circumcision with Baptisme Your holy water those vessels altogether bias those Priestly garments whose number is infinite those burning lampes and lights the Chrisme your annointing with oile and other infinite abuses that are to be found among you are as many additions of new vailes and sacraments which you haue inuented And whatsoeuer antiquitie you can alledge yet so it is that you cannot purge your selues of Iudaisme or deny that you haue relied on those ceremoniall Lawes which you ought to haue banished euery one as we may perceiue that this vaile is not halfe rent neither the third or fourth part thereof onely but from the top to the bottome CHAP. XXXV Of the Purification of Women IN the end haue you not borrowed also from the Iewes the purification of women that rise out of child-bed Truth it is that this ceremonie ordained by God did lead them vnto the consideration of the greatnesse of their sinne which defileth the conception and birth of the child euen as it defiled the first Parents This was ordained onely for disciplines cause and this vncleannesse was onely simply ciuill during which the woman was bound not to come vnto publike assemblies whereinto shee was admitted afterward hauing satisfied the Law which commaunded to offer a lambe or a paire of turtle doues or doues You by the contrary thinke that the woman is in the power of Sathan so long as shee is in child-bed and that shee hath need of tapers which you terme hallowed of coniurations and other prayers for her deliuerie These are your goodly pretenses but as for me I beleeue that these ceremonies haue beene inuented and practised for the opinion which you haue conceiued that marriage is an vncleane thing which in old times your predecessours the Manicheans the Adamians the Hieracites did in like manner who likewise named themselues Apostolicks It is enough my Masters and we should neuer haue done seeing that the abuse of the Iewish ceremonies hath growne so far that the whole outward seruice of God is changed into a Leuiticall Religion after such manner that it seemeth that the order of Aaron and his subalternes hath yet still the administration and rule ouer the house of God here beneath an order I say which was abolished by Christ Iesus our souereigne Sacrificer who hauing taken on him the charge of his Fathers house hath really shewed vnto vs the true meaning of all those shadows and figures of the Law and through offering vp himselfe on the Crosse once for all and neuer to be reiterated againe hath freed vs from that bondage and hath made open the passage vnto the euerlasting Sanctuarie Veni etiam Domine Iesu. THE HARMONIE AND AGREEMENT of the Romish CHVRCH with auncient Heresies The third Conformitie THE AVTHORS EPISTLE TO MASTER VIGNES COVNSELLER TO THE KING AND CORRECTOR IN the Chamber of accounts in MONTPELLIER SIR I would not shew my selfe among the writers that abound at this day hauing cōtented my selfe in priuate with the reading of the Orthodoxes and contemned such as for the most part doe nothing but vent their melancholies vnto the world I haue hit on this resolution because I am a louer of a retired life and of solitarinesse among my Bookes taking pleasure to talke with the dead wherein consisteth the chiefe iewell of my life This age swarmeth in good Spirits and as Africke is fertile in Monsters which it produceth daily so in like manner we may say that it is a wonder and miracle in nature to contemplate this exquisite knowledge in all sciences and tongues wherwith many are indued that it appeareth that we haue paragoned that old antiquity I say in science not in conscience Who then hath marred this my silence You Sir for as we were reasoning concerning heresie a subiect whereupon the seducers through their false Orations and writs haue long agoe beene baiting and hammering on the heads and hearts of their confederates labouring to perswade them that those of thereformed Religion are defiled therewith you thought it expedient that through contrarie demonstrations which should be both solide and true I should declare to the world that this imputation is wrongfully ascribed vnto vs. There is no parish Priest how raskally soeuer he be that hath not this word Heretike in his mouth What will those great Masters in mateologie doe then If little puppies doe keepe such a yelling what will be the effect of the barking of these great mastifs It is the custome of whores to preuent honest matrones and to lay to their charge that wherewith they are tached themselues Those Iesuites the buttresses of the Popish Religion the creame and very quin tessence of Fryers to speake no worse doc in like manner They are scabbie and would perswade vs to scratch our selues as they doe although our conscience be not defiled Those that are attainted and branded by Iustice desire nothing more then to haue many fellowes both in their iniquity and their punishment What shall we do here Shall we betray our brethren and our soules Shall we temporise as if we had some fellowship with this spirituall brothel-house This would proue cowardlinesse in vs. Wherefore following your aduise I haue thought fit to shew vpon the theatre of the world that so many heresies as we are accused of are as many calumnies and lies and that it is the Romish Church which is wonderfully disfigured polluted as we shall declare God willing The impatience of moderne Readers hath abridged my discourse which I could haue inlarged And who could euer be able to finish the task of the stable of Augeus I offer vnto you this my little Essay as vnto him of whom I receiue singular comfort in my peregrination and in this strange Countrey You shall take it if it please you in good part as proceeding from him who is Sir Your most humble seruant FRANCIS DE CROY THE PREFACE To those of the Romish CHVRCH MY Masters the chiefe weapon that the Diuell hath vsed against the Church is Heresie which the Apostle placeth among the workes of the flesh It is not to day that this contagion of particular chusing of opinions hath corrupted a great number of men The Churches both of Israell and primitiue haue tasted of this cruell poyson Those wits that made too great account of Philosophie and are borne among Sophismes puft vp with pride pale and deformed through ennie haue hatched this generation and brought forth this Hydra of all mischiefes No age hath beene free thereof The histories doe set before our eyes and our eares some lamentable examples and namely in these latter dayes which being most fertile in all vices are likewise fruitfull in producing those detestable heresies the effects whereof are to draw away men from the way of truth to make them become enemies thereof as did in old times Iamnes and Mambres the aduersaries of Moyses to corrupt them in their vnderstanding to ioyne them with Diuels and at length to debarre
Purgatorie which is the patrimonie of the Romish Clergie and the chiefe foundation of the Masses for the dead Our writers haue declared by their learned writs that it was vnknown vnder the Law was without any proofe or likelihood let it be neuer so small either in the old or new Testament And those of the Romish Church could not in the whole Bible find out any pretence for their Purgatorie saue onely in one place of the second of the Machabees an Apocryphall booke We will not sound the deepenesse of this matter sith Purgatory was not holden or deliuered as an Article of faith more then 400. yeares after the death of our Sauiour and S. Austin himselfe did hold it onely for a problematicall doctrine which should not be taught to the people by the Heralds of the doctrine of saluation What is the ground thereof then and who hath sowen the first seede thereof Who but Plato Homer Virgil Mahomet and such other Gentiles And S. Austin himselfe findeth such a conformitie betweene the opinion of Plato and that of the Christians of his time that he hath termed this decree meerely Platonicall which the Iesuits with all their subtilities dare not deny Then Purgatorie is wholly builded after the paterne of the doctrine of the Gentiles as it may easily be demonstrated Eusebius making mention of the doctrine of Plato So soone as the dead are arriued in the place whereunto they haue bin transported first of all it is discussed in iudgement who hath liued well or naughtily and if any seeme to haue liued after a mid-way manner they are carried along the Acheron to a marish where they are purged by enduring of heauie punishment and being deliuered from thence are rewarded with honours according to their merites and good workes And this doth he insist on more at length vsing namely these words to purge and absolue And in another place out of Gorgias in Plato Those that haue sinned saith he curably that is to say easie to be pardoned are purged by suffering of torments both while they are liuing here and in hell after their decease But as touching those that haue sinned incurably to such no good can happen sith they are incurable And thus did Plato make vp three degrees of men of the vertuous whom he lodgeth in the fabulous Elysian fields of the vngodly and such desperate persons whom he adiudgeth vnto euerlasting fire and his Purgatorie is reserued for those of the third ranke who haue committed sinnes but such as are forgiuen and may easily be remitted in this world with small penance yea although it were but by the aspersion of a little holy water And for these last I say he appointeth somtimes burning riuers and other sorts of punishment for the expiation of their crimes And to the intent that they may not lie lingering in these torments as you haue yearely Masses for the dead so also hath he ordained certaine ceremonies and purifyings which hee thought would yeeld a singular comfort vnto the soules and relent their dolours And to this effect he ordained yearly feasts and twelue dayes of Februarie were of purpose dedicated for the celebration of the memorie of the dead for visiting of their sepulchres to pray for their weale where the Silicernium was not forgotten as we shall shew in the title of the feasts of the dead Homer wrote some thing before Plato and Virgil his imitator or translator hath followed his paths and maketh mention thereof in his Aeneides as of a true thing where with his cunning and accustomed eloquence he describeth the tortures of those poore rosted soules whom with time he bringeth forth cleansed and purified from that purgatoriall fire to make them flie vp into the mansion of his thundering Iupiter And who doth not perceiue the doctrine of our Masters in these workes And who doth not see therein the very formall text of that which you maintaine teach concerning this cruell fire From whence then is Purgatorie truely from Gentilisme Plutarch placeth Purgatorie betweene the moone the earth and there maketh the soules to lodge that through diuerse sorts of punishment they may be purged of their sinnes And the feare of those torments and the compassion that they had of their parents and friends that were dead was the cause why they made sacrifices for them as it was practised according as Xenophon writeth vpon the souldiour that was slaine in the battell And should not this be all one with that which ludas Machabeus committed if we must giue credit to the translation of your Bibles Mahomet ordained three ranckes of the dead some to be citizens of Paradise others of hell and touching the last hee plungeth them in Purgatorie to wash away their remnant filthinesse and to cleanse their soules that they may be refined and worthy to enter into the Mahometicall Paradise CHAP. VIII Of these Names Soueraigne Pontife and Pope THose that are read in histories know the etymologie of this word Pontife which is deriu'd from Pons sublicius For it was his charge to repaire that bridge whensoeuer the same was exposed to any perill and in danger of breaking through the violence of Tiber because it is made of timber without any yron or other mettall and for this cause it was also reputed holy and sacred His dignitie was excellent and for ornament therof a Sergeant marched before him His pontificall hat was such a one as the Cardinals of the Romish Church weare at this day In stead of being carried vpon mens shoulders as the Pope is he went in a litter sitting in a Curule chaire royally as the chiefe Magistrates of Rome were wont to doe If any prisoner being a malefactor had encountered him all that day long he was released from his paine The medalles coynes and monuments of the ancient Romane Emperours doe witnesse how that they were named great Pontifes as this inscription prooueth Iul. Caes. Pont. Max. Which hath beene imitated by other Emperours in great number The Pope faith that he is Christs successor in his great Pontificat notwithstanding that he hath reserued for himselfe this souereigne dignitie of Priesthood exercised by him which he doth exercise still for euer Is this a marke of Antichrist to call himselfe successor to an office incommunicable to any man If the debate were concerning the order of Aaron suppressed and abolished long agoe and if Iudaisme were not altogether abrogated we would graunt a successor in this dignitie but to grant one to this sacrifice which is after the order of Melchisedech this is an horrible blasphemie Wherefore we cannot liken the Pope of Rome better to any then to the Muphti and great Caliph which is as much to say as the Lieutenant of God of the Turkes and Mahumetanes he calleth himselfe their Lord and Prince on earth he vsurpeth the swords both spirituall and temporall he calleth himselfe the Prophet and Vicar
coeternall with God If it be so behold two Gods in your Church as well as among the Manicheans For that which hath no begining is God The consequence followeth seeing that the Empyreal heauen is eternall it is God You will obiect vnto vs that all doe not agree with Steuchus This may be true but where doth the Pope censure this matter Where is the scraping out hereof in your Index Expurgatorius Truely this silence maketh vs suspect that in holding your peace you haue all agreed with him therein And if any of vs had spoken and written so what tempests what thundrings should we haue heard ouer our heads CHAP. II. Of the body of Christ Iesus ANd how haue you spared the body of Iesus Christ You haue deified the same by making it inuisible altogether spirit without place without dimensions and to bee in all places wheresoeuer any sacrifice is offered after your manner This is to make the body of Christ with the Eutichians equall with the diuinitie for to be in diuers places at one moment and to bee euery where are the markes of diuinity What Haue not Marcion and the Manicheans taught that the body of Christ was but counterfeit and phantasticall Basilides followed their footesteps This is the same that you teach vnto your flocks And that body hid according to your doctrine vnder the accidents of bread and wine in the Eucharist can not stand but through a phantasticall doctrine in an imaginary body And what manner of body I beseech you which is voide of all its owne qualities and essentiall properties Euery true body is in some place is furnished with its owne dimensions otherwaies it is not a body It belongeth vnto you therefore to bee aduised by what means you may escape and purge yourselues from Marcionisme and Manicheisme You confesse that Christ is in heauen contained within a place and that hee is likewise in the Sacrament of the Eucharist but without any place is not this as much as if you had said that this sacramentall body is more glorious spirituall heauenly then the body which is in heauen and is glorified by the Father Herein you agree with the Hereticks called Helcesceans who maintained that there was many Christs or at least two whereof the one dwelled in heauen and the other vpon earth Some of your Doctors conforming themselues to the Abbot Eutiches haue not beene ashamed to write that Christs body is neyther creator nor creature but something betweene them both which your Canonists hold likewise to be true of the Pope O monster If S. Austin were aliue he would answere you that which hee hath written namely that euery substance that is not God is a creature and that which is a creature is not God as being a thing inferiour to God Mahomet in hss Alcoran holdeth that Christ was neuer crucified or if hee was that it was without cause Alanus following that which the Councell of Trent ordained saith that the blood of Christ Iesus that was shed before hee was crucified in mount Caluarie is the ratification and foundation of the eternall and new Testament of the Sonne of God whose body without all shame he affirmeth to haue beene offered vp at the Supper before his passion Dare you confesse it If you hold the affirmatiue what neede had Christ to shed his blood the next day following If Christ our Paschall Lambe was offered vp in the Supper it behoued him to haue made satisfaction vnto his Father and that our redemption was accomplished there And what neede was there if it be so that hee should suffer the morrow after And when you alledge those closed gates whereof mention is made in the Gospell where you would haue two bodily substances to concurre together in one onely place is not this to ground your selues on the same argument which the Manicheans abused to the end that they might ouerthrow the truth of the humane nature that was in Christ What large and ample matter should S. Hierome finde here to speake and say vnto you Cum dicit Manicheus similis Manicheorum Dominus non resurrexit in corporis veritate vt scias non verum fuisse corpus clausis ingressus est ianuis Nos quid dicemus Domine libera animam meam de labijs iniquis à lingua dolosa And if this be true behold the article of the incarnation abolished and the truth of the body of Christ Iesus ouerthrowne at least since his resurrection The ascension shall be nothing but the changing of a visible and limited nature throughout all its dimensions into an inuisible substance and which is more spirituall and Angelicall and his second comming shall not be to returne and come back againe realy and substantially but without any remouing from beneath here hauing beene inuisible euer since his resurrection vntill his returning to become visible like some iugler But when will you leaue reauing And the arguments which you draw from posse ad esse are fitter for the Manicheans and Euticheans then for those that say that they professe true Christianity And call to remembrance that which Vigilius wrote against the substantiall presence of Christs body in the Eucharist Caro Christi quando in terra fuit non erat in coelo nunc quia est in coelo non est vtique in terris The Nestorians made a separation betweene the two natures in Christ you doe in like manner when you will not acknowledge him to be mediator both according to the one and the other nature The Monothelites gaue vnto Christ but one will onely which the Iesuits haue confirmed by condemning of vs that haue written the contrarie Alanus hath written that Christ did neuer sacrifice after the manner of Aaron It is as much as if hee had said that he neuer shed his blood Truth it is indeede that Iesus Christ is a Priest after the order of Melchisedec a dignitie which hath a relation vnto his person but that doth not hinder his sacrifice to bee bloody as were those of Aaron otherwise wee should not as yet be reconciled to God CHAP. III. Of Christs Soule VVE beleeue that Christs Soule being for a certaine season separated from the body was in Paradise and not in the Lymbus set vp and builded by you in the fourth mansion of the infernall Palace S. Austin and Ireneus haue in like manner taught the same that we hold and beleeue in our Church Notwithstanding Bellarmine gathereth out of Durandus his words that Christs soule is yet still in hell Is not this all one with that which the Christolites said to wit that this glorious soule of our redeemer remained still in hell CHAP. IIII. How men are saued THe whole Scripture teacheth vs that the being the life and grace fauour and goodnesse which are poured downe by God on vs
the auncient heretickes did abuse euen as you doe that which the Apostle sayth And we speake wisedome among them that are perfect This was the ordinarie defence and argument of the Carpocratians witnesse Ireneus Bishop of Lion although that in this passage he doth not place those that were perfect as opposites vnto ideots This is it which S. Athanase remarketh against the Arians concerning those bragges of Arrius who blinded the eyes of his followers with these goodly titles in shew Electis Dei secundum fidem peritis Dei ita didici ego Montanus ioyned with the old and new Testament certaine other obseruations of his pretended paraclete is not this the very same that was said of that holy Ghost that was carried by post from Rome to Trent in a cloake-bagge CHAP. XI Of the Church THe Donatists tyed the Church to a certaine place as for you you tie it to Rome and to a counterfeit succession of persons say that the generall assembly is composed onely of such as follow the Romish Church as mother and Mistresse of all the Churches and doe acknowledge the Pope to be successor to Peter the Prince of the Apostles and vicar of Christ Iesus Hearken vnto S. Hierome The Church doth not consist in walles but in the sowndnesse of doctrines Wheresouer true faith is there is the Church also And they do Christ Iesus great wrong to tye him to the Temple of Rome hee that departed from his temple that was builded in Ierusalem because of the wickednesse that was committed among the Sacrificers Whosoeuer therefore would know which is the true Church of Christ saith Chrisostom let him finde out the same by the Scriptures And S. Austin We haue found Christ in the Scriptures we must finde the Church there also CHAP. XII Of Baptisme VVHo hath taught you that Baptisme taketh away onely the sinnes that are past and secureth vs only from the first shipwracke but the Marcionists the Messalians and Euchites as Epiphanius writes You doe attribute with them the vertue of Baptisme vnto sinnes that are past and to the Sacrament which you terme Penitence the washing and purging of other offenses in case wee should fall againe therein through weakenesse which is in stead of a table to saue vs from this shipwracke The Messalians taught that man was not made perfect through Baptisme The Iesuites hold that this is no sure pledge vnto vs that our sinnes are forgiuen vs. This moued Marcion to reiterate the same to his followers And although Baptisme be not renued in the Romish Church yet so it is that she vseth the Chrisme in her pretended Sacrament of confirmation to make those that are annoynted become more skilfull in spirituall combats that they may become wholly and perfectly Christians Qui nunquam erit Christianus saith the Canon nisi qui confirmatione Episcopali fuerit chrismatus Would you heare any thing more horrible then this and namely when confirmation is preferred to Baptisme the institution of men to Christs Theodoret writes that the Messalians were the authors of crosses and exorcismes for said they the childe at his birth is accompanied with his Demon who cannot bee chased away but through coniuration And what Know you not very well that it is forbidden by the Law of God to vse charmes coniurations and exorcismes of any creatures whereby any vertue or dignity aboue the course of nature is attributed vnto dumbe things We are not ignorant that this manner of coniuring was practised in the Church in S. Cyprian and S. Austins time let vs rest notwithstanding on that which Christ Iesus and the Apostles haue done and not on the Fathers when they are destitute of Gods word And what neede haue children to be exorcised seeing they are members of Gods euerlasting couenant You haue a certaine coniured oyle ordained of purpose for baptising of little children And of whom haue you learned this manner of doing but of the Hereticks Marcus Marcosius and Valentine as Epiphanius witnesseth And to the end that corruption and abuses might take the greater increase it hath beene permitted vnto women to baptise according to the error of the Marciomists Quintillians Cataphrygians Montanists Pepuzians Priscillians and Artotyrites although the ministration of Baptisme belong vnto a part of the preaching of the Gospell and that all things ought to be done with comelinesse and good order in the Church Was it euer permitted by the Law of God vnto women to minister the Sacraments or Sacrifices that were ordained in the first Church of the Israelites Is there any signe how little soeuer it bee of any permission in the new Testament of Christ Iesus by which this female sexe is licenced to doe so It is written in the historie of Moyses that his wife Sephora being moued with a womanlie furie tooke a sharpe knife or stone and cut away the foreskin of her sonne but that was done without any commandement and through a rash vsurpation of that which belonged no wayes vnto her And S. Austin hath expresly forbidden women to doe the same following the councell of Carthage where hee had beene present which did the verie same You cannot deny therefore that you insitate those Hereticks and most of all the Pepuzians who permitted the Priesthood vnto women seeing that through a supposed necessitie you agree that a part of the Ministerie should be discharged by them You haue gone on further for this expresse manner of Baptisme that was appointed by Christ Iesus in the name of the three persons of the most blessed Trinitie is changed and you haue taught that Baptisme is lawfully minished although it were vsed after this forme Baptiso te in nomine Patris filij Spiritus Sancti Beatae virginis Mariae The Marcosians in the administration of Baptisme vsed some Hebrew and strange words that the hearers might be astonished thereat as Ireneus writes and namely this Syrian word Etphethah You doe worse for not onely in the administration of Baptisme but in your whole seruice you speake strange languages and mingle the same with certaine words that amongst a thousand Priests there is not one that can pronounce them well let be to vnderstand them This spittle this saliue and holy water are of their inuentions and of your imitations CHAP. XIII Of the Lords Supper AS the holy Apostles receiued it from our Lord so haue they deliuered the same vnto vs and so will wee keepe it We will not enter in discourse touching that which may be said and written of the Eucharists our intention is only to declare vnto you that you haue borrowed from the Hereticks or the Hereticks from you many things that belong not to the institution of this Sacrament Ioh. Scotus saith that the Priest hauing an intention to consecrate saying the fiue words vpon all the bread that is in the