Scripture and then we must beleeve them without peradventure Next they nickname the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Pen-men of the holy Scriptures Impure Quintinus Bell. de verbo Deilib 1. c. 1. with a prophane tongue doth call S. Paul vas fractum S. Peter abnegatorem S. Matthew foeneratorem and S. Iohn juvenem stolidulum Bullinger saith that Thomas Schykerus killed his brother kneeling at his prayers a pretended effect of his godly Inspiration And Sleidan hath historied it that 1525. the Anabaptists did murder 50000. Germanes in one day guided also by InspiratioÌ„ One place may satisfie al men concerning this fantasticall frensie Luk. 16. 31. If they heare not Moses and the Prophets neither will they bee perswaded though one rose from the dead it is the Scripture not Inspiration on which our Faith must rely So S. Cyprian although he had a vision yet hee proved the point he perswaded out of the sacred Scriptures Ne videretur verbum Dei adulterare lest he should seeme to derogate from the Scriptures whilest he did arrogate to Inspirations But I will pursue this monster no further For I assure my selfe if this Viper did but creepe upon the body of our Church the hand of Authority would shake it into the fire Our Land would bee impatient of such an impious assertion A second sort deceive the simple by their discourses and disputations by uttering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Peter speaketh they make 2 Pet. 2. 18. their swelling words to be the windy bladders on which children swimme in a streame of errours as if they were the most current assertions of Orthodoxall Divinity And indeed Eloquence is very potent for either party Tertullus was no meane opponent of S. Paul himselfe And Faustus the Monke was surnamed Laqueus Diaboli Aug. confess lib. 5. cap. 3. saith S. Augustine the ginne of the Devill Quo multi implicabantur per illecebram suaviloquentiae because hee insnared many ignorant persons by his eloquent discourses On the like ground Alexander did exile all the Oratours out of Athens causas insurrectionis as the only Trumpets of Rebellion Yet must we consider what we ought to think and to doe concerning Eloquence discreetly distinguishing betwixt the use and the abuse thereof We cannot but know that Eloquence is an excellent instrument and assistant to the Truth also Eloquent Apollos was as effectuall a propugner of the Gospell as ever Eloquent Tertullus was an oppugner of the same And the eloquent tongue of S. Ambrose through the Eare did touch the heart of Aug. Consess 5. 14. Augustine with the knowledge and love of the Truth Veniebant in animum cum verbis quae diligebam etiam res quas negligebam saith that holy Father in his heavenly Confessions Who Aug. de Magisho cap. 3. also doth instruct us in our duty in that point Acute falleris sed autem ut falli desinas acutius attendas If they take such great paines to seduce us by their Rhetoricke and Logicke let us take as
Law and without God At 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will not cast such durt in their faces although I may rake much with much Meleâ— Canus lib. 11. cap. 6. facility from their owne Dunghills Wee produce their owne miracles against their owne persons and their owne propositions There remaineth one maine miracle a maine argument wherin some Papists doe triumph and whereat some Protestants doe stumble From Revelation 13. 13. thus they dispute Antichrist doth cause fire to come from Heaven The Pope doth not cause fire to come from Heaven Therefore the Pope is not Antichrist I answer this cannot bee taken literally because the whole Chapter is mysticall None can be so grosse as to thinke that a Beast indeed shall rise out of the very Sea having seven heads and ten hornes as it is in the first nor that the people shall worship a very Dragon as it is in the fourth nor that there shall bee another beast like a Lambe and a Dragon as in the tweâ—th neither shall it be a very sire as it followeth in this thirteenth I say therefore is an Allusion unto 1 King 18. 24. This exposition though it be singular good yet is it not singular besides our owne learned Expositors it is so expounded also by Paulus Bernriedensis Paul Bernried in vita Greg. 7. who mentioning divers wonders of fire wrought by Pope Gregory the seventh doth sundry times resemble him to Elias According to that resemblance and not literally I say Antichrist shall cause sire to come from heaven In 1 King 18. 24. there being a difference in Israel betwixt Baals Priests and the Prophet which was the true Religion Elias testisieth his to be the truth by causing sire to come from heaven So here there being a difference in the Church whether the Religion of Christ or of Antichrist was the truth the text saith Antichrist shall cause sire to come from heaven in conspectu hominum that is he shall make his salse Religion to appeare to men to bee the truth as effectually as if like Elias hee should cause sire to come from heaven for a confirmation of his doctrine Which is most agreeable to the Pope The caeca obedientia blinde obedience of the Clergy and the implicite saith of the Laity the one beleeving whatsoever the Pope teacheth and the other obeying whatsoever the Pope commandeth without examination or disputation and both as consident in what the Pope teacheth as if they saw sire come from heaven to confirme his doctrine Here I professe that argument which once did most stagger me doth now most strengthen me in this point I take this to be an insoluble syllogisme Whosoever maketh his followers as confident in their errours as if they saw fire come from heaven to confirme them is That Antichrist But the Pope maketh his followers as confident in their errours as if they saw fire come from heaven to confirme them Therefore the Pope is that Antichrist I desire that every honest and understanding Papist may take this argument into their conscionable and serious consideration I will but touch upon two points and so conclude First Whether the Papists doe worke any miracles Secondly If they doe Whether those miracles should perswade us to be of their Religion a Proposition and a Supposition To the first the phrase of Arnobius will Arnob. adveâ—s Gentes lib. 1. frame a fit resolution by a most apt application Saepe sciamus scierimus Full often have we knowne and as often shall we know say the Papists many cured by miracles Inquiro Quis Quo loco Cui auxiliatus fuerit By what person In what place and of what disease have those miraculous cures healed them Againe An sine ullius adjunctione materiae have they beene healed without application If any thing hath beene applyed to those Creples Clinikes c. benesicia ista rerum non sunt curantium potestates they were then healed by the secret vertue of the things not by the miraculous manifest power of the Agents Finally Quod millia debillium how many millions of miserable creatures can we shew you who Cum per omnia supplices irent Templa after they have gone Pilgrimes to all the Saints Shrines in Christendome Cum deorum ante or a prostrati after they have prostrated themselves before all the holy Images Cum limina ipsa convererent osculis after they have swept the very pavement of their Churches with their lips Nullam omnino retâ—lisse medicinam and yet to have receiued no Benefit to their diseased carkeises These are the words of Arnobius but mine owne interrogations I request any sober papist to render a solid resolution Some ioyne issue and say that at this day they can instance in Miracles wrought beyond the Seas and in England also Beyond the Sea and beyond our Beliefe also Lipsius his chronicles are Lipsius de Virg. Hallens cap. 12. Acosta de salut Indorum lib. 6. cap. 4. 12. 17. Melchior Canus lib. 11. cap. 6. fraught with miracles of the Lady of Halls as giving sight to the blinde c. We answer For such miracles in generall Acosta who hath travelled as farre and Melchior Canus who read as much as did Lipsius dare not venture their credit in countenancing those Popish miracles And for the Popish restoring of the blinde in particular a French impostor was discovered at our Ladies of Renand in Paris â—â—â— Sâ—â—v Apology Fox Monum to 1. vita Henr. 6. and an English counterfeit at S. Albons in Hartfordshire both by the selfe same impudent ignorance and ignorant impudence a brace of borne-blinde Bayards would take upon them at the first moment of their miraculous sight to judge of colours Also here at home Eudaemon cryeth us downe with an instar Eudamon advers Abbot lib. 3. sect 4. omnium with one amazing miracle Quantum vobis Quantum vestris Magistratibus Quantum Regio Consilio admirationis attulit Quantum terroris incussit Garnetiana illa palea Oh quoth he what wonderment and astonishment overwhelmed you your Magistrates yea and your Kings privy Counsell because of Garnets straw We answer we value it as it was it was a miracle of straw Our boyes deride it because none of our men beleeve it As one speaketh it was done artificio by Art and by no wonderfull Art neither If any lust to spend Abbott Antilog cap. 14. time to know toyes reverend Abbots Antilogy to Eudaemon his ridiculous Apology will give him a superabundant information To unty the first knot we say The Papists doe no miracles here especially This I make good on two grounds First consider what God will doe not confirme an errour by his suffrage Which he should doe if an errour were countenanced by a true miracle Secondly what the devill can doe no true miracle Therefore his assistance availeth not Therefore neither digitus Dei nor digitus Diaboli neither can the devill nor will God inable the Papists to
a double admirable delusion the first in regard of the deluders the second in regard of the deluded that the one should be so wicked as to preach a lye and the other so besotted as to beleeve a lye If wee can admire any thing wee shall apprehend both these to be most admirable Both which are admirably evident in the Church of Rome In the former clause as the Dipsades or Iansen in Evang cap. 83. Vipers involve themselves in the egges of Ostriches so by the appearance of food to draw on the hungrie creatures to their Destruction So the Romanists seduce the superstitious with the probabilitie of truth a strong delusion a cunning lye if you will as it were by Equivocation But in my text like Frogges as they are aptly resembled Revel 16. 13. animal impudens obstreperum loquax coaratione garrulitate intolerabile like the unappeasable croaking of Frogges Blaterones ministri Antichristi to Malvend lib. 5. c. 18. borrow Malvenda's owne words to invest his owne friends withall the clamorous agents of Antichrist with open mouth will publish grosse untruths as it were by protestation In plaine English they perswade the plaine people to and by a plaine lye And which is most admirable in truth lamentable the plaine people do beleeve them This also I make evident in the Church of Rome But I must be cautelous on prosecuting this point I am advised by a friend to take heed of two things of my quotations and imputations wherewith I charge the Papists I do thanke him and will obey him His counsell is good yet I had a better counsellour before mine owne conscience I thanke God my conscience doth teach mee to shunne that sinne in my selfe which I reprove in others My Conscience doth prompt mee to speake in truth when I speake of lying And my conscience telleth mee and you also Catholicus sum et non August epist 48. Vixcentio audeo mentiri Precipitated lyes I decline premeditated lyes I detest but Pulpet lyes let God and man abhorre mee if I do not abhorre them To assure you of my truth concerning their lyes I have wrote nothing in this booke but what hath fallen from their pens I will speake nothing with this tongue but what hath beene spoken by their own mouths Their owne mouths and pens shall testifie against them That as Caligula who had a frowning face by nature yet did he compose his countenance by a glasse that it might appeare yet more grimme and terrible So though their nature bee prone enough to that facultie yet they adde art to their audacious lyes And as it were set their faces by a glasse that they may be able to utter such vast lyes Such lyes that wee can hardly imagine it to be true that any of them should speake such lyes but that any should Beleeve such lyes This surpasseth imagination They beleeve lyes Since the Devill is called the father of lyes Ioh. 8. 44. devillish doctrine is called the doctrine of lyes 1 Tim. 4. 2. devillish power is termed lying wonders in this chapter devillish teachers the teachers of lyes in this text and Christ himselfe is called the truth it selfe Iohn 14. 16. That Church therefore which wee shall see supported by lying wee may suspect it if not detect it to be no true Church of Christ but rather the Synagogue of Satan and indeed the very seat of Antichrist Suchis the Church of Rome Some sprinkling of this aspersion I may cast on the Church of Rome And I suppose it will exercise the best of that infallible Sea to wash away the supition of a lying religion Their lying doctrine as all Divines do all doctrine the papists establish two waies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 astruendo and destruendo first by way of confirmation and finally by way of confutation The groundwork of their Religion is lying and the grandworkers in their Religion are lyers All Popery is Sopistrie and so is all heresie All Popish controversies contradicting the Protestants and contrarie to the truth are false that is lyes although supported by sufficient learning But for plaine palpable lyes let the Popish legends triumph in the whet-stone To an abridgement of which voluminious lyes I referre you in the treatise of our learned Dr. Featly in Fisher pap 370. Pius 2 epist ad Morbisan Doctor For the authours of lyes I will oppose their Italian St. Francis and their Spanish St. Dominicke to equall and exceed in more and more foolish and blasphemous fables even Arathes and Marathes those sottish Mahometane fables mentioned so scornesully by Pope Pius 2. But that ever even B Aronius and BELlarmine should bee Architects to build up Babel with such untempered morter I thought it uncredible to be true till I did transcribe abundance of apparent and transparent lyes out of theirs into this treatise Neither do our Dr. Featly preface to the Conference English Popish Doctors blush to father such Bastards Within one weeke after that conferēce the Earle of Warwick at St. Omers was assured by father Weston that in the disputation betwixt Father Fisher and Father Sweet and two Ministers in London the Iesuites quited themselves too well That they conquered the disputants and converted two Earles and an hundred of the auditory Which number popish reports did afterwards augment unto foure hundred The pitty was the good old man was foiled in two mistakes That worthie Earle was one of those two still is a constant mēber lover of the Church of Englād Againe at the conference there were not fully one hundred present of whom almost twenty were professed Papists How out of these two Earles and an hundred other could be converted to Rome it must bee a cunning lying Romist who can perswade it Yet such tricks as Geo Black de Aequivoc pag. 96 these passe for Piae fraudes devout deceits Profitable for procuring popish Proselytes The phrase is owned by Blackwell and hee might haue remembred the practice of a Pope to have beene the patterne thereof It is the Ples myst Jniq Oppos 41. record of Aventine that when Pope Vrban 2. for the advantage and advancement of the Papacie purposed to send the Emperour Henry 3 of his errand into Palestine there was raised a rumour that a voice from Heaven was heard Deus vult God will have it so whereupon a thrave of people of all sorts thrust themselves into that expedition Concerning August Soliloq lib. 2. cap. 9. which I will give you St. Augustines item Acute quidem falleris sed ut falli desinas acutius attende They take great paines to teach you lyes take you the like paines to examine their teaching and you shall descrie their lyes Carefull industrie will undoubtedly discover their Sophistrie To give you a tast thereof take you a little notice of that maine matter wee contend about the primacie Incredible lyes are the Malvenda lib. 1 cap. 8.
the Pope would be pleased to peruse his owne acts I doubt not but he would say that his servants made him a God that he cannot erre but he findeth himselfe a man and subiect vnto errour But that which is more admirable or rather more lamentable though they confesse the premises yet they hold the conclusion Though they say the Pope may erre and cannot but know that the Pope did erre yet they preach it as a principle in their faith that the Pope cannot erre I erre not surely if I say this is a strong delusion that they thus beleeve a lye The Chineses have a proverbe that they have Malvenda lib. 3. cap. 10. two eyes the inhabitants of Europe on eye and all the world beside never an eye The papists are more arrogant they vant themselves to have both eyes and all the world besides to have no eye Yea they make their Church to be totum caput all head the Pope and that head to be totus oculus all eye to see all things And all the world cannot see one mote in that eye Papa non potest errare the Pope cannot erre After the expulsion of the Iesuites out of Quarrells of Pope Paul 5. lib. 2. â— Padua were found many copies of a certaine writing conteining 18 rules under this title Regulae aliquot servandae ut cum orthodoxà Ecclesia verè sentiamus In the third wherof it Quarrels of Pope Paul 5. lib. 2. is ordained that men must beleeve the Hierarchicall Church although it telleth us that that is black which our eye judgeth to bee white To which blasphemous purpose the Rhemists Rhemists in 1 Tim. 3. 15. would wrest that harsh Greeke phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plainely implying that they would have all to beleeve in the Romane Church Gregory de Valentia driveth the Nailea little further Greg. Valenâ—in in Thom. tom 3. Disp 1. quaest 2. punct 5. if you sinde saith hee but an Episcopall synode only affirming such a Doctrine to be the sentence of the Church you are bound to beleeve it though it be a lye Vnuses controversiarum Index Bellarmine telleth the Pope that he is the Bell ep Dedâ—c Sixt. 5. sole Iudge of all controversies to whose definitive sentence in all matters they wholy submit themselves saith our English Iesuite Nay Jesuite â—p Path-way sect 36. which might make their hearts tremble to speake it and our cares to heare it they constantly teach that the Pope is every jote insallible Suar Ap. l. 1 â— 22. nu 8. as the holy Scriptures themselves Answerable to which is the parenthesis of popish Authors avouching their bookes Orthodoxall unlesse his Holinesse desiâ—e otherwise As also that Popish distinction the Church say they is taken three wayes Essentialiter essentially for all beleevers Representativè representatively for a generall Councill and virtualiter virtually for the Pope So to affirme that the Church cannot erre or that a generall Councill cannot erre and that the Pope cannot erre are axiomatical and identicall propositions with most Papists Yea many Papists say more that a generall Councill may erre without the Pope but Bell. de Pâ—ont Rom. l. 4. c. 4. the Pope cannot erre although he bee without a generall Councill The Iewes have a tradition that God gave this grace and priviledge unto Elias that Malvenda 9. 2. there should be no Circumcision whereat he should not be present either visibly or invisibly Whereupon at every Circumcision they use to place two Seates one for him to sit in who held the Châ—ld the other empty wherein they suppose that Elias doth sit invisibly So the Papists thinke that God hath given that grace unto the Pope that no Truth can bee desined at the definition whereof the Pope is not present either visibly or invisibly And at the composition of every booke two Cathedrae two Chayres must be prepared one for the Author to give his judgement but the other to be left empty for the Pope who either visibly or invisibly either explicitely or implicitely must say Amen to every assertion Which is amply acknowleged by Malvenda at the end of his eleven bookes and twelve yeares labours Hence they terme this Papall prerogative Papae Apostolatus the Popes Apostleship To Bell. ep Dedic Sixt. 5. which we returne a replie in the words of the Revelation 2. 2. We have tryed them which say they are Apostles but are not and wee have found them lyers In the phrase of my Text strongly deluded that they beleeve a lye Hence also they teach that his desinition is petra in quam portae c. the Rocke against Bell. Praf de Pâ—nt Râ— Suar. Apol. lib. 1 cap. 6. nu 25. which the gates of Hell shall never be able to prevaile petra a cujus firmitate pendet in suo genere sirmitas Ecclesiae the Rock on whose stablenesse in its kinde dependeth the firmnesse of the Church They repeate it againe and againe that the Pope is a Rocke Indeed he is a Rock the Pope indeed is a Rock but the Lord preserve us from that Rock lest wee make shipwracke of faith and a good Conscience He is a Rocke Dum genus Aeâ—ea Capitoli immobile Saxum Accolâ—t Imperiumque Pater Romanus habebit The old Romanes said that their Empire was built upon an immoveable Rocke but it is perished The new Romanes say that their Church is built upon an immoveable Rock but I doubt not it shall perish and the world shall see their strong delusion that they doe beleeve a lye Finally sicut populos sic sacerdos both Priests and people also have this strong delusion to beleeve a lye they call it Fides implicita my text may translate it Faith in a lye Implicita Fides Iac. de Graf Decis lib. 2. c. 8. nu 16. est credere secunduÌ„ quâ—d Ecclesia credit Implicita faith is to beleeve as the Church doth beleeve If the Church do teach that which is false then doe the people beleeve even a lye This faith doth consist in Assensâ— not in notitia saith Bellarmine in their Assent not in their knowledge so for ought they know they may and doe beleeve a lye if it pleaseth their Church to put any such thing upon their credulitie They themselves instance in that famous Colliar chronicled by Staphilus that the Devill tempted him concerning his Faith How hee did beleeve who answered that hee did beleeve even as the Church did beleeve the Devill demanding how the Church did beleeve the devout Colliar answered rotundo ore very readily That the Church did beleeve even as hee did beleeve And so having conjured the Devill with this orbicular answere the Fiend could not enter his circle nor come within the compasse of his Catholike confession I should offer them more indignitie then wrong if I should apply the phrase of their Peter Lumbard unto them Peter Lumb lib. 3. dist 25. Simplices sunt Asinae in