quâ sine maculâ peccato processisti c. Blessed be St. Anne thy mother of whom without spot or sin thou didst proceed c. Where are now the Dominicans who Preached the contrary Doctrine the most Holy most infallible Monster you see has concluded the point against them Next came Pius the 3 d in the year 1503. he was an Old decripite fellow and lived not above a month then upstarts that Hector Julius the second for before ever the Cardinals met he had made his Party by Bribes and fair promises and so without ever shutting the doors of the Consistory was declared Pope his first business was to Marry a Bastard Girle he had named Felix to one of the Vrsini and his next was to drive the French out of Italy he took Cesena and Forolivio from Caesar Borgia the Son of Pope Alexander the 6 th Expell'd the Family of Bentivogli with their Wives and Children out of Bononia Excommunicated the Venetians and gave their Lands to the first that could take them Interdicted Alphonso Duke of Ferrara and made open War against him because he took part with the French and went in person to the seige of Mirandula And passing once over the Bridge of Tyber with a naked sword in his hand he flung the Keys into the River which gave occasion to that Epigram Hic Gladius Pauli nos nunc defendit ab Hoste Quandoquidem Clavis nil suvat ista Petri. Since Peter's Keys with Foes can not prevail This sword of Paul to save us shall not fail And Monstrelet the Historian thus describes him He left the Chair of St. Peter and took upon him the Title of Mars the God of War displaying in the field his Triple Crown and spending his Nights in the Watch. What a goodly sight was it to see the Mitres Crosses and Crosier staves Flying up and down the Field sure no Divels could be there where Benedictions were sold so cheap Upon this Lewis of France and Maximilian the Emperour resolve to call a Council at Pisa and to summon this Pope thither as being notoriously scandalous incorrigible a Fomenter of Wars and altogether unfit for the Popedome and though the Pope used means to take off the Emperour yet Lewis persisted and caused certain Medals to be Coyned upon which was Inscribed these words Perdam Babylonem I will destroy Babylon and on some of them perdam Babylonis nomen I will destroy the Name of Babylon By which 't is evident he meant Rome so that the notion of its being Babylon is neither new nor set on foot by Protestants though 't is true his Holiness was herewith so much offended that by his Bull he took away from the French King the Title of Most Christian and offer'd the same to Henry the 8 th of England then one of the Popes white Boy 's on whom afterward was bestow'd that of defender of the Faith but God be thanked our Protestant Brittish Monarchs as they yet usually retain the one so they may justly when they shall think fit assume the other without being beholding to a raskally Divels Priest for either of them In opposition to the Council of Pisa Pope Julius sets up a Conventicle under that name in the Lateran at Rome who Excommunicate the other folks and damn all their proceedings but â—n the heat of their Carier Julius dies on whom those that knew him bestow'd these Epigrams Fraude capit totum Mercator Julius Orbem Vendit enim Caelos non habet Ipse tamen By fraud that Huckster Julius scrapes up pelf For Heaven he sells yet hath it not himself And again Genui tui Patrem Genitricem Graecia Partum Pontus unda dedit nunc Bonus esse potest Fallaces Ligures mendax est Grecia Ponto Nulla fides in te haec singula Jule tenes From Genua and Greece his Parents blood At Sea he had his Birth can he be good The Genoe's alway false Greeks Liars be Faithless the Sea all Julius meet in thee In a word the Popedome of Julius was so imperious and barbarous that the Cardinals were upon the point of â—â—â—ding the next that should sucâ—eed in that See to the good behaviour and prescribing certain Râ—les whereby â—e should Act but what a pretty Torisme is it to hedge in a Cuckow guide Infallibility and bound the perrogative of the Chair which according to modern Casuists is unliâ—iâ—table he dyed in the year 1513 in the 10 th year of his pontificate and the greatest Enology that Ouuphrius himself can bestow on him is that he was Bellicâ Gloriâ plusquam pontificem deceret Clarus More famous for war like Glory than became a Pope The next was John de Medicis a very pretty forward Child for he got to be an Archbishop almost before he had left his Go-Cart and at Thirteen years of age was made a Cardinal and at 37 arriv'd at the Popedome by the name of Leo the 1â— th On his Coronation day he spent an Hundred Thousand Dâ—â—â—tes and in one morning the Colledge of Cardinals câ—nsenting say our Author for fear not of free will he Created one and Thirty Cardinals amongst whom were two of his Nephews He continu'd the Council of Lateran conven'd by his Predecessor and extinguisht that of Pisa he exacted great summs of mony throughout all Europe by his Legates under pretence of making War against the Turks and his Prodigality causing continual want he used saith Guiccardine very licentiously the Authority of the Holy See and spread abroad throughout all the World without any difference of times and places most ample Indullgences not only to succour the Living but also to deliver the Souls of the departed out of the pains of Purgatory And it being notorious that such Indulgences were granted only to rook people of their mony there arose thereby many scandals especially in Germany where his Ministers for a very small price sold these braided Wares and in Taverns play'd away at Dice the power of delivering Souls out of Purgatory and the money thus raised he gave to his Sister Magdalene who appointed the Bishop of Arembauld her Commissary for that business which place he executed with exceeding great Covetousness and Extortion so that Preachers were not asham'd to publish in their Pulpits that at the sound of the mony as it was cast into their Bason the Souls skipp'd for joy amidst the flames and presently flew out of Purgatory and that whoever gave 10 Soulz might deliver thence what Soul he pleased but if there was but one farthing less they would do nothing These horrible abuseâ—s being thus daily without all shame committed it pleased God to raise up Martin Luther who first began to inveigh only against such exorbitant Indnlgences about the year 1516. but afterwards the Pope instead of Reformation sending forth his Thunderbolts against him he grew more wearily to scan the Doctrines of the Roman Church and so open'd a way for the Reformation which hence may properly bare date and therefore here as an happy and very proper period we shall give a Conclusion to this 4 th Volume SOLI GLORIA SOLA DEO The COURANT. Tory. THe truth is 't was a great disappointment and has utterly spoil'd the wit of an Health to Blewcap but are not your Whiggs at Chichester most abominable Varlets to Massacre our Reverend Father's Jades at this rate Truem. Yes indeed Nat Thomson and L'Estrange I see resolve to make Martyrs of the poor Beasts one of the Roman Emperours made his Horse Lord Mayor and an Ass you know tutor'd the Prophet why then may not an Episcopal Steed be Sainted We men of Kent I remember got long-tails by being uncivil to Bishop Beckets Nag and who knows what heavy Judgments may befall these Clowns of Sussex for such a damnable Plot against Old Roan or sorrell Ecclesiastick but the truth is all the whole story is a Ly the Phanaticks kill'd my Lord the Bishops Horses no more than they burnt London and yet Roger L'Estrange has charg'd them with both Tory. Well! let the Horses go to the Dogs oâ—ly as long unburied as the fellow did a few years ago but in the mean time what can you say touching the man that was slain there the other day Truem. There was a fellow fit for the Imployment that took upon him to be an Informer but staying too long after the Brandy bottle the Meeting it seems was broke up this loss of a Jobb and the Liquor together enrag'd him to that degree that he must needs break a worthy Gentleman's Windows whose Coachman going out to enquire the cause of that Burglary the Informer not only abus'd his Master with vile Language but assaulted the Coachman who in his own defence laid him in the Kennell but no sooner had he recover'd his Leggs but away he runs to the Man 's you wot on to make his sad Complaint how he had suffer'd by the Whigs for serving the Church Into the Celler he is carryed for a Cup of Benediction and Consolation and being Drunk before adds to the debauch and so good Night Now this accident is to be fill'd to the Dissenters account and you must needs believe that he dyed by means of the scuffle between him and the Coachman But pray tell us what makes Squire Hodge so desparately mad with the Parliaments and fall so foul on their priviledges at this juncture I hope we are not like to have one this Winter Tory. No no Hang 'um we all hate the very name the Popes Holiness himself would be as well pleas'd to hear of a General Council as we of a Parliament You see Roger aforesaid makes it Rebellion and half seas over to Forty one to expect an annual Parliament though there are a Brace or two of as fair laws for it as any in the Statute Book Truem. I never wonder to hear naughty Boys rail against Birch no doubt the Gentleman's Journey to Holland cost him Mony and he may be allow'd now to swagger don't you remember how the Collier huffâ— against the Mayor when he was got out of the Liberties Tory. Yes but his saying 'tother day that Rebellion always attended the Reformation was a little to broad I left a note last Night at Sam 's to caution him to more prudence for if he go on at this rate the people will conclude him a Papist though Prance should never make a word on 't Printed for Langley Curtis 1682.
the Rivers or as the Branches of the Frankincense-Tree in the time of Summer Touching Wickliff's Parentage all we can find is That he was born about the farthest part of York-shire and Mr. Birckbek who was Minister of Gilling in those Parts in his Learned Treatise Entituled The Protestants Evidence printed 1632. Centur. 14. assures us That some of the Family remain'd there then and probably may continue to this day his words are these Our Country-man John Wickliff was born in the North where there is near to the place where I live an ancient and worshipful House bearing the name of Wickliff of Wickliff But in what Year he was born is not Recorded only 't is certain that he was liberally Educated and became Learned beyond that Age and flourished about the year of our Lord 1371. in the Reign of King Edward the Third being then Fellow of Merton-Colledge in Oxford A happy Foundation Illustrious for breeding many most famous Men as Friar Bacon Burley Scotus Occham Peccham Bradwardine c. He was afterwards Master of Baliol-Colledge in Oxford where he commenc'd Doctor and was chosen Reader in Divinity In which public Lectures he shew'd himself a deep Schoolman as in his ordinary Sermons a faithful Pastor of the Church for whose Edification he spar'd no pains for he Translated the whole Bible into the vulgar Tongue one Copy whereof written with his own hand is or lately was extant in St. John Baptist Colledge in Oxford He was beloved of all good Men for his holy Life and admired even by his Adversaries for his Learning For we find Walden his profess'd and spiteful Enemy in a certain Letter to Pope Martin the Fifth forc'd to acknowledge That he was wonderfully astonish'd at his most forcible Arguments the various and pertinent Authorities he had gathered with the vehemence and smartness of his Reasonings Nor was he unacquainted with Humanity or polite Civil Learning especially he is observed to have been well read in our English Laws and wrote so many large Volumes as well in Philosophy as Divinity as the same is almost incredible He seem'd to follow in the course of his Studies the method of the Schoolmen and amongst them was a profess'd follower of Occham by reading of whose Works and sundry others who lived about the same time or not long before as Bradwardine Marsilius St. Amore Abelardus Armachanus and that great and godly Learned Man Rob. Grosthead and especially and above all by diligent perusal of the Holy Scriptures God gave him grace and understanding to see the truth of his Gospel and by seeing it to loath all superstition and the ill precepts and practises of the then pretended Rules of the Church In particular by Occham and Marsilius he was informed of the Popes Intrusions and Usurpations upon Kings their Crowns and Dignities Guido de S. Amore and Armachanus shew'd him the sundry abuses of Monks and Friars in upholding this usurped Power By Abelard and others he began to have a right Apprehension touching the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Bradwardine taught him the Nature of a true sole justifying Faith against Meritmongers and Pardoners Finally by Grosthead's Work with which he seem'd most conversant he descried the Popes to be the very Antichrist by hindering the Gospel to be preached and placing unfit and unworthy Men in the Church and in making all Religion subservient to his damnable Policy Being thus enlighten'd 't is no wonder if in his Writings and Preachings he delivered many things against the then corrupted Doctrine of the Church but his Positions were chiefly directed against the several Orders of Begging Friars who were his professed Persecutors and all Foreign usurped Jurisdiction of the Pope By which he purchased some favour or at least connivance at Court and got his other Complaints against them for other matters the more easily heard and regarded for at that time the Friars Orders by their manifold and notorious Disorders were become exceeding odious and the Popes pretences of Jurisdiction by Provisions Reservations and Collations not only grievous but utterly intollerable This made way unto those excellent Acts of Parliament of Praemunire against any that should appeal to Rome or draw the Subjects of England ad aliud Examen To any Foreign Jurisdiction as also against Provisors and the Abuses of Begging Friars which fobridled and restrained the Pope's Authority that he could but little prevail in England during the Raign of King Edward the Third or Richard the Second Towards making which Law Wickliff had no small Interest by disposing several of the Nobility and the Body of the Commons thereunto maintaining no less Loyalty and Magnanimously than Learnedly the King's Jurisdiction Crown and Dignity by the Laws Civil Canon and Common For which reason the Learned Dr. James in Wickliff's Life tells us That he was by one King sent Ambassador into Foreign Parts and by another consulted here at home But amongst all his Arguments he most insisted upon those drawn from the common Municipal Laws of England the best Bull-works for the Prerogative and Imperial Right of our Kings against all the Usurpations and Encroachments of any Exotic Claim for the maintenance of his Opinions and the better to enable him therein he had good Directions and Advice from time to time from the Reverend Judges and Sages in the Law He was not so much hated of the Monks and Clergy out of Self-interest because he opposed their lewd Practises but he was much indulg'd and favour'd by the Temporal State for his Piety Learning and Virtue For not only many of the Nobility but the City of London and the University of Oxford were his Friends which makes Walsingham the Monk angry who upon all occasions vomits out his Gall against poor Wickliff that that famous Academy where as he saith was the very height and top of Wisdom and Learning should so kindly entertain him Nor were they Freshmen or younger Fry of Students there that were his Admirers but even the Heads and Chief of the University for Mr. Robert Rigge Vice-Chancellor and the two Proctors took part with him as also Nicholas Herford John Ashton of Merton Colledge John Ashwarby of Oriel Colledge Minister of St. Maries Church these all being Preachers and Batchelors of Divinity joined with him and were put to Trouble for the same THE COURANT. Tory. NAY now I think you are met with what say you to that ingenious Piece publish'd last week Entituled A Postscript of Advice from Geneva Truem. I shall not say much to it let my Lords the Bishops look after it for as Governours under His Majesty of our Protestant Church I humbly conceive it concerns them abundantly more than me since 't is plain the Libel is the â—pawn of some rank invenom'd Popish Priest and whether Nat. Thompson or Gammer Turner a profest Papist or a masqueraded one Midwif'd it into the World is not much material It pretends indeed to fall soul on the Calvinists which possibly Striplings in
cases of Clergy-cheats were the Gloss yet Interest was the Text for Polydere Virgil one of the Pope's own Publicans or Peter-pence Collectors is not shy to insinuate l. 8. c. 2. tho he refers them to a more ancient Original That the first Rise of them was for the maintenance of the Pope's Grandeur and that this Income was one of the fairest Flowers in the Triple Crown But when once the payment of them had continued some competent time it was politickly done upon any questioning of the Right to refer them to a Divine Original which was sure to satisfie such as used in those times to take the Pope's bare word for far greater matters Yet the payment of these with others so much impoverisht the Kingdom of England for we are willing to sum up all here that we have to say occasionally on this matter that notwithstanding such Allegation of Divine Right the ancient Kings of England made no scruple sometimes to forbid the payment of them as King Edward the Third once discharg'd the Pope's Nuncio from Collecting the first Fruits c. and many Prohibitions were granted against the Pope's Collectors on Complaints made by the aggriev'd Commons in Parliament as appears in my Lord Coke's Jurisdiction of Courts c. 14. and several Statutes where it is termed once an horrible Mischief and damnable Custom and another time 't is call'd a very Novelty see the Acts 2. H. 4. c. 1. and 1. R. 2. But so subtle was the Court of Rome that when sometimes the Kingdom complain'd of these Burthens and withall the Kings in Exigencies press'd for aids from their Subjects they would in a frolic of Bounty yield or assign the First-Fruits c. for a certain time a year or more to the King whereby they both inur'd the People to the payment and the Prince to the continuance of it But in the 26 th of Henry the Eighth they were given to the King and his Heirs and Successors for ever and in the 32 d of his Raign a particular Court was erected for recovering them which being dissolv'd in the first of Queen Mary the thing was reviv'd again by 1. Eliz. c. 4. but the Court not restored only the First-Fruits were order'd to be within the Rule and Adjustment of the Exchequer and a new Officer viz. A Remembrancer erected of the First-Fruits and Tenths of the Clergy who both taketh all Compositions for them and maketh out Process against such as make default in payment So that every Spiritual person must pay or secure by Bond his First-Fruits before his actual possession of his Benefices which Bond is of like force with a Statute-Staple The mode of Composition now is for the Parson with Sureties to enter into four Bonds each condition'd for payment of the fourth part of the First Fruits according to the rate of his Living as it was Taxed anno 26. H. 8. for that 's the Standard which is call'd being so much in the King's Books but yet with a deduction of Tenths the first Bond payable at half a years end the second at a Twelve months end the third at a year and half 's end and the last at the expiration of two years This we thought fit to add out of the Respect we have to the young Clergy that are hankering after Benefices to whom this Discourse at least whatever our other Writings through sinister Informations may be will probably prove not unacceptable The COURANT. Trueman Solus NOw shan't I see my old Correspondent Tory for he was drunk last night at the Queens Head with toping Confusions to the City Charter But no matter here 's Ben. Tooks Goblin Heraclitus will do as well He dashes through thick and thin and flings durt on as good Scarlet as any i' th City Alas poor fool Their Reputations Crystal none of the filth will stick but Reverts to your own face and will one day infallibly sink the pittifull and already Crazy Shipp 't is squirted from However by this the World may take notice what respect the Tories pay to Authority if their Magistrates don't humour them presently they 'l affront them to their faces Hiss Revile slander and Libel them Having been thus sawcy to his Superiors 't is no news if he snarl at the Courantier who he says is much unacquainted with Guinnies poor heart I 'm sorry for 't but the truth is he has no Faction nor party to Bribe or Encourage him nothing but God and the King Truth and a good Conscience to protect and support him and so long he sings as to the Guinnies Nec habeo nec Careo Nec Curo let Pimps and flatterers and L'Estranges boast their hundreds of Guinnies sent 'um from the Divel knows who He has enough in being Honest Yet sure the Milk and Butter and Cheese was the conceit of some Hunger-starv'd Curate of the Club that lives on small Tyths and is fain to make shift with such Commons when every Monday morning he Trudges from near Dartford to London Popish Nat still drudges on but of late more bare fac'd what abundance of little Tricks have his managers been trying to raise some pretence of slâ—r in Dr. Oatses Evidence but I know not whether with more malice or folly Is not yesterdays Sham a rare one Mr. Oats swore He was Informed Parson Elliot was Circumcised yet upon a Commssion of Inspection a nice business I le promise ye It appears Nat says that the man's twigg of Life has all its apurtenances well but does it follow that the Doctor might not be Informed otherwise Away you ridiculous Scoundrels I' th' next place Godfry's Murder O that 's a bone in some peoples throats must be represented uncertain prethee dear Nat tell us if thou darest in thy next the inquisitive Gentleman of Sarum's true name I 'le warrant he 's as good a Protestant as thy self And now Enter Observator who fiddles to the old Tune For in earnest the fellow has not Compos'd above one sheet bating his Translations these 20 years tho he has blurr'd ten thousand Ream of Paper He 's much troubled that Mrs. Joan should be questioned and to bring in the Chat tells two or three notorious Lies in a breath viz. That Care was Cited as he call it to Guild-Hall that Janeway desired Joan might be sent for c. which is all utterly false But above all where is Rogers Wit or Modesty to Revive a sluttish story little to the Credit of the Parties Concern'd But since you now twice together have Rak'd it up I tell thee Roger once for all that the debauch in the Church you mention was favourably told in Janeway's Mercury and there are better men than you or I that are or may be satisfied of the Truth on 't Nor was it first Publisht for any such base end as you maliciously suggest but only to the Intent that the Actors might be brought to just Punishment For not a few good Churchmen think those Swine deserv'd to
most Sacred Ties besides those of Interest and present opportunity are no more than Sampson's Bands Dissolvable whensoever their own Humour or their Ghostly Fathers Conveniency shall require it The COURANT. Tory. HOw Hodge concern'd in the Burning of London and Godfry's Murder Trum. No I never said he was nor do I believe it but this I say such a wild suggestion might be maintain'd by as good Logick as any he uses to make out the Protestant Plot. Tory. As how prethee a touch for Example I 'le engage not to believe the Consequence Truem. I take it for undeniable That London in Sixty six was designedly burnt by Papists the Law hath determined it in the Execution of Hubert who own'd the Fact and that he was hired thereunto by Piedelon a French Papist The Body of the City have Recorded it in the late Inscription of the Monument and that great and sagacious Minister of State the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellour in his Speech before Sentence on the late Lord Stafford makes no doubt on 't Tory. But you may remember that Hodge was a little disgruntled at That Inscription and has endeavoured to persuade the World that they were the Fanaticks caus'd that Fire But what if the Papists did do it and Kill'd Godfry too what 's that to him Trum. Nâ—thing that I know on But this one might infer according to Mr. L'Estranges modes of Arguing If they were Papists and Hedge should happen to be a Papist too then he may altogether as fairly be Charg'd with both these Exploits as all and every the Dâ—ssenters are by him Tax'd with all the Villanies of Forty odd when the greatest part of them were not born Tory. Well but what Colour is there for Hodges being a Papist Truem. As many Colours as there are in the Rain-bow 1. Two of the Kings Evidence have sworn his haunting of Mass and another Gentleman deposes That he own'd himself to be of that Church whereof the Pope is Head Now you that Rail and Ranâ— at Juries if they won't believe any lousie Witnesses though they swear Dâ—ggers and Impossibilitie ought methinks to Credit such unexceptionable Evidence 2 ly The Gentleman has been oft Challeng'd to prove that for Eighteen years after the Restitution of the Liturgy viz. till after the Discovery of the Popish Plot and that he was question'd as a Papist he ever usually frequented his Parish Church or receiv'd the Sacrament Tory. Oh he Answers that in his Preface to his first part of Dissenters Sayings referring people to one Mr. Gatford of St. Dionis Back Church for proof of his Receiving c. Truem. Call you that Sham an Answer 'T is but his nude Averment he produces no Certificate from that Gentleman Besides 't is known Mr. L' liv'd many years in St. Gileses Parish before the Plot why does he not produce some Testimony in all that time from thence can it be imagin'd so intelligent a person had he been so zealous for the Church of England as he now pretends would ever have liv'd Eight or ten years together without her Ordinances and in disobedience and despight to her Laws and Canons Tory. But in particular as to the Fire-Jobb Truem. Mr. L'Estrange some time before the Fire Printed a Pamphlet call'd A Memento wherein Chap. 6. speaking of some people put to death under Cromwel He uses these words London was made the Altar for these Burnt Offerings God grant that City be not at last Purged by Fire I mean before the general Conflagration Now since Roger I think pretends not to be a Prophet and no body takes him for a Conjurer Ill will might on this occasion suggest him to be a Conspirator for it has been prov'd That the mischief was intended long before it was perpetrated and if one would talk of him as he does of the Dissenters one might say his Prayer God grant is only to Cloak his Malice That here 's a plain Prediction It must needs be therefore that he was acquainted with the Design and so bigg with Expectation that he could not forbear Blabbing on 't and warming his fancy with the very Conceit of the Flames just as Del Rio the Jesuit in his Magical Disquisitions could not forbear giving a dark hint of the Gunpowder-Treason several years before it happen'd Tory. These are unjust and inconsequent Descants on such an Innocent Accidental passage Truem. I grant it But yet 't is at this very rate that L'Estrange Treats others wresting the most harmless Passages to odious and horrid meanings Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris Printed for Langley Curtis 1681-2 The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY March 2. 1681-2 Vmbrâque errabit Thynnus inultâ Of the first pretended Act of Parliament that ever was in England against professors of Religion how it was forg'd by the Prelates and soon after Repeal'd The bloody Statute of 4. Hen. 2. ca. 15. for Burning of Hereticks WE have pursued the Papal History beyond the Seas down to the Council of Constance and burning of Hus and Mr. Jerome that is to about the year of our Lord 1415. which answers to the Third year of the Raign of our King Henry the Fifth 'T will therefore now be necessary to look back and gather what Observables occurr'd in England relating to our Subject not already mention'd during the Raigns of King Richard the Second and Henry the Fourth We gave you before the Relation of Wickliff whose Doctrines spread so fast that the incens'd Prelates finding their Spiritual Thunders unable to repress them bethought themselves to pray in aid of the Secular Arm and to that purpose the King being young and dissolute so extravagant to his Favourites that he always wanted Money the Bishops either by fair words or the Bait of a Benevolence to be given him by the Clergy prevail'd with him in the Fifth year of his Raign to consent to an Ordinance of their framing in these words following For as much as it is openly known that there be divers evil persons within the Realm going from County to County and from Town to Town in certain Habits under dissimulation of great Holiness and without the License of the Ordinaries of the places or other sufficient Authority preaching daily not only in Churches and Church-yards but also in Markets Fairs and other open places where a great Congregation of people is divers Sermons containing Heresies and notorious Errors to the great emblemishing of the Christian Faith and destruction of the Laws and of the Estate of the holy Church to the great peril of the Souls of the people and of all the Realm of England as more plainly is found and sufficiently proved before the Reverend Father in God the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops and other Prelates Masters of Divinity and Doctors of Canon and Civil Law and a great part of the Clergy of the said Realm especially assembled for this
Hundred Authors as any unbiass'd Learned Reader cannot but observâ— Thirdly He notes several Passages in the Two last Pacquets that are in Foxe 'T is very true What then Do not I there Cite Foxe for them where is the Plagiarism I Write to the Common People and Publish it thus in Successive sheets that so it may fall into the more Hands I pretend not to Instruct the Learned but to give the Vulgar such as perhaps never read Foxe and know nothing of the Magdeburgh Centuries a general Prospect of Popery that they may know and Abhor it Those things which in Foxe are tediously told I abridge what is less material I omit Remarkables I Transcribe and fairly tell the Reader where I have them and what Felony and Treason is there in all this Fourthly Why may not I furnish my Matter from Foxe and the Centuriators I doubt the Observator has some particular spite at them The first continues the Memory of many Glorious English Martyrs barbarously Butcher'd even since the Reformation under a Popish Princses of excellent Vertues setting aside her Blind Bloody Zeal which perhaps the Observator would have had forgot And the Second's Learned Labours and Industrious Researches into Antiquity have wrested one of the Church of Romes boasted Weapons out of her hands and taught us to distinguish the real Testimonies of the Fathers from Spurious Suborn'd Knights of the Post though in Gray Perriwiggs and Venerable Names I wonder what Authors the Gentleman would Advise us to perhaps his friend Father Cressy's Church History or the Golden Legend But he that regards every bark of Cerberuâ— may quickly be Deaf Let us proceed in our intended Work and let Mr. Observator be never so angry at it we will again make use of Mr. Foxe and from thence observe to the Reader That though the Church was already over-burthen'd and almost suffocated with a vast Mass of vain Superstitious Ceremonies yet Tho. Arundel Bishop of Canterbury in the days of King Henry the 4 th about the Year 1410. took upon him to encrease them by Commanding That in all Monasteries and Collegiate Churches there should every Morning be Bells Rung in Honour of the Virgin Mary which commonly was call'd Toling of Aves For the promoting of which he sent his Mandate stuft full of Wicked and Blasphemous Expressions to the Bishop of London and towards the Close thereof used these Words We therefore desiring more earnestly to stir up the Minds of all Faithful People to so devoâ—â— an Exercise c. do grant to all and every Person that shall say his Pater Noster and the Angels Salutation Five times at the Morning Peal with a Devout Mind as oft as he shall do it for each time forty days of Pardon by these Presents Given under our Seals in our Manner of Lambeth the 10th of February in the 9th Year of our Translation Now we appeal to the Reader if this were not a Lumping Pennyworth to have Forty days Pardon of all Sin whatsoever Villany a man should in that time Commit meerly for Muttering over Five Pater Nosters and Five Aves what a kind good humour'd pleasant delicate inviting Religion is Popery Yet now I think on 't my Country-men of Wengham did not find it so under his Predecessor William Courtney Archbishop of the same Province when they were forc'd to do a scurvy scandalous Pennance for the horrid Sin of not bringing Litter for his Graces Horses decently and in order The Sentence against whom being very notable I shall here Recite it and to spight the Observator it shall be out of Fox too Erroris Mater Ignorantia c. Ignorance the Mother of Error hath so blinded certain Tenants of the Lord of Wengham viz. Hugh Penny John Forestall John Boy John Wanderton William Hayward and John White That at the coming of the Lord Archbishop to his Pallace at Canterbury on Palm-Sunday-Eve in the Year 1390. being warn'd by the Bailiff to carry Hay Straw and Littor Foenum Stramen sive Literam 't is in the Original which may be noted from an Archi-episcopal Elegancy to the aforesaid Pallace as by the Tenure of their Lands which they hold of the See of Canterbury they are bound refusing and disdaining to do their due Service as they were accustomed brought their Straw not in Waines and Carts publickly and in sufficient quantity but sneakingly in Sacks and hugger-mugger to the undervaluing of the Lord Arch-bishop and derogation of the Rights of his See of Canterbury For which being call'd and personally appearing before the said Lord Arch-bishop on Thursday in Easter week sitting on his Tribunal in his Castle of Statewode they did humbly submit themselves to his Judgment devoutly craving Pardon and Mercy for those Crimes which they had committed in this behalf And then having sworn them to stand to the Commands of Holy Church and to perform the Pennance that should be Enjoyn'd them his Grace did Absolve them imposing on them and each of them a wholsom Pennance after the manner of the Fault viz. That on the Sunday next the said Penitent should leisurely go bare-footed and bare-headed in an Humble and Devout Manner a Procession to the Collegiate Church of Wengham each of them bearing on their shoulders openly a Sack full of Hay and Straw with the mouthes of the Sacks open so as the Hay and Straw may appear hanging out And to perpetuate the Memory of this Foolery the Pictures of these poor men doing this Ridiculous Pennance were entred in his Graces Register a Copy of which taken from the Original you have in Foxe with this Superscription being as 't is probable the Words they were to say in their Procession This Bagful of Straw I bear on my Back Because my Lord's Horse his Litter did Lack If you be not good to my Lord Grace's Horse You are like to go Bare-foot before the Cross In the 11 th Year of King Henry the 4 th The Commons of England in Parliament perceiving how abominably the Clergy Monks Fryars c. abused those vast Revenues which they Enjoyed to all kind of Pride and Licentiousness Preferr'd a Bill to the King to take away their Temporal Lands and to Imploy the same to the better Advantage and Safety of the Kingdom Alledging that the Temporailties then in the Possession of Spiritual Men amounted to Three hundred and twenty three thousand Marks by the Year But as the Clergy had mainly Assisted that Prince to Usurp the Crown so he did not think it safe to disoblige them at that juncture and therefore put off this Bill with a Le Roy S'avisera And about Two Years after the said King Henry dyed viz. the 2 d. of March 1413. in the 46 th Year of his Age to whom succeeded his Son then near 30 years of Age by the name of Henry the Fifth By the Preaching of Wickliff and his Followers the Eyes of great numbers of the People were in some measure enlightned to see the Errors
THE HISTORY of POPERY OR PACQUET OF Advice from Rome The Fourth Volume CONTAINING The LIVES of Eighteen POPES AND The most remarkable Occurrences in the Church for near One hundred and fifty Years viz. From the beginning of Wickliff's Preaching to the first Appearance of Martin Luther Intermixt with several large Polemical Discourses as whether the present Church of Rome be to be accounted a Church of Christ whether any Protestant may be present at Mass and other Important Subjects Together with continued Courants or innocent Reflections weekly on the Distempers of the times Cujus aures clausae Veritati sunt ut ab Amico Verum audire nequeat hujus salus desperanda est Cicero Rhet. 1. LONDON Printed for and are to be sold by Langley Curtis at the Sign of Sir Edmundbury Godfry near Fleet-Bridge 1682. THE PREFACE PRefaces are many times more for fashion-sake than necessity and being esteem'd rather as Complements than serious matters are as slightly passed over by the Reader as superfluously added by the Author More especially we might seem excusable if we should not comply with the Tyranny of Custom herein before this Volume having preambled at large to the other Three and given not only an account of the reason and design of this work but answered most of the Objections and Scandals commonly cast upon it This 4 th Volume 't is true is not large in bulk yet contains the History of a very remarkable period viz. From Wickliff's dawning to the day-break of Luther and exhibits not a few choice Occurrences and most fit to be known as by the Table may appear Especially it demonstrates us to what a desperate degree of Corruption the Roman Church was degenerated and what a Chaos of Errors Superstition and Impiety she was become insomuch that complaints were daily put forth by all those that had any Sparks of Grace and Virtue in them though yet joining with her in communion and as these abuses shew'd the need and necessity of a Reformation so they both led people to desire it and also did justify the same when effected But still some envious Carpers will come with Judas's Objection Quorsum perditio haec what need so much wast of Paper What occasion have we for your paltry Sheets 〈…〉 all these matters better and more copiousâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 by a multitude of diligent Historians 〈◊〉 accurately handled by many Learned Divine◠〈◊〉 â—â—nfess men of Letters and leisure are or may 〈◊〉 sufficiently accommodated with Books of that kind but many of them writ in Forreign Languages and either unintelligible to our common Country-men or too dear for their Pockets or too voluminous for their time to peruse 'T is to serve these that our Labours are design'd nor have they we hope been altogether unprofitable on that Account but have given the vulgar Englishman as much Insight into the Mystery of Iniquity perhap as any one single work whatsoever Besides though Nil dictum quod non dictum prius the matter be not new yet there may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a handling of the same things in another manner and when diverse persons treat of the same subject something may be found in one which is not in another and in one Pacquet you have many times the substance and choicest notes of several Authors like a Posy made up of several Flowers Before the late Troubles in England or the date of forty one several Godly learned men have either expressed as Mr. Archer of Christs personal Reign on Earth p. 50. and 55. or Intimated as Mr. Mede on Rev. 11. 7. That in their opinion Popery shall yet again for a while universally or very generally prevail in many or most of these Countrys and Nations out of which it hath been expell'd With whom as to this particular the most profound and Reverend Archbishop Vsher did dot only concur in opinion but seems to be very much assured or to have had a kind of particular foresight of the sharp persecutions that shall attend this last effort of Antichrists if that Paper call'd his Prophesy may be credited which I never yet heard disprov'd to which we may add that dismal prospect of affairs which our eyes behold it being certain that the Protestant Interest throughout Europe was never lower since the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign than it is at this Instant And therefore certainly since the danger is so near and so great it concerns all Protestants to Arm themselves for the Encounter to study the points in Controversy between us and the Papists as far as their Leisure and Abilities will give them leave and both to establish themselves in the truth and be acquainted with the Sophisms specious pretences and inticing Fallaces of the Romanists that they may the better avoid and confute them More especially to warn people from Hypocrisy and sinful compliances in case Superstition should ever prevail to a publick Establishment which God forbid we have at large in this Tome evinc'd the present Synagogue of Rome not to be a Church of Christ and the extream hazard all those run of their Eternal Salvation who continue therein as also the Sin of frequenting their Idolatrous Mass though only in formality and outward Complaisance or Curiosity There are too many Errors of the Press which thou may'st meet with in this Volume which I desire thee to Correct and pardon being generally very obvious to a Considerate Reader by the sense and words foregoing and subsequent And if there happen any more material mistakes I beg the same exercise of thy Candour our Books are like our selves Vitio sine nemo nascitur optimus ille Qui minimis urgetur I shall detain thee no longer but praying unto the Lord to preserve his Church from Errors without and to purge it from Errors within I rest Thy Friend and Servant In what I may HEN. CARE Some of the principal Contents of this Fourth Volume A. ABhorrencies of the Association considered p. 26 Academy a new one for correcting Grammar and Logick 249 Addresses Mr. L'Estrange's sentiments of them 87 Advice from Geneva a Libel so call'd censured 7 Aeneas Sylvius how he got to be Pope 250 Notable Sentences of His. 254 Amurath the Turk appeals to Christ against the King of Hungary for breaking his faith with him by the Popes Instigation and obtains a great victory 76 242 B. BAstards Pope Innocent the eighth had sixteen 262 Bazil The Council held there decree that the Pope ought to obey a General Council 220 Bohemians the Pope consents they shall enjoy the use of the Cup in the Sacrament 229 Burning of Hereticks the first Law for it in England 84 C. CAlvinists the Papists call the Church of England so 7 Calvin vindicated from Rebellion 175 Care the Author of this work Burnt in Effigie by the Tories at Norwich 207 Captains of the Blew-Apron complemented 263 Cardinals will choose a Protestant Pope and the Divan a Christian Grand Seignior a very significant allusion
which in hast was left or forgotten running with it to carry it to the rest in the Bonefire brake his Leg. Here was Lex Talionis Bone for Bone And to this day for a perpetual Monument in the very place where they burnt his Bones tho the Townsmen for their own profit have often essayed to bring the Water that way it never holds but still makes a Bank Thus far the Doctor I shall conclude this Weeks Task with a Copy of John Wickliff's Answer or Resolution to King Richard touching the Right and Title of the King and Pope which was as follows It being demanded whether the Kingdom of England may lawfully in case of necessity for its own defence detain and keep back the Treasure of the Kingdom that it be not carried away to foreign and strange Nations the Pope himself demanding and requiring the same under pain of Censure and by vertue of Obedience To which Wickliff return'd this Answer Setting apart the Minds of Learned Men what might be said in the matter either by the Canon Law or by the Law of England or the Civil Law It resteth saith he not only to persuade and prove the Affirmative part of this Doubt but the Principles of Christ's Law And first I prove it thus Every natural Body hath Power given it of God to resist against his Contrary and to preserve it self in due Estate as Philosophers know very well in so much that Bodies without Life are endu'd with such a kind of Power as it is evident unto whom hardness is given to resist those things that would break it and Coldness to withstand the Heat that dissolveth it For so much then as the Kingdom of England after the manner and phrase of the Scriptures ought to be one Body and the Clergy with the Commonalty the Members thereof it seemeth that the same Kingdom hath such Power given it of God and so much the more apparent but how much the same Body is more precious unto God adorned with Vertue and Knowledge For so much then as there is no Power given of God unto any Creature for any end or purpose but that he may lawfully use the same to that end and purpose it followeth that our Kingdom may lawfully keep back and detain their Treasure for the defence of it self in what case soever necessity do require the same Secondarily the same is proved by the Law of the Gospel for the Pope cannot challenge the Treasure of this Kingdom but under the Title of Alms and consequently under the pretence of the Works of Mercy according to the Rule of Charity But in the Case aforesaid the Titel of Alms ought utterly to cease Ergo the Right and Title of challenging the Treasure of our Realm shall cease also in the presupposed necessity For so much as all Charity hath his beginning of himself it were no work of Charity but of meer madness to send away the Treasures of the Realm unto Foreign Nations whereby the Realm it self may fall into Ruine under the pretence of such Charity It appeareth also by this that Christ the Head of the Church whom all Christian Priests ought to follow lived by the Alms of Devout Women Luke 7. 8. He hungred and thirsted he was a Stranger and many other Miseries he sustained not only in his Members but also in his own Body as the Apostle witnesseth 1 Cor. 8. He was made poor for your sakes that through his Poverty you might be made rich whereby in the first endowing of the Church whatsoever he were of the Clergy that had any Temporal Possessions he had the same by form of a perpetual Alms as both Writings and Chronicles do witness Whereupon St. Bernard in his second Book to Eugenius that he could not challenge any Secular Dominion by Right of Succession as being the Vicar of St. Peter writeth thus That if St. John should speak unto the Pope himself as Bernard doth unto Eugenius were it to be thought that he would take it patiently But let it be so that you do challenge it unto you by some other way or means but truly by any Right or Title Apostolical you cannot so do For how could he give unto you that which he had not himself That which he had he gave you that is to say Care over the Church but did he give you any Lordship or Rule Haâ—k what he saith Not bearing Rule saith he as the Lords in the Clergy but behaving your selves as Examples to the Flock And because thou shalt not think it to be spoken only in Humility and not in Verity mark the Word of the Lord himself in the Gospel The Kings of the Gentiles rule over them but thou shalt not do so Here Lordship and Dominion is plainly forbidden to the Apostles and darest thou then usurp the same If thou wilt be a Lord thou shalt lose thine Apostleship or if thou wilt be an Apostle thou shalt lose thy Lordship for truly thou shalt depart from the one of them If thou wilt have both thou shalt lose both or else think thy self to be of that number of whom God doth so greatly complain saying They have Reign'd but not through me they are become Princes and I have not known it Now if it do suffice to Rule with the Lord thou hast thy Glory but not with God but if we will keep that which is forbidden let us hear what is said He that is the Greatest among you saith Christ shall be made as the least and he which is Highest shall be as the Minister and for Example set a Child in the midst of them so this then is the true form and institution of the Apostle's Trade Lordship and Rule is forbidden Ministration and Services commanded Thus far St. Bernard as cited by Wickliff upon this occasion THE COURANT. Tory. NAY now all 's out I thought this 't would come to at last for D me if I did not always suspect as much I ever lookt upon Catholics as fine civil Gentlemen and for their Church I have a great Veneration because she is a true Church and a Mother Church and their Worship is very glorious and decent What an absurd thing 't is to imagine that ever such Holy Loyal Men as their Priests are should be guilty of Treason Yet I did but say a Twelve-month ago there was no Popish Plot and a Whiggish Son of a Whore gave me a slap i' th' Face and threaten'd me with Newgate for presuming to give the King and Three Parliaments the Lye But it should seem Tempora mutantur I hope e're long a Man may say and swear too That there never was any such Plot at all with Impunity and without Controul Truem. Prethee what makes you so merry about the Gills this Morning Hast thou been at Breakfast with the Painter at Aldersgate on his Whig-Pye whose Crust was made of Gammer Celier's Meal and baked in the red hot Oven of Dr. Tantivy's Skull Tory. No no but on a better
the truth is How much a Sot soever he were he prov'd too cunning for them for having smoakt their Consult and Design next time they came according to Custom to Complement him he seiz'd seven of the most busie of them and without any colour of Law presently confiscated all their Estates and thereby so terrified all the rest that no man of them durst think any more of the Curatorship These seven that he had snapt he with a Cruelty suitable to a Pope thrust into a miserable Dungeon and without any respect to their Age or Quality put them to the Rack and all manner of Tortures his gracious Nephew Pregnan standing by to see Execution done and upbraiding them whilst in Torments But King Charles soon after by reason of some Insolencies offer'd to him by the said Pregnan coming to besiege Vrban himself in the said Castle of Lucera his Impietyship was forc'd to fly over the Mountains and with much ado got to Salerno carrying his Captive-Cardinals under a Guard along with him and one of them broken with Tortures not being able to follow him farther he commanded his Hangman to knock out his Brains and left his Body in the Fields without Burial the other six he dragg'd with him all but Cardinal Adam a poor Monk whom he gave to King Richard the Second of England First to Sicily and then to Genua and at last that he might not be troubled with them any longer he caus'd them saith the Author all in one Night to be beheaded But Platina saith they were sown up in Sacks and so flung into the Sea after the manner of punishing Parricides of old which is probable since no doubt the Pope would call their Crime Rebellion against their Spiritual Father But which way soever he dispos'd of them all Authors agree That they were never seen afterwards Lewis King of Hungary dying the before-mentioned Charles his Son was forc'd to go home thither to settle Affairs where by the Treachery of the Queen he was beheaded but had left two Sons Ladislaus and John Children very young at Ferrara whereupon the Pope thirsting after Revenge and to wreck his Spleen on these two innocent Babes for the Injuries he pretended to have received from their Father thinking he had a fit opportunity departs from Genua to Lucca then to Sena and Perusium with a desire as he pretended to see Naples but in truth with a design to defeat the young Princes of their Inheritance but by the prudence and faithfulness of some Counsellors to whose Charge they were left their Lives and Estates were preserved from his malicious Fury Then he return'd to Rome and made in one day 29 Cardinals of whom 26 were Neopolitans In the last year of his Popedom calling to mind of the vast Gain that the Jubilee had brought to Clement the Sixth in the year 1350. He would needs tho against all Reason except only that of private Lucre abreviate the Term and have it kept every 30 years yet so as that it should begin at Christmas Anno Dom. 1388. and continue a year Inclusive But tho he had laid his Bait for Money yet he did not live to see the Fish caught for being bruis'd by a fall of his Mule as he was riding to Perusium he was carried to Rome where after few days he died Paucis admodùm utpote hominis Rustici inexorabilis flentibus Hujus autem Sepulchrum adhuc visitur cum Epitaphio satis Rustico inepto Very few says Platina lamenting his Death for he was a clownish Fellow and inexorable His Tomb is seen to this day with a very Rustical and foolish Epitaph And there 's an end of one of our Popes and if he were as Roman Historians bear us in the hand the Right and most Legitimate of the two we may very well say Bad was the best for amongst other of his meritorious Feats he caus'd a Book to be written by one John de Therano his Chamberlain the beginning whereof is Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar ' s and to God the things that are God's wherein he affirms That these words of our Saviour have place only for a time namely until his Ascention but afterwards they were out of Date and of no force seeing that himself saith John 12. When I shall be taken up I will draw all Men after me that is Pray mark the Wit and Divinity of the Interpretation All Kings and Kingdoms shall be under the Empire of the Pope c. Likewise John the Ligni wrote a Book in favour of this Pope Vrban against his Rival Clement as on the other side the Abbot of St. Vast wrote one for Clement against Vrban wherein they call each Pope Heretic Schismatic Tyrant Thief wicked sower of Sedition Son of Belial and 't is believ'd they were not either of them much mistaken Pope Vrban you have heard left the hopeful Crop of his intended Jubilee to be reap'd by his Successor who was one Peter de Thomacellis a Neopolitan who was call'd Boniface the Ninth Ignorant he was saith our oft-quoted Author Theodoric a Nyem l. 2. c. 6. of writing and singing and so unfit for Administration of the Affairs of the Court of Rome that whilst he lived he hardly understood the Propositions made before him by the Advocates in Consistory in so much that in his time Inscitia ferè venalis fuit in ipsa Curiâ Ignorance was almost buyable as a main step to preferment in the Roman Court Yet in all kind of Simony so far he excell'd all his Predecessors that not one Cardinal or Bishop was promoted without extorting great Sums of Money from them And indeed such an unreasonable Griper had Vrban before found him who only for his Personage and goodly Stature had from a Vagabond Clerk preferr'd him to be a Cardinal That he for meer shame was about to degrade him if he had not been prevented by Death Of this godly Gentleman's Invention as some Authors report were the payments to the Pope call'd Annates concerning which it may not be wide of our mark to inform the vulgar Reader what by that word is understood Annates deriv'd from Annus a year are no other than Primitiae the first Fruits or profits of every Spiritual Living for one year to be paid by the Parson that is invested in it at his first entrance thereupon and near of Kin hereunto are Decimae Tenths take it in a strict sense viz. The Tenth part of the first Fruits or of one years value of all Spiritual Livings and these were anciently paid to the Popes not only in England but throughout the Western parts of Christendom for the Pope as Pastor pastorum claim'd Decimas decimarum and that Jure divino too tho never thought of 'till about or some small time before this year 1399. by Example forsooth of the Jewish High-Priest who Numb 18. 16. was to have Tenths from the Levites But tho Jure Divino as in many other