Prophet Esay saying Behold I will lay in Sion a stone a sure foundation which is a playne and manifest Prophecie of Christ and not of Peter as the Apostle Peter himselfe expoundeth it where by the way we may note the feareful outrage of these Romish Rabbies against the truth of God and the God of truth whilst to the end they may aduance their Popes dignity by Peter they wrest and peruert the Scriptures and apply the Prophecies belonging to the Sonne of God to his seruant Peter and so make Peter himselfe nay the holy Ghost a Lyar. It were not credible that such blasphemous thoughts and words should nestle in the heart and issue out of the mouth of any but that the Apostle Saint Paul hath fore-told vs that in the time of Antichrist because men would not receiue the loue of the truth that they might be saued therefore God would send them strong delusions that they should beleeue lyes c. But to the point If Christs person be the onely true foundation of the Church in whom all the building being coupled together groweth vnto an holy Temple in the Lord and that not the persons but the doctrine and faith of the Apostles are those secundary foundations which the Scripture speaketh of as hath beene proued out of the Fathers then the opposition is vndefeasible namely that there is but one person the foundation of our Church which is our Lord and Sauiour the Sonne of God Christ Iesus and yet that Peters person should be the foundation of the Church also together with Christ 45. Thirdly I answere that both in truth and also in proprietie of speech there can bee but one foundation of one building those stones that are layd next to the foundation are not properly a secundary foundation but the beginning of the building vpon the foundation and for that cause when Peter and the rest of the Apostles are called twelue foundations it cannot bee vnderstood that they were any wayes properly foundations of the Church either first or second but that our Sauiour who is the substance and subiect of their doctrine is the onely true and singular foundation of the Church and that there is none other besides him for if when it is said that we are built vpō the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles is meant the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles as must needes bee because the Prophets are coupled together with the Apostles which liued not in the Christian Church and therefore could not be personall foundations of it and Christ crucified is the substance of their doctrine then it must needes follow that the Apostles meaning is nothing else but that we are built vpon Christ whom the Prophets and the Apostles preached and beleeued in And thus S. Hilary vnderstood it and Saint Ambrose and Anselmus who giuing the foundation of the Church to Peter expoundeth it sometimes of his faith in Christ and sometimes of Christ himselfe in whom he beleeued And thus doe also Salmeron the Iesuite and Cardinall Caietane in their commentaries vpon that place and Peter Lumbard together with the glosse vpon the place interpret And so this distinction of a primary and secundary foundation hath no foundation in the word of God 46. The Gospell teacheth that no Apostle or Bishop or other Minister of the Gospell is superiour to another of the same ranke or hath greater power and authority then another in respect of their ministerie but that all Ministers in their seuerall degrees haue equall power of preaching the Gospell administring the Sacraments binding and loosing But the Bishop of Rome challengeth to himselfe a supreme power ouer all other Bishops and ouer the whole Church and braggeth that he hath by right a title to both the swords both spirituall and temporall and that both iurisdictions doe originally pertaine to him and from him are conueyed to others c. 47. Bellarmine heere first confesseth and secondly distinguisheth hee confesseth that the Bishop of Rome hath a supreme power ouer all other Bishops and the whole Church and denyeth that eyther those places here quoted or any other doe prooue the contrary 48. To which I answere first that whereas out of Luke 22. 26. and 1. Cor. 3. 4. he extracteth a disparity and an inequality I answere that no man denyeth it and therefore he fighteth with his owne shadow hee should prooue not a bare superiority which wee confesse but a superiority in the same degree as of one Bishop to another and that in power not in execution wherein standeth the point of opposition 49. Secondly whereas he saith that though the power of remitting and retayning finnes and binding and loosing was communicated to all the Apostles yet Peter was ordayned chiefe Pastor ouer them all because our Sauiour Christ sayd vnto him alone Feede my sheepe and To thee will I giue the Keyes of the Kingdome of heauen I answere that in this hee crosseth both himselfe the Fathers and the truth himselfe for elsewhere hee confesseth that the keyes both of Order and Iurisdiction were giuen to all the Apostles indifferently and therefore it must needes follow that Tibi dabo claues was not spoken singularly to Peter but generally to them all for if Christ gaue the keyes to them all as he confesseth then without doubt he promised them to them all or else his word and his deede should not accord together And againe hee acknowledgeth that all the Apostles had both power and commission to feede the sheepe of Christ when Mat. 28. he bade them all Goe teach and baptize and they all did put that commission in execution therefore it must needes follow that no singular power was giuen to Peter when as Christ said vnto him Feede my sheepe vnlesse we will say that the rest had not the same commission 50. The Fathers for Saint Cyprian saith plainely that all the Apostles were the same with Peter indued with equall fellowship both of honour and power and that a primary was giuen vnto Peter that the Church might appeare to be one Saint Hilary is of the same minde You O holy and blessed men saith he for the merit of your faith haue receiued the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and obtained a right to binde and loose in Heauen and earth Saint Augustine saith that if when Christ said To thee will I giue the keyes of the kingdome of Heauen he spake onely to Peter then the Church hath not the power of the keyes but if the Church hath it then Peter receiuing the keyes represented the Church And lastly Leo one of their owne Popes confesseth asmuch when hee affirmeth that the strength of this power of the keyes passed vnto all the Apostles and the constitution of this decree vnto all the Princes of the Church 51. Lastly the truth for when the Apostles stroue for superiority Christ who is truth it selfe and would not haue concealed so necessary a trueth if
it is Romish is not the true Catholique Religion of CHRIST but the seduction of Antichrist THE PREAMBLE THat which Ireneus an ancient and godly Father of the Church speaketh of all Heretickes that all the Helleborus in the world is not sufficient to purge them that they may vomit out their follie may truely be spoken of the Church of Rome and her adherents that it is a difficult matter if not almost impossible to reclaime her from her errors and to heale her wounds All the balme of Gilead will not do it nor all the spirituall phisicke that can be ministred for there are two sinnes which of all other are most hard to bee relinquished Whoredome and Drunkennesse the one because it is so familiar and naturall to the flesh the other because it breedeth by custome such an vnquenchable thirst in the stomacke as must euer anon be watered with both which spirituall diseases the Church of ROME is infected She is the Whore of Babylon with whome the Kings of the Earth haue committed fornication and who hath made drunke with the Wine of her fornications all the Inhabitants of the Earth In regard of the first Ieremie prophecied of her that though paines be taken to heale her yet shee could not be healed And in regard of the second Saint Paul prophecied that GOD would send them strong delusion that they should beleeue lies that all they might bee damned that receiued not the loue of the truth Notwithstanding though the hope bee as little of the reclaiming of most of them as of turning an Eunuch into a man or making a blacke Moore white yet I haue propounded in this discourse a strong potion compounded of ingredients which if they bee not past cure may purge and cleanse them of their disease and reduce them to the sanity of Christian Religion Which if their queasie stomackes shall eyther refuse to take or hauing taken shall vomit vp againe and not suffer them to worke vpon their consciences yet this benefit will arise that God shall be glorified the truth manifested and all that loue the truth confirmed and they also themselues that are so drowned in error that they will rather pull in others ouer head and eares vnto them and so drowne together then be drawne out of the myre by any helpe shall be conuinced in their consciences of their most grosse apostacie With this confidence towards Gods glorie and the good of his Church though with little hope of recouering them from their obdurate blindnesse I enter into my intended taske desiring the Lord to giue a blessing to these poore labours which I consecrate to my Lord and Master Iesus Christ whom I serue and the Church his Spouse of which I professe my selfe to bee one of the meanest members MOTIVE I. That Religion which in many points giueth libertie to sinne is not the truth but such is the Religion of the Church of ROME ergo c. THe first proposition is an vndoubted truth and needs no confirmation especially seeing S. Iames describeth true Religion by these attributes pure and vndefiled And S. Paul calleth it the mysterie of godlinesse and the doctrine according to godlinesse And herein consisteth an essentiall difference betwixt the true Religion and all false ones so that it must needs follow that that Religion which is essentially the cause and occasion of sinne and openeth a wide window to vngodlinesse cannot be the truth of God but must needs fetch it beginning from the deuill who is the author of all euill The Gospell indeede may by accident be the occasion of euill as S. Paul saith The law is the occasion of sinne for it stirs vp contention and strife and discouers the corruptions of Mans heart and by opposing against them as a damme against a streame makes them to swell and boyle and burst forth beyond the bounds howbeit here the cause is not in the Gospell or Lawe but in the corruption of mans heart which the more it is stirred the more it rageth and striueth to shew it selfe But neuer yet was the doctrine of godlinesse the cause of wickednesse nor the pure and vndefiled Religion of Christ Iesus an essentiall procurer and prouoker vnto sinne 3. This therefore being thus manifest all the question and difficultie remaineth in the second proposition to wit that the Religion of the Romish Church is such as openeth a gappe vnto sinne and giueth notorious libertie and scope to vngodlinesse and that not by way of accident or occasion but necessarily as the cause to the effect Qua data necessariò soquitur effectus as the Logicians speake and therefore being an â—npure and defiled Religion and the mysterie of iniquitie not the mysterie of godlinesse it cannot be that true Religion which Christ our Sauiour brought with him from heauen and left here vpon earth blamelesse and vnspotted like himselfe to be the way to lead vs vnto heauen where hee is 4. That the Romish Religion is a polluted and defiled Religion tending to libertie and loosenesse Let the indifferent Reader iudge by these few instances deriued out of the verie bowels of their Church and being articles of their faith and grounds of their Religion And first to beginne with their doctrine of dispensations whereby they teach that the Pope hath power to dispense with the word of God and with euery commandement of the Law and not onely with the Law but with the Gospell and Epistles of Paul to what horrible loosenesse and lewdnesse of life doth it tend for to omit that it containeth in it open blasphemie by their owne rule which is that In praecepto superioris non debet dispensare inferior the inferiour may not dispense with the precept of the superiour by which the Pope dispensing with Gods lawe is not oneâ—y equalled but exalted aboue God what sinne is there bee it neuer so hainous which there is not libertie giuen to commit by this licencious doctrine 5. Incest But Pope Martin the first gaue a dispensation to one to marrie his owne sister and not his wiues sister only as some of the Romish crue would dawbe ouer this filthie wall because it is in Antoninus Cum quadam eius germana for Siluester Prieriâ— Bartholomeus Fumus and Angelus de Clauafio speake more plainely Cumsua germana that is with his owne naturall sister Another Pope dispensed with Henry the eight to marrie his sister in law and with Philip of Spaine to marrie his owne Niece and Clement the 7. licenced Petrus Aluaradus the Spaniard to marrie two sisters at once and no maruaile seeing it is the very doctrine of the Romish Church that the Pope can dispense in all the degrees of Consanguinitie and Affinitie saue onely with the Father and his daughter and with the Mother and her Son Sodometrie But Pope Sixtus the fourth licensed the Cardinall of Saint Lucie and his familie to vse freely that sinne not to bee named in the
200. some 300. Benefices most of which they neuer saw nor knew nor regarded how they were serued or starued what doth hee but shew himselfe rather a Wolfe than a Shepheard This kind of dispensation Saint Bernard in his time calleth a dissipation And Iohn Picas the famous Earle of Mâ—randula in an Oration to Pope Leo the 10. complaineth of as a notorious corruption in the Church in his dayes Now then to conclude the poynt if to maintaine Incest Sodometry adultery fornication periury disobedience to Parents rebellion against Princes and murther be not to giue licence to most horrible and foule sinnes lâ—t all men iudge and then consider what that Religion is to be iudged of which giueth either open or secret dispensation to all these 10. This is the first Romish doctrine directly tending to liberty A second nothing inferiour to the former is their doctrine of popish pardons and Indulgences a doctrine indeed full of all licentiousnes stuft with impiety and letting the reynes loose to all manner of villany For thus they teach that the Pope being Christs Vicar heere on earth hath the keyes of the kingdome of Heauen in custody to admit in by Indulgence or to shut out by excommunication as hee shall see cause and that the merits of Martyrs to wit their workes of supererogation which they haue more then they need for their owne saluation which mixt with the merites of Christ they call the treasure of the Church are to bee dispensed and disposed at his pleasure 11. The limits and largenes of these pardons they stretch so farre that they make them of more force then the death and passion of Christ for as they teach Christs death freeth onely a culpa aterna poena that is from the guilt of the fault and the eternall punishment due vnto it but not a poena temporali from the temporall punishment but these popish pardons acquit and discharge both from the guilt and from the punishment temporall and eternall as some of them affirme and they that mince it finest from the guilt and temporall punishment so that Christs passion commeth short of his Vicars pardon and the seruant can doe more then the Master by their Religion for though the efficacie of these pardons dependeth vpon the merits of Christ yet that is but in part for the Saints merits must be mixed with them or else they alone make no good medicine and the Pope must dispence them or else they are of no value Neither doe they firetch onely to those that are aliue but to the dead also And that not onely in Purgatory but in Hell Out of both which places say they both the suburbs and the Citie the Pope is able to deliuer whom he pleaseth and place them in heauen the seate of the blessed this is the opinion of diuers of them Antoninus the Archbishop of Florence auoucheth almost as much leauing out hell for he saith that the Pope in respect of his absolute iurisdiction may absolue all that are in Purgatory and empty the prison at once marke his reasons for sayth he seeing Gregory by his prayer discharged Traiane from the paine of hell which is infinite Therfore much more may the Pope by communication of indulgences absolue all that are in Purgatory from that punishment which is but finite And for asmuch as Christ may take away all paine therefore the Pope also who is his Vicar may These be the Archbishops goodly reasons the one whereof is meere foolish and friuolous the other blasphemous but howsoeuer it be yet thousands of ignorant persons haue receiued these as their Creed and by them beene seduced to the vtter ruine and destruction of their soules 12. And to that height of impudency are these pardon-mongers growne that they stocke not to promise plenary remission of all sinnes to all that either come on pilgrimage to Rome or miscarry in their iourney or that visite the holy places there especially the 7. priuiledged Churches promising to some 50. to some a 100. to some 3000. yeares of pardon Yea Boniface the eight granted of his bountifull liberality 82000. yeares pardon for euery time saying a prayer of S. Augustine printed in a Table at Venice and that toties quoties Iohn the 22. granted twentie yeres pardon to euery one that doth but bow his head at the naming of Iesus Here is a notable pardon indeed a man may in one day prouide for millions of ages and not onely for himselfe but to helpe his friends out of Purgatory Besides all this their holy Father the Pope vseth to consecrate and hallow an infinite number of Crucifixes and Medailes and Agnus Dei's Holy graines or Beads and such like trash and send them abroad into the world that whosoeuer weareth one of them about him if he bee at the poynt of death and say but in his heart the name Iesus shall haue a plenary and full forgiuenesse of all his sins 13. But what should I rake any deeper into this filthy puddle I might spend much time and trauaile in deciphering the infinite and grosse absurdities of this monstrous doctrine the very naming whereof is a sufficient confutation I referre the Reader to others that haue amply discouered these secrets of the whore of Babylon But to returne to the poynt Is not this a doctrine I pray you of licentiousnesse who would feare to sinne when pardon may be obtayned at so low a rate for bowing the head saying ouer a short prayer visiting a Church creeping to a Crosse wearing a Crucifixe pardon may be purchased for sinnes without number and that for yeares without number What is the height of liberty if this be not But yet they ascend higher for there is a great Mart of all these Indulgences at Rome there you may haue them at a very lowe price rather then goe without yea cheaper than any other ware and lest Rome should seeme too farre to fetch them thence there are petty markets and faires of them in euery Country and the Pedlers that carry about this trash are the Priests and Iesuites Leo the tenth sent Tâ—â—elius about with his Pardons offering to euery one for the payment of tenne shillings and not a penny vnder to set at liberty the soule of any one which they should name in Purgatory And of late it is sayd that the Iesuites brought into England Agnus Dei's by thousands which they sold at what rate they list to poore seduced Papists Peroun the French Cardinall brought with him from Rome many such hallowed and holy things as some say by the sale thereof to helpe to defray his charges which he was at in that costly iourney 14. What should I name vnto you their odious marchandize and setting to sale of all manner of sinne called taxa poenitentiaria Apostolica whereby impunity is graunted to euery sinne be it neuer so grieuous so the party payeth according to the rate for his
call the Scripture a dumbe Iudge some a dead Letter and without a Soule others dead Inke others a Nose of Waxe to be wreathed this way or that way others say that it is no better then Aesops Fables without the authority of the Church all of them ioyne in this that it is not simply necessary that it was written not to rule our faith but to be ruled by it and that Christ neuer commanded his Apostles to write any Scripture and that it is subiect and inferiour to the Church all these and many other bitter and blasphemous speeches they belch out against the Scripture whereby they plainely bewray their cankred hatred against the Scripture and all because they finde it contrary to their humour and an enemie to their Religion 33. Thus the Minor proposition in this demonstration is I hope sufficiently prooued to wit that the Religion of the Church of Rome doth professedly disgrace the holy Scripture as both by their doctrine their practice and their blasphemous speeches against it doth manifestly appeare and so the conclusion is of necessary and vndeniable consequence that therefore it deserueth to be suspected and reiected of all those that professe themselues to be friends to the Scripture and hope from it either consolation in this life or saluation in the life to come MOTIVE VII That Religion is to be abhorred which maintaineth commandeth and practiseth grosse and palpable Idolatry but so doth the Religion of the Church of Rome Ergo c. WHen I consider the fearefull Idolatry of the Church of Rome which for that cause is called The Whore of Babylon and The Mother of fornications Reuel 17. 1. 2. I cannot choose but wonder that any should be so bewitched with the sorceries of this Iezabel or made drunke with the wine of her fornication that they should take her marke vpon their forheads and right hands and ioyne with her in her abominations and not rather come out of her with all speed as they are admonished by the Angell lest they bee partakers in her sinnes and haue a share also with her in her plagues but then againe remembring that which S. Paul faith that the comming of Antichrist should be in all deceiueablenesse of vnrighteousnesse and that God should send vpon them strong delusion to beleeue lies I turne my wondering at their sottishnesse into the admiration at Gods Iustice and Truth the one in punishing their contempt of his Gospell with such a giddinesse of spirit and the other in making good his owne word after such an euident and manifest manner that there by it most clearely appeareth that the Pope of Rome is that Man of sinne and Sonne of perdition there spoken of euen that Antichrist which exalteth himselfe aboue all that is called God and sitteth in the Temple of God as if he were God As this appeareth in many grosse errors which they hold so in none more then in the horrible idolatry practised and preached defended in this Antichristian Church of which I may truely say as Plutarch said of the heathen that they mingle heauen with earth because they made Gods of men men of Gods So these whilst they giue diuine worship to earthly creatures as the crosse pictures of Christ and to the Saints in heauen or attribute earthly affections to heauenly creatures make a plaine mixture of heauen and earth spoyling the Creatour of his honour due vnto his Dietie and adorning the creature therewith and ascribing that vnto men which is onely proper vnto God That the Church of Rome is guilty of this impiety I hope by Gods grace so to proue in this Motiue that no Iesuite though neuer so subtill shall bee able with any shew of sound reason to hisse against 2. The first proposition in this Argument though it be of so euident a truth that it needeth no further demonstration yet because S. Paul saith that an Idoll is nothing in the world and thereupon some may peraduenture conclude that Idolatrie is a matter of nothing and a small and triuiall sinne I will therefore very briefly shew the greatnesse and haynousnesse of this sinne and how odious and abominable it is in the sight of God As touching therefore that phrase of Saint Paul An Idoll is nothing it is not to bee vnderstood either in respect of matter for euery Idoll hath a materiall being and subsisting as the matter of the Calfe which the Israelites made in the Wildernesse was gold and of the brazen serpent which was abused also as an Idoll was brasse and of those Idols which the Prophet Esay declameth so against were wood nor yet in respect of forme as Bellarmine and Caietane would haue it As though the Apostle should meane thus that an Idoll though it hath matter yet it hath no forme that is to say is the representation of such a thing as hath no being in nature for many of the Idols of the Gentiles were of such things as truly were but the Apostles meaning is as Tertullian obserues and many other both of ancient and late Writers that an Idoll is nothing in respect of that which it is intended to bee that is that it is no God nor hath any part of the Diuinitie in it which deserueth to bee worshipped or that it is nothing in regard of efficacie and power that is as the Psalmist speaketh is not able to doe either good or bad to hurt or to helpe to saue or to kill and this interpretation is authorized by S. Augustine and S. Chrysostome the one saying thus There are Idols indeede but they can doe nothing neither are they Gods the other thus Sunt Idola sed ad salutem nihil sunt There are Idols but they auaile nothing to the attaynement of saluation and it is also approued by many other Expositors both ancient and moderne Protestants and Papists and is most agreeable to the whole current of the Text. This then that S. Paul saith That an Idoll is nothing is both so farre from extenuating the sinne of Idolatrie that it aggrauateth the same and also so farre from clearing the Church of Rome from the guilt of that crime that it rather layeth a greater stayne thereof vpon it 3. As for the greatnesse of the sinne it may appeare by three considerations first of the precept for there is no one commandement of the Law so frequent in the whole Scripture and so strictly vrged and mounded and fenced about with so many reasons as that is against Idolatrie as we may see in the Decalogue Secondly in respect of the punishment denounced against and inflicted vpon the committers thereof to wit not onely eternall death from the iustice of God which is the wages of all sinne vnrepented of but also temporall death from the iustice of man as being vnworthy to breathe this common ayre or to tread vpon the earth that thus sinne against the Maiestie of God and that
vrge Command him though Redeemer that â—e be By right of Motherhood which is giuen to thee 71. And this the Rosarie of the Virgine Mary doth more euidently manifest for Dominicke who was the first inuentor of it ordayned that fiftie Ane Maries should be recited and at euery tenth one Pater noster which together make a Rosarie and for this purpose the same Dominicke framed fiue and fiftie Stones or Beades and hung them together on a string betwixt euery ten little ones one great one and called them Patriloquia as it were prayers to the Father which he might more properly haue called Matriloquia prayers to the Mother for here are ten Aues to each Pater noster And this was the originall of praying vpon Beads Now out of these Rosaries sprung there Mary Psalters for three Rosaries to wit an hundred and fifty Aue Maries and fifteene Pater nosters make one Mary Psalter because forsooth the Psalter of Dauid consists of so many Psalmes and to the fraternitie of this Psalter and the sayers thereof were giuen by diuers Popes as Sixtus the fourth and Innocent the eighth threescore thousand yeeres of indulgence and plenary remission both from the punishment and fault one in the time of life and one in the houre of death Is not heere I pray you the worship of the Virgine Mary exalted aboue the worship of Christ who can doubt of it seeing the proportion is ten to one fifty to fiue an hundred to ten an hundred and fifty to fifteene And no maruell if it bee thus in their prayers seeing it is as euill or worse in their deeds for whereas wee haue one Church or religious house dedicated to Christ we shall finde ten dedicated to Mary the Mother of Christ and so the Mother is aduanced aboue the Sonne and yet she but a woman of flesh and bloud saued by her Sonne and blessed by that faith which shee had in him and hee the Sonne of God as well as the Sonne of Man the Sauiour and Redeemer of mankinde 72. But the most horrible Idolatrie and blasphemy of all the rest is to be found in another Mary Psalter of theirs compiled as they say by Bonauenture and authorised in the Church of Rome wherein they apply all the whole Psalter of Dauid to the Virgine Mary and wheresoeuer they finde the name Dominus Lord they put in Domina Lady as for example in the third Psalme for Lord how are my foes increast they say Lady how are my foes increast and in the sixt Psalme for O Lord correct mee not in thy wrath they say O Lady correct me not in thy wrath And in the 31. Psalme for Blessed are they O Lord whose sinnes are forgiuen they say Blessed are they whose hearts loue thee O Virgine Mary for their sinnes shall be forgiuen them by thee and so cleane through the Psalter If any desire to see the gulfe and dunghill of Superstition and Idolatrie practised in the Church of Rome vnder the Inuocation of Saints let him but read this one Psalter which alone if there were no other argument is sufficient to conuince their whole Church of open and notorious Idolatrie and that Cassander himselfe confesseth in the place aboue quoted 73. Thus they exalt the Virgine Mary aboue Christ and equall her with God yea which is horrible to speake and fearefull to be recorded they place her aboue God himselfe for they teach that a man may appeale to the Virgine Mary not onely from a Tyrant and from the Diuell but euen from God himselfe This writeth Bernardine de Busto about 120. yeeres since and his booke was authorised by Pope Alexander the sixt and yet remaines so farre from all disallowance that it is approoued by Posseuine as a learned and godly booke Out of which it must needes follow which I tremble to vtter that by their doctrine the Virgine Mary is greater then God because euery appeale is from the lesser to the greater 74. But no maruell if they preferre Mary to Christ that is the Mother before the Sonne seeing they doe as much to two Fryers Francis and Dominicke He that would see how Francis is matched and exalted aboue Christ let him read the booke of his Conformities and hee will bee astonished at their madnesse Also of Dominicke they write most strange things and such as Christ neuer did the like as for example Christ raysed but three dead saith Antoninus but Dominicke raysed three at Rome and forty that were drowned in a Riuer neere to Tholosse Christ being made immortall after his resurrection entred twice into the house the dores being shut but Dominicke being a mortall man entred into a Church in the night the dores being shut that he might not waken the brethren Christ had all power committed vnto him in heauen and earth and Dominicke did partake the same power with him for the Angels serued him the Elements obeyed him the Diuels trembled at him Christ was the Lord absolutely and by authority but Dominicke principally and by possession Christ was laid at his birth in a Manger and wrapped in clouts to keepe him from cold but Dominicke being an infant would often get out of his bed and as if hee abhorred all delights of the flesh lye vpon the bare ground Christ neuer prayed but hee was heard if he would except in the Garden when hee prayed that the Cup might passe away from him where praying according to his sensuall part would not be heard according to reason but Dominicke neuer desired any thing of God but it was graunted vnto him Christ being borne a Starre appeared in the East which directed the Wise-men to him and foreshewed that he should be the light of the world but Dominicke being borne and ready to bee baptized his Godmother saw a Starre in his forehead foretelling a new light of the world Lastly Christ loued vs and washed away our sinnes by his bloud so did Dominicke for hee whipt himselfe thrice euery day with an Iron chayne and drew bloud each time out of his sides once for his owne sinnes which were very small the second for those that were in Purgatory and the third for those that liue in the world Is not Dominicke heere in some things equalled and in others preferred before our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ 75. And thus to passe ouer all their false and counterfeit Saints which eyther neuer were in rerum natura or were not such as they make them as Christopher George Catherine and such like For it is a true saying of Augustine or of some other Multorum corpora honorantur in terris quorum animae torquentur in inferno The bodies of many are honoured on earth whose soules are tormented in hell And to omit that the Pope may erre in the canonizing of Saints it being grounded vpon false miracles as Caietane acknowledgeth and others though Bellarmine be of another minde and laboureth to prooue the contrary but God wot with
assertion that God can not make those things that bee done to be vndone doth not destroy but build vp the omnipotency of God seing as Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth Facere contradictoria non est efficere sed deficere to doe things contradictorie is not to effect and doe but to faile and vndoe and therefore an argument of impotency rather then of omnipotency and for that cause Pererius another Iesuite auoucheth the same doctrine with vs in these words God is said to be omnipotent not onely because he can do whatsoeuer is contained in the world but also because nothing is impossible vnto him except that which to be done implieth contradiction what an impudent flander then is this to say that wee deny Gods omnipotency by affirming that hee cannot make that to bee vndone which is done especially seeing wee say further with Tertullian and Saint Augustine that therefore God cannot do it because he will not do it he cannot therefore deny himselfe not make that to be vndone which is done because hee will not and he will not because it would rather be an argument of weakenes then a power in him so to doe 76. Againe they challenge Caluine of denying the immortality of the soule And why thinke you Because they would make him to say that the soules of the iust are kept in certaine secret receptacles till the day of Iudgement and doe not till then inioy the presence of God Another palpable slander for first Caluine doth not say so secondly if hee did yet it doth not follow thereupon that hee denyeth the immortality of the soule for the first let Caluine first speake for himselfe and then let his aduersaries also speak for him Touching the place where the soules of the iust remaine after death he affirmeth plainely in diuers places that they liue with God and enioy the happy felicity of his kingdome though their perfect happinesse is deferred till the second comming of Christ when their bodies and soules shal be re-united and made partakers of the same blessednes This he testifieth not in one or two but in many places how therefore can they lay to his charge that opinion touching secret receptacles where soules are reserued till the day of the resurrection 77. Mary sayth Bellarmine in two respects first because he maketh Christ alone to haue entred into the Sanctuary of heauen and there to present the prayers of the people resting in the vtter court to God secondly because he sayth that the Saints departed are ioyned together with vs by faith therefore sayth Bellarmine He must needs deny that they see God seeing where faith is there is not sight But his conclusion in both is false though the premises be true for as the Atrium or vtter Court of the Temple to which Caluine alludeth was a part of the Temple so by proportion the vtter Court of Heauen is a part of Heauen witnesse their owne Ribera expounding that place of Exodus whereunto Caluine alludeth and therefore Caluine if hee did say so doth not banish the iust soules out of Heauen but onely placeth Christ our high Priest betwixt God and them But what if hee speake onely of the Saints liuing and not departed and meane by the vtter Court not any part of Heauen but the Church militant heere on earth If this be true what shamelesse slaunderers are these fellowes to wring a sense out of Caluine whereof there is no show in the words let the place be consulted and viewed and their malice and impudency will appeare most notorious 78. Againe that faith which hee speaketh of in the second place is nothing else but their stedfast beliefe and expectation of the resurrection of their bodies which liueth in the faithfull soules separated from this mortality vntill the full accomplishment of their happinesse aswell as in the Saints militant neither can I conceiue any absurdity in this that the Saints departed should haue faith in this respect seeing they must needs haue hope which two Theologicall vertues are so perplexed together that one cannot bee without the other and therefore Clemens Alexandrinus calleth hope the blood of faith and Saint Paul sayth 1. Cor. 13. that faith and hope shall cease together when charity shall suruiue and remaine If then the Saints departed hope for the resurrection of their bodies why may they not bee said also to beleeue it and yet for all that be in heauen too 79. Neither is the other place obiected out of Caluine by Bellarmine any whit repugnant to this doctrine for though he sayth that it is a foolish and rash part to dispute curiously what the place is that the Saints possesse in Heauen and whether they inioy the full ioyes of heauen or no yet in the very same place hee affirmeth that they are in the presence of Christ in Paradise and that they onely expect the fruition of that promised glory which their bodies also shal be possessors of at the comming of Christ 80. Thus we haue heard Caluine speake for himselfe Let vs now heare his enemies speaking for him in this case then which there cannot be a stronger argument of his innocency and in this two may stand for all Bellarmine is the first hee directly confesseth that Caluine placed the soules of the Saints in heauen euen before the comming of Christ and to him subscribeth Fenardentius another Iesuite who affirmeth that this was Caluines opinion that the faithfull when they should depart out of this world doe behold God neere vnto them and as it were set before their eyes And thus Caluine is quit from this enditement by the witnesse of his profest aduersaries 81. Secondly let it be granted which neuerthelesse can no wayes be prooued that Caluine held this opinion touching the residence of soules in some secret place yet it doth not follow that therefore he denyed the immortality of the soule For then Origen Iustine Martyr Tertullian Irenaeus Lactantius Victorinus Chrysostome Theodoret Theophilact Ambrose Bernard and diuers others of the ancient godly Fathers should be enwrapped within the same errour who all held that opinion touching soules departed and yet were as farre from gain-saying or once imagining any opposition to the soules immortality as these backbiting Shemiâ—s are from charity and truth 82. Another lowde and lewde slander of theirs against our Religion is that it maintaineth and warranteth rebellion and disobedience against lawfull Princes Which if they could prooue wee would confesse that our Religion was naught seeing Gods word commandeth euery soule to be subiect to the higher powers but yet not worse then theirs which is without all contradiction guilty of this crime which they impute vnto vs as hath beene prooued but let vs heare their proofes they are of two sorts first from the doctrines of some of our learned writers and secondly from the practice of our professors In the first kind they obiect Caluine Beza Luther Knox Buchanan
vnderstanding by the Aspe and Cockatrice Lyon and Dragon the Emperour Frederick vpon whose necke hee set his foote vsing those words and all other Kings and Emperours and to proue that he so vnderstood the place when as the Emperor disdayning this pride made answere Not to thee but to Peter the holy Father treading on his necke replied Et mihi Petro Both to mee and to Peter Which storie though it bee branded by Baronius with the marke of a fable yet it is auouched by a full Iurie of witnesses and especially two Gennadius the Patriarke of Constantinople and a Venetian Historian that liued about that time which last onely differeth in the Popes alledging of the Text for he makes the Pope to say not in the second person thou but ambulabo I will walke vpon the Lion and the Adder Againe they interpret that place of Esay 49. 23. They shall worship towards the face of the earth and licke the dust of thy feete as a Prophecie of the Popes sublimitie For saith Turrian the Iesuite Where is this verified but in the kissing of the feete of the Bishop of Rome and yet who knoweth not that this is nothing else but a manifest prediction of the glory of the Church and the conuersion and subiection of Kings and Princes to the Religion of Christ What a wresting of Scripture call you this Are not these strange interpretations 25. But yet heare them which are more strange and ridiculous In the 28. of Esay 16. verse wee read Behold I will lay in Sion a stone a tried stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation This all know being taught by the interpretation of S. Peter 1. Pet. 2. 6. is to be vnderstood of Christ only and none other yet Bellarmine vnderstands by this tried precious corner stone not Christ but Peter that is as he saith Sedes Romana The Roman Sea Againe we read Iere. 26. 14. Behold I am in your hands doe with mee as you thinke good and right This Text Bonauenture alledgeth to proue that Christ is in the Priests hands at the Masse as a Prisoner not to bee let goe till he haue payd his ransome that is till he haue giuen remission of sinnes contrary to the manifest sense of the place Hosea 1. 11. We read that the children of Iudah and Israel shall be gathered together and appoint themselues one head answerable to that Ioh. 10. 16. There shall be one fold and one shepheard which places properly appertayning to Christ and his Church are ordinarily and blasphemously alledged to proue that the Pope is the head of the Church Againe Cant. 5. 11. His head is as fine gold And Cant. 7. 5. Thy head is like the mount Carmel One of which is the speech of the Church to Christ and the other of Christ to the Church but Bellarmine interprets the first to be spoken Christ and the second of the Pope These be his words The Bridegrome compareth the head of his Spouse to mount Carmel because though the Pope be a great mountaine yet he is nothing but earth that is a man and the Bride compareth the Bridegromes head to the best gold because the head of Christ is God 26. But let vs come a little to the new Testament are they any thing more shie and cautelous in this then in the olde Heare and then iudge Matth. 28. 18. our Sauiour saith to his Disciples All power is giuen vnto me in heauen and earth This in the booke of Ceremonies is expounded of the Pope and also by Stephen the Archbishop of Patauy in the Councill of Laterane Luc. 22. 38. the Apostles say vnto Christ Behold two swords and he answered It is sufficient By this place of Scripture Boniface the eighth challenged to himselfe both temporall and ecclesiasticall authority because Christ said two swords were sufficient and bade Peter not cast away one of them but put it vp into the sheath This exposition flat contrary to the meaning of the Text was not only deuised by a Pope but also approued by Bellarmine and Molina the Iesuite and Balbus with diuers others though I confesse reiected by Stella Maldonate and Arias Montanus But what are these to a Pope that cannot erre and to such an Emminent Cardinall as Bellarmine is So likewise they expound that Text Matth. 17. 24. Solue pro te me Pay for thee and me To signifie that Christs family hath two heads to wit Christ and Peter because they two onely payd and that Peter was chiefe ouer the rest of the Apostles because none of the rest payd as if paying of tribute was a signe of preeminence and not rather of subiection as Iansenius expounds it So Baronius alledgeth that of Act. 10. 13. Arise Peter kill and eate to proue the Popes power to excommunicate the Venetians Kill that is excommunicate and eate that is bring them to the obedience of the Church of Rome This is goodly stuffe indeede sure they stand in neede of arguments to proue their cause that are driuen to these silly shifts So our Country-man Fisher to proue iustification by workes alledgeth that Text of S. Peter 1. Pet. 4. 8. Loue couereth the multitude of sinnes which he expounds thus that loue expiateth and purgeth away the guilt of our sinnes in the sight of God contrary to the direct sense of the holy Ghost Pro. 10. 12. 27. It is a wonder to see how both Bellarmine and all the Patrones of Purgatory wring and wrest the Scripture to vnderprop the Popes Kitchin The Scripture cannot name fire and purging but presently there is Purgatory as Esay 4. 4. and 9. 18. Mal. 3. 3. nor a lake where there is no water but there is Purgatory as Zachar. 9. 11. nor things vnder the earth Phil. 2. 10. Apoc. 5. 3. but there is Purgatory and yet they themselues confesse that they know not whether it be vnder the earth or no because the Church hath not yet defined where it is And Bellarmine bringeth in eight diuers opinions touching the place of Purgatory but two of their expositions touching Purgatory I cannot ouerpasse left I should depriue the Reader of matter of laughter in the midst of this serious discourse and them of commendation of wit for they are witty aboue measure the one is Mar. 13. 34. where it is said in a Parable that a certaine man going into a strange Country leaueth his house and giueth authority to his seruants and commandeth the Porter to watch This man going into a strange Country signifieth the soule say they which by death departeth out of this world his leauing authority with his seruants signifieth that he commandeth his executors to procure with his goods the prayers suffrages of the Church whereby he may be freed from Purgatory hee commandeth the Porter to watch that is he giueth part of his goods to his Pastor that he may diligently
That all the power of Emperours and Kings is subdeligate in respect of the power of the Pope And againe that all secular power is to be restrayned enlarged and executed at the commaundement of the Pope This is the assertion of that man who was authorised first to write by Pope Iohn the two and twentieth and after his Booke was set foorth by the priuiledge of Gregory the thirteenth So that here we haue two Popes maintayning this doctrine Clement the first was of the same minde who affirmeth that hee and the rest of the Popes had a soueraignity and superiority ouer the Empire and vpon that ground he dissanulled all the Sentences and Processes made by Henry the seuenth Emperour And so also was Boniface the eighth who in that famous Canon Vnam sanctam c. directly affirmeth that the Temporall authority must be subiect to the Spirituall and that it is necessary to saluation to beleeue that euery humane creature is subiect to the Pope of Rome Now the rest of the Popes must needes be of the same minde or else they should condemne these of error and that speaking definitiuely which is contrary to their Religion And so indeede that they are Bellarmine their Champion in his late Booke against Barclay the Lawyer doth manifestly declare who most impudently maintayneth this position with all his wit against that learned man as also in his last doting Apologie against our King wherein without doubt he is authorised and as it were tapped on the backe and called A good childe by the Popes Holinesse himselfe 72. Thus we see this doctrine maintayned by the Popes and their Lawes Let vs see also what the Cardinalls and the Iesuites say vnto it Cardinall Baronius a notable clawer of the Popes holdeth that the Pope hath power directly ouer Princes agreeing with Bozius and Triumphus but Cardinall Bellarmine with others on his side quallifieth the matter and saith that the Popes power ouer Princes in temporall matters is not direct but indirect as depending vpon his spirituall power and in order relation vnto that Let vs leaue these two Cardinalls fighting about direct indirect and come to the other Iesuites Gregory de Valentia saith that the Pope is subiect to none but that by a certaine hereditary right he is exempted from all humane jurisdiction Tollet affirmeth that there may bee in the Church many holier and learneder then the Pope but none superior or equall vnto him in dignitie Turrian the Iesuite saith that Christ hath translated all his Kingdome on earth vpon the Pope who beareth his person and carryeth his Image And lastly all of them like lines in a circle meeting in a Center ioyne in this that the Pope hath power to depose Kings to translate Kingdomes and to conferre them vpon others if it seeme to him necessary for the good of mens soules 73. Thus we haue their doctrine concerning their Head the Pope Now let vs heare what they say touching the body that hangs vpon his head their Clergie Kings are not now any more Soueraignes ouer Clerks faith Bellarmine and therefore Clerks are not bound to obey them by Gods law or mans except it be in respect of directiue lawes And Emanuel Sa. affirmeth that a Clergie man cannot be a Traytor though hee rebell because he is no subiect And it was long agoe the doctrine of the Fryers continued by the Iesuites that the King was not Lord ouer the Clergie but that the Pope was their Lord and therefore though a Clergie man had committed theft murther or treason yet hee ought not to bee called in question much lesse punished for it by a temporall Magistrate but ought to be iudged by Ecclesiasticall Iudges in the Ecclesiasticall Court and if hee were conuict hee should lose his Orders and so being excluded from Office Benefice Ecclefiasticall if after this he incurred the like fault then might he be iudged at the pleasure of the King yea they goe so farre that if any offence were committed by diuers persons amongst whom there were one Clergie man none of the offenders were subiect to temporall iurisdiction And thus we see that neyther the Pope nor his Clergie will bee subiect to these higher Powers to which the Gospell commaundeth all men to submit themselues 74. How will they distinguish here Mary they haue two distinctions to helpe this doctrine out of the myre and yet all too weake First they say that when the Apostles Paul and Peter commanded euery soule to bee subiect c. they meane generally that all subiects should obey their superiors whether Spirituall or Temporall and not that euery one should particularly bee subiect to the King or secular power which interpretation is first flat contrary to the text for both Paul and Peter mention expressely Kings and Princes and such as haue the right of the sword which they would neuer haue done if Kings should haue beene subiect to Popes and not Popes to Kings for then they would haue instanced in Popes and not in Kings and though Christians were falsely accused of treason and rebellion to Princes yet this could not be a sufficient reason to mooue the Apostles to conceale so necessary a truth especially seeing they write to Christians and not to Infidels 75. Secondly it is contrary to reason for if Peter and so the Pope his pretended successor had beene in their iudgement superiors to Kings then surely Peter himselfe writing not onely to the people but also to the Elders of the Church as appeareth 1. Pet. 5. 1. would neuer haue enioyned them all to the obedience of the Ciuill Magistrate but would haue reserued some to his owne iurisdiction and bidden them all both Magistrate and people to submit themselues vnto him as the head of the Church or if he for modestie might forbeare this imperiall iniunction yet without question Paul had he beene of that minde would not haue sent euery soule to bee subiect to Kings but would haue told them that Kings and all should be subiect to Peter but seeing that neither of them both doth it neither here nor elsewhere and it is as they thinke so necessary a thing to be beleeued of all men it is most euident that they neuer meant it 76. Thirdly and lastly whereas the Apostle Paul commaundeth euery soule to be subiect wee may conclude that if the Pope be a soule or haue a soule for some of them haue thought that a man had no more a soule then a beast then he must be subiect And this conclusion a learned man that was afterward a Pope himselfe made when he plainly confessed that the Apostle did not except animam Papae the Popes soule from this subiection I omit heere S. Chrysostomes and Oecumenius exposition of the same place both which affirme that by euery soule the Apostle included both Priests Monks and Apostles and that this subiection was not contrary vnto piety And
errour 86. Secondly hee sayth that there are two kindes of Readers One that read with fruit and profit others that read without fruit yea rather with hurt Now the Scripture may bee read of the first but not of the second But I would know of him againe who hath that power to discerne betwixt these two Doe they know the heart of a man Or can they prophecy of that which is to come If they cannot doe these things then they ought not to locke vp the Scriptures from any vpon this surmise but permit the vse of that which is good to all and leaue the successe to God Againe because some peruert the Scripture to their damnation shall therefore all bee forbidden to reape comfort by it Because the theefe robs and kils with his sword shall not therefore an honest man vse one for his owne defence Because the Spider sucks vp poyson out of the flowre therefore shall not the Bee suck honey This is to take away the vse of all good things For as the Poet sayth Nil prodest quod non laedere possit idem Nothing so profitable in the vse but in the abuse may be hurtfull and nuisant 87. Lastly are the ignorant common people more subiect to erring and heresie then the learned Let Espensaeus a learned Bishop of their owne informe him to the contrary I remember sayth hee that an Italian Bishop told me that his countrey-men were scarred from reading the Scriptures lest they should become heretikes as if heresies did spring from the study of the Scriptures and not rather from the neglect and ignorance of them And if he will not beleeue him let another learned Roman si step out tel him that very few ignorāt persons were the authors of heresie another that learned men indued with great wits fall by their pride into heresie so that he need not so much feare lest heresie should build her nest in the bosome of the poore ignorant man as lest like the Eagle shee should flye aloft and set her selfe in the top of the high Cedars of the Church 88. But what doe I stand to ouerthrow this vaine exception since it is no better then a meere deception confuted by the practice of their owne Church for without difference any that will pay for it beeing neuer so ignorant might haue a licence to read the Scriptures And we had heere in England in Queene Maries dayes a Romish indulgence that hee that could dispend a certaine reuenue by the yeere might read the Bible in English as is reported by Master Cartwright in his answere to the Preface of the Rhemes Testament So that is as cleare as the day that it is not the fruit and benefit that should come to the Reader that they regarded but the profit and gaine that should accrue to their owne purses neither was the feare of erring the cause of their prohibition but rather the feare of too much knowledge lest thereby the grosse and foule abominations of their Church should bee discouered and so come to bee abhorred and detested 89. The Gospell teacheth that none can forgiue sins but God because sinne is a preuarication of Gods Law and therefore none can remit it but hee against whom it is committed Vpon which ground venerable Bede writing vpon these words of the fift of Luke Who can forgiue sinnes but God sayth that the Pharises said truely therein because no man can forgiue sinnes saue God alone who also forgiueth by them to whom hee hath committed the power of the keyes and therefore Christ is proued to bee truely God by this that hee can forgiue sinnes as God and it may be proued further to bee true because our Sauiour himselfe approoueth of that speech of theirs not shewing any manner of dislike thereunto And therefore Saint Ambrose affirmeth plainely that to forgiue sinnes is not common to any man with Christ This is sayth he the onely office of Christ who tooke away the sinne of the world And Cyprian as directly Onely the Lord can take pitty and grant pardon to sinnes which are committed against him But the Synagogue of Rome teacheth that though this power bee originally and fundamentally in Christ yet he hath committed the same to his Vicar the Pope and from him it is deriued to Cardinals Bishops and infetiou◠Priests vnder the commission and authority of the keyes and that not ministerially and by way of declaration onely which wee confesse but absolutely and iudicially and as Christ himselfe and that not onely to the liuing but to the dead also that are in Purgatory For it is a rule without exception amongst them that all satisfactory punishments may bee released by a pardon And it is as sure that a pardon for any manner of sinne may bee obtained for a price And therefore there is a certaine rate set downe for all kinde of sinnes as Murther Incests Sodomy Sacriledge c. And Aquinas thus reasoneth If Christ might release the fault without any satisfaction then so may it be that the Pope By which wee see that according to their doctrine the Pope hath asmuch power to forgiue sins as Christ himselfe hath which is the Scribes and Pharises liued and heard they would cry out O blasphemie This is the expresse doctrine of the Church of Rome 90. For the making good of this doctrine they haue a double distinction answerable to the double manner of remitting sin vsed in their Church one touching the absolution of a sinner by the Priest in their Sacrament of penance The other touching the Popes indulgence out of the Sacramēt groūded vpon the treasure of supererogatory works which they say is in the Church and consequently in the Popes dispensation Concerning the first they say that Christ absolueth a sinner by his owne power but the Priest by the power of Christ committed vnto him in that famous Legacy Whose sinnes yee remit on earth they are remitted in Heauen 91. To which I answere two things First that heerein they cōtradict their ancient schoole For Peter Lumbard one of the masters of the schoole doth plainly affirme that such only are worthily absolued by the Church who are absolued in Heauen because by the error of man it may so happen that hee that seemeth to bee cast out of Gods family bee still within and he who may be thoght to remaine within is notwithstanding cast ou◠And that therefore God absolueth differently from the Church God by remitting the sinne purging the soule from the blemish thereof and freeing it from eternall punishment the Church by declaring who are absolued by God By which not onely his opinion is manifest that the Priest hath no absolute power of absoluing a sinner but onely of declaring that hee is absolued which is our doctrine but also his reason is inuincible that because the Priest may erre in his absolution therefore hee hath no such absolute power committed
6. Lastly concerning Monkes Fryers and Hermites they are names neuer heard of in the Apostles time nor in the purer age of the Church The first Hermite was one Anthony who liued three hundred yeeres after Christ who taught others that state of life and learned it of none as confesseth Bellarmine Monkes had no being in the best times of the Church sayth Agrippa though Bellarmine is not ashamed to say that the Apostles were the first Monks in Christianity who notwithstanding liued not alone in cels but went about the world preaching the Gospell some of them had wiues also both which are contrarie to the Monkish profession but Fryers are yet of a far later impressiō The orders of Dominick Francis sprung vp vnder Innocent the third in the time of the Laterane Councill about the yeere 1220. For when Pope Innocent would not be perswaded to confirme to Dominick his order of preaching Fryers hee dreamed that the Church of Laterane was ready to fall and that Dominick came in and with his shoulders vnder-propped it Vpon which dreame he presently sent for Dominick and granted his petition and sure not vaine was that dreame for had not Fryers beene the vpholders and chiefe Pillars of the Popes Church it had fallen longere this The croutched Fryers otherwise called the crosse-bearers sprang vp about the same time for Pope Innocent raising an army against the Albingenses whom the Pope accounted for Heretikes caused the souldiers to be signed with a crosse on their brest whereupon they were called crosse-bearers or croutched Fryers All the other orders of Fryers which amount as some reckon them to an hundreth at least are most of them of later institution And most true is the assertion of Wiclif that Fryers were neuer knowne in the world before the yeare 1200. 7. The Iesuites tooke their beginning about threescore and fifteene yeeres since For in the yeare 1540. their order was first confirmed by Pope Paul the third to Ignatius Loyola the lame souldier the chiefe Father and Patriarch of that viperous brood at the request and intercession of Cardinall Contarenus so that they are not yet beyond the bounds of a mans age and neuerthelesse they are growne to such maturity of craft and deceit that all other orders are but nouices to them they are the onely fellowes of the world for subtill practices and daring enterprises and now the chiefest props of the Papall sea For Dominick was weary of bearing that burden and for the ease of himselfe suffered Loyola to put vnder his shoulder and so now all the burden lyeth vpon him let him hold vp stiffely therefore or els all will goe to wracke 8. But now to the purpose Where were all these orders in the Apostles times and in the Primitiue age of the Church Then men reioyced to be called by the Name of Christ now these fellowes glory to be called by the name of Dominick or Francis and as if Christians was too base a name for them they will be called Iesuites of Iesus they say the Sonne of God but more truely of Bar-Iesus the Sorcerer that withstood the preaching of Paul was a peruerter of the straight wayes of the Lord or of a French weapon called Gesu◠wherewith these same bloudy Traitours vse to murther kings and Princes if they withstand their purposes whereupon is that elegant Epigram A Gesis sunt indita nomina vobis Quae quia sacrilegi Reges torquetis in omnes Inde sacrum nomen sacrum sumpsistis omen 9. But to shut vp in one word all the villany of these monstrous late-borne orders of Fryers let Aretine an Italian Poet describe them Frate sayth he in Italian is a Fryer euery letter of which word doth represent the nature of that generation for Furfanto a thiefe Ribaldo a filthy Ribald Asino an asse Traditore a Traitour Eretico an Heretike All together make the true and perfect definition of a Fryer Or as Lincolniensis defineth him A dead carcase risen out of his graue wrapped in a winding sheet and carryed among men by the Deuill But my purpose is not to bring vpon the stage their filthy and abominable liues hee that will see that let him read Clemangis in his booke of the state of the Church which hee wrote about two hundreth yeeres since And Cornelius Agrippa of the vanity of Sciences And Polidore Virgill and Aluarus Pelagius and Palingenius with Ariosto an Italian Poet c. and he shall finde matter not onely of wonder and admiration but also of griefe and lamentation that the Church of God should bee so long pestered with such filthy dregges but it is sufficient for this place to haue showne that neither their name nor orders were once heard of in the Primitiue Church 10. Thus much touching their persons Now for the iurisdiction exercised by these persons how not onely transcendent but repugnant it hath beene and is at this day to that of the Apostles and Primitiue Church their both Lordly titles and tyrannous practice doth clearely demonstrate For their titles which of the Apostles either assumed to himselfe which they might haue iustly done if it had beene their due or receiued from others these titles Vniuersall Bishop Head of the Church High Priest of the world Prince of Priests and Christs Vicar vpon earth c But the Pope of Rome doth challenge to himselfe all these yea more then these that he is as it were a god vpon earth hauing fulnesse of power and yet more aequè ac Christus Deus A God aswell as Christ a beeing of the second intention compounded of God and man and yet more Deus vindictae a God of reuenge and another god vpon earth and lastly Stupor mundi the wonderment of the world neither God nor man but a neuter betwixt both Could such intolerable pride euer enter into the heart of a man or could the tongue of any wight liuing dare to belch out such horrible blasphemies Surely none but hee that is that man of sinne who sitteth in the Temple of God as God and to whom is giuen a mouth to blaspheme the God of Heauen and in whose fore-head is written this name of blasphemy Deus sum errare non possum I am God I cannot erre But to the point Did euer Peter whose successour the Pope claimeth to bee challenge to himselfe any such titles or did euer any of the other Apostles or any Bishop in the Primitiue Church for the space of three hundreth yeeres Peter was so farre from this pride that hee giueth charge to all Elders of the Church that they should not behaue themselues as Lords ouer Gods heritage And in that very place hee equalleth himselfe to the rest and the rest to himselfe calling himselfe a fellow Elder and in another place hee calleth all the Disciples his brethren yea all the Israelites his brethren and all Christians his brethren behold his humility But the Pope acknowledgeth no
high Priest of the world much like to King Alexanders Bucephalus which being bare would carry any groome quietly but when his trappings and furniture was on then hee would endure none but Alexander The writer of the life of Saint Bernard relateth a pretty wonder done by that holy man at the dedication of a Church when as the place was so filled with multitude of flies that the people could not enter into it without great annoyance Saint Bernard vsing no other meanes to destroy them said onely I excommunicate them and presently the next morning they were all found dead on the floore Doth this sauour of Saint Bernards holinesse or can any man bee so madde as to thinke that so holy a man would denounce excommunication ordained to separate from the Congregation open and sinfull men against poore silly flies sure hee hath no more wit then a flye that will beleeue this so that notwithstanding the ancient miracles recorded by the Fathers yet the Legendary Romish miracles are not freed from grosse and notorious falshood 27. Another practice of theirs to win credit to their Religion and disgrace to ours is slaundering and calumniating both our Religion and the professours thereof and that so grossely and falsely that their owne consciences could not chuse but say secretly vnto their tongues thou lyest when they were writing them in their bookes but they deale like theeues who to cleare themselues from suspition of robbery raise vp hue and cry against true men or like harlots that lay the imputation of dishonestie vpon sober matrones to the end that they themselues might bee thought chast and honest so beeing full of sores and blemishes themselues they seeke to couer their owne shame by discouering ours Which if it were in truth though their enuy was neuer the lesse yet their sinne was not so great but beeing notorious and outragious lyes they plainely show that they care not what they belch foorth so they staine vs with the filth thereof and that they haue learned that Maâ—chauillian rule audacter calumniari to slander boldly because though the wound bee healed yet a scarre remaineth 28. Their slanders are darted either against our persons or the gouernment of our Church or our doctrines let vs take a short view of all these and first for their personall slanders they slander all of vs in generall with the ignominious titles of solifidians nullifidians nudifidians Infidels worse then Turkes c. yea and say that wee haue no faith no Religion no Christ no God and what not that either malice can deuise or enuy and rage vtter These slanderous reproches are set abroach by rayling Parsons in his booke of the three conuersions and almost in all other of his discourses and by Mathew Kellison who was of a sudden start vp from spigget to the Pulpit a buttery diuine and by Wright another of the same stampe and by Reynolds and Bellarmine and Beran and Coster and all the brood of ranke mouthed Iesuites who as if they were all bitten with one madde dog raue alike against our Religion and the professours thereof but God bee praised with euill successe for their calumnies are so transparent that he that doth but meanly vnderstand the grounds of our Religion cannot but turne the lie vpon their heads 29. But let vs heare their reasons why we are all Infidels mary they propound two principall ones and those very strong as they thinke first they say that all learned Protestants are Infidels because they build their faith vpon their owne priuate exposition of Scripture and secondly that ignorant Protestants are Infidels because they rely their faith vpon their Ministers credit To the first I answere two things first that wee doe not interpret the Scripture by our own priuate iudgements but by the Scripture it selfe for some places are so plaine those principally that contain the grounds of Religion that they need no exposition as Saint Augustine witnesseth saying that quaedam in Scripturis c. There be some things in the Scripture so manifest that they require rather a hearer then an expounder and what those things are the same father declareth in another place where he sayth that in those things which are plainely set downe in Scripture are found all those points which containe faith and manners and those things which are obscure and hard in Scripture we do not expound by any forraine or priuate interpretation but by conferring them with other more plaine and perspicuous places and so except they say that the Scripture it selfe is of a priuate interpretation they cannot condemne vs of that crime Now that this is the best way of interpreting let the same Augustine informe vs who sayth That there is nothing contained in hard places of Scripture which is not to be found most plainely vttered in others and Chrysostome who affirmeth that the Scripture expoundeth it selfe and suffereth not the Reader to erre and Basill who telleth vs that those things which be doubtfull or seeme to be couertly spoken in some places of holy Scripture are expounded by other plaine places Of the same minde are the rest of the Fathers and so wee expound the Scripture no otherwise then all the ancient Fathers vsed to doe and then indeed it ought to be 30. I but wee follow not the iudgement of the Church say they which hath the onely key of interpretation committed vnto it if they meane by the Church the fathers we may iustify our selues by condemning them of the same fault they deale with them as the Iewes dealt with their wiues if they please their humors they hold vnto them but if they crosse or thwart them they sue out a bill of diuorce against them and put them away nothing is more common then this in all their writings and therefore it needs no instances to prooue it if they meane the Councils why by their owne teaching no Councill is of sufficient authority except it bee confirmed by the Pope nor any decree or interpretation to bee entertained without his approbation Therefore they must needs meane the Pope alone and if they doe so then we confesse that wee haue iust causes not to tye our faith to his girdle nor our vnderstanding to his braine seeing many of that ranke haue beene open Heretikes some notorious Atheists all men and therefore subiect to errour yea seeing the body of their Church is an Apostate harlot and the surmised head on earth that man of sinne the great Antichrist spoken of in the Scriptures If to vary from him then and his Babylon in our exposition of Scripture bee priuate interpretation wee confesse our selues guilty but in all other respects cleare and innocent 31. Secondly grant that wee doe in some points follow on our owne priuate exposition yet wee are not therefore Infidels for then most of the Fathers should bee infidels aswell as wee for there are few of them which haue not sometimes priuately vea and falsely
they done it to gaine any thing thereby in disputation but onely to keepe the common people from infection whereas they spare none neither Fathers nor Councels nor moderne Writers and that not so much lest the common sort should bee infected as that the learned might be depriued of those weapons wherewith they might fight against them and wound their cause Seeing the case now so stands that hee which can muster vp together the greatest armie of Authours to fight vnder his colours is thought to haue the best cause their dealing then with vs is like that of the Philistims against the Israelites who despoyled them of all weapons and instruments of warre that they might dominiere ouer them with greater securitie but ours is not so towards them And therefore both in this and all the former respects it is a miserable vntruth and a desperate cuasion to say that wee are more guiltie of this crime then they are 107. Lastly whereas in his first answere hee pleadeth the lawfulnesse of the fact let vs heare his reasons to moue thereunto and in the interim remember that in prouing it to bee lawfull hee confesseth it to bee done But why is it lawfull Mary first because the Church being supreme Iudge on earth of all Controuersies touching faith and Religion hath authoritie to condemne Heretikes And therefore also the workes of Heretikes and if this then much more to correct and purge their Bookes if by that meanes shee can make them profitable for her vse and beneficiall to her children To which I answere two things First that it is not the Church that doth this but the sacred Inquisitors to wit certaine Cardinals and Lawyers deputed to that office who for the most part are so farre from being the Church that they are often no sound members thereof Iâ— it be said that they haue their authoritie from the Pope who is vertually the whole Church why doe they then speake so darkly and say the Church hath this authoritie when as they might in plaine termes say that the Pope hath it but that hereby they should display the feeblenesse of their cause and the fillinesse of this reason for thus it would stand Why is it lawful for Books to be purged because the Pope thinkes it lawful And must not he needs think so when the Authors crosse his triple crowne and speake against his state and dignitie Adde hereunto that it is a fallacie in reasoning when that is taken for granted which is in question For we deny their Synagogue to be the true Church and much more the Pope to bee the supreme Iudge and therefore till those things be proued the reason is of no effect 108. Secondly most of those things which are purged by them are so farre from being heresies or errours that they are the most of them sound doctrines of faith grounded vpon the authoritie of Gods sacred truth for they blot out many things in both olde and new Authours that they themselues dare not accuse to bee hereticall as that place in Saint Cyril before mentioned touching the power of faith which is no more in direct termes then that which is said in the Scripture Act. 15. 15. that faith purifieth the heart and that in the Basil Index of Chrysostome The Church is not built vpon a man but vpon faith and those propositions which are commanded by the Dutch Index to be wiped out of the Table of Robert Stephens Bible to wit that sinnes are remitted by beleeuing in Christ that he which beleeueth in Christ shall not die for euer that faith purifieth the heart that Christ is our righteousnes that no man is iust before God and that repentance is the gift of God with a number of like nature These they purge out of Stephens Index which notwithstanding are directly and in as many words recorded in the Booke of God and so it may iustly be thought that they are so farre from clenfing Bookes from the drosse and dregs of errour that they rather purge out the pure gold and cleare wine of truth and leaue nothing but dregs and drosse behind 109. His second reason is because nothing is more dangerous to infect true Christian hearts then bad Bookes Therefore it is not onely lawfull but needfull and behoouefull to the Church of God that such Bookes should bee purged and burned too if it bee so thought meete by the Church to the end that the sinceritie of one true faith and Religion might be preserued I answere all this is true which he saith but are they heresies which they purge no they are sound and orthodox opinions for the most part as hath beene proued in the answere to the former reason And doe they it to keepe Christian men from infection no their chiefe end and drift is to depriue their aduersaries of all authorities that make against them that so they might triumph in the antiquitie of their Religion and noueltie of ours which is one of their principall arguments which they vse though with euill successe for defence of their cause dealing herein as Holofernes did with the Israelites at the siege of Bethulia breaking the Conduits cutting the pipes and slopping the passages which might bring vs prouision of good and wholsome waters out of the cisternes of olde and new Writers this is their purpose and no other whatsoeuer they pretend for if they meant any good to Gods people for preuenting of infection they would haue purged their lying Legends of infinite fables their Canon Law of horrible blasphemies and their Schoolemen of many strange opinions Yea they would haue condemned the Bookes of Machiauel and of that Cardinall that wrote in commendation of the vnnaturall sinne of Sodomie and a number such like filthy and deuillish Writings which are printed and reprinted among them without controulement And againe is it vnitie in the true faith and religion that they seeke no it is conspiracie in falshood and consent in errour and not vnitie in the truth till the Romish Religion bee proued to bee the true Religion which can neuer be this reason is of no force to iustifie their proceedings Lastly is it Christian policy no it is deuilish subtletie and craftie forgerie for the case so stands betwixt them and vs as in a tryall of land betwixt partie and partie wherein hee that bringeth best euidence and witnesse carrieth the cause now if one partie either suborne false witnesses or corrupt true or forge euidences to his purpose or falsifie those that are extant all men will count him as a forger and his cause desperate and iudge him worthie the Pillorie so betwixt vs the question is who hath the right faith and the best title to the Church Our euidences are first and principally Gods Word then the writings and records of godly men in all ages now then they that shall purge pare raze blurr falsify or corrupt any of these must needs bee thought to bee subtle and craftie companions and not honest
Popish superstition doe say that it is an ordinarie matter A wonderful superstitiō that is nourished by Images so apparent that it cannot be denied Now if this were a scandall taken and not giuen they might in some sort bee excused but it is eūidently not onely occasioned but caused by reason that both the doctrine is inuolued with so many intricate questions and distinctions that it is impossible for an ignorant person to discerne thereof and also because the Image it selfe as the Prophet Habacuck telleth vs is a teacher of lyes For which cause as Polidore Virgil reporteth the Fathers of all vices condemned the worship of Images for feare of Idolatrie the most execrable vice of all The second offence is to the vnconuerted Iewes who are most zealous in this point of the Law against Images insomuch as Iosephus reports of them they did hate the verie Images of men in their Heathenish Trophees as being forbidden them by God Now it is well concluded by a iudicious obseruer of the Westerne Religions and without doubt is a most true obseruation that there is no one thing in outward respects that doth ingender in the Iewes such a detestation of Christian Religion and keepe them from being conuerted as the worship of Images in the Church of Rome for they and that by good reason may thus dispute If this Religion of Christians were of God then they would not oppose themselues to the expresse Commaundement of God in worshipping Images which he hath so plainly forbidden but they oppose themselues to Gods Commandement and worship Images therefore their Religion cannot bee of God Hence it is as the former learned Relator doth report that at Rome though all the Iewes in the Citie are constrained once a yeere to come to a Christian Church and there heare a Sermon for their pretended conuersion yet when as a Fryer before the beginning of his Sermon holdeth vp a Crucifix and prayeth vnto it in their open sight they are more alienated from the Christian faith by this odious spectacle then all the reasons and arguments that he can vse are able to perswade them to the same Behold two dangerous and fearefull scandals which arise from this doctrine one to their owne weake ones of which our Sauiour saith that it were better for a man that a milstone were hanged about his necke and that hee were throwne into the Sea then that hee should offend one of them the other to the obstinate Iewes whose conuersion shall be so beneficiall to the whole world as that Saint Paul calleth it life from the dead Now our Religion is farre from giuing any such offence to one or other either in this or any other point thereof if it bee not vtterly misconstrued and misconceiued 24. Againe in their worship of Relickes there is no securitie at all both in feare of Idolatrie which may bee well committed to them if they bee true in giuing them a higher measure of adoration then they themselues allow of which is easio to bee done by the ignorant multitude and also in feare of worshipping false relickes in stead of true whereof there is no small number in the Church of Rome as hath bin alreadie declared and lasty in feare of neglecting the true members of Christ by a too sumptuous prodigalitie towards the bones of I cannot tel what dead men or other creatures as is most vsuall in their Church and that in great excesse in which respects it is without question a more safe course that all such Relickes were buried vnder the earth with due honour of Christian sepulture then that they should thus indanger both godly pietie Christian charitie And this is the conclusion of their Cassander who sayth that it is more safe rather honourably to burie those corruptible relickes and to draw the World to the worship of their spirituall relickes which neither time can corrupt nor fraud counterfeit 25. Againe they hold and teach that traditions are to bee honoured with equall affection and deuotion as is due vnto the olde and new Testament and that there are many things belonging to the doctrine and faith of Christianitie which are neyther expressely nor obscurely contained in the Scriptures And therefore by their owne confession they build many doctrines of their Religion vpon tradition onely without Scripture and acknowledge that without tradition many of them would reele and totter The Protestants hold the contrarie and constantly affirme that the Scripture is an all-sufficient directorie and a most absolute and perfect rule for faith and manners and therefore that wee ought not to relye our faith vpon any thing but Scripture alone Now let vs consider and examine whether of these two doctrines are more safe for a man to repose his soule vpon And that our doctrine is so may appeare first by the nature of the question it selfe which is controuerted betwixt them and vs for the question is not whether the Scripture bee the Word of God or no therein wee shake hands as an vndoubted truth but whether traditions bee the Word of God or no the affirmatiue they hold wee the negatiue and that by great and strong grounds which our aduersaries themselues cannot deny but that they carrie great shew of reason and probabilitie Now whether is the safer course to relye our faith vpon those principles that are vnquestionably Gods Word or vpon those that are controuerted disputed and called in question Any man that goeth about to buy a purchase will sooner venture vpon such a title which was neuer called in question nor can indeed bee doubted of then vpon a broken disputable and vndecided title he will looke twice vpon his pennie before he part with it in such a case lest caueat emptor proue him to bee of little discretion and teach him to repent when it is too late This is the case of euerie Christian wee are to buy the truth and not to sell it as Salomon counselleth Now who will not that hath any graine of wisedome in his heart rather lay out his monie that is his soule and conscience which as Augustine calleth it is numisma Dei Godscoyne because his Image is imprinted therein for the purchase of that truth which is without all exception in the holy Scriptures then for that which is said to be in traditions but mixed with many doubts and ambiguities It is a rule in Law that abundans cautela non nocet a man cannot be too warie in making sure his title to any thing whatsoeuer How much more then should it preuaile in cases of conscience where the damage is not of house and land but of our soules which to euery man ought to be more precious then the whole world Here is an euident direction for our choice if we eyther loue the truth or our own soules which must liue by it 26. Secondly it may appeare by the perpetuall certaintie of the holy Scripture and variable