satisfaction when as all that man is capable to suffer cannot be sufficient for one and that the least sin of his owne the wages whereof is eternall death Or that those superfluities of humane satisfaction should peece vp the infinite and perfitly meritorious superabundance of the Sonne of God Or that this supposed treasure of diuine and humane satisfactions should bee kept vnder the key of some one sinfull man Or that this one man who cannot deliuer his owne soule from Purgatorie no not from hell it selfe should haue power to free what others hee pleaseth from those fearefull flames to the full Iaole-deliuerie of that direfull prison which though his great power can doe yet his no lesse charitie will not doth not Or that the same pardon which cannot acquit a man from one houres tooth-ach should be of force to giue his soule ease from the temporarie paines of another world Lastly guilt and punishment are relatiues and can no more be seuered then a perfect forgiuenesse and a remaining compensation can stand together This doctrine therefore of Papall Indulgences as it led the way to the further discouery of the corruptions of the degenerated Church of Rome so it still continues iustly branded with noueltie and errour and may not bee admitted into our beleefe and wee for reiecting it are vniustly refused CHAP. XII The newnesse of Diuine Seruice in an vnknowne tongue THat Prayers and other Diuine offices should bee done in a known tongue vnderstood of the people is not more auailable to edification as their Caietan liberally confesseth then consonant to the practice of all antiquitie In so much as Lyranus freely In the Primitiue Church blessings and all other seruices were done in the vulgar tongue What need wee looke backe so farre when euen the Lateran Councell which was but in the yeere 1215. vnder Innocent the third makes this decree Quoniam in plaerisque Because in many parts within the same Citie and Diocesse people are mixed of diuers languages hauing vnder one faith diuers rites and fashions wee strictly command that the Bishops of the sayd Cities or Diocesses prouide fit and able men who according to the diuersities of their rites and languages may celebrate diuine seruices and administer the Sacraments of the Church to them instructing them both in word and example Cardinall Bellarmines euasion is verie grosse That in that place Innocentius and the Councell speake onely of the Greeke and Latine tongue For then saith he Constantinople was newly taken by the Romans by reason whereof there was in Greece a mixture of Greekes and Latines in so much as they desired that in such places of frequence two Bishops might be allowed for the ordering of those seuerall Nations Whereupon it was concluded that since it were no other then monstrous to appoint two Bishops vnto one See it should be the charge of that one Bishop to prouide such vnder him as should administer all holy things to the Grecians in Greeke and in Latine to the Latines For who sees not that the Constitution is generall Plaerisque partibus for verie many parts of the Christian world and Populi diuersarum lingâ—arum People of sundrie languages not as Bellarmine cunningly diuersae linguae of a diuerse language And if these two only languages had been meant why had it not bin as easie to specifie them as to intimate them by so large a circumlocution This Synode is said to be vniuersall comprehending all the Patriarkes seuentie seuen Metropolitans and the most eminent Diuines of both East and West Churches to the number of at least 2212. persons or as some others 2285. besides the Embassadours of all Christian Princes of seuerall languages Now shall wee thinke that there were in all their Territories and Iurisdictions no mixtures of inhabitants but onely of Grecians and Romans or that all these Fathers were carelesse of the rest Especially since the end which they professe to propose vnto themselues herein is the instruction of the people of what nation or language soeuer which end as it was neuer meant to bee limited to two sorts of people so could it neuer be attained without this libertie of language fitted to their vnderstanding To which may bee added that the Greekes and Latines of all other had the least need of this prouision since it was famously knowne that they had their seuerall seruices already of receiued and currant vse before this constitution was hatched Neither is it of any moment which hee addeth that in Italy it selfe this decree was not extended to the vse of vulgar tongues for that it is euident that Saint Thomas who liued soone after composed in Latine the Office of the feast of Corpus Christi not in the Italian although the same Aquinas confesses that that the vulgar tongue of Italy at that time was not Latine For what childe cannot easily see that if their great Doctor would write an office for the publique vse as is intended of the whole Church hee would make choyce to write it in such a language as might improue it to the most common benefit of all the Christian world not confining it to the bounds of a particular Nation Besides what was the Italian in those times especially but a broken and corrupt Latine differing more in Idiome and termination then in the substance of speech That which Radeuicus about the yeere 1170. records for the voyce of the people in the election of Pope Victor Papa Vittore Sancto Pietro l'elege makes good no lesse for what such difference is betwixt this and Papam Victorem Sanctus Petrus elegit So as this instance doth nothing at all infringe that iust decree of the Roman Fathers Howsoeuer that obseruation of Erasmus is true and pregnant to this purpose Nec lingua vulgaris e. Neither was the vulgar tongue i. the Latine withdrawne from the people but the people went off from it And as for our Ancestours in this Island Our venerable Bede witnesses that in England the Scriptures were read by them in fiue languages according to the number of the bookes wherein the Law of God was written namely English Scottish Brittish Pictish and Latine which saith hee in meditation of the Scriptures is made common to all the rest A point which the sayd Author specifies for a commendation of the well-instructednesse of those people not as purposing to intimate that the vse of the Latine did thrust out the other foure for he there tells vs that in all foure they did not only search but confesse and vtter the knowledge of the highest truth This restraint then is not more new then enuious and preiudiciall to the honour of God and the soules of men SECT II. Against Scripture AS for Scriptures Were this practice so old as it is pretended the rule is Longaeuae consuetudinis c. the authoritie of an ancient custome is not to be sleighted so long as it is not against the Canons Nothing can be more
against the Canons of the blessed Apostle then this who did he liue in these our dayes and would bend his speech against the vse of a language not vnderstood in Gods seruice could not speake more directly more punctually then hee doth to his Corinths How doth hee tell vs that the speaking in a strange tongue edifies not the Church profits not the hearers produces a necessarie ignorance of the thing spoken Makes mee a Barbarian to him that speaketh and him that speakes a Barbarian to me How doth hee require him that speaketh in an vnknowne tongue to pray that hee may interpret And if hee must pray that hee may doe it how much more must he practice it when he can doe it How doth hee tell vs that in a strange languaged prayer the vnderstanding is vnfruitfull That it is better to speake fiue words with vnderstanding that wee may teach others then ten thousand words in an vnknowne tongue That those which speake with strange tongues are but as mad men to the vnlearned or vnbeleeuers SECT III. Against reason IN which Scriptures besides authoritie the Apostle hath comprized vnanswerable and conuincing reasons against this Romish abuse Amongst the rest is intimated that vtter frustration of the vse of the tongue in Gods seruice For it is a true rule which Salmeron cites out of Lactantius Nihil valet ex se c. That thing is to no purpose which auailes not vnto the end whereto it serues Silence doth as much expresse the thought as a language not vnderstood In this sense is that of Laurentius too well verified Sacerdos imperitus mulier sterilis A Priest vnable to expresse himselfe is as a barren woman vncapable of bringing forth children to God As good no tongue as no vnderstanding What good doth a Well sealed vp as Ptolome sayd of the Hebrew Text. Wherefore doe we speake if we would not bee vnderstood It was an holy resolution of Saint Augustine that hee would rather say Ossum in false Latin to be vnderstood of the people then Os in true not to be vnderstood This practice howeuer it may seeme in it selfe sleight and vnworthy of too much contention yet in regard of that miserable blindnesse and mis-deuotion which it must needs draw in after it it is so hainous as may well deserue our vtmost opposition The vnauoydablenesse of which effects hath carried some of their Casuists into an opinion of the vnnecessarinesse of deuotion in these holy businesses so as one sayes He that wants deuotion sinnes not Another Though it bee conuenient that the Communicant should haue actuall deuotion yet it is not necessarie Alas what seruice is this which poore soules are taught to take vp with which God must be content to take from hood-winkt suppliants This doctrine this practice thus new thus preiudiciall to Christians we blesse God that we haue so happily discarded and for our iust refusall are vniustly eiected CHAP. XIII The newnesse of forced Sacramentall Confession THe necessitie of a particular secret full Sacramentall Confession of all our sins to a Priest vpon paine of Non-remission is an Act or Institution of the Romane Church For as for the Greeke Church it ownes not either the doctrine or practice So the Glosse of the Canon Law directly Confessio apud Graecos c. Confession is not not necessary amongst the Grecians vnto whom no such Tradition hath beene deriued That Glosse would tell vs more and so would Gratian himselfe if their tongues were not clipt by a guiltie expurgation But in the meane time the Glosse of that Canon hitherto allowed plainly controules the Decree of that late Councell For if the Necessitie of Confession be only a Tradition and such a one as hath not beene deduced to the Greeke Church then it stands not by a Law of God which is vniuersall not making differences of places or times like an high-eleuated Starre which hath no particular aspect vpon one Region That there is a lawfull commendable beneficiall vse of Confession was neuer denied by vs but to set men vpon the racke and to straine their soules vp to a double pin of absolute necessitie both praecepti and medij and of a strict particularitie and that by a screw of Ius diuinum Gods Law is so meere a Romane noueltie that many ingenuous Authors of their owne haue willingly confessed it Amongst whom Cardinall Bellarmine himselfe yeelds vs Erasmus and Beatus Rhenanus two noble Witnesses Whose ioynt-Tenet he confesses to be Confessionem secretam c. That the secret Confession of all our sinnes is not only not instituted or commanded Iure Diuino by Gods Law but that it was not so much as receiued into vse in the Ancient Church of God To whom he might haue added out of Maldonates account omnes decretorum c. all the Interpreters of the Decrees and amongst the Schoolemen Scotus We know well those sad and austere Exomologesis which were publikely vsed in the seuere times of the Primitiue Church whiles these tooke place what vse was there of priuate These obtayned euen in the Westerne or Latine Church till the dayes of Leo about 450. yeares In which time they had a graue publike Penitentiarie for this purpose Afterwards whether the noted inconueniences of that practice or whether the cooling of the former feruour occasioned it this open Confession beganne to giue way to secret which continued in the Church but with freedome and without that forced and scrupulous strictnesse which the later times haue put vpon it It is verie remarkable which learned Rhenanus hath Caeterum Thomas ab Aquino c. But saith hee Thomas of Aquine and Scotus men too acute haue made confession at this day such as that Ioannes Geilerius a graue and holy Diuine which was for many yeeres Preacher at Strasburgh had wont to say to his frends that according to their rules it is an impossible thing to confesse Adding that the same Geilerius being familiarly conuersant with some religious Votaries both Carthusians and Franciscans learned of them with what torments the godly mindes of some men were afflicted by the rigour of that confession which they were not able to answer and thereupon he published a booke in Dutch entitled The sicknesse of confession The same therefore which Rhenanus writes of his Geilerius he may well apply vnto vs Itaque Geilerio non displicebat c. Geilerius therefore did not dislike confession but the scrupulous anxietie which is taught in the summes of some late Diuines more fit â—â—deed for some other place then for Libraries Thus he What would that ingenuous Author haue sayd if hee had liued to see those volumes of Cases which haue beene since published able to perplex a world and those peremptorie decisions of the Fathers of the Societie whose strokes haue beene with Scorpions in comparison of the rods of their Predecessors To conclude This bird was hatched
in the Councell of Lateran Anno 1215. fully plumed in the Councell of Trent and now lately hath her feathers imped by the moderne Casuists SECT II. Romish Confession not warranted by Scripture SInce our quarrell is nâ—t with confession it selfe which may bee of singular vse and behoofe but with some tyrannous straines in the practice of it which are the violent forcing and perfit fulnesse thereof It shall be sufficient for vs herein to stand vpon our negatiue That there is no Scripture in the whole booke of God wherein either such necessitie or such intirenesse of Confession is commanded A truth so cleare that it is generally confessed by their owne Canonists Did we question the lawfulnesse of Confession we should be iustly accountable for our grounds from the Scriptures of God now that we cry downe only some iniurious circumstances therein well may wee require from the fautors thereof their warrants from God which if they cannot show they are sufficiently conuinced of a presumptuous obtrusion Indeed our Sauiour sayd to his Apostles and their successours Whose sinnes yee remit they are remitted and whose sinnes ye retaine they are retained But did hee say No sinne shall bee remitted but what yee remit Or no sinne shall be remitted by you but what is particularly numbred vnto you Saint Iames bids Confesse your sinnes one to another But would they haue the Priest shrieue himselfe to the penitent as well as the penitent to the Priest This act must bee mutuall not single Many beleeuing Ephesians came and confessed and shewed their deeds Many but not all not Omnes vtriusque sexus they confessed their deeds Some that were notorious not all their sinnes Contrarily rather so did Christ send his Apostles as the father sent him He was both their warrant and their patterne But that gracious Sauiour of ours many a time gaue absolution where was no particular confession of sinnes Only the sight of the Paralyticks faith fetcht from him Sonne be of good cheere thy sins be forgiuen thee The noted sinner in Simons house approuing the truth of her repentance by the humble and costly testimonies of her loue without any enumeration of her sinnes heard Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee SECT III. Against reason IN true Diuine Reason this supposed dutie is needlesse dangerous impossible Needlesse in respect of all sinnes not in respect of some for how euer in the cases of a burdened conscience nothing can bee more vsefull more soueraigne yet in all our peace doth not depend vpon our lips Being iustified by faith wee haue peace with God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Dangerous in respect both of exprobration as Saint Chrysostome worthily and of infection for delectabile carnis as a Casuist confesseth Fleshly pleasures the more they are called into particular mention the more they moue the appetire I doe willingly conceale from chaste eyes and eares what effects haue followed this pretended act of deuotion in wanton and vnstayed Confessours Impossible for who can tell how oft he offendeth He is poore in sin that can count his stocke and hee sinnes alwayes that so presumes vpon his innocence as to thinke hee can number his sinnes And if hee say of any sinne as Lot of Zoar is it not a little one as if therefore it may safely escape the reckoning it is a true word of Isaac the Syrian Qui delicta c. Hee that thinkes any of his offences small euen in so thinking falls into greater This doctrine and practice therfore both as new and vnwarrantable full of vsurpation danger impossibilitie is iustly reiected by vs and wee for so doing vniustly eiected SECT IV. The noueltie of Absolution before Satisfaction LEst any thing in the Romane Church should retaine the old forme how absurd is that innouation which they haue made in the the order of their penance and absolution The ancient course as Cassander and Lindanus truly witnesse was that absolution and reconciliation and right to the Communion of the Church was not giuen by imposition of hands vnto the penitent till hee had giuen due satisfaction by performing of such penall acts as were enioyned by the discreet PeniteÌ„tiary yea those works of penance saith he when they were done out of faith and an heart truly sorrowfull and by the motion of the holy Spirit preuenting the minde of man with the helpe of his diuine grace were thought not a little auailable to obtaine remission of the sinne and to pacifie the displeasure of God for sinne Not that they could merit it by any dignitie of theirs but that thereby the minde of man is in a sort fitted to the receit of Gods grace But now immediately vpon the Confession made the hand is layd vpon the penitent and he is receiued to his right of Communion and after his absolution certaine workes of pietie are enioyned him for the chastisement of the flesh and expurgation of the remainders of sinne Thus Cassander In common apprehension this new order can bee no other then preposterous and as our learned Bishop of Carlile like Easter before Lent But for this Ipsi viderint it shall not trouble vs how they nurture their owne childe CHAP. XIV The newnesse of the Romish Inuocation of Saints OF all those errours which we reiect in the Church of Rome there is none that can plead so much show of Antiquitie as this of Inuocation of Saints which yet as it hath beene practised and defended in the latter times should in vaine seeke either example or patronage amongst the Ancient How euer there might be some grounds of this deuotion secretly muttered and at last expressed in Panegyricke formes yet vntill almost fiue hundred yeeres after Christ it was not in any sort admitted into the publique seruice It will be easily graunted that the blessed Virgin is the Prime of all Saints neither could it be other then iniurious that any other of that heauenly societie should haue the precedencie of her Now the first that brought her name into the publike deuotions of the Greeke Church is noted by Nicephorus to be Petrus Gnapheus or Fullo a Presbyter of Bithynia afterwards the Vsurper of the See of Antioch much about 470 yeeres after Christ who though a branded heretick found out foure things saith he verie vsefull and beneficiall to the Catholike Church whereof the last was Vt in omni precatione c. that in euerie prayer the Mother of God should bee named and her diuine name called vpon The phrase is verie remarkable wherein this rising superstition is expressed And as for the Latine Church we heare no newes of this Inuocation in the publique Letanies till Gregories time about some 130. yeeres after the former And in the meane time some Fathers speake of it fearefully and doubtfully How could it bee otherwise when the common opinion of the Ancients euen below Saint Austens age did put vp all the soules of