horses a Bishop of ten yeares old and made Bishops for mony He put out his godfathers eyes cut off his Cardinals members one mans tongue he cut out and maimed two Cardinals more cutting off ones nose and anothers hand t Anton. chro part 2. tit 16. c. 1. § 16. Fascic temp an 944. Baron ann 964. n. 17. in the end as he was committing adultery with a mans wife he was sodainly slaine by the diuell and died without repentance 10 I could giue the like exaÌ„ples of many more but Alexander the sixt that was Pope about one hundred yeares ago shall serue the turne Machiauel u De Principe c. 18. writeth of him that he did nothing but play the deceiuer of mankinde he gaue his mind to nothing but villany and fraud whereby to deceiue men * Onuph vit Alex. vi Guicci hist l. 1. He got the Papacie by Simony buying the consent of the Cardinals that after smarted for it The king of Naples signified to the queene his wife with teares when he heard of his election that there was a Pope created who would be the bane of Italie and of the whole commonweale of Italy y Stultissime PontificeÌ„ creatum exitio tandem cunctis futurum non falsi vates denuntiarunt Onuph the which was also the generall conceit of all men Guicciardin z Lib. 6. saith He was a Serpent that with his poysoned infidelitie and horrible examples of crueltie luxury and monstrous couetousnesse selling without distinction things holy and profane had infected all the world a Lib. 1. His manners and customes were dishonest little sinceritie in his administrations no shame in his face small truth in his words little faith in his heart and lesse religion in his opinions All his actions were defiled with vnsatiable couetousnesse immoderate ambition barbarous crueltie He was not ashamed contrary to the custome of former Popes who to cast some colour ouer their infamy were wont to call theÌ„ their nephews to cal his sons his children and for such to expresse them to the world b Lib. 3. The bruite went that in the loue of his owne daughter Lucretia were concurrent not onely his two sonnes the Duke of Candy and the Cardinall of Valence but himselfe also that was her father who as soone as he was chosen Pope tooke her from her husband and maried her to the Lord of Pesere but not able to suffer her husband to be his corriuall he dissolued that mariage also and tooke her to himselfe by vertue of S. Peters keyes c Lib. 6. Onup It was among other graces his naturall custome to vse poysenings not onely to be reuenged of his enemies but also to despoile the wealthie Cardinals of their riches And this he spared not to do against his dearest friends till at the last hauing a purpose at a banket to poison diuerse Cardinals and for that end appointed his cup-bearer to giue attendance with the wine made readie for the nonce who mistaking his bottle gaue the poisoned cup to him was thus himselfe dispatched by the iust iudgement of God that had purposed to murder his frieÌ„ds that he might be their heire 11 I am afraid I haue bene to bold in medling with these matters For the Church of Rome hath a law within her selfe d D. 40. Non ncs glos §. quiâ— enim that it is sacriledge to reason about the Popes doings whose murders are excused like Sampsons and thefts like the Hebrewes and adulteries like Iacobs e Qualis qualis autem fuerit Sleidanus sacra mentarius haereticus dignus non fuit qui illum reprehenderet Sur. comment an 1547. saith thus of Sleidan because be reported such like matter of Paul the third as Guicciardin doth of Alexander And our aduersaries thinke whatsoeuer their Popes be yet such sacramentarie heretickes as we are be not worthie to reproue them and therefore the good and courteous reader shall be at liberty whether he will expound my narration as a reproofe of the Pope which were dangerous or as a bare report of the conceit which all men euen his best friends haue of his Popes which I make for no other intent but to shew that Luther liued died an honester man then anie Pope of Rome in his dayes For Guicciardine f Lib. 16. saith the goodnesse of the Pope is then commended when it exceeds not the wickednesse of other men that we may know how rare a thing it is for the Bishop of Rome to be good The which when our aduersaries see they should desist from their veine of railing against vs and by holding them close to the argument they should maintaine their cause or else for euer hold their peace § 58. But how shall one preach truly at least in all points nisi mittatur vnlesse he be sent of God But how should we know that Luther or Caluin or anie other that would needs leape out of the Church and leaue that companie wherein was vndoubted lawfull succession and by succession lawful mission or sending from God How should we I say know that these men teaching new and contrarie doctrine were sent of God Nay certainly we may be most sure they were not sent of God For since almightie God hath by his Sonne planted a Churâ—â—â—n earth which euer shall be vntill the worlds end and hath put in his Church a visible succession of ordinarie Pastors which he will alwayes with the assistance of himselfe and of his holy Spirit as hath bene proued so guide that they shall neuer vniuersally faile to teach the true faith and to preserue the people from error we are not now to expect anie sent from God to instruct the people but such onely as came in this ordinarie maner by lawfull succession order and calling as S Paul saith Heb. 5. Nec sibi sumat honorem sed qui vocatur â Deo tanquam Aaron to wit visibly and with peculiar consecration as his was Leuit. 8. to which accordeth that which we reade 2. Paralip 26. vers 18. whereas Azanas said to Ozias the king Non est tui officij Ozia vt adoleas incensum sed sacerdotum hoc est filiorum Aaron qui consecrati sunt ad huiusmodi ministerium Egredere de sanctuario c. Which bidding when Ozias contemned and would not obey he was presently smitten with a leprosie and then being terrified feeling the punishment inflicted by our Lord he hastened away as in the same place is said By which place doth plainly appeare that it doth not belong to anie other to do priestly functions as to offer incense or sacrifice to God or to take vpon them authoritie to preach instruct and teach the people but onely to Priests called visibly consecrated for this peculiar purpose as Aaron and his children were For though the priesthood of the Pastors of the new law be not Aaronicall yet it agreeth with the priesthood of Aaron according to S.
Creed With his length and his breed From my toe to my crowne And all my body vp and downe From my backe to my brest My fiue wits be my rest God let neuer ill come at ill But through Iesus owne will Sweet Iesus Lord Amen Many also vse to weare Veruein against blasts and when they gather it for this purpose first they crosse the herbe with their hand and then they blesse it thus Hallowed be thou Veruein as thou growest on the ground For in the mount of Caluary there thou was first found Thou healedst our Sauiour Iesus Christ and stanchedst his bleeding wound In the name of the Father the Son and the holy Ghost I take thee frō the around And so they pluck it vp and weare it Their prayers and traditions of this sort are infinite and the ceremonies they vse in all their actions are nothing inferiour to the Gentiles in number and strangenesse Which any man may easily obserue that conuerseth with them the Which I haue noted in this place not to disgrace the persons of any but to shew the pitiful barbarousnesse wherein they liue that refuse to heare the Gospell and whom our Seminaries haue trained vp boasting that there is no religion or knowledge or deuotion among vs but in these people And let any man iudge how it can possibly be the Church of Christ that nourisheth this barbarous and more then brutish ignorance superstition among the people And it cannot be answered that these are the customes of a few simple people for this that I say is generall throughout the country the whole bodie of the common people practising nothing else vntill it please God by the ministery of his Gospell to conuert them Yea the most men and women addicted to Papistry though wel borne and brought vp for ciuill qualities and of good place in the countrey yet lie plunged in this ignorance being perswaded that what they haue learned by long custome and continuance in their old religion so they style it they should not giue ouer Yea this sore is so foule and grieuous that it may not endure to be looked into 14 This brutish condition of their people may the better be credited and is the lesse to be wondred at because the open practise of their Church giueth them example and encourageth them by their idolatry and superstition toward the Saints departed For how can that people discerne their ignorance whose Pastors euen before their eies in their open Seruice and printed bookes serue the Saints and worship them with the same seruice that they giue to Christ This I offer for the seuenth motiue to induce any Papist to suspect his owne religion for it cannot be the faith of Christ that taketh his honor and giueth it to another In their Seruice and prayers the virgine Marie is made an intercessor for sinne a 1. Tim. 2.5 as if Christ were not the sole Mediator vnlesse the merits and mediation of another did come betweene Let these formes be an example b Offic. Mar. pag. 13. By the prayers AND MERITS of the euer blessed virgin Mary and of all Saints our Lord bring vs to the kingdome of heauen Amen Againe c Ibid. pag. 27. All haile ô Queene mother of mercie OVR LIFE sweetnesse and HOPE all haile We exiled the sonnes of Eue do crie to thee To thee we sigh groning and weeping in this vale of teares Therefore ô thou our ADVOCATE turne those thy mercifull eyes vnto vs and shew vs after this exile blessed Iesus the fruite of thy wombe O clement ô pitifull ô sweet virgin Marie pray for vs ô holy mother of God Againe d Ib. pag. 33. Marie that mother art of GRACE Of MERCIE mother also art SAVE and defend vs from our so Receiue vs when we hence depart e Ib. pag. 47. The guiltlesse bands VNBIND Blind men their sight ASSVRE Ill things from vs expell All good for vs procure A mother shew thy selfe He takes our plaints by thee That being for vs borne Vouchsafed thy sonne to be Grant that our life be pure Make safe for vs the way That while we Iesus see Our ioy may last for ay Againe f Missal Sarisb 8. Septēb Alle celeste O Virgin the only chast mother loosing our sinnes giue the kingdom where the blessed companies do raigne for thou as Queene of the world art able to do all things and WITH THY SONNE DISPOSEST ALL RIGHTS Againe g Antidotar animae p. 101. O Marie the starre of the sea the hauen of health to such as suffer shipwracke the godly guide the sweetest patron of the miserable the learnedst ADVOCATE of the guiltie the onely HOPE of the desperate the SAVIOVR of sinners I beseech thee at my last day enlighten me with the beames of thy most cleare face Then there is no other hope but thou SAVE ME Ô SAVIORESSE REDEEME ME Ô REDEEMER my sinnes loade me the flesh defileth me the diuell lieth in waite c. h Hist chor August cōmemor virgin Mariae Thou calledst thy selfe the Handmaid of Iesu Christ but as Gods law teacheth thou art HIS LADY mistris for right and reason willeth that the MOTHER BE ABOVE THE SONNE Therefore pray him humbly and COMMAVND HIM FROM ABOVE that he leade vs to his kingdome at the worlds end It is vnpossible to excuse this kind of praying from formall idolatry wherein the same titles are giuen to the Saints and the same things by the same merits asked of them that appertaine to Christ alone And yet i Suar. tom 2. disp 23. per totum Bellar. de Sāct beatit c. 17 the Iesuites at this day excuse it and will not suffer it to be reformed Yea we find in the writings of the most learned Papists that are things touching the virgin Mary as bad and worse then all this Dodechinus k Append. ad Maria. Scot. pa. 470. writeth that an infant lying in the cradle saw the virgine Mary standing before the tribunall seate of Christ and making most earnest intercession for the world Biel l In Cano. lect 8. p. 233. saith We flie principally to the blessed Virgine the Queene of heauen which is signified in Hester the Queene who coming to appease king Assuerus he said vnto her It shal be giuen thee though thou aske the halfe of my kingdome So the Father of heauen hauing his iustice and his mercie as the chiefest goods of his kingdome keeping his iustice to himselfe surrendred his mercy to the Virgine mother And m Specul exempl d. 7. n. 41. they tell a vision how Christ preparing to iudge the world there were two ladders set that reached to heauen the one red at the top whereof Christ sate the other white at the top whereof the virgine Marie sate and when the Friers could not get vp by the red ladder of Christ but euermore fell downe Saint Francis called them to the white ladder of our Ladie and there they
forma iuramenti professionis fidei Bull which calleth it THE PVBLICKE PROFESSION OF THE ORTHODOXAL FAITH TO BE VNIFORMLY OBSERVED AND PROFESSED z THE NEW CREED OF THE CHVRCH OF ROME I. N. do with firme faith beleeue and professe all and singular things contained in the Creed which the Romane Church vseth namely I beleeue in one God the Father almightie maker of heauen and earth and of all things visible and inuisible And in one Lord Iesus Christ the onely begotten Sonne of God borne of his Father before all worlds God of God light of light very God of very God begotten not made being consubstantiall with the Father by whom all things were made who for vs men and for our saluation came downe from heauen and was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man crucified also for vs vnder Pontius Pilate suffered and was buried and rose againe the third day according to the Scriptures and ascended into heauen and sitteth at the right hand of his Father and shall come againe with glory to iudge the quicke and the dead whose kingdome shall haue no end and in the holy Ghost the Lord and giuer of life who proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne who with the Father and the Sonne is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets And I beleeue one Holy Catholick and Apostolicke Church J beleeue one Baptisme for the remission of sinnes and I looke for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come Amen The Apostolick and Ecclesiasticall TRADITIONS and other obseruances and constitutions of that Church do I firmly admit and embrace Also the sacred Scripture according to THAT SENCE WHICH OVR MOTHER THE CHVRCH HATH HOLDEN AND DOTH HOLD whose right it is to iudge of the true sence and interpretation of holy Scriptures do I admit Neither will I euer receiue and expound it but according to the vniforme consent of the Fathers I do also confesse that there be truly and properly SEVEN SACRAMENTS of the new law instituted by our Lord Iesus Christ and necessary to the saluation of mankind though all be not for euery man that is to say Baptisme Confirmation the Eucharist Penance extreme Vnction Order and Mariage and that they confer grace and that among these Baptisme Confirmation and Order cannot be reiterated without sacriledge Also the receiued and approued rites of the Catholicke Church vsed in the solemne administration of all the aforesaid Sacraments I receiue and admit All and euery the things which concerning ORIGINALL SIN and IVSTIFICATION were defined and declared in the holy Councell of Trent I embrace and receiue Also I confesse that in the MASSE is offered to God a true proper and propitiatory sacrifice for the quicke and the dead and that in the holy EVCHARIST is truly really and substantially the body and blood with the soule and Diuinitie of our Lord Iesu Christ and that there is made a conuersion of the whole substance of the bread into his body and of the whole substance of the wine into his bloud which conuersion the Catholick Church calleth TRANSVBSTANTIATION I confesse also that vnder ONE KIND ONLY all whole Christ and the true Sacrament is receiued I do constantly hold there is a PVRGATORY and the soules detained there are holpe by the suffrages of the faithful And likewise that the SAINTS raigning with Christ are to be worshipped and prayed vnto And that they offer their prayers to God for vs and that their RELICKS are to be worshipped And most firmly I auouch that the IMAGES of Christ and the Mother of God alwayes a Virgin and other Saints are to be had and retained and that to them due honor and veneration is to be giuen Also that the power of INDVLGENCES was left by Christ in the Church and I affirme the vse thereof to be most wholsome to Christs people That the Holy Catholicke and Apostolicke ROMANE CHVRCH is the mother and mistris of all Churches I acknowledge and I vow and sweare true obedience to the Bishop of Rome the successor of S. Peter the Prince of the Apostles and the Vicar of Iesus Christ And AL OTHER things likewise do I vndoubtingly receiue and confesse which are deliuered defined and declared by the sacred canons and generall Councels and especially the holy Councel of Trident and withal I condemne reiect and accurse all things that are contrary hereunto and all heresies whatsoeuer condemned reiected and accursed by the Church and that I will be carefull this true Catholicke faith out of the which no man can be saued which at this time I willingly professe and truly hold be constantly with Gods helpe retained and confessed whole and inuiolate to the last gaspe and by those that are vnder me or such as I shall haue charge ouer in my calling holden taught and preached to the vttermost of my power I the said N. promise vow sweare so God me help and his holy Gospels The Schoolmen Lawyers were long ago in hand with this question whether the Pope had authoritie to make a new Creed And because they were long tempering with it and the affirmatiue seemed a strange position we maruelled what they would make of it But now we see they meant in good earnest indeed and this belike was the Creed whereof the Pope was with child and all his Church must receiue it This is a strange presumption that taking vpon them to bring new matter of faith into the Church and to make that necessary to be beleeued for saluatiō which before was not so yet their people should be so blind as not obserue it Suarez the Iesuit a Tom. 2. p. 30. The matter may come to that passe that without any new explicate reuelation the Church may haue sufficient motiues for the defining of this or that veritie by the infolded and still reuelation of God for this manner of defining whereby that which was not before is now made an article of faith it is sufficient that any supernaturall veritie be infoldedly contained in tradition or Scripture that the common consent of the Church by which the holy Ghost often explicates traditions and declares Scripture increasing the Church at the length may bring in her determination which hath the force of a certaine diuine reuelation in respect of vs. This consent of the Church may so increase that at the length she may simply and absolutely define it This sheweth plainly that they thinke the Pope hath power to make a new Creed and hereby the world may see that vnder pretence of things lying hidden in the Church and the common consent of the Church increasing the Pope may multiply the matters of faith and so fit in the conscience as he pleaseth 16 It is no small griefe to all that are well minded to see this more then Egyptian bondage whererein so many people liue but yet if any man looke attentiuely vpon it the matter will not seeme
the rocke of Christ and his faith c In Mat. 16. Lyra of whom d L. 4. Biblioth sanct they say that for expounding the Scriptures he had not his match and e In Mat. 16. the interlineary Glosse and f Ibid. Burgensis do all thus g Concord l. 2. c. 18. 13. Cusanus followeth Saint Austins exposition set downe immediatly before h In d. 19 ita Dom. § â—t super hanc petram The Glosse vpon Gratian saith He cannot thinke that by the rocke our Lord pointed at any other thing then the words which Peter answered him when he said Thou art Christ the sonne of the liuing God because vpon that article of faith the Church is built therfore God founded the Church vpon himselfe Marsilius i Defens pacis part 2. ca. 28. saith Vpon this rocke that is vpon Christ in whom thou beleeuest for Peter as long as he liued might erre and sinne by the libertie of his will and such a one could not be the foundation of the Church Petrus de Alliaco Chancellour of Paris and a Cardinall k RecoÌ„mendat sacrâ—â— Scripturae pag 269. writeth thus We must enquire what is the rocke whereupon the Church of Christ was to be built notwithstanding it seemeth not that by the rocke Peter should be vnderstood but Christ for who may establish the firmitie of the Church in Peters infirmitie whereof aske the maide that kept the doore and let her answer at whose speech as Gregorie saith while he feared death he denied the life Therefore seeing Peter had wauered and his Vicar is not firmely grounded l Cumque iam discrepent de summo Petri sacerdotio Pontifices litigeÌ„t de summo Pontificio sacerdotes seeing the Popes differ about Peters high priesthood and the Priests agree not about the Popes high bishopricke who dareth presume to say that any man of what holinesse or worthinesse soeuer whether Priest or high Bishop whether Peter or Peters Vicar or any other but Christ himselfe is the foundation of the Christian Church Christ therefore vpon himselfe as vpon a most steadie foundation established his Church against the Church of the diuell and vpon this firme rock he steadily confirmed Peter himselfe saying of him the sentence premised Vpon this rocke will I build 17 Thus it appeareth that our Sauiour saying Vpon this rock I will build my Church meant thereby no more but that he would ground it vpon the true faith of Christ that whosoeuer would desire to be ioyned to this Church should beleeue the same things that Peter then professed or else perish for euer And the words are thus to be expounded Thou art Peter thy name is Stone and thou hast professed a profession like thy name answering the nature of that whereby thou art called and therefore thy name is stone or rocke and the profession thou hast made is like it for thereupon I will build my Church and they which hold it shall neuer be moued This is farre from giuing Peter and the Pope any primacie and yet this is all the fathers obserued and as much we see as the discreeter sort of Papists haue collected And it is no matter though in the language that Christ spake the same word be vsed for Peter and the Rocke thus Thou art Cephah and vpon this Cephah I will build or if in the Greeke vsed by the Euangelist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie one thing to wit a rocke or stone as if Christ should say thou art rocke and vpon this rocke I will build for in the first place the word is vsed properly to signifie Peters name in the second appellatiuely to lay downe the nature of his profession which the Papists might haue obserued from m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phauor Lexic Phauorinus Camers their owne Bishop out of whose Lexicon they borrowed their speculation concerning the synonymie of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 18 To the other part of the text concerning the keyes I answer that neither do they proue Saint Peter or the Pope to be chiefe Pastor to whose definitiue sentence all the Church must be subiect but that he had the ministery of the Gospell committed to him with the other Apostles which ministery is signified by the keyes in this respect because mankind through the fall of our first parents lay plunged in the miserable bondage of sinne and Satan vtterly shut out of heauen vntill it pleased our merciful God to reueale the Gospel by preaching whereof the mind of man being enlightned the fetters of spiritual darknesse begin to fall from him and he riseth into the knowledge of Gods will so that by beleeuing in Christ he is set at libertie from the prison of sinne and condemnation and the doore of grace and life is opened to him This is done by the ministerie of the Gospell n Esa 49.9 whose nature is to say to the prisoners go forth and to them that sit in darknesse shew your selues and as o Esa 61.1 a key to open the prison doore to them that are bound and to bring liberty to captiues or if men loue darknesse better then light then hath God put p Ioh. 15.22 2. Cor. 2.16 Apoc. 11.6 an effectuall power into it to shut vp against them the kingdome of heauen and to straine them harder q Pro. 5.22 with the cords of their sinnes that they might perish This ministery being executed partly by preaching and sacraments partly by Church censures is called the keyes by reason of the likenesse thereunto and described by binding and loosing in regard of the effect 19 This exposition must needs be granted first because it sufficiently expresseth the vse and effect of keyes which is onely to let in and out or at the least that is the proper vse thereof Next r Shewed before nu 12. this is all that is meant by binding and loosing and binding and loosing containeth whatsoeuer is signified by the keyes Thirdly the Papists that most stifly defend the primacie yet confesse that all the Apostles receiued the keyes equally with Peter The promise of Christ concerning the keyes appertained not onely to Peter but was transmitted to all the Apostles Å¿ Concil ColoÌ„ sub Adulph an 1549. § Sextum medium saith Adolfus the Archbishop of Colen and his Councell t Surius comment an 1547. a man so addicted to the popish religion and carefull to restore it that he was thought meet to succeed Hermannus whom the Pope thrust out Cusanus u Concord li. 2. c. 13. saith Nothing was spoken to Peter but that which was said to the rest for as it was said to Peter whatsouer thou shalt bind so was it said to the rest whatsoeuer ye shall bind and though it were said to Peter Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke I wil build yet by the rocke we vnderstand Christ whom he confessed Thus they
and betweene me and thine anger I interpose the death of my Lord Iesu So also k In Luc. c. 7. saith Stella God my Protector looke not vpon me but first looke vpon thy onely Sonne and place betweene me and thee him thy Sonne his crosse his bloud his passion his merits that so thy iustice passing through his bloud and merits when it cometh at the last to me it may be gentle and full of mercie Waldensis l Sacramental tit 1. c. 7. p. 30. idem Erasm â—eclarat ad Cens Paâ—is p. 197. saith He is to be reputed the sounder Diuine and the better Catholicke and more agreeable to the Scripture that simply denieth such merit confessing that simply no man meriteth the kingdome of heauen but obtaineth it by the grace free will of God that giueth it Bellarmine m De iustificat l. 5. c. 7. §. Sit tertia saith that by reason of the vncertaintie of a mans owne righteousnesse and for feare of vaine glory it is the safest way to repose our whole confidence in the sole mercy and goodnesse of God And he giueth the reason because no man without reuelation can be sure he hath true merits or that he shall perseuer therein and nothing is easier then to be tempted with the pride of his owne good workes Pighius n Controu 2. Ratiâ—bo saith We are made righteous not by our owne righteousnesse but by the righteousnesse of God in Christ who putteth his owne iustice betweene his Fathers iudgement and our iniustice vnder the which as vnder a shield he protecteth vs from the diuine wrath which we haue deserued Ferus o L. 3. commen in Mat. c. 20. saith The parable of him that hired labourers into his vineyard teacheth that whatsoeuer God giueth vs is of grace not of debt for all our righteousnesse is as a cloth polluted yea the very sufferings of this life are vnworthy of future glorie If therfore thou desirest to hold the grace and fauour of God make no meÌ„tion of thy merits And let all such as contend with vs about this point assure themselues their owne schooles were of our mind herein till of late Gregorius Ariminensis p 1. d. 17. q 1. â—â—t 2. p. 89. defendeth at large that no worke done by man though coming from the greatest charitie meriteth of condignitie either eternall life or any other reward either eternall or temporall because euery such worke is the gift of God And against that coÌ„ceit which saith there is an inward worthines in the nature of our works deseruing the reward which worthines is coÌ„monly called the merit of condignity he disputeth that the reward is simply due to no workes nor of their nature but onely through the free appointment of God who out of the abundance of his mercie hath ordained to reward such workes with eternall life But Durand is so plain that the merit-mongers are faine to disclaim him He q 2. d. 27. q. 2. p. 200. saith There is no merit of condignitie betweene man and God but onely betweene man and man the said merit being strictly taken as the Papists now do to import a voluntarie action whereto the reward is due of iustice so that if it be not giuen there is wrong offered And whatsoeuer we receiue of God whether it be grace or glory whether temporall or spirituall good whatsoeuer good worke we haue before done for it yet we receiue the same rather of Gods liberalitie then of the debt of the worke And forasmuch as no mans free gift can bind him to giue more but he that receiueth more is the more bouÌ„d to him that giueth it therfore hence it followeth that by the good habits and deeds which God hath enabled vs to do he is not bound by the debt of his iustice to giue vs more that he should as the Papists now say be vniust if he gaue it not but we rather are bound to him and it is rashnesse yea blasphemy to thinke or say the contrary as r Vpon Heb. 6.10 the Rhemists do Then he concludeth that if God giue any reward to our well doings this is as the Protestants speake not that he is a debtor to the workes but of his owne liberalitie Marke the argument he vseth against merits and then iudge freely whether it can possibly be answered No man hauing freely bestowed a gift vpon another is bound by the good vse of the said gift to bestow more but he that receiueth it is rather bound to him that giueth it But all the workes of grace whatsoeuer though neuer so well vsed are freely bestowed vpon vs by God therefore God is not bound by the good vse thereof to bestow more And so consequently man is bound rather to God and all his reward is of mercie not of condignitie 16 Besides all Papists are not of one minde concerning these merits that men may see they talke against the Protestants abroad that which they are not agreed of among themselues at home which is more then ridiculous For Å¿ Scot. 4. d. 14 q 2. Ipse Scotus assignat quoddam meritum congruuÌ„ quod ipse vocat attritioâ—em ex putis naturalibus quae est ratio aliqua remissionis peccatorum iustificationis Dom. Bannes part 1 q. 23. art 5 p. 496. Tho 1 2. q. 114. art 3. 6. in 2. sent d. 27. q 3. Et ibi caeteâ—i scholastici some hold that a man doing what he is able by the power of his freewill before his conuersion omitting nothing that tendeth to the obtaining Gods fauour merits hereby of congruitie that God of his goodnesse which bindeth himselfe to accept euery one that turneth himselfe to him should prepare him to further grace but t Hos conf c 73 othersome reiect this kind of merit and accuse it of heresie that we might know what stuffe the Popes schooles now and then harbour in them And touching the merit of condignitie you heare what is commonly said u Rhem. annot vpon 1. Cor. 3.8 Heb. 6 10. Andrad Oâ—th explic l. 6. that our workes of their very nature deserue eternall life the reward whereof is a thing equally and iustly answering to the time and weight of the worke rather then a free gift so that God should be vniust if he gaue it not yet x Anselm Stella Waldens Bell. Pightus Ferus Ariminens Durand others whom I alledged immediatly before deny this and Bellarmine himself whether he were asleepe or what extremitie he was driuen to I know not but y Indic de lib. concord mendac 8. he writeth expresly To workes done by faith and the helpe of God we ascribe no such merit as hath the reward of iustice to answer them but onely the merit of impetration which the schoolemen called the merit of congruitie not of condignitie and yet I shewed before that Hosius saith the merit of congruitie is Pelagianisme Againe z Tho 2. d.
discouery And although the Iesuites send packets of newes abroad touching the miracles and huge conuersions daily wrought by their Priests and touching their holinesse and the multitudes which they baptize and the planting of their faith yet that is but a fetch of their wit to make fooles enamoured of them and to increase their reputation For such as haue liued there and seene all that hath bene done haue written the contrary and to this day report things farre otherwise that any man may see the Papists inuaded those countries took all that pains to possesse them onely to satisfie their couetousnesse and exercise their crueltie and lust vpon them and made religion and the conuerting of them the pretence to couer it Let any man iudge if I say vntruly by this that their owne writers report concerning the incredible hauocke which they haue made of the inhabitants such as was neuer heard of since the world was created Metellus Sequanus e Prefat ad Anton August praefixa ante Osor de gest Eman. pag. 15. writeth that of two thousand thousand persons inhabiting one countrey Hispaniola in the yeare 1580. there were not left at the most aboue fiue hundred or an hundred and fiftie but the Spanish crueltie had destroyed them all And f Pag. 17. he addeth that in one particular countrey the inhabitants whereof receiued the Spaniards as men fallen from heauen with great worship and rich rewards they massacred them vp so that you might go seuen hundred miles and find almost no liuing wight who before the Spaniards arriuall were very populous and g Pag. 16. saith he the Spanish souldiers made a prey of the people as if they had come but to hunt or hawke 6 And indeed the report is that the Spaniard at his first comming found so many people inhabiting as is incredible Bartolomaeus Casas a Bishop that liued in the countrey h Span. Colo. pag. 1. saith it swarmed with multitudes as an Emmet hill doth with Emmets i Pag. 27. and was more replenished with people then Ciuil or Toledo or Valladolyd in Spaine And he saith k Pag. 12. that during all the time they were murdered and made away so cruelly they neuer committed any one offence against the Spaniards that deserued punishment by the law of man yet did I neuer reade of such crueltie as they vsed toward them in relating whereof I will say no more then the said Casas hath written verbatim in detestation thereof to the king of Spaine He l Pag. 2. saith the Spaniards as soone as the nation was discouered like wolues and lions and tygers long famished entred and did nothing but teare them in peeces and murder and torment them by cruelties neuer read or heard of before m Pag. 13. They whipped them and strooke them with fists and bastinadoes cursing and tormenting them that it would affright any man to heare it n Pag. 55. The acts which they committed he saith are the deeds neither of Christians nor of men but of diuels o Pag. 92. And it had bene better the Indies had bene giuen to the diuels of hell then to the Spaniards p Pag. 17. And he protesteth there is no tongue skill knowledge or industrie of man able to recount the dreadfull doings of these enemies of mankind in Hispaniola alone q Pag. 56. The miserable people dying vpon the high wayes for feeblenesse as they caried the Spaniards stuffe like horse when they were layed on with staues and had their teeth broken with the pomels of their swords to make them rise from the ground where they lay for faintnesse would say I can do no more kill me here outright I desire to die And he telleth admirable things of particular cruelties vsed r Pag. 6. They spared neither children nor old folk nor women with child nor such as lay in childbed but would rip vp their bellies and chop them in peeces as if they had bene butchering lambes They would lay wagers who should most readily and nimbly thus butcher men They would plucke infants sucking from their mothers paps and taking them by the heeles dash out their braines against the rockes or hurle them into the riuers Å¿ Pag. 92. 47. They trained vp mastiue dogs of purpose to rend in peeces and deuoure the people and for that purpose fed them with mans flesh hauing a great number of Indians fettered in chaines whom they murdered like swine as their dogs needed to feede them t Pag 48. And he telleth of one that wanting dogs meate tooke a child from the mother and chopping the same in peeces fed his dogs therewith u Pag. 47. And of a woman who being sicke to escape from the dogs hanged her selfe hauing tied her child about a yeare old at her foote which the dogs dispatched And one peculiar punishment they vsed x Pag. 6. to set vp low gibbets and as they vsed to speake it in the honor of Christ and his twelue Apostles to hang thirteene persons vpon euery gibbet and so burne them with fire y Pag. 46. They vsed to buy and sell the people as they did all other merchandize giuing yong men and damsels for wine or cheese or such like and sometime an hundred persons for a horse z Pag. 89. They haue throwne downe from the top of a steepe mountaine seuen hundred men together who as a cloud haue fallen to the ground and bene battered in peeces a Pag. 115. In three moneths they famished seuen thousand children b Pag. 8. 83. They rauished and murdered great Queenes And c Pag. 31. at one time they massacred two thousand gentlemen that were Lords sonnes and the flower of all the nobilitie in that countrey 7 This crueltie wrought lamentable effects For when the miserable people saw there was no hope it would end d Pag. 16. they would hang themselues husbands with their wiues and children onely to be rid of their miserie e Pag. 99. A certaine woman hauing her husband taken from her in griefe and despaire dasht out her owne childs braines against the stones And it was ordinary that f Pag. 115. women would murther their owne children and destroy their conception onely to rid them from the bondage of the Spaniards Thus the goodliest nation of the world was depopulated vnder pretence of religion g Pag. 3. More then ten realmes greater then all Spaine with Aragon and Portugall and containing twise as much ground as lieth betweene Siuill and Ierusalem are turned into a wildernesse h Pag. 4. Twenty seuen millions of soules perished within the space of one forty yeares i Pag. 3. In Hispaniola three millions In fiue other small Isles neare vnto it fiue hundred thousand k Pag. 40. In another countrey fiue millions in fifteene yeares l Pag. 68. In another fiue millions where they laid wast aboue foure hundred leagues of fertill soile
a Preacher of the Gospell what murthers riots whoredomes periuries scandalous courses did he liue in as many Popes haue done and the top-gallant of the Romish clergy 5 They say he married a Nun after he and she had vowed to the contrary But this is a silly accusation for the Pope hath dispensed with many to do the like and it is a ruled case in the Schooles that the solemne vow of continencie may be dispensed with And therefore in this point they offended no further but in marrying without the Popes licence supposing the libertie of marriage depended on his permission which licence if he had purchased then the fault should haue bene none although he had married his owne sister by the dispensation of Martin the fift And so all the rest of his faults if they be inquired into will proue to be nothing else but certaine trespasses against the Popes corrupt canons 6 Touching his death you see the Iesuite speaketh suspitiously reade prodigious tales in the bookes of our aduersaries which I will set downe by and by but they which saw him die and accompanied him to his graâ—e thus report it from whose mouths we haue it f Sleida comment l. 16. Lonicer theat hâ—st pag. 244. written Being ill at case yet nowtwithstanding the last day of his life he came out to dinner and also to supper what time he had much comfortable speech concerning the life to come and this among other that as â—ldam in Paradise when the woman was brought vnto him did not aske who she was or whence she came but presently knew her to be flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone by reason he was filled with the holy Ghost and indued with the true knowledge of God So we in the next life being renued by Christ shall know our parents wiues and children much more perfectly then Adam at that time knew wife After supper he prayed as his custome was priuately by himselfâ— in which time the paine of his brest that had long troubled him began to increase but â—â—ting laid on his bed and hauing taken some of an Vnicorns horne in wine he slept soundly by the space of two houres and being awaked he was had into his owne chamber saying as he went into thy hands ô God do I commend my spirit for thou ô God of truth hast redeemed me Soone after he gaue himselfe to rest but first saluted his friends that were present saying also to them Pray God that he will preserue vnto vs the doctrine of his Gospell for the Pope and Trent Councell are in hand with grieuous things And when he had said this he began to sleepe but the force of his disease awakening him something after midnight he began to complaine of the stopping in his brest and to feele death coming vpon him Whereupon he fell to prayer vsing these words Heauenly Father who art God and the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ and the God of all comfort I giue thee thanks for that thou hast reuealed thy Sonne Christ vnto me in whom I haue beleeued whom I haue professed loued and preached and whom the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the wicked persecute and reproach I beseech thee my Lord Iesus Christ receiue my poore soule And heauenly Father though I be taken out of this life and shall lay downe this my body yet I beleeue assuredly that I shall remaine for euer with thee and that none shall be able to plucke me out of thy hands Hauing ended this praier he repeated the 16. verse of the 3. chapter of Saint Iohn So God loued the world that he gaue his onely begotten Sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life And then the 20. verse of the 68. Psalme Our God is the God that saueth vs euen the Lord God that deliuereth from death And not long after this he commended his soule into the hands of God two or three times ouer with shew of much comfort vntill as a man falling asleepe by little and little he departed this life the standers by perceiuing no paine to vexe him This was the end of that good man whose memory shall be precious in the Church for euer and there kept greene and florishing as the rod of Aaron laid vp in the tabernacle the same time being present by him the Earle of Mansfield and other noble men Iustus Ionas Michael Coelius Ioannes Aurifaber and many more who haue testified these things to be true and accompanied his body to Wittenberge where by the appointment of the Prince Elector he was honourably buried in the Tower Church and with great lamentation of many Bugenhagius making the funerall Sermon and Melancthon the Oration 7 This the Iesuite is bound to beleeue because it is testified by such as were present and not the malicious reports of his deadly enemies that made them on their fingers ends wherein there is not so much as common likelihood to maintain them For let it be tried whether the talesensuing be probable g Cocl vit Lutheri Pontac Burde an 1544. Lindan fuga idol p. 80. c. 8. Caluinotur cism pag. 957. Defence of the Cens p. 66. Bel. c. That going to bed merry and drunke he was found the next morning dead in his bed his body being blacke and his tong hanging forth as if he had bene strangled which some thinke was done by the diuell some by his wife And that as they bare him to the Church to bury him his body so smelt that they were faine to throw it in a ditch and go their waies For these things sauour of the mint Thyrraeus the Iesuite h De Daemo niac part 1. Thes 99. telleth how the same day Luther died many that were possessed of diuels in a towne of Brabant were on a sodaine deliuered and not long after possessed againe And when it was demanded of the diuels where they had bene they answered that by the appointment of their Prince they were called forth to the funerall of Luther And this was proued to be true because a seruant of Luthers that was in the chamber when he died opening a casement to take in the aire saw neare vnto him a great number of blacke spirits hopping and dancing The which is a mery tale saue that it was made betweene the diuell and the exorcist and crosseth the former for if Luthers seruant was in the chamber by him when he died then he was not strangled suddenly by his wife in the night and if the spirits departed out of the possessed to go to his buriall then belike he was buried and not left in a ditch 8 But the furie of his enemies was so great against him that not able to conceale these tales made against him till he was dead they published them in print in his life time which notably conuinceth them of slander and malice The copy of which newes I heare set downe that such as haue read the