a peculiar form of sanctifying it dipping therein as Athenaeus tells us a firebrand taken off from the Altar whereupon they offered their Sacrifices So likewise have they a peculiar manner of making this exorcising the salt first then the water and after that both of them being mixed together which being done both the Papists and the Gentiles do think that it purgeth away sins Of the Papists imitating the Jews and Pharisees in many things 1. THe Pharisees boasted of Moses's Chair as the Church of Rome doth of that of S. Peter and of an imaginary succession 2. The Pharisees were strict maintainers of Traditions and unwritten Word as the Papists are These were strict burdens they laid upon the people Matth. 15.4 They perswaded the people that these Traditions were as necessary as the Scriptures The Jewish Rabbines affirm that during the forty days that Moses was in the Mount Sinai to learn the Law Almighty God taught him in the day-time Sepher Thorah the Book of the Law and by night for want of Candle-light the Law not written or orales Traditiones oral Traditions which they call Simanim and the Thorah without this they say is imperfect And this as well as the Law written Chemnit haâ—mâ—n Eâ—aâ—g ca. 79. they say was delivered by God himself to Moses by Moses to Joshua by Joshua to the Elders of Israel by them to the Prophets from the Prophets to a great Council whose Register and chief Notary they say was Esdras the Scribe who as they affirm committed many of them to writing and gathered them into seventy two Books which they kept till their City and Temple was destroyed and themselves dispersed Afterwards one Rabbi Judas Ben-Simon an holy man as they say having saved that Book gathered the Sum of it into one Book whence afterwards all the Talmudists and Cabbalists took their ground The Papists borrow their esteem of unwritten vanities and traditions from the Jews they tell us they have many things by Tradition from the Apostles themselves who taught them viva voce when they bring never a word out of the Scriptures for the confirmation of them 3. The Scribes taught that children might neglect their duty to their Parents under pretence of a religious Corban that is that whosoever should be liberal toward their Treasury in the Temple and offer freely with this protestation that he meant it not only for his own good but also for his Parents should herein sufficiently discharge his duty to his Parents and owe them no other Service so that by this means it may seem they provided well for their own purses and exempted Children from those duties towards their Parents which the Commandment of God tyed them to perform So do the Papists allow Children to give their Means to Monasteries though their Parents starve for want of maintainance 4. The Jews boasted of the Temple of the Lord crying up the Temple of the Lord and in the meantime profaned it by an evil life Jer. 7. The carnal Jews were much affected with pomp in matters of Religion and many of them men of dissolute lives So it is among the Romanists in those Cities and Countries wherein is most wickedness of life there is also most cost in the Temples and most publick superstitious worshipping of God and the Saints What stately Churches Chappels and Cloisters are in Rome what Fastings what Processions what appearances of Devotion and yet on the other side what Whoredomes Sodomies and Profanations are committed in it so that it was the saying of a certain Frier that there were more Atheists in Rome than in any other City in the world But no where doth sin and wickedness so abound as in Mexico and yet no such people in the world toward the Church and Clergy who in their life-time strive to exceed one another in their gifts to the Cloisters Nuns and Friers some erecting Altars to their best devoted Saints worth many thousand Duckets others presenting Crowns of Gold to the Virgin Mary others Lamps others Gold-chains others building Cloisters at their own charge others repairing them others at their death leaving to them two or three thousand Duckets for an annual Stipend 5. The Jews boasted that their Prophets and Priests could not err saying Jerem. 18.18 The Law shall not err from the Priest and the Council from the antient This is also the boasting of the Church of Rome that the Pope as Pope cannot fall into errour and that the Church of Rome cannot err 6. The Pharisees used vain repetitions in Prayer after the manner of the Heathen thinking to be heard for their much speaking for which our Saviour taxeth them Mat. 6.7 repeating the same things over and over again not out of affection but out of affectation The same doth the Church of Rome repeating the same Prayers while they turn their Beads and binding themselves to a certain number of reiterated words The Pharisees preached Justification by the Works of the Law and the Jews were forestalled with that Doctrine which made S. Paul so careful to confute that Errour in the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians establishing Justification by Faith without the Works of the Law In this the Papists agree with them teaching Justification by Works 8. Our Saviour taxeth the Scribes and Pharisees for their Hypocrisie They pretended great love to the antient Prophets Matt. 23.29 whom their fore-fathers had persecuted and slain and to shew this they used both words and actions They professed that if they had lived in the days of their fore-fathers they would not have joyned with them in their persecution and murther of the Prophets They bestowed cost in adorning the Sepulchres wherein they were entombed But now in the mean-time they hated to death and bitterly opposed Christ then living among them to whom all those Prophets bear witness Thus may you see in the Papists their bitter hatred against the Preachers of the Gospel together with their pretended love to the ancient Doctors their proud conceit of Merit with their glorious outward Performances their gross Idolatry covered under a shew of much reverence to the Saints 9. The Jews were most strict in matters of smallest moment they would pay Tythe of Mint Annis and Cummin but neglected the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith Math. 23.23 So doth the Church of Rome exactly observe distinction of meats and amuse the people about a thousand petty Ceremonies of Candles Pilgrimages Crossings c. and let Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost stand by unsaluted yet therein doth the Kingdome of God consist Thus the superstitious Priests among the Jews made no scruple to hire a Traitor to suborn false Witnesses to Apprehend to Bind to Smite to Scourge to Blaspheme to Condemn the Innocent Lamb of God and to Crucifie the Lord of glory yet made great Conscience not to step over the Threshold into the Judgment-Hall of an Heathen-Judg lest forsooth they should be defiled
Mass pag. 51 Of their manifold Errours concerning the Church How the Papists devise many notes whereby their Church is described pag. 53 Of Antiquity pag. 71 Of Universality pag. 76 Of Succession pag. 79 Of Unity pag. 80 Of the Power of working Miracles pag. 82 Of the Gift of Prophecy pag. 87 Of Prosperity pag. 89 XX Errours concerning the Members of the Church the Clergy and Laity pag. 97 XI Errours concerning justifying Faith pag. 102 XXX Errours concerning Repentance which they call Penance pag. 104 Five kinds of Indulgences a sixfold profit of them pag. 113 Of the Disposition required to be in those that receive Indulgences shewed in Six things pag. 116 How the Papists hold that Indulgences are profitable for the Dead shewed in Seven things pag. 117 XI Errours concerning Fasting pag. 119 Of their dispensing with Fasts pag. 123 XVII Errours concerning Oaths and Vows pag. 127 XII Errours concerning Marriage Of their divers Rites and Ceremonies in Marriage pag. 131 VII Errours touching Extream Unction Of the Rite and Ceremony used by the Priest therein pag. 135 VI Errours concerning their Sacrament of Order pag. 137 VII Errours concerning Confirmation Their manner of administring the Sacrament pag. 139 Of their Corruptions in Worship pag. 144 Of their Latin Service pag. 145 Of praying for the Dead pag. 148 Of the Canonizing of Saints and the manner of Canonization pag. 149 Of Invocation of Saints of the several persons that are invocated in their Litany pag. 152 Of their Distinction of the two kinds of Worship Latria and Dulia 155 Of Image-Worship of the manner of Worship they give to Images Of the manner of making and way of Consecration of Images 157 Of the Image of the Cross 160 Of Reliques XII errours and abuses noted in the Papists by Chemnitius with divers other things 163 Of the Vigils annexed to Festival-days 172 Of their Wax-Candles and Tapers 173 Of their Holy Water 175 Of their Pilgrimages 177 Of the Agreement between Paganism and Popery shewed in Three and Twenty particulars 181 Of the Papists imitating the Jews and Pharisees shewed in Ten particulars 205 How the Church of Rome now varieth from the old Church of Rome shewed in Twenty particulars and how the Doctrine of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is contrary to the Doctrine of the present Church of Rome THE ANATOMY OF POPERY CHAP. I. THat all men may take a full view of the Papacy and see how it hath encroached upon Heaven and Earth let us consider the Fraud that hath been used by the See of Rome by bringing in Corruptions in matter of Doctrine and Worship Popery is not a single Heresie like that of â—utyâ—hes Arius or Nestorius but a System of Heresies and a common sink of abominable Errours and therefore called Ἀπστασία a general revolt Their Errours about the Scripture are 1. Vid. Turnb Tetrag c. 2. That the Church doth regulate the Scripture and is not regulated by it so making the Church the Rule of Faith That the holy Scriptures are not the only and whole Rule of our Faith and Life in all matters necessary to Salvation 2. That the Church hath Authority to alter as well the things contained in holy Scripture as those that are delivered in the Church by Apostolical Tradition yea the Papists affirm that it is in the power of the Church to alter that which God commandeth in Scripture that is to make Commandements contrary to Gods Commandements And they are divided in the main viz. what this Church is which is the infallible Judg Bâ—xters Sate Religion whether it be the present Church or the former Church whether it be the Pope only at least in case of difference between him and his Council or whether it be a general Council although the Pope agree not as the French and Venetians say yea whether it be the Clergy only or the Laity also that are this Church 3. Bellarm. l. 3. c. 3. They also assert that it is lawful to allegorize Scripture both in the Old and New Testament 4. Ecchii Enchirid. loc de authorit Eccles Pigg l 1. de Hierarch â—ccl s That the Pope is the supreme Judg of all Controversies and that the Scripture hath no authority in respect of us but what is granted to it by the Church For adding some Books to the Scripture which were not from the beginning The Papists being bold upon the Decree of the Council of Trent will that among these the Books of Tobit Judeth Wisdom Ecclesiasticus the first and second of Macchabees should be Canonical likewise the Additions to Esther Baruch with the Epistle of Jeremiah and the Additions to Daniel these they call δευτεÏοκανονικοὶ Canonical in a second degree 5. Stapl. tâ—n l. 3 c. 36 That the Canon of Scripture is imperfect wanting many Divine Revelations therefore some Books have been received as Canonical at one time and not at another some some have been received as Canonical in some Churches not in other Vid. Downham 6. They prefer the Faith and Judgment of the Church of Rome which they say is the internal Scripture written by the hand of God in the heart of the Church before the holy Scripture 7. Bellarm. de verb. Dei l. 1. c. 2. That unwritten Traditions are to be equally believed and to have as great authority as the Scripture that Traditions which they call the unwritten Word are the Rule of Faith 8. They contend that the Customes and unwritten Opinions of the Church of Rome are most certain Apostolical Traditions 9. Blondel Dalaeus They number the Popes Decretal Epistles with the holy Scriptures when yet it is most cleerly proved by Blondel in a just Volume that abundance of them are forgeries and Dalaeus proves it particularly of the Clementines 10. Wide Downham Catal. They say it is Heresie for any to say that it is not altogether in the power of the Church or Pope to appoint Articles of Faith 11. That the Scripture is not sufficient for the refuting of all Heresies as if there were any Heresiebut what is against Scripture 12. Id ibid. That the Church is ancienter than the Scripture that is than the Word of God which is now written because it is ancienter than the writing of it as if it were not the same Word of God which was first delivered by voice that is now in writing 13. That it is not necessary nor convenient for the common People to read the Scriptures but rather dangerous and hurtful 14. That the translating of the Scriptures into vulgar Languages is the fountain of Heresies and they that do it deserve ill of Christian Religion 15. That the Hebrew Copy of the Old Testament the Greek of the New Testament is not authentical 16. Bâ—llaâ—me de verbo Dei l. 3. That the Scriptures are very obscure and hard to be understood even in things necessary 17. That it belongeth not to all the faithful to search into the meaning
These few Proofs drawn out of the most authentick Rules of the Roman Church will be a pattern more than sufficient to shew to any man that is not resolved to lose himself and that seeks instruction that the Roman Church can err 4. Our Adversaries do devise many Notes whereby their Church is descried Driedo and P. a Soto would have three Hosius four Sanders six Michael Medina ten Cunerus twelve Bellarmine fifteen Socolovius twenty Doctor Favour chap. 4. one the true and oldest Antiquity But there are seven principal which they do most stand upon Antiquity Vniversality Succession Vnity the Power of Miracles the Gift of Prophecy Prosperity Of Antiquity THe Papists make great brags of the long continuance of their Church yea that they can shew the descent of their Church from Adam but they must come short of our Saviour Christ and the Apostles times by five or six hundred years for the most of the Opinions which they now hold The Romanists adulterate Antiquity because it is a Pearl of greatest price but a skilful Lapidary can soon espy the Alchymy it seemeth Gold yet is but brandished Brass it seems a Ruby one of the Stones in Aarons rich array or a Foundation of New Jerusalem where is no counterfeit but it is only a polished Garnet it beareth resemblance of a Diamond but it is digged out of Saint Vincents Rock as good as a Saint Martins Chain So many things are offered by the Papists for Antiquity which upon trial prove meer Novelty worse Vanity a plain Nullity The Roman Church in this point is intolerable for she boasteth of Antiquity but will not suffer the truth of her Doctrine to be examined she will have us to judg of the Truth by Antiquity whereas we ought to judg of Antiquity by the Truth and by Conformity to the Word of God which is the first Antiquity Anno 420. Zosimus Bishop of Rome challenged a prerogative above other Churches that it might be lawful to make appeals from other Churches to that See and to set the better colour upon it he falsly alleadged a Decree of the Nicene Council but there was no such thing found there wherefore it was decreed in the Council of Carthage at that time that none should appeal to Rome Boniface the third purchased of the wicked Emperour Phocas the Title of Universal Bishop Transubstantiation was first concluded against Berengarius anno 1062. under Pope Leo the ninth but not publickly enacted before anno 1216. under Innocentius the third The Dominick Friers were brought in at the same time Auricular Confession was brought in the year before under the same Pope Telesphorus brought in their Lenton Fast Calixtus instituted the four Ember Fasts Hyginus brought in Chrism It is easie to shew by whom every piece of their blasphemous Mass hath been patched together Marriage was first prohibited by Pope Nicholas the second Alexander the second Gregory the seventh The Communion in one kind forged urged and decreed in the Council of Constance not much above two hundred years agone The Church of Rome boasteth of Antiquity and yet as one saith brings new things every day she makes a shew of some old patched Clothes to make the world believe that she comes from far as the Gibeonites did but let a man examine her Doctrine by pieces he shall find she comes not from very far and almost all is new It cannot be proved that the antient Church in many ages after the Apostles excluded the people from the Cup or kept them from reading the holy Scripture or made Pictures of the Trinity or yielded veneration to the Images of Saints or call'd the Virgin Mary the Queen of Heaven or made mention of the Roman indulgences or of the power of the Pope to depose Kings and fetch Souls out of Purgatory c. In a word saith old Doctor Du Moulin as it is now another Doctrine so it is another Church because it is another Religion That true Antiquity is not of our Adversaries side 1. The Greek Church testifieth for the Grecians affirm that their Church is the Mother of the Roman Church and hath born the first prerogative in the orthodoxal verity The Syrians boast themselves to be the first Christians in the world because that St. Peter had his Seat seven year at Antioch before ever he went to Rome 2. The Eastern and Southern Churches do give the priority and priviledg of Antiquity unto the Church of Antioch before Rome Symmachus a Pagan Symmach writing to the Christian Emperours Valens Theodosius and Arcadius he desireth them to have a reverence for the Pagan Religion by reasonÌ„ of her Antiquity If saith he the length of time gives authority to Religion we must keep Faith to so many Ages and follow our Fathers who have so happily followed theirs Then he personates the old Pagan Rome thus speaking to the Emperours Good Princes Fathers of your Countrey respect my years unto which the pious Ceremonies have brought me permit me to use the Ceremonies of my Ancestors This Religion hath subjected the World unto my Laws these holy Services have beaten back Hannibal from the Wails and the Senones from the Capitol Have I been preserved unto this time that I should be rebuked in mine old age The Correction of old age comes too late and is injurious What could Ambrose and Prudentius answer who confuted that Epistle but that the Law of God is more antient than Numa Pompilius the Author of those Ceremonies and that all is new which is not from the beginning and that Errour cannot be authorized by the number of years Our Fathers received it of their Fathers August saith Cresconius sed errantes ab errantibus saith Saint Augustine Of Universality THe Papists say their Church is universal both in respect of time person and place it hath always been in the world and hath flourished in all Countries and Nations ergo it is the true Church That it is universal they first prove by the name of Catholick But if the name Catholick were an unchangeable mark or natural property of any real Church it should be of the Greek Church or Nation unto which the name of Catholick is prime and natural If the real property answering to this name had belonged to the Romish Church the Holy Ghost would have expressed it by a Roman Name and have called the Roman Church the Universal Church at least the Romanists should have called themselves Universals not Catholicks as the learned Doctor Jackson noteth It is easie to consider the vanity of this Assertion Jackâ—on de Eccl. that a Name should be an unseparable property proceeding of the nature of any reality But the Name of a Christian is a more honourable Title than the Name of Catholicks for this was used in the Apostles time Act. 11.26 and by the Apostles themselves allowed but it is not certain that the Name Catholick came from the Apostles Secondly they prove their Universality by the
the Cross dispersed in several places as they pretend that as Erasmus writes Erasmus if they were all laid together in one place they would load a Ship Some write that the Cross was found by Helena the Empress and that she left the greater part thereof at Jerusalem and the other part she sent to her Son Constantine the Emperour If there had belonged unto the Church any Religious care of it the Apostles doubtless would have procured the safe keeping thereof and not have suffered the Church to want it 325 years and it had been an easier suit for Joseph and Nicodemus to beg the Cross than the Body of Jesus Moreover if the Cross were to be adored yet who knows which is it and where it is to be found and so one might worship a common piece of Wood for the Wood of the Cross But if the right Cross were to be had ought it not to be served as Hezekiah served the Brazen-Serpent when the people began to make an Idol of it Damascen would have the Spear the Nails the Cave the Sepulchre the Maunger the place it self Golgotha and all things that touched Christs Body to be adored as well as the Wood of the Cross The Wood of the Cross then being forged in so many places how can worship be yielded unto it without great Idolatry Of Reliques THe Fathers that lived neerest Christ were freest from worshipping Reliques But the Romish Church aboundeth in this kind Chemnit Chemnitius hath noted twelve Errours and Abuses of the Papists concerning Reliques 1. That the Bodies Ashes or Bones of the Saints are to be taken out of their Graves and to be placed upon some high place as upon the high Altar or some other visible place and to be dressed with Gold Silver Silk c. 2. That those Reliques ought to be carried in publick Processions and Prayers and to be shewed and offered for Christian people to see touch and kiss 3. That such Reliques are to be approved by the Pope and that approbation is to be by canonizing them 4. That it is a singular and meritorious worship of God if the people to obtain help by it shall touch kiss or walk before with an adoring mind and gesture or shall do reverence to these Reliques by Candles Silk-coverings Garlands or other the like Ornaments 5. That the Grace and Power of God which they say is in them or present by them is to be sought for in these Reliques and that they are made partakers of it who do touch them or behold them 6. That it is an acceptable Sacrifice to God to offer up precious gifts to these Reliques 7. Many Indulgences for sin are promised to such as touch and kiss them c. 8. That our Prayer is the better worthier and more acceptable to God if it be done by or before the Saints Reliques by whose merits we may obtain help And therefore in our necessities we must make Vows and take Pilgrimages unto those places where the Reliques of Saints are held to be that we may call upon them for their help 9. That it adds much to the Holiness of the Sacrament of the Eucharist if the Saints Reliques are set enclosed upon the Altar nay that the Altar is consecrated by their touching it 10. That the Saints Reliques may be lawfully laid over one or carried about ones Neck in devotion and Faith to God and the Saints whose Reliques they are 11. And places among the Papists are full of uncertain counterfeit and false Reliques to which without difference the same veneration and honour is given They say that at Beavois there is one of Saint Christophers Teeth so great that a dozen such Teeth would fill the mouth of an Oven In Rome in St. John de Laterans Church they pretend they have in their keeping the Foreskin of Jesus Christ In the Church which is in the Park of Wood at Vincennes they have some of the Powder of St. Martins Cloak and one of Jesus Christs sucking Teeth At Courchiverny near unto Bloys they keep Josephs Hemme at the sound of his Breathing when he hewed timber Pilgrims that come from Galicia bring Feathers of Hens that are of the race of that Cock which crowed when St. Peter denied Jesus Christ Baronius makes mention of a Lock of the Hair of Saint Peters Beard which did Miracles although saith he those that do sit in his throne seek to overthrow it by evil manners And these Reliques are kept so many ages and never corrupt They say that the Virgin Marys Milk hath continued 1600 years and never was sowr And yet the Hosts that are called Jesus Christ become mouldy in a few days At Chartres they have the Virgin Marys Smock which was brought from Constantinople into France by Charles the bald as they say that kept it But Charles the bald was never in Constantinople and in the Virgin Marys time they wore no Smocks which was the reason they used so many Baths to wash the Sweat from their Bodies Richard Earl of Cornwal Brother to King Henry the third and King of the Romans brought as was pretended some of our Saviours Blood into England and builded the Abbey of Hales for the keeping of that Relique King Henry the third carried a Viol of Christs Blood between his two eyes barefoot in a Beggers habit in procession from St. Pauls Church to Westminster where it was preached esteemed to be reserved and adored as Christs very Blood though a gross imposture And such was the Ignorance and Superstition of that age that the King Prelats Clergy and generality of the people received and really adored it as Christs very Blood wherewith they were redeemed And not only then viz. anno 1247. but the next ensuing years by the Kings special Summons all Fairs or Sales of Wares in London and else-where were on that day prohibited viz. on St. Edwards day to draw multitudes of people to Westminster to adore this false Relique and enrich the Abbot Monks and Inhabitants by the Profits of this Fair which undid many Merchants resorting to it with their Ware as Matthew Paris there present doth relate 12. Oaths among the Papists are taken by touching the Saints Reliques The Catechism of the Council of Trent in the exposition of the third Commandment approveth the custom to swear by the Reliques of Saints Now to swear by any thing is to take it for a witness of the uprightness of our heart and for a revenge in case of perjury which belongs only to God whose Commandment in Deut. 6. runs thus Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and shalt serve him and swear by his Name It is a frivolous excuse to say that to swear by Reliques is to swear by God which hath sanctified them Also when they speak to those Reliques worshipping them they say things unto them which are agreeable unto God When they say God preserve thee Fuller Hâ—st of the holy War â—assander hath observed a
Rome was Heathenish Gratian a meek and religious Emperour who was slain by the men of Maximus the Tyrant is the first of the Christian Emperours that refused to be called Pontifex Maximus holding that Title which his Predecessors though Christians had born to be unsutable with a Christian Prince as derived from the Pagans and relishing of Paganism yet soon after the Bishops of Rome suffered themselves to be called so and took up that which an Emperour had rejected as a learned man well noteth 3. Secrat l. 3. ca. 23. The Popish fashion of swearing by Saints is but an imitation of the Pagans Superstition who used to swear by their Gods as Libanius doth oftentimes in his Books swear by Hercules Bacchus Asclepius The Heathens were of opinion that their swearing by their Idols was a token of their serving of them And it is a common thing for the Papists to swear by the Virgin Mary and by the rest of the Saints They set the Virgin in Gods seat as though it belonged to her to judg the world It is horrible treachery to swear by the Virgin Mary or by any other creature The Pagans had also divers Rites belonging to thâ—ir superstition 1. The Heathen for Devotion-sake made shadows about their Altars in plashing of Trees to make places dark that when men entred into them they might be moved to a kind of aw and fearfulness So it is among the Papists if a place be darksome it seemeth to them to carry some Majesty in it and the simple sort are as it were amazed when they come into a Cave and where the Windows be dimmed with red or blew Glass mens Eyes dazzle at it and simple folk feel a kind of motion in themselves which makes them afraid and astonished and to their seeming it is good to stir them up to Devotion thinking it is a reverencing of God whereas indeed it is stark foolishness 2. The Pagans assigned particular Offices to each of their Gods one governed the Sea another ruled in Hell one took care of the Corn another of Women with Child and every Land or Country had his Titular God or Goddess Juno was the Patroness of Carthage Venus of Paphos and Pallas of Athens The Church of Romc hath transported these Titles to the deceased Saints hath given to every one their Office St. Margaret Patroness of Child-bed Women did succeed the Goddess Lacina St. Nicholas who is invocated by Navigators did succeed Castor and Pollux St. Eustache succeedeth the hunting Diana St. Christopher succeeds Hercules Jupiter Pluvius hath given the Rain unto Genivieve Ceres hath given over the Corn unto S. John and S. Paul Esculapius gives Medicine unto S. Cosm Bacchus the Vines unto St. Vrban Mercurius the Oxen to Pelagius And every Kingdom Town and City hath its titular Saint St. Mark is the Patron and Protectour of Venice St. James of Spain St. Dennis of France Saint Martin of Germany St. George of England c. 3. The Canonization of Saints is an imitation of the Pagan Apotheoses that is Deifications or making of Gods whereby a man is made one of the Gods by the authority of men And the Senate of Cardinals hath the right of Apotheoses or Canonizations and to admit whom they please into the list of the Saints of Paradise The Preface of the second Book of the sacred Ceremonies calleth the Canonization of Saints of the Papacy Divorum nostrorum Apotheosis the Deification or Apotheose of our Saints 4. The Church of Rome hath borrowed from the Pagans the Equipage and Ornament of her Images They gave a Key to Janus as the Church of Rome gives to Saint Peter They represented Jupiter Hammond with horns as Moses is now pictured The Genâ—i or Houshold-Gods had a Dog with them so hath the Popish Saint Hubert Vulcan of old had an Hammer so hath Saint Eloy now Hercules had a Club so hath St. Christopher Before the Pagans Images Wax-lights were lighted and Incense was burnt which is done still to the Images of Saints in the Church of Rome A custom much derided by Tertullian Arnobius and Lactantius Of burning of Incense it was so common a custom among the Gentiles as that Julian the Apostate that he might cunningly bind the Christians to the same ordained that when any man came to him according to the custom to receive any gifts at his hands they should burn Incense before him whereupon some notable Christians having understanding of his purposed intent came and brought them back again unto him that they might not be polluted About the year 800. Pope Leo the third ordained it should be used in the Mass Then for Tapers Wax-Candles and Lights in the Churches this Ceremony took its passage from the Gentiles to the Christians in the time of S. Hierome that is more than 400 years after the death of Christ And Vigilantius Pastor of Barcelona wrote against the same complaining of it that he should see the superstition of the Pagans drawn into Religion and fetched from the Gods of Paganism to be bestowed on the Christian Martyrs 5. Their Doctrine of Purgatory and satisfaction after this life came from the Heathen Plato in his Dialogue of the Soul saith those that live indifferently well come to that Lake and there dwell and being purged and having born the pains of their iniquities they are released Virgil followeth him speaking thus of the Souls of Purgatory Aliae panduntur inanes Suspensae ad ventos aliis sub gurgite vasto Infectum cluitur scelus aut exuritur Igni Virgil. Aeneid 6. Hence Purgatory arose As for the purgation of Souls at the Wind or in the Water Pope Gregory the first teacheth it in the fourth Book of his Dialogues where there are many apparitions of Souls saying that they are in Purgatory in the Wind or in the Water or in hot Bathes for the Purgatory in a subterranean fire was not yet invented The Paynims divided man into two parts taking the Body for one and the Soul for the other Again after that the Soul was separated from the Body they divided it into three parts The same that went down into those places called they called Inferos or Inferna they called Manes comprehending thereby all that which now-adays they call the Hell of the damned Limbus and Purgatory Then there remained the Spirit and that which they called Vmbram that is a shadow As touching the Body and the Spirit they were not of opinion that any of them did ever come again into this world or that they were ever seen after that a man was once dead and buried for they did well see that the Body did turn again into dust and into ashes And as for the Spirit they were of opinion that it went up again into Heaven from whence it had its original and there did abide And as for that which they called the shadow because it had no true bodily substance they said it did vanish away suddenly as smoak when
of God The Pope and his Clergy propound themselves two ends for the celebration of the Mass and the ordinary Service in the Latin tongue The first is to keep the people in ignorance and use them to believe without knowing to follow their leaders blind-fold and to obey without enquiring They were afraid that even the Latin should be too intelligible and therefore they would have the principal parts of the Mass to be said with such a low murmur that the voice of the Priest cannot be heard The second end was to plant the marks and Standard of the Popes Empire among the Nations which he had conquered The simple people believe that their Religion must be Roman as well as the Tongue which is used in Religion and that both Christian Faith and the Language come from the same place But the chief cause why the Pope will not have the Mass to be understood by all is that the Mass contains many things which would either instruct or offend the people Of praying for the Dead THeir Opinion is that the Praiers of the Living are neither available for the Saints in Heaven for they need them not nor for the damned in Hell for they cannot be helped but only for the Souls tormented in Purgatory who do find great ease say they by the Praiers of the Living Of the Canonizing of Saints THe Canonizing of Saints is nothing else but the publick Determination and Sentence of the Church whereby some that are dead are judged to be Saints and worthy of Honour and Worship as to be praied unto Temples and Altars to be set up in their names Holy-days to be appointed for them and their Reliques to be adored And thus say they it is lawful profitable and expedient for the Church to canonize Saints This was the Popes own invention eight hundred years after Christ at the least set abroach and continued in Policy for the confirmation of certain idolatrous Superstitions which he laboured thereby to advance and now are made the seven Points wherein the Canonization consisteth fetting the new Saints in the Calendar with red Letters Who gave the Pope that priviledg to be infallible in that Judgment for our Adversaries themselves acknowledg they may be mistaken how many Factions and Sollicitations are used in the Court of Rome by Princes and States that a man of their Countrey or City be canonized And at what vast expences have they been to purchase it The City of Barcelona and the whole Country of Catelona spent many thousand pounds in the canonizing Raimond de Pennafort a Dominican Frier The Jesuits spent ten millions for the Canonization of their two twins Ignatius Loiola and Francis Xavier whom they call the East-India Apostle The Book of sacred Cerimonies doth acknowledg that the Pope sometimes was constrained in some sort to canonize a man against his opinion and therefore made a Protestation By that Protestation he thought to discharge his Conscience The words whereby the Pope canonizeth a Saint are these The manner of canonizing a Saint In the authority of God Almighty Father Son and Holy Ghost and of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and in our own we decree and define that N. of good memory is a Saint and must be put into the List of Saints c. But before the pronouncing of that Sentence the Cause is pleaded in the Consistory and an Advocate presents himself who represents the Reasons why such a one ought to be sainted The Apostles were not so sainted nor their Disciples nor those Fathers who were called Saints as Ireneus Cyprian Basil Hierome Augustine as a learned Divine noteth It happens saith he to some poor Saints for whom the dignity of Saints is begged in the Court of Rome to be cast in their suit and they cannot be Saints in Heaven because men on earth were not favourable to them Sometimes the degree of Beati is obtained for them which is a middle degree and an expectation of Saint-ship By this means Popes will give their Servants to be worshipped by the Nations of Christendom whch new Saints are far more honoured than the Patriarchs and Prophets for in the Roman Church it fareth with Saints as with Clothes the newest are the best and most esteemed Of Invocation of the Saints THe Papists maintain the Doctrine of Angel-worship of Invocation of Saints and of the Virgin Mary and canonized Saints calling especially upon the Virgin Mary They usually carve pourtray paint the Statue of the Virgin and represent her by them to the Eyes and Thoughts when they pray unto her in all their Offices Primers Psalters Rosaries Missals Breviaries Books of Devotion Churches Chappels Monasteries Altars of our Lady especially on all their publick Festivals dedicated to her Honour in greatest state crowned with a Crown of Glory as the Empress Queen Lady of Heaven Earth and all Creatures in them In their publick Liturgy they have a Letany whereby they pray 1. To her 2. To the Arch-Angels and Angels 3. To Patriarchs and Prophets 4. To the Apostles and Evangelists 5. To the Martyrs 6. To Fathers and Doctors 7. To Popes and Confessors 8. To Monks and Eremites 9. To all the Saints Virgins and Widows that they would joyn together to make Intercession for them And to these Saints they have their set Holy-days to them they burn Tapers perform Masses and Trentals each have their sundry Collects Hymns Praiers and Oblations each have their sundry Offices designed them Some are over particular Towns and Cities some over Trades and particular Professions same are over Diseases some have the special gift of bestowing Arts and Sciences Now what is this but to forsake the Fountain of living Waters and to hew out broken Cisterns that can hold no Water as the Lord complaineth in a like case The rise of all this was from a preposterous admiration of Saints departed or I may say of some of them they were rather Devils incarnate and from the perverse opinion of those who make no difference between civil Praier to Men living and religious Praier to Saints departed which Errour hath been maintained and heightened by the great ambition and avarice of the Popish Clergy so that now the French Proverb is not without ground 〈◊〉 or ne â—ognâ—ist Dieu plus â—ntre les Saints God cannot be known among so many Saints Thus have they jumbled together God and his Saints in a promiscuous manner of worship Saint Peter tells them to whom he writes that he will endeavour that they may be able after his decease to have these things always in remembrance â—hem in 2 Pet. 1 2 Pet. 1.15 Whence the Rhemists those Popish Corrupters rather than Interpreters of the holy Scripture take upon them to tell us if we will be so sottish as to believe them And they say it was this that the meant to pray for them and as in his life-time he meant to further their Salvation by instructing them so after his death
and sanctifieth and purgeth them that are defiled and multiplieth such Goods as we have need of and turneth away all the deceits of the Devil and defendeth men from all wicked fancies Are not the Scriptures here well applied doth not this Ceremony turn Christ out of Office with all his works and merits Gulielmus Durandus saith that the holy Water hath deserved to have of God so great vertue that as outwardly it washeth the Body from filthiness so it inwardly cleanseth the Soul from sin O intolerable blasphemy When men sprinkle themselves with this Water in the Church-Porch before they enter into the Church they are taught and commanded to say Aqua benedicta sit mihi salus vita c. let the blessed Water be unto me health and life grant me O Lord by this creature of the sprinkling of Water health of mind wholeness of body defence of health safeguard of hope strengthening of faith now and in time to come Of Pilgrimages 1. THe Papists hold that Pilgrimages made to Rome and to Jerusalem and the holy Land as they call it and to the memories of the Saints in other places to ask and obtain their help are godly and religious and to be much used of Christians 2. Large Indulgences were promised to Pilgrims especially to visit St. Peter and St. Paul the Apostles Pope Anacletus excommunicated cursed and pronounced all such guilty of Sacriledg as should hinder any man to go on Pilgrimage or to visit the Sepulchres of Saints Pope Calixtus ordained that whosoever spoileth robbeth or hurteth any such as go in pilgrimage to Rome or to any other holy places of Saints the same should be excommunicated and accursed 3. â—reg â—â—â—â—en Some desired to worship in that place where Christs feet had walked Some superstitiously attributed more sanctity to that place than to any other Gregory Nyssen hath a whole oration of this matter against those who go in pilgrimage to Jerusalem This going in pilgrimage is in a manner to deny the coming of Christ for if Christ be come there is no more difference in regard of holiness between one ground and another Whether it were then or not now I am sure it is a fond superstition for any to ask as Naaman the Syrian did for two burthens of earth out of that Country as more holy than any other dust 2 Reg. 5.17 Such idle vagaries do the Papists make to some other special places where perhaps the Devil hath obtained leave to work some jugling feats and lying miracles Then presently the Saint his name is up and well is he that can spare time and money for a visitation of a sensless stock Yea many a Saint as good as he or she shall be passed by with little more than a good morrow while the heat of their blind devotion carrieth them on to this selected one Yea now and then the same Saint shall have little courtesie at their hands if they meet any where but at his Manner-house as it were Saint James at Compostella is taken for a better man than when they find him other where Such brutish follies the Holy Ghost himself disdaineth with an heavenly scorn as appeareth by Elijahs mocking of Baals Priests and Isaiahs character of the blind Idolater The Writer of the History of the Holy War tells us Fuller Suppl of the Hist of thâ— Holy War that besides those that went many were either driven or fled to the Holy Land Those were driven who having committed some horrible sin in Europe had this penance imposed on them to travel to Jerusalem to expiate their faults Many a Whore was sent thither to find her Virginity many a Murtherer was enjoyned to fight in the Holy War to wash off the guilt of Christian blood by shedding the blood of Turks The like was in all other offences Now God forbid saith my Author we should condemn them if truly penitents for impious But we find that many of them reverted to their former wickedness Others fled thither who having supererogated the Gallows in their own Countries by their several misdemeanours to avoid the stroke of Justice protected themselves under this voyage and coming to Palestine so profited in those Eastern Schools of Vices that they learned to be more artificially wicked Thus He. Of the Agreement between Paganism and Popery NOw let me shew how the Papists in their Religion have borrowed many things from the Pagans I will here insert them as I find them in the Writings of divers Learned Men. I. The Heathen had their Pilgrimages The Heathen were wont to go on Pilgrimage to such an Idol So do the Papists they go many of them on Pilgrimage to our Lady of Lauretto to St. Michael to St. James to visit the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Hand-kerchief which is a Relique in Rome wherein they say the Picture of Christ's Face is after it was wiped therewith But concerning Pilgrimages I have spoken in the former Section II. The Heathen made great Feasts and kept a great number of solemn Holy Dayes in honour of their Idols And have not the Papists brought in many Holy Dayes instead of the solemn Feasts of the Heathen Calvin speaking against this Superstition Calvin Serm in Dâ—ut 12. in one of his Sermons upon Deuteronomy saith men will say we must not now do as the Heathens did for that were a serving of the Devil But every Parish will have a Church-Holy-day to Play to Dance and to feed in till they burst again and all in the Honour of God Besides this every one had his Patron whom he worshipped and said they these things are not done any more in Honour of the Idols but in Honour of St. Martin And let them Dance and play the Drunkards all is well enough so it be done in Honour of God and his Saints 1. Twelftide was an Imitation of the Saturnales in which the Servants were Masters And the Lord of Misrule in Christmas is also a trace of the Saturnales at that time of the Year 2. Ashwednesday falls much upon the same time as the Day of Purifications and Propitiations for the Dead in the Pagan Rome which was upon the Eighteenth of February 3. As for Candlemas Rhenanus acknowledgeth that Candlemas is an imitation of the Februal Ceremonies of the Romans and the Insolencies of Shrovetide came from the Bacchanales 4. The Rogations and Processions about the field of Corn have succeeded to the Processions called Ambarvalia 5. The Heathens were wont to keep an Holy-day which they called the Feast of all Spirits And the Papists change the word and have the Feast of All-Souls III. The Heathens had a Temple which they called the Temple of all their gods The Papists call such a Temple the Church of All-hallowes the Church of All-Saints and they added a Church Holy-Day unto it IV. The Heathen had their Sacrifices to their gods And the Papists have their Masses set up in the room of them The Pagans had