Foxe pag 130. though your Pope Adrian commaunded thē to be taken for Laymens Kalenders Inuocation of Saints your Invocation of Saints is a derogation from my glory which I will not giue to any other Esay 42.8 I neuer commanded you by any praecept I neuer invited you by any godly example I neuer incouraged you by any promise in my holy word to any such deuotion Your forgiuenes of sinnes by your Popes indulgences Indulgences and your selling of pardons is paltry trifling and prophane Marchandizing in my holy Temple Heavenly glorie What heauenly glorie do you dreame of that my faithfull Protestants beleeue not much better then yee are able Popish difference of jnfernall paines your difference of infernall paines I am not acquainted withall I know none but eternall fire prepared for the diuell and his adhaerents your temporall purgatorie flames are but poëticall fables Purgatorie a poëtical fable Iustification your Iustification of the liuing by faith and works together is partly coyned in your owne forge and partly raked vp out of the Pharisaicall pride Praier for the dead Your praying for the dead is bootles they hauing now their Iudgemēt passed on them as the day of death hath left them so the day of finall Iudgement shall finde them either blessed or cursed for euer No prayers now shall preuaile or hurt them any whit at all Popish faith hope charitie Moreouer your faith is a confused Confidence nay rather an jmplicite and vnknowne assent you know not vnto what full of distrust and diffidence your hope builded thereuppon must needs be hopeles and voyd of sound and heauenly comfort your Charitie to me is very slender and luke-warme like theirs once of Laodicea Apoc. 3.15 for yee loue your selues as well as me your owne merits you joyne with mine vngratefully diminishing my meritorious sacrifice and the price of my bloud Oh sinfull Nation supply yee my pure and perfect obedience with your owne foule and filthie righteousnes Is this your loue to me to pretend the purchase of heauen together with me thus to be ouer-enamoured of your selues Fie Fie I cannot endure a Co-partner with me in this great worke of Redemption and saluation Therefore your jmagined freewill to good your merits of congruence and of worthines where are they your fastings and prayers conceited and practised not onely as means but as meritorious workes of eternall life I hate and will surely punish as the fumes and fomes of the pride of your old Adam As for sinnc yee knowe not the power thereof that suppose any one to be veniall in it selfe being committed against so eternall and jnfinit a Maiestie as I am And what haue you to doe with my counsell and decree of predestination Predestinatiō Will you or can you infringe the infallible Certainty therof that ye teach men to doubt of my loue why doe yee not tell them rather that though they cannot choose but doubt by reason of their many 1. Cor. 15.58 and mighty sinnes which is humane jnfirmitie yet they ought to be stedfast and vnmoouable in their faith being builded on me Mal. 3.6 Pro. 19.21 Heb. 13.5 who am God and am not changed whose Counsell is immutable who will not faile neither yet forsake them that put their trust in me yea though they beleeue not without great weaknes 2. Tim 2.13 yet I am God faithfull and true and cannot deny myselfe Finally what meane you to adde vnto my canonicall scriptures the Apocryphall writings of Iudith Tobias Maccabees and others which I neuer yet allowed to be put into the canon Nay to thrust in your owne vnwritten Traditions and Papall constitutions to make them of equall authoritie with the same Nesanda secreta These your nefarious hidden doctrines I will haue cancelled and abolished I cannot abide that yee should goe a whoring after your owne imaginations Goe and learne what that meaneth In vaine they worship me Mat. 15.9 reaching for doctrines mens precepts And that vers 13. Euery plant which mine heauenly Father hath not planted shal be rooted vp Thus haue you in deed almost in the whole summe of Religion tossed ouer euerie stone reuersed the whole frame of faith and turned all vpside downe And therefore take you heed yee obstinate Recusants least your departure and diuision from my true Church be a more then sufficient warrant of your heauy Iudgement with Arrius Nestorius Eutyches I adde with Manichees Marcionits Pelagians and other old Haereticks in the bottomles pit for that you haue not in one point but in many varied from the christian faith The false Embassador How abhominable the Scriptures Prayers and Churches of Haereticks are CAluinisme then being doctrine so diabolicall c. Oh how illusion bewitcheth you c. Their profane bread c. Their Rites and Ceremonies c. As Fasts Holy daies c. Yea their Churches and Temples c. Bethel was my house c. The Lord Christ. SVrely the Scriptures praiers and Churches of Haereticks are not well pleasing vnto me They are abhominable Papisme therefore being the verie doctrine of deuils your popish Scripture as being none of my word Popish Scripture The Latine vulgar edition authēticke among the Papists very erroneous but the word of the deuill so false and adulterated so poysoned and full of corruptions as it is in your latine vulgar edition authorized by your Trent Councell oppugning vndermyning and overthwarting my true faith and Catholike Church I disclame as a counterfait coppie and renounce altogether as no writ of myne Popish prayers Your praiers also are no better in mine eares then the howling of Wolues that prey vppon the soules of men the lowing of Oxen and the roaring of Bulls screeching of Owles and Night-Rauens yelling and bellowing Infernall blasphemies against my sacred Maiestie in vnknowne and vnconceiued in loud bawling in discording from my heart both tongues and tunes Popish Priests Your priests are perfect Chemarims and Priests of Baal officers of the very Antichrist his heralds and proctors his Apostles and Angels of his Kingdome of darknes Popish Communion Goe yee and suck the adders Eggs lesse poysonable out of doubt then your Communion bread and cup. Popish Ceremonies Your Ceremonies are not few but most fantasticall offensiue both in their nomber and in their nature apish and plainly ridiculous jmitations partly of the Heathnish superstitions and partlie of those Rites which my heauenly Father sometimes ordayned to his people Israell Your fastes are fish delicates wine Popish fasts and other dainty fare farr more jncentiue of filthie Lust in pampering of the body then any other foode and your abstinence sometimes a feasting sometimes a most Pharisaicall and Hypocriticall sowring of your faces and other ostentation of will-worship in neglecting the body Coloss 2.22.23 not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh as myne Apostle paints it out
ye backe-byte and bable to the contrary I say they they the Protestants are my only faithfull seruants and the lot of mine enheritance and I am the lot of theirs The false Embassador NO man can serue two Maisters Indifferency in Religion in effect Apostasie c. You say you loue my Tēple but you enter into Bethel and Galgala c. Haue accesse to my Priests frequent my Sacraments clense your selues c. The Lord Christ. YOur Generall is true Mat. 6.24 No man can serue two cōtrary Masters No subiect two aduersarie Princes but your applicatiō most vnjust vngodly For how can this be iust which I will neuer justifie nay which I must condemne for the greatest and most intolerable blasphemy that can be vttered not onely that you compare my seruāts the Protestants to Idolaters Deuils and their most holy and Christian seruices to Idolatrous and Heathnish sacrifices but my selfe also their God and Sauiour to the Idolls of Bethel and Gilgal and the mountaine of Samaria to Ieroboams Calues to Malcham and Baal nay to Beelzebub himselfe Oh desperate and hellish blasphemy what are ye now jnferiour yee Serpents yee Vipers ye wicked Generation Mat. 23.33 vnto those Cast-awaies of mine own Natiō who so reuiled me in the daies of my flesh while I liued with them nay how are ye not superiour vnto them in wickednes most dānable praesumptiō for they spake of me in the time of my humility when I appeared vnto them onely as a man but ye in this my day of Glorie now I am sitting at the right hand of my Fathers Maiesty Ephes 1.21 farr aboue all principalities and powers and euery name that is named in this world and in the next Therefore ye are cursed with a curse and looke ye well vnto it that this be not the vnpardonable sinne Blasphemy against the holy Ghost Marc. 3.29 Luc. 12.10 Heb. 6.4 c. so that it be vnpossible for you to be renewed vnto Repentance As for those your Catholicks at whome ye rayle vnder the names of Schismaticall Israelites of Samaritans of libertine Corinthians of Laodiceans of swearers by God and Malcham and of wicked Ahab if they loue my Temple that is none of yours because they are comming on vnto it and haue ioyned with my seruants in profession then are they no dissemblers But if they are still enamored with your Temple which ye say is mine but falsely by my selfe but not by your Embassage ye shall not speake for me I aduize them better minds Yf they be my seruants and my Children let them loue me with all their hearts syncerely not in words and colour onely but in workes truth also and serue me as they doe among the Protestants in the faith of truth That they cannot doe if they haue accesse to your Priests frequent your Sacraments haue in reuerence your rites and Ceremonies honour your seruice prostrate themselues before your defiled Altar adore at the houre of your direfull sacrifice All which you call mine but I disclame them all as I doe also your Confession and penance For will you neuer learne Popish priests none of Christs ordination that your charactered sacrifizing Priests neuer sprāg from my diuine ordinatiō neither can be numbred among any of those whom I Ephe. 4.8 when I ascended vp to Heauen and led captiuitie Captiue gaue as gifts to men some Apostles some c. for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the Ministerie c. Two Sacramēts I haue ordained in my Church to confirme and seale vp the faith of my Chosen which they haue in me Baptisme and my Holy Supper as few as may be most significāt of my death passion price of my redēption The other 5. Cōfirmation Confessiō Penance Matrimonie Extreme Vnction and holy Ordination Let the most of them be sacred actions but as symbolicall signes and seales of this great mystery of my Redēption that is properly as Sacraments I neuer did appoint thē They are added so of humane 1. Confirmation of your own jnuētion and jnstitution Confirmation after Baptisme as it was in vse in the Primitiue Church and in the Apostolical times is good profitable 2. Confession and Penance Confession and penance are by you abused as a snare to entangle the reputation and to slay the soules of my people For yee enforce the same as a necessary Sacrament ye call for a particular enumeratiō of sinnes if it be possible the Act with all the circūstances thereof Vincent Bruno tract de Paenit when where in what manner and how often it hath been committed not only wicked vngodly but euen foolish jdle and vnfruitfull words yea the very secret thoughts and intents of the hart must be remēbred and layd open to the Priest And ye appoynt a most ridiculous Penance as a satisfaction for sinne 3. Matrimony Heb. 13.4 Ephe. 5.32 for which no man can satisfie but my selfe alone Mariage is honourable in all and it signifieth the mysticall vniō betwixt me and my Church yea to be solemnized in the open view of a congregation it is an ancient and most wholsome Custome Gen. 29.21 Iudic. 14.10 Tertull. lib. de pudicitia penes noc occultae coniunctiones c. Conc. Carth. 4. Ecclesiasticall Constitution for the avoyding of Plagiaries of Clandestine adulteries fornications jncests and such like jmpieties But I neuer required it to be held for a Sacrament of the Church it being also lawfull and commendable among the very Infidels who are not within the Church 4. Extreme Vnction Vnction of the sicke with oyle was a Ceremonie both * Marc. 6.13 in and immediatly after the daies of my habitation here on Earth which I allowed to mine Apostles Primitiue Elders of the Church because by the meanes of that and prayer I was pleased to giue vnto thē a gift of healing for the recouery of the sicke weake Iam. 5.14 But now since the gift hath been withdrawn with many other of like qualitie Marc. 16.17.18 granted for tokens euidences of beleeuers on me in those dayes therfore it shall be but humane idlenes vanity presūption to continue the Ceremony without a grace Much more is it audacious if not extreme impiety to deuize a new Ceremony a new name of Extreme Vnctiō and therunto to forge a grace As for any other smeering or anoyling vsed in your Synagogue at Baptisme or other where I disclame 5. Orders and renounce it as the scumme and filth of your owne braines Ordination of bishops Priests and Deacons as it is in vse amongst my English Protestants is both ancient and Authentick beeing euen from the prime and purer Churches Socr. li. 1. c. 11 Sozom. lib 1. cap. 22. reputed Apostolicall but by you it is Mudded and polluted with a sacrifizing Priest-hood to the most shamefull and slaunderous derogation and
in his Epistle to the Colossians Your holy dayes so your Churches and your Temples Churches dedicated amoÌ„g the Papists are dedicated not onely to the holy Trinitye and to other true and worthy saynts Martyrs many of them Dunstan but some to vile jmpious Traytors and Coniurers and such like abhominable sinners besids to the exercise of your Idolatrous and superstitious deuotious which I cannot abyde Therefore they are not more holy no more my howses no more the places of my sanctuary which you frequent nay all your meetings synagogues and asseÌ„blies I vtterly abhorr what talke yee of Bethel of Gerizim of Sichem of the Christian Churches For yee goe up to Beth-auen and stand vpon mount Eball and commit jdolatrie in the hill of Samaria The Turkish Temples are Antichristian The Pope and so are yours Your High Priest of the Romane sea is now deemed fitly of my Christian Churches the very Apostaticall Iudas of the world Apoc. 17.5 and the Ecclesiasticall Apocalypticall Beast so is euery one that receiueth his marke and jmbraceth his doctrine a Reuolter from my faith of truth Therefore all your prayers and seruice offered vnto me I haue in Execration The false Embassador OH think not it can be to my worship which is so wicked The Protestants publike prayer how vnlawfull and detestable Remember that Altar is raised vp against Altar c. Against my venerable Alter there is erected a plaine communion Table c. And stolen away with them her ornaments and to couer the ragges wherewith they are rigd Iet vp and downe clad in hir robes c. The Lord Christ It is so it must be so yee Papists betweene your Altar your Priests your Sacraments your seruice your faith and the Altar the Preachers the sacraments the seruice the faith of the protestants there is and euer wil be an opposition neither possibly can be any vnitie concord or conformitie The Papists Altar Idol For your Altar of jmagined Sacrifice propitiatory who hath required at your hands your abhominable host which I neuer acknowledged to be my blessed Body I know and condeÌ„ne for a detestable Idol The Protestants Communion But their plaine Communion Table is both necessarie and seemely to set my holy and heauenly bread vppon not a base and vnprofitable peece of Bread as yee blaspheme but bread honoured and consecrated by mine owne ordinance for an euerlasting memoriall of my death and Passion To the end that all beleeuing soules which feed thereon with a true and liuely Faith might be confirmed and nourished vnto Eternall life Dare yee call this an Idoll yee wicked jmpes of a contemptible supper yee are also the ministers of darknes yee stamped Priests of Antichrist they are myne only true faithfull Embassadours who faithfully require intreat my people in my name to be reconciled vnto god For theirs is the Reuerend worthy sound vndoubted faith of truth yours to returne your owne words because they fit you well as swords and arrowes into your owne hartes a Basterd Counterfait vncertaine and fained miscreance But finally what is this your blame in the seruice of my Saints and publique praier of the Protestants what positiue Corruption finde you therin that you will haue it abhominable in my sight Onely you alledge it is a forme of prayer a shadow of diuine seruice wholy tending to the maintenaunce of heresie not onely c. but directly substituted in defiance of me my mysteries and of the faith Catholicke which is put into English to Insinuate that my Church erreth in not vsing the vulgar A forme of prayer it is indeed The Protestants forme of prayer and an excellent forme not a shadow but a substantiall forme of diuine seruice wholy tending to the maintenance of the pure faith and the ouerthrowe of the popish Heresies Rites and Ceremonies superstitions jdolatries In regard whereof Ancient and approued Rites and whatsoeuer ceremonies are fitting and significant for edification it neither disanulleth nor suppresseth not stumbling at euery straw to be scandalized with things indifferent whatsoeuer other opposites say or write to the contrarie but it retaineth and ordaineth prudently and deuoutly Rites and Ceremonies of such nature and qualitie as these prophane and dissolute times do much require Vestiments and ornaments As touching the ornaments or vestments vsed in their Church yee speake vnlearnedly and spitefully to saye they were stollen from your Church and the protestants Iet vp and downe in your Robes They know the stollen attire of the Strumpet of Babylon will ill become the virgin the daughter of God Therefore in defiance not of me but of you and your mysteries and your now Romaine Catholick faith The reformed seruice of the Protestants hath abolished Mass Latine Liturgie Invocation of Saints Praier for the dead Consecration of Bels Books Candels c. Elevation of host Superstitious crossing and profane Crosses They haue well and wisely and according to my will abolished your abhominable Masse and Mattens with the MuÌ„meries thereof your ridiculous liturgie and seruice in a strange and vnknowne tongue and therefore vnedifying your superstitious Inuocation of Saints your jrreligious prayer for the dead your foolish and sottish consecration or coniuration rather of Bells Books Candells and such like trifles and toyes your thrise jmpious and odious eleuation of a wafer-god iustlie offensiue to euery good Christian eye Your ten-times jdolatrous profanation of Crossing and Crosses at the sight whereof say you the furies quake Ah yee fooles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what furies meane you those fictions of the poets nay be they rather the raging furies of your owne distempered braines and tormented Consciences as they may well enough yee haue it in such an execrable vse Images And so haue the pictures and Images of saints in your Temples and howses and high waies for which cause howsoeuer they may be to some historicall monuments and memorials of those worthy personages and lessons of instruction to the Ignorant to jmitate their vertues yet otherwise quod legentibus Scriptura hoc Idiotis praestat Pâ—ctura â—crueÌ„tibus Greg. Rom. EpistolaruÌ„ lib. 9. cap. 9. seeing they can stirre vp nothing but a blind and buzzardly deuotion and those lay-mens bookes as your Gregorie stiles theÌ„ can be no better then a doctrine of vanitie though they be demolished broken and burnt vpp As Idolls it is no matter no more then that the signe of the Crosse is vtterly abolished and cast away as it is in vse Signe of the Crosse not Popish hath a tolerable vse It is generally graunted euen by most learned displinaricis in immortalian laâ—acâ—o Tertullian Origen Cyprian See confereÌ„ce at Hampton Court an 16â—4 Pag. 69. Taâ—ers Mat. 5. Psal 116. Prou. 6. â— Vestiments and vessels or abuse rather among you howsoeuer they retayne it as they finde it hath bin vsed in the prime purer Churches