of the Romish Church will not admit Reconciliation SECTION VII The Romish Heresie concerning Iustification SECTION VIII Concerning Free-will SECTION IX Concerning Merits SECTION X. Concerning Satisfaction SECTION XI Concerning Purgatorie SECTION XII Concerning Pardons SECTION XIII Concerning the distinction of Mortall and Veniall sinne SECTION XIV Concerning the Canon of the Scripture SECTION XV. Concerning the insufficiencie of Scripture SECTION XVI Concerning the authoritie of Scripture SECTION XVII Concerning Transsubstantiation SECTION XVIII Concerning the Multi-presence of Christs bodie SECTION XIX Concerning the sacrifice of the Masse SECTION XX. Concerning the number of Mediators and the Inuocation of Saints SECTION XXI Concerning the Superstitious Heathenish and ridiculous worship of the Papists SECTION XXII Concerning the impossibilitie of the meanes of Reconciliation THE OPINION OF George Cassander A LEARNED PAPIST AND GRAVE DIVINE That by two seuerall Emperors FERDINAND and MAXIMILIAN was set on worke to compose these quarrels of the CHVRCH In his consultation pag. 56. 57. YEt J cannot denie but that in the beginning many out of a godly zeale and care were driuen to a sharpe and seuere reproofe of certaine manifest abuses and that the principall cause of this calamitie and distraction of the Church is to bee laid vpon those which being puffed vp with a vaine insolent conceit of their Ecclesiasticall power proudly and scornefully contemned and reiected them which did rightly and modestly admonish their reformation Wherefore my opinion is that the Church can neuer hope for any firme Peace vnlesse they make the beginning which haue giuen the cause of the distraction that is vnlesse those which are in place of Ecclesiasticall Gouernment will bee content to remit something of their too much rigor and yeeld somewhat to the Peace of the Church and hearkening vnto the earnest Prayers and Admonitions of many godly men will set themselues to correct manifest abuses according to the rule of Diuine Scriptures and of the ancient Church from which they haue swarued NO PEACE WITH ROME SECT I. The state of the now-Roman Church THERE is no one question doth so racke the mindes of men G. Cassand l. de Consult Art 7. Ex articulo hoc de Ecclesia omnis haec distractio quae hodie est in republica Christiana originem ducit at this day as this of the Church The infancy of the Church was sore and long vexed with heresies of an higher nature concerning God concerning Christ which stil strook at the head but her vigorous hoary age is exercised with a slighter quarrell concerning our selues which yet raiseth vp the greater broyles euery where by how much euery man naturally loues himselfe more than God Not to meddle with any forraine questions of this nature Too many seeme vnto me to mis-conceiue the state of our Church the Romish as if they had beene alwaies two as if from their first foundations they had been sensibly seuered in time and place like to Babylon and Hierusalem Aug. de Ciuit. or those two famous Cities opposed in S. Austens learned discourse Hence are those idle demands of some smattering questionists Where our Church hath thus long hid it selfe What yeere and day it came to light in which age that other Church lost it selfe Why we haue withdrawne our selues no further from them What is become of our sorefathers Which was the religion of the former world From hence haue those sharpe and rigorous censures passed on both sides whether of nouelty or of the desperate condition of those soules which haue departed out of our owne way Alas what monsters both of opinions and questions haue risen hence and haue vexed not their owne Authors onely for the Delphick Oracle said well It is fit a man should haue as he doth Iulian Caes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iudicum si quis quae secit perferat aequum est but together with them the whole Church of God How many silly soules haue splitted vpon this rocke which had neuer needed any votiue monument of their wracke if they had but learned to hold no other difference betwixt vs and Rome than must needs be granted betwixt a Church miserably corrupted and happily purged betwixt a sickly languished and dying Church and one that is healthfull strong and flourishing Neither therefore did that Valdus of France nor Wickliffe of England nor Hierom of Prague Anno. Do. 1160. nor Luther of Germany euer goe about to frame a new Church to themselues which was not but onely endeuoured not without happy successe to cleanse scoure restore reforme that Church which was from that filthy soyle both of disorder errors wherewith it was shamefully blemished Al these rather desired to be accounted Physitians to heale than parents to beget a Church And the same haue we carefully done euer since do seriously and ingenuously professe of our selues this day Rome is alike to vs as it was of old to Hierome with Eugubium Rhegium Alexandria saue that this citie is both more famous Hierom. Epist ad Euagr. more neere vs Places do not varie either faith or title What Church soeuer God shall call daughter wee will call sister and so we safely may How many honest and chaste matrons haue we knowne that haue beene ashamed of a lewd sister and haue abhorred filthinesse in one of their owne bloud So it fareth now with vs Rome is ouergone with heresie with Idolatrie Let her practise her whoredome at home by her selfe It was not for vs with the safegard of our honestie to dwell with such a partner Not onely her wickednesse hath thrust vs out but her violence We yeeld therefore and sorrowfully complaine with the Prophet Esa 21.22 How is the faithfull citie become an harlot It was full of iudgement and iustice lodged therein but now it is full of murderers Thy siluer is become drosse and thy wine is brewed with water Away with the imperious name of a mother Wee are all the same Church by the virtue of our outward vocation whosoeuer all the world ouer worship Iesus Christ the onely Sonne of God and Sauiour of the world and professe the same common Creed some of vs doe this more purely Iren. l. 1. c. 2.3 others more corruptly In the meane time we are all Christians but sound Christians wee are not But how harslhly doth this sound to a weake Reader and more than seemes to need reconciliation with it selfe that the Church should be one and yet cannot be reconciled certainly yet so it is The dignitie of the outward forme which comprehends this vnitie in it selfe auailes nothing to grace nothing to saluation nothing to the soundnesse of doctrine The net doth not straight make all to bee fish that it hath dragged together ye shall finde in it vile weeds and whatsoeuer else that deuouring Element hath disgorged The Church is at once One in respect of the common principles of faith and yet in respect of consequences Cyp.l. 3.
there should bee granted by Iohn 22. a Pardon for no lesse than a million of yeeres Who can endure since by their owne confession this fire must last but till the conflagration of the world that yet in one little Booke there should be tendred vnto credulous poore soules Pardons of but eleuen thousand thousands of yeeres What should we make many words of this There is now lying by me a worme-eaten Manu-script with faire Rubrickes in which besides other absurd and blasphemous promises there is power giuen to one little prayer to change the paines of hell due perhaps to him that sayes it into Purgatory and after that againe the paines of Purgatory into the ioyes of Heauen Lib. de Indulg Bellarmine had wisely respected his owne reputation if hee had giuen his voice according to that which he confesseth to haue beene the iudgement of some others That these like Bills were not giuen by the Popes but lewdly deuised by some of his base Questuaries for an aduantage But that which he should excuse hee defends What ingenuity of shame is to be expected of Iesuites and how cleane hath an old Parrot as he said of old forgotten the wand Who may abide this vniust and inhumane acceptation of persons that the wealthier sort may by their purses redeeme this holy treasure of the Church and by money deliuer the soules of themselues and their friends from this horrible Prison while the needy Soule must be stall frying in this flame without all hope of pardon or mature relaxation vntill the very last Iudgement day Lastly who can endure that whiles it is in the power of Christs Vicar to call miserable soules out of this tormenting fire which hell it selfe is said to exceed onely in the continuance yet that he should suffer them to lie howling there and most cruelly broyling still and not mercifully bestow on them all the heapes of his treasure as the spirituall ransome of so many distressed spirits Ambr. de Nabâ—th A wretched man is he as Ambrose said of the rich man which hath the power to deliuer so many soules from death and wants the will Why hath God giuen him this faculty of Indulgences if hee would not haue it beneficiall to Mankinde Auth. operis imperfect and where the Owner of the house will bee bountifull it is not for the Steward to bee niggardly Let that Circè of Rome keepe these huskes for her hogges SECTION XIII Concerning the distinction of Veniall and Mortall sinnes PArdons doe both imply and presuppose that knowne distinction of Mortall and Veniall sinne which neither hath God euer allowed neither whiles he gaine-sayes it will euer the Protestants That there are certaine degrees of euill we both acknowledge and teach so as we may here iustly tax the dishonesty and shamelesnesse of Campion Durcus Coccius and the Monkes of Burdeaux who haue vpbraided vs with the opinion of a certaine Stoicall and Iouinianish parity of sinnes yea Bellarmine himselfe hath already done this kinde office for vs. Some offences are more hainous than other yet all in the malignitie of their nature deadly As of poysons some kill more gently and lingringly others more violently and speedily yet both kill Moreouer if wee haue respect vnto the infinite mercy of God and to the obiect of this mercy the penitent and faithfull heart there is no sinne which to borrow the word of Prudentius is not veniall but in respect of the Anomy or disorder there is no sinne which is not worthy of eternall death Euery sinne is a Viper there is no Viper if we regard the nature of the best but kils whom she bites but if one of them shall haply light vpon the hand of Paul she is shaked into the fire without harme done Let no man feare that harmefull creature euer the lesse because he sees the Apostle safe from that poyson So is sinne to a faithfull man Saint Iohns word is All sinne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transgression of the Law 1 Ioh. 3.4 Rom. 6. Saint Pauls word is The wages of sinne is death Put these two together and this conceit of the naturall pardon ablenesse of sin vanishes alone Our Rhemists subtill men can no more abide this proposition conuerted than themselues All sinne indeed say they is anomia a transgression of the Law but euery transgression of the Law is not sinne The Apostle therefore himselfe turnes it for vs All vnrighteousnesse saith he is sin But euery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is vnrighteousnesse saith Austen vpon the place For the Law is the rule of righteousnesse therefore the preuarication of the Law is vnrighteousnesse Yea their very owne word shall stop their owne mouth for how is sinne vniuocally distinguished into Veniall and Mortall if the Veniall be no sinne and the wages of euery sinne is death That therefore which the Papists presume to say that this kinde of sinne deserues pardon in it selfe vnlesse they will take the word merit catachrestically with Stapleton And that which Bellarmine and Nauarus adde that Veniall sinnes are not against but beside the Law and lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Fr. à Vict. summa sacr Poenitentiae nu 100. p. 63. That which Franciscus à Victoria writes that a Bishops blessing or a Lords Prayer or a knocke on the breast or a little holy water or any such like slight receipt without any other good motion of the heart is sufficient to remit Veniall sinne is so shamefully abhorring from all piety and iustice that these open bands both of nature and sinne must be eternally defied of vs. It is an old and as true a ride Decr. 23.4.4 est iniusta c. Petr. Alagâ—â—nae Comp. Manual Nauarri p. 91. p. 267. p. 140. p. 191. p. 352. p. 100. Socr. l. 5.21 â—asinesse of pardon giues incouragement to sinne And beside what maner of sinnes doe they put in the ranke of Venials Drunkennesse adultery angry curses or blasphemies couetousnesse yea stealing lying cursing of parents horrible offences shroud themselues with them vnder this plausible title of veniall He must needs be shamelesly wicked that abhorres not this licentiousnesse Surely Socrates the Historian prophecied I thinke of these men There are some saith he that let goe whoredome as an indifferent matter which yet striue for an holy-day as for their life The ordinarie and not slight Controuersie as Cassander thinketh of the name nature condition punishment of the first sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Originall as Chrysostome calls it I willingly omit Neither doe I meddle with their Euangelicall perfection of vowes nor the dangerous seruitude of their rash and impotent Votaries nor the incoueniences of their Monkerie which yet are so great and many that the elect Cardinals of Paul the third doubted not with ioynt consent to affirme All the Orders of Couents we thinke fit to be abolished but for the condition of that single and solitary life let that be done which Cassander and
termes whereof if any be probable some are impossible Oh miserable grounds of Popish faith whereof the best can haue but this praise that perhaps it may be true A Religion that hath bin oft dyed in the bloud of Princes that in some cases teaches and allowes Rebellion against Gods Anointed and both suborneth Treasons and excuses pities honors rewards the Actors A Religion that ouerloades mens consciences with heauy burdens of infinite vnnecessary Traditions far more than euer Moses commented vpon by all the Iewish Masters imposing them with no lesse authoritie and exacting them with more rigor than any of the royall lawes of their Maker A Religion that coozens the vulgar with nothing but shadowes of Holinesse in Pilgrimages Processions Offerings Holy-water Latine Seruices Images Tapers rich Vestures garish Altars Crosses Censings and a thousand such like fit for Children and Fooles robbing them in the meane time of the sound and plaine helps of true pietie and saluation A Religion that cares not by what wilfull falshoods it maintaines a part as Wickliffes blasphemie Luthers aduice from the Deuill Tindals communitie Caluins fained Miracle and blasphemous death Bucers necke broken Bezaes revolt the blasting of Huguenots Englands want of Churches and Christendome Queene ELIzABETHS vnwomanlinesse her Episcopall Iurisdiction her secret fruitfulnesse English Catholikes cast in Beares skins to Doggs Plesses shamefull ouerthrow Garnets Straw the Lutherans obscene night-revels Scories drunken ordination in a Tauerne the Edict of our Gracious King IAMES Anno 87. for the establishment of Poperie our casting the Crusts of our Sacrament to Doggs and ten thousand of this nature maliciously raised and defended against knowledge and conscience for the disgrace of those whom they would haue hated ere knowne A Religion that in the conscience of her owne vntruth goes about to falsifie and depraue all Authors that might giue euidence against her to out-face all ancient truths to foist in Gibeonitish witnesses of their owne forging and leaues nothing vnattempted against Heauen or Earth that might aduantage her faction disable her innocent Aduersarie Loe this is your choice If the zeale of your losse haue made me sharpe yet not malicious not fasle God is my Record I haue not to knowledge charged you with the least vntruth and if I haue wronged accuse mee and if I cleere not my selfe and my challenge let me be branded for a Slanderer In the meane time what spirituall phrensie hath ouertaken you that you can finde no beautie but in this Monster of Errors It is to you and your fellowes that God speakes by his Prophet O yee Heauens be astonied at this be afraid and vtterly confounded saith the Lord for my people hath committed two euils they haue forsaken me the Fountaine of liuing Waters to digge them pits euen broken pits that can hold no water what shall bee the issue Et tu Domine deduces eos in puteum interitus Thou O God shalt bring them downe into the pit of destruction If you will thus wilfully leaue God there I must leaue you But if you had not rather dye returne and saue one returne to God returne to his Truth returne to his Church your bloud be vpon my head if you perish AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER THe Reader may please to take notice that in the former Edition there was added vnto this Discourse a iust Volume of aboue three hundred Contradictions and dissentions of the Romish Doctors vnder the name of The Peace of Rome which because it was but a collection out of Bellarmine and Navar and no otherwise mine but as a Gatherer and Translator I haue here thought good to omit FINIS NO PEACE WITH ROME WHEREIN IS PROVED THAT AS TERMES NOW Stand there can be no Reconciliation of the REFORMED RELIGION with the ROMISH And that the Romanists are in all the fault Written first in Latine by J. H. And now Englished SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE TRVE SOVND AND HOLY CHVRCH OF GOD wheresoeuer warfaring vpon Earth I Present vnto thee deare and holy Mother this poore vnworthy token of my loue and loialtie the not so pleasing as true report of thy future broiles How much gladder should I haue beene if thy Spouse had so thought good to haue beene the messenger of thy Peace and securitie But since the great and wise Moderator of all things hath thought a Palme fitter for thee than an Oliue it is for thee to thinke of victory not of rest Thou shalt once triumph in heauen and rest for all but in the meane time here is nothing to bee lookt for but ambushes skirmishes tumults And how cheerefully must thou needs both beare and ouercome all oppositions that art not more sure of the necessitie of thy warfare than of the happinesse of thy successe whilest thou seest thy glorious husband not onely the leader of this field but a most iust and mercifull crowner of thy Conquest Certainly it is as vnpossible for thee to miscarry as to sit still and not fight Behold all the forces of heauen and earth conspire and reioyce to come voluntaries vnto this holy warre of thine and promise thee a most happy issue addresse thy selfe therefore as thou art wont couragiously to this worke of God But remember first to inquire as thou dost of ABEL Spare no teares to thy desperate Sister now thine enemie and calling heauen and earth to witnesse vpon thy knees beseech and intreat her by her owne soule and by the deare bowels of CHRIST by those precious drops of his bloudy sweat by that common price of our eternall redemption that she would at the last returne to her selfe and that good disposition which she hath now too long abandoned that she would forbeare any more as I feare shee hath hitherto wilfully done to fight against God but if shee shall still persist to stop her eares against thee and to harden her selfe in rebellion against her God forget if thou canst who shee once was and flie mercilesly vpon this daughter of Beliall that vaunts her selfe proudly in the glory of her munition Goe smite destroy conquer and reigne as the worthy partner of thine husbands Throne For mee I shall in the meane time be as one of thy rude Trumpets whose noise shall both awaken thy courage vnto this spirituall battell and whose ioyfull gratulations shall after thy rich spoiles applaud thine happy returne in the day of thy victory J. H. THE SVMME OF THE following Sections SECTION I. THe state of the now-Roman Church SECTION II. The commodities and conditions of Peace SECTION III. The obstinate and Peace-hating disposition of Papists SECTION IV. That the Confession of the same Creed is not with them sufficient to Peace SECTION V. The imputation or corruption of the Roman Church and their impossibility of Reconciliation arising from that wilfull fable of the Popes infallibilitie SECTION VI. That the other Opinions