was such a word in Saint Paul as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lawlesse person which here they ascribe to Pope Paul by their open confession and profession which practise of the Pope and position of The quarrels of Paul 5 with Venice lib. 2. those popish writers was justly censured by Sir Henry Wotton then Embassador for his Majesty at Venice who said for those pretensions of the Pope that hee could not understand this Romane Theologie which is contrarie to all Iustice and honestie Next the Pope proceedeth to his Bishops Suarez Apol. lib. 4. cap. 10. num 6. that they are exempted also Quia Episcopi sunt Patres Principum simpliciter ijs superiores ideo indignū est indecens ut ab ijs judicentur sayth Suarez Bishops saith he are the Fathers of Princes and plainly their superiors therefore it is incongruity and indignity that they should bee judged by them Moreover the popish Priests too must injoy the same Priviledge because Constantine said to such saith Gratian Vos à Grat cap. 12. quaest 1. nemine iudicari potestis Yee may be judged by no man Fourthly their servants si tonsuram deferant si incedant habitu Clerecali si ecclesiae alicui Suarez Apol. lib 4 cap. 28. inserviunt if their Crownes be shaved their apparell of the Cleargy fashion and their service Trent Hist lib. 1. belong to any Church they are exempted from all secular authoritie Nay their Doctors have affirmed that the very Concubines of Priests were of Ecclesiasticall judisdiction All which particular sentences I may summe up in that one saying of Antoninus in his Summes The Antonin Sum. part 3. tit 22. Pope may make new Religions change the ordinances of Councills and dispence with all Lawes a very paraphrase of the word in my text the Pope is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lawlesse person Observe withall that these Law-transcendēt hyperbolies are not pinned on the Popes sleeves without their owne approbation Platina Leone 3 Here the Popes speake in their owne phrase and in their owne likenesse Pope Leo the third being accused to the Emperor Charles the Great for certaine offences the Emperour intending to examine the matter he received a flat answer Sedem Apostolicā omnium ecclesiarum caput à nemine Laico praesertim iudicari debere that the Apostolike See being the Head of all Churches ought to bee judged of no man of no Lay man especially and about the yeare 1132 Lotharius the Emperor demanded Pless Myster Progres 46. of Innocent the second whether he would observe the Imperiall lawes that Pope returned a round and ready answer Mantum Pontificiale se potius abd caturum pedibus conculcaturum that he would rather resigne his Pontificiall apparell and trample his triple Diadem under his feet So that the Pope and the Imperiall lawes are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dagon and the Arke one must down And so it becommeth him who is surnamed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The lawlesse person The effect of which lawlesse usurpation must be to wrong the King and the Lawes and Iustice of the Kingdome The King must suffer in his power and jurisdiction which is much impaired thereby to instance in France In France saith Duarenus Duarenus de Benesicijs Praef. the whole people are divided into three degrees the Clergy Nobility and Commonalty of which the first is the most whereby the King is stripped of one third part of his subjects by this Papall Exemption Next it doth blunt the edge or rather breake the sword of the Law that Exemptiō being a Buckler to al the Clergy what malefactors or how obnoxious soever Whence sprang that proverbe mentioned by Duarenus de Bene. 1. 17. the forementioned author Detonsum caput impunitatis symbolum that is a shaven Crowne is the signe of a person who may not bee punished From whence will issue 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 necessarie consequents 1 that a Priest or Iesuit cannot be a Rebell or a Traitour although he doe the actions of Treason or Rebellion Clerici Rebellio non est crimen laesae majestatis quia non est principi subditus Emanuel Sa. saith Sa that is The rebellion of a Popish Clergy-man is no Treason because he is no subject to that Prince which is confirmed and almost translated by the current of the Controversie-writers in the contentions betwixt Paulus 5 and the State of Venice who all consented The quarrels of Paul 5 with Venice lib. 4. upon this that the Clergy are not subjects to the Prince even in the case of Treason The second paradoxe issuing from the same Fountaine is that it is not lawfull for the Popish Clergie without the Popes leave to pay tribute or give any subsidies to their Princes although they themselves be willing to those payments This Duarenus Duarenus de Benef. 7 8. complaineth to have been the Constitution of Pope Boniface 8. The last lawlesse absurd paradoxe is proposed by way of Quaere They put the question whether an Heathen Prince denying the Exemption of the Clergy may be admitted unto Baptisme sub conditione on this condition that he may not be deprived of that jurisdiction Suarez shapeth an answer sutable to the Suarez Apolog. lib. 4. cap. 11. num 18. Popes lawlesse supremacy that it is so injust a condition ut sub tali pacto neque Baptismus alicui Principi sit concedendus that on these termes a Prince may not be admitted by Baptisme In plaine termes a King and his whole Kingdome must be permitted to bee damned rather than the Popes Praerogative over nationall lawes must be prejudiced Thus the Oecumenicall lawes are broken by the Oecumenicall Bishop And if there bee or ever hath beene such a one as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lawlesse person in the world the Pope is He. For all the lawes in the world cannot consine him The last indeed the least Law is the Law Oeconomicall in private Families which needeth least to be stood upon If the old Babylon caried captive the people of Israel and the Tribe of Iudah thinke wee that the family of David or House of Iechonias could bee freed So since the new Babylon hath inthralled the Prime Law of the Scriptures and the publike law of Nations it were impossible to imagine that the private law of every poore familie and every personall interest should not submit their neckes to his usurping tyranny For Families the great tye therein is twofold either of superiority betwixt children and Parents or of equalitie betwixt husband and wife Now how both of these are torne in peeces by popish intrusion it may bee this point wanteth plaints rather than proofes For children how sonnes are wrought into popish orders without and against their Parents consent and daughters that they are kept in Popish Nunneries against their Parents nay their owne consents I would this were onely suspicious and not notorious Yea the Pope hath haled children to
in this that the Emperors must sweare to be subâ—ect to the Pope Thus was it taken by Lewis the sonne of Charles the great to Paschal the first by Otho the first to Iohn the twelfth by Henry the fourth to Gregory the seventh by Fredericke the third to Nicholas the fifth by Charles the fifth to Clement the seventh and finally by our King Iohn to Pope Innocent Adde hereunto that the Emperour doth Sacreâ— Cerem lib. 1. fol. 26 35 54 56 113 120 163 c. perforce serv le offices to the Pope Hee must beare up his Traine when the Pope doth walke Hold his Stirrup when he doth ride hee must support his Chaire with his shoulder when hee is caried poure water on his hands when hee doth wash and when he doth eate the Emperour must bring in the first dish and present the first cup to his Holinesse his Highnesse wee may terme it for he doth Exalt himselfe above the Emperors in an high measure And as the Pope doth testifie his exaltation historically to our â—ares so doth he represent it also emblematically to our eyes The Pope hath a Triple Diadem Dr. Sheldon Mot 4. pag. 51. which some say doth signifie that the Romane Emperor doth receive three Crowns from him one of Iron at Aquisgrave another of Silver at Millane and the third of Gold at Rome I may censure this action of the Pope in the phrase of a servant of the Pope Too many crowns Monarchomach part 1. Tit. 5. so purchased to expect any in Heaven Innocent the second caused his owne and the Emperors Picture to be set up in the Laterane Palace himselfe sitting in his Pontificall Throne and the Emperour kneeling before him and holding up his hands with this inscription Rex venit ante fores jurans prius Vrbis honores Post homo sit Papae sumit quo dante Coronam That is When the King of the Romanes is elected he attendeth on the Pope who first administring him an Oath to become his man or servant doth afterwards give him the Imperiall Sacrar Cerem lib. 1. sect 4. fol. 48. Trent Hist lib. 8. Crowne But his prime insolence is without peradventure that oath of Allegiance Hence I conceive it came to passe anno 1563 that Ferdinand the King of the Romanes demanded the words of the Oath which when he had perused he refused saying that Thereby he should confesse himselfe to be the Vassall of the Pope This is the universall insolence of the Pope to bring under both Kings and Emperours That is to exalt himselfe above all that is called God or that is worshipped I will deliver plainly what answer the Papists shape to extenuate this shamelesse usurpation of the Pope over Kings Emperors three waies three sorts of Papists assay to build up this Palace of Babel Some by negation some by dissimulation and the third sort by qualification For the first All Papists doe concurre that the Pope hath supreme power over the soveraigne Majestie of Kings and Emperours But concerning the nature of that power they are divided into three severall opinions The first is of Carerius and other popish parasites who affirme Alex. Câ—rerius de Potest Rom. that the Pope hath power absolute over the whole world both in things Ecclesiasticall and Civill Pont. lib. 2. c 9. Bellarm. de â—â—rt Rom. lib. 5. cap. 6. The second is of Bellarmine and his followers who maintaine that though the Pope hath not meere Temporall power over Kings directly yet he hath supreme authority to dispose of the Temporalities of all Kingdomes by an indirect prerogative tending in ordine ad spiritualia to the advancement of the spirituall good The last is of Barclaius and the moderate Papists Barclaius lib. cap 3. that the Pope hath Spirituall power to excommunicate Kings but no temporall authority to meddle with their Persons Subjects or Dominions To all these assertions let me propose these inevitable consequents So many as defend the first opinion declare themselves to bee ipso facto actuall Traitours against the Crowne of those Princes under whom they live The supporters of the second are habituall Traitors being alwayes disposed to execute the sentence of deposition if the Pope please to command it They have no Obex but dum desunt vires no hindrance but the want of Ability and Opportunity And the third howsoever indeed it is not perpitious to the Soule of the Estate to take away the life of the King yet is it dangerous to the estate of the Soule to invest a man with a power which is not compatible to any pure creature with a faculty of Occumenicall Excommunication I know not how to terme it otherwise than a paradox dangerous and in some sort damnable also But in truth this opinion thus blanched is not absolutely popish nor they absolute Papists who do maintaine it I suppose that there are many moderate Papists even in our owne Land who are of this last opinion that the Pope hath no temporall power over Kings But what is the opinion of the Romish Church did not the Iesuites persecute Blackwell and his partakers because they would not be Iesuited in this point and was not learned Withrington disgraced if not excommunicated by the Pope for confuting that damnable opinion of Suarez That the Pope can command Kings to be killed c And finally are not they themselues esteemed Schisinatickes for this opinion as appeareth by Barclaius confuted by Bellarmine for avouching this assertion Others dissemble this usurpation by the title of Servus servorum Such an apology is that which Lessius doth frame The Popes saith Lessius de Ant. Dem. 7. he doe call non se solum servos Dei themselves not onely the servants of God sed etiam servos servorum Dei but moreover the servants of those that are the servants of God I wonder saith he what secular Prince did ever use such an humble title in his Letters and Addresses I answer Non minuit fâ—stum sed auget hypocrisin This humble title doth not suppresse their pride but rather expresse their hypocrisie For it followeth in the very next lines No Catholike is so grosse as to thinke that the Pope is to bee adored pro Deo propriè dicto as God himselfe although by some he be termed Deus in terris their God on earth Quia in terris est supremus because he is the highest of all the earth We see then the same Iesuite avoucheth the Pope to be the Soveraigne of the whole World notwithstanding the pretext of his humble Title that he is called the Servant of the servants of God They make it yet more cleare by their owne distinction The Pope saith Baldus cited by our M Higgons myst Babylon Serm. 1. The Pope saith Baldus cited by our learned Convert and truely converted Country-man He is Dominus Dominorum quoad potestatem the Lord of Lords in regard of his Power though Servus servorum quoad
sin By both hee fulfilleth that in the first to the Romans and the last He doth not onely do things worthy of Death but hath pleasure in them which doe them But who is this Man this Paterne and Patron of all impiety the Rhemists call it Blaspemy we verity We say The Pope is The Man of Sinne both by Acting it in Himselfe and by effecting it in others Anno 1562. the Archbishop Trent Hist lib 7. pag. 588. of Granada and all the Spanish Bishops desired reformation in the Trent Councill saying that the Fountaine of all abuses was the Court of Rome which is not onely corrupt it selfe but the cause of Deformation in all the Churches This truth is also confirmed by that false proselyte Radix omnium malorum Spalâ—â—â—â—â—â—s de Rep. lib. 4 c. 11. nu 11. est Romana Curia the Court of Rome is the cause of all evill For the first the personall sinnes of the Popes I passe that Onely because Suarez saith Suarez Apol. lib 5 cap. 17. nu 5. Christoph de Antichristo against Doctor Dounam Trisâ—gion lib. 3. cap. 39. that there were aliqui improbi not many and Christopherson in his catalogue doth not mention any evill persons amongst all the Popes I must therefore give a tast of other mens observations The learned author of the Trisagion saith that there sate in the See of Rome fourteene Popes which were Adulterous nine Simoniaks twelve Tyrants three and twenty Sorcerers and ten Traitors To which I must Toâ—â— Torâ—i pag 219. adde what our Bishop hath delivered out of their Platina Monstra Portenta more then twenty Monsters of Mankind which sate and more than thirty Schismes were hatched in the Chaire of Rome And for the space of one hundred fourescore yeeres for the succession of Fifty Popes hee could reckon Vix unum Pontificis nomine dignum hardly one worthy to be called a Pope and that you may not Hâ—m 2. lib. Whits 2. part sol 219 c. judge this to be a private judgmeÌ„t or mine to be a rash judgement reade the judgement of the Church of England fully to this point in the Homily for Whitsontide But I will remove my finger froÌ„ this sore which I had not touched had not their bragging Tongue coÌ„strained my Hand a little to discouer it Next to come to the life of the cause That the Pope is the cause of sinne it will be confessed if we consider onely this one thing There is a booke called Taxa Cancellariae Apostolicae where in print the Absolutions from sinne and dispensations for sinne are set at a certaine Rate Can any imagine a fitter introduction and a more imboldning incouragement for any sinfull man to commit any sinfull action This is much which I say but much more is said by one of their owne and best authors Claudius Espencaeus Liber palam ac publicè hic Cl. Espâ—â—â— in Tit. cap. 1. Digres 1. impressus hodie ut olim venalis Taxa Camerae seu Cancellariae Apostolicae inscriptus in quo plus scelerum discas licet quam in omnibus omnium vitiorum summistis ac summarijs et plurimis quidem licentia omnibus autem Absolutio empturientibus proposita That is There is a booke publikely to be sold the Taxa Camerae whereby a man may learne more wickednesse than ever was comprised in all the summists and summaries of Vices which ever were set forth and wherein some may buy leave and all pardon for any sinne The same author proceedeth in the same place and point that that booke doth dispence with Adulterers Murtherers and Sorcerers Adulteros In cantatrices Homicides yea they absolve Parricidas Incestos contra naturam cum Brutis those that kill their Fathers defile their Mothers or that are so farre past grace that they commit that foule crime against nature By name for Perjurie Cap. 4. a villaine which hath falsly and willingly forsworne himselfe shall be absolved and the price of his Absolution is printed sixe grosses Cap. 3. or nine shillings and the same price is pitched for that child of the devill who out of a diabolicall lust shall defile a woman in the holy house of God in the very Church it selfe Thus also under Alexander the sixt the Cardinall Waldenses lib. 2. cap. 3. pag. 48. of St. Xist sent into Dauphine two bulls one by which he gave absolution for Simonie Theft Murther Vsury Adultery Detension of Benefices Destruction of goods Ecclesiasticall Perjurie yea Apostasie and Heresie All which may bee established by the Bellaâ— de Pont. Rom. lib. 4 ca. 5. sect Quod. judgement of learned Bellarmine for saith he Si Papa praecipiat vitia prohiberet virtutes tenetur Ecclesia credere vitia esse bona virtutes malas nisi velit contra conscientiam peccare That is If the Pope should command vices and interdict vertues every person who would not offend against his conscience must beleeue that the vices are good and the vertues are bad And that none may surmise me to wrong Bellarmine or to wring his words beyond his meaning behold a like egge of the same bird Bellar. de Pont. Rom. lib. 4. ca. 2. sect Dein de Catholici omnes convenient pontificem aliquid statuentem sive errare possit sive non esse ab omnibus fidelibus obedienter audiendum that is all Catholikes doe accord in this that the Pope whether he may erre or no is yet to be heard with all obedience And Bellarmine doth but Blanch Bell. Recogn de Sum. Pontif. pag. 507. the Aethiop when as he would seeme to retract this paradoxe saying that hee did speake de dubijs actibus and in the last citation he hath in re dubia For the Powder Traitors propounding Abbati Antilog cap. 9. it as rem dubiam to murther a King and ruine a Kingdome at one blow from these principles if the Pope had returned the affirmative they must have obeyed him yea have beleeved that that vicious act had beene a vertue Tolet. Instr lib. 4 cap. 3. sect 7. nay as another Cardinall speaketh in another case they might have thought that bloody barbarous villany meritorious Let any patron of the Pope under heaven name any man or succession of men on the earth who have given the like incitements incouragements and commandements unto sinne And I will recant and confesse that I have done his Holinesse and the holy series of his predecessours much wrong saying that The pope is the man of sinne But principally the Pope is the cause of three sinnes hee is the cause of Ignorance of Whoredome and Treason Now if I can prove that the Pope is the cause of these 3 sins I have cause enough to conclude The pope is the man of sinne For the first If the Councill of Tolet hath defined Concil Tol. 4. cap. 24. right that Ignorantia est mater omnium errorum Ignorance is the
is in effect to bee Traitors Wherefore then should we be dainty to give the title which is so meritoriously atchieved Homo peccati The Pope is the man of sinne But all these instances fall short of that instar omnium of that one authority with which I promised to conclude and have reserved it to bee the complement of the whole cause Suarez ex cujus ore locutos omnes conspirasse affirmare audeam all the hearts of all the Papists speake out of his mouth saith Alphonsus a Castello Branco in his censure of his Apologie Now let us heare his and their united language Suarez Apolog. lib. 6. cap 4. First therefore in his 6 booke and 4. chapter of his Apology he proveth this proposition Papa potest Reges deponere ac occidere that is The Pope hath power to depose and to kill Kings But with five cautions 1. Se inconsulto Suarez Apolog. lib 6. cap. 4. num 17. nemo contra regem suum insurgat None may dare to rebell against his King Se incoÌ„sulto unlesse the Pope be acquainted with it 2. Ab Suarez Apolog. lib. 6. cap. 4. num 18. illis tantum potuit expelli interfici quibus ipse id commiserit None may expell nor kill their King but onely those to whom the Pope himselfe doth commit this designe 3. What pâ—rticular Suarez Ibib. person may principally performe this feat Successor his next Heire to the Crowne si sit Catholicus if he be of the Romish Religion 4. Illo negligentiâ— what if the successour doth Suarez Apolog. Ibid. make some scruple to executo the Popes pious injunction and to touch the Lords anointed Then communitas regni all the Commons may take up â—rmes Dummodo sit Catholica provided Suarez Apolog. lib. 6. cap. 4. num 19. they be Papists Finally if all â—aile Alter Rex a Forraigne Prince may invade his kingdome alwayes provided si Pontifex potestatem ei tribuaâ— invadendi â—egâ—â—m that the Pope permitteth â—â—is â—â—â—â—sioâ— So 〈◊〉 there must be no deposing nor killing of Kings but with the knowledge approbation instruction of the Pope himselfe Therefore the Pope himselfe is the root of all Treason And in this point also he is Ille homopeccati The man of sinne Disciples have not beene wanting to this Doctrine Even tlle author of the Monarchomachia himselfe I doubt not but is an excellent proficient in this Schoole though hee pretendeth that he never learned this lesson In his Monarch part 1. tit 6 pag. 272. first part and sixt title these words fall from him Who in his Realme is to judge him who in his Realme Indeed the Pope is not in the Kings Realme If he would speake out in plain English wee should find that hee that hath Hierusalem Hierusalem so much in his mouth that he hath Babel Babel as much in his heart and that with Suarez hee holdeth the Pope to bee Iudge unto the King But to winde up all in one example never to bee paralleld the Powder Treason occasioned by the Tort. Torti pag. 86. popish Religion Attempted by popish Catholikes incouraged by popish Doctors as Faux himselfe freely confessed Nay to speake in the phrase of Suarez They did not they durst not attempt it se inconsulto without the knowledge of the Pope nisi catholici unlesse they had beene Romish Catholikes et quibus ipse commiserit they had never undertaken it haâ— not the Pope himselfe given them commission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Pope is The man of sinne But let us heare Babel plead for Rome Monarchomachia maketh this excuse That Monarchâ—m part 1. tit 1. pag. 14. Horrible project of the Gunpowder Treason was attempted by a few private Hot-spurres which in justice is rather to bee buried with the offendors then to be objected and imputed to innocent men who generally with great sorrow abhorre the Memory thereof I will answer in Monarchomâ—â— part 1. tit 1. pag. 52. his owne words touching that objection that the papists and this Author himselfe doe they doe say that the Gunpowder Treason was an horrible project and they doe say that they abhorre the memory thereof with great sorrow and this man doth preach obedience and hath printed a pamphlet which he termeth Hierusalem to that purpose But this is onely a fallacy to avoid the scandall for now they see that those Traitors did not stand nor maintaine their quarrell now they leave them in the Bryars cry out against their project pretend that they abhorre that very Memorie of them Nay would God they did so much in truth For this and all their cunning pamphlets cannot coape the lips of all their Catholikes but some of them at some time will shew their teeth As M. More censured in the Starre-Chamber anno 1623. Article 15. said That it was pitty that he who undertooke the blowing up of the Parliament that he was not hanged presently not because he did attempt it but because hee did not effect it Now that our King and Kingdome our Peeres and People our Church and Common-wealth that our Nation and very Name of England should have beene buried in one graue torne in peeces with one blast of Gunpowder And yet by no meanes se inconsulto without the approbation of the Pope This may iustly cause us to say Ecce homo peccati The Pope is the man of sinne In the year 1554 Queen Mary ordained that Trent Hist lib. 5. 385. that prayer instituted by King Henry the eight To deliver the kingdome from the Sedition Conspiracy and Tyranny of the Pope should bee razed out of the Communion Booke I thinke we may take up some such forme of prayer again and pray From Ignorance Whoredome and Treason From the killing of our King and confusion of our Common-wealth From the Man of sinne and that Pope of Rome Good Lord deliuer us SERMON V. 2 THESS 2. 3 4. The Sonne of perdition Antichrist the sonne of perdition Antichrist Iudas and the Pope paralleld Popish persecutions surpasse those of the Emperours Of the Inquisition I Have discussed the first point in this Description the time a falling away Which being taken three wayes every way it is punctally fitted to the Pope either politically for a falling from the Empire by rebellion or Ecclesiastically for a falling from the Church in Religion or Figuratively the falling away being put for the faller away the cause thereof all which are proper to the Popish Apostasie I am entred into the second point the three titles of Antichrist In the first I have observed foure particulars the Subject Antichrist is termed a man to shew that hee prevaileth in the Church by humane meanes Perswasion not improper to the Pope Secondly the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Man not one man but many a succession peculiar to them which lay such claime to succession the Popedome Thirdly the Adjunct the man of sinne that is a most sinfull wretch
destroyed spiritually also Consider the connexion of the phrases in my Text The Man of sinne and sonne of perdâ—tion Never did Chime follow the stroke of a Clocke so certainly nor suddenly as perdition â—oth sinne He who is the Man of sinne shall be the sonne of perdition Those that doe destroy the soules of other men shall undoubtedly be rewarded with their owne Soules destruction But they inferre that I inferre that the Pope and all grand Papists are perditi are desperatâ—ly in the state of damnation I answer with Saint Paul Rom. 9. 18. Deus â—â—sâ—râ—tur cujus vult misereri God hath mâ—rcy on whom he will have mercy With Cyprian Eodem temporis Cyprian de Câ—â—a Domini articulo God can infuse repentance and give grace at the very last gaspe With Moulins It Moulins Accâ—â— of Pâ—oâ—h pag. 82. is not our parts to give judgement upon any bodie nor positively to define What men are damned but we pray to God to shew mercy to those Popes and Papists who doe breathe out their threatnings against us and would bathe their hands in our blood And we say with Whitakâ—rs Ex quo Papismus caepit esse Antichristianismus Whitaker in Sandâ—r p 74â— ne Papas quidem universos damnatos esse dixerâ—m nec Papam hunc si ad sanam mentem râ—diâ—rit excluserâ—m Wee are so farre from saying that all Popes are damned that we will nor exclude even this Pope â—rom his salvation if he repent and revoke his wicked errour I do not subscribe to the sentence of Pope Sergius Oecum lib. 1. part 2. cap. 25. the fourth as to an infallible truth Papam non posse damâ—ari sed quod quicquid saâ—â—râ—t salvarâ—tur that is Howsoever he lâ—vâ— yet it is impossible for the Pope to â—ee 〈◊〉 Rather I incline to the opinion of another Pope It was Oâ—â—phriâ—â— in Marcello 2. the sayâ—â—g of Pope Marcellâ—s the â—econd Non vidâ—o qâ—modo qu◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I conceive not said hee how that men which attaine the high Majestie of the Papacy can ever be saved And this I say setting Gods secret Determination apart The Pope and Papacy and popish agents and instruments if they proceed in these Heresies Cruelties Treacheries and Tyrannies which they now professe and practise dâ—spereunt bis pereunt they fall under a double destruction of body and of soule They are this Filius Perditionis They will be damned Some Papists will thinke it strange that I terme the Pope the sonne of perdition And I thinke it more strange that the Pope and papists use this very property of Antichrist Perdition as a meanes to propagate their Religion Antichrâ—st is here called a destroyer and they urge destruction as an argument to draw fearefull people to Popery Doth not Bellarmine and others preach peremptorily that the Pope can depose Kings and dâ—spose of Kingdomes what is this but to terrâ—fie popâ—sh Princes from forsaking Popery for feare of dâ—stroying their Inheritance Doth not Suarez and others conclude wretchedly that the Pope may authorize a forraine Prince to invade his neighbor or the subjects to kill their Soveraigne what is this but to terrifie the reformed Princes from opposing Popery for feare of murther and destroying their persons Did not our Powder plotters confesse that they intendâ—d to make our Parliament House their slaughter housâ— because said they there the Lawes were inacted against them What is this but to terrisie this State other States and all States from making Statutes against the Romish Religion for feare of being destroyed by some such suddaine sulphurious Popish Romish villanie Know wee not their common threatnings what they whisper amongst the common people What they will doe when their day doth come but Christ grant that their day may never come When their day shall come doe they not whisper amongst the common people that they will no more hew downe the branches but teare up the very rootes of Reformation rooting out every professour thereof What is this but to terrifie us from preaching and you from hearing for feare of destroying our poore persons and innocent children Is not then destroying the Pillar of poperie Are not papists destroyers May not therefore their father be called â—ilius perditionis the sonne of perdition To answer their argument Doe they feare you that you may savour them Doe they tell you of death and destruction tell them that Antichrist is a destroyer and that cruelty was never the Character of Christianity Doe wee thinke they will doe what they threaten and destroy us if wee come into their power Oh let us not feare them that may destroy the body but cannot hurt the soule rather let us feare him who can destroy both body and soule in Hell Matth. 10. 28. A thousand times better is it for us to be like Saint Steven to pray for them that kill us than for them to be like the Iewes to vow to kill us who pray for them and doe them no Hurt but onely hinder their Errours and indeavour their salvation Well then let them goe on the man of sin will bee the sonne of perdition and those who are sworne servants to Rome may sweare our imprisonment our exile our tortures our death our destruction But the Lord destroy the destroyer and grant that popery may never get the dominion over us Amen Amen SERMON VI. 2 THESS 2. 3 4. The Adversarie Antichrist not an open Adversary The Pope doth oppose Christ The Pope the worst Adversarie the Church ever had THe Adversary This is the third Title of Antichrist Some call it his Propertie both properly enough for the Title doth imply the propertie Yet more properly it may be termed his title because it doth allude to his proper Name The Adversary with St. Paul and Antichrist with St. Iohn are synonima's of the same signification To consider this title is a matter of some consequence for Sanders Bellarmine and all the papists urge this as an insoluble Demonstration The Pope is Vicarius Christi not Adversarius Christo The Pope is the Vicar not the Adversary of Christ Therefore The Pope iâ— not Antichrist Let us examine this point and judge the truth according to the plainnesse of the Evidence The Adversarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Title Beza in 2 Thes 2. of Antichrist doth allude to that name of the Devill Satan that the Sonne may resemble his Father and to shew that Antichrist will be a devillish Adversary Now an Adversary is so two wayes either openly or secretly As Porus Iust Hist lib. 12. aâ—â—ailed Alexander with his sword but Antipater his servant yea as some suspect his wife did slay him with poison Possible therefore it is for the servant of Christ yea servus servorum for him that pretendeth himselfe to be Christs principall servant to be a traitour and for them who have the name of the spouse to be the Adversary of Christ Againe Herod sought Christ with the
Curia Romana Ecclesia Romana the part ruled and the part ruling The part ruled are those particular Churches which professe the Romish Relâ—gion as Spaine France Polonâ—â— c. The part ruling is the City or Court of Rome I say therefore that Antichrist doth sit in all the Romish Church but to speake in the phrase of Suarez collocavit Thronum suum regalem Curiam imperij Suarez Apolog. lib. 5. cap. 15. nu 1. 2. sui in urbe he hath seated his Throne and setled his royall Court in that City This will I prove by three arguments drawne from the scituation and domination of Rome and thirdly from the Assimulation betwixt Rome and Babylon The Velites shall give the onset I will propound their owne argument as a preamble to our more solide proofes Dan. 11. 45. He shall plant the Tabernacle of his royall Palace betweene the Seas Now although we know that this Prophecie speaketh literally of Antiochus and of Antichrist onely Anagogically of whom Antiochus was a Type Yet because the Papists doe expound it literally of Antichrist against them wee retort it as a true propertie and strong probability that Rome is the seate of Antichrist because it is seated betweene two seas the Tyrrhene and the Adriatike according to this Prophecy of Dan. 11. 45. I proceed to our owne proofes First from the situation Babylon is seated on seven hills Rev. 17. 9. and so is Rome situated also no City under the cope to be compared to it in that kinde So is it termed by Tertullian and Tertul. Apol. cap. 35. Dionys Halicar lib. 4. Plin. lib. 3. ca. 5. Sibylla lib. 2. so was it founded by Servius Tullius the last King of the Romanes Hence also the Latines gave it the sirname of Septicollis that is the seven hilled City and the Graecians called it in the same signification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The common epithite of the Poets and almost the burden of their Poems Dumque suis victrix septem de montibus orbem Ovid. de Trist lib. 1. Eclog. 4. Propert. Eclog. 10. Virgil. Gâ—oâ—â— 2. Prospiciet domitum Martia Roma legar Septem urbs alta jugis toti quae praesidet orbi Scilicet rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma Septem quae una sibi muro circumdedit arces Varro mentioneth a Feast called septimontium Varro de Ling. Latin lib. 5. as it were dedicated to celebrate a City seated on seven hills and their Names are famously knowne throughout the world Calius Exquilinus Palatinus Viminalis Quirinalis Aventinus Capitolinus All Dounam Der. Epis de Antich part 1. lib. 1. c. 2. these at this day are within the Walles of the City though decayed in the number of houses yet still beautified with many Churches Monasteries and other goodly buildings Moreover on the first the hill Coelius at this day standeth the Laterane Palace and Church Which divers Popes have consumed to be Constitut Rom. Pont. pag. 11. 454. 618. the Head church of all the churches in the world as Gregory 11. Pius 4. and Pius 5. If any except that these Hills are to bee taken metaphorically I answer here can be no metaphor because it is an interpretation of an Angell expouÌ„ding the seven heads to signifie seven mountaines Now interpretatâ—â—â—s must be plaine not metaphoricall Plaine therefore it is that Rome is seated on seven hills the very situation of the very seat of Antichrist Secondly that City which in S. Iohns time did reigne over the kingdomes of the earth is Babylon the seat of Antichrist Revel 17. 18. But Rome is that City which in S. Iohns time did reigne over the Kingdomes of the earth Toti quae praesidet orbi Therefore Rome is Babylon the seat of Antichrist And aptly may it be termed Babylon because it is the manner of Kingdomes to title themselves from the first notable persons which did erect their State as the Romane Emperours were called Caesars from the first Iulius Caesar And Rome was so named from Romulus So let the Romanes reflect a little further backward because they have atchieved the Babylonian Monarchy from the first this last Monarch Rome may bee termed Babylon Lastly Rome and Babylon concurre in many resemblances without any constrained comparison Babylon in the Scriptures is taken 3 wayes First Literally for Babylon in Chaldea the Metropolis of the Assyrian Empire 2 Reg. 24. 10. Secondly Literally for Babylon in Aegypt since called Babylis or Caire of which some understand 1 Pet. 5. 13. Thirdly Mystically for the City of Antichrist Revel 17. 5. of which the first was a type and this is our assertion that Rome is mysticall Babylon Rome resembleth the old Babylon in foure particulars First the old Babylon was a worke begunne by seventy Families which schismed from Shem but God was in Shems Tents So Babylon mysticall the Romane Church hath made a schisme from the pure Church of the primitive times And we hope that God doth dwell in our Tents who retaine the Apostolicall truth Secondly Nimrod by interpretation an Apostate or a Rebell was the Head of old Babylon so the Pope the Apostate it the Head of Rome Thirdly as Rome was given by the Emperours Otho Frigensis Chro. 7. 3. Pâ—â—kins Probl. pag. 581. of Christendome to the Pope our chiefe Christian Bishop so the Persian Kings granted Babylon unto their High Priest And the Persian translating the seat of his Kingdome from Babylon to Ecbatan held nothing at Babylon but the bare name of an Empire So our Emperour removing from Rome to Aquisgrave hath nothing remaining but the title onely that he is called the Romane Emperour Fourthly Babylon was a City where the Church of the Iewes were captive And a great part of the Christian Church is and a greater was captive in Rome also To these foure I may adde a fift parallell out of Bellarmine One thousand one hundred threescore and foure Bell. de Pont. Rom. lib. 3. c. 5. yeares after the building of Babylon it was sacked so in the same number 1164 yeares after the building thereof was Rome taken by the Gothes This Parallell like Pharaohs dreame to shew the certainty thereof shall be doubled To those five I will adde five other issuing out of the bowels of my text Which will accord Rome Babylon in an evident naturall congruity Arrogance Violence Improbity Idolatry Hiâ—gons Myst Bebyl Serm. 1. Inquis 2. Cruelty non ovum ovo similius are so sutable to both Rome and Babylon that they seeme to be a brace of Menechmies It must be a sharp eye which can be able to distinguish them First in this verse Antichrist is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee that doth exalt himselfe behold his pride and arrogance Secondly the object is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all that is called God or worshipped that is Kings or Emperours a violent intrusion upon Authority and Majesty Thirdly for his Improbity and wicked conditions
he is called the Man of sinne Fourthly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse in the 10 verse is expounded to be Idolatry Fiftly to signifie his destroying Cruelty the Lord of Rome is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the son of perdition And so doth Saint Paul imply the intire parallel betwixt Rome and Babylon 1. Babylon indeed was proud but Rome hath imitated their pride and farre exceeded their copie Is not this great Babell which I have built for the house of my Kingdome by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty Dan. 4. 30. This was the arrogant ostentation of Nebuchadâ—ezzar But can all the Babylonish Chronicles yeeld precedents for our Romish insolencies King Henry 2 of England did kisse the knee of the Popes Legate King Charles 8 of France did kisse the feet of the Pope Henry 6 the Emperour did suffer his Diadem to bee put on by the feet of the Pope Henry 4 Emperor did wait bare-footed in winter at the gates of the Pope And Fredericke Barbarossa that brave Emperour had his noble necke trampled on by the proud foot of an insulting Pope Wee may give the Pope the title of Tarquin Superbus or call him Lucifer rather None but Hell can match Rome for pride Proud Babell must yeeld the precedence to her younger sister 2. Violence or an unjust intrusion upon other Princes dominions is the second part of the parallell Babylon indeed was an intollerable intruder upon Tirus Ez. 29. 18. upon Israel Ier. 25. 9. and finally upon the Vniverse till hee became Monarch of the Vniversall World The Oecumenicall Bishop hath beene no dullard to practise the like violent usurpations Aâ—or Iusâ—it Moral â—art 2. lib. 4. cap. 20. Rome did Gregory 2 wrest from the Emperor Leo wherof he was a subject by excommunicating his Soveraigne and assoiling the subjects he became the Soveraigne Acquainted with intrusion hee exercised extrusion also The Pope exposed Naples to the Duke of Anjou and Navarre to the King of Spaine Boniface 8 gave France from Philip the Faire to Albertus king of the Romanes And Gregory 7 beat Henry 4 out of the Empire by the hands of Henry 5 his owne sonne Yea Christendome is too narrow a Nest for this towring Bird of prey America also must be usurped and violently detained Francis Lopez Hist Ind. c. 19 from his donation But I need not travell so farre we have domesticall witnesses enow Besides his pretences to Scotland and Ireland from King Iohn he detained the Crown of England in the hands of his Legate five dayes Henry 3 thence hee termed his Vassall Henry 8 by a Papall processe from Paris was Matth. Paris pag 844. deprived of his Kingdome And because one attempt against the Father succeeded not he twice deposed his Daughter First Pius 5 anno Regni 13. next Sixtus 5 somewhat before 1588 but God be blessed both wanted their successe against our blessed Queene Elizabeth of immortall memory Yet the effect of those violent assayes have made our Westerne Princes so miserable that they must either weare the yoake of Rome to their dishonour or cast it off to their danger 3. For Improbity of life or leud corruptions of their conversations The old Babylonians were like the old covetous persons mentioned by Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she would not bee cured Ier. 51. 9. Yet hath Rome justified Babylon as Hierusalem did Samaria Ezech. 16. in all her abominations The abominable lives of Popes I passe although I know the Church of Rome may make use of that phrase of the Childe 2 King 4. 19. My head my head only I would perswade impartiall persons to peruse Platina and other popish Authors concerning those very Popes whom Bellarmine himselfe doth name as parum probi but somewhat faulty to Bell. Praes de Sum. Pontif. wit Stephanus 6 Leo 5 Christophorus 1 Iohannes 12 and Alexander 6. But for the whole body of their Church â—nd City it is wholly polluted that it meriteth the name not of Babylon onely but of Aegypt and Sodome also Revel 11. 8. Let their owne Writers testifie this truth In Rome saith Espencaeus there is such Espenc in Titum cap. 1. licence for sinning and such impudence in sinning Talis tanta ut nemo credat nisi qui viderit neget nemo nisi qui non viderit None would beleeve it but such as have seene it none deny it but such as have not seene it Platina doth second him There is saith he such covetousnesse lust ambition pride ignorance hypocrisie and universall corruption of manners in both the Laity and Clergy Vt vix apud Deum locum misericordiae nobis reliquerunt that wee can hardly hope for any mercy from the hands of the Almighty And to shew that there is such a thing in the world as may be called the Whore of Babylon at one time in Rome there Stauislaus de lege Coel. b. were five and forty thousand strumpets which did pay tribute to his Holinesse Yea they declare their sinne as Sodome did they hide it not Isay 3. 9. Bellarmine doth avouch it that the Magistrate doth not offend Si meritricibus certum locum urbis incolendum attribuit if he give leave to whores to dwell in the City quamvis certò sciat eo loco eas non bene usuras although hee know they will abuse those dwellings He may permit saith he minus malum ut majora impediantur a small evill that a greater may be prevented A practice and patronage besitting the majesty of great Babell 4. Wee can and doe challenge Rome to imitate and equall Babylon in manifold Idolatry For the worshipping of pure yea impure creatures both true Saints and other sinfull persons farre from sanctification for the worshipping of Images for worshipping of a piece of wood the Crosse for the worshipping of a piece of bread the Host yea for worshipping of Non ens fabulous fictions which were never extant since the Creation But I will onely instance in a precedent of most grosse Idolatry which the Ignorant may discerne and most learned be never able without Sophistry to desend Those who worship Images of silver and gold the worke of mens hands which have eyes and see not c. worship the idolls of the Heathen Psal 135. 15. But Rome doth worship Images of silver and gold the worke of mens hands which have eyes and see not and eares and heare not c. Therefore Rome doth worship the Idolls of the Heathen And therein is like Babylon 5. Incomparable cruelty is the fist part of this comparison Of literall Babylon History doth tell us that it was most cruell and of mysticall Babylon Prophesie doth tell us that it was is and ever shall be as cruell What a bloody race there was of Babylonish Princes that of Thomyris will teach us concerning one of them when she had duck'd the head of Cyrus Iust Hist lib. 2. in
shew reason why he should not be deprived of all her dignities and dominions and the mariage betweene Anthonie of Vandosme and her made void and their issue illegitimate Iohn Tortura Torti pag. 271. King of Navarre was deposed by Iulius 2 Henry 3 King of France was slaine by a Popish Assassinate and Pope Sixtus 5 pronounced a panegyrike in the praise of that bloody Monke who was the murtherer Pope Zachary deposed Childericus commanding Bell. de Pont. Ro. lib. 3. cap. 16. that Pipin should be crowned King of France in his stead Besides these particular precedents of personall Kings in generall for successive Princes The Bishops of Rome have driven out of Rome and Italy three Kings First the Graecian Emperours secondly the French and thirdly the Germanes Not altogether unsutable to that Prophecy of Antichrist either in the Type or in the Antitype Behold before the little horne were three of the former hornes plucked up by the rootes Dan. 7. 8. To finish these precedents with our owne Malmes in Gest Reg. lib. 2. Nation which cannot but touch the heart of every true Englishman 1031 Canutus went to Rome himselfe with an humble supplication to the Pope for some relaxation of the insupportable impositions he had burdned this Realm withall Vnder Henry 1 Anselme Archbishop Matth. Paris Hen. 1. of Canterbury exhibited the like petition to his Holinesse in the behalfe of our oppressed Countrymen Richard 1 was sent of the Popes errand into the holy land and received much reliefe from his Holmesse when he was captivated Tortura Torti pag. 269. returning from that expedition Henry 2 was whâ—pped by the Popes injunction In Antiqu. Brit. pag. 154. the reigne of King Iohn the Monkes at the command of Innocent 3 elected Steven Lanction Archbishop of Canterbury contrarie to their faith and sidelity which they both owed and more had sworne to their Soveraign Vpon some opposition which the King made against this Popish Tyranny the whole realme Matth. Paris pag. 117. was interdicted from the Sacrament In which time the dead were buryed more Canum saith Matthew Paris like dogges in Ditches and Highwayes without any Christian solemnitie So that in conclusion the poore King being over-tired with the over-tyrannising of the Antiquit. Brit. pag 158. proud Pope he was compelled to stoope to the basest submission that ever the Sunne saw in our Hand before or since Hee delivered up his Crowne to Pandulphus the Popes Legate and received it from him againe as a Romish Legacy or largis of liberality Hereupon Matth. Paris pag. 508. Gregory 9. exacted the fift part of the goods of the Cleargy suspended the Bishops till they had collated their best benefices and prime Prebends on Strangers and Boyes Innocentius the 4 commanded the Cleargy to finde for his use five and some fifteene men a peece and if any Clearke did dye Intestate all his goods should fall to the Pope So that the whole Land groaned under the burden of Egyptian bondage saith our Historian and it became a common Matth. Paris pag 358. subscription of all the Nobles in their letters to the Prelates Talt Episcopo tali Capitulo universitas corum qui volunt mori quam à Romanis confundi salutem that is These bee delivered to such a Bishop or to such a Chapter from us who with one consent conclude that wee had better dye than bee ruined by Rome or the Romish Taskemasters On these grounds Antichrist stood on Tiptoe Innocentius Matth. Paris pag. 844. 4 insulting in that insolent phrase over our dejected King Henry the third saying Nonne Rex Angliae noster est vasallus ut plus dicam Manciptum qui eum possum nutu nostro incarcerare ignominiae mancipare Is not quoth he the King of England my Vassall nay more is he not my slave Have not I power with my becke to disgrace him or to imprison him Certainly if our King was a slave to the Pope then was our Kingdome inthralled in an untolerable unutterable popish slavery In the yeare Walsing Rich. 2. pag. 344. Antiqui Brita in 〈…〉 pag 273 p. 278. 1391 Richard 2 was much perplexed that so many Benesiced English were constrained to reside at Rome Anno 1399 the Cleargy petitioned to King Henry 4 to assist them against the Tyrannicall usurpations of the Pope 1419 and 1420 Pope Martine 5 in the time of King Henry 5 in the space of two yeeres usurped and collated Thirteene Bishoprickes within the province of Canterbury alone maugre many the Edicts of the King and Statutes of the Kingdome and frequent threatnings of both Peeres and People against his intrusions About the yeare 1497 Pope Alexander Antiquit. Brit. pag. 300. 6 exacted a contribution from every Curate through England in generall And in particular he put such a project upon Thomas Franc. Hereford de Presul Angl. Merchir as can seldome be paralleld out of any Histories This Pope translated this man being Bishop of Carlile in England unto the Bishoprick of Samoes in Graecia being meerly Titular a trimme tricke to beggar a poore Clearke Yet those things did the Cleargy suffer even in the latter times of Henry the seventh when the Popes pompe was drawing to a periode Paul 3 in the reigne of Henry 8 would Trent Hist lib 3. pag. 275. have given the Kingdome of England unto Charles 5. But that prudent Prince perceived that these were sowre Grapes and therefore he did inhibite his appetite from gaping after them And the same Pope commanded the subjects of the same King to throw him out of his Kingdome by force of armes The purport of which impious Bull ranne in this transcendent Mr. Higgoâ—â— Myst Babylon 1. 97. phrase We being placed in the seat of Iustice according to the prediction of the Prophet Ier. 1. 10. saying Behold I have set thee over Nations and over the Kingdomes to plucke up and root out and to destroy and to throw downe Neither could his owne Proselyte wave his Trent Hist lib. 5. pag. 392. imperious usurpation but Pope Paul 4 inhibited Phillip and Mary from using the Title of Ireland affirming instantly that to give the Name of a King belonged unto him onely But of all the â—ull of Pope Pius the fift doth Cambd. Annal. Anno 1570. concerne us most because it did dishonour her whom wee are bound to honour most Thus did he advance himselfe above our blessed Queene Elizabeth Ex plenitudine potestatis quam regnans in excelsis Pontifici tradidit quem unum supra omnes gentes constituit qui evellat destruat dissipet disperdat c. Elizabetham privamus jure regni subditos omnes ab omni juramento fidelitatis absolvimus That is By that fulnesse of power which he that reigneth above hath given to the Pope whom alone hee hath set over all Nations and Kingdomes to root out and pull downe to destroy and throw downe
c. We depose Elizabeth from all right in her Kingdome And we absolve all her subjects from all manner of oathes of Allegiance which they have sworne unto her This is the testimony of Master Cambden our learned Countryman and Chronologer Without offence therefore I thinke that Monarchomachia tit 5. p. 248 I may conclude and censure these popish exaltations in the very words of a most censorious Papist I will change but one word I will onely use Rome for Geneva But these Minions of Rome bring Religion to plead for the defence of their union and that they endeavored onely to punish Ochosias for consulting with the Idol of Accharon and to root out superstition Here indeed is the voice of Iacob but the roughnesse of Esau words of piety but the actions of Babel Can you shew as good a warrant as Elias had did God call you did God authorise you to deprive your Princes Per me Reges regnant was Gods proposition and Saint Peter 1 Epist cap. 2 vers 13. Bee subject to every humane creature for God whether to a King as excelling or to Rulers His counsell and yours vary much for he willeth them to feare God and honor the King but you dâ—rect your auditors to degrade and depose Kings S. Paul Rom. 13. 1. Let every soule be subject to the higher powers for tâ—ere is no power but of God he who resisteth that power resisteth Gods ordinance and purchaseth damnation and v. 5. not of necessity but for conscience sake But this matter needeth no disputatâ—on Grace and piety can best decide it Thus returne I his owne words and I hope farre more justly than ever he did apply theÌ„ Thus also have wee heard and felt too satis superque enough and enough of the Popish positions and of the Popes practice in deposing of Kings and disposing of Kingdomes Thus hath the Pope usurped upon many Kâ—ngs Now the King of Heaven blesse our King from the like Popâ—sh usurpations Neither are the Emperours exempted from his Papall Power but the Pope doth exalt himselfe above them also Concerning whom let us againe consider the Popish Positions and Practice Pope Paul 4 anno 1556 said that hee had called a Councell at Rome and named it the Trent Hist li 5. pag. 400. Laterane that he had given commission to signifie it to the Emperour and French King in courtesie but not to have their counsell or consent because his will was they should obey Pius the fourth 1563 wrote to the Emperor Trent Hist lib. 7. 684. Ferdinand that he had called a Councill with participation of him not to expect his consent but as a meere executour of his will Innocent 3 in the Decretall which beginneth Solitae putteth as great a difference which is also confirmed by Carerius betwixt the Pope and the Carerius de Potest Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 12. Emperour as there is betweene the Sunne and the Moone which according to the rules of Astronomy is 6539 times lesse than the Moulâ—ns Accom pag. 116. Sunne But by this arrogant title which the Pope doth arrogate that he is the Sunne hee giveth a little light to discerne Antichrist Antichrist shall be called Titan saith Irenaeus that is the Sunne But the Pope calleth himselfe the Sunne that is Titan Therefore from his own assumption to conclude him to bee Antichrist may passe at the least for a probable conjecture Besides these wee may collect a cloud of witnesses which doth poure downe confirmations to this conclusion Imperatoria majestas Oâ—iâ— hovius in Chymer fel. 97. tanto est inferior Papae quanto creatura Deo look how much the creature doth differ from the Creator our God so much doth the Emperour differ from the Pope their God A pretty difference Imperator ad motum summi Pontificis Capistranus fâ—l 70. ejus nutu tanquam ejus Minister movebit inferiora corpora that is The Emperour moveth others at the motion of the Pope as the Orbes doe under the first Spheare a meere servant to his Holinesse The Emperour Aug. de Ancona quaest 35. 1. Antonin part 3. tit 22 cap. 5. sect 13. Bell. de Trans Imp. lib. 3. De Pontif. Rom. lib. 5. c. 8. Carerius de Potest Pap. lib. 2. cap. 14. is the Servant of the Pope The Pope doth make the Electors of the Emperour therefore the Election of the Emperour dependeth on the Pope All which Carerius doth confirme by a comely distinction Potestas triplex est scil Immediata derivitiva in Ministerium data A threefold power there is quoth he the first immediate which is found in the Pope alone who hath universall jurisdiction over all things as well spirituall as corporall the second derivative in the Bishops and Prelates and the third ministeriall in the Emperour and other secular Princes who have their power but mediante Papa as Feudaries to the Pope To him therefore doe they sweare an oath of Allegiance And Antonine saith therefore that the Pope Antonin part 3. tit 22. c. 5. sect 16 doth give Administrationem Imperatori Power to the Emperour This Exaltation is satis pro imperio imperious enough for a Pope thus to be exalted above the Emperour which they say is de jure but I am sure it is so de facto For their practice doth not give the lye to their positions but maketh good every point thereof as is apparent by these particulars Henry 4 Emperour was digged out of his Tortura Tâ—rti pag. 261. grave by Gregory the seventh Pope of Rome Fredericke the first did kisse the feet of Alexander the third Henry the sixt was crowned by the feet of Pope Coelestine Philip was made away by the plots of Innocent the third And Gregory the seventh caused Henry the Emperour with his wife and children to attend three dayes together bare-headed and bare-footed And that none may cavill at the Chronicles let us intreat Bellarmine himselfe to bee our Bell. de Pont. Rom. lib 3. ca. 16 Historian Gregory saith he the second excommunicated Leo the Greeke Emperour inhibited the Italians from paying him tribute and by little and little got from him the government of Italy then called the Exarchate of Ravenna Gregory the seventh deposed Henry the fourth There is extant quoth he an Epistle of Frederâ—â—â—â— the second wherein hee averreth that the â—ingdomes of Italy Germany and Sicily were constrained to serve the Pope of Rome Moreover it is manifest Otho the fourth by Innocent the third and Fredericke the second by Innocent the fourth Depositos fuisse reapse imperia amisisse to have been deposed and absolutely deprived of their Empire To make all sure the Emperour doth take Gratian. Distinct 63. Can. 30 3â— Pla. in in Greg. 7 Sacrar Cerem lâ—b 1. Sect. 5. cap 2. Cornel. Agrip. in Hist Caroli 5. Matth. Paris pag. 227. an oath of Fealty to the Pope The formes wherof though they be different yet they concurre
an humble kneeling before him Our affection to him could it be more than humbly to desire to kisse the feet of that most Holy Body Nay to content our selves as unworthy of that Honour And our Speech Can it be more than to make an acclamation of praising and acknowledging God the Lord in his holy presence All these are literally performed to the person of the Pope I deny not but learning may give and charity may receive some qualifications of those actions otherwise it were the boldest blasphemy blasphemousest Idolatry that ever man broached or God spared from a thunder clappe yet all these are literally performed to the Pope Sacrarium Ceremoniarum lib. 1. fol. 17. a booke which no understanding papist can will or dare denie The Pope immediately after his Election is caryed into Saint Peters Church which I suppose they esteeme the Prime Church of the world They set him as before in his Chappell upon the Altar That ever a man should be set upon the Altar of God it is incredible did not they themselves relate it There a solemne Adoration is performed with bended knees the Cardinalls kisse his feet the People being not admitted unto it Finally the chiefest Prelate upon his knees saith that Psalme Te Deum Wee praise thee O God we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. And thus hath the Pope showne himselfe to be God and thus have I showne the Pope to bee the man of sinne The Antichrist Thus have I delivered you Antichrists description Would God it were an inscription would God I could inscribe it write it in all your hearts as it were in Tables of Brasse with a Penne of Steele that your memories might be handmaids to your judgements that you might judiciously and continually examine the truth of these particulars For my conscience telleth me that I have taught these points without malice I need not repent it and without idle ignorance I need not recant it And before I ever retract any point especially the whole parallell I must first be convicted by better arguments than yet I could ever find in Bellarmine Suarez Lessius Steuartius Eudaemon Malvenda Sanders Monarchomachia or the whole Colledge of Rhemes Although I thinke they have not many who can say more than these have done in this controversie I have made it plaine and with Gods assistance in my succeeding Sermons I will make it plaine yet more fully that the Pope is the head and the Papists the members of that wretched body Antichrist Concerning the Papists I say of them as S. Paul did of the Iewes My desire is that all Israel may be saved that all Christendome may be reformed Especially for our owne Countrimen it is the prayer of my soule that God would open their eyes that they may see where they are in Babylonâ— and whom they serve even the very Antichrist But if they be blinded by pleasure by profit by affected ignorance or which is worst by partiall affection we must leave them to God Howbeit if they will not turne to us let vs pray that wee may be preserved from them Let us pray continually That God will preserve from them our persons our children our families our friends our Church our Common wealth our King and all his Kingdomes Now from the Pope and Antichrist and from all popish and antichristian invasions rebellions and perswasions The Lord preserve us all Even all the dayes of our lives Amen Amen SERMON XI 2 THESS 2. 5 6 7 8. Remember you not that when I was yet with you I told you these things What hindred the revelation of Antichrist The Romane Empire not to be abolished It is removed Of Travellers and travelling to Rome THis point of Antichrist being delivered from the third verse unto the thirteenth therein I proposed five particulars to bee passed through Antichrist described revealed destroyed confirmed and received The description I have dispatched with the foure branches thereof I have shewed his Time Titles Place and Properties I proceed to the Revelation of Antichrist set downe in these foure following verses Which administer two things considerable a digression in the fift verse and a progression in the remnant of this Text. The digression is a putting them in minde of soâ—e private doctrine wherein hee had secretly instructed them Remember yee not that when I was yet with you I told you these things In the progression there are three points How When and What. First How Antichrists revelation was hindred And now you know what with-holdeth in the sixt verse and he who letteth in the seventh Secondly When Antichrist shall be revealed He shall be revealed in his time when that which with-holdeth and he who letteth shall be taken out of the way in the sixt and seventh verses Thirdly What is the thing which then hindred after to be revealed A strange worke of Antichrist called by as strange a name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The mystery of iniquity in the seventh verse and the name of the Worker is very sutable in the eight verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That wicked one My discourse shall be answerable to this division I will also deliver the same two points a digression and a progression First That the point of Antichrist is necessary to bee knowne in our time Next How the person of Antichrist was hindred to be knowne in S. Pauls time Having accomplished the halfe of this treatise I seeme to be like a Barke in the middest of our English sea betwixt Dover and Calais When I looke backward I see a large Sea which I have sailed through and yet I see as much which also must be cut through lying before me Now that God who did guide his Israell through the red sea notwithstanding the persecution and prosequution of the Aegyptians he bring my labour and your understanding to the end of this Prophesie maugre the Chariots and Horsemen of those Babylonians who pursue us with the spirit of contradiction The first point is that the Point of Antichrist is necessary to be knowne in our time Herod Iuells Apolog. pag. 134. caused all the Records of the Genealogies to be burned lest the Israelites should thereby know that he was an Edomite So the Pope and such as are popish in faction or affection would inhibite the people such Scriptures as speake of Antichrist fearing the truth that those Records would discover the Pope to be Antichrist and the Papists Antichristian But they must first spunge out this verse before this inhibition wil be esteemed justificable Sermons are worth the hearing which have a repetition and Books the reading which have a second edâ—tion Concerning this point in this verse S. Paul doth more First he doth preach it in private Secondly he doth write it for the publike and thirdly he doth urge the remembrance thereof Ter si pultanti he doth mention it three times as a motive to make us Search into it at all times Et aes illi triplex circapectus
above the Easterne Churches commended the same to the patronage of the Emperour Constance But the Easterne Bishops wrote unto Iulius not to support Athanasius Iulius replyed that all might have recourse to Rome for succour as to the Superiour This they utterly disclaimed by divers Epistles to that purpose Notwithstanding Gratiane the Monke out of those selfe-same Epistles composed those Hist Papatus cap. 4. Canons whereby hee laboureth to prove the Popes Superiority Foure hundred yeares after Christ godly men to prevent tedious Law-suits chose Bishops their Arbitrators to compose such Controversies as arose amongst them Which arbitrary courses the Emperours Arcadius and Hist Papatus cap. 4. Honorius did not onely approve but moreover they authorised the arbitraments of those Bishops definitively to conclude all controversies first in causes of Religion afterwards in Civill Causes also ex consensu with the consent of both parties Hist Papatus cap. 4. In processe of time Iustinian assigned the Bishops to judge causes as Commissioners to the Emperour So long did the Emperours give leave till the Bishops did take leave to judge and by those priviledges to wrest the authority of Iurisdiction from the prerogative of the Imperiall Majesty Anno 413 Apiarius a disordered Priest of D. Sharp Dogmaticus Antich pag. 273. Africa being deprived by Vrbane his Bishop appealed unto Sozimus Bishop of Rome who sent three Legates to require the right of appellation from those African Bishops that hee might decide the controversie To which purpose his Legates alledged a Canon of Nice which those Bishops avouched to be forged because they had a Copie of that Councill For a full satisfaction they sent to Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria and to Atticús Bishop of Constantinople to conferre with their copies of that Councill but it was onely a copy of the Romish Bishops countenance such a Canon could not be found extant in neither Whereupon the Councill of Carthage consisting of 207 Bishops and S. Augustine one of them did condemne Apiarius and rejected the authority of the Bishop of Rome Neverthelesse Romish parasites have coined a strange fiction that certaine Canons of that Nicene Councill were burned by the Arrians Anno 450 Leo did persist in the promoting Leo â— in Anni ver die Assampâ— Serm. 2. of that Primacy to which purpose hee did strongly insist on that Tu es Petrus Thou art Peter Matth. 16. 18. Petrus saith he Petra dicitur dum fundamentum pronunciatur Peter is called the Rocke to shew that he is the foundation Whence he frameth a conclusion for his owne purpose and person stiling himselfe Papam Ecclesiae Catholicae The Bishop of the Leo epist 12. ad Theodos whole Church omnium Episcoporum Primatem the chiefe of all the Bishops Anno 533 the Emperour honoured Iohn Baronius the second with a solemne Embassage and by it with an obsequious protestation that he travelled Omnes Sacerdotes universi Orientis tractus subjicere unire SaÌ„ctitati vestrae To cause the union and compasse the submission of all the Clergy of the whole Easterne Country to the Bishop of Romes Holinesse But about 606 Pope Boniface the third Dounam Derens de Antichristo lib. 2. c. 8 sect 5. so now I must stile the Bishops of Rome by that name for this Boniface the third was the first to whom the name Pope was appropriated I say this Boniface in that yeare upon the murther of Mauritius apprehended an occasion to insinuate Pless Myst Progress 21. Aimoinus lib. 4. cap. 61. himselfe in the favour of bloudy Phocas who gratified him with the title of Vniversall Bishop About 740 Pope Zacharies judgment being demaÌ„ded whether best deserved the kingdom of France either he who had the Name only or hee who day and night spent himselfe in the service of the Commonwealth the Popes definitive sentence being pronounced for the latter as the better worthy of the Scepter Hence did France take occasion to depose their King translating the Crowne from Chilpericus unto Pipine And hence Rome did take occasion to claime power to dispose of that kingdome as this very example is alledged to that purpose by Suarez Apol. lib. 3. cap. 23. nu 15. Suarez in his Apology Towards the eight hundreth yeare Steven the third and Adrian the first joyned with Carolus magnus to expell the Graecian Emperour out of his Latine Dominions which being Pless Myst Progress 27. effected and so one good turne requiring another Charles being made Emperour of the West by the Pope the Pope received from Charles the Confirmation if not the donation of the City and Seigniory of Rome Thus far these Popes proceeded to some purpose Notwithstanding still the Pope was Histor Papatus cap. 4. subject to the Emperour till he beganne to incroach by a meere accident Anno 817 Paschal being constrained by the people to be Pope sent Legates to the Emperour to excuse that election The Emperour Ludovicus Pius being according to his name a sweet natured courteous Gentleman did easily admit of satisfaction yet with a check to the Clergy and to the people for their audacious act adding a caveat that they should no more dare to incroach upon his Royaltie Howbeit the clawbacke Library-keeper inserted this clause Ludovicus Pius did remit the power of electing the Pope unto Paschal the first Since which time the Popes have proceeded by more generall jugglings As namely by proposing preferments promotions and brave incouragements attractive Loadstones to invite the prime learned of the whole world unto Rome Keeping publike Registers of all the Benefactors unto Peters Patrimonie praying for the soules of such charitable persons being deceased One while trumpetting out the charity of the Popes another time sowing discord betwixt Princes that they might fish in troubled waters These made some pretty additions to their greatnesse till about 1080 Gregory the seventh so advanced himselfe against the Emperour that his successours have advanced themselves above the Emperour The Emperours at this day acknowledging themselves confirmed by the Pope and tendering a kinde of fealty to the Pope as the Sacrar Cerem l. b. 1. sect 5. c. 7. forme of their Oath is authentically extant written by Marcellus Archbishop of Corcira to Leo the tenth And thus Giges-like hath the Pope invisibly advanced himselfe into the Throne of his Master Having heard the History or Matter That the Church of Rome is made a Monarchy heare we next the Mystery Manner or the Meanes whereby this miracle was effected Which was so politikely prosequuted by such secret plots and super-subtle projects that their cunning cariage and cleanly conveyance of their purpose doth merit the title of my Text to be termed the Mystery of Iniquity The meanes which these politicians used as they were invisible so were they innumerable also I will reduce them to eight heads onely It is a memorable fact mentioned by our Fox Mart. tâ—m 1 1505. pag. 860.
the Parisian French King or Charles our Kentish English Innocentius 3 Extra de Excessu Prâ—lat Soveraigne Nay it is the saying of the Pope Articulos solvit Synodumque facit generaleÌ„ thatis the Pope hath power to call a generall Councill and to disanul every particular Article Thus farre hee fareth for the opposing of the old Creed then for the composing of a new Though some affrighted with the absurd audacity of this assertion doe seeme to mince it yet the whole Church of Rome concur in the conclusion The Pope hath power Edendi novum Aquin. 22 â— â— artic 10. Symbolum saith Aquine to publish a new Creed Condendi to compose a Creed writeth Vigâ—erius Ordinandi novum Symbolum to ordaine or authorise a new Creed quoth Gabriel Biel. Finally what these and other Papists have avouched in words Pope Pius the fourth maketh good de facto in deed by whose authority the Trent Creed is published with Pij 4. Bulla annâ— 1564. twelve articles also as a parallell to the Apostles Creed and urged with as authenticall injunction First to beleeve the doctrine of traditions 2 The authority of the Church of Rome to expound the Scriptures 3 that there are seven Sacraments 4 all the points concerning originall sinne and justification as they are defined by the Councill of Trent 5 The Masse and that it is offered a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead 6 Transubstantiation and that the Lords Supper is to be received but in one kind 7 Purgatory and prayer for the dead 8 Invocation or praying to the dead as also worshipping of Saints and their Relâ—ques 9 The adoration of Images 10 Indulgences 11 The Popes Supremacy namely that the Romane is the mother mistres mater magistra of all Churches and that the Pope is Peters successour and Christs Vicar and finally to beleeve all the definitions of all Oecumenicall Councills but especially of their last of that of Trent And that these are the Catholike faith extra quam nemo salvus esse potest which except a man do beleeve he cannot be saved The subscription running as peremptorily as if they were the very Dictates of the Apostles or of Christ himselfe Profiâ—â—or spondeo voveo juro that is I professe I doe beleeve promise vow and sweare that I will obey all these Articles of the Catholike faith This man therefore who contradicteth old Lawes maketh new Lawes and breaketh all lawe I thinke I may lawfully call him lawlesse and conclude him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The very Antichrist Thus these lawes of God both of constraint and consent both Scripture and the Creed are infringed by this man of sinne without impediment with like facility doth this hornet break through those cobwebs humane lawes be they oecumenicall for all nations or oeconomicall for all families Those lawes of nations are of two sorts when faith is either contracted betwixt equals by an oath or exacted from inferiours by Allegiance Each way is no way to bind the Pope who is everie way boundlesse and lawlesse The law of oathes is so generall amongst nations as that all nations observe them as most sacred and inviolable in so much that Pagans would not infringe them Regulus would be rather tortured than perjured though he could have escaped by breach of oath It was Aristotles saying that he who did double in his oath for that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sweare with a mentall addition Arist Rhetor. 18. ad Alex. hath neither feare of Gods vengeance nor shame of mans reproofe and Dionysius in Plutarch was condemned by all whose saying was that children were to be mocked with toyes and men with oathes Surely it shall be easier for those Pagans at that day then for some Christians Some Christians said Matchiavell make oaths Matchiav Hist Flor. lib. 3. obligations not equall to profit they use oaths not to observe them but rather to deceive those that put their trust in them And I take it that no one thing hath done such harme and brought such shame to Chriâ—â—â—â—dome as this particular Simancha teacheth very solemnely Simancha Inâ—â—it Cath. cap 4. art 14. edit Hiss Fides data haereticis non est servanda nec a privato nec a magistratibus quod exemplo Concilij Constantiensis probatur Nam Iohannes Huss Hieromus legitima slamma concremati sunt quamvis permissa illis securitas est Promises quoth he are not to bee kept with Heretikes neither by private men nor yet by publike Magistrates He proveth it by a precedent froÌ„ the Councill of Constance by whom Iohn Husse and Ierome of Prage were legally burned although from theÌ„ they had received a safe conduct Trâ—nt Hist lib. 1. And the same had beene practised on Luther also at the Diet of Wormes in the yeare 1521 had not the noble disposition of Charles 5 the Emperor and the plaine opposition of Lewis the noble Elector Palatine preserved him Finally Becanus doth avouch Perjury by a maxime juramentum non est vinculum iniquitatis that is an oath is no obligation of iniquity iniquitie he esteemeth it for a Papist to performe his promise to an Heretike or a Protestant although hee sealed it by swearing an oath which all sober men suppose to bee the surest and most solemne obligation of all others yet of all others the Popes themselves are the most remarkeble patternes and patrons of perjurie About the yeare 1080 Rodolphus duke of Saxony instigated by Pope Hildebrand or Gregory 7 to rebell against Henry 3 the Emperor joyned battell with him wherein having his soldâ—â—â—s cut in peeces and his hand Pless myster Opposit 40. cut off Loe said he to his friends and followers with this hand I plighted my troth to my Leige Lord Henry but the Popes authority importunity urged me to the breach of that oath and now in the same hand I have received my deaths wound and so be dyed On the two and twentieth of May 1526 Trent Hist lib. 1. there was a confederacy betwixt Pope Clemens 7 Francis 1 of France and the Princes of Relation of the Religion in the West Sect. 15. Italy against Charles 5 the Emperor under the name of the most Holy League wherein the King was absolved from his Oath taken in Trent Hist lib. 5. Spaine And some thinke the Pope had promised the King to dispence with that Oath before hee made it vpon the hope whereof hee also tooke it Anno 1556 Paulus 4 by Cardinall Caraffa perswaded Henry 2 of France to breake his league and oath made with Spaine though the Princes of the Blood and the Grandies of that Kingdome abhorred the infamie of oath-breaking yet he received absolution from the Pope and such an overthrow from the Spaniard at Saint Quintin that it made his whole Kingdome to tremble and totter Instances are infinite I will adde onely two one most remarkable the other most miserable The first
beene spared Surely the Charitie of our Father the King and of our Mother the Kingdome is very admirable if these intolerable defamations extort not from them that imprecation against these their degenerate Children Prov. 30. 17. The eye which thus mocketh his Father and despiseth yea belyeth his Mother the Ravens of the Valley shall picke it out and the young Eagles eate it But the malitious effect hath not wholy erred from the villanous scope they aymed at These English lyers caused Spanish Malvenda Malv l. 8 c. 10. Niceph. l. 14. c. 19. to be so confident in his senselesse Blasphemy Cutis detractio apud Nicephorum Nicephorus saith hee mentioneth the fleying of Christians Saevius multo erat but a more excessive cruelty hath beene exercised in England in the reigne of Elizabeth Where the Martyrs are bound hand and foot laid on their backs Basins fastened to their bellies in which inclosed Mice madded with fire applyed to the Basins are forced to eate into their bodies and to hide themselves in their Bowels Passe we over to our Outlandish lyers those eveÌ„ of their principal Authors Suarez chargeth Suar. Ap. l. 6. c. 10. num 11. us and our King deeply enough saying Hoc colore that his Majesties Pursevants steale away the Plate of Gentlemen and the Apparell of Gentlewomen pretending that the Plate is for the service of the Altar and the Apparell the Suar. Apol. l. 1. c. â— num 9. Onaments of their Relicks Nay his tongue shameth not to tell the King to his face that English Papists licet essent moribus innocentia vitae praeclari although they have beene never so innocent and indued with never so rare vertues Vna confessio Romanae fidei yet only because they were of the Romish religion asperius eos quam sceleratissimos punirent they were punished more severely than the most wicked Malefactours Certainly this learned man would Pulions Abstract an 1577. Vnder the Head Rome never have printed nor believed this grosse lye if he had beene truely informed of our Statutes against the Papists even they having put a distinction betwixt them and other Malefactours by this Proviso that the Papists in the highest nature who did maintaine and set forth the usurped authority and jurisdiction of the Pope although the Statutes condemne them as guilty of Treason yet they provide that there shall bee no Attainder of blood no disinheriting of any heyre no forfeiture of any Dower no prejudice to any person besides the offender nor no hinderance of any charitable giving of reasonable Almes to the offenders These are the lawes for Papists in England would God they had the like lawes for Protestanes in Italy and in Spaine too And would God Suarez had beene able to say as much concerning the Inquisition and his holy House by Lisborne in Portugall Finally it is well knowne how seldome and sparingly these are put in execution Those therefore deserve to bee put in execution who mis-informe strangers dishonour our Land with such a lie That we use the most innocent Papists as wee doe the wicked Malefactours These generall Calumnies against our lawes Lessius laboureth to make good by particular Less de Antich part 2. Dem. 2. Comp. 9. Instances 1. That by the Lawes of England it is Treason for a man to be made a Popish Priest 2. That it is Treason to perswade any to the Romish Religion 3. Conceditur impunitas that there is no law against nor punishment for Anabaptists Familists Libertines and Atheists omnes tuto degant se propagant all these may live safely and propagate their professions publikely onely the Papists are persecuted as Traytors 4. To intrap the Papists Iudiciall Acts and principall Edicts are forged and so published 5. False witnesses are suborned against them 6. And finally the Papists are compelled to put their Children to be brought up by Protestants Recitasse est refutasse to recite them is enough to confute them they are such apparent AntichristiaÌ„ shining lies The English people are straÌ„gers to the knowledge of such cruell injust bloodie barbarous lawes and therefore it surpasseth our admiration how strangers can beleeve them much more how they can be so confident to avouch them The two first onely having onely some shew of truth but miserably mis-interpreted the foure following horrible accusations not so much as a shew of truth or probability but are most notorious untruths and most audacious Calumnies Concerning the two first to bee made a 25. Esiz 1. Priest or to perswade to Popery is Treason and most justly If most impudent liers did not 3. Iacob 4. most maliciously mis-interpret those Statutes Observe three things which qualifie the Watson Quodâ— 9. art 4. Quodl 8. Art 8. 9. seeming severity of those Statutes 1. The State had never made these statutes of treason but that they were constrained thereunto for the prevention of Popish Treasons this is the confession of Watson a Popish Priest 2. Those Priests 25. Eliz. 2. and Iesuites against whom these Statutes were enacted had leave to depart the land and so to save their lives a favour which few Protestants found from the Papists under Queene Mary And 3. though the Letter be against all yet the scope of those statutes of Treason aimeth onely against such as have made themselves 5. â—liz 1. actuall Traytors As the Statutes interprete themselves they meane such as maintaine 23. Eliz. 1. the Popes usurped authority such as withdraw the subjects from obedience and such as reconcile 3. Iacob 4. them from the naturall obedience to his Majesty plaine points of palpable Treason practice also no bad expositour of the lawes doth expound it so which hath turned the edge of those Statutes of Treason onely upon Trayterous Priests not touching the Innocent in that though popish Priests As Hart and others in the Queenes reigne and Preston and others in the Kings reigne doe undeniably testifie Who did and doe live without any danger of their lives because the State suspected no danger of Treason from their plots or persons But the execution of these Lawes hath beene upon such as Story was whose pious counsell concerning our Queene Elizabeth Abbâ—ti Antilog c. 6. was That the Papists should not cut downe the boughs but pluck up the roots of our Religion And against such as brought into England from Rome Agnus Dei's with this inscription Mi sili da mihi cortuum sufficit that is My sonne give me thy heart and it is enough Such Subjects as shall give their heart from their King if their King give an haltar for their Heads it is no injustice And finally those Statutes lay hold on such papists Lay or Clergie â—p Card. de Como ap Abbot p. 94. Reconcilers or Reconciled who were like Parry who was a Traytor and incouraged in his Treason by a Cardinall from the Pope as the Letter yet extant doth witnesse bearing date Roma Ian. 30.