Priest of his order and he who was his Confessour that he very often had asked of God that he would do no miracles by him And that was because he wold not haue the people think too well of him And in as much as mention is heere made of Caesar Baronius I vvill adde one thing more which the said l Lib. 1. An. 1550 Cardinall delivered vpon his othe concerning the same Philip his founder for the said Baronius was one of his company and society In the yeere 1550 now more then fiftie yeeres agone Philip who in the darke of the night vvhen all men are even buried in sleepe so that the lefte hande coulde not knovve vvhat the the right hande did did vse to visite needy persons vvent in the nighte time to cary breade to a poore gentle-man Heere by the Devils meanes vvhile hee sought to avoide a carte comming hastily vppon him hee fell into a verie deepe ditch but Gods helpe beeing at hande in his falling he vvas presently caught of an Angell by the heare of the heade miraculouslye and beeing nothing hurte hee vvas returned out safe by the Angell This did Baronius who vvas not there and coulde haue it but by the reporte of Nerius svveare absolutely to bee true vvhereby vvee may easilie gesse that the same Cardinall in his vvritinges maketh no greate conscience to saye thinges true or false vvhen hee maketh no bones to svveare matters so vnlikely Hee who list to see more of the venerable miracles in Popery let him reade Henrie Stephanus in his French m Cap 39 Apologie of Herodotus and there hee shall finde diverse particulars sette dovvne Are not our Country-men and Country-women blessed when after so long light of the Gospell they chuse to feede themselues fat with legions of such wonders and holde it a high part of their profession to beleeve such things as these are We reade of some whom God doth so giue over to the spirit of delusion that they doe n 2 Thes 〈◊〉 11. beleeuelyes 17 If any heere do aske mee howe came it ever about that such foolishe and ridiculous multitudes of miracles came to bee reported and inserted into their bookes I must first ascribe it to the permission of God who had fore-tolde that so it shoulde bee Secondlye to the pollicy of Sathan vvhose kingdome by this us by a speciall meanes was inlarged Thirdly to the cunning of the Cleargy in those daies vvho made themselues great by the keeping vp of such reportes concerning the sanctitie of any of their confederacy or of such whose reliques they pretended to haue and gained infinitely by the offeringes done in places of these wonders And fourthly to the credulity of the people who would beleeve any thing once set abroach by some suborned for the purpose or by idle companions Gulielmus Neubringensis was a writer very learned and iudicious for that time wherein hee lived And in his storie hee did more then once relate the abuse of that age for spreading abroade the fames of miracles o Neubringens l 3 7. Henry the eldest sonne of King Henry the second of England vvho was in his fathers life time crowned King but dyed before his father was every where by the people reported to have wrought great miracles after his death vvhereas in truth he was an vnadvised and rebellious younge Prince This shevveth hovve apte the people were to intertaine a conceite of any mans doing miracles yea so farre that if they might haue their willes they shoulde soone have beene shrined for Saints Aftervvard p Lib 4 9 there vvas a greate robber vvho beeing slaine it vvas given out of many olde vvomen that hee frequentlye did miracles as if hee had beene some holye person and this rumour grewe so stronge and was so generally spredde that the Bishop was enforced to come to Hampton there display the falshood of the whole narration so that then the superstition was ended Hee q Lib 5 19 mentioneth also a third matter of this kinde that a traiterous fellow of London called VVilliam with the longe bearde vvas also reputed a Saint and a maine doâ—… of of miracles Can vvee have any plainer certificate then this that by the superstition and credulousnesse of the vulgar sort many vvonders were saide to bee done vvhen in truth there vvas no such matter And if for their commodities sake any of the Cleargie would ioyne and giue countenance to the matter the party so grovvne to be a Saint and the fame of his vvonders shoulde never bee extinguished The reader may by these fewe take a tast of the rest of their Saintes and miracles for thousandes vvere done no othervvise then in this sorte and everie man had not the vvitte to see the fraude nor that couragâ—… to reporte it as Neubringensis had And vvhat levvdenesse may wee imagine vvas practised amonge simple people in those darke dayes of Popery vvhen in so glorious a sunne-shine of the Gospell any Seminarians shoulde dare in England to attempte such a practise as Father VVeston the lesuite and Declâ—…ration of Popish impostures practâ—…sed by Edm. no lesse then a vvhole douzen of Priestes conspiring vvith him did of late for some yeeres togither put themselues into They persvvaded some men and three maydens that they vvere possessed vvith the Devill and that they by their Priest-exorcizing faculties could fetch him in out vp and downe at their pleasure They had a holy chaire to set their abused Disciples in and a holy potion to administer to them both matters pretended to be formidable to the foule spirits but indeed trickes to cast their patients into straunge fits that so they might seeme as wel to themselues as others standing by to be possessed in most hideous manner And this was so artificially carried by the Iesuit and his fellowe Iuglers that diverse hundreds of vnstable and vnadvised people being cousened and cunny-catched by their impostures were contented to bee reconciled to the Church of Rome being wonne there vnto by their stupendious miracles A booke also or two was penned to be spread abroade beyond the seas of the admirable dominering of these Priests over the possessing spirits and of the wonders which they had done vppon them Notwithstanding now by the confessions of three of the females one man al which then were the pretended possessed persons of another theÌ„ a Priest a personal actour in this exploit all these five being sworne speaking vpon oth it is manifestly and vndoubtedly discovered to be most egregious insignious illustrious both varletry vilainy that among meÌ„ professing religion devotioÌ„ was ever heard A man may wel suppose that the casting out of Devils and doing of other wonders in India farre countries by the Iesuites and Priestes is a true honest holy matter when such vnspeakeable vndescribable hypocrites do dare before such multitudes of theselues conscious of their own fraud before such troupes of staÌ„ders by
Bohem ca. 35. He who first raised vp the opinions of the Hussites had them from Oxford carying thence into Bohemia Wiclefs bookes De Realibus Vniversalibus Cochleus who by his good will would bee taken for a vehement defender of Popery giveth yet a larger testimony For he saith n Histor. de Hussitis li. 1. that as a Bohemian brought first into Bohemia Wiclef booke De Realibus Vniversalibus so there was afterward one Pâ—ter Paine a scholer of Wiclefs who after the death of his Maister came also into Bohemia and brought with him Wiclefs bookes which were in quantitie as great at Saint Austens workes o Ibidem Many of these bookes did Hus afterward translate into their mother tongue In plaine tearmes after this the Authour delivereth it that p Lib. 2. the Hussites and Thaborites were branches of Wiclef And in the same booke Hus did commit spirituall fornication with many strangers with the Wiclefists the Dulcinists c. And in the next he avoucheth that q Lib. 3. Hus and Hierome tooke their heresies from Wiclef And once againe he tearmeth the Protestant Germanes r Lib. 6. new Wiclefists What an opinion of this man Iohn Hus had may be fully seene by that wish of his wherin hee praied s Lib. 2. that hee might there bee where the soule of Wiclef was Now what VViclef did teach may be easily gathered if by nothing else yet by the deadly hatred which the Romanists did cary toward him The s Session 8. Councell of Constance did define him to be an Heretike long after his death and commaunded that his bones should be taken vp and burnt Also t Cochl li. 1. Pope Iohn the 23. in a Generall Councel at Rome did before that time condemne him for an heretike which the Hussites did but laugh at But no man had a harder conceipt of him then Cochleus who sticketh not to affirme that u Lib. 2. he thinketh the torments of Wiclef are greater in hell then those of Iudas or Nero. If God Almighty had no better opinion of him the man were in an ill case But the best is this cholerike Criticke is not the Iudge of all the world He was angry beâ—â—ke in behalfe of Transubstantiation concerning which he citeth this Article of Wiclef There was never a greater heresie then that which putteth the Accident without a Subiect in the Eucharist But he might haue named more pointes wherein that holy man did differ from the Church of Rome The u Session 8. Councell of Constance picketh out fiue and forty Articles of his Positions which the learned Reader may finde there Yet doubtlesse many of them are fasly reported which is a matter common with enimies of the truth to perverâ—… and mis-construe that so they may more freely defame There was one x Respo ad â—…8 artic Wiclef In â—…ase rer ex petend 〈◊〉 Wideford who tooke on him to answere eighteene Articles said to be Wiclefs whence a maÌ„ may gather some of his doctrine But that al things there laid against him were not true may wel be obserued out of the same Answere declaring that he had many things coÌ„cerning Wiclef but only by y In fine Articul 10. fame report And z Virgil. Aeneid 4. that is not the most certaine Relater What positioÌ„s indeed he held may be seene in M r. Foxe reporting his life actions as also in the a Lib. 18. Catalogus Testium veritatis And those who be not learned may esteeme of them by the doctrine of Iohn Hus before rehearsed who by the testimony of the Papists themselues as I haue shewed maintained the opinions of Wiclef 25 Now that this worthy champioÌ„ preacher of the Gospell of Iesus Christ went not alone but had many English men and women who in his life time after his death beleeved as he beleeved professed as hee professed is in the next place to bee shewed Among the chiefe of his fautours were Iohn of Gaunt as b Apolog. Hieâ—…arch ca 1. Parsons the Iesuit confesseth and Lord Henry Percy the one of them Duke of Lancaster the other Marshall of Englande Master Foxe citeth out of a c Ex Regist G. Courtney Register of the Arch-bishoppe of Canterbury a Mandate mentioning that the Conclusions of Wiclef were preached in diverse and sundrie places of the Arch-bishoppes Province generally commonly and publikely The same also is manifested by a letter of that Arch-bishoppe to the Bishop of London and in a Monition directed to d Ad Cancellar Ox. Oxford where it is said that certaine Conclusions hereticall and erroneous were generallie commonly preached and published in diverse places of the Province of Canterbury There be extant also e Ad 〈◊〉 Cant. Cancel Oxon. letters of King Richarde the seconde directly signifying so much But there is nothing vvhich maye more amply testifie the spreading of his doctrine then an Acte of Parliamente in the beginning almost of that younge Kinges dayes vvhere it is related that there vvere f Anno 5. Rich 2. ca. 5 diverse preaching dayelie not onelye in Churches and Church-yardes but also in markets fâ—…res and other open places where a great congregation of people is â—…verse sermons containing Heresies and â—…etorious errours This putteth mee in minde of a written booke which once g In manu M r. Guâ—…el Wirley I sawe being a Chronicle compiled by a Monke of Leicester Abbay who writing of the time of the saide K. reporteth at large that the people in faires markets riding by the way almost every where would talke of the Scripture and reprove the customes of that time as also the Priests to the exceeding greate trouble and offence of the Clergy This they might the rather doe out of the word of God because the Scriptures were then translated into English as may bee seene by diverse copies vvritten and remayning to this day supposed to bee so turned by UUiclf And it is very probable that in Leicestershire there were many of those of vvhome the Monâ—…e Leicestrensis spake since at Luâ—…erworth a towne in thâ—…t Counâ—…e Iohn UUiclâ—…f vvas beneficed But the greatest parte of this learned mans abode was at the first in the Vniversitie of Oxford vvhere hee was both a Doctor and Reader of Divinity and therefore is to bee conceived to have many learned men partaking with him in his opinions h In fine R. Edward 3. Maister Foxe saith out of the Chronicle of Saint Albaneâ—… that hee had a benefice in Oxford of vvhich he was deprived by Simon 〈◊〉 Arch-bishop of Canterbury It may be this was nothing else but the Maister-ship or Chiefe Governours place in Baâ—…oll College vvhich I am perswaded that he had since there are yet two auncient writings in the Treasurie of that i In Archivis Colleg. Baâ—…ol College vvhich I have seene who vvere made in the name of Iohn Vviclif Maister of that house
in your Popes courte are scant knowne among vs and here lesser sortes of luxury wantonnesse lie subiect to both Ecclesiastical and temporall punishment The filthy lubricity of many Papistes is growne to a Proverbe long since amongst vs and yet they would perswade men that they liue vnder the crosse in persecution Yea what may be supposed is done at liberty whereof I leaue the testification to a marginall note of M. u Quodli 2 Articul 2 Watsons in his Quodlibets vvhen your Priestes and Prisoners restrained at Wisbich are publikely in print questioned one by another as about other disorders so namely for x Manifest ca. 1. whoredome But of this more largely hereafter For gluttony who ever exceeded your Pseudo-Catholikes on their fish daies and double feasts or your monkes the belly-gods of the world the knights of Bacchus and Ceres the sty-fed swine of Europe This by-word was not for naught O monachi vestri stomachi sunt amphora Bacchi Vos estis Deus est testis turpissima pestis As for ambition all the earth cannot put downe the Cardinals of Rome and the inferiour Prelates vnder them VVhat tumultes were there wont to be about every Bishopricke or rich Abbay two or three striving for it and running or sending to Rome to see whither could out-bribe other No man is more plentiful in this argument then y In Hen 3 Mathew Paris What endlesse ambition is there and hath there beene in aspiring to the Papacy Kings Princes being set one against another for Popes causes and in the time of Antipapes a great part of Christendome beeing vp in armes some on the one side some on another It is not forgotten howe in Englande the Arch-bishops of Canterbury and Yorke haue striven for priority their crosses which rather should haue taught them humility iutting each with other and the bearers of them being ready to iustle each other from the wal in the presence of the Cleargy and Nobilitie of the Realme Nay if there were nothing else to shevve the ambition of the Romanists yet let vs not novve bee blinde at home where in z Quodl 2 7 printed bookes there hath beene question made betweene the Iesuites and secular Priestes concerning precedence in going and betweene Priestes and other of their religion for places at table so vnfitly and immodestly as woulde rather beseeme vaine and weake-witted women then men who professe themselues to bee of learning and gravitye besides the greatest tye of their Ecclesiasticall function But every Papist doth well to imitate the Pope his holy Father who setteth himselfe aboue all Kings and Emperours and therefore they may doe sutably to goe before as many as they can not in a Rom. 12 10 giving but in taking honor Yet Christ the best Master hath taught another lesson b Mat 11 29 Take my yoke on you and learne of me that I am humble and meeke Lastly for covetousnesse who ever on earth exceeded the Romish Synagoge vvho by the manours and large possessions given them had almost devoured whole Europe and by their Buls sent abroad as also by their dispensations at home did shew themselues the most cunning Alchimistes in the worlde to turne in many places a little leade into a great deale of golde which was fitly c Premier Recucil fol 767. likened to the chaunge of Diomedes and Glaucus in Homere Adde to this the infinite riches vvhich they had by continuall Legacies Vowes Offrings and Giftes whereof monuments may yet bee seene in Rome Paris Colein and other places in their crosses Images shrines and many other things of pure massie gold vvith plenty of precious stones and as once might haue appeared in the treasures belonging to Thomas Becket at Cāterbury which as d Peregrin Relig. ergo Erasmus who saw them describeth them did far surpasse the riches of many a king To contract this matter the story is vvell known how King e Io Fox in Richard 1. Richard the first bestowed the three daughters in mariage whom one Fulco put him in minde of I meane those dangerous daughters Pride Covetousnesse and Luxurie He placed Pride with the Templars Avarice with the Cistertian Monkes and Luxurye with the pompous Prelates of the Church Such good opinion vvas in those dayes to bee carryed concerning the mortified persons of the Romishe Cleargye 17 In this place I finde that you exceede your selfe if possibly that might be You set vp here to your selfe a ladder of vntruths whereon you may by every rounde or steppe come higher and higher to the father of lyes VVe are given to lust gluttony ambition covetousnesse that is your lowest step Then we teach doctrine which must necessaryly bring soorth such fruites After this wee contemne Saint Basile Saint Chrysostome Saint Hierome Saint Augustine Then to the ende that you maye beare the garlande from all your fellowes generallye the doctrine of the aunient Fathers is cleane contrarie to the doctrine of Protestantes f ◅ul secūdo de Ova◅ore Hanniball saw many doting olde men but never such a one as Phormio But I turne backe vnto you g Staphyl in Apolog. You haue long muttered that we teach a doctrin of liberty and we set open the gate to all profanenes Notwithstanding this is a slander of your own invētion neither are you able to name one learned and approved Protestāt who ever in his preaching or writīg could iustly be charged with any such matter Only your spleene is against that point of faith in Christ which while you labor to oppugne you do wrong to vs but more to God to his Son our Saviour the power of whose redēption you extenuat at your pleasure to set vp your own merites Whereas wee doe teach that the same faith when occasion is offred doth h Galat 5. 6 work by loue is seene in his fruits can no more be without a Christian cōversatiō thē fire without heat or water without moisture This we hold whereas cōtrarywise I appeale to the cōscience of your selfe as also to the cōscience of every indifferently minded man whither Popery be not the open gap to a gulfe of al vngodlines when the absolution of a Preest shal be said to free a man frō hel the Indulgēce of a Pope the same person frō Purgatory the pardon of such a one as cannot forgiue his own sinnes for the i Rhemens Thess. 2 4 Pope himselfe confesseth to another Priest and is absolved by him shall cleere a man from poysoning murthering whoring all vncleannes whē satisfactiōs to God-ward may be wrought made for mēs trāsgressions The infectiō of this the like leprosies maketh Papists audacious to do any thing then let thē goe barefoote about the Ascensiō weeke or whip thēselves on good-Friday let thē go to Rome at a lubiley or on Pilgrimage at other times but especially let thē come to cōfessiō have absolutiō they are as cleane from