AN IMPARTIAL SURVEY AND COMPARISON OF THE Protestant Religion As by Law Established With the main Doctrines of Popery Wherein is shewn That Popery is contrary to Scripture Primitive Fathers and Councils and that proved from Holy Writ the Writings of the Antient Fathers for several Hundred Years and the Confession of the most Learned Papists themselves Whereby the Papists vain pretence to Antiquity and their reproaching the Protestant Doctrines with Novelty is wholly overthrown By a True Son of the Protestant Church of England as established by Law LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXV ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness 2 Tim. 3. 16. In vain they do worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men Matt. 15.9 But from the beginning it was not so Matth. 19.8 Non audiatur haec dico haec dicis sed haec dicit dominus Augustin de unit Eccles contr Petil. c. 3. Id verius quod prius id prius quod ab initio ab initio quod ab Apostolis Tertullian advers Marcion l. 4. c. 5. Id esse verum quodcunque primum id esse adulterinum quodcunque posterius Idem advers Praxeam c. 2. THE PREFACE TO THE Protestant Reader AS we have immortal Souls of infinite more value than all transient glories and sublunary advantages so ought we both in obedience to the tender and compassionate advice of our Blessed Redeemer who purchased them with his own dear Blood and out of a true concern for our Eternal Welfare to live such lives here as we may be happy hereafter Pursuant to this excellent design We ought carefully attend to that Holy Religion we have so long professed which teaches no Doctrines that are not agreeable to the Holy Scriptures and to the practice of the best and purest Ages of Christianity A Religion which neither robs God of his Honour nor the King of his due a Religion whose venerable Rites keep a just medium betwixt vain Popish Pomp and Fanatical Indecency a Religion that not only teaches us how to be good but obliges us so to be that is a Religion truly Christian and a Copy of that perfect Original which our Lord and Saviour hath left us for our direction And therefore as nothing ought to be dearer to us so we cannot be sufficiently thankful to his Sacred Majesty whom God preserve for the Gracious assurance he has given that he will support it and defend us in the profession of it A King whose Royal Progenitors of Immortal Memory for above 100 years have not only been the Ornaments but the supports too of the Protestant Religion His fam'd Grandfather King James Learnedly defending it by his Pen and thereby justly meriting the glorious Title of its Defender His Excellent (c) For so doth Mons Militere in his Epistle to His late Majesty confess Father dying a Glorious Martyr and his late dearly beloved Brother being a long time Exile for our Reformed Religion Let us then strive to shew that we are not unworthy of so Illustrious and Valiant a Protector by our Loyalty to him not unworthy of such a Religion by our conformity to its Principles in Holiness Sobriety and Charity and a stedfast adherence to it in opposition to any other that will destroy that which our Church hath built upon so sure a foundation And that we may rightly understand what this Religion is and the difference betwixt that which is established in our Church and what is owned in the Church of Rome I have made the following Collection wherein is demonstrated how contrary the Popish Religion is to our Church and how inconsistent with Scripture the practice of the Primitive and best Ages of Christianity and that prov'd not only from the Writings of the Apostles and choice Records of Antiquity but even granted to be so by the most (d) Vives de Instrumentis probab learned and no less impartial Papists themselves which as it is the testimony of one Friend against another is lookt upon as an undenyable Evidence Before I conclude I must admonish the Reader that I have not rendered the Authors at large but so quoted them that the Learned may examine them nor have I drawn Arguments as usually from them because that would have made this Book design'd for a Pocket-companion to have swell'd into a great Volume yet to make requital for that just omission I have at the conclusion of each Section directed the Reader to other Writers of our Religion which treat of that particular Controversy at large May then the All-wise God by whose Divine permission thus much hath been perform'd so bless this poor labour of his unworthy Servant that it may be instrumental to the good of his Church and the confirming of all our weak Brethren in our most Holy Faith which was the principal design of its publication THE INTRODUCTION THE Church of Rome though she talk aloud of the Antiquity of and an universal consent in her Doctrines is so far from either That therein she will be tied to no Rule nor observe any Law as if she would verify that Remarque of (1) Crantzius Metropol 7.45 Crantzius upon her in another Case Nunc ad se omnium Ecclesiarum jura traxit Romana Ecclesia That she hath engrossed to her self all the priviledges or rights of other Churches Her greatest (2) Bellarmin de verbo dei l. 4. c. 4. Pighius Eccles Hierarch l. 3. c. 3. Pool de primatu Romanae Ecclesiae fol. 92. defendants reject the Scripture though given forth by (*) 2 Tim. 3.16 Divine Inspiration and do say it is no more to be believed in saying it is from God than Mahomet 's Alcaron c. And good reason why (3) Concil de stabilienda Rom. sede p. 6. because her Doctrines are repugnant to the Holy Scriptures What then will she trust to Tradition that she equals with (4) Concil Trident. Sess 4. decret 1. the Scriptures themselves And yet her great Annalist Cardinal Baronius who was once as it were a living Library while he kept the Vatican (5) Dr. James his Corruption of the Fathers Part 4. p. 26. (6) Anno 44. Sect. 42. confesseth That he despaired to find out the truth even in those matters which true Writers have recorded because there was nothing which remained sincere and incorrupted This blow given by so skilfull an Artist dashes all the Characters wherein the defence of Oral Tradition should be legible And if Tradition in true Writers be so difficult to preserve how can it be expected to be safe from spurious ones or without any Writers at all However though the Papists do not grant that this ruins their Tradition I am sure it cuts off that definition of it by (†) Bellar. de 〈◊〉 cap. 9. Cardinal Bellarmin who affirms that to be a true
Scriptures have no authority but for the Decree of the Church they mean the Roman Church by whom it (7) Caranza Controvers 1. And no marvel when another affirmeth that the Scripture hath no more authority than Aesop's Fables V. Bailly Tract 1.9.17 ought to be regulated and not the Church be regulated by it and the reason is because as it is (8) Peter Sutor Translat Bibl. c. 22. confess'd that the people would easily be drawn away from observing the Church's i.e. Romish Institutions (9) Consil de Stabilienda Rom. sede p. 6. And though the Papists do cashier the publick use of the Holy Scriptures and fly to as they pretend an Infallible Judg yet are they not agreed among themselves who that should be These Learned Romanists following contend that the priviledg of Infallibility belongs only to the whole Church militant and neither to the Pope nor General Council nor to the Body of the Clergy Occam Dial. p. 1. l. 5. c. 25 29 3. when they should perceive That they are not contained in the Law of Christ and that their i.e. Popish Doctrines are not only different from but repugnant to the Holy Scriptures Hence doth the Church (10) Cusanus Concord Cathol l. 2. c. 3. Antoninus Sum. Summarum p. 3. Tit. 23. c. 2. § 6. Panormitan Decret p. l. l. 1. Tit. de Elect. Cap. significasti Mirandula de fide ordine credend Theor. 4. of Rome under severe penalties forbid the Laity the perusal of them and thereby involves every Lay-man in the guilt of being a Traditor which in the (11) In fine Concil Trident. Reg. 4. first Ages of Christianity was a crime (12) Hence comes it to pass that not only the Popish Laity but even the Priests themselves are very ignorant in the Holy Scriptures so that once a Schoolman in the last Age being to preach at Paris where the famous Melancthon was his Auditor took a Text for want I suppose of a better Book out of Aristotle's Ethicks Sixtinus Amama Orat. de Barbarie ex Melancth next door to Apostasie Which Act doth not only imply That the Popish Church refuseth to be try'd by the Test of God's Word but is diametrically opposite to the practice of the Primitive Christians as appears in the following Quotations The Romish Tenet of slighting the Scriptures is contrary to the Word of God Joh. 5.39 2 Tim. 3.16.17 Contrary to the Fathers Clemens Romanus Epist ad Corinth p. 58 61 68. Irenaeus l. 2. c. 47. Idem l. 3. c. 1. c. 2. Tertullian adv Hermogen c. 23. Clemens Alexandrinus Stromat l. 7. Origen in Esai Hom. 2. Idem in Comment in Josh p. 27. Id. Homil. in Leviticum 9. Comment in Matthaeum p. 220. Cyprian Epist 74. Eusebius adv Sabellium l. 2. Constantinus Magnus apud Theodoret. Histor lib. 1. c. 7. Athanasius in Orat. adv Gentes de Incarn Christi Hilarius ad Constant Optatus l. 5. de Schis Donat. Basil de Sp. Sancto c. 7. Id. de verâ ac piâ fide Tom. 2. Op. Graec. Lat. p. 386. Id. in Ethicis Reg. 16. Tom. 2. Id. Hom. 29. de Trinit Tom. 1. Gregor Nyss in Dial. de animâ ac Resurrect Hieronymus in Comment in Esa cap. 19. Id. in Epist ad Laetam Id. adv Helvid Id. Praefat. Comment in Epist ad Ephes Chrysostom 13 Hom. in Gen. Id. Hom. 52. in Joh. Id. Homil. 4. in Lazar. Id. Hom. 34. in Act. 15. Id. Praefat. in Epist ad Rom. Id. Hom. 13. in 2 Cor. 7. Id. Hom. 9. in Coloss 3. Id. Hom. 3. in 1 Thessal Id. Hom. 3. in 2 Thessal 2. Id. Hom. 8. in Epist ad Hebr. c. 5. Augustin Epist 3. Id. de Doctrinâ Christi l. 2. c. 6. 9. Id. de Vnitat Eccles c. 3 4 5 12. Id. Epist 157. Id. de Bapt. c. Donat. lib. 1. c. 6. l. 2. c. 3. 14. That passage in St. Augustin Ego Evangelio non crederem c. contr Ep. fundam c. 5. is interpreted by these Learned Papists following To be meant of the Primitive Church and those men who saw and heard our Blessed Saviour and not that the Fathers should be of more authority than the Scriptures John Gerson de vitâ Sp. Lect. 2. Hic aperitur modus c. Joh. Driedo de Eccl. Script Dogm l. 4. c. 4. Th. Wald. Doctrinal l. 2. c. 21. Sufficiat universali Ecclesiae pro preconio potestatis suae modernae c. who is very smart upon such as held the contrary Idem Epist 48. Tom. 2. Epist 19. Cyril Alex l. 7. adv Julian Theodoret Dial. 2. Id. Qu. 45. in Genes Theophilus Alexand. in 2 Pasch Homil. Cyril Hieros Cat. 4. Vincentius Lirinensis contra Haeres cap. 2. c. 41. Justus Orgelitanus in c. 4. Cantic Gregorius Magnus in Ezekiel l. 1. Hom. 9. Tom. 2. Id. Moral l. 8. c. 8. Id. in Cant. c. 5. Id. Moral l. 16. c. 17. Tom. 1. Id. l. 4. Ep. 40. ad Theod. Medic. Tom. 2. Id. Epist ad Leand. c. 4. Praefat. in Job Tom. 1. That the Holy Scriptures could not be corrupted but those corruptions would have been discover'd See Augustin de util lit credendi c. 3. Id. c. Faustum l. 11. c. 2◠and Confess'd by Bellarmin That the Scriptures could not be corrupted but those Corruptions would be discovered by Catholicks de V. D. l. 2. c. 7. Consult in this point Bishop Jewel's Treatise of the Holy Scriptures who in his excellent Apology handles all the main points in Controversie betwixt us and the Church of Rome and Article 15 against Harding Dr. Stillingfleet's Rational Account of the Grounds of Protestant Religion Reprinted in 1681 Part 1. c. 7 8 9. Chillingworth's Religion of the Protestants a safe way to Salvation Part 1. Chap. 2. Lively Oracles by the Author as it 's said of the Whole Duty of Man SECT II. We receive no other Books of Scripture for (13) Article 6. Canonical in the Church of England than (14) Concil Trident. Sess 4. such as of whose authority there was never any doubt in the Church The Church of Rome doth make the Books commonly call'd Apocrypha of equal authority with those of the Old and New Testament which neither the (15) Witness the two Learned Jews Philo Judaeus apud Euseb de Praeparat Evangel l. 8. and Josephus apud Euseb Histor Eccles l. 3. c. 9. alias 10. and this is fully confessed by Bellarmine de Verbo Dei l. 1. c. 10. Jews to (16) Rom. 3.2 whom were committed the Oracles of God nor the Primitive Church nor (17) As for the third pretended Council of Carthage alledged by some Papists St. Austin who was one of the chief therein votes in this point for the Doctrine of our Church de Civitate Dei l. 17. c. ult alibi And though they pretend that the Book of Baruch held by us as Apocryphal was declared Canonical in the Council of Florence yet did
Tradition which all former Doctors mind that for then will the Fathers come in for a share have successively in their Ages acknowledged to come from the Apostles and by their Doctrine or Practices have approved and which the Vniversal Church owns as such Moreover Bellarmin 's Definition of Tradition gives us this encouragement and liberty to try Antiquity by Fathers Councils and Papal Decrees For the Fathers I hope the Romanists who boast so much of their being on their party will not refuse to be try'd by them when (7) Coster Enchirid Controvers cap. 2. Constat manifeste c. Campian rat 3 Seculis omnino quindecim c. rat 10. Testes res omnes Coster and others make such a fine flourish in their pretensions to Antiquity No the Fathers shall not be Judges of the Papists the Romanists will not be controlled by the Fathers For Cardinal (8) Baronius ad annum 34. Baronius saith The Catholick Church and this they would have you to believe is their own Church but against all Reason and Sense doth not in all things follow the interpretation of the Fathers This is a fair but modest Confession But Cardinal (9) Bellarmin de Concil autorit l. 2. c. 12. Sect. Respondeo Bellarmin goes further The Writings of the Fathers saith he are not rules to us nor have the Authority to bind us This is an (10) How the Papists contemn and condemn the Fathers See Dr. James's Corruption of the Fathers Part 4 home thrust and yet (11) Salmeron in Ep. ad Rom. cap. 5. disp 51. p. 468. Salmeron is more incivil with those Ancient Doctors when he saith That the latter Doctors are sharper sighted than they and therefore pronounces of many of them at once That we must not follow a multitude to deviate from the Truth I am afraid he gave his own Church a rude blow there for we may turn that Argument of his against the Church of Rome which ever and anon is pleading her great number of Professors To which let us add what another Romanist saith in this point And (12) Corn. Muss Episc Bitont in Rom. 14. p. 468. he tells you That he believes the Pope in matters of Faith before a thousand Augustines Jeromes or Gregories This indeed is plain dealing and no mincing of the matter But then again it is wholly opposite to their vain Pleas for Antiquity and wholly different from the modest procedure of (13) Apolog. adv Rufin l. 2. p. 219. tom 2. S. Jerome who thinks it great rashness and irreverence presently to charge the Ancients with heresy for a few obnoxious terms since when they erred they erred perhaps with a simple and honest mind or wrote things in another sense than they were afterwards taken But if this be all the esteem the Papists have for the Ancient Doctors then adieu to the Authority of the Fathers in the Church of Rome Moreover even the Councils fare no better in the Papists hands For it is usual in their Editions of the Councils to have some Printed with this Title Reprobatum or disallowed others Ex parte Approbatum (14) Vid. Bin. not ad 2. Concil Constant tom 1. part 1. p. 541. Item not ad Concil Chalced tom 2. par 1. p 410. accordingly as they agree or disagree with their Opinions and Interest at Rome Which verifies that (15) Lud. Vives in Aug. de civit Dei l. 20. c. 36. smart Censure of Ludovicus Vives That those are accounted Decrees and Councils which make for their purpose and all others are no more valued by them than the meetings of some tatling Women in a Weaving Shop or at the Baths But although they reject both Fathers and Councils when they are pressed by the Protestants with their Authorities yet to take away all testimonies of the Fathers from us the politick Council of Trent set up their Indices Expurgatorii which they referred to Pope Pius 4. whose Bull for that end bore date March 24. 1564. (16) See Dr. James's Corruption of the Scriptures Fathers and Councils Printed 1611. Part 4. And in these Tables they set down what Books were by them forbidden and in which to be purged and what places ought to be left out Thus design'd they that both Fathers and Councils should lisp their Language But though it be contrary to that Rule by which (17) Joh. 5.31 Christ himself was willing to be tried If I bear witness of my self my witness is not true and contrary to all equity and the old (18) Capitul Carol. Mag. c. 88. Laws viz. That they which are brought out of our own House ought not to be witnesses for us yet since they have disowned when pressed with strength of Reason and oppressed with Truth the Scriptures the Fathers and Councils We will pursue them to their last fort to wit to the Decrees of their Popes which they so much adore If they gain-say these then Conclamatum est their Case is desperate Well then it must be so for they have rejected the Traditions of old Popes for those of new ones One would have thought that old Friends and old Divines had been the surest and foundest but it is not so at Rome For they have slighted and contradicted that Decree of (19) Anaclet Epist ap Bin. Tom. 1. Part 1. p. 43. Anacletus That all who are present at Mass shall communicate That of (20) Gelas decr de Consec dist 2. cap. 12. Pope Gelasius of not taking the Bread alone which honest-man he called Sacrilege and (21) Binius in notis Tom. 1. part 1. p. 64. That of Alexander 11. of celebrating but one Mass in one day Which abominable practice of the Roman Church make good that saying of their own Pope (22) P. Gelas Ep. 4. Gelasius Quaero ab his judicium quod pretendunt ubinam possint agitari an apud ipsos ut iidem sint inimici testes Judices Which signifies in short that they would be both Enemies Witnesses and Judges in their own Cause as being Conscious to themselves of such Errors as will not bear the test nor can be defended without such foul play Who then can safely trust the conduct of his Salvation to that Church of Rome which refuseth to be tried by the Word of God by the Ancient Fathers by General Councils and even by the Decrees of her pretended Spiritual Heads But because in the following Book I have produced the Testimonies of the Fathers voting against Popish Doctrines it will not I judge be unnecessary to subjoin That although we highly esteem and respect the Fathers and especially those of the first Three hundred years after Christ and make use of their Writings as explaining the sense of the Scriptures and handling to us the Opinions of the Ages they liv'd in yet we never receive any of them with the same respect and esteem that we do the Word of God And that with good reason For
Indulgences Murther and Incest being valued at five Grosses (76) Taxa Cancel Apost Perjury at six Sacriledg and Simony at seven and so on in the Tax of the Apostolick as it is pretended (77) But the poor have not these priviledges whereby mark the great charity of the Romish Priests which will suffer by consequence if their Doctrine were true the poor to go to Hell for want of money Diligenter nota quod hujusinodi gratiae non dantur pauperibus quia non sunt ideo non possunt consolari Taxa Cancellariae Apostolicae Tit. de Matrimoniali Chancery Hence above (78) Tom. Concil 28. p. 460. 60000 Marks besides all other payments to the See of Rome were yearly carried out of this Kingdom by the Italians being a greater revenue than our King then had as appears by a fruitless complaint in a Letter from the whole Nation to the Council of Lions Anno Dom. 1245. A round summ it was in those days before the Indian Gold was discover'd and yet that was spent in maintaining the lust and ambition of the Popish Clergy Popish Purgatory Contrary to Scripture Gal. 3.13 Heb. 1.3 c. 9.14 c. 10.10 Rom. 5.1 2 10 11. Rev. 14.13 which last Text is a place so clear against Purgatory that Picherellus a Papist of the Sorbon Colledg did ingeniously confess that St. John had in those few words put out the fire of Purgatory de Missà pag. 156. Contrary to the Fathers Dionysius Areopagita Eccles Hier. c. 7. Author of the Questions in Justin Quaest 75. Tertullian de Baptismo Cyprian's Tract ad Demetri Sect. 16. Macarius Homil 22. Hilarius in Psal 2. Gregor Nazianzen Orat. 5. in Plagam grandinis Orat. 42. in Pascha de Eccles Dogmat. c. 79. Ambrose de bono mortis cap. 4. Chrysostom de paenit Serm. 3. Id. in Genes Hom. 5. Hom. 16. in Ep. ad Rom. Epiphanius Haeres 79. sub finem Augustin though he doubts in this point in Enchirid. c. 67 69. De civit Dei l. 21. c. 26. de fide op c. 16. is positive elsewhere against Purgatory scil lib. de pec mer. rem cap. 28. he saith That there is no middle place That a man may be any where but with the Devil who is not with God Gregor Magnus in Job lib. 13. c. 20. Bede in Psal 6. Otho Frisingensis in Chron. l. 8. c. 26. Anselm in 2 Cor. 5. Bernard Epist 266. Lumbard sen 3. dist 19. lit A. He liv'd Anno Dom. 1144. Contrary to the Doctrine of the Greek Church of the later Ages as appears from their Apology delivered to the Council of Basil (78) Apolog. Graecorum de igne Purgat p. 66 93. Ed. Salmas about 253 years ago Hence doth Alphonsus à Castro place their not holding a Purgatory among the Errors of the Greek Church l. 12. tit Purgat Purgatory Confess'd By Petrus Picherellus to have no fewel either to kindle or maintain its fire in Scripture Picherell de Missa c. 2. Confess'd That neither the Scriptures nor the Ancient Fathers have any thing in them concerning Purgatory By Alphonsus à Castro l. 12. tit Purgat f. 258. Confess'd That few or none of the Greek Fathers ever mention it and the Latin Fathers did not at all believe it but by degrees came to entertain opinions of it and that the Catholick Church knew it lately By Roffensis Art 18. con Luther Polydore Virgil Invent. rerum l. 8. Confess'd By another Learned Roman Catholick Father Barns That it is a thing which lyes meerly in human invention nor cannot be firmly deduced from Scriptures Fathers and Councils and That the opposite opinion seems more agreeable to them in Catholico-Rom Pacificus Sect. 9. Consult herein Archbishop Laud against Jesuit Fisher Dr. Stillingfleet's Rational Account Part 3. Ch. 6. Bishop Taylor 's Disswasive Part 1. Ch. 1. Sect. 4. The Rise of Indulgences At first the Indulgences that were were but relaxations or releasements of Canonical satisfaction i. e. of the Discipline or correction of the Church In this sense are to be understood the first Council of Nice c. 11. of Arles c. 10. and of Ancyra c. 2. But their new and chief foundation was laid by (79) Vnigenitus de paenitentiis remissionibus Pope Clement the sixth in his (80) The Doctrine of Indulgences was oppos'd by two famous Papists not long before the Extravagant of Pope Clement by Franciscus de Mayronis in 4. l. sen dist 19. Q. 2. and by Durandus in 4. l. sen d. 20. Q. 3. So that it was far from being either Catholick or Ancient Extravagant Ann. Dom. 1350. Confess'd That we have nothing in the Scripture nor in the sayings of the Ancient Fathers concerning Indulgences as satisfactions before God for temporal punishments or holding them as profitable for the dead By Antoninus Part. 1. Sum. tit 10. c. 3. By Biel Lect. 57. de Canon Missae and by Hostiensis in Sum. l. 5. tit de remis nu 6. Consult herein Bishop Taylor 's Disswasive Part 1. Ch. 1. Sect. 3. The Church of Rome likewise in the Council (81) Concil Trid. Sess 6. Can. 9. Sess 6. cap. 16. cap. 32. of Trent accurses all such as say That a Sinner is justified by faith only or deny that the good works of holy men do truly merit everlasting Life not to mention that blasphemous Doctrine of the Roman Church that (82) Catechis Rom. de Euchar num 55. the Sacrifice of the Mass offered as they pretend by the Priest is a meritorious and propitiatory Sacrifice for sin which wholly takes away the efficacy and merits of Christ's Passion and Resurrection That the Missal Sacrifice is a Propitiatory Sacrifice for sin is Contrary to Scripture Heb. 10.10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 c. 9.24 25 26 27 28. c. 7.25 Contrary to the Fathers Who by those Tropical speeches of Sacrificing and offering did not admit of any Propitiatory Sacrifice but only the Passion of Christ Justin Martyr Apol. 2. Irenaus l. 5. c. 34. Clement in Constitution l. 6. c. 23. Eusebius lib. 1. cap. 10. de demonst Ambrose l. 4. de Sacram. c. 6. Chrysostom Hom. 17. in Hebraos Augustin Enchiridion ad Laurent c. 33. Id. de Trinitate de civitate Dei l. 10. c. 6. l. 3. c. 13. lib. 3. contra secund Epist Pelag. cap. 6. Gregor Dial. lib. 4. c. 59. Lumbard 4. dist 12. Thomas Aquinas who lived A. D. 1253. 3. p. Q. 83. Art 1. So far is the Romish Doctrine of the Mass from being Ancient That Men Merit Eternal Life by their Good Works is Contrary to Scripture Luke 17.10 1 Cor. 4.6 7. Ephes 2.8 1 Joh. 18. Contrary to the Fathers Ignatius in Epist ad Rom. Polycarp apud Euseb Histor Eccles l. 4. c. 15. Origen l. 4. in Epist ad Rom. c. 4. Basil in Psal 114. Macarius Homil. 15. Ambrose in Psal 118. Serm. 20. in Exhort
Id. de matrim l. 1. c. 21. denies Marriage to the Clergy but permits I suppose by way of requital to them Concubines (91) Hence did Aeneas Sylvius afterwards Pope by the name of Pius 11. mention how Vlric Bishop of Ausburg reprov'd the Pope concerning Concubines Aentas Sylvius de morib Germani e. For so doth (*) Dist 82. Can. Presbyter in Glossa Cardinal Campegius observe and Pighius teach which doth not only give great cause of scandal to Jews and Infidels but in (92) 1 Tim. 4.1 3. the Holy Apostles judgement is the Doctrine of Devils And the Reason of Concubinage may be easily inferr'd when some (93) Coster Enchiridion de caelibat prop. 9. Durandus sent l. 4. dist 33. Martinus de Magistris lib. de temp qu 2. de luxuria 3. Qu. 7. Lata Extravag de bigamis Quia circa Communiter dicitur Quod Clericus pro simplici formicatione deponi non debet dist 81. Maximianus glossa in Gratian. of their most Learned Men will scarce allow Fornication to be a Sin however preferring it in Ecclesiastics before lawful Wedlock The forbidding of Marriage is Contrary to Scripture Levit. 21.13 1 Tim. 3 2 12. Heb. 13.4 1 Cor. 7.2 9. That the Apostles were Married except St. John is Confessed by these Fathers Ignatius ad Philadelph Clemens Stromat lib. 7. Euseb Histor Eccles lib. 3. c. 30. who report that St. Paul was Married and St. Ambrose in 2 Cor. c. 11. who acknowledges that all the Apostles except St. John were Married Fathers that were Married themselves and yet were either Bishops or Priests c. Tertullian as appears by his Two Books to his Wife and yet he was a Priest as appears from St. Jerome de Eccles Script Gregory Nazianzen was the Son of a Bishop see Greg. Nazianz. in carmine de vita suâ Elias Cretensis in Orat. Greg. Nazianz. St. Hilary Bishop of Poictiers was Married as is evident from his Epistle written to his Daughter Abrae c. Fathers Voting for or acknowledging Matrimony in the Clergy Salvian de providentiâ l. 5. Ambrose Offic. l. 1. c. ult Chrysostome in Epist ad Tit. Homil. 2. Id. in Epist ad Hebraeos Homil. 7. Epiphanius contra Origenian Theodoret. in 1 Tim. 4. Isidore Reg. de vit Cleric dist 23. c. His igitur Theophylact in 1 Tim. 13. Bernard in Cant. Serm. 66. Aeneas Sylvius Epistol 308. and he lived An. Dom. 1458. Marriage of the Clergy was not absolutely forbidden by the Greeks in the last Age as appears by the Patriarch Hieremias's Letter to the Tubing Divines dated May 15. 1576. Primum Patriar Resp apud Chytrae de statu Eccles Orient p. 149. This Heretical Doctrine of forced Celibate in Ecclesiastics was first established at Rome by Pope Gregory the 7th alias Hildebrand termed Antichrist by (94) Aventinus Anual Boiorum l. 5. who tells us That Hildebrand confessed when he was dying that it was by the instigation of the Devil that he made so great a disturbance in the Christian World A fit Man then was he whom the Papists still cry up so much to introduce unchast Celibate and banish Holy Matrimony See also Cardinal Benno who knew him in vita gesta Hildebrandi Matth. Westmonast An. Dom. 1074. who saith That Hildebrand expell'd Married Priests Mark what follows contra Sanctorum Patrum sententias against the opinions of the Holy Fathers See also Sigebert ad Annum 1074. Matth. Paris ad Annum 1074. Ancient Historians about A. D. 1074. and was first put in practice to purpose by Anselm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury (95) Henry Huntington p. 378. and by Joranal Histor The Constiutions or this Synod may be seen in Archbishop Parker's Antiq. Britan. Ed. 2. p. 118 119. here in England about A. D. 1105. (96) Dr. Burnet's Abridgement of the History of the Reformation l. 8. p. 70 c. though some will have his Predecessor Lanfranc to have imposed it upon the Prebendaries and Clergy that lived in Towns but not without great reluctancy For what complaints what Tragedies what lascivious pranks this Devillish Doctrine occasioned the Historians declare at large particularly that Comical Story of the Italian Cardinal John de Crema Recorded by Ancient (97) Roger Hovedon Henry Huntington Popish Historians who after he had entertained the English Clergy with a fine Discourse against Marriage was the same night caught in Bed with a Harlot in London as if he would only commend Virginity to others and practise the contrary himself That the Reader may know what an Age this was wherein the Celibate of the Clergy was established let him hear Cardinal Bellarmin describing and characterizing it in his Chronology In these times saith he wherein the Roman Bishops did degenerate from the Piety of the Ancients mark that the secular Princes flourished in Holiness You therefore see that Priests Marriage was forbidden by impious Popes And about the beginning of this contention viz. about An. Dom. 860 the Pope got a round check from Vdalricus or Vlric (98) Vdalricus mentioned by Aeneas Sylvius de moribus Germaniae de Caelibatu Clerici Nunquid enim merito communi omnium sapientum judicio haec est violentia c. a Bishop of that time who told him That in the judgment of all wise men it was to be accounted violence when any man against Evangelical Institution mind that and the charge of the Holy Ghost is constrained to the execution of private Decrees The Lord in the old Law appointed Marriage to his Priest which he is never read afterwards to have forbidden But not to insist upon this clear testimomony for the Doctrine and Practice of our Church nor to mention the many other ill consequences of a Celibate in the Clergy which occasion in other Countries where Popish Religion is publickly professed that Satyrical Proverb to be Fils de prestre by some of the most eminent men in the Roman Church and those too of a late date it is Confessed That Priesthood doth not dissolve Marriage so Cardinal Cajetan Tom. 1. Tract 27. Nor That it is of the essence or being of a Priest to keep single so Dominicus Soto l. 7. de Jure Qu. 4. Moreover that upstart practice in the Roman Church of Auricular Confession wherein (99) Concil Trident. Sess 14. de poenitentiâ every Christian is bound under pain of Damnation to confess to a Priest all his mortal Sins which after a diligent examination he can possibly remember yea even his most secret sins his very thoughts yea and all the circumstances of them which are of any moment is a slavery as great as groundless Then not to mention its ill aspect upon Government as being made an engine of state and a Picklock of the Cabinets of Princes sealing up all things from the notice of the Magistrate but in requital of that making a liberal discovery of what is against him to others A pregnant instance of which horrid consequence