yet Bellarmine dares not deny it but makes for it a crude and a cold Apology Now concerning this Article it will not be necessary to declare the Sentence of the Church of England and Ireland because it is notorious to all the World and is expresly oppos'd against this Roman Doctrine by Laws Articles Confessions Homilies the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy the Book of Christian Institution and the many excellent Writings of King Iames of Blessed Memory of our Bishops and other Learned Persons against Bellarmine Parsons Eudaemon Iohannes Creswel and others And nothing is more notorious than that the Church of England is most dutiful most zealous for the right of Kings and within these four and twenty years She hath had many Martyrs and very very many Confessors in this Cause It is true that the Church of Rome does recriminate in this point and charges some Calvinists and Presbyterians with Doctrines which indeed they borrowed from Rome using their Arguments making use of their Expressions and pursuing their Principles But with them in this Article we have nothing to do but to reprove the Men and condemn their Doctrine as we have done all along by private Writings and publick Instruments We conclude these our Reproofs with an Exhoriation to our respective Charges to all that desire to be sav'd in the day of the Lord Iesus that they decline from these horrid Doctrines which in their birth are new in their growth are scandalous in their proper consequents are infinitely dangerous to their Souls and hunt for their precious life But therefore it is highly fit that they also should perceive their own advantages and give God praise that they are immur'd from such infinite dangers by the Holy Precepts and Holy Faith taught and commanded in the Church of England and Ireland in which the Word of God is set before them as a Lanthorn to their feet and a Light unto their eyes and the Sacraments are fully administred according to Christs Institution and Repentance is preach'd according to the measures of the Gospel and Faith in Christ is propounded according to the Rule of the Apostles and the measures of the Churches Apostolical and Obedience to Kings is greatly and sacredly urg'd and the Authority and Order of Bishops is preserv'd against the Usurpation of the Pope and the Invasion of Schismaticks and Aerians new and old and Truth and Faith to all men is kept and preach'd to be necessary and inviolable and the Commandements are expounded with just severity and without scruples and Holiness of Life is urg'd upon all men as indispensably necessary to Salvation and therefore without any allowances tricks and little artifices of escaping from it by easie and imperfect Doctrines and every thing is practis'd which is useful to the saving of our Souls and Christs Merits and Satisfaction are intirely relyed upon for the pardon of our sins and the necessity of Good Works is universally taught and our Prayers are holy unblameable edifying and understood they are according to the measures of the Word of God and the practice of all Saints In this Church the Children are duly carefully and rightly Baptiz'd and the Baptiz'd in their due time are Confirm'd and the Confirm'd are Communicated and Penitents are Absolv'd and the Impenitents punished and discouraged and Holy Marriage in all men is preferr'd before unclean Concubinate in any and Nothing is wanting that God and his Christ hath made necessary to Salvation Behold we set before you Life and Death Blessing and Cursing Safety and Danger Choose which you will but remember that the Prophets who are among you have declar'd to you the way of Salvation Now the Lord give you understanding in all things and reveal even this also unto you Amen FINIS 1 Cor. 6.4 Phil. â— 14 Cont. Hermogen De vera side in Moral â—â—g 72. c. 1. reg 80. c. 22. Epist. Pasch. 2 De incar Christi Lib. 2. cap. de origen error lib. 7. contr Celsum Can comperimus de consecr dist 2. in 1 Cor. 11. Eccles. 11.6 De uniâ— Eccles cap. 6. * Ecclesia ex facris canoniciâ— Scripturiâ— osteudenda est quaque exillis aftendi non potest Ecclesia non est S. Aug. deâ—â—tit Eccles. c. 4. c. 3. Ibi quaeramus Ecclesiam ibi deat namus causum nostram * Lib. Cano discipl Eccles. Angliâ— injunct Regiâ— Elis. A. D. 1571. Can. de concionatoribus â—at 3. Calend. Mart. Thâ—ssaâ—onicae a Quod sit metrum regula aâ— scientia credendorum Summae de Eccles. l. 2. c. 203. b Novum Symbolum condere solum ad Papam spectat quia est capuâ— fidei Christians cujus authoritate omnia quae ad filem spectant firmantur roborantur q. 59. a. 1. art 2. sicut potest novum symbolum condere ita potest novos articulos supra aelios multiplicare c Papa potest sacere novos arâ—iâ—ulos fidei id est quod modo credi oporteat cum sic prius non oportereâ— in cap. cum Christ. de hate n. 2. d Papa potest inducere novum articulum fidei in idem e Super 2. Decret de jurejur c. minis n. 1. f Apud Petrum Ciezam â—o 2. instit peruinae cap. â—9 * Iohannes Clemens aliquos folia Theodereti laceravit abjecit in socum in quibus contrae Transubstanâ—iaetionem praeclare disseruit Et cum non itae pridem Originem excuderent totum illud capuâ— sextum Iohannis quod commentabaetur Origenes omiserunt mutilum ediderunt librum propter candem causam * Sixtus Senensis Epist. Dedicat. ad Pium Quint. laudat Pontificem in haec verba Expurgari emaculari curâ—stâ— omnium Catholicorum Scriptorum at praeciput veterum Patrum scriptae Index Expurgator Madrili 1612. in Indiâ—e libror. expurgatorum pag. 39. Gal. 1. 8. Part 2. act 6. c. â— De potest Eccles consiâ— â— De Consiâ— author l. 2. c. 17. Section 1. Sess. 21. cap. 4. Part. 1. Sum. tit 10. c. 3. In art 18. Luther * Intravit ut vulpes regnavit ut leo moriebatur ut canis de eo saepius dictum Tertull. l. ad Martyr c. 1. S. Cyprian lib. 3. Ep. 15. apud Pamelium 11. Concil Nicen. 1. can 12. Conc. Ancyr c. 5. Concil Laodicen c. 2. S. Basil. in Ep. canonicis habentur in Nomocanone Photii can 73. * Communis opittio DD. tam Theologorum quaem Canonicorum quod sunt ex abundantiae meritorum quae ultrae mensuram demeritorum suorum sancti sustinuerunt Christi Sum. Angel v. Indulg 9. * Lib. 1. de indulgent cap. 2. 3. a In 4. l. sent dist 19. q. 2. b Ibid. dist 20. q. 3. Ubi supra In lib. 4. sent Verb. Indulgentia Vt quid non praevides tibâ— in die judicii quando nemo poterit per alium excusari vel defendi sed unusquisque sufficiens onus erit sibi ipsi Th. ae Kempis l. 1. de imit c. 24. a Homil. 1.
A DISSVVASIVE FROM POPERY To the People of IRELAND BY JEREMY Lord Bishop of DOVVN DVBLIN Printed by Iohn Crooke Printer to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty and are to be sold by Samuel Dancer 1664. THE PREFACE TO THE READER WHen a Roman Gentleman had to please himself written a book in Greek and presented it to Cato he desired him to pardon the faults of his expressions since he wrote in Greek which was a tongue in which he was not perfect Master Cato told him he had better then to have let it alone and written in Latine by how much it is better not to commit a fault then to make apologies For if the thing be good it needs not to be excus'd if it be not good a crude apologie will do nothing but confess the fault but never make amends I therefore make this address to all who will concern themselves in reading this Book not to ask their pardon for my fault in doing it I know of none for if I had known them I would have mended them before the Publication and yet though I know not any I do not question but much fault will be found by too many I wish I have given them no cause for their so doing But I do not onely mean it in the particular periods where every man that is not a Son of the Church of England or Ireland will at least do as Apollonius did to the apparition that affrighted his company on the mountain Caucasus he will revile and persecute me with evil words but I mean it in the whole designe and men will reasonably or capritiously ask why any more controversies Why this over again Why against the Papists against whom so very-many are already exasperated that they cry out fiercely of persecution And why can they not be suffered to enjoy their share of peace which hath returned in the hands of his Sacred Majesty at his blessed Restauration For as much of this as concerns my self I make no excuse but give my reasons and hope to justifie this procedure with that modesty which David us'd to his angry Brother saying What have I now done Is there not a cause The cause is this The Reverend Fathers my Lords the Bishops of Ireland in their circumspection and watchfulness over their Flocks having espyed grievous Wolves to have entred in some with Sheeps clothing and some without some secret enemies and some open at first endeavour'd to give check to those enemies which had put fire into the bed straw and though God hath very much prosper'd their labours yet they have work enough to do and will have till God shall call them home to the land of peace and unity But it was soon remembred that when King James of blessed memory had discerned the Spirits of the English non-Conformists found them peevish and factious unreasonable and imperious not only unable to govern but as inconsistent with the Government as greedy to snatch at it for themselves resolved to take off their disguise and put a difference between Conscience and Faction and to bring them to the measures and rules of Laws and to this the Council and all wise men were consenting because by the Kings great wisdome and the conduct of the whole conference and enquiry men saw there was reason on the Kings side and necessity on all sides But the Gun-powder Treason breaking out a new zeal was enkindled against the Papists and it shin'd so greatly that the non-Conformists escaped by the light of it and quickly grew warm by the heat of that flame to which they added no small increase by their declamations and other acts of insinuation insomuch that they being neglected multiply'd until they got power enough to do all those mischiefs which we have seen and felt This being remembred and spoken of it was soon observ'd that the Tables only were now turn'd and that now the publick zeal and watchfulness against those men and those persuasions which so lately have afflicted us might give to the emissaries of the Church of Rome leisure and opportunity to grow into numbers and strength to debauch many Souls and to unhinge the safety and peace of the Kingdom In Ireland we saw too much of it done and found the mischief growing too fast and the most intolerable inconveniences but too justly apprehended as near and imminent We had reason at least to cry Fire when it flamed through our very Roofs and to interpose with all care and diligence when Religion and the eternal interest of Souls was at stake as knowing we should be greatly unfit to appear and account to the great Bishop and Shepherd of souls if we had suffered the enemies to sow tares in our fields we standing and looking on It was therefore consider'd how we might best serve God and rescue our charges from their danger and it was concluded presently to run to arms I mean to the weapons of our warfare to the armour of the Spirit to the works of our calling and to tell the people of their peril to warn them of the enemy and to lead them in the wayes of truth and peace and holiness that if they would be admonished they might be safe if they would not they should be without excuse because they could not say but the Prophets have been amongst them But then it was next enquired who should minister in this affair and put in order all those things which they had to give in charge It was easie to chuse many but hard to chuse one There were many fit to succeed in the vacant Apostleship and though Barsabas the just was by all the Church nam'd as a fit and worthy man yet the lot fell upon Matthias and that was my case it fell to me to be their Amanuensis when persons most worthy were more readily excus'd and in this my Lords the Bishops had reason that according to S. Pauls rule If there be judgements or controversies amongst us they should be employ'd who are least esteem'd in the Church And upon this account I had nothing left me but obedience though I confess that I found regret in the nature of the employment for I love not to be as S. Paul calls it one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disputers of this world For I suppose skill in controversies as they are now us'd to be the worst part of Learning and time is the worst spent in them and men the least benefited by them that is when the Questions are curious and impertinent intricate and inexplicable not to make men better but to make a Sect. But when the Propositions disputed are of the foundation of faith or lead to good life or naturally do good to single persons or publick Societies then they are part of the depositum of Christianity of the Analogy of Faith and for this we are by the Apostle commanded to contend earnestly and therefore controversies may become necessary but because they are not often so but
helps for the understanding of the Scriptures and as good testimony of the Doctrine deliver'd from their fore-fathers down to them of what the Church esteem'd the way of Salvation and therefore if we find any Doctrine now taught which was not plac'd in their way of Salvation we reject it as being no part of the Christian faith and which ought not to be impos'd upon consciences They were wise unto salvation and fully instructed to every work and therefore the faith which they profess'd and deriv'd from Scripture we profess also and in the same faith we hope to be sav'd even as they But for the new Doctors we understand them not we know them not Our faith is the same from the beginning and cannot become new But because we shall make it to appear that they do greatly innovate in all their points of controversie with us and shew nothing but shadowes instead of substances and little images of things instead of solid arguments we shall take from them their armour in which they trusted and choose this sword of Goliah to combat their errors for non est alter talis It is not easie to finde a better than the Word of God expounded by the prime and best Antiquity The first thing therefore we are to advertise is That the Emissaries of the Roman Church endeavour to perswade the good people of our Dioceses from a Religion that is truly Primitive and Apostolick and divert them to Propositions of their own new and unheard of in the first ages of the Christian Church For the Religion of our Church is therefore certainly Primitive and Apostolick because it teaches us to believe the whole Scriptures of the Old and New Testament and nothing else as matter of faith and therefore unless there can be new Scriptures we can have no new matters of belief no new articles of faith Whatsoever we cannot prove from thence we disclaim it as not deriving from the Fountains of our Saviour We also do believe the Apostles Creed the Nicene with the additions of Constantinople and that which is commonly called the Symbol of S. Athanasius and the four first General Councils are so intirely admitted by us that they together with the plain words of Scripture are made the rule and measure of judging Heresies amongst us and in pursuance of these it is commanded by our Church that the Clergy shall never teach any thing as matter of Faith religiously to be observed but that which is agreeable to the Old and New Testament and collected out of the same Doctrine by the Ancient Fathers and Catholick Bishops of the Church This was undoubtedly the Faith of the Primitive Church they admitted all into their Communion that were of this faith they condemned to Man that did not condemn these they gave Letters communicatory by no other cognisance and all were Brethren who spake this voice Hanc legem sequentes Christianorum Catholicorum nomen jubemus amplecti reliquos verò dementes vesanosque judicantes haeretici dogmatis infaemiam sustinere said the Emperors Gratian Valentinian and Theodosius in their Proclamation to the People of C. P. All that believ'd this Doctrine were Christians and Catholicks viz. all they who believe in the Father Son and Holy Ghost one Divinity of equal Majesty in the Holy Trinity which indeed was the summe of what was decreed in explication of the Apostles Creed in the four first General Councils And what faith can be the foundation of a more solid peace the surer ligaments of Catholick Communion or the firmer basis of a holy Life and of the hopes of Heaven hereafter than the measures which the Holy Primitive Church did hold and and we after them That which we rely upon is the same that the Primitive Church did acknowledg to be the adaequate foundation of their hopes in the matters of belief The way which they thought sufficient to go to Heaven in is the way which we walk what they did not teach we do not publish and impose into this faith entirely and into no other as they did theirs so we baptize our Catechumens The Discriminations of Heresie from Catholick Doctrine which they us'd we use also and we use no other and in short we believe all that Doctrine which the Church of Rome believes except those things which they have superinduc'd upon the Old Religion and in which we shall prove that they haue innovated So that by their confession all the Doctrine which we teach the people as matter of Faith must be confessed to be Ancient Primitive and Apostolick or else theirs is not so for ours is the same and we both have received this Faith from the Fountains of Scripture and Universal Tradition not they from us or we from them but both of us from Christ and his Apostles And therefore there can be no question whether the Faith of the Church of England be Apostolick and Primitive it is so confessedly But the Question is concerning many other particulars which were unknown to the Holy Doctors of the first Ages which were no part of their Faith which were never put into their Creeds which were not determined in any of the four first General Councels rever'd in all Christendom and entertain'd every where with great Religion and veneration even next to the four Gospels and the Apostolical writings Of this sort because the Church of Rome hath introduc'd many and hath adopted them into their late Creed and imposes them upon the people not only without but against the Scriptures and the Catholick Doctrine of the Church of God laying heavie burdens on mens Consciences and making the narrow way to Heaven yet narrower by their own inventions arrogating to themselves a Dominion over our Faith and prescribing a method of Salvation which Christ and his Apostles never taught corrupting the Faith of the Church of God and Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men and lastly having derogated from the Prerogative of Christ who alone is the Author and Finisher of our faith and hath perfected it in the revelations consign'd in the Holy Scriptures therefore it is that we esteem our selves oblig'd to warn the People of their danger and to depart from it and call upon them to stand upon the wayes and ask after the old paths and walk in them lest they partake of that curse which is threatned by God to them who remove the ancient Land-marks which our Fathers in Christ have set for us Now that the Church of Rome cannot pretend that all which she imposes is Primitive and Apostolick appears in this That in the Church of Rome there is pretence made to a power not only of declaring new Articles of Faith but of making new Symbols or Creeds and imposing them as of necessity to Salvation Which thing is evident in the Bull of Pope Leo the Tenth against Martin Luther in which amongst other things he is condemn'd for saying It is certain that it is not in the power
of the Church or Pope to constitute Articles of Faith We need not adde that this power is attributed to the Bishops of Rome by Turrecremata Augustinus Triumphus de Ancona Petrus de Ancorano and the famous Abbot of Panormo that the Pope cannot only make new Creeds but new Articles of Faith That he can make that of necessity to be believ'd which before never was necessary That he is the measure and rule and the very notice of all credibilities That the Canon Law is the Divine Law and what-ever Law the Pope promulges God whose Vicar he is is understood to be the promulger That the souls of men are in the hands of the Pope and that in his arbitration Religion does consist which are the very words of Hostiensis and Ferdinandus ab Inciso who were Casuists and Doctors of Law of great authority amongst them and renown The thing it self is not of dubious disputation amongst them but actually practis'd in the greatest instances as is to be seen in the Bull of Pius the fourth at the end of the Council of Yrent by which all Ecclesiasticks are not only bound to swear to all the Articles of the Council of Trent for the present and for the future but they are put into a new Symbol or Creed and they are corroborated by the same decretory clauses that are us'd in the Creed of Athanasius that this is the true Catholick Faith and that without this no man can be saved Now since it cannot be imagined that this power to which they pretend should never have been reduc'd to act and that it is not credible they should publish so inviduous and ill sounding Doctrine to no purpose and to serve no end it may without further evidence be believed by all discerning persons that they have need of this Doctrine or it would not have been taught and that consequently without more adoe it may be concluded that some of their Articles are parts of this New Faith and that they can therefore in no sense be Apostolical unless their being Roman makes them so To this may be added another consideration not much less material that besides what Eckius told the Elector of Bavaria that the Doctrines of Luther might be overthrown by the Fathers though not by Scripture they have also many gripes of Conscience concerning the Fathers themselves that they are not right on their side and of this they have given but too much demonstration by their Expurgatory Indices The Serpent by being so curious a Defender of his Head shewes where his danger is and by what he can most readily be destroyed But besides their innumerable corruptings of the Fathers Writings their thrusting in that which was spurious and like Pharaoh killing the legitimate Sons of Israel though in this they have done very much of their work and made the Testimonies of the Fathers to be a Record infinitely worse than of themselves uncorrupted they would have been of which divers Learned Persons have made publique complaint and demonstration they have at last fallen to a new trade which hath caus'd more dis-reputation to them than they have gain'd advantage and they have virtually confess'd that in many things the Fathers are against them For first the King of Spain gave a Commission to the Inquisitors to purge all Catholick Authors but with this clause iique ipsi privatim nullisque consciis apud se indicem expurgatorium habebunt quem eundem neque aliis communicabunt neque ejus exemplum ulli dabunt that they should keep the Expurgatory Index privately neither imparting that Index nor giving a Copie of it to any But it happened by the Divine Providence so ordering it that about thirteen years after a Copie of it was gotten and published by Iohannes Pappus and Franciscus Iunius and since it came abroad against their wills they finde it necessary now to own it and they have Printed it themselves Now by these expurgatory Tables what they have done is known to all Learned Men. In S. Chrysostom's Works printed at Basil these words The Church is not built upon the Man but upon the Faith are commanded to be blotted out and these There is no Merit but what is given us by Christ and yet these words are in his Sermon upon Pentecost and the former words are in his first Homily upon that of S. Iohn Ye are my friends c. The like they have done to him in many other places and to S. Ambrose and to S. Austin and to them all insomuch that Ludovicus Saurius the Corrector of the Press at Lyons shewed and complain'd of it to Iunius that he was forc'd to cancellate or blot out many sayings of S. Ambrose in that Edition of his works which was printed at Lyons 1559. So that what they say on occasion of Bertram's book In the old Catholick Writers we suffer very many errors and extenuate and excuse them and finding out some Commentary we fain some convenient sense when they are oppos'd in Disputations they do indeed practise but esteem it not sufficient for the words which make against them they wholly leave out of their Editions Nay they correct the very Tables or Indices made by the Printers or Correctors insomuch that out of one of Frobens Indices they have commanded these words to be blotted The use of Images forbidden The Eucharist no sacrifice but the memory of a sacrifice Works although they do not justifie yet are necessary to Salvation Marriage is granted to all that will not contain Venial sins damne The dead Saints after this life cannot help us Nay out of the Index of S. Austin's Works by Claudius Chevallonius at Paris 1531. there is a very strange deleatur Dele Solus Deus adorandus that God alone is to be worshipped is commanded to be blotted out as being a dangerous Doctrine These instances may serve instead of multitudes which might be brought of their corrupting the witnesses and razing the records of antiquity that the errors and Novelties of the Church of Rome might not be so easily reprov'd Now if the Fathers were not against them what need these arts Why should they use them thus Their own expurgatory indices are infinite testimony against them both that they do so and that they need it But besides these things we have thought it fit to represent in one aspect some of their chief Doctrines of difference from the Church of England and make it evident that they are indeed new and brought into the Church first by way of opinion and afterwards by power and at last by their own authority decreed into Laws and Articles Sect. II. FIrst we alledge that this very power of making new Articles is a Novelty and expresly against the Doctrine of the Primitive Church and we prove it first by the words of the Apostle saying If we or an Angel from Heaven shall preach unto you any other Gospel viz. in
unclean thing should enter into Heaven if the guilt and the stain be remov'd what uncleanness can there be left behinde Indeed Simon Magus as Epiphanius reports Haeres 20. did teach That after the death of the body there remain'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a purgation of souls But whether the Church of Rome will own him for an authentick Doctor themselves can best tell 3. It relies upon this also That God requires of us a full exchange of Penances and Satisfactions which must regularly be paid here or hereafter even by them who are pardon'd here which if it were true we were all undone 4. That the Death of Christ his Merits and Satisfaction do not procure for us a full remission before we dye nor as it may happen of a long time after All which being Propositions new and uncertain invented by the School Divines and brought ex postfacto to dress this opinion and make it to seem reasonable and being the products of ignorance concerning remission of sins by Grace of the righteousness of Faith and the infinite value of Christs Death must needs lay a great prejudice of Novelty upon the Doctrine it self which but by these cannot be supported But to put it past suspition and conjectures Roffensis and Polydore Virgil affirm That whoso searcheth the Writings of the Greek Fathers shall finde that none or very rarely any one of them ever makes mention of Purgatory and that the Latine Fathers did not all believe it but by degrees came to entertain opinions of it But for the Catholick Church it was but lately known to her But before we say any more in this Question we are to premonish That there are Two great causes of their mistaken pretensions in this Article from Antiquity The first is That the Ancient Churches in their Offices and the Fathers in their Writings did teach and practice respectively prayer for the Dead Now because the Church of Rome does so too and more than so relates her prayers to the Doctrine of Purgatory and for the souls there detain'd her Doctors vainly suppose that when ever the H. Fathers speak of prayer for the dead that they conclude for Purgatory which vain conjecture is as false as it is unreasonable For it is true the Fathers did pray for the dead but how That God would shew them mercy and hasten the resurrection and give a blessed sentence in the great day But then it is also to be remembred that they made prayers and offered for those who by the confession of all sides never were in Purgatory euen for the Patriarchs and Prophets for the Apostles and Evangelists for Martyrs and Confessors and especially for the blessed Virgin Mary So we finde it in Epiphanius S. Cyril and in the Canon of the Greeks and so it is acknowledged by their own Durantus and in their own Mass-book anciently they prayed for the soul of S. Leo Of which because by their latter doctrines they grew asham'd they have chang'd the prayer for him into a prayer to God by the intercession of S. Leo in behalf of themselves so by their new doctrine making him an Intercessor for us who by their old doctrine was suppos'd to need our prayers to intercede for him of which Pope Innocent being asked a reason makes a most pitiful excuse Upon what accounts the Fathers did pray for the Saints departed and indeed generally for all it is not now seasonable to discourse but to say this onely that such general prayers for the dead as those above reckon'd the Church of England did never condemn by any express Article but left it in the middle and by her practice declares her faith of the Resurrection of the dead and her interest in the communion of Saints and that the Saints departed are a portion of the Catholick Church parts and members of the Body of Christ but expresly condemns the Doctrine of Purgatory and consequently all prayers for the dead relating to it And how vainly the Church of Rome from prayer for the dead infers the belief of Purgatory every man may satisfie himself by seeing the Writings of the Fathers where they cannot meet with one Collect or Clause praying for the delivery of souls out of that imaginary place Which thing is so certain that in the very Roman Offices we mean the Vigils said for the dead in which are Psalms and Lessons taken from the Scripture speaking of the miseries of this World Repentance and Reconciliation with God the bliss after this life of them that dye in Christ and the resurrection of the Dead and in the Anthemes Versicles and Responses there are prayers made recommending to God the soul of the newly defunct praying he may be freed from Hell and eternal death that in the day of Iudgement he be not judged and condemned according to his sins but that he may appear among the Elect in the glory of the Resurrection but not one word of Purgatory or its pains The other cause of their mistake is That the Fathers often speak of a fire of Purgation after this life but such a one that is not to be kindled until the day of judgement and it is such a fire that destroyes the Doctrine of the intermedial Purgatory We suppose that Origen was the first that spoke plainly of it and S. Ambrose follows him in the opinion for it was no more so does S. Basil S. Hilary S. Hierome and Lactaâ—tius as their words plainly prove as they are cited by Sixtus Senensis affirming that all men Christ onely excepted shall be burned with the fire of the worlds conflagration at the day of Iudgement even the B. Virgin her self is to pass thorow this fire There was also another Doctrine very generally receiv'd by the Fathers which greatly destroyes the Roman Purgatory Sixtus Senensis sayes and he sayes very true that Iustin Martyr Tertullian Victorinus Martyr Prudentius S. Chrysostom Arethas Euthymius and S. Bernard did all affirm that before the day of Judgement the souls of men are kept in secret receptacles reserved unto the sentence of the great day and that before then no man receives according to his works done in this life We do not interpose in this opinion to say that it is true or false probable or improbable for these Fathers intended it not as a matter of faith or necessary belief so far as we finde But we observe from hence that if their opinion be true then the Doctrine of Purgatory is false If it be not true yet the Roman Doctrine of Purgatory which is inconsistent with this so generally receiv'd opinion of the Fathers is at least new no Catholick Doctrine not believ'd in the Primitive Church and therefore the Roman Writers are much troubled to excuse the Fathers in this Article and to reconcile them to some seeming concord with their new Doctrine But besides these things it is certain that the Doctrine of Purgatory before the day of
revelation that the Bishop of Rome should succeed Peter in it and we being there told that S. Peter was at Antioch but never that he was at Rome it being confessed by some of their own parties by Cardinal Cusanus Soto Driedo Canus and Segovius that this succession was not addicted to any particular Church nor that Christs institution of this does any other way appear that it cannot be proved that the Bishop of Rome is Prince of the Church it being also certain that there was no such thing known in the primitive Church but that the Holy Fathers both of Africa and the East did oppose Pope Victor and Pope Stephen when they began to interpose with a presumptive authority in the affairs of other Churches and that the Bishops of the Church did treat with the Roman Bishop as with a brother not as their superior and that the General Council held at Chalcedon did give to the Bishops of C. P. equal rights and preheminence with the Bishops of Rome and that the Greek Churches are at this day and have been a long time great opponents of this pretension of the Bishops of Rome and after all this since it is certain that Christ who foreknowes all things did also know that there would be great disputes and challenges of this preheminence did indeed suppress it in his Apostles and said not it should be otherwise in succession and did not give any command to his Church to obey the Bishops of Rome as his Vicars more than what he commanded concerning all Bishops it must be certain that it cannot be necessary to salvation to do so but that it is more than probable that he never intended any such thing and that the Bishops of Rome have to the great prejudice of Christendom made a great Schism and usurp'd a title which is not their due and challeng'd an authority to which they have no right and have set themselves above others who are their equals and impose an Article of Faith of their own contriving and have made great preparation for Antichrist if he ever get into that Seat or be in already and made it necessary for all of the Roman Communion to believe and obey him in all things SECT XI THere are very many more things in which the Church of Rome hath greatly turn'd aside from the Doctrines of Scripture and the practise of the Catholick Apostolick and primitive Church Such are these The Invocation of Saints The Insufficiency of Scriptures without Traditions of Faith unto Salvation their absolving sinners before they have by canonical penences and the fruits of a good life testified their repentance their giving leave to simple Presbyters by Papal dispensation to give confirmation or chrism selling Masses for Ninepences Circumgestation of the Eucharist to be ador'd The dangerous Doctrine of the necessity of the Priests intention in collating Sacraments by which device they have put it into the power of the Priest to damn whom he please of his own parish their affirming that the Mass is a proper and propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead Private Masses or the Lords Supper without Communion which is against the doctrine and practise of the ancient Church of Rome it self and contrary to the tradition of the Apostles if we may believe Pope Calixtus and is also forbiden under pain of Excommunication Peract à consecratione omnes communicent qui noluerint ecclesiasticis carere liminibus sic autem etiam Apostoli statuerunt sancta Romana tenet Ecclesia When the consecration is finish'd let all communicate that will not be thrust from the bounds of the Church for so the Apostles appointed and so the H. Church of Rome does hold The same also was decreed by P. Soter and P. Martin in a Council of Bishops and most severely enjoyn'd by the Canons of the Apostles as they are cited in the Canon Law There are divers others but we suppose that those Innovations which we have already noted may be sufficient to verifie this charge of Novelty But we have done this the rather because the Roman Emissaries endeavour to prevail amongst the ignorant and prejudicate by boasting of Antiquity and calling their Religion the Old Religion and the Catholick so insnaring others by ignorant words in which is no truth their Religion as it distinguishes from the Religion of the Church of England and Ireland being neither the Old nor the Catholick Religion but New and superinduc'd by arts known to all who with sincerity and diligence have look'd into their pretences But they have taught every Priest that can scarce understand his Breviary of which in Ireland there are but too many and very many of the people to ask where our Religion was before Luther Whereas it appears by the premises that it is much more easie for us to shew our Religion before Luther than for them to shew theirs before Trent And although they can shew too much practise of their Religion in the degenerate ages of the Church yet we can and do clearly shew ours in the purest and first ages and can and do draw lines pointing to the times and places where the several rooms and stories of their Babel was builded and where polished and where furnished But when the keepers of the field slept and the Enemy had sown tares and they had choak'd the wheat and almost destroyed it when the world complain'd of the infinite errors in the Church and being oppressed by a violent power durst not complain so much as they had cause and when they who had cause to complain were yet themselves very much abused and did not complain in all they might when divers excellent persons S. Bernard Clemangis Grosthead Marsilius Ocham Alvarus Abbat Ioachim Petrarch Savanarola Valla Erasmus Mantuan Gerson Ferus Cassander Andreas Frisius Modrevius Hermannus Coloniensis Wasseburgius Archdeacon of Verdun Paulus Langius Staphilus Telesphorus de Cusentiâ Doctor Talheymius Francis Zabarel the Cardinal and Pope Adrian himself with many others not to reckon Wicklef Hus Hierome of Prague the Bohemians and the poor men of Lions whom they call'd Hereticks and confuted with fire and sword when almost all Christian Princes did complain heavily of the corrupt state of the Church and of Religion and no remedy could be had but the very intended remedy made things much worse then it was that divers Christian Kingdoms and particularly the Church of England Tum primùm senio docilis tua saecula Roma Erubuit pudet exacti jam temporis odit Praeteritos foedis cum relligionibus annos Being asham'd of the errors superstitions heresies and impieties which had deturpated the face of the Church look'd into the glass of Scripture and pure Antiquity and wash'd away those stains with which time and inadvertency and tyranny had besmear'd her and being thus cleans'd and wash'd is accus'd by the Roman parties of Novelty and condemn'd because she refuses to run into the same excess
Masse is as sure as may be to deliver the souls of his parents and a thousand more such stories as these are to be seen every where and every day Once for all There was a Book printed at Paris by Francis Regâ—ault A. D. 1536 May 25. called The hours of the most blessed Virgin Mary according to the use of Sarum in which for the saying three short prayers written in Rome in a place called The Chappel of the Holy Cross of seven Romans are promised fourscore and ten thousand years of pardon of deadly sin Now the meaning of these things is very plain By these devices they serve themselves and they do not serve God They serve themselves by this Doctrine For they teach that what penance is ordinarily imposed does not take away all the punishment that is due for they do not impose what was antiently enjoyn'd by the penitential Canons but some little thing instead of it and it may be that what was anciently enjoyn'd by the penitential Canons is not so much as God will exact for they suppose that he will forgive nothing but the guilt and the eternity but he will exact all that can be demanded on this side hell even to the last farthing he must be paid some way or other even when the guilt is taken away but therefore to prevent any falling that way they have given indulgences enough to take off what was due by the Old Canons and what may be due by the severity of God and if these fail they may have recourse to the Priests and they by their Masses can make supply so that their Disciples are well and the want of ancient Discipline shall do them no hurt But then how little they serve Gods end by treating the sinner so gently will be very evident For by this means they have found out a way that though it may be God will be more severe than the old penitential Canons and although these Canons were much more severe than men are now willing to suffer yet neither for the one or the other shall they need to be troubled they have found out an easier way to go to heaven than so An indulgence will be no great charge but that will take off all the supernumerary penances which ought to have been imposed by the ancient Discipline of the Church and may be requir'd by God A little alms to a Priest a small oblation to a Church a pilgrimage to the image or reliques of a Saint wearing Saint Francis Chord saying over the beads with an hallowed appendant entering into a Fraternity praying at a priviledged altar leaving a legacy for a soul Mass visiting a priviledged Caemetery and twenty other devices will secure the sinner from suffering punishment here or hereafter more then his friendly Priest is pleased gently to impose To them that ask what should any one need to get so many hundred thousand years of pardon as are ready to be had upon very easie terms They answer as before that whereas it may be for perjury the antient Canons enjoyned penance all their life that will be supposed to be twenty or forty years or suppose an hundred if the man have been perjur'd a thousand times and committed adultery so often and done innumerable other sins for every one of which he deserves to suffer forty years penance and how much more in the account of God he deserves he knows not if he be attrite and confess'd so that the guilt is taken away yet as much temporal punishment remains due as is not paid here but the indulgences of the Church will take off so much as it comes to even of all that would be suffered in Purgatory Now it is true that Purgatory at least as is believ'd cannot last a hundred thousand years but yet God may by the acerbity of the flames in twenty years equal the Canonical penances of twenty thousand years to prevent which these indulgences of so many thousand years are devised A wise and thrifty invention sure and well contriv'd and rightly applotted according to every mans need and according as they suspect his bill shall amount to This strange invention as strange as it is will be own'd for this is the account of it which we find in Bellarmine and although Gerson and Dominicus à Soto are asham'd of these prodigious indulgences and suppose that the Popes Quaestuaries onely did procure them yet it must not be so disown'd truth is truth and it is notoriously so and therefore a reason must be found out for it and this is it which we have accounted But the use we make of it is this That since they have declar'd that when sinnes are pardoned so easily yet the punishment remains so very great and that so much must be suffered here or in Purgatory it is strange that they should not onely in effect pretend to shew more mercy than God does or the primitive Church did but that they should directly lay aside the primitive Discipline and while they declaim against their adversaries for saying they are not necessary yet at the same time they should devise tricks to take them quite away so that neither penances shall much smart here nor Purgatory which is a device to make men to be Mulata's as the Spaniard calls half Christians a device to make a man go to heaven and to hell too shall not torment them hereafter However it be yet things are so ordered that the noise of penances need not trouble the greatest criminal unless he be so unfortunate as to live in no countrey and near no Church and without Priest or Friend or Money or notice of any thing that is so loudly talk'd of in Christendom If he be he hath no help but one he must live a holy and a severe life which is the onely great calamity which they are commanded to suffer in the Church of England but if he be not the case is plain he may by these doctrines take his ease SECT IV. WE doubt not but they who understand the proper sequele of these things will not wonder that the Church of Rome should have a numerous company of Proselytes made up of such as the beginnings of Davids Army were But that we may undeceive them also for to their souls we intend charity and relief by this address we have thought fit to add one consideration more and that is that it is not fit that they should trust to this or any thing of this not onely because there is no foundation of truth in these new devices but because even the Roman Doctors themselves when they are pinch'd with an objection let their hold go and to escape do in remarkable measures destroy their own new building The case is this To them who say that if there were truth in these pretensions then all these and the many millions of indulgences more and the many other wayes of releasing souls out of Purgatory the innumerable Masses
or other he should be at any time it seems it will serve For thus they turn Divinity and the care of souls into Mathematicks and Clockwork and dispute minutes and periods with God and are careful to tell their people how much liberty they may take and how far they may venture least they should lose any thing of their sins pleasure which they can possibly enjoy and yet have hopes of being sav'd at last 3. But there is worse yet If a man willingly commits a sin in hope and expectation of a Iubilee and of the Indulgences afterwards to be granted he does not lose the Indulgence but shall receive it which is expresly affirm'd by Navar and Antonius Cordubensis and Bellarmine though he asks the question denies it not By which it is evident that the Roman Doctrines and Divinity teach contrary to Gods way who is most of all angry with them that turn his grace into wantonness and sin that grace may abound 4. If any man by reason of povertie cannot give the prescrib'd Almes he cannot receive the Indulgence Now since it is sufficiently known that in all or most of the Indulgences a clause is sure to be included that something be offered to the Church to the Altar to a Religious House c. the consequent of this will be soon seen that Indulgences are made for the rich and the Treasures of the Church are to be dispensed to them that have Treasures of their own for habenti dabitur But then God help the poor for them Purgatory is prepar'd and they must burn For the Rich it is pretended but the smell of fire will not pass upon them From these premises we suppose it but too evident that the Roman Doctors prevaricate in the whole Doctrine of Repentance which indeed in Christ Jesus is the whole Oeconomy of Justification and Salvation it is the hopes and staff of all the world the remedy of all evils past present and to come And if our physick be poyson'd if our staff be broken if our hopes make us asham'd how shall we appear before Christ at his coming But we say that in all the parts of it their Doctrine is infinitely dangerous 1. Contrition is sufficient if it be but one little act and that in the very Article of death and before that time it is not necessary by the Law of God nay it is indeed sufficient but it is also insufficient for without confession in act or desire it suffices not And though it be thus insufficiently sufficient yet it is not necessary For attrition is also sufficient if a Priest can be had and then any little grief proceeding out of the fear of Hell will do it if the Priest do but absolve 2. Confession might be made of excellent use and is so among the pious children of the Church of England but by the Doctrines and Practises in the Church of Rome it is made not the remedy of sins by proper enargy but the excuse the alleviation the confidence the ritual external and sacramental remedy and serves instead of the labours of a holy and a regular life and yet is so intangled with innumerable and inextricable cases of Conscience Orders humane Prescripts and great and little Artifices that scruples are more increased than sins are lessened 3. For Satisfaction and Penances which if they were rightly order'd and made instrumental to kill the desires of sin or to punish the Criminal or were properly the fruits of repentance that is parts of a holy life good works done in charity and the habitual permanent grace of God were so prevailing as they do the work of God yet when they are taken away not only by the declension of primitive Discipline but by new Doctrines and Indulgences regular and offer'd commutations for mony and superstitious practises which are sins themselves and increase the numbers and weights of the account there is a great way made for the destruction of souls and the discountenancing the necessity of holy life but nothing for the advantage of holiness or the becoming like to God And now at last for a cover to this dish we have thought fit to mind the world and to give caution to all that mean to live godly in Christ Iesus to what an infinite scandal and impiety this affair hath risen in the Church of Rome we mean in the instance of their Taxa Camerae seu Cancellariae Apostolicae the tax of the Apostolical Chamber or Chancery A Book publikely printed and expos'd to common sale of which their own Espencaeus gives this account that it is a Book in which a man may learn more wickedness than in all the Summaries of vices published in the world and yet to them that will pay for it there is to many given a License to all an Absolution for the greatest and most horrid sins There is is a price set down for his Absolution that hath kill'd his Father or his Mother Brother Sister or Wife or that hath lyen with his Sister or his Mother We desire all good Christians to excuse us for naming such horrid things Nomina sunt ipso penè timenda sono But the Licences are printed at Paris in the Year 1500. by Tossan Denis Pope Innocent the VIII either was Author or inlarger of these Rules of this Chancery Tax and there are glosses upon them in which the Scholiast himself who made them affirms that he must for that time conceal some things to avoid Scandal But how far this impiety proceeded and how little regard there is in it to piety or the good of souls is visible by that which Augustinus de Anconâ teaches That the Pope ought not to give Indulgences to them who have a desire of giving mony but cannot as to them who actually give And whereas it may be objected that then poor mens souls are in a worse condition than the rich he answers That as to the remission of the punishment acquir'd by the Indulgence in such a case it is not inconvenient that the rich should be in a better condition than the poor For in that manner do they imitate God who is no respecter of persons SECT VI. THese Observations we conceive to be sufficient to deter every well-meaning person from running into or abiding in such temptations Every false Proposition that leads to impiety is a stock and fountain of temptations and these which we have reckon'd in the matter of Repentance having influence upon the whole life are yet much greater by corrupting the whole mass of Wisdom and Spiritual Propositions There are indeed many others We shall name some of them but shall not need much to insist on them Such as are 1. That one man may satisfie for another It is the general Doctrine of their Church The Divines and Lawyers consent in it and publikely own it The effect of which is this that some are made rich by it and some are careless But qui
are not Venial in their own nature and in their appendant circumstances either the people are cozen'd by this Doctrine into an useless confidence and for all this talking in their Schools they must nevertheless do to Venial sins as they do to Mortal that is mortifie them fight against them repent speedily of them and keep them from running into mischief and then all their kinde Doctrines in this Article signifie no comfort or ease but all danger and difficulty and useless dispute 3 or else if really they mean that this easiness of opinion be made use of then the danger is imminent and carelesness is introduc'd and licentiousness in all little things is easily indulg'd and mens souls are daylie lessen'd without repair and kept from growing towards Christian perfection and from destroying the whole body of sin and in short despising little things they perish by little and little This Doctrine also is worse yet in the handling For it hath infinite influence to the disparagement of holy life not onely by the uncertain but as it must frequently happen by the false determination of innumerable cases of Conscience For it is a great matter both in the doing and the thing done both in the caution and the repentance whether such an action be a venial or a mortal sin If it chance to be mortal and pour Confessor says it is venial your soul is betrayed And it is but a chance what they say in most cases for they call what they please venial and they have no certain rule to answer by which appears too sadly in their innumerable differences which is amongst all their Casuists in saying what is and what is not mortal and of this there needs no greater proof than the reading the little Summaries made by their most leading guides of Consciences Navar Cajetane Tolet Emanuel SÃ and others where one sayes such a thing is mortal and two say it is venial And lest any man should say or think this is no great matter we desire that it be considered that in venial sins there may be very much fantastick pleasure and they that retain them do believe so for they suppose the pleasure is great enough to outweigh the intolerable pains of Purgatory and that it is more eligible to be in Hell a while than to cross their appetites in such small things And howeveâ— it happen in this particular yet because the Doctorâ— differ so infinitely and irreconcileably in saying what is and what is not Venial whoever shall trust to their Doctrine saying that such a sin is Venial and to their Doctrine that says it does not exclude from Gods favour may by these two Propositions be damned before he is aware We omit to insist upon their express contradicting the words of our Blessed Saviour who taught his Church expresly That we must work in the day time for the night cometh and no man worketh Let this be as true as it can in the matter of Repentance and Mortification and working out our pardon for mortal sins yet it is not true in Venial sins if we may believe their great S. Thomas whom also Bellarmine follows in it for he affirms That by the acts of Love and Patience in Purgatory Venial sins are remitted and that the acceptation of those punishments proceeding out of Charity is a virtual kinde of penance But in this particular we follow not S. Thomas nor Bellarmine in the Church of England and Ireland for we believe in Jesus Christ and follow him If men give themselves liberty as long as they are alive to commit one whole kinde of sins and hope to work it out after death by acts of Charity and Repentance which they would not do in their life time either they must take a course to sentence the words of Christ as savouring of heresie or else they will find themselves to have been at first deceiv'd in their Proposition and at last in their expectation Their faith hath fail'd them here and hereafter they will be asham'd of their hope Sect. VII THere is a Proposition which indeed is new but is now the general Doctrine of the Leading Men in the Church of Rome and it is the foundation on which their Doctors of Conscience rely in their decision of all cases in which there is a doubt or question made by themselves and that is That if an Opinion or Speculation be probable it may in practise be safely followed And if it be inquir'd What is sufficient to make an Opinion probable the answer is easie Sufficit opinio alicujus gravis Doctoris aut Bonorum exemplum The opinion of any one grave Doctor is sufficient to make a matter probable nay the example and practise of good men that is men who are so reputed if they have done it you may do so too and be safe This is the great Rule of their Cases of Conscience And now we ought not to be press'd with any ones saying that such an opinion is but the private opinion of one or more of their Doctors For although in matters of Faith this be not sufficient to impute a Doctrine to a whole Church which is but the private opinion of one or more yet because we are now speaking of the infinite danger of souls in that communion and the horrid Propositions by which their Disciples are conducted to the disparagement of good life it is sufficient to alledge the publick and allowed sayings of their Doctors because these sayings are their Rule of living and because the particular Rules of Conscience use not to be Decreed in Councils we must derive them from the places where they grow and where they are to be found But besides you will say That this is but the private opinion of some Doctors and what then Therefore it is not to be called the Doctrine of the Roman Church True we do not say It is an Article of their Faith but a rule of manners This is not indeed in any publick Decree but we say that although it be not yet neither is the contrary And if it be but a private opinion yet is it safe to follow it or is it not safe For that 's the question and therein is the danger If it be safe then this is their Rule A private opinion of any one grave Doctor may be safely followed in the questions of Vertue and Vice But if it be not safe to follow it and that this does not make an opinion probable or the practise safe Who sayes so Does the Church No Does Dr. Cajus or Dr. Sempronius say so Yes But these are not safe to follow for they are but private Doctors Or if it be safe to follow them though they be no more and the opinion no more but probable then I may take the other side and choose which I will and do what I list in most cases and yet be safe by the Doctrine of the Roman Casuists which is the great line and general measure
of most mens lives and that is it which we complain of And we have reason for they suffer their Casuists to determine all cases severely and gently strictly and loosly that so they may entertain all spirits and please all dispositions and govern them by their own inclinations and as they list to be governed by what may please them not by that which profits them that none may go away scandaliz'd or griev'd from their penitential chairs But upon this account it is a sad reckoning which can be made concerning souls in the Church of Rome Suppose one great Doctor amongst them as many of them do shall say it is lawful to kill a King whom the Pope declares Heretick By the Doctrine of probability here is his Warranty And though the Church do not declare that Doctrine that is the Church doth not make it certain in Speculation yet it may be safely done in practise Here is enough to give peace of conscience to him that does it Nay if the contrary be more safe yet if the other be but probable by reason or Authority you may do the less safe and refuse what is more For that also is the opinion of some grave Doctors If one Doctor says it is safe to swear a thing as of our knowledge which we do not know but believe it is so it is therefore probable that it is lawful to swear it because a grave Doctor says it and then it is safe enough to do so And upon this account who could finde fault with Pope Constantine the IV. who when he was accus'd in the Lateran Council for holding the See Apostolick when he was not in Orders justified himself by the example of Sergius Bishop of Ravenna and Stephen Bishop of Naples Here was exemplum bonorum honest men had done so before him and therefore he was innocent When it is observed by Cardinal Campegius and Albertus Pighius did teach That a Priest lives more holily and chaftly that keeps a Concubine than he that hath a married wife and then shall finde in the Popes Law That a Priest is not to be remov'd for fornication who will not or may not practically conclude that since by the Law of God marriage is holy and yet to some men fornication is more lawful and does not make a Priest irregular that therefore to keep a Concubine is very lawfull especially since abstracting from the consideration of a mans being in Orders or not fornication it self is probably no sin at all For so saies Durandus Simple fornication it self is not a deadly sin according to the Natural Law and excluding all positive Law and Martinus de Magistris saies To believe simp le fornication to be no deadly sin is not heretical because the testimonies of Scripture are not expresse These are grave Doctors and therefore the opinion is probable and the practise safe When the good people of the Church of Rome hear it read That P. Clement the VIII in the Index of prohibited Books saies That the Bible published in vulgar Tongues ought not to be read and retain'd no not so much as a compend of the History of the bible and Bellarmine saies That it is not necessary to salvation to believe that there are any Scriptures at all written and that Cardinal Hosius saith Perhaps it had been better for the Church if no Scriptures had been written They cannot but say That this Doctrine is probable and think themselves safe when they walk without the Light of Gods Word and relie wholly upon the Pope or their Priest in what he is pleas'd to tell them and that they are no way oblig'd to keep that Commandment of Christ Search the Scriptures Cardinal Tolet saies That if a Nobleman be set upon and may escape by going away he is not tied to it but may kill him that intends to strike him with a stick That if a man be in a great passion and so transported that he considers not what he saies if in that case he does blaspheme he does not always sin That if a man be beastly drunk and then commit fornication that fornication is no sin That if a man desires carnal pollution that he may be eas'd of his carnal temptations or for his health it were no sin That it is lawful for a man to expose his Bastards to the Hospital to conceal his own shame He saies it out of Soto and he from Thomas Aquinas That if the times be hard or the Iudge unequal a man that cannot sell his Wine at a due price may lawfully make his measures less than is appointed or mingle Water with his Wine and sell it for pure so he do not lie and yet if he does it is no mortal sin nor obliges him to restitution Emanuel Sà affirms That if a man lie with his intended Wife before Marriage it is no sin or light one nay quin etiam expedit si multum illa defferatur it is good to do so if the benediction or publication of marriage be much deferr'd That Infants in their Cradles may be made Priests is the common opinion of Divines and Canonists saith Tolet and that in their Cradles they can be made Bishops said the Archdeacon and the Provost and though some say the contrary yet the other is the more true saith the Cardinal Vasques saith That not onely an Image of God but any Creature in the World reasonable or unreasonable may without danger be worshipped together with God as his Images That we ought to adore the reliques of Saints though under the form of Worms and that it is no sin to worship a ray of light in which the Devil is invested if a man supposes him to be Christ And in the same manner if he supposes it to be a piece of a Saint which is not he shall not want the merit of his devotion And to conclude Pope Celestine the III. as Alphonsus à Castro reports himself to have seen a Decretal of his to that purpose affirmed That if one of the married couple fell into Heresie the marriage is dissolv'd and that the other may marry another and the marriage is nefarious and they are irritae nuptiae the Espousals are void if a Catholick and a Heretick marry together said the Fathers of the Synod in Trullo And though all of this be not own'd generally yet if a Roman Catholick marries a wife that is or shall turn Heretick he may leave her and part bed and board according to the Doctrine taught by the Canon Law it self by the Lawyers and Divines as appears in Covaruvias Mathias Aquarius and Bellarmine These opinions are indeed very strange to us of the Church of England and Ireland but no strangers in the Church of Rome and because they are taught by great Doctors by Popes themselves by Cardinals and the Canon Law respectively do at
least become very probable and therefore they may be believ'd and practis'd without danger according to the Doctrine of Probability And thus the most desperate things that ever were said by any though before the declaration of the Church they cannot become Articles of Faith yet besides that they are Doctrines publickly allowed they can also become rules of practise and securities to the conscience of their Disciples To this we may adde that which is usual in the Church of Rome the praxis Ecclesiae the practise of the Church Thus if an Indulgence be granted upon condition to visit such an Altar in a distant Church the Nuns that are shut up and Prisoners that cannot go abroad if they address themselves to an Altar of their own with that intention they shall obtain the Indulgence Id enim confirmat Ecclesiae praxis says Fabius The practise of the Church in this case gives first a probability in Speculation and then a certainty in practise This instance though it be of no concern yet we use it as a particular to shew the principle upon which they go But it is practicable in many things of greatest danger and concern If the question be Whether it be lawfull to worship the Image of the Cross or of Christ with Divine Worship first there is a Doctrine of S. Thomas for it and Vasquez and many others therefore it is probable and therefore is safe in practise sic est Ecclesiae praxis the Church also practises so as appears in their own Offices and S. Thomas makes this use of it Illi exhibemus cultum Latriae in quo ponimus spem salutis sed in cruce Christi ponimus spem salutis Cantat enim Ecclesia O Crux ave spes unica Hoc passionis tempore Auge piis justitiam Reisque dona veniam Ergo Crux Christi est adoranda adoratione Latriae We give Divine Worship says he to that in which we put our hopes of salvation but in the Cross we put our hopes of salvation for so the Church sings it is the practise of the Church Hail O Cross our onely hope in this time of suffering encrease righteousness to the godly and give pardon to the guilty therefore the Cross of Christ is to be ador'd with Divine Adoration By this Principle you may embrace any opinion of their Doctors safely especially if the practise of the Church do intervene and you need not trouble your self with any further inquiry And if an evil custom get amongst men that very custom shall legitimate the action if any of their grave Doctors allow it or good men use it and Christ is not your Rule but the examples of them that live with you or are in your eye and observation that 's your rule We hope we shall not need to say any more in this affair The pointing out this rock may be warning enough to them that would not suffer shipwrack to decline the danger that looks so formidably Sect. VIII AS these evil Doctrines have general influence into evil life so there are some others which if they be pursued to their proper and natural issues that is if they believ'd and practis'd are enemies to the particular and specifick parts of Piety and Religion Thus the very prayers of the Faithful are or may be spoil'd by Doctrines publickly allowed and prevailing in the Roman Church For 1. They teach That prayers themselves ex opere operato or by the natural work it self do prevail For it is not essential to prayer for a man to think particularly of what he sayes it is not necessary to think of the things signified by the words So Suarez teaches Nay it is not necessary to the essence of prayer that he who prays should think de ipsa locutione of the speaking it self And indeed it is necessary that they should all teach so or they cannot tolerably pretend to justifie their prayers in an unknown Tongue But this is indeed their publick Doctrine For prayers in the mouth of the man that says them are like the words of a Charmer they prevail even when they are not understood sayes Salmeron or as Antoninus They are like a precious stone of as much value in the hand of an unskilful man as of a Ieweller And therefore attention to or devotion in our prayers is not necessary For the understanding of which saith Cardinal Tolet when it is said that you must say your prayers or offices attently reverently and devoutly you must know that attention or advertency to your prayers is manifold 1. That you attend to the words so that you speak them not to fast or to begin the next verse of a Psalm before he that recites with you hath done the former verse and this attention is necessary But 2. There is an attention which is by understanding the sense and that is not necessary For if it were very extremely few would do their duty when so very few do at all understand what they say 3. There is an attention relating to the end of prayer that is that he that prays considers that he is present before God and speaks to him and this indeed is very profitable but it is not necessary No not so much So that by this Doctrine no attention is necessary but to attend that the words be all said and said right But even this attention is not necessary that it should be actual but it suffices to be virtual that is that he who says his office intends to do so and do not change his minde although he does not attend And he who does not change his minde that is unless observing himself not to attend he still turn his minde to other things he attends meaning he attends sufficiently and as much as is necessary though indeed speaking naturally and truly he does not attend If any man in the Church of England and Ireland had published such Doctrine as this he should quickly and deservedly have felt the severity of the Ecclesiastical Rod. But in Rome it goes for good Catholick Doctrine Now although upon this account Devotion is it may be good and it is good to attend to the words of our prayer and the sense of them yet that it is not necessary is evidently consequent to this But it is also expresly affirm'd by the same hand There ought to be devotion that our mind be inflam'd with the love of God though if this be wanting without contempt it is no deadly sin Ecclesiae satisfit per opus externum nec aliud jubet saith Reginaldus If ye do the outward work the Church is satisfied neither does she command any thing else Good Doctrine this And it is an excellent Church that commands nothing to him that prays but to say so many words Well! But after all this if Devotion be necessary or not if it be present or not if the minde wander or wander not if you minde what you pray or minde it not
there is an easie cure for all this for Pope Leo granted remission of all negligences in their saying their offices and prayers to them who after they have done shall say this prayer To the Holy and Vndivided Trinity To the Humanity of our Lord Iesus Christ crucified To the fruitfulness of the most Blessed and most Glorius Virgin Mary and to the Vniversity of all Saints be Eternal praise honour vertue and glory from every Creature and to us remission of sins for ever and ever Amen Blessed are the Bowels of the Virgin Mary which bore the Son of the Eternal God and blessed are the Paps which suckled Christ our Lord Pater noster Ave Maria. This prayer to this purpose is set down by Navar and Cardinal Tolet. This is the sum of the Doctrine concerning the manner of saying the Divine offices in the Church of Rome in which greater care is taken to obey the Precept of the Church than the Commandments of God For the Precept of hearing Mass is not to intend the words but to be present at the Sacrifice though the words be not so much as heard and they that think the contrary think so without any probable reason saith Tolet. It seems there was not so much as the Authority of one grave Doctor to the contrary for if there had the contrary opinion might have been probable but all agree upon this Doctrine all that are considerable So that between the Church of England and the Church of Rome the difference in this Article is plainly this They pray with their lips we with the heart we pray with the understanding they with the voice we pray and they say prayers We suppose that we do not please God if our hearts be absent they say it is enough if their bodies be present at their greatest solemnity of prayer though they hear nothing that is spoken and understand as little And which of these be the better way of serving God may soon be determin'd if we remember the complaint which God made of the Jews This people draweth near me with their lips but their hearts are far from me But we know that we are commanded to ask in faith which is seated in the understanding and requires the concurrence of the will and holy desires which cannot be at all but in the same degree in which we have a knowledge of what we ask The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man prevails But what our prayers want of this they must needs want of blessing and prosperity And if we lose the benefit of our prayers we lose that great instrumentality by which Christians are receptive of pardon and strengthned in faith and confirm'd in hope and increase in charity and are protected by Providence and are comforted in their sorrows and derive help from God Ye ask and have not because ye ask amiss that is S. Iames his rule They that pray not as they ought shall never obtain what they fain would Hither is to be reduc'd their fond manner of prayer consisting in vain repetitions of Names and little forms of words The Psalter of our Lady is an hundred and fifty Ave Maries and at the end of every tenth they drop in the Lords Prayer and this with the Creed at the end of the fifty makes a perfect Rosary This indeed is the main entertainment of the peoples Devotion for which cause Mantuan call'd their Religion Relligionem Quae filo inâ—ertis numerat sua murmura baceis A Religion that numbers their murmurs by berries fil'd upon a string This makes up so great a part of their Religion that it may well be taken for one half of its definition But because so few do understand what they say but all repeat and stick to their numbers it is evident they think to be heard for that For that or nothing for besides that they neither do nor understand And all that we shall now say to it is That our Blessed Saviour reprov'd this way of Devotion in the Practise and Doctrines of the Heathens Very like to which is that which they call the Psalter of Iesus in which are fifteen short Ejaculations as Have mercy on me * Strengthen me * Help me * Comfort me c. and with every one of these the name of Iesus is to be said thirty times that is in all four hundred and fifty times Now we are ignorant how to distinguish this from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or vain repetition of the Gentiles for they did just so and Christ said they did not do well and that is all that we pretend to know of it They thought to be heard the rather for so doing and if the people of the Roman Church do not think so there is no reason why they should do so But without any further arguing about the business they are not asham'd to own it For the Author of the Preface to the Iesus Psalter printed by Fouler at Antwerp promises to the repetition of that sweet Name Great aid against temptations and a wonderful increase of grace Sect. IX BUt this mischief is gone further yet For as Cajetan affirms Prayers ought to be well done Saltem non malè at least not ill But besides that what we have now remark'd is so not well that it is very ill that which follows is directly bad and most intolerable For the Church of Rome in her publike and allowed offices prays to dead men and women who are or whom they suppose to be beatified and these they invocate as Preservers Helpers Guardians Deliverers in their necessity and they expresly call them their Refuge their Guard and Defence their Life and theiâ— Health Which is so formidable a Devotion that we for them and for our selves too if we should imitate them to dread the words of Scripture Cursed is the man that trusteth in man We are commanded to call upon God in the time of trouble and it is promised that he will deliver us and we shall glorifie him We finde no such command to call upon Saints neither do we know who are Saints excepting a very few and in what present state they are we cannot know nor how our prayers can come to their knowledge and yet if we did know all this it cannot be endured at all that Christians who are commanded to call upon God and upon none else and to make all our prayers through Iesus Christ and never so much as warranted to make our prayers thorough Saints departed should yet choose Saints for their particular Patrons or at all relie upon them and make prayers to them in such forms of words which are onely fit to be spoken to God prayers which have no testimouy command or promise in the Word of God and therefore which cannot be made in faith or prudent hope Neither will it be enough to say that they onely desire the Saints to pray for them for though that be of it self a matter indifferent
be excused before God by their ignorant pretensions and suppositions we know not but they hope to save themselves harmless by saying that they believe the Bread to be their Saviour and that if they did not believe so they would not do so We believe that they say true but we are afraid that this will no more excuse them then it will excuse those who worship the Sun and Moon and the Queen of Heaven whom they would not worship if they did not believe to have Divinity in them And it may be observed That they are very fond of that persuasion by which they are led into this worship The error might be some excuse if it were probable or if there were much temptation to it But when they choose this persuasion and have nothing for it but a tropical expression of Scripture which rather than not believe in the natural useless and impossible sense they will defie all their own reason and four of the five operations of their soul Seeing Smelling Tasting and Feeling and contradict the plain Doctrine of the Ancient Church before they can consent to believe this error that Bread is changed into God and the Priest can make his Maker We have too much cause to fear that the error is too gross to admit an excuse and it is hard to suppose it invincible and involuntary because it is so hard and so untempting and so unnatural to admit the error We do desire that God may finde an excuse for it and that they would not But this we are most sure of that they might if they pleas'd finde many excuses or rather just causes for not giving Divine honour to the Consecrated Elements because there are so many contingencies in the whole conduct of this affair and we are so uncertain of the Priests intention and we can never be made certain that there is not in the whole order of causes any invalidity in the Consecration and it is so impossible that any man should be sure that Hâ—re and Now and This Bread is Transubstantiated and is really the Natural body of Christ that it were fit to omit the giving Gods due to that which they do not know to be any thing but a piece of bread and it cannot consist with holiness and our duty to God certainly to give Divine Worship to that thing which though their Doctrine were true they cannot know certainly to have a Divine Being SECT XIII AND now we shall plainly represent to our charges how this whole matter stands The case is this The Religion of a Christian consists in Faith and Hope Repentance and Charity Divine Worship and Celebration of the Sacraments and finally in keeping the Commandments of God Now in all these both in Doctrines and practices the Church of Rome does dangerously erre and teaches men so to do They do injury to Faith by creating new Articles and enjoyning them as of necessity to salvation * They spoil their hope by placing it upon Creatures and devices of their own * They greatly sin against Charity by damning all that are not of their opinion in things false or uncertain right or wrong * They break in pieces the salutary Doctrine of Repentance making it to be consistent with a wicked life and little or no amendment * They Worship they know not what and pray to them that hear them not and trust on that which helps them not * And as for the Commandments they leave one of them out of their Catechisms and Manuals and while they contend earnestly against some Opponents for the possibility of keeping them all they do not insist upon the necessity of keeping any in the course of their lives till the danger or article of their death * And concerning the Sacraments they have egregiously prevaricated in two points For not to mention their reckoning of seven Sacraments which we only reckon to be an unnecessary and un-Scholastical Errour they take the one half of the Principal away from the Laity and they institute little Sacraments of their own they invent Rites and annex Spiritual Graces to them whaâ— they please themselves of their own heads without a Divine Warrant or Institution and * At last perswade their people to that which can never be excus'd at least from Material Idolatry If these things can consist with the duty of Christians not only to eat what they worship but to adore those things with Divine Worship which are not God To reconcile a wicked life with certain hopes and expectations of Heaven at last and to place these hopes upon other things than God and to damn all the world that are not Christians at this rate then we have lost the true measures of Christianity and the Doctrine and Discipline of Christ is not a Natural and Rational Religion not a Religion that makes men holy but a Confederacy under the conduct of a Sect and it must rest in Forms and Ceremonies and Devices of Mans Invention And although we do not doubt but that the goodness of God does so prevail over all the follies and malice of mankind that there are in the Roman Communion many very good Christians yet they are not such as they are Papists but by some thing that is higher and before that something that is of an abstract and more sublime consideration And though the good people amongst them are what they are by the grace and goodness of God yet by all or any of these Opinions they are not so But the very best suffer diminution and allay by these things and very many more are wholly subverted and destroyed CHAP. III. The Church of Rome teaches Doctrines which in many things are destructive of Christian Society in general and of Monarchy in special Both which the Religion of the Church of England and Ireland does by Her Doctrines greatly and Christianly support SECT I. THat in the Church of Rome it is publickly taught by their greatest Doctors That it is lawful to lye or deceive the question of the Magistrate to conceal their name and to tell a false one to elude all examinations and make them insignificant and toothless cannot be doubted by any man that knows how the English Priests have behav'd themselves in the times of Queen Elizabeth King Iames and the Blessed Martyr King Charles I. Emonerius wrote in defence of it and Father Barnes who wrote a Book against Lying and Equivocating was suspected for a Heretick and smarted severely under their hands To him that askes you again for what you have paid him already you may safely say you never had any thing of him meaning so as to owe it him now It is the Doctrine of Emanuel SÃ and Sanchez which we understand to be a great lye and a great sin it being at the best a deceiving of the Law that you be not deceiv'd by your Creditor that is a doing evil to prevent one a sin to prevent the losing of your money If a man askes his Wife