assertion that God can not make those things that bee done to be vndone doth not destroy but build vp the omnipotency of God seing as Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth Facere contradictoria non est efficere sed deficere to doe things contradictorie is not to effect and doe but to faile and vndoe and therefore an argument of impotency rather then of omnipotency and for that cause Pererius another Iesuite auoucheth the same doctrine with vs in these words God is said to be omnipotent not onely because he can do whatsoeuer is contained in the world but also because nothing is impossible vnto him except that which to be done implieth contradiction what an impudent flander then is this to say that wee deny Gods omnipotency by affirming that hee cannot make that to bee vndone which is done especially seeing wee say further with Tertullian and Saint Augustine that therefore God cannot do it because he will not do it he cannot therefore deny himselfe not make that to be vndone which is done because hee will not and he will not because it would rather be an argument of weakenes then a power in him so to doe 76. Againe they challenge Caluine of denying the immortality of the soule And why thinke you Because they would make him to say that the soules of the iust are kept in certaine secret receptacles till the day of Iudgement and doe not till then inioy the presence of God Another palpable slander for first Caluine doth not say so secondly if hee did yet it doth not follow thereupon that hee denyeth the immortality of the soule for the first let Caluine first speake for himselfe and then let his aduersaries also speak for him Touching the place where the soules of the iust remaine after death he affirmeth plainely in diuers places that they liue with God and enioy the happy felicity of his kingdome though their perfect happinesse is deferred till the second comming of Christ when their bodies and soules shal be re-united and made partakers of the same blessednes This he testifieth not in one or two but in many places how therefore can they lay to his charge that opinion touching secret receptacles where soules are reserued till the day of the resurrection 77. Mary sayth Bellarmine in two respects first because he maketh Christ alone to haue entred into the Sanctuary of heauen and there to present the prayers of the people resting in the vtter court to God secondly because he sayth that the Saints departed are ioyned together with vs by faith therefore sayth Bellarmine He must needs deny that they see God seeing where faith is there is not sight But his conclusion in both is false though the premises be true for as the Atrium or vtter Court of the Temple to which Caluine alludeth was a part of the Temple so by proportion the vtter Court of Heauen is a part of Heauen witnesse their owne Ribera expounding that place of Exodus whereunto Caluine alludeth and therefore Caluine if hee did say so doth not banish the iust soules out of Heauen but onely placeth Christ our high Priest betwixt God and them But what if hee speake onely of the Saints liuing and not departed and meane by the vtter Court not any part of Heauen but the Church militant heere on earth If this be true what shamelesse slaunderers are these fellowes to wring a sense out of Caluine whereof there is no show in the words let the place be consulted and viewed and their malice and impudency will appeare most notorious 78. Againe that faith which hee speaketh of in the second place is nothing else but their stedfast beliefe and expectation of the resurrection of their bodies which liueth in the faithfull soules separated from this mortality vntill the full accomplishment of their happinesse aswell as in the Saints militant neither can I conceiue any absurdity in this that the Saints departed should haue faith in this respect seeing they must needs haue hope which two Theologicall vertues are so perplexed together that one cannot bee without the other and therefore Clemens Alexandrinus calleth hope the blood of faith and Saint Paul sayth 1. Cor. 13. that faith and hope shall cease together when charity shall suruiue and remaine If then the Saints departed hope for the resurrection of their bodies why may they not bee said also to beleeue it and yet for all that be in heauen too 79. Neither is the other place obiected out of Caluine by Bellarmine any whit repugnant to this doctrine for though he sayth that it is a foolish and rash part to dispute curiously what the place is that the Saints possesse in Heauen and whether they inioy the full ioyes of heauen or no yet in the very same place hee affirmeth that they are in the presence of Christ in Paradise and that they onely expect the fruition of that promised glory which their bodies also shal be possessors of at the comming of Christ 80. Thus we haue heard Caluine speake for himselfe Let vs now heare his enemies speaking for him in this case then which there cannot be a stronger argument of his innocency and in this two may stand for all Bellarmine is the first hee directly confesseth that Caluine placed the soules of the Saints in heauen euen before the comming of Christ and to him subscribeth Fenardentius another Iesuite who affirmeth that this was Caluines opinion that the faithfull when they should depart out of this world doe behold God neere vnto them and as it were set before their eyes And thus Caluine is quit from this enditement by the witnesse of his profest aduersaries 81. Secondly let it be granted which neuerthelesse can no wayes be prooued that Caluine held this opinion touching the residence of soules in some secret place yet it doth not follow that therefore he denyed the immortality of the soule For then Origen Iustine Martyr Tertullian Irenaeus Lactantius Victorinus Chrysostome Theodoret Theophilact Ambrose Bernard and diuers others of the ancient godly Fathers should be enwrapped within the same errour who all held that opinion touching soules departed and yet were as farre from gain-saying or once imagining any opposition to the soules immortality as these backbiting Shemiâ—s are from charity and truth 82. Another lowde and lewde slander of theirs against our Religion is that it maintaineth and warranteth rebellion and disobedience against lawfull Princes Which if they could prooue wee would confesse that our Religion was naught seeing Gods word commandeth euery soule to be subiect to the higher powers but yet not worse then theirs which is without all contradiction guilty of this crime which they impute vnto vs as hath beene prooued but let vs heare their proofes they are of two sorts first from the doctrines of some of our learned writers and secondly from the practice of our professors In the first kind they obiect Caluine Beza Luther Knox Buchanan
call the Scripture a dumbe Iudge some a dead Letter and without a Soule others dead Inke others a Nose of Waxe to be wreathed this way or that way others say that it is no better then Aesops Fables without the authority of the Church all of them ioyne in this that it is not simply necessary that it was written not to rule our faith but to be ruled by it and that Christ neuer commanded his Apostles to write any Scripture and that it is subiect and inferiour to the Church all these and many other bitter and blasphemous speeches they belch out against the Scripture whereby they plainely bewray their cankred hatred against the Scripture and all because they finde it contrary to their humour and an enemie to their Religion 33. Thus the Minor proposition in this demonstration is I hope sufficiently prooued to wit that the Religion of the Church of Rome doth professedly disgrace the holy Scripture as both by their doctrine their practice and their blasphemous speeches against it doth manifestly appeare and so the conclusion is of necessary and vndeniable consequence that therefore it deserueth to be suspected and reiected of all those that professe themselues to be friends to the Scripture and hope from it either consolation in this life or saluation in the life to come MOTIVE VII That Religion is to be abhorred which maintaineth commandeth and practiseth grosse and palpable Idolatry but so doth the Religion of the Church of Rome Ergo c. WHen I consider the fearefull Idolatry of the Church of Rome which for that cause is called The Whore of Babylon and The Mother of fornications Reuel 17. 1. 2. I cannot choose but wonder that any should be so bewitched with the sorceries of this Iezabel or made drunke with the wine of her fornication that they should take her marke vpon their forheads and right hands and ioyne with her in her abominations and not rather come out of her with all speed as they are admonished by the Angell lest they bee partakers in her sinnes and haue a share also with her in her plagues but then againe remembring that which S. Paul faith that the comming of Antichrist should be in all deceiueablenesse of vnrighteousnesse and that God should send vpon them strong delusion to beleeue lies I turne my wondering at their sottishnesse into the admiration at Gods Iustice and Truth the one in punishing their contempt of his Gospell with such a giddinesse of spirit and the other in making good his owne word after such an euident and manifest manner that there by it most clearely appeareth that the Pope of Rome is that Man of sinne and Sonne of perdition there spoken of euen that Antichrist which exalteth himselfe aboue all that is called God and sitteth in the Temple of God as if he were God As this appeareth in many grosse errors which they hold so in none more then in the horrible idolatry practised and preached defended in this Antichristian Church of which I may truely say as Plutarch said of the heathen that they mingle heauen with earth because they made Gods of men men of Gods So these whilst they giue diuine worship to earthly creatures as the crosse pictures of Christ and to the Saints in heauen or attribute earthly affections to heauenly creatures make a plaine mixture of heauen and earth spoyling the Creatour of his honour due vnto his Dietie and adorning the creature therewith and ascribing that vnto men which is onely proper vnto God That the Church of Rome is guilty of this impiety I hope by Gods grace so to proue in this Motiue that no Iesuite though neuer so subtill shall bee able with any shew of sound reason to hisse against 2. The first proposition in this Argument though it be of so euident a truth that it needeth no further demonstration yet because S. Paul saith that an Idoll is nothing in the world and thereupon some may peraduenture conclude that Idolatrie is a matter of nothing and a small and triuiall sinne I will therefore very briefly shew the greatnesse and haynousnesse of this sinne and how odious and abominable it is in the sight of God As touching therefore that phrase of Saint Paul An Idoll is nothing it is not to bee vnderstood either in respect of matter for euery Idoll hath a materiall being and subsisting as the matter of the Calfe which the Israelites made in the Wildernesse was gold and of the brazen serpent which was abused also as an Idoll was brasse and of those Idols which the Prophet Esay declameth so against were wood nor yet in respect of forme as Bellarmine and Caietane would haue it As though the Apostle should meane thus that an Idoll though it hath matter yet it hath no forme that is to say is the representation of such a thing as hath no being in nature for many of the Idols of the Gentiles were of such things as truly were but the Apostles meaning is as Tertullian obserues and many other both of ancient and late Writers that an Idoll is nothing in respect of that which it is intended to bee that is that it is no God nor hath any part of the Diuinitie in it which deserueth to bee worshipped or that it is nothing in regard of efficacie and power that is as the Psalmist speaketh is not able to doe either good or bad to hurt or to helpe to saue or to kill and this interpretation is authorized by S. Augustine and S. Chrysostome the one saying thus There are Idols indeede but they can doe nothing neither are they Gods the other thus Sunt Idola sed ad salutem nihil sunt There are Idols but they auaile nothing to the attaynement of saluation and it is also approued by many other Expositors both ancient and moderne Protestants and Papists and is most agreeable to the whole current of the Text. This then that S. Paul saith That an Idoll is nothing is both so farre from extenuating the sinne of Idolatrie that it aggrauateth the same and also so farre from clearing the Church of Rome from the guilt of that crime that it rather layeth a greater stayne thereof vpon it 3. As for the greatnesse of the sinne it may appeare by three considerations first of the precept for there is no one commandement of the Law so frequent in the whole Scripture and so strictly vrged and mounded and fenced about with so many reasons as that is against Idolatrie as we may see in the Decalogue Secondly in respect of the punishment denounced against and inflicted vpon the committers thereof to wit not onely eternall death from the iustice of God which is the wages of all sinne vnrepented of but also temporall death from the iustice of man as being vnworthy to breathe this common ayre or to tread vpon the earth that thus sinne against the Maiestie of God and that
and secondarily it amounteth to God 53. These be Bellarmines goodly but scarce godly distinctions for these and such like as these are hee vseth as engines to vndermine the truth and as vizards to couer the face of vgly falshood But they may well bee ouerthrowne with this one blast that the holy Scripture neuer taught them neither haue they any warrant from Gods Spirit and therefore they are rather to be accounted forgeries of a frothy wit then fruits of truth But let vs examine them a little A Church is dedicated to God as it is a Temple and to a Saint as it is a Basilica Why then it seemeth that either sometimes it is a Temple and sometimes not a Temple according to the fancie of those that approach vnto it or else it is alwaies a Temple and yet alwaies a Basilica too and then the honour must be diuided betwixt God and the Saints let them take which they will the first is impiety the second Idolatry Againe for Vowes though we vow chiefly vnto God and secondarily to the Saints yet the same worship in nature is giuen to these as to him onely it is not in the same degree but Idolatry is to afford any part of Gods worship to a creature as hath beene shewed And lastly touching feast daies if they be immediately applied to the honour of the Saint and in a mediate and secondarie respect to God as his distinction importeth then the creature is adored not onely with the like worship in nature but with a higher degree then God himselfe And thus the mist which he seeketh to cast ouer mens eyes by the subtiltie of his distinctions is quickly dispelled assoone as the light of truth sheweth it selfe and therefore as Ixion imbracing a cloud in stead of Iuno beg at a monstrous off-spring so the entertaining of those cloudie distinctions without deciphering them to the quicke hath bred and doth breed most of those monstrous errors in the Church of Rome Thus we see that this outward adoration is tainted with most grosse Idolatrie 54. The second branch of their Idolatrie to the Saints is by Inuncation and Prayer directed vnto them For Prayer is a proper and peculiar part of Gods worship and therefore not to be giuen to any other besides without a plaine touch of Idolatry for the commandement of God is in the Olde Testament Call 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 not vpon my â—â—gels or my Saints but vpon 〈…〉 nd tâ—â—â— be alone is 〈…〉 inuocated the reason following declareth 〈…〉 d I will deliuer thee from whence ariseth this conclusion he alone is to be inuocated by prayer that is able to deliuer vs in the day of trouble but God alone can doe that therefore he alone is to be prayed vnto Againe it is the commandement of our Sauiour Christ in the New Testament to his whole Church that it should thus pray O our Father not O our mother nor O our brother nor O our sister nor O our fellow-seruants as the Popish Church prayeth but O our Father If there had been any necessity of praying to Saints sure our Sauiour would here haue prescribed it where he setteth downe a perfect forme of prayer to be vsed in his Church for euer Infinite be the places of Scripture â—ending to this end neither is there so much as one precept or example in the whole Booke of God that either inioyneth or approueth Inuocation of Saints as Cassander confesseth albeit his inference therevpon is absurd that therefore it may be done because as there is no mandate nor example extant to warrant it so there is no prohibition to interdict it as if it were not necessarily required that as all our actions so our prayers should bee grounded vpon faith without which it is not onely impossible to please God but also whatsoeuer we doe is sinne but saith is grounded vpon the word of God only It commeth by hearing saith the Apostle and hearing by the word of God How then can the Inuocation of Saints bee but vaine and vnprofitable yea impious and dangerous seeing it is without saith and so without all hope of Gods acceptance 55. Suarez and Salmeron two famous Iesuites confesse as much as Cassander for the one saith that we neuer reade that any directly prayed vnto the Saints departed that they should pray for them and the other that the Inuocation of Saints is not expressed in the New Testament because it would haue beene a harsh precept to the Iewes and dangerous to the Gentiles Thus here are three and those not of the meanest that acknowledge the inuocation of Saints not to bee found in Scripture And yet Bellarmine and â—â—â—ius and Coster and others 〈…〉 ashamed to â—â—est di 〈…〉 laces of Scripture to prooue it but with what impudeâ—â—y of spirit and euill successe I shall not neede to shew being sufficiently discouered by others and the very fight of them being a sufficient refutation 56. As for his reason which he braggeth to be vnanswerable me thinkes it halts of all foure for because we entreat Gods children here in this world to pray for vs doth it therefore follow that we must pray vnto them being departed out of this world By the same reason it may bee inforced that we ought to giue almes vnto them and entertaine them into our houses and wash their feete and comfort them and aduise them and preach vnto them for all these duties of charity wee performe to Saints militant If they say Why but they are remooued from vs and also from their bodies and therefore as they stand not in neede of our charity so wee cannot extend it vnto them The same answere cutteth the throte of this argument they are so farre exalted aboue vs and seuered from all commerce with our affaires that though we vsed their prayers here on earth yet it is in vaine to inuocate them in heauen our prayers as our deeds of charity being not able to stretch so farre This I take to be a sufficient solution to that vnsoluble argument Albeit we haue also another answere in readinesse to wit that there is not the same reason of the inuocation of Saints in heauen as of the mutuall prayers of Gods children on earth but a great difference here we know one anothers necessities there the Saints know not our wants here we are present with them whom we request to pray for vs but we are not present with the Saints in heauen nor they with vs and therefore the one is a fruite of charity but the other a practice of piety and religion here one liuing man may request anothers helpe by word of mouth or letter but inuocation of Saints is often performed by the secret desires of the heart without the vtterance of any speech here we stand as fellow members in our prayers and make request for each other not in our owne names but in the name of Christ our Mediatour but when men inuocate the Saints in
and benefit which we haue to in the merits of the Saints in their iudgement was by vertue of the Communion of Saints that as the members of one body enioy the strength and vigor that is in each other so the members of Christ militant receiue a certaine benefit from the gifts of God bestowed vpon the Saints triumphant and doe as it were merite by their merits because they are all members of one and the same mysticall body But the Romanists hold that the Saints doe supererogate that is hauing more merits then they need themselues doe conferre some of their superabundance vpon their poore brethren that want Fiftly the Fathers when they spake of praying to the Saints did not speake positiuely but tropically and figuratiuely by hyperbolicall and Rhetoricall Apostophers as may appeare plainely in the Orations of Nazianzen and other of their writings But the Romanists conclude positiuely and doctrinally without any Rhetoricall figures or Hyperbolicall elocutions Sixtly as Cassander confesseth when the Fathers said to the Saints Orate pronobis they meant Vtinam oretis pro nobis Would to God they would pray for vs and so they were rather wishes then prayers But the Romanists admit no such extenuation but flatly affirme that wee ought directly to pray vnto them as our Patrons Protectors and Intercessors And lastly the Fathers relyed not vpon the intercession of Saints except there were in themselues a care and conscience of a godly life but in Popery notorious wicked and vngodly persons that neuer thinke vpon amendment of their liues but perseuere in their sinnes without repentance yet doe assure themselues to bee saued by the merits and intercession of the Saints And thus howsoeuer they make a shew of Fathers to cloke their Idolatry withal yet the Fathers if they be rightly vnderstood are as much different from them as blacke is from white And the Fathers might bee free from Idolatrie when as they remaine guiltie 66. The third and last way whereby they turne the blessed Saints into Idols is by putting their trust and confidence in their merits and mediation which kinde of spirituall worship is due only vnto the diuine Maiestie as hath been shewed The truth of which assertion may be proued first by their doctrine secondly by the publike practice of their Church Touching their doctrine to omit the impious impudent and blasphemous opinions of their Monkes and Friers who haue egregiously exceeded the bounds of all pietie in this point left the Romanists should say that they were but priuate mens conceits and not the receiued doctrines of the Church I will onely relate some few sentences out of their most publicke and athenticke writings 67. And to begin with Peter Lumbard he saith that the Saints doe intercede for vs both by their merite and by their affection therefore we pray vnto them that their merits may helpe vs and that they would will our good because if they will it God also will will it and it shall be done Thus hee makes Gods will to depend vpon theirs and not theirs vpon Gods and consequently more trust to be reposed in them then in God Alexander Alensis the most ancient of the Schoolemen writeth that the Saints are to bee prayed vnto for three causes First eyther for our pouerty in meriting that where our merits faile others may patronize vs or for our pouertie in contemplation that wee not being able to behold the highest light in it selfe may behold the same in the Saints or for our pouertie in louing because the efficacie of prayer ariseth from deuotion and for the most part an imperfect man doth feele himselfe more â—ffected towards the Saints then towards God Secondly for the glory of the Saints that whilst wee obtaine that which wee desire by their suffrages wee may magnifie them And thirdly for the reuerence of God that a sinner that dares not come vnto him in his owne person may fly to the Saints and implore their helps Bonauenture affirmeth that the Saints by their merits haue not onely deserued happinesse and glory to themselues but also by their merits of supererogation haue power to helpe others that pray vnto them And againe he saith He that was before vnworthy by praying to the Saints is made worthy Aquinas giueth this reason for praying to the Saints Quia vltima reducuntur in Deum per media Because the extremes are reduced to God by the meanes therfore Gods benefits are conuayed vnto vs by the meanes of the Saints Biel saith that we ought to fly to the refuge of the Saints that we may be saued by their merits and prayers and he saith further that God hath giuen halfe his Kingdome to the blessed Virgine the Queene of heauen as Assuerus promised to Queene Ester and so retayning iustice to himselfe he hath graunted mercy to her to be exercised And vpon this ground is that saying of Bernhardine that we must appeale from the Court of Gods iustice to the Court of his Mothers mercy But Antoninus the Archbishop of Florence is more playne then them all for hee telleth vs That it must needs be that to whomsoeuer the blessed Virgin turneth her eyes they must be iustified and saued And againe that Christ is not only an Aduocate but a Iudge and therefore a sinner dareth not approch vnto him but that God hath prouided vs of an Aduocatresse which is sweet and milde and in whom is no bitternesse And againe Mary is that Throne of grace spoken of Heb. 4. 16. to whom we must approch with confidence that we may obtayne mercy and find grace in the time of neede Againe he calleth the Virgin Mary the gate of heauen because whatsoeuer grace euer came out of heauen into the world came out by her meanes and whatsoeuer thing entreth into heauen must enter by her and so he calleth the other Saints Portas coeli The gates of heauen Because by their prayers they carry vs into heauen Sotus saith that the Saints are coadiutors and cohelpers in the worke of our saluation Many such-like blasphemous sayings might bee alledged out of their subtile Schoolemen whereby it euidently appeareth that in those dayes the poore ignorant Romanists were taught to repose the trust and confidence of their saluation in the merits and mediation of the Saints yea and that more then in Christ as that publike Picture which was extant in many of their Churches doth more fully prooue when as Christ our Sauiour was painted like a sterne man casting darts and the people flying for succour to the Virgine Mary who interposed her selfe and shewing her Sonne her brests receiued his darts in her garment If this bee not besides Idolatrie horrible and fearefull blasphemy let all men iudge 68. But what is the doctrine of latter times any whit purer no verily for the Councill of Trent that was called in pretence to this end to reforme abuses in the Church and to restore Religion
Prophet Esay saying Behold I will lay in Sion a stone a sure foundation which is a playne and manifest Prophecie of Christ and not of Peter as the Apostle Peter himselfe expoundeth it where by the way we may note the feareful outrage of these Romish Rabbies against the truth of God and the God of truth whilst to the end they may aduance their Popes dignity by Peter they wrest and peruert the Scriptures and apply the Prophecies belonging to the Sonne of God to his seruant Peter and so make Peter himselfe nay the holy Ghost a Lyar. It were not credible that such blasphemous thoughts and words should nestle in the heart and issue out of the mouth of any but that the Apostle Saint Paul hath fore-told vs that in the time of Antichrist because men would not receiue the loue of the truth that they might be saued therefore God would send them strong delusions that they should beleeue lyes c. But to the point If Christs person be the onely true foundation of the Church in whom all the building being coupled together groweth vnto an holy Temple in the Lord and that not the persons but the doctrine and faith of the Apostles are those secundary foundations which the Scripture speaketh of as hath beene proued out of the Fathers then the opposition is vndefeasible namely that there is but one person the foundation of our Church which is our Lord and Sauiour the Sonne of God Christ Iesus and yet that Peters person should be the foundation of the Church also together with Christ 45. Thirdly I answere that both in truth and also in proprietie of speech there can bee but one foundation of one building those stones that are layd next to the foundation are not properly a secundary foundation but the beginning of the building vpon the foundation and for that cause when Peter and the rest of the Apostles are called twelue foundations it cannot bee vnderstood that they were any wayes properly foundations of the Church either first or second but that our Sauiour who is the substance and subiect of their doctrine is the onely true and singular foundation of the Church and that there is none other besides him for if when it is said that we are built vpō the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles is meant the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles as must needes bee because the Prophets are coupled together with the Apostles which liued not in the Christian Church and therefore could not be personall foundations of it and Christ crucified is the substance of their doctrine then it must needes follow that the Apostles meaning is nothing else but that we are built vpon Christ whom the Prophets and the Apostles preached and beleeued in And thus S. Hilary vnderstood it and Saint Ambrose and Anselmus who giuing the foundation of the Church to Peter expoundeth it sometimes of his faith in Christ and sometimes of Christ himselfe in whom he beleeued And thus doe also Salmeron the Iesuite and Cardinall Caietane in their commentaries vpon that place and Peter Lumbard together with the glosse vpon the place interpret And so this distinction of a primary and secundary foundation hath no foundation in the word of God 46. The Gospell teacheth that no Apostle or Bishop or other Minister of the Gospell is superiour to another of the same ranke or hath greater power and authority then another in respect of their ministerie but that all Ministers in their seuerall degrees haue equall power of preaching the Gospell administring the Sacraments binding and loosing But the Bishop of Rome challengeth to himselfe a supreme power ouer all other Bishops and ouer the whole Church and braggeth that he hath by right a title to both the swords both spirituall and temporall and that both iurisdictions doe originally pertaine to him and from him are conueyed to others c. 47. Bellarmine heere first confesseth and secondly distinguisheth hee confesseth that the Bishop of Rome hath a supreme power ouer all other Bishops and the whole Church and denyeth that eyther those places here quoted or any other doe prooue the contrary 48. To which I answere first that whereas out of Luke 22. 26. and 1. Cor. 3. 4. he extracteth a disparity and an inequality I answere that no man denyeth it and therefore he fighteth with his owne shadow hee should prooue not a bare superiority which wee confesse but a superiority in the same degree as of one Bishop to another and that in power not in execution wherein standeth the point of opposition 49. Secondly whereas he saith that though the power of remitting and retayning finnes and binding and loosing was communicated to all the Apostles yet Peter was ordayned chiefe Pastor ouer them all because our Sauiour Christ sayd vnto him alone Feede my sheepe and To thee will I giue the Keyes of the Kingdome of heauen I answere that in this hee crosseth both himselfe the Fathers and the truth himselfe for elsewhere hee confesseth that the keyes both of Order and Iurisdiction were giuen to all the Apostles indifferently and therefore it must needes follow that Tibi dabo claues was not spoken singularly to Peter but generally to them all for if Christ gaue the keyes to them all as he confesseth then without doubt he promised them to them all or else his word and his deede should not accord together And againe hee acknowledgeth that all the Apostles had both power and commission to feede the sheepe of Christ when Mat. 28. he bade them all Goe teach and baptize and they all did put that commission in execution therefore it must needes follow that no singular power was giuen to Peter when as Christ said vnto him Feede my sheepe vnlesse we will say that the rest had not the same commission 50. The Fathers for Saint Cyprian saith plainely that all the Apostles were the same with Peter indued with equall fellowship both of honour and power and that a primary was giuen vnto Peter that the Church might appeare to be one Saint Hilary is of the same minde You O holy and blessed men saith he for the merit of your faith haue receiued the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and obtained a right to binde and loose in Heauen and earth Saint Augustine saith that if when Christ said To thee will I giue the keyes of the kingdome of Heauen he spake onely to Peter then the Church hath not the power of the keyes but if the Church hath it then Peter receiuing the keyes represented the Church And lastly Leo one of their owne Popes confesseth asmuch when hee affirmeth that the strength of this power of the keyes passed vnto all the Apostles and the constitution of this decree vnto all the Princes of the Church 51. Lastly the truth for when the Apostles stroue for superiority Christ who is truth it selfe and would not haue concealed so necessary a trueth if
it had bene a truth vpon so fit an occasion neuer preferred Peter but exhorteth all and so Peter also to equality and humility yea not onely so but expressely forbad all king-like and monarchicall superiority amongst them and not onely tyrannicall as Bellarmine would haue it as may euidently appeare by comparing Luk. 22. 26. with 1. Pet. 5. 3. 52. Thus hee confesseth their doctrine next he commeth to distinguish of it namely that their Apostolicall power was equall in respect of the people but yet not equall betweene themselues in which respect Peter was not onely a common Pastour with his fellow Apostles but extraordinarily pastor pastoruÌ„ a Pastour of the Pastours that is of the Apostles theÌ„selues this is his distinction but it is idle and vaine as may appeare by this reason because if he were the chiefe Pastour of the Apostles then he either ordained them to their offices or fed them with his doctrine or gouerned them by his authority or did some part of the office of a Pastour vnto them but hee neither ordained them for Christ himselfe did that norâ—ed them with doctrine for they were all taught of God and equally receiued the holy Ghost which did lead them into all truth nor gouerned them for they sent him hee did not send them and called him to an account he did not call them and therefore was no wayes to be esteemed their Pastour and super-intendent but their equall and Co-Apostle 53. And whereas hee defendeth the extrauagant of Pope Boniface which is so rightly termed for containing a most extrauagant doctrine from the truth hee must needs defend this double iurisdiction by the speech of Peter to our Sauior Ecce duo gladii behold heere are two swords and his answere to the same It is enough with how absurd a collection it is let his owne fellowes bee Iudges Franciscus de Victoria Stella Maldonate Arias Montanus and Suares the Iesuite All which with many others reiect this collection of theirs as most absurd and impertinent I conclude if Pope Boniface did extrauagate in that extrauagant in the application of this place why doe they hold that the Pope cannot erre iudicially If hee did not whydoe so many learned men of his owne side contradict him Either sure the Popes two swords are ruâ—â—ie and cannot bee vnsheathed or els hee would neuer suffer his authority to bee thus diminished not onely by his enemies but euen by those that fight vnder his owne banner And thus this Antithesis also stands vnblemished for all that is yet said to the contrary 54. The Gospell teacheth that there is but one Mediator betwixt God and man euen the God-man Iesus Christ and that hee beeing the onely Propitiatour is also the onely Mediatour But the Church of Rome teacheth that as many Saints as are in Heauen so many Mediatours and Intercessours wee haue to God and among the rest the blessed Virgin the mother of our Lord whom they call their Aduocatresse Deliueresse Mediatresse Sauiouresse and Comfortresse 55. Bellarmine seeketh to escape from this Contradiction by a threefold distinction first hee sayth that Christ indeed is the onely Mediatour of redemption because hee onely made reconciliation betwixt God and vs by paying the ransome for our sinnes but neuerthelesse the Saints are Mediatours of intercession by praying for vs. This he barely affirmeth without any proofe and therefore it seemeth he would haue vs take it vpon his word for current coyne without any tryall but wee haue learned out of Gods word to try the spirits and to weigh all such ware in the balance of the Sanctuary and therefore finding by the Scripture that Christ did not onely pay the ransome for our sinnes but also that hee maketh request for vs. and not finding in all the booke of God that the Saints in Heauen either doe present our prayers vnto God or make request for our particular necessities wee haue iust cause to reiect this distinction as too light ware and as counterfeit coyne 56. I but sayth hee the Saints triumphant pray for the Saints militant therefore they are their Mediators I answere Though it be granted that they do pray for them in generall which indeed is not denyed and in particular which can neuer be proued yet the argument hath no good consequence that therefore they should bee our Mediatours for as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth A Mediatour must bee a middle-man differing from each party at variance after some sort but the Saints triumphant are not mediâ— betwixt God and vs both because in presence they are alwayes with God and neuer with vs and also in semblance more like to God then vnto vs for they are perfectly happy holy and righteous we beeing miserable sinfull and wicked and in knowledge they are satisfied with heauenly obiects and haue no participation with humane affaires being therefore thus far remooued from vs and so neere knit vnto God in all these by his owne rule they cannot any wayes bee our Mediatours neither of redemption nor intercession 57. His second distinction is that Christ is called the onely Mediatour because hee is the Mediatour not onely in regard of his office but also of his nature for that hee is in the middest betwixt God and man hee himselfe beeing God and man To which I answere that it is most true which hee sayth but yet it is both contrary to that which hee himselfe hath deliuered elsewhere and also ouerthroweth that which hee holdeth heere for the first he laboureth to proue in another place that Christ is the Mediatour onely in respect of his humane nature and here hee sayth in respect of both natures how can these bee reconciled mary by another distinction It is one thing sayth hee to bee a Mediatour in respect of person and another thing in respect of operation in the first Christ is the Mediatour by both natures in the second by his humane nature onely As if hee did not operate and worke the Mediation in the same respect that hee is Mediatour I but hee will say the chiefe worke of our redemption was the death of Christ but the God-head cannot dye therfore c. I answere Though Christ died as he was man yet the person that died was God and man for as Tolet his fellow Iesuite and Cardinall obserueth Christ dyed not as other men in whose power it is not either to hold the soule in the body or to recall it backe againe being expelled but Christ ioyned his soule and body together at his pleasure as hee that holding a sword in one hand and a scabbard in another puls it out or thrusts it in at his pleasure By which it is plaine that though Christ dyed in respect of his man-hood yet the author of his death was his God-head so he is our Mediatour in both natures Secondly he ouerthroweth his own positioÌ„ by this distinctioÌ„ for first if Christ bee the only Mediatour in respect of office and
it is Romish is not the true Catholique Religion of CHRIST but the seduction of Antichrist THE PREAMBLE THat which Ireneus an ancient and godly Father of the Church speaketh of all Heretickes that all the Helleborus in the world is not sufficient to purge them that they may vomit out their follie may truely be spoken of the Church of Rome and her adherents that it is a difficult matter if not almost impossible to reclaime her from her errors and to heale her wounds All the balme of Gilead will not do it nor all the spirituall phisicke that can be ministred for there are two sinnes which of all other are most hard to bee relinquished Whoredome and Drunkennesse the one because it is so familiar and naturall to the flesh the other because it breedeth by custome such an vnquenchable thirst in the stomacke as must euer anon be watered with both which spirituall diseases the Church of ROME is infected She is the Whore of Babylon with whome the Kings of the Earth haue committed fornication and who hath made drunke with the Wine of her fornications all the Inhabitants of the Earth In regard of the first Ieremie prophecied of her that though paines be taken to heale her yet shee could not be healed And in regard of the second Saint Paul prophecied that GOD would send them strong delusion that they should beleeue lies that all they might bee damned that receiued not the loue of the truth Notwithstanding though the hope bee as little of the reclaiming of most of them as of turning an Eunuch into a man or making a blacke Moore white yet I haue propounded in this discourse a strong potion compounded of ingredients which if they bee not past cure may purge and cleanse them of their disease and reduce them to the sanity of Christian Religion Which if their queasie stomackes shall eyther refuse to take or hauing taken shall vomit vp againe and not suffer them to worke vpon their consciences yet this benefit will arise that God shall be glorified the truth manifested and all that loue the truth confirmed and they also themselues that are so drowned in error that they will rather pull in others ouer head and eares vnto them and so drowne together then be drawne out of the myre by any helpe shall be conuinced in their consciences of their most grosse apostacie With this confidence towards Gods glorie and the good of his Church though with little hope of recouering them from their obdurate blindnesse I enter into my intended taske desiring the Lord to giue a blessing to these poore labours which I consecrate to my Lord and Master Iesus Christ whom I serue and the Church his Spouse of which I professe my selfe to bee one of the meanest members MOTIVE I. That Religion which in many points giueth libertie to sinne is not the truth but such is the Religion of the Church of ROME ergo c. THe first proposition is an vndoubted truth and needs no confirmation especially seeing S. Iames describeth true Religion by these attributes pure and vndefiled And S. Paul calleth it the mysterie of godlinesse and the doctrine according to godlinesse And herein consisteth an essentiall difference betwixt the true Religion and all false ones so that it must needs follow that that Religion which is essentially the cause and occasion of sinne and openeth a wide window to vngodlinesse cannot be the truth of God but must needs fetch it beginning from the deuill who is the author of all euill The Gospell indeede may by accident be the occasion of euill as S. Paul saith The law is the occasion of sinne for it stirs vp contention and strife and discouers the corruptions of Mans heart and by opposing against them as a damme against a streame makes them to swell and boyle and burst forth beyond the bounds howbeit here the cause is not in the Gospell or Lawe but in the corruption of mans heart which the more it is stirred the more it rageth and striueth to shew it selfe But neuer yet was the doctrine of godlinesse the cause of wickednesse nor the pure and vndefiled Religion of Christ Iesus an essentiall procurer and prouoker vnto sinne 3. This therefore being thus manifest all the question and difficultie remaineth in the second proposition to wit that the Religion of the Romish Church is such as openeth a gappe vnto sinne and giueth notorious libertie and scope to vngodlinesse and that not by way of accident or occasion but necessarily as the cause to the effect Qua data necessariò soquitur effectus as the Logicians speake and therefore being an â—npure and defiled Religion and the mysterie of iniquitie not the mysterie of godlinesse it cannot be that true Religion which Christ our Sauiour brought with him from heauen and left here vpon earth blamelesse and vnspotted like himselfe to be the way to lead vs vnto heauen where hee is 4. That the Romish Religion is a polluted and defiled Religion tending to libertie and loosenesse Let the indifferent Reader iudge by these few instances deriued out of the verie bowels of their Church and being articles of their faith and grounds of their Religion And first to beginne with their doctrine of dispensations whereby they teach that the Pope hath power to dispense with the word of God and with euery commandement of the Law and not onely with the Law but with the Gospell and Epistles of Paul to what horrible loosenesse and lewdnesse of life doth it tend for to omit that it containeth in it open blasphemie by their owne rule which is that In praecepto superioris non debet dispensare inferior the inferiour may not dispense with the precept of the superiour by which the Pope dispensing with Gods lawe is not oneâ—y equalled but exalted aboue God what sinne is there bee it neuer so hainous which there is not libertie giuen to commit by this licencious doctrine 5. Incest But Pope Martin the first gaue a dispensation to one to marrie his owne sister and not his wiues sister only as some of the Romish crue would dawbe ouer this filthie wall because it is in Antoninus Cum quadam eius germana for Siluester Prieriâ— Bartholomeus Fumus and Angelus de Clauafio speake more plainely Cumsua germana that is with his owne naturall sister Another Pope dispensed with Henry the eight to marrie his sister in law and with Philip of Spaine to marrie his owne Niece and Clement the 7. licenced Petrus Aluaradus the Spaniard to marrie two sisters at once and no maruaile seeing it is the very doctrine of the Romish Church that the Pope can dispense in all the degrees of Consanguinitie and Affinitie saue onely with the Father and his daughter and with the Mother and her Son Sodometrie But Pope Sixtus the fourth licensed the Cardinall of Saint Lucie and his familie to vse freely that sinne not to bee named in the
for sinne that as by Chaucers Canterbury tales may appeare it deserueth rather to bee called a pastime than a penance If Almes be enioyned by the Confessor to the poore penitent then must an Abby be built or some religious house to nourish a company of idle drones good for nothing but fruges consumere or suppose an high-way bee repayred or a Church reedified or an Hospitall erected what terrour can this be from sinne when the penalty may thus be discharged by the purse As for their Fasting watching whiping going barefoote though it carry a shew of zeale in respect of not sparing the body yet it is a plaine imitation of Baals Priests and little profitable as Saint Paul saith to godlinesse but rather an incitation to loosenes For when a man is perswaded and taught that all his foule sins committed the whole yere before are vtterly blotted out and done away by fasting one meale euery Wednesday and Friday and eating nothing but Fish during the holy time of Lent except Iunckets and sweet meates and wine and Sugar which they gorge themselues withall and yet fast too and bearing ashes on Ashwednesday going woolward on Good-friday or giuing himselfe halfe a dozen lashes on the back or creeping to a crosse and such like trumpery I say when a man is perswaded that this short paine is a sufficient satisfaction for the punishment of all his former sinne for so they teach who would not returne againe to his vomit of wickednesse seeing the pleasures which he hopes to enioy by his sinnes are farre longer and greater then the punishment wherewith he maketh satisfaction 22. Secondly to shew that all this great noyse of satisfactions is nothing but a meere May-game and mockery obserue diligently their owne doctrine Thus they teach that all satisfactory punishments may be released by a pardon Aquinas their illumined Doctor giueth this reason thereof Christ might release the fault without any satisfaction and so might Paul ergo so may the Pope and this is one of their late definitions of a pardon Indulgentia est remissio harum actionuÌ„ quae sunt a Confessario iniunctae peccatori It is the remitting of that penance which is enioyned a sinner by his Confessor And therefore another Iesuite truely confesseth that the Indulgences haue taken away all vse of seuere discipline out of the Church haue they so good Iesuite Then thus it followeth you let out satisfactions which you so much extoll and withall let in great liberty into the Church not onely by opening the dore to pardons but bewray your own absurdities For what a ridiculous jest is this he that hath offended must do penaÌ„ce after his confession or else hee cannot be saued and after his penance is assigned get but a pardon and then there needes no further satisfaction And how is a pardon procured why for a little peece of money omnia venalia Romae The Pope hath his pardon Pedlers in all Countries thou needest not go farre for it they will bring it home to thy dores at least if thou beest sat and able to greaze them well Pope Boniface the ninth sent out his Buls into diuers Countries releasing for a certaine summe of money all offences whatsoeuer without any penance And Leo the tenth offered to free for ten shillings any soule you would name out of Purgatory much more a mans owne soule that it should neuer come thither here is a doctrine indeede of seuerity if any was among the Epicures who will not say but this is a Censorious and strict Religion 23. I but some will say peraduenture oh it is an hard matter to pay tenne shillings for a pardon this is the penance of the purse which to a couetous rich man or to a miserable poore man is worse theÌ„ the penance of the carkeis Why but thou mayst haue it cheaper if thou wilt and therefore indeed he is a foole which will part with a penny for the purchase of a pardon say but deuoutly a little short prayer in the Primer thou shalt haue three thousand dayes pardon of mortall sinnes and twenty thousand dayes of veniall giuen by Pope â—ohn the twenty two And if that Prayer bee too long say fiue Pater-nosters before the Vernacle and thou shalt haue tenne thousand dayes pardon graunted by the same Pope and if so many Pater-nosters be too tedious say but an Aue at the Eleuation thou shalt obtaine pardon for 20000. daies or if thou dwellest neere Rome doe but visite the Church of Saint Paul without the walls haue eight forty thousand yeres of pardon Who would stand vpon dayes when he may haue thus many thousand yeares If thou beest weake or sick and not able to visite a Church then doe but deuoutly worship the Crosse or the nayles whip launce heart or hands of Christ painted in thy chamber and that shall bee a sufficient satisfaction for all thy sinnes Here is stuffe with a witnesse for can a man forbeare laughter to heare these May-games and yet this is not the tenth part of these incredible absurdities But I passe them ouer being sufficiently discouered by others to the shame of the Romish Religion It sufficeth that by this little it is euident that satisfactions are so farre from restraining that they rather remit the reines to all liberty and licentiousnesse 24. Lastly to conclude if so be their imposed penance be at any time strict seuere it is when the Pope iâ— offended not when God Men may franckly sin against God no man will say vnto him blacke is thine eye or if vpon his shriuing they enioyne him penance either it shall be so easie that it will not much trouble him to endure it or if it be too hard he may either redeeme it with his purse or at least commute it into another kind But if their Lord god the Pope be offended so the Canonists stile him then not onely seuerity but cruelty must be exercised then the whip and the scourge then the fire and the fagot Et scutica dignum horribili sectere flagello That which deserued but a flap with a ferula must be chastised with a scourge As on the contrary if the offence was only against God and not the Pope then that which deserued to be seuerely corrected must haue nothing but three flaps with a Fox-tayle which is credibly reported by some Writers to haue beene the penance of a Nunne which was gotten with childe in her Cloyster Albeit another Nunne at Watton in Yorkeshire fared farre worse for her wantonnesse with a yong Monke of the same house for being gotten with childe by him she was first imprisoned saith the Story and then beaten vnreasonably and vnseasonably too being great with childe then the Monke that committed this trespasse being taken and stript and bound fast to a stoole a sharpe knife was put into the Nunnes hand and shee was compelled by most cruell
a small neither shalt thou haue in thy house diuers measures a great and a small but thou shalt haue a right and a iust weight a perfect and a iust measure Let no man oppresse or defraude his brother in any matter How contradictory these plaine precepts and enunciatiue propositions of Gods word are vnto the positions of the Cardinall no man can but discerne that is not bewitched with the soâ—cerie of Iezabel either therefore let him shew out of holy writ some exception from these generall rules or let him acknowledge his Doctrine and Religion to be the vpholder of most grosse and palpable theft 22. If any man say that these be the opinions of priuate men and not the doctrine of the Church I answere that this is a most friuolous conceit for none of their bookes are admitted to the presse before they be examined by certaine Censurers deputed to that purpose by the Church and if any thing dislike them or seeme to sauour of heresie as they call the trueth presently it is either gelded out or corrected at their pleasures And that which goeth for currant hath his allowance subnexed That it containeth in it nothing contrary to the Catholike faith of the Church of Rome These positions then of these Iesuites standing thus approued by the common consent of their Censurers and priuiledged to be both printed and read of all men as containing nothing contrary to wholesome doctrine cannot be thought to be the vnaduised opinions of priuatemen but euen the doctrine and religion of their Church 23. Lastly that I may conclude this second argument they maintaine also the prophanation of the Sabboth which the Lord hath enioyned to be sanctified with so great and vrgent a precept Remember that thou keepe holy the Sabboth day Adding â— mâ—menâ—o before and fencing it with so many reasons after that it might not seeme a light matter but a coÌ„mandement of great consequence yet these impudent preuaricators make it a matter of no moment yea giue liberty to the open breach and transgression of it For thus writeth Cardinall Tollet Homo tenetur c. A man saith he is bound vpon paine of a mortall sinne to sanctifie the Sabboth but is not bound vnder the same paine to sanctifie it well As if forsooth it could be sanctified at all if it be not well sanctified or as if the prophanation of the Sabboth were the sanctifying of it for not to sanctifie it well is nothing else but to prophane it howbeit if this were all the iniurie hee doth to Gods Sabboth it might be borne withall but the bold Cardinall taketh vpon him to breake in pieces the barres thereof and to expose it being the Lords day and therefore fit to bee employed onely in the Lords worke to most vile and base offices for thus hee writeth in the same booke Licet iter facere c. It is lawfull to take a iourney on the feast day with this caueat that diuine seruice be first heard It is lawfull to hunt and doe such like things It is lawfull for Iudges especially rurall to giue iudgement on the feast day it is no sinne for a Barber to exercise his trade on the feast day for commodity if he had no leasure to doe it at another time they are excused also which sell flesh kill beasts and sell necessary victuals on holy dayes And if the occasion of a great gayne would otherwise bee lost as in fishing for Herring and Tunnes which come not but vpon certaine dayes it is lawfull to fish on the holy day In publique solemnities it is lawfull to prepare the wayes and to build for spectacles This is the doctrine of that renowned Cardinall whose writings are so approued of the Church of Rome that whatsoeuer hee speaketh is held for trueth But here it may be answered that he nameth not the Sabboth but the festiuall or holy day to which I answere First that the title of that Chapter is de Sabbathâ— and therefore if he meaneth not that hee swarueth from his purpose Secondly that the expresse words and drift of the whole Chapter demonstrates that vnder the name of the festiuall or holy day he includeth also the Sabboth And thirdly how could he giue instructions touching the cases of the Sabboth if he intended not the Sabboth seeing all his rules runne vnder this generall terme on the festiuall or holy day This therfore is but a mist to blinde mens eyes that they might not see their impietie 24. Can this Religion thinke you be of God which in thus many points crosseth and trampleth vnder foote the law of God Doth not the head of that congregation euidently shew himselfe to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that outlaw which S. Paul speaketh of 2. Thess 2. that is such an one as opposeth himselfe to the law of God Doe not the necke and shoulder which are supporters of that head I meane the Cardinals and Bishops shew themselues to be of the same nature and disposition with it and the whole body which is quickned by the life of his doctrine to be meerely Antichristian He that seeth not this is blinde and cannot discerne a farre off hee that seeth it and confesseth it not is carelesse of his owne saluation Let vs leaue them therefore either to bee conuerted which God graunt for Christ his sake or to bee confounded if they continue in their errours MOTIVE III. That Religion which imitateth the Iewes in those things wherin they are enemies to Christ cannot bee the truth but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome Ergo. THe malice of the Iewes towards Christ our Sauiour and his Church from the beginning vnto this day is so notorious that the whole world is witnesse thereof Saint Paul witnesseth of them that they killed the Lord Iesus and their owne Prophets and persecuted the Apostles and were contrary to all men and forbad them to preach vnto the Gentiles that they might be saued to fulfill their sinnes alwaies and that the wrath of God was come vpon them to the vttermost And as it was at that time so euer since they haue not any whit remitted but increased in their rancour for still they crucifie vnto themselues the Lord of Life though not in his person which is at the right hand of God yet in his meÌ„bers whoÌ„ they persecute vnto death asmuch as in them lyeth and in his Gospel which they still pursue with a deadly hatred Yea so great is their malice that many times they haue taken Christian children vpon their preparation day to the Passouer and nailed them vpon the Crosse loaded them with reproaches and scornes in disgrace of Christ and miserably tormented them to death as was done by the Iewes of Inmester a Towne scituate betwixt Chalchis and Antiochia as witnesseth Socrates in his Ecclesiasticall History and in Germany at Fretulium as also in England at Lincolne and Norwich as our Chronicles testifie Yea it
that entring into their Temples they were sprinkled not that they might be defiled but that if they had any sinne they might be purged from it Thus it plainely appeareth that this was a Heathenish custome which how it can agree with the Church of Christ I know not sure I am that in the Primitiue Church there was no holy-water besides the water of Baptisme that can be proued by any good authority for the testimonies of Alexander the first Clement and Basil alledged by Bellarmine are all counterfeit as partly the matter in them contayned and partly the censure of Eusebius and Erasmus doe sufficiently proue and might here bee demonstrated if I thought it necessary neither doth it agree with the nature of those times to the which S. Iohn so lately before had left this doctrine that the onely purgation of sinne was the bloud of Christ and not holy-water consecrated by a Priest 9. In like manner their vse of Incense on their Altars to driue away deuils as they say doth sauour both of Iudaisme and of Paganisme That the Iewes vsed to burne Incense in sacrifice to God is no question for they had their Altar of burnt Incense appoynted by God himselfe for that purpose this Altar without question was a type of Christ our Mediatour and the incense of the prayers of the Saints which are then acceptable vnto God when they are offered vp in the name of Christ who is the Altar that sanctifieth all our sacrifices This is so euident not only out of holy Scripture but froÌ„ the full consent of all Writers old new that it is needles to stand to prooue it And therefore offering of Incense being a shadow of things to come why should it still remaine seeing the Sunne of righteousnesse is risen in our Horizon and hath â—ispelled all shadowes by the glorious beames of his presence As touching the Pagans Polydore Virgil confesseth that it was their custome to offer Incense to their Idols And Theodoret affirmeth that when Iulian distributed gold amongst his Souldiers hee commanded an Altar full of coales to bee set by him and Frankincense to bee layd on a Table to the end that euery one would recieue gold at his hand should first cast Frankincense vpon the Altar and this hee did to distinguish the Pagan from the Christian By which it is euident by the way that at that time this was not in vse in the Church This Iewish and Paganish custome then how commeth it to passe that it should now bee taken vp as a holy seruice of God Are not all Iewish Ceremonies at an end by the coÌ„ming of the body which is Christ And is it fit that Christians should learne to worship God froÌ„ the Gentiles which were worshippers of deuils These things are so dissonant to the nature of true Religion that they admit no iust reconciliation Sure it is that the Primitiue Church neuer knew the vse therof as appeareth both by that Example of Iulian before alleaged out of Theodoret and also by testimonies of Arnobius Eusebius and Augustine all which acknowledge that the Church in their time had no such custome We goâ—â—into Arabia saith Saint Augustine to fetch Frankincense God requireth of vs the sacrifice of praise As for the auncient Leiturgies and Dionisius that mention it in Gods seruice wee care not for them seeing all men either vehemently suspect them or vtterly reiect them as counterfeit 10. Againe the Iewes had their holy oyle wherewith their Kings Priests and Prophets were anoynted which was a type and figure of that spirituall vnction of grace wherewith Christ our head was anoynted aboue his fellowes and all his members in a due proportion The Church of Rome hath also reuiued this Ceremonie and that after a farre more superstitious manner for there was not halfe such a stirre at the making of the holy oyle of the Tabernacle as there is at the consecrating of their holy Chrisme it would euen prouoke the spleene to laughter and the gall to bitternesse to heare or behold the apish trickes that they vse at the making of their precious Chrisme such muttering such charming and enchanting such blowing and breathing such exorcising and coniuring the deuill by the mitted Bishop first and then twelue Priests in their order before they come to Aue Sanctum Chrisma All haile O holy Chrisme as is wonderfull What is this I pray you but a profest restoring of a Iewish Ceremony and a plaine declaration that their Priests are rather Iewish than Christian and that those graces of Gods spirit which were figured by their holy oyle are not to bee found in cheir Church seeing they retaine so superstitiously the type thereof If they say that Saint Iames mentioneth oyle to bee vsed at the visitation of the sicke whereby they recouered health I answer first that this was no such consecrated oyle as is in vse in the Church of Rome and secondly that it was applyed onely to the sicke that were in danger of death not to young Infants that are new come into the world at their baptisme thirdly that it was not an instrument of spirituall grace but of corporall health and lastly that it lasted onely during the time that miracles liued in the Church and dyed when they dyed so that Saint Iames his oyle maketh nothing for the maintenance of the Romish Chrisme and therefore I leaue it vnto them as a meere Iewish superstition 11. Lastly doth not the high Priest of Rome imitate the high Priest of the Iewes in his Pontificall garments are not their Fryers and Anchorites â—pâ—sh counterfeiters of the Leuiticall Nazarites doth not their Iubile both in name and nature represent the Iewish Iubile no man that knoweth the one and seeth the other but will confesse this to be true for Aaron wore a Crowne vpon his head to signifie the Kingly power of Christ the Bishop of Rome hath three Crownes to signifie forsooth his threefold power in Heauen Earth and Purgatory Or as Aretine iested one for the flesh another for the world and the third for the deuill and none for God Aaron had a plate on his Crowne wherin was engrauen Holinesse to the Lord. The Bishop of Rome vsed to weare a plate on his head wherein was written the word Mysterie as if he would professe himselfe to be the vpholder of that mystery of iniquitie spoken of by the Apostle Aaron had his Ephod and Robe the Bishop of Rome hath answerable therevnto his rich Pontificall attire which in many resemblances is like vnto the same yea the Romanists doe plainely Iudaize in bringing in againe into the Priestly order such variety of garments as the Pall the Miter the Crozier-staffe the Albe the Chimere the gray Amice the Sâ—oale with such like Insomuch that when their Bishops come forth to doe diuine seruice a man would thinke that he saw Aaron addressed with his attire to sacrifice at the Altar 12. As touching
conceit 22. Againe they ioyne hands with the Iewes in their doctrines of Free-will inuocation of Angels and Saints and merite of good workes all which the moderne Rabbines hold as articles of their Creed deriuing them from their predecessours the Pharises that went before them Petrus Galatinus that Rabbinish Romanist reckoneth vp a number of them that were all Patrons of Free-will and not as it is set free by grace for so we hold that a man hath free-will to good but euen by nature before grace as the Romanists hold And so also of Inuocation of Saints some of them affirming that the pure soules which heare them that pray vnto them haue a place in heauen Others that the Iewes vsed to interpose in their prayers betwixt them and God Isaac as an intercessour Others that prayers are to be made to Angels to open the gates of Paradise and to appease Gods wrath And lastly the Romanists themselues affirme that when our Sauiour cryed out on the Crosse Eli Eli c. the Iewes would neuer haue supposed that he had called for Elias had it not been an vsuall practice amongst them to call vpon the Saints departed Lastly touching the merite of worke the Iewes teach that God once euery yere to wit in the moneth of September at what time he created the world calleth all mens liues to an account for the yeare past and openeth three Bookes one wherein are written the names of notorious sinners and Atheists called The Booke of Death another in which are enrolled the names of iust and holy men called The Booke of Life and a third for such as are in a meane betwixt both neither exceeding bad nor exceeding good but of a mixt disposition and these haue respite giuen them till the day of reconciliation to repent in which is the tenth day of the same month at which time if their good doth exceed their euill then it goeth well with them but if their euill exceed their good then they are registred presently in the Booke of Death And lest GOD should be deceiued they say that he holdes in his hand a ballance into one skale whereof he puts their good workes and into the other their euill deeds that he may measure out his rewards according to the weight of the one or the other How ridiculous a fable is this Much like vnto the Poeticall fiction of Minâ—s Aeaâ—us and Radamanthus the three Iudges of hell whome the Poets faine to sit there weighing the soules of men and giuing sentence vpon them according to their poyse and weight By this it appeareth that the foolish Rabbines maintained free-will inuocated Saints and Angels and esteemed their workes meritorious All which are the very opinions of the Church of Rome beleeued and practised of all the professours of that Religion which is so much the more absurd because they themselues confesse in speciall concerning the doctrine of Inuocation of Saints that it was not taught vnto the people of the olde Testament for feare of Idolatry nor at the first preaching of the Gospell for feare it should seeme vnto them a hard and harsh doctrine and in generall that it is madnesse to relye our faith vpon the Iewish Thalmud seeing the Thalmudicall Writers are full of impieties and blasphemies and therefore haue not onely been prohibited to be read but also condemned to the fire by diuers of their owne Popes all which notwithstanding our Romish Rabbies fetch a demonstration for the maintenance of these doctrines from the example and practice of the Iewes 23. In like manner the Iewes had those that professed a monasticall and single life which were called Essaeans from the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Saints or holy men as some suppose because â—orsooth they tooke vpon them to be more holy then others and therefore would not offer sacrifice with the people because they thought them not so holy as themselues And these as Iosephus and Philo testifie professed continency from marriage community in goods and abstinence from meats not by any warrant out of Gods word but onely by the authority of their vnwritten traditions And doe not the Romanists imitate them in the same kind What are their Monkish Votaries but Apes of the Iewish Essaeans And what is their Monasticall profession but a pretence of a state of rare holinesse and perfection They vow chastitie in single life and abhorre marriage as a state of pollution they abstaine from meates and professe voluntary pouerty with a community of goods and all this they do that they may seeme more holy then others and merite heauen by their holinesse hauing withall answerable vnto them nothing but tradition for their warrantize without either sound precept or true example out of holy Scripture For grant that their Euangelicall Councils are such as they would haue them to be and that vowes in Christianity are lawfull yet it is certaine that the authority of Councils and the lawfulnesse of vowes doe neither warrant nor allow their superstitious and idle monkery nor the blasphemous opinion of merite which they ascribe vnto such voluntary deuotions nor yet the necessity of irreuocation though by the frailty of mans nature there be an impossibility of performance And so both in substance and circumstance they want the authority of gods word to vphold them Let then the Iewish Essaeans and the Romish Monks walke together as in one path of superstition so vnder one cloake of hypocrisie for that which Sigonius affirmeth of the one that they were by Nation Iewes and by manners hypocrites we may truely confirme of the other that they are Christians by profession but hypocrites by conuersation And as those Essaeans did farre degenerate from the ancient Nazarites and Rechabites whome they pretended for their patterns so these doe as farre and more from those ancient Monkes that liued in former ages of the Church as is vnanswerably demonstrated by many of the learned Champions of our Church especially Doctour Mortâ—n and Doctour White to whome I referre the Reader for fuller resolution in this poynt 24. The Iewish Rabbines also taught that the damned soules in hell and Purgatory had some refreshing and rest vpon euery Sabboth day assoone as a certaine prayer was chanted out by them with sweet melodie and therefore that on euery Friday at night there is a great shout in hell for ioy of the ensuing Sabboth and on their Sabboth day at night a dolefull crye for griefe of their returne to their paines Thus the Rabbines doted And do not our Romish Rabbines dote in like manner They also teach that the damned soules haue some refreshment and ease vpon the Sabboth day as in the legend of S. Brandon it is written how that holy Abbotfound Iudas the Traytour sitting vpon a stone in a certaine Island and demanding of him what he was and why heesate in that place he answered that vpon euery Saturday at noone
Asse and the holy Spirit lesse able to make that speake then an Angell was to make an Asse to speake Then which what could be brayed out more like the beast he speaketh of 26. But some may say All these are but priuate mens opinions we heare not all this while the determination of the Church Let vs harken therefore to the voyce of the Church touching this poynt that is as they hold of the Councill or rather Conuenticle of Romish Bishops assembled together at Trent which they call the Church representatiue The second Canon of the second decree in thy fourth Session of that Councill doth thus determine Let no man trusting to his owne wisedome dare to interpret the Scripture after his owne priuate sense or contrary to that sense which our holy Mother the Church holdeth or contrary to the vnanimous consent of the Fathers The former part of this Canon is good and sound for Saint Peter saith that no Scripture is of priuate interpretation and therefore they which wrest the Scriptures to their owne senses contrary to the intent and scope of them are guilty of a grieuous sinne before God and doe it to their owne destruction for Optimus scripturae lector est qui dictorum intellectum non attulerit sed retulerit exscriptura saith Hil. that is He is the best reader of the Scripture which doth not bring a sense to the Scripture but draweth it out of the Scripture Besides the middle and end of the Canon is not to bee misliked if they haue a fauourable interpretation for the iudgement of the Fathers is greatly to be regarded and the authority of the Church is to be held in especiall reuerence but for all this latet anguis in herba vnder these faire pretences of words is couched a snake of foule errour for first they tye the gift of interpretation of Scripture and of decision of controuersies to the Chaire of Peter seated at Rome and possessed by the Pope Peters successour as they call him or to the Chaire of Bishops assembled together in a Councill as in Noahs Arke whereas Saint Paul saith plainely speaking of the gift of interpretation These things workethone and the same Spirit distributing to euery man seuerally as he will And in another place that the spirituall man discerneth all things and therefore the Scriptures Now by the spirituall man the Apostle meaneth the man regenerate and sanctified by the Spirit as it appeareth by that he opposeth him to the naturall man in the verse going before and so the gift of discerning and interpreting is not proper to the Chaire of Bishops 27. Secondly this Canon doth not onely giue vnto the Church thus conceiued of them the onely gift of interpretation but also a Praetorian and vnexaminable authority in interpreting so that all which they deliuer out of their Chaires must bee receiued peremptorily without examining the grounds and reasons for which they are mooued to be of that iudgement which Tyrannicall vsurpation is both contrary to the expresse precepts and principles of holy Scripture and also to the doctrine and practice of all the ancient Fathers for the scripture bids to try all things to hold that which is good And Paul refused not to haue his doctrine examined of the men of Berâ—a by the Scripture the same Apost directeth vs how to behaue our selues at the time of prophecying namely that two or three Prophets speake the other iudge All which places are flatopposite to that peremptory obtruding of interpretations vpon the Church which the Canon speaketh of so are all the Fathers in generall for in prescribing certaine rules to all men both of vnderstanding and interpreting the Scriptures they plainely shew that there is not this absolute authority nor infallibility in any to obtrude what interpretation soeuer without contradiction or examination 28. Lastly the Canon in giuing this indefinite power of interpretation and determination of doubts to the Church without any relation had to the Scripture doth vtterly iustle out the Scripture from being the Iudge And so Andradius the interpretour of this Councill doth expound the intendment thereof when he saith that the iudgement of the Church is Principium vltra quod non sit fas in inquisitione progredi Aprinciple beyond the which it is not lawfull to proceede in inquisition By which he giueth to vnderstand that our faith must relye wholly and solely vpon the iudgement of the Church that is the Pope and his Prelates without enquirie at all into the word of God whether that which they propound be consonant to the truth or no. As Erasmus in a certaine disputation against the Papists confesseth that their opinion hath not sure certain testimonies of Scripture but that the contrary opinion may be better more clerely strongly proued out of Gods word notwithstanding saith he if the Church bid I will beleeue it for I will captiuate my vnderstanding to the obedience of the Church And this indeed is the Babylonian seruitude of the church of Rome wherby they fetter the souls of their followers to perpetual slauery and lead theÌ„ blindfold vnder the veile of an implicite faith vnto perdition for this is the first ground they lay in the hearts of all their generation that they must not examine the doctrine of the Church but take it at their hands as good coyne though it be neuer so counterfeit doctrina in Concilijs definit a custodieÌ„da est non examinanda saith Bellarmine that doctrine which is defined in a Council is to be kept not examined and ordinarius pastor Ecclesiae audiendus est non iudicandus saith Stapleton an ordinary Pastor of the Church is to be heard not iudged thus we see that the Scripture is thrust cleane out of dores from hauing any right or title in the decision of questions of faith not onely by priuate men but euen by their Church it selfe 29. Now here two things are to be obserued of vs for the plainer enucleation and clearing of this poynt first that in making the Scripture Iudge we doe not exclude the Church nor any member of the Church from the office of iudging and discerning onely we place them in their due order and ranke for this is it we intend that the Scripture is the highest and most absolute Iudge from the sentence whereof there is no appeale to be made to any higher Court and that the iudgement determination of the Church or of any member therof is subordinate vnto that and to be ruled and guided by that and where it is agreeable vnto that there to be receiued where it swarueth from that to be reiected For as in the ciuill estate the Iudges deputed to that office haue no absolute authority in themselues but are subiect vnto the lawe and the Ministers thereof and therefore must not speake what they list but what the law directeth so in the state Ecclesiasticall they
not onely the worshippers of Idols themselues but they that should entice or perswade any to Idolatry The execution of which Lawes wee see put in practice vpon the Israelites Gods owne people in the 32. of Exod. and 23. of Numbers Thirdly and lastly in respect of the nature of the sinne which is first a senslesse sinne full of folly contrary to the very light of reason and nature as both the Prophet Dauid and Esay at large proue And secondly a sinne full of impiety because they that worship an Idoll worship the Deuill as S. Paul affirmeth 1. Cor. 10. 20. And lastly a sinne most opposite to the glory of God and consequently sooner procuring the vengeance of God then any other for it is called in the Scripture spirituall fornâ—cation and adulterie because the Idolater forsaketh God and prostituteth himselfe to an Idoll and that in Gods presence And therefore as corporall fornication is the onely cause of diuorce betwixt man and wife so this sinne onely causeth God to diuorce himselfe from his Church and to take from her all her ornaments and Iewels that is his Word and Sacraments and to giue her ouer into the hands of her enemies Thus the greatnesse of this sinne of Idolatry is manifest and from thence I may conclude my first proposition that that Religion which maintayneth and commandeth this sinne so full of folly impiety and contrariety to God is worthy not onely to be suspected but euen abhorred and detested of all men 4. But let vs come to the examination of the second proposition to wit whether the Church of Rome bee guilty of this great sinne or no. The Romanists mainly denie it as they haue great reason for if their Religion bee proued to maintaine Idolatrie they know that it must needes fall to the ground and therefore they deuise all manner of shifts to deliuer themselues from this imputation But we on the other side confidently affirme it and that the world may see wee doe it not without great reason wee confirme our affirmation with this strong argument Whosoeuer ascribeth diuine honour to any creature is an Idolater but the Romanists ascribe diuine honour to many creatures therefore they are Idolaters and lest any should thinke this to bee the errour of priuate persons and not the heresie of their Religion I adde vnto the Minor that all the Romanists doe this from the very grounds of their faith and that in so doing they are warranted from their Religion it selfe 5. They deny both the Maior and Minor proposition in this argument and in denying them especially the Maior they giue iust cause of vehement suspition if not of plaine demonstration that they are guilty of the crime whereof wee accuse them for if a thiefe standing at the barre being accused of a robbery by the high way side should answere that to take money from a man by the high way side at Noone-day was not theft all men would thinke that hee was guilty of the robbery and so the Iurie would finde him then certainely the Romanists by denying this to be the true definition of Idolatry which is propounded in the first proposition bewray their owne guiltinesse and giue vs more cause to suspect them then we had before 6. But let vs heare their shifts they principally are two one of Bellarmine the other of Valentia two maine posts in the house of Popery Bellarmine would faine vndermine this proposition to giue to creatures diuine honour is Idolatry by a distinction betwixt an Idol and an Image affirming that an Image is the similitude of a thing that hath a true being but an Idol of a sained thing that indeed is not and therevpon he seemes to conclude that to ascribe diuine honour to some Images is not Idolatry because euery Image is not an Idoll In the proofe of this distinction he labours much and profits little for like the heedlesse fish hee leapes out of the Frying-pan into the fire and tyes the knot faster which he would seeme to vntie for first all the Idolatry of the Church of Rome consisteth not in worshipping of Images but in many other things as shall appeare in the Discourse following Secondly if to worship the Image of a true thing be not Idolatry then the Gentiles were not Idolaters in worshipping the Image of Iupiter and Mars and Diana and Romulus and Aesculapius and the Sunne because as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth all the Idols of the Gentiles were the statues of men And Saint Augustine also affirmeth That the Gentiles did worship those things which were in being but were not to bee worshipped and then the Israelites did not commit Idolatry in the Wildernesse when they adored the golden Calfe nor was that Calfe an Idoll contrary to the expresse Text of Scripture Acts 7. 41. because it was a representation of a true thing namely of the true Iehouah as it is euident Exodus 32. 5. Thirdly let it be graunted that an Idoll is onely the similitude of an imaginary and fained thing yet will not this acquite them of Idolatry seeing they worship in the Romish Church the Images of things which either neuer were or were not such as they are taken to bee as the Image of S. Katharine and Saint Christopher and Saint George and such others the truth whereof they are not able to proue by any approoued Historie Nay it is confessed that many are worshipped in the Church as Saints which are tormented in hell fire for their sinnes This shift therefore of Bellarmine to wipe off the blot of Idolatry is but a silly one and blurres them more then they were before 7. Gregory de Valentia labours to creepe out at another hole to wit not by a distinction but by addition for hee would adde vnto the definition of Idolatry these words sicut Deo as to God and so Idolatry should bee not a giuing of diuine honour to a creature but when it is so giuen to the creature as vnto God Wherein as he vnmannerly crosseth his fellow Iesuite in calling the Images of Christ Idols and saying that they are to bee worshipped latria with diuine honour the one whereof Bellarmine simply and absolutely denyeth and the other he alloweth but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 respectiuely so likewise â—e crosseth reason Scripture Fathers and consequently all sound diuinity 8. For Reason If an adulteresse woman being taken in bâ—d with another man should excuse her selfe thus I am not guilty of adultery because though I lent the vse of my body to a stranger yet I did it not to him as vnto my husband would this excuse her no it would rather adde vnto her crime So the Romish harlot committing spirituall fornication with her Idols when shee goeth about to colour her crime with tâ—is vermillion I giue diuine honour indeed to Images but yet not as vnto God What doth shee else but adde carâ—all impudency vnto spirituall vnchastitie A filthy stopple
thereof 18. This is Bellarmines But to the first I answere That though the people ought to doe so that is adore vpon condition which notwithstanding is a thing neuer heard of before in any diuine worship and implieth necessity of danger yet because not one amongst a thousand doe so hauing neuer heard that distinction once named in their liues nor vnderstanding what it meaneth therefore they are for this neuer a whit freed from Idolatry To the second I answere that oftentimes the Priest hath neither actuall nor vertuall intention for what intent had the Monke Bernhardine that poysoned the hoast to the intent that he might poyson the Emperour Henry of Lucenburgh as he also did at the instigation of Robert King of Sicily What intent had that Priest that either did or would haue poysoned Pope Victor the second as witnesseth Baronius or those Priests that poysoned William Archbishop of Yorke for hee was poysoned at the Masse by the treason of his owne Chaplins both with that which was in the Chalice If the Priest bee an Athiest as many of the Popes themselues were what intention haue they of consecrating Christs body when they beleeue not that Christ hath a body or that there is a Christ now liuing in the heauens and sitting at the right hand of his Father to be present in the Sacrament or what intention can they haue to doe that which the Church doth when as they beleeue not that there is a Church but that all Religion is a fable and a matter of policy Here must needes be grosse and notable Idolatry by their owne confession for I argue Ex concessis that is out of their owne grounds So that we must iustly conclude notwithstanding all their distinctions and shifts that the Church of Rome in worshipping the consecrated hoast and that with such worship as is due vnto God is guilty of Artolatry that is of worshipping a piece of bread in stead of God then which what can be more Heathenish and palpable Idolatry 19. Secondly wee indite them of Idolatry for that they teach that Images are to bee worshipped with diuine worship and in their practice they giue vnto stockes and stones the honour which belongeth vnto God For this is their doctrine that the Images of the blessed Trinity and of Christ and of the Virgin Mary the mother of Christ and of other Saints are to be had and retained especially in Churches ijsque debitum honorem venerationem impertiandam and that due honour and worship is to be giuen vnto them they be the words of the Councill of Trent Now what that due honour and worship is that is a great question among them some thinke it is the same which appertaineth to the persons whom they represent as if it be the Image of God or Christ then it is to be worshipped latria that is with the highest degree of worship if of the Virgin Mary then with a little lower degree called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if of the Saints then with the lowest which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this is the tenet of many of their Rabbies as reporteth Vasques the Iesuite to wit Aquinas Caietane Bonauenture Alexander Coster and diuers others Others thinke that the Image is not to be worshipped at all but onely the Samplar before the Image Of this opinion were Durandus Alphonsus de Castro and some others but it is confuted by Catharine and vtterly reiected by Bellarmine A third sort were of opinion that Images ought to bee worshipped in themselues and properly with a lesse honour then the Samplar and therefore that no Image was to be worshipped with Latria Of this opinion were Peresius Catharinus Sanders Gabriel c. But the Councill of Trent which is their Church in the wordes of the decree and Bellarmine which is their chiefe champion doe manifestly incline to the first opinion for this is the summe of his propositions First that the Images of Christ the Saints are to be worshipped not onely by accident and improperly but euen by themselues and properly so that they doe limit the worship as they are Images and not onely as they stand in stead of their patternes Secondly that in truth and deed Images may be worshipped with the same kind of worship which belongeth vnto their patternes improperly and by accident and so with Latria in that condition Thirdly and lastly that though this be true yet especially in the pulpits and before the people it is not to be said that Images are to bee worshipped with this kind of worship but rather the contrary Heere is excellent diuinity the people must not bee taught the truth nay the contrary rather which is a lie and that in the pulpit beholde here a doctor of lies and that by his owne confession whilst he goeth about to maintaine Images which Habacuk calleth doctors of lies Hab. 2 18. 20. This is the summe of their doctrine Out of all which these three conclusions doe arise First that the blessed Trinity that sacred and incomprehensible deitie by their doctrine may be pictured on a wall and worshipped in or at an Image yea that such an Image ought at least improperly bee worshipped with the same worship that is due vnto God himself as whē they picture God the Father in the similitude of an old man God the Son in the likenes of a yong child God the holy Ghost in the likenesse of a Doue which the Scripture in the second Commandement condemneth as Idolatrie and that the intendment of that Commandement is not against the Images of false gods onely as the Romanists would haue it but also of the true Iehouah Moses the best expounder of himselfe teacheth most plainely Deut. 4. 16. when hee saith Take heed that you make not to your selues any grauen Image or representation of any figure for you saw no Image in the day that the Lord spake vnto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire and the Prophet Esay confirming the same exposition saith To whom will you liken God or what similitude will yee set vp vnto him Esay 40. 18. as if he should say it is impossible to represent God by any likenesse or similitude If they reply that they worship not the Image but God in the Image I answer First that the very Image of God is an Idoll by this Commandement and therefore the erecting of it to a religious vse is Idolatry Secondly that it is false which they say that they worship not the Image but God in the Image for their doctrine is contrary as hath beene shewed and their practice is contrary as shall be declared hereafter Thirdly though it be true which they alledge yet the worshipping of God before an Image is Idolatry for when the children of Israel worshipped the two golden calues at Dan and Bethel they were not such calues to worship the outward calues but
they are able to worke myracles and giue health and for that cause they worship them to the end they might obtaine some such benefit at their hands and their simplicity is so great that they worship with greater deuotion faire Images then foule new then old those that are adorned with gold and purple then those that are naked and bare yea they make vowes and binde themselues to goe a pilgrimage now to this now to that Church in regard of certaine Images supposing that greater vertues doe shine forth in one then another 24. Thus doth this learned man together with the two former describe the miserable Idolatry of the Church of Rome which is committed by the worshipping of Images They were all three Romanists and no doubt but would speake of their owne fauourites as fauourably as they could and therefore we may well imagine that their impiety was farre more grosse when it wrested out of their owne mouthes this plaine confession But if a Protestant should speake hee would tell another tale and make them march in equipage with the Pagans in Idolatry as Cassander after a sort confesseth and that not without great reason For first the Paynims when they bowed to stockes stones pretended that they worshipped not the Images but them after whose likenesse they were figured as testifie Lactantius Augustine Chrysostome and Seneca Now the Romanists doe vse the very same excuse to cloke their Idolatry that they worship not the Images properly but God Christ Angels Saints in them and at them Secondly the Paynims Idols are described in the 115. Psalme To haue eyes and not to see eares and not to heare â—oses and not to smell c. And finally to haue no breath in their nostrils but the Romish Images are in euery respect like vnto them let them shew that their Images can heare see speake smell and goe better then theirs and then we will not say their Idols to be like to theirs 25. Peraduenture they will instance in the Roode of Winchester which in the yeare of our Lord 1475. at a solemne Councill there holden about the marriage of Priests spake in the behalfe of Dunstane against the poore Priests or in the Image of our Lady that bade Saint Bernard good morrow when he came into the Church as it is reported or in that Image of Saint Nicholas at Chester which vsed to mooue the hand to blesse the people or in that Image of our Lady neere to the Abby of Ramsey which vsed to sweat when it was offered vnto and happy was he that could get any of that sweet sweat into his handkercheife for it was of soueraigne vse for many purposes and cures But that they begunne to be halfe ashamed of such fables especially seeing Polidore Virgil a man not meanely affected towards their Religion censured the first to be a Legerdemaine of Dunstane to worke his purpose and reported that diuers others vsed to doe the same at that day And S. Bernard in a iesting answere discouered the second when he answered that it was against the Canons for her Ladyship to speake in the Church being a woman And the Bishop of Chester discredited the third when he manifested in the open Market place that the Image was made with such a deuice that at the pulling of a certaine string the hand would mooue vp and downe And the last euery olde man and woman in the Countrie could tell to bee but a iuggling tricke of a crafty Priest first anoynting the Image without and then heating it within for it was hollow with a chafingdish of coales from whence grew out that soueraigne and excellent sweat 26. Thirdly the Paynim plants a tree and after cuts it downe and with one part thereof hee warmes himselfe with another part he rosts his meate and of the third hee makes himselfe a God as the Prophet Esay saith and when he hath done he censeth that Image and lighteth Tapers before iâ— and falls downe and worships it They of the Romish Church doe the very same by their Images in euery respect Fourâ—hly the Paynims say that Images were Elements or Letters to know God by and they vsed Images and other ceremonies to procure the presence of Angels and celestiall powers the Romanists say and doe the same they say that Images are Lay-mens Bookes and that their worship of them doth procure the fauour of those heauenly things whose representations they beare Lastly Paynims put their trust and affiance in their Idols so doe the Romanists in their Images as appeareth by the consecration of them and their Prayers vnto them thus they consecrate the Image of the blessed Virgin Sanctifica Deus hanc formulam c. O God sanctifie this forme of the blessed Virgin that it may minister the succour of wholesome helpe to thy faithfull people that hurtfull thunder and lightnings may be speedily auoyded inundations of waters commotion of warre c. may be suppressed Againe thus they consecrate the Image of Saint Iohn the Euangelist Grant that all which behold this Image with deuotion and make their prayers before it may be heard for what necessity soeuer they pray let this Image be a holy expulsion of deuils an aduocation of Angels a protection of the faithfull c. Why should not affiance bee placed in these Images that are thus qualified But beare their prayers To the Image of Veronica they pray thus Haile holy face imprinted on a clont Purge vs from all sinne within and without And ioyne vs in the fellowship of the blessed rout Bring vs to that Country O holy Picture Where we may see the face of Christ which is most pure Be vnto vs a safe helpe a sweet refreshing And comfort vs euermore with thy blessing That no force of enemie may vs annoy But that we may eternall rest enioy Before the famous Image of the Lady of Lauretto men and women of all sorts fall downe and pray when they are in any danger or extremity to her they go a pilgrimage and assoone as they come neere to the Towne of Lauretto and behold the place where the Image is they fall downe and worship and so they doe againe at the Temple dore and after in the Temple they humble themselues in a most seruile and base manner by all which it is euident that they affie and trust in the Image as that Falkoner did who being vpon the gallows ready to be hanged for suspition of conuaying away his Masters Hawke by onely conceiuing a prayer in his heart vnto this Ladie of Lauretto the Hawke came gingling in the ayre and light vpon the gallowes and so the poore man escaped the halter He that will reade the fiue Bookes of Turselline the Iesuite concerning this Lady shall easily perceiue that she is made a Goddesse amongst them and worshipped with the very same worship which is due vnto God And thus it is as cleare as the Sun both by their
doctrine and practice that the Church of Rome by worshipping of Images is guilty of heathenish and abominable Idolatry 27. Concerning the Reliques of our Sauiour Christ and the Saints whereof their Church hath infinite numbers there is no lesse Idolatry committed to them then was before vnto Images For first some of them confesse that Reliquiae eodem modo atque imagines sunt adorandae Reliques are to bee worshipped after the same manner as Images And therefore if there be Idolatrie in the one it must also be needs in the other for whether the worship be not to be restrained to the Image and Relique but to be referred to the things whereof they are representations and parts as the forenamed Iesuite thinkes with some other or whether it is to be confined to the matter of the Relique and forme of the Image without further relation as Bonauenture Aquinas yea and Bellarmine himselfe with many other seeme to auerre yet it is Idolatry both waies because in both religious worship is giuen to the Creatures in the one simply in the other respectiuely which indeed some what qualifieth the heate of the disease but doth not at all cure the roote of it 28. Secondly others are of opinion that there is greater cause of worshipping Reliques then Images for say they a man cannot worship an Image but his thoughts must needs be caried vp to the contemplation of him whose Image it is but reliquia solùm adorantur ratione contactus quo sunt quodammodo sanctificatae consecratae Reliques are to be worshipped onely in respect of their touching of Christ or the Saints by which they are after a sort sanctified and consecrated and therefore they may be worshipped simply by themselues by reason of that sanctification without Christ or the Saint of whom they are said to be sanctified Here the former qualification for Images is taken away from Reliques and therefore the Idolatry is more grosse yea in regard of this contaction some of them are not ashamed to say that the very wormes of the bodies of the dead are to be worshipped with a right intention and with a sincere faith Thirdly not to stand vpon priuate opinions the determination of their representatiue Church the Councill of Trent doth proue the worshipping of Reliques to be Idolatry for it doth not onely condemne those which refuse to giue worship and honour to them in any respect but euen those also which opis impetrandae causa To obtaine helpe by them doenot honour them Now hence thus I reason to put our trust and confidence in any creature is Idolatry but to seeke for helpe at the Reliques of Saints is to repose trust and confidence in creatures therefore by necessary consequence the worship of Reliques is Idolatry because thereby they seeke for helpe and so the Church of Rome is by the sentence of their owne Councill guilty of this foule sinne and this Councill of theirs is guilty before God and man of protecting maintaining and authorizing the same a farre greater guilt then the former by how much according to the rules of Law the Author of a sinne is euer more guilty then the Actor 21. Fourthly their practice doth make this more euident for as Cassander ingeniously confesseth In these last times too much is attributed to the Reliques and memories of Saints in so much as the better sort of men and those that were most zealous haue placed the summe and substance as it were of Religion in searching out such Reliques adorning them with gold and Iewels and building temples and memorials for them and the worser and wickeder sort haue reposed false confidence in the foolish and superfluous worshipping of them Here we sâ—e the practice both of the better and the worser sort of people that is indeed of all for the most part in the worship of Reliques the one esteeming it the chiefest part of Religion and piety and the other relying wholly vpon it as the onely meanes for the purging away their sinnes and so an occasion to harten them in the same because they thinke as long as they performe this dutie they may sinne freely If any man say that the ignorance and misdoings of some is not to bee imputed as an errour to the Church I answer that it is not some but all generally for the most part that are thus affected and therefore Cassander condemnes both good and bad as guilty of this crime But graunt that many are otherwise minded yet for all that it cannot be denied but the greater part are in this ranke and that is inough to proue their Church Idolatrous because according to the Logicall axiome euery denomination is to be taken from the greater part neither is it a personall errour but a dogmaticall position deriued from the grounds of their Religion as from the Councill of Trent which alloweth to worship them Opis impetrandae causa for to obta ne helpe of them and from the rest of their great Diuines Some of whom would haue them to bee worshipped with the same worship with Images some with a greater reuerence then Images ob contactum and they that mince it finest with a religious reuerence which they call adoration and veneration in all which is that in a sort either openly or couertly allowed by their doctrine which is practised by their people 30. But let vs search a little further into their practice The custome of the Church of Rome is to take the bodies ashes or bones of Saints out of their graues and to adorne them with gold and siluer silke veluet and such like and to carry them about in publike processions and supplications and to shew them to the people to be touched kissed gazed vpon and adored as a singular and meritorious seruice to God is not this Idolatry They teach that God doth tye his grace and vertue to those Reliques whereof they are partakers that adore them with due reuerence and offer precious gifts vnto them yea they promise vnto such many indulgences and Pardons for sinnes Is not this Idolatry Againe they teach that their prayers are better and more effectuall and acceptable vnto God if they bee made before the Reliques of Saints and therefore their practice is in times of necessity to goe a pilgrimage to such places where the most famous Reliques are because they are perswaded that their prayers shall bee there soonest heard of God yea they make men beleeue that the Eucharist hath a great deale of holinesse added vnto it if Reliques of Saints bee included within the Altar Is not this Idolatry They light vp candles and set vp before them Tapers which S. Ierome calleth Idolatriae insignia the Ensignes of Idolatry and cause them to burne euen at noone day and that as they say in resemblance of the golden candlesticke which alwayes burnt before the Arke Exod. 2. 5. but indeede rather in imitation of the heathen who vsed to burne Tapers
before their Images in the Temples of their Gods and therefore me thinkes it is strange that Bellarmine should make this an argument why Reliques are to be worshipped because Tapers and Candles are set vp before them wheras rather he should conclude that Idolatry is cōmitted before them because of this Againe in their solemne oathes they touch not onely the Bible but the Reliques of Saints so deuide the religion of an oath which is a principall part of Gods worship betwixt God and them against which a plague is denounced by the Prophet Zephany Zephan 1. 5. And it is also condemned by the Prophet Ieremie Ier. 5. 7. And a reason is giuen of it in Chrysostomes 12. Homily vpon S. Mathew at least if it be Chrysostomes He that sweares by any thing beside God deifies that thing and thereby makes himselfe an Idolater Is not this then Idolatry Lastly whereas in former times where lesse superstition preuailed they placed the Reliques of Saints vnder the Altar as Ambrose witnesseth of the Reliques of Geruasins and Protasius Ille Christus videlicet super altare qui pro omnibus passus est isti sub altari qui ipsius redempti sunt sanguine Christ was vpon the Altar who suffered for all the Reliques of them vnder the Altar who were redeemed with his bloud yet now as Cassander well notes contrary to the ancient custome their practice is to place the bodies of Saints vpon the Altars which place is only proper for the body of Christ Is not this horrible Idolatry And yet Bellarmine would hence proue that they are to be worshipped because they are placed vnder the Altar because forsooth the Altar is to be worshipped but what if the worshipping of the Altar be Idolatry too as without question it is if the Altar be a dead creature and a heape of stones or wood This is to adde drunkennesse to thirst and to couer a filthy wound with a more filthy plaister besides the first bringers in of that custome though they placed them vnder the Altar in a religious manner yet neuer meant that they should bee worshipped by those that approched vnto the Altar or that they did conferre any sanctity to the Eucharist Thus we haue a short view of their superstitious and Idolatrous practice in this point 31. Fiftly and lastly that they may be voyd of all excuse and pretext an infinite number of their thus worshipped Reliques are meere false and counterfait not true members parts or remainders of any Saints but fained impostures of couetous Priests and often the members not of men but of baser creatures At this day saith Cassander when the world seemeth to be full of Reliques it may bee feared lest vpon diligent examination most detestable frauds and impostures be found out as it appeared sometime to S. Martin who found a place honoured in the name of an holy Martyr to be the Sepulcher not of a Martyr but of a wicked Robber This kinde of cousonage began to spring in Augustine and Gregories times for the one complaineth of certaine Hypocrites that caried about and boasted of the members of Martyrs si tamen Martyram if so be they were Martyrs And the other affirmeth that certaine Greeke Monkes being found digging vp the dead bodies of men in a certaine field of Rome confessed that they meant to carrie their bones into Greece as the Reliques of Saints 32. But since Popery grew to perfection this is also growne to such a height of impudencie that it is a wonder to heare what strange Reliques are to bee seene in the world S. Peter being buried whole in one place to wit at Rome in the Vaticane as Baronius writeth yet is found halfe in another to wit in via Ostiensi as Onuphrius testifieth and for all this a part of him is to be seene at Constantinople as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth Nay further besides these three places his head is reserued in a fourth to wit in the Laterane Church at Rome by Onuphrius testimony And besides this whole head another piece of his head in the Church of Saint Praxis by the same Author and in a fixt place one of his iaw-bones with his beard is kept for a monument this is at Poytiers in Fraunce as witnesseth Caluine his teeth are not confined to his iawes nor yet at one place but to bee seene in many places at Rome in the Church of S. Vincent and Anastasius and the holy Crosse and S. Sauiour and S. Lawrence without the walls his braine is to be seene at Geneuah at leastwise if a Pumice stone be his braine for it is nothing else Many of his bones are to be seene at Treuers a piece of his shoulder at Rome in the Church of the holy Crosse a toe in the Church of S. Praxis and the ioynt of another in England at the Lady of Walsingham as Erasmus testifieth as it were of a Giants toe these with many moe be the Reliques of S. Peter all which are held in great honour and worship of them Now either S. Peter must bee a Monster or many of these counterfait Reliques 33. But S. Peter is not alone in this for Christ himselfe is abused three praepuces or foreskinnes of his are showne and worshipped in three diuers places so foureteene nailes when as he felt but three three coats whereas hee had but one and that without seame for the which the souldiers cast losts two titles that were set vpon the Crosse foure poynts of the speare wherewith his side was pierced fiue Linnen clothes wherwith he was wrapped and many such like trumperies Nay there is scarce a Saint that is any thing famous to whom they do not faine two or three bodies Saint Barbaries head is to be seene in so many places that sure she must needs haue beene a monster if all those were true members Saint Apollonia had so many teeth being all soueraigne medicines for the tooch-ache that when King Edward labouring of that disease sent through England for all her teeth to be brought vnto him two or three hogsheads could not hold them that were found out It is reported and recorded of a certaine Relicke-monger that boasted that hee carried about in a box some feathers of the holie Ghost Now another merry companion stealing away these feathers foisted in in their roome certaine coales The other not perceiuing the coozenage the next day began to vaunt of his holy relickes and to shew them to the people which stood ready by to adore them with great reucrence but when he opened his caske he found nothing but coales whereat being nothing amazed like a skilfull Artisan he turned Cat in the pan and told the people that those coales were taken from vnder the Grediron of Saint Laurence when he was broyled to death thus any thing will serue their turnes for relickes when need requireth and so more then Aegyptian is the
at Saint Mary Maior and a third at Treuers the Cup wherein Iohn the Euangelist drunke the poyson after he was condemned by Domitian is both at Bononia and at Rome to be seene Saint Anne hath three bodies one at Apla another at Prouince and a third at Lyons and so her head is in three places at Treuers at Turen and at Thuring Lazarus the Brother of Marie is like wise a Gyant of three bodies one of them is at Massilia another at Angustodune and the third at Auelona 38. Iâ— would fill a volume if I should reckon vp all their strange relicks Let him that desireth to see more of them reade Caluins Tractate called Admonitio de Reliquijs where he shall finde a whole thraue of them I for this time end with three or foure braue ones for the nonce which are worthy neuer to be forgotten It is written of Dunstane the Abbot of Glastenbury that as he was hallowing a certaine Church he beheld the right thumbe of Editha then Abbesse of Wilton as shee was crossing and blessing her forhead and much delighting therein hee tooke it into his hand and said Neuer might this thumbe perish By vertue of which prayer of his after Edithaes death when all her body was turned into ashes that thumbe and another part of her body which it seemeth he had blessed too were found safe and sound and so became Reliques We read also of a certaine Monke who gaue out that he had brought from the East some of the sound of the Bels which hung in Salomons Temple and that he could shew among other Reliques some of the haires which fell from the Seraphicall Angell when hee came to imprint the fiue wounds of Christ in S. Frauncis body Yea some of them are not ashamed to shew to the Pilgrimes that goe to Ierusalem a three cornerd stone which they beare them in hand is that very stone whereof Dauid spake saying The stone which the builders refused is the head of the corner Lastly at Cour cheuerin neere vnto Blois is kept for a monument the breath of S. Ioseph which he breathed when he claue wood being a Carpenter at Burgos in Spaine is shewne a Crucifix whose nailes and beard are cut euery moneth they grow so fast and in these excrements they say is great vertue At Rome is to bee seene the fore-skinne of our Sauiour which was cut off at his circumcision and in Galicia as Pilgrimes report are preserued some of the feathers of certaine chickens which are of the race of that Cocke which crowed when Peter denied his Master And at S. Denis is to bee seene the Lanthorne which Iudas caried in his hand when he came to betray his Master with a number other such like These bee their goodly Reliques which they would haue men to worship with such great deuotion of all which or at least of most of them we may truly auouch that which Augustine saith of miracles that they are vel figmenta mendacium hominum vel portenta fallacium spirituum That they are nothing but mere impostures and coozening deuices either of diuels or of auaricious Priests Friers and Monkes to nouzle the people in superstition and to line their owne purses with crownes 39. The bare narration of them is sufficient to bewray their falshood but much more the Logicall contrariety and naturall repugnancie that is among them which all the wit of man is not able to reconcile And last of all their nouelty for most of these Reliques was neuer heard of in this world for three hundred yeeres aftâ—r Christ so that it may iustly be wondred where they lay hid all that while and by what meanes they were found out at last or how they could continue so long If they say they were discouered by diuine reuelation as the bodies of Geruasius and Protasius to S. Ambrose of Stephen and Nichodemus to one Luâ—â—anus and the head of Iohn Baptist to two Monkes and the bones of Abacuk and Michaeas to a certaine Bishop and the body of S. Barnabe with the Gospell of S. Mathew vpon his brest I answere that though all these were true yet they were not reuealed to that end that they should be worshipped neither yet did the God of truth euer by his testimony bolster out such notorious lyes as are found in the Romish Reliques We may confidently therefore conclude that most abominable Idolatry is committed in the Church of Rome by the worshipping at least of false Reliques whereof there is such a swarme for the greatest part of their Reliques being counterfait the greatest part of the worship which is done vnto them must needes be Idolatry 40. The Iesuites to this obiection of ours giue two answeres one is Bellarmines who flatly denieth the Reliques in Churches to be counterfait because none are receiued but by the authority of the Bishop of Rome And as for the multiplicity of bodies hee saith that the parts of them are often found in diuers places and by a figure of speech are called by the name of the whole But the Iesuites answere by his leaue is idle and friuolous for first all these fore-named false Reliques are not caried about by priuate men but found in their Churches and therefore if authorized by the Popes holinesse the more shame for him and the more certainty for vs that he can erre like a sinfull man euen sitting in his chaire of doctrine And secondly though it were true which he saith concerning the bodies of Saints yet it cannot hold in other things as in Iohn Baptists finger and his shooe and the nailes of Christs crosse and the Virgin Maries milke and such like Therefore Vasques the Iesuite hath deuised another answere and that is Though the Reliques be vncertaine and false yet if they bee worshipped it is no sinne but a good worke Because as it is not the sinne of Idolatry saith hee to worship a beame of light vnder which the diuell lurketh when a man taketh it for Christ so if a man worship a false Relique supposing it to bee some true part of a Saint Merito suae deuotionis non caret He wanteth not the merit of his deuotion But this answere is not onely friuolous but impious for by the same reason the Iewes should be cleared from sinne when they crucified Christ because S. Paul saith they did it through zeale though not according to knowledge Rom. 19. 2. and the Gentiles when they put Christians to death because our Sauiour saith that in so dâ—ing they thought they did God good seruice Iohn 16. 2. but they both sinned notwithstanding most grieuously And their owne rule is that ignorantia non excusat à toto sed à tanto that is ignorance doth not excuse the whole fault committed but onely lessens the guilt of it I conclude therefore that notwithstanding all that can be said yet in the worshipping of Reliques is committed manifest and detestable Idolatry 41.
Neuerthelesse we protest against the slanders of our aduersaries that albeit wee abhorre all false and counterfait Reliques and refuse to worship with adoration those that are true yet for these last sort when they are certainely knowne vnto vs wee giue vnto them a due honour and reuerence that is wee confesse them to bee holy as the members of Christ and Temples of the holy Ghost if they bee the parts of Saints and Martyrs wee say with S. Augustine That their memories are to be celebrated to the end not that they may be worshipped but that thankes may be giuen to God for their victories and we may be stirred vp to the imitation of their crownes by calling vpon God to our helpe We acknowledge with Cassander that Vowes and Pilgrimages vnto places famous for the Relickes of Martyrs were in olde time profitable Whilest that the memory of the Martyrs was yet fresh and certaine and as long as God by vndoubted myracles did manifest that their soules did liue who were thought to bee dead and whilest all these things were referred to this end that the Christian faith which they by dying professed might bee confirmed as it were by these signes Yea we affirme with Agrippa that as the abuse of Relicks is an execrable wickednesse so the irreuerent contempt of true Relickes is a detestable herfie onely the matters we speake against are these corruptions first a superstitious confidence in the worship of true Relickes secondly a sacriligious forging of false ones and thirdly and lastly an immoderate expending our riches in adorning and guilding the bones and Relickes of dead men when in the meane while we suffer the poore that liue to famish for hunger or to go naked for want of clothes As the heads of Peter and Paul are inclosed in so much siluer as weigheth foure thousand pounds besides Iewels and precious stones of inestimable price And the golden Tombe of Thomas of Canterbury was couered with Diamonds Vnions and Carbuncles the basest part of it was Gold How much better might these treasures haue been imployed to the reliefe of the poore and other charitable vses This is all we finde fault withal and this is inough to prooue them senslâ—sse and blinde Idolaters and their Church which maintaineth all these things an Idolatrous synagogue 42. The fourth maine arme of Idolatry issuing out of the body of the Romish Church and the roote of their religion is their doctrine and practice touching the Inuocation of Saints and Angels They maliciously slaunder vs and say that we are enemies to the Saints and that we deny them all honour and reuerence comparing vs therefore to the Caianian and Eunâ—â—ian Heretickes for our wicked and sacrilegious contempt of the Saints of God as they falsly affirme but we returne this reproch vpon themselues and confidently affirme that they wrong the blessed Saints more in making them Idols and giuing them more honour then is their due then we doe in giuing them too little if that were true that we did so for what can be more iniurious to the honour of those blessed Creatures who liue in the presence of God and sing Haleluiah to him continually with all honour praise and glory be ascribed to him that sitteth vpon the Throne and to the Lambe for euermore whose chiefe ioy and delight is to aduance the honour of the eternall God then to haue any part of that honour due vnto him ascribed vnto them they had rather be deuested of all theirs then any iot of his glory should be diminished More iniurious therefore are they to the Saints if they giue them too much and that in derogation from God then we if we giue them too little 43. But wee deny that wee giue them too little wee giue them their due honour and respect For first we giue God thankes for them and for the benefits which God vouchafed by them to his Church as the Church glorified God for the conuersion of Saint Paul and Paul gaue God thankes for the graces of the Thessalonians Secondly we highly extoll and commend the Saints departed and magnifie the graces and gifts of God in them wee account them blessed as the Virgin Marie prophesied of her selfe that all Nations should call her blessed And wee keepe a perpetuall and a reuerend remembrance of them as our Sauiour promised to that Marie that powred the boxe of precious oyntment vpon his head And Salomon confirmeth also to all the iust that their memoriall should be blessed And thirdly we propound them as examples for imitation that their vertues may bee as patternes for vs to imitate and their falls as markes to make vs warie and their conuersation as guides and directions for vs in the way to the heauenly Canaan Thus much honour we willingly attribute vnto the Saints but no further dare we goe lest we derogate from the honour of God and in so doing not please or content but vexe and grieue the blessed Saints who cast downe their Crownes that is strippe themselues of all honour before the Throne of him that liueth for euer But the Church of Rome are so lauish and prodigall in their honouring of them that they despoyle God of his honour and inuest them therewith committing Idolatry vnto them And this they doe three waies principally first by outward adoration secondly by inuocation and thirdly by reposing their trust and confidence in their merites and mediation 44. Touching outward adoration which consisteth in these things principally to wit in bowing the knee prostrating the body dedicating Temples consecrating Festiuall daies and making vowes to the Saints departed all which outward worship the Romish Church alloweth and the Popish crue affoord vnto the Saints departed it cannot by any meanes bee esteemed any whit lesse then a practice of Idolatry seeing by their owne confession it is more then a ciuill adoration and being more then ciuill it must needes be religious for there are but two kinds of worship commanded by the law of God the one enioyned in the first Table namely the diuine worship of God and the other in the first commandement of the second Table which is the honour wee ought to giue to our superiours Now this worship of Saints must of necessity be one of these but it is more then ciuill say they therefore it must needes bee a religious and diuine worship For thus I reason This worshipping of Saints is either an iniunction of the first Table or of the second or of neither if they say Of the first then it is diuine and religious worship for the first Table of the Law containeth vnder it onely diuine and religious duties the obiect whereof is God himselfe and none other as the seuerall precepts thereof doe declare if they say Of the second then it is meere ciuill and politike for the second Table is onely a bond of ciuill duties if they say It is of neither theÌ„ it
must needs be a wil worship deuiâ—ed by their own braines and not warranted by the word of God which is also confessed by Eckius in his Enchiridion and insinuated by the Councill of Trent when in setting downe that decree it alleageth no Scripture but onely the ancient custome of their Church consent of Fathers and decrees of Councels 45. But to the poynt I say that seeing by the rule of Gods word we find but two kinds of worship one religious and diuine contained in the first Table the other ciuill and humane inioyned in the second If therefore the worship of Saints be not a meere ciuill worship belonging to the second Table of the Law then it must needes be religious and pertaine to the fiâ—st and so consequently Idolatrous This twofold worship and no more is approued by Saint Augustine who by that distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 putteth difference betwixt the worship that must bee giuen to God and that ciuill honour which is due vnto men for by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee meaâ—eth that kind of worship and honour which wee may and must performe to those that excell either in place of authority or in gifts and graces of God which is meerely humane and ciuill and by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that dâ—uine worship which the creature oweth vnto the Creatour onely and that former is that which he alloweth onely to the Saints and that in that acception of the word which is before specified to wit as it is a ciuill and humane worship as appeareth more euidently by that which he affirmeth in another place in these words Colimus Martyres eo cultu dilectionis societatis quo in hac vita coluntur Sancti Dei homines sed illos tanto deuotiùs quantò securiùs post incerta omnia superata In which words it is plaine that the kinde of the worship exhibited to Saints triumphant and Saints militant is all one but the extension of it is greater to the one then the other according to tâ—e proportiâ—n of gifts and graces more apparent in one then the other 46. But the Romish Doctours and principally the Iesuites adde a third kinde of worship yea a fourth to these two albeit therein they neither agree with themselues nor with their fellowes as it commonly falleth out when men build vpon their owne fancies a rotten foundation and not vpon the word of God which is the ground of truth For Bellarmine saith that there is a ciuill worship due vnto men for some ciuill respect and there is a religious worship due vnto Saints in respect of their Sanctity and holinesse which he calleth dulia and a diuine worship proper onely vnto God which he calleth latria and that middle hee subdiuideth into two degrees the first he saith is dulia propriè dicta so properly called which agreeth to the Saints and the second Hyperdulia which belongeth onely to the humanity of Christ and the blessed Virgin his Mother and so hee maketh foure distinct kinds of worship whereof two are without the compasse and reach of Gods Commandements and therefore I know not where to place them except in the diuels The like doctrine is deliuered by Vasques another Iesuite and Canisius and almost all the rest of that Iesuiticall raâ—ble but marke their harmony Bellarmine saith that this worship oâ— Saints is Cultus and therefore an acte of Religion though in a secondary respect Vasques denyeth it flatly to be an act of Religion at all but of sâ—me other vertue Thomas Aquinas Bonauenture Gabriel and Albertus are of mind as testifieth Vasques that it is one and the same kind of worship wherewith wee honour men aduanced in ciuill dignity and the Saints and that the difference is in the degrees of proportion not in diuersity of kind And in this they fully consent with vs as also with Saint Augustine and with the truth but this is contradicted by Bellarmine Vasques and all the rabble of the Iesuites as may appeare in the places before quoted 47. Paluda nus makes three kindes of Hyperdulia the first due to the humanity of Christ for it selfe the second to the blessed Virgin the third to the rest of the Saints but as for dulia that he applyeth onely to that honour which we owe to all reasonable creatures except the damned but this is crossed by all the rest Againe Durandus as Vasques reporteth is of opinion that the worship of Saints departed and men in ciuill dignity proceedeth from one and the same vertue and differeth onely in the act applyed vnto the degrees of excellency But Bellarmine Vasques and all of that stampe renounce vtterly that opinion as I haue shewed Lastly Vasques that acute Iesuite as they brag of him affirmeth that the worship of Saints is not an act of Religion and yet in the same Chapter he calleth it cultus sacer religiosus A holy and religious worship then which what can be more contradictory for if it be a religious worship then must it needs be a worship of religion and an act of religion and if no worship of religion then no religious worship for coniugata by the rule of Logicke se inuicem ponunt tollunt And that which iâ— to bee noted aboue all the rest hee is constrained to deuise a new speciall habite of vertue to which this worship of Saints may be referred neuer heard of before neither in Morall Philosophy nor yet in diuinity and that without name and so without nature and being except in the Iesuites braine onely Thus wee may see how errour like Proteus turneth it selfe into many shapes and at last is strangled with it owne halter 48. But that this outward adoration of Saints departed is Idolatrous appeareth ouer and aboue that which hath beene said by these reasons first because they ascribe vnto them a presence not onely in one place but in all places where they are worshipped secondly a power of hearing seeing and helping and thirdly an ability of knowing and seeing the heart all which imply an infinite power and such as is properly diuine And therefore it is nothing but a vaine shift when they say they giue diuine worship to God and no more but a certaine kinde of seruice to the Saints when in truth they giue that which is Gods to the Saints besides touching kneeling and prostrating the body in a religious manner Peter refused to haue it done vnto him by Cornelius and the Angell rebuked Iohn twice for offering it vnto him if it had beene lawfull sure they would not haue refused it for neither did Cornelius take Peter to be a God but for a holy man nor Iohn the Angell for the Creator but for an excellent creature as euidently appeareth in the Texts and therefore they intended not to worship them as Gods yet because the manner of their worship was more then befitting a creature hauing in it a
touch of diuine worship and religion therfore it was reiected the one saying Stand vp for I my selfe am a man insinuating that a man must not bee religiously adored and the other See thou doe it not for I am thy fellow seruant implying thereby that Angels and if Angels then Saints are but our fellow-seruants and therefore not to bee worshipped with any part of diuine and religious worship 49. To the example of Peter Bellarmine and Vasques giue two answers the one out of Hierom in his Booke against Vigilantius that Cornelius was worthily corrected by Peter because he thought some diuine thing to be in him aboue othermen the other out of Chrysostome vpon this place that it was no fault in Cornelius to exhibite but modesty in Peter to refuse that honour which was due vnto him Bellarmine is in different which of these two answers we take and therefore without propounding his owne iudgement leaues theÌ„ to our choyce and yet the one of them ouer-turneth the other for Hierom saith it was a fault in Cornelius Chrysostome that it was no fault Hierom that Peter did well in reprouing Cornelius Chrysostome that he did not reprooue him at all but of modesty refused the honour giuen to him What reason had he to leaue these to our choyce being thus contrary It plainely sheweth that he knew not what to answere Therefore Vasques the Iesuite renounceth Hieroms answere vpon this ground that Cornelius knew the true God before Peter came vnto him and therefore could not erre so grossely as to ascribe any diuinity to a mortall man and insists vpon Chrysostomes that hee did it for modesty sake but by as good warrant we may reiect Chrysostome as he doth Hierom especially seeing our reason is as effectuall for Peter giues this reason of his denyall for I my selfe am a man which must needs be the medium of a sillogisme thus to be concluded No religious worship is to be giuen to man but I my selfe am a man therefore thou doest euill to worship me Here is not a strayning at courtesie for modesty sake but a plaine renunciation of Cornelius his sact as vnlawfull if it had been a tricke of modesty onely he should rather haue said thus comparatiuely I am not worthy of this honour from such a man as thou art or such like but in saying I my selfe am but a man he insinuateth that Cornelius did more then he ought to do 50. If they say I but though you thus escape from Chrysostome yet Hieroms interpretation will hold you fast I answere Besides Vasques reason whereby he reiecteth Hierom that it maketh nothing against vs but for vs rather against them because Hierom seemeth to condemne as idolatrous all such adoration of Saints wherein any part or propertie of the diuine nature is attributed vnto them but the Romanists in kneeling and prostrating their bodies to the Saints ascribe the properties of God vnto them to wit either to be present in many places at once oâ— to heare being as farre remote from them as â—eaâ—en is from earth and to know the heart and to haue power to helpe c. all which properly are proper vnto God 51. To the example of Iohn and the Angell the former two Iesuites oppose also a double answere first that the Angell did appeare vnto Iohn in that maiesty that he might bee thought to be Christ himselfe And therefore that Iohn was rebuked not for the errour in his adoration but for his errour in the person adored This answere Vasques names onely and then reiects as friuolous But Bellarmine propounds it as good and authenticall Which shall we beleeue in this case Maâ—y sauing his reuerence though hee be now a Cardinall the plaine Iesuite is to be preferred before him both because this answere is crossed and contradicted by the second and also because the Iesuite giues a reason of his reiection And the Cardinall goeth to it by downe-right authority as if because he is their chiefe Rabbi hee may say what hee list his reason is because Iohn did truely know him to be an Angell and not God and therefore that there was no errour in the person Secondly they answere that the Angell would not now as in time before be worshipped of men because now God was become man and by his incarnation brought such dignity to the nature of man that the very Angels should doe reuerence vnto it not be adored and reuerenced by it especially of Christs Apostles and Princes of the Church To which I answere first that by this allegation it must needes follow that Angels are not now to bee adored in the Church of Christ howsoeuer they were before which is contrarie to their owne doctrine and generall tenent of their religion And secondly if not Angels then much lesse the Saints who at their highest though they be made like yet are farre inferiour to the Angels in excellency of graces and gifts And thâ—â—â—ly the reason where with the Angell after he had reproued Iohn directeth him to the right obiect of religious worship doth ouerthrow this exposition for he saith Worship God he doth not say Forbeare to worship me because your nature is dignified by the incarnation of the Sonne of God but forbeare because I am not God and all diuine and religious worship belongeth vnto him And thus notwithstanding all that is yet said all religious kneeling and prostrating the body to the Saints is Idolatrous 52. As for the dedicating Temples consecrating Festiuall daies making vowes to them they are all within the same compasse and that partly for the reasons before specified being acts of a religious worship but especially because the doctrine of their Church is that these things are so properly directed vnto the Saints that the end of their consecration is determined in them And therefore Bellarmine reprooues their opinion which say that Temples cannot properly bee erected to any but to God and affirmeth that they may be dedicated directly vnto Saints and that vowes may bee made to them determinately and so also Holy daies consecrated which cannot be any lesse then plaine Idolatrie seeing as Saint Augustine saith Cuiconuenit Templum ei conuenit sacrificium to whom a Temple to him a Sacrifice belongeth And seeing the Scripture in many places testifieth that vows must onely be made to God I am not ignorant of their cuasion that they doe not dedicate Churches to Saints as they are Temples but as they are Basilicae that is stately buildings for memorials of the Saints and that a Vow is made to God in signum gratitudinis â—rga authorem primum principium omnium bâ—nâ—rum as a signe of our thankfulnes to God the authour and first cause of all good things but to the Saints as a signe of gratefulnesse towards our mediatours and Intercessours by whose meanes wee receaue benefits from God And that the honour of the holy day though it immediately pertaineth to the Saints yet mediately
creature For as Augustine well obserueth Wee beleeue the Apostle we doe not beleeue in the Apostle and we beleeue the Church and not in the Church and therefore in the Apostles Creed where we say I beleeue in God wee doe not say I beleeue in the Catholicke Church but I beleeue the Catholicke Church whereby is plainely insinuated that none but God is to be beleeued in because to beleeue in a thing is to put our trust and confidence in that thing As for that place in the Epistle to Philemon it maketh nothing for this purpose for there the word Faith is referred to the Lord Iesus and Loue to the Saints neither ought Saint Hieromes authority more preiudicate vs in this interpretation then it doth them in many such like whom they reiect as they do the rest of the Fathers at their pleasures especially seeing no man else besides himselfe is of that minde at least wise if he vnderstand by faith to beleeue in the Saints and not to beleeue them onely the one whereof is proper to the Creator the other to the creatures 62. To the last I answere that Prayer is properly one of the sacrifices of the New Testament for here the sacrifices are not corporall but spirituall as may bee prooued in generall by that which our Sauiour saith Iohn 4. God will be worshipped in Spirit and truth And in particular by comparing Mal. 1. 11. with 1. Tim. 2. 8. for whereas Malachie prophecying of the Kingdome of Christ had said that Incense and a cleane offering should be offered to God in euery place Paul sheweth what is meant hereby when he commandeth to lift vp pure hands vnto God in euery place But suppose that it were improperly called a sacrifice yet it looseth not the knot for all kinde of sacrifices both proper and improper corporall and spirituall are due onely vnto God for to whome belongeth a Temple and Altar to him belongeth a sacrifice saith Saint Augustine but no Temple or Altar proper or improper is to be built or set vp to any but to God and therfore no sacrifice is to be offered but to him 63. Lastly touching the authority of the Fathers which are alleaged so frequently by Bellarmine to prooue the Inuocation of Saints and from which Cassander would draw this conclusion That it was not credible that those holy men would admit any doctrine or custome which they supposed to bee contrary to the Euangelicall and Apostolicall doctrine or detract any thing from the glory of God or the merit of Christ when as they vnderwent so heauie conflicts for Christs sake Here not to keepe the Reader in suspense referring a fuller satisfaction to this argument to a more fit place foure things are to bee noted first that for the space of two hundred yeares after Christ the Intercession and Inuocation of Saints were doctrines vnknowne vnto the Church and therefore they alledge no Father within that compasse saue Dionisius Areopagita Cap. 7. Eccles Hierarch which booke as diuers other that goe vnder that name Illyricus hath proued to bee counterfeit by impregnable reasons And Iraeneus Lib. 5. contra Haeres who saith that the Virgine Mary was made the Aduocate of the Virgine Eue by which hee could not meane that Eue did pray vnto Mary here on earth seeing Mary was not then borne when Eue liued nor that the Virgine Mary did pray for Eue whilst shee liued because then shee her selfe was not both which must needes be if by this testimony the Inuocation of Saints should be proued 64. Secondly those Fathers that liued in the next two hundred yeares speake of this matter very variously and doubtfully as if it were a doctrine which they knew not what to say to were not fully resolued in Thirdly of those Fathers which he alleageth though in some places they seeme to allow that custome which was then brought into the Church yet in other places they disallow the same Yea and they are disapprooued also of others that liued in the same age Thus true Athanasius condemneth Inuocation of Saints Orat. 2. 3. contra Arianos and false Athanasius alloweth it Sermon in Euangel de Sanctissima Deipara Basil approueth it but Nazianzene doubteth of it and Epiphanius that liued also about that time vtterly condemneth iâ— Chrysostome in some places seemeth to allow of it in others he speaketh against it and so doth Augustine and the rest as you may see at large prooued by Chemnitius in his examine of the Councill of Trent And that which is not to be forgotten they alleage many false and counterfeit Bookes vnder the name of the Fathers as Dionysius Areopagita Ecclesiast Hierar Athanas Serm. de Sanctissima Deipara Chrysost hom ad pop 66. and many others of the like impression as the same Chemnitius hath learnedly and vnanswerably prooued 65. Lastly those Fathers which doe defend this Inuocation yet do not defend it as it is now practised in the Church of Rome for first the Fathers if they did allow of this Inuocation yet it was in their priuate deuotions not in the publike Leiturgie of the Church for it cannot bee prooued that in any of the ancient Leiturgies this Inuocation was vsed vntill Gregorie the firsts time for as for that which was called Chrysostomes Masse all know it is a bastard brat and not a true Child of that good Father but in the Church of Rome it is practised in their publicke seruice and so is come from a matter of priuate deuotion to a generall practice of Religion Secondly the Fathers though they may seeme to haue prayed sometimes vnto the Saints out of the heate of their deuotion yet it was but now and then and as it were by the way whereas their ordinary prayers and deuotions were directed vnto God but in the Church of Rome the Saints are more prayed vnto then God he hath the least and they the greatest share in their deuotion witnesse the Letanie of the blessed Virgin Marie and the Marie Psalter and their Common practice Thirdly the Fathers albeit they directed their prayers sometimes to the Saints yet they reposed most confidence in their prayers to God and in the mediation of Christ as appeareth by that which Chrysostome saith Ad Deum non ostiarâ—o c. We need no Porter nor Mediator nor Minister to bring vs to God say but Miserere mei Deus c. And in another place hee saith that when wee pray our selues to God wee obtaine more then when others pray for vs. But the superstitious Romanists thinke to speede better when they pray to the Saints then when vnto God And therefore they are not ashamed to say that we must appeale from the Court of Gods iustice to the Court of his Mothers mercy Fourthly the Fathers did not so much as dreame of any merits of supererogation which should be in the Saints and by them should be communicated vntovs but all the interest
to some puritie doth approoue and confirme all these grosse opinions of the Schoole Diuines for thus it decreeth that it is good and profitable humbly to inuocate the Saints and to fly to their prayers and succour for the obtayning of blessing from God in Christ And that wee may see the meaning of this Decree the Romane Catechisme which was made by the commaundement of the Bishop of Rome doth more expressely affirme that the Saints are therefore to be called vpon because they pray continually for the saluation of men and God bestoweth many benefits vpon vs for their merit and grace sake and that they obtaine pardon for our sinnes and reconcile vs into the fauour of God And for the refining Iesuites they haue not yet refined this errour for Coster writeth that the Saints are to be inuocated both that they may mediate our cause to God and also that themselues may helpe vs. Viega another Iesuite saith that they are as it were the dores by which an entrance is opened to vs vnto the most holy places in heauen Osorius another of the same stampe affirmeth that God giueth vs all good things by the intercession of the Saints And lastly to make vp the messe Bellarmine himselfe that is more wary then all the rest doth not blush to say that Gods predestination is helped supported by the prayers of the Saints because God hath determined to vse their prayers for the effecting of mans saluation Behold here a Map of the Romish doctrine Who can now choose but account them Idolaters when they thus teach the people That all blessings descend vpon them by the meanes of the Saints and so encourage them to repose their confidence in their merits 69. But from their doctrine let vs come to the practice of their Church and we shall see this more cleerely and heere some few examples shall serue for a taste for to propound all in this kinde would bee both tedious and needlesse Thus therefore in their publike Seruice Bookes Rosaries and Breuiaries they pray vnto the Saints To Saint Paul Vouchsafe to bring thy humble suppliants to heauen after the end of this life to whom thou hast reuealed the light of truth To Saint Iames the greater Haile ô singular safeguard of thy pilgrims bountifully heare the prayers of thy seruants helpe them that worship thee and bring them to heauen To Saint Thomas thus Vouchsafe to establish vs thy suppliants in his faith by handling of whoÌ„ thou deseruedst to acknowledge to be God To Saint Iohn Haile ô holy Apostle of our Lord Iesus Christ I intreat thee by his loue who chose thee out of the world that thou wouldest deliuer me thy vnworthy seruant from all aduersitie and from all impediments of body and soule and receiuing my soule at the houre of death wouldest bring me to life euerlasting To Saint George thus Hee saue vs from our sinnes that wee may rest with the blessed in heauen Here Saint George is made a Sauiour and that from sinne and so either Christ is cleere put out of his office or George ioyned with him in his office Againe to Saint Erasmus Graunt that by thy merits and prayers we may ouercome all the snares of our enemies and be freed from the pouerty of body and minde and from eternall death To Saint Christopher O glorious Martyr Christopher bee mindefull of vs to God and without delay defend our body sense and honor thou that deseruedst to carry in thine armes ouer the Sea the Flower of heauen cause vs to auoid all wickednesse and to loue God with all our hearts To Saint Cosmus and Damianus O most holy Physicians who shine in heauen most cleerely by your merits preserue vs both from bodily plague and disease and also from the death of the soule that we may liue in grace vntill we enter into heauen To Francis the Fryer thus O Francis sunnes light singular crucified Saint c. beâ— thou to vs the way of life make satisfaction for vs alway shew to Christ the marks of thy wounds This Frier Francis they make equall to Christ and therefore they say that Christ imprinted his fiue wounds vpon him as if he also were to suffer for the world and redeeme mankind and that they were alike in all things as those blasphemous Verses of two shamelesse Iesuites Turselline and Bencius doe declare 70. What should I trouble thee gentle Reader with any more of this trumpery their Bookes are full of such-like prayers if any please to read them and that we may plainely see that they put their trust and confidence in them not onely the words doe sufficiently signifie but also the liberall indulgences their Popes haue annexed to the deuout sayings of such Orisons As Pope Sixtus hath promised eleuen thousand yeeres pardon to them that shall say a certaine prayer before the Image of the Virgine Mary beginning thus Aue sancta Mater Dei c. But to leaue the rest of the Saints and to come to the blessed Virgine whom with Epiphanius we blesse and honour but in â—â— casâ— worship it is a wonder into what an abominable Idoll they haue translated not her for shee abhorres their impietie but the Idea and fancy of her which they haue deuised in their owne braynes for they call her the Queene of heauen the Mother of mercy the Gate of Paradise the Life and hope of a sinner the Light of the Church the Lady of the world the Aduocatresse and Mediatrix of mankinde yea they say that the death and passion of Christ and the holy Virgine was for the redemption of mankinde and that she also must come betwixt God and vs for the remission of sinne and that her Sonne and she redeemed the world with one heart as Adam and Eue sold the world for one apple And thus they ioyne the Virgine Mary with Christ in the office of our redemption and so make her equall with him which were somewhat tolerable if they could stay there but they climbe higher in impudency and not onely match her with Christ but set her aboue him For they tell vs of a vision How Christ preparing to iudge the world there were two Ladders set that reached to heauen the one red at the top whereof Christ sate the other white at the top whereof the Virgine Mary sate and when the Friers could not get vp by the red Ladder of Christ but euermore fell downe Saint Francis called them to the white Ladder of our Lady and there they were receiued And a late Iesuite hath set forth to the view of the world certaine Verses wherein he preferres the milke of our Lady in many respects before the bloud of Christ yea they subiect Christ now raigning in the heauens to his Mothers command as it is sung in some of their Churches O happy Virgine that our sinnes dost purge Eâ—treate thy Mother and thy Sonne doe
vrge Command him though Redeemer that â—e be By right of Motherhood which is giuen to thee 71. And this the Rosarie of the Virgine Mary doth more euidently manifest for Dominicke who was the first inuentor of it ordayned that fiftie Ane Maries should be recited and at euery tenth one Pater noster which together make a Rosarie and for this purpose the same Dominicke framed fiue and fiftie Stones or Beades and hung them together on a string betwixt euery ten little ones one great one and called them Patriloquia as it were prayers to the Father which he might more properly haue called Matriloquia prayers to the Mother for here are ten Aues to each Pater noster And this was the originall of praying vpon Beads Now out of these Rosaries sprung there Mary Psalters for three Rosaries to wit an hundred and fifty Aue Maries and fifteene Pater nosters make one Mary Psalter because forsooth the Psalter of Dauid consists of so many Psalmes and to the fraternitie of this Psalter and the sayers thereof were giuen by diuers Popes as Sixtus the fourth and Innocent the eighth threescore thousand yeeres of indulgence and plenary remission both from the punishment and fault one in the time of life and one in the houre of death Is not heere I pray you the worship of the Virgine Mary exalted aboue the worship of Christ who can doubt of it seeing the proportion is ten to one fifty to fiue an hundred to ten an hundred and fifty to fifteene And no maruell if it bee thus in their prayers seeing it is as euill or worse in their deeds for whereas wee haue one Church or religious house dedicated to Christ we shall finde ten dedicated to Mary the Mother of Christ and so the Mother is aduanced aboue the Sonne and yet she but a woman of flesh and bloud saued by her Sonne and blessed by that faith which shee had in him and hee the Sonne of God as well as the Sonne of Man the Sauiour and Redeemer of mankinde 72. But the most horrible Idolatrie and blasphemy of all the rest is to be found in another Mary Psalter of theirs compiled as they say by Bonauenture and authorised in the Church of Rome wherein they apply all the whole Psalter of Dauid to the Virgine Mary and wheresoeuer they finde the name Dominus Lord they put in Domina Lady as for example in the third Psalme for Lord how are my foes increast they say Lady how are my foes increast and in the sixt Psalme for O Lord correct mee not in thy wrath they say O Lady correct me not in thy wrath And in the 31. Psalme for Blessed are they O Lord whose sinnes are forgiuen they say Blessed are they whose hearts loue thee O Virgine Mary for their sinnes shall be forgiuen them by thee and so cleane through the Psalter If any desire to see the gulfe and dunghill of Superstition and Idolatrie practised in the Church of Rome vnder the Inuocation of Saints let him but read this one Psalter which alone if there were no other argument is sufficient to conuince their whole Church of open and notorious Idolatrie and that Cassander himselfe confesseth in the place aboue quoted 73. Thus they exalt the Virgine Mary aboue Christ and equall her with God yea which is horrible to speake and fearefull to be recorded they place her aboue God himselfe for they teach that a man may appeale to the Virgine Mary not onely from a Tyrant and from the Diuell but euen from God himselfe This writeth Bernardine de Busto about 120. yeeres since and his booke was authorised by Pope Alexander the sixt and yet remaines so farre from all disallowance that it is approoued by Posseuine as a learned and godly booke Out of which it must needes follow which I tremble to vtter that by their doctrine the Virgine Mary is greater then God because euery appeale is from the lesser to the greater 74. But no maruell if they preferre Mary to Christ that is the Mother before the Sonne seeing they doe as much to two Fryers Francis and Dominicke He that would see how Francis is matched and exalted aboue Christ let him read the booke of his Conformities and hee will bee astonished at their madnesse Also of Dominicke they write most strange things and such as Christ neuer did the like as for example Christ raysed but three dead saith Antoninus but Dominicke raysed three at Rome and forty that were drowned in a Riuer neere to Tholosse Christ being made immortall after his resurrection entred twice into the house the dores being shut but Dominicke being a mortall man entred into a Church in the night the dores being shut that he might not waken the brethren Christ had all power committed vnto him in heauen and earth and Dominicke did partake the same power with him for the Angels serued him the Elements obeyed him the Diuels trembled at him Christ was the Lord absolutely and by authority but Dominicke principally and by possession Christ was laid at his birth in a Manger and wrapped in clouts to keepe him from cold but Dominicke being an infant would often get out of his bed and as if hee abhorred all delights of the flesh lye vpon the bare ground Christ neuer prayed but hee was heard if he would except in the Garden when hee prayed that the Cup might passe away from him where praying according to his sensuall part would not be heard according to reason but Dominicke neuer desired any thing of God but it was graunted vnto him Christ being borne a Starre appeared in the East which directed the Wise-men to him and foreshewed that he should be the light of the world but Dominicke being borne and ready to bee baptized his Godmother saw a Starre in his forehead foretelling a new light of the world Lastly Christ loued vs and washed away our sinnes by his bloud so did Dominicke for hee whipt himselfe thrice euery day with an Iron chayne and drew bloud each time out of his sides once for his owne sinnes which were very small the second for those that were in Purgatory and the third for those that liue in the world Is not Dominicke heere in some things equalled and in others preferred before our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ 75. And thus to passe ouer all their false and counterfeit Saints which eyther neuer were in rerum natura or were not such as they make them as Christopher George Catherine and such like For it is a true saying of Augustine or of some other Multorum corpora honorantur in terris quorum animae torquentur in inferno The bodies of many are honoured on earth whose soules are tormented in hell And to omit that the Pope may erre in the canonizing of Saints it being grounded vpon false miracles as Caietane acknowledgeth and others though Bellarmine be of another minde and laboureth to prooue the contrary but God wot with
of this life to bee purged in that purging fire This is also their doctrine Now I would aske of them if all the reliques of sin be wyped away by this annoynting Sacrament then what vse is there of Purgatory and if the reliques of sinne bee to bee purged in Purgatory then what vse of this Sacrament Either therefore this fire doth dry vp the vertue of that sacramentall Oyle or this sacramentall Oyle doth quench that fire They will say peraduenture that eyther all are not anoynted with this Oyle â— or that some that are anoynted by their owne infidelity and impenitency barre out the vertue thereof Or lastly that the sinne being remitted yet the temporall punishment due vnto it is to bee payd in Purgatory To which I reply first that it is against the rule of their owne Religion that none that are anoynted with this Oyle should goe to Purgatory for then a very small number should goe to that place seeing their Priests are so diligent for their owne belly sake that they seldome suffer any to passe away without this Pasport Secondly for them which barre out the efficacy of the Sacrament by their owne infidelity or impenitency not that purging fire of the Suburbs but the deuouring fire of Hell it selfe is prepared as they themselues acknowledge And thirdly if there be not a purging away of some filthy staines of sinnes from the soule by that fire but onely a satisfactory punishment why do they call it a Purgatory Nay and why doeth Bellarmine thus define it to bee a place wherein as it were in a Prison after this life those soules are purged which were not sufficiently purged in this life to the end that being so purged they may enter into heauen whither no polluted thing can haue admittance And thus it remaynes a necessary conclusion that either the reliques of sinne are not clensed away by Extreme vnction and so that Sacrament is of no force or if they be they are not then purged in Purgatory and so that fire must needes be quenched 51. But if this Oyle will not serue to extinguish Purgatorie because the fire burneth so hot let vs adde vnto this the Popes Pardons which will at least evacuate and empty it that there shall be no fuell for that fire For they teach that a Pardon or Indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment due for actuall sinnes out of the dispensation of the Churches Treasury Thus doth Tollet define it and Bellarmine and Gregory de Valentia adding onely that it is by meanes of application of the superabounding satisfaction of Christ and the Saints made by him that hath authority there unto Now none hath authority thereunto but the Pope onely and such as are delegated by him to that purpose for the keyes of this Treasury were committed to Peter and his Vicar saith Osorius another Iesuite and from them is deriued to Cardinalls Archbishops Bishops and other inferiour Clarkes And the Pope by his iurisdiction may absolue all that are in Purgatory from the paine and so empty Purgatory at once saith Antoninus the Archbishop of Florence which if it be true then either the Pope is vnmercifull if he can and will not for who would suffer such a number of poore soules to bee so tormented when with a word of his mouth he might release them or if hee would and cannot then their doctrine is false of his absolute Iurisdiction Let them choose whether they will But of this more hereafter Now to the purpose Some of them hold that the paynes of Purgatory hold but ten yeeres some an hundred some two hundred they that stretch them farthest yet say that they must end at the day of Iudgement because then all must bee Sheepe or Goates none betwixt both of middle nature as Beliarmine affirmeth Well then if Purgatory dure no longer then we shall not neede to feare it no more then that fire which the Philosopher calls Ignis fatuus For let any man goe to Venice and say but a prayer of Saint Augustine printed in a table and he shall haue 82000. yeeres pardon that is longer then the world is like to endure by their owne confession and therefore longer then needes This indulgence was granted by Pope Boniface the eyghth Or if Venice be too farre a iourney let him stay at home and but nod the head at the Name of Iesus and hee shall haue twenty yeeres pardon for euery time I would nod twenty times a day if this were true and that commeth to 7300. in the yeere O how a man may disappoint this Purgatory if he haue any wit in his head This Indulgence came from Pope Iohn the two and twentieth Or if this be also too great a matter let a man weare but an Agnus Dei about his necke and thinke onely in his heart on the Name of Iesus at the houre of his death and hee shall haue plenary forgiuenes of all his sinnes And for them that are there already they are helped out daily or at least may bee by the Suffrages and Masses of those that are aliue and if any remaine there the fault is in the Priests that say not Masses fast enough and the reason of that is because they receiue not money fast enough for there is the common Prouerbe most true No penny no pater noster To conclude in the yeere of Iubile a perfect and full pâ—rdou is graunted to all that desire the same or on whom the Pope will bestow it therefore the soules in Purgatory cannot be excluded Now if all these things stand true then Purgatory must fall for who would fall into Purgatory that may thus easily preuent it or who would suffer any of his friends soules and acquaintance to lye burning there one houre when it is in his power thus to redeeme them Either therefore the doctrine of Pardons is false and fayned or else Purgatory is no better then a scarcrow 52. Adde to these that soules onely are tormented in Purgatory and not bodies but bodies sinne as well as soules and some sinnes are committed by the whole man to wit bodie and soule together and therefore the body is not free from the relicks of sinnes no more then the soule especially from obligation vnto temporall punishment How can then these relicks bee purged away in this fire when as the one part of man which standeth in neede of purging as well as the other neuer commeth thither Bellarmine sawe this contradiction well enough and therefore labours to salue it by a false position driuing out one nayle of error with another to wit That sinne is onely an act of free-will and therefore after the dissolution of the body and soule by death remayneth onely in the soule and not in the dead body But this is first false for albeit properly it is the soule that sinneth yet the body also sinneth by being an instrument of the soule in sinning and he himselfe saith
be tormented restlessely in those burning flames which in their iudgement are equall for extremitie and anguish excepting onely continuance to the paines of Hell to be at rest and to sleepe in peace is Purgatorie become a Paradise and the skirts of Hell the suburbes of Heauen this is new strange Doctrine and yet this must needes bee if both their practice of praying for the dead in their Masse and their doctrine of the same in their bookes bee true 56. Concerning inuocation of Saints it is intangled with diuers absurd contrarieties for first if it bee true which the former Doctrine requires that wee must pray for the Saints which are in blisse that their glorie may bee increased then it is false that wee must pray vnto them For if they stand in need of our Praiers as they doe if by them their glorie is increased then they should pray vnto vs aswell as wee vnto them and if they stand in need of our helpe being in Heauen how can they helpe vs being on Earth if we be Mediatours for them how are they Mediatours for vs True it is that here below one man prayeth for another because they stand in need of one another but by another Doctrine which is also the truth the Saints enioy the sight and presence of God and therefore are most blessed for in him they enioy all sinnesse of ioy and glorie so that nothing can bee added to that happinesse which in their soules they enioy and therefore one of these two necessarily are false either we must not pray vnto them or we need not pray for them 57. Againe they a leage testimonies out of the olde Testament to prooue the inuocation of Saints as that Praier of Moses Remember O Lord Abraham Isaac and Iacob thy seruants and Ier. 25. If Moses and Samuel stand before mee my soule should not bee to this people and Gen. 48. 16. and Iob the 51. 2. Machabees 15. with diuers others and yet they teach that before Christ there was no Saint in Heauen but all in Lymbo Now if they were in Lymbo and could not help themselues vntil the Mediatour came how could they help others and if they did not enioy the presence of God themselues how could they be certified thereby as by a glasse of the necessities and Praiers of the liuing so that it must needes follow that either the Saints were not praied vnto or else if they were then they were in Heauen and not in Lymbo Especially seeing Bellarmine confesseth that the Saints in Lymbo did not ordinarily know the necessities of the liuing that being a prerogatiue of perfect blessednesse neyther tooke care of humane affaires nor were protectors of the Church as the Saints in Heauen are Bellarmine indeede seeing this absurditie acknowledgeth that for the reasons afore alleaged it was not a custome in the olde Testament to direct their Praiers purposely to the Saints but in their praiers to God to alleage the merits of the Saints but herein hee both crosseth himselfe and all his fellowes for if it be so why doth he and they produce testimonies out of the olde Testament to prooue their inuocation which is made directly vnto the Saints 58. Lastly they affirme that no Saints may bee worshipped publikely that is in the name of the Church vnlesse hee be canonized by the Pope for the auoiding of misprision and yet they confesse that none were canonized till 800. yeeres after Christ by Pope Leo the third and also that it is lawfull priuately to worship any of whose sanctity I haue an opinion now I would gladly know if this bee a way to auoide mistaking why was it forborne so long or why is it not vrged priuately aswell as publikely if canonization were necessary 800. yeeres after Christ to auoide mistaking then there was much mistaking before or else this remedy would not haue beene hatched and if it was necessary in the publicke seruice then is it much more in priuate deuotions seeing priuate men are more propense to false suppositions then a whole congregation is and so this new doctrine of canonization not onely condemneth the Idolatry offormer times in the inuocation of Saints but also openeth a wide doore to priuate superstition in that kind and so indeed crosseth and vndermineth it selfe for Bellarmine confesseth out of Sulpitius that the people did long celebrate one for a martyr who after appeared and tolde them that hee was damned and Alexander the third reprehendeth certaine men for giuing the honour of a martyr to one that dyed drunke and no doubt but many such Saints are in their Martyrologe at this day notwithstanding their canonization so that by canonizing they preuent mistaking by giuing liberty to priuate inuocation they giue occasion if not cause of mistaking then which what can be more contradictory 59. Againe when they barre all children that are vnbaptized out of Heauen and confine them to Limbo there to endure the punishment of losse for euer doe they not contradict another doctrine of theirs which teacheth that men dying without the baptisme of water if they haue baptismum flaminis vel sanguinis that is either suffer martyrdome for Christs sake or bee regenerated by his Spirit and so haue a desire to bee initiated by that Sacrament but are preuented by some meanes may notwithstanding goe to Heauen for if want of baptisme bee a sufficient cause to keepe from Heauen then it is so as well in men growne as in infants and if it bee not a sufficient cause to shut vp Heauen gates against men of yeeres then how can it be to yong infants especially seeing infants by their doctrine are equall to men in two things first that they may bee martyrs as well as they as the children whom Herod slew in Bethlâ—em are celebrated in their leiturgies and secondly that they may bee sanctified as well as they as Iohn Baptist was in his mothers wombe and in these two are precedent vnto them first that they are void of actuall transgressions with which men of yeeres are infinitely stayned and so neerer to Heauen then those and secondly though they haue no desire of baptisme in themselues yet they are deuoted thereunto both by the desire of their parents and by the purpose and intent of the Church And therefore all considerations being equall in the persons and the oddes remaining if there be any on the infants side it can bee no lesse then a direct contradiction that children vnbaptized cannot bee saued and men vnbaptized may bee saued for it implieth thus much in effect that the outward baptisme of water is necessary to saluation and yet the outward baptisme of water is not necessary to saluation 60. Againe concupiscence in the regenerate is denyed by them all to bee in it owne nature sinne and yet they all confesse that it is malum an euill and vitium a vice Is any thing naturally euill which is
Peters successor must be in the same case that is neither to erre personally nor iudicially or if he erre one way then also to bee subiect to error the other Lastly experience hath taught that Popes may erre euen as they are Popes and that iudicially yea and also haue beene condemned for Heretikes As Honorius the first whom three generall Councils condemned for a Meâ—othelâ—te And Iohn the two and twentieth who was constrained to recant his iudgement touching the soule by the Vniuersitie of Paris And Iohn the three and twentieth who was condemned for an Heretike by the Council of Constance for denying the immortality of the soule And diuers others who not onely in their priuate opinions but in their publike doctrines haue taught and maintained notorious errours 67. Another doctrine of theirs is that the Pope is the head of the Church and yet they denie not but sometimes the Pope is no true nor sound member of the Church how can hee be the head of the Church that is no sound member thereof nay no member at all not so much as the taile as the Iewish Rabbines call the Bishop of Rome in disdaine except their last distinction helpe them quatenus Papa and quatenus homo I know not how they will rid themselues out of this snare and yet that will not helpe them neither in this case for is it likely that Christ will make a reprobate the head of his Church and commit the cuâ—â—â—dy of the same to an Atheist an Heretike or an Epicure or a Necromancer or a monster of nature as all stories â—all Iohn 12. and as many of them haue beene Surely either as he is a Pope he is not the Churches head or as hee is a man hee must needs be a member of the same If they say that wee giue vnto a King the same title of head and gouernor of the Church who notwithstanding is often a tyrant and waster of the Church and a very reprobate I answere that in attributing these titles of dignity to Kings wee doe not positiuely set downe what euery one is for if hee bee a destroyer of the Church hee is not an vpholder of it but what euery one ought to bee in regard of his office but the Romanists absolutely set it downe that though the Pope be a wolfe wasting the flocke of Christ and though hee lead by his doctrine and example infinite soules with him to hell yet hee is still actually the head of the Church quatenus Papa and no man may say vnto him Why doe you so 68. Againe it was decreed by two Councils and those assembled authorized and confirmed by Popes themselues that the Councill was aboue the Pope and yet the Councill of Laterane vnder Pope Leo the tenth decreeth peremptorily that the Pope is aboue all Councils so also most of the moderne Romanists affirme Now if the decrees of Councils lawfully assembled and approoued by Popes bee the doctrines of the Church then here is one doctrine quite contrary to another one Councill opposite to another yea one Pope to another which is no new nor strange thing but ordinary in the Church of Rome As witnesse Pope Iohn the two and twentieth and Pope Nicholas about the question of our Sauiours manner of possessing earthly goods and Pope Celestine and Pope Innocent the third in the question of diuorce in the case of heresie and Pope Pelagius and Pope Gregory the first in the question of putting away the wiues of Subdeacons one of these crossing the other iudicially and one gain saying what the other defended And most notorious is that which diuers Chronologers testifie of Pope Stephen the sixt how hee decreed in a Councill that they who were ordained Bishops by Pope Forâ—â—sus his predecessour were not ordained lawfully because the man was wicked by whom they were ordained therfore he did vnordain them and reordaine them againe thus Stephen iudicially crossed Formâ—sus and hee againe was crossed and condemned by Pope Iohn the ninth euen for this fact and his new ordainings marched with new baptizings 69. Lastly they constantly maintaine that the Pope is not Antichrist and yet they affirme that hee is the Vicar of Christ heere on earth a flat contradiction for the word Antichrist signifieth not onely an enemie vnto Christ but also one that taketh vpon him the office and authority of Christ the prâ—position 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affording naturally and properly both significations as appeareth in these two wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an opposite and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Proconsull in the first whereof it signifieth opposition and the second substitution Now then if the Pope bee Christs Vicar generall on earth then he is in the last sense Antichrist and beeing so in the last sense it is most likely that hee is also the same in the first because the Antichrist spoken of in the Scripture is described to be such a one as is not an open and outward but a couert and disguised enemie hauing two hornes like the Lambe that is counterfeting the humility and meeknesse of Christ and making a glorious profession of religion with a shew of counterfeit holinesse when notwithstanding hee speaketh lyes in hypocrisie and vttereth wordes like the dragon and is the greatest enemy to Christ Iesus and his Gospel that euer was so that in that hee is Christs Vicar hee is Antichrist by their owne confession in that sense and being so is probably Antichrist also in the other because the true Antichrist must bee both the one and the other And so for the conclusion of this point wee haue not onely the mystery of iniquity that is Antichristianisme in the manifold contradictions and oppositions thereof but euen Antichrist himselfe lurking in his den professing himselfe and his followers to bee the onely true Church of God and pretending himselfe to be the Prince of the couenant as Saint Ierome speaketh that is asmuch as to say the Vicar of Christ and without doubt as the sweet harmonie in Christian Religion and euery part thereof with it selfe is a pregnant argument of the infallible truth thereof so the miserable opposition and contrariety in the Religion of the Church of Rome and that most of the doctrines therein contained either with themselues or with other as I haue in part here shewed leauing a fuller demonstration thereof to some other that shal more deeply search into them doe euidently euince that it is the Religion of Antichrist and therefore not onely to be suspected but euen to bee abhorred of all them that loue the truth or that desire the saluation of their soules The IX MOTIVE That Religion whose doctrines are in many points apparently opposite to the word of God and the doctrine of the Gospell cannot bee the trueth but such is the Religion of the Church of Rome ergo c. 1 IN the Chapter going before I haue shewed how the Romish Religion is contrary to it selfe
this Sacrament there is a cōmemoration of that sacrifice of the crosse which was once offered this he spake conuicted by the truth And the Councill of Trent also in another place doth almost if not fully speake asmuch when it sayth that Iesus Christ left to his Church a sacrifice by which that bloudy sacrifice which hee made vpon the crosse might bee represented and the memory thereof continued which if it be true then being conuicted by their owne consciences and confessions it remaines that that doctrine which holdeth that the masse is a true reall propitiatory sacrifice is opposite to the doctrine of the Gospell which teacheth the contrary and so this fourth Antithesis is safe and sound for all that Bellarmine can say against it 21. The Gospell teacheth that both parts of the Sacrament are to bee ministred to all Christians and of the cup it sayth expresly Drinke ye all of this but the Church of Rome hath decreed that none should drinke of the cup but the Clergie and that the people should content themselues with the other part of the Sacrament 22. Bellarmine distinguisheth of the word All and saith By it is not to be vnderstood all the faithfull but the Apostles onely which hee prooueth by Saint Marke who sayth that they dranke all of it that is all the Apostles which sate at table with our Sauiour Christ and not all the Christians that beleeued in him 23. But to his distinction not all Christians but all Apostles I answere that this is Bellarmines conceit or rather deceit and hee borrowed it of Andradius the famous expositer of the Councill of Trent but it is a miserable glosse woe bee to it that so soully corrupts the text first the fathers vnderstood by the vniuersall All all the faithfull and that the Apostles heere in this great action were not Pastors but sheep Christ himselfe the great shepheard beeing the distributer and diuider of this Sacrament I shall not need to repeat their words they are so euident and ordinary Let the margent direct the Reader to them if they desire satisfaction in this point 24. Secondly many of their owne Doctors so interprete it as Thomas Aquinas Durand Biel Alphonsus de Castro Lorichius the author of the glosse and diuers others Cassanders testimony shall stand in stead of all the rest he sayth plainly that the Westerne Church beleeued for a thousand yeeres that our Sauiour Christ gaue this Sacrament to his disciples representing the persons of all the faithfull and he addeth reasons why the wine as well as the bread was to bee receiued both for a more full representation of the passion of Christ and signification of our full spirituall nourishment in Christ and also the full and perfect redemption of our bodies and soules by the body and soule of our Sauiour This Cassander repeats to haue beene the opinion of the Latine Greeke Church for the space of a thousand yeeres What an vpstart distinction then is this of Bellarmine who notwithstanding ceaseth not to bragge that they haue all antiquity on their side 25. Thirdly wee haue Saint ` Paul thus interpreting the words of his Lord and Master who spake nothing but by the direction of the Spirit for whereas our Sauiour sayth Drinke yee all of it Saint Paul sayth Let a man examine himselfe and so let him eat of this bread and drinke of this cup. But all must examine themselues before they come to the sacrament therefore all are enioyned to drinke of the Sacramentall cup let vs chuse then whom wee will beleeue whether Saint Paul or Bellarmine for Saint Paul interprets this All one way and Bellarmine cleane contrary 26. Lastly reason it selfe disapprooueth this exposition for first I would aske him whether that which our Sauiour commanded to bee done at his last Supper were to bee done once and no more or often euen to the end of the world If hee say once and no more the words will confute him which say Doe this in remembrance of me if often then by All he meant not the Apostles onely for the Apostles liued not till the end of the world Againe if by All was intended the Priests onely then not onely the people should bee excluded from the cup but from the bread also for if in these words Drinke ye all of it hee speaketh to Priests onely then in these words Eat ye all of it hee speaketh to none but Priests for they are both spoken to one and the same persons And thus the people should haue no part of the Sacrament at all for the same All that is in one is in the other And to conclude if the Apostles stood heere in stead of Pastors or Priests why did they not minister the Sacrament It is the part of a Priest as hee is a Priest to minister the Sacrament to others and when hee receiueth it himselfe then hee standeth for a common Christian and not for a Priest for a sheepe not for a shepheard But they did not minister but receiue therefore they stood not here for Priests but for the whole body of the faithfull And thus this distinction being battered by the testimony of fathers confession of their owne Doctors authority of Saint Paul and strength of reason doth fall to the ground like Babel and this fift Antithesis is nothing weakened by Bellarmines Sophistrie 27. The Gospell teacheth that true repentance or conuersion to God is an earnest sorrow of heart for sinnes committed and faith perswading that they are certainely remitted for Christs sake But the Church of Rome teacheth that contrition indeed is one of the parts of repentance but they faine that it meriteth a remission of sinnes and to it they adde auricular confession not commaunded by God satisfaction or voluntary workes by which they say that the punishments of sinne are satisfied that these also may be redeemed by money and purse-penance All which whole doctrine is very blasphemous against the merit of the Son of God who onely made satisfaction for our sinnes 28. Bellarmine heere from distinguishing falleth to rayling and accuseth vs of manifest lying and falshood in laying that to our charge which wee are not guilty of but whether is the lyar hee or wee let the Reader iudge First therefore that true repentance is not a bare sorrow of heart for sin but such a sorrow as is ioyned with and ariseth from faith appeareth by this because contrition without faith leads to desperation and not to saluation as the wofull examples of Cain Esau and Iudas declare and therefore the Romanists themselues doe not exclude all manner of faith from repentance but onely that faith which apprehendeth remission of sinnes by Christ which speciall faith whereby remission of sinnes is beleeued and obtained is ioyned with repentance Luke 24. 47. Act. 26. 18. This is our doctrine and it is warranted by the holy Scripture though it pleaseth Bellarmine to say that it is a
bare assertion without Scripture 29. As touching their crossing of it wee need fetch no other proofe then from the Councill of Trent which in expresse words denounceth Anathema to those that make this faith whereby wee beleeue the remission of our sinnes a necessary ingredient into true repentance and yet it propoundeth reconciliation and remission of sinnes to such as doe repent let all the world therefore know to the eternall shame of the Romish Religion that remission of sinnes and reconciliation by their doctrine may bee obtained by repentance without faith then which what can bee more opposite to the Gospell of Iesus Christ 30. If they reply that they make faith the foundation of repentance I answere why doe they then exclude it out of repentance is the foundation no part of the house yes it is the chiefest part either therefore it is not the foundation of repentance or els it is necessarily required to the essence of it one or the other must needs bee false but heere is the mystery of this iniquity by faith they meane nor a beliefe of the remission of our sinnes by the bloud of Christ which is the true Euangelicall faith but a generall perswasion of the truth of their Religion and a particular conceit that he which performeth the worke of penance in the three parts thereof shall thereby obtaine pardon of his sinnes and reconciliation with God 31. Secondly whereas hee sayth that wee doe not satisfie for the eternall but for the temporall punishments of our sinnes either heere in this life or in Purgatory hee speaketh nothing for the clearing of their doctrine from opposition to the Gospell for the Gospell teacheth that Christ our Redeemer hath made a full and perfect satisfaction for the sinnes of all the world yeelding a sufficient and worthy recompence and contentment to God for them and therefore they which say that wee must giue any manner of satisfaction our selues whether for the temporall or eternall punishment due vnto them doe euidently crosse the doctrine of the Gospell And this Aquinas one of their owne illumined Doctors doth in effect confesse when hee sayth that the passion of Christ was a sufficient and super abundant satisfaction for the sinne and guilt of punishment of mankind his passion was as it were a price or paiment by which we are freed from both these obligations to bring in then the foggy mist of humane satisfactions is to eclipse and darken the glory of Christs all-sufficient redemption 32. Thirdly whereas hee findeth fault with Chytraus for saying without proofe that auricular confession is not commanded of God and yet hee himselfe doth not proue it is we might driue out one naile with another and returne vpon him his owne answere but I reply further that diuers of his owne fellow Doctors haue auouched asmuch for Maldonate Erasmus the glosse in Gratian and Gratian himselfe and Rhenanus with diuers others are of the same minde as may appeare in the texts quoted in the margent whose wordes I forbeare to set downe because I shall haue occasion to handle the same in a more proper place one thing I cannot omit that the testimony of Rhenanus is so plaine that our aduersaries not able to giue answere sufficient vnto it haue by their peremptory authority said Deleatur let it bee blotted out as they deale also with Polidore Virgill in the like point and with all other that stand in their way 33. Lastly the redeeming of penance by the purse though Bellarmine shuffle it ouer neuer so cunningly yet is so palpable an abuse and so contrary to the doctrine of the Gospell that the very naming of it is a sufficient declaration of the foulnesse of that Religion which maketh a mart of sinne and setteth repentance which is the gift of God to sale for a little earthly drosse and exchangeth punishment due to the body and soule for a little pinching of the purse 34. The Gospell teacheth that marriage is permitted and set free for all men both Priests and people and that the prohibition of marriage and meats is a doctrine of Deuils But the Romish Religion forbids marriage to a great part of men to wit Priests and Monkes and commands to abstaine from certaine meates vpon certaine dayes 35. Bellarmine excepteth and saith by a distinction that when the Apostle sayth Marriage is honourable amongst all men hee meaneth not all in generall for then it should bee honorable betwixt the father and the daughter the brother and the sister but onely those that are lawfully ioyned together which they that are bound with a vow cannot bee 36. It is a strange fore-head but no maruaile seeing it is the fore-head of the whore of Babylon when the Scripture sayth Marriage is honorable amongst al men to exempt their Votaries from this honour as if they were not in the number of men but beasts and as the assertion is strange in impudency so the reason is more strange in folly for though the father may not marry the daughter nor the brother the sister without incest yet the father may marry and the daughter may marry and the brother and the sister also so that they take those that are not prohibited by the Law of God and nature Now let him shew that Gods Law forbiddeth Votaries to marry and then hee sayth something to the purpose but by his owne confession together with many of his pew-fellowes the prohibition of marriage is no diuine but humane ordinance and institution yea the Councill of Trent it selfe calleth it but an Ecclesiasticall Law and therefore not a Law of God but a decree of the Church 37. Adde to this impudency and folly his crossing of all antiquity for in the Councill of Nice Paphnutius alleadgeth this place of Scripture against those that went about to take away the vse of marriage from the Clergie and in the sixt generall Synode it is expressely applied to the same purpose And Ierome in defence of Charterius a married Bishop produceth the same text 38. As touching Chrysostomes speech to Theodorus the Monke alledged by Bellarmine though it seemeth a little to fauour them at the first view yet in another place he cleereth himselfe from that suspition for he saith plainely that Marriage is so honourable and precious that a man with it may ascend into the sacred Chaire of a Bishop What hath Bellarmine got now by Chrysostomes testimony Surely this If all that Chrysostome saith bee sound doctrine then it is an error in the Church of Rome to inhibite all that are consecrated by holy Orders from the vse of the marriage bed For by Chrysostome Bishops may marry Saint Augustines testimonies alledged by him in the one and twentieth Chapter are little to the purpose for in the first he saith plainely that the Church of God doth not forbid marriage but onely preferre virginitie before it as a greater good and in the second hee approoueth onely abstinence from
meates and that from all in generall and that to this end for the castigation and mortification of the body and not eyther for merite sake or that it is a thing vnlawfull or that wee may glut our selues with some kinde and may not so much as touch others vpon paine of heresie which is the doctrine of the Church of Rome This is all that S. Augustines words import which as they doe not deliuer them from opposition to the Gospell so they manifestly imply these two conclusions first that the Synagogue of Rome is not the Church of God for it forbiddeth marriage to Priests not as a lesser good but as a thing simply euill And secondly that they maintaine in this their Church that doctrine which of S. Paul is called The doctrine of Diuels for they forbid both Meates and Marriage at some times and to some persons as things sinfull and vnlawfull And whereas the Fathers almost in generall say that it is better for such as haue vowed continency to marry then to fall into the fire of lust they conclude filthily to their eternall disgrace It is better for a Priest to play the whoremonger and keepe a Concubine then after his vow of continency to be coupled in wedlocke 39. But Bellarmine couereth her nakednesse whereof he is as it seemeth some what ashamed with a figge leafe of a distinction for he saith that fornication is not simply better then marriage but in respect that a man hath before entred into a vow in which regard to marry after the vow is a greater sinne then to commit fornication and this hee proueth by an example from a married woman whose husband is eyther continually absent or sicke so that hee cannot performe the marriage debt vnto her It is not sayd vnto her It is better to marry then to burne but shee ought to keepe her faith to her husband and by fasting and prayer keepe vnder and tame the concupiscence of her nature and therefore saith hee that precept or permission Let him marry is not spoken to all but only to such as are free and not if they be bound and haue giuen their faith vnto God 39. To which I answere two things First I aske him whether this vow which 〈◊〉 talke of be onely against marriage or against all manner of incontinency If they say that it is the vow of chastitie and that it is against all manner of incontinency then how can it bee that it should bee broken more by marriage then by fornication by hauing a wife then by keeping a whore and that to marry in respect of the vow should be a greater sinne then to commit whoredome especially seeing marriage is Gods ordinance and fornication of the Diuels institution that an honourable and holy estate and this a filthy and vgly sinne If they say that the vow is against marriage onely then what a Religion is Popery that teacheth her people to vow against marriage and not against fornication against wiues and husbands but not against whores and varlets Surely that Religion that maintaineth this cannot be of God 40. Secondly to his example I answere Marriage cannot be inioyned to her that is married already albeit her husband bee eyther absent or impotent for that is contrary to Gods ordinance Mal. 2. 14. Mat. 19. 5. But the vow of single life is not Gods ordinauce especially in so high a degree as marriage is for at the most it is but a Council whereas the other is a flat Precept to all that cannot containe and besides they that are married may expect the blessing of God vpon them vsing the meanes for their restraint in a godly manner and begging continency at Gods hand because they are in a calling ordayned by God but they that are in a vow who either enter rashly or are thrust in against their wills and contrary to Gods Commandement not being able to abstaine but proudly presume vpon their owne strength how can they hope for Gods blessing vpon them to strengthen them against the temptations of the flesh And thus this example together with the distinction it selfe maketh no whit to the iustifying of their doctrine but that it still remayneth in plaine contrariety and opposition to the Gospell of Iesus Christ 41. The Gospell teacheth that there is one true and solide foundation vpon which the Church of God is built 〈◊〉 to wit our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ But the Romish congregation cryeth out that Peter and the ordinary succession of Popes and the Church of Rome is the foundation of the whole Church and that the Church is built vpon them and not vpon Christ alone 42. Bellarmine distinguisheth of foundations and saith that Christ is the primary and principall foundation of the Church but that doth not hinder but that there may be secundary foundations and for proofe thereof he alledgeth Ephes 2. 20. where it is said that we are built the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and Apoc. 11. 14. where the twelue Apostles are made the twelue foundations of the Church 43. To which I answere three things First that though it be trueâ—â— that the Apostles bee the secundary foundations of the Church layd vpon Christ the true Rocke and foundation as twelue goodly stones and that vpon them the Church is built to wit vpon Christ primarily and principally and vpon them secundarily yet it doth not take away the Antithesis of their doctrine to the Gospell for they say that Peter is the onely secundary foundation and that hee as the chiefest stone is layd next vnto Christ and the rest of the Apostles built immediately vpon him and mediately by him vpon Christ But those Scriptures say that the twelue Apostles are twelue precious stones laid one by one vpon Christ and not one vpon another and twelue foundations equally proportioned to each other and not one placed vpon the top of another and so it is true that as the prerogatiue of the onely singular foundation belongeth to Christ so the honour of being secundary foundations is equally deuided among the twelue Apostles and so Peter in this respect hath no greater prerogatiue then the rest And therefore this distinction deliuers them not from the snare seeing that it maketh all the twelue Apostles altogether ioynt-foundations of the Church and they would haue Peter to bee the onely foundation next vnto Christ vpon whom both the Church of God and the Apostles themselues are built 44. Secondly I answere that when the Apostles are said to be foundations of the Church it is not meant of their persons but of their doctrine as witnesse almost all the Fathers for concerning person it is true which Saint Paul saith No man can lay any other foundation beside that which is layd Iesus Christ 1. Cor. 3. 11. But the Romanists would not haue the doctrine of Peter but the person of Peter to be this foundation and for proofe thereof Bellarmine fetcheth this argument from the
of nature then the Saints are no wayes our Mediatours for if they bee they must bee one of these two wayes vnlesse wee will say that they doe that which belongs not vnto them but like busy-bodies are pragmaticall in anothers charge which farre bee it from vs to thinke of those blessed creatures but both these wayes he sayth Christ is the onely Mediatour therefore the Saints by his owne conclusion are no Mediatours at all 58. His third distinction is that therefore Christ is called the onely Mediatour because hee prayeth for all and none for him but the Saints are such Mediatours that they themselues stand in need of a Mediatour I answere that therefore they are no Mediatours at all for if the Saints in Heauen stand in need of a Mediatour themselues then it must necessarily follow that they are not Mediatours at all for they that are parties cannot bee vmpiers And this is that which Saint Augustine plainely affirmeth though Bellarmine laboureth to distort his words to another sense when he sayth He for whom none intreateth but hee intreateth for all is the onely true Mediatour And thus it is cleare that the doctrine of the Church of Rome touching the mediation of Saints is directly contrary to the doctrine of the Gospell 59. The Gospell teacheth that Christ Iesus hath made a full and perfect satisfaction for all our debts and so is our full and perfect Redeemer But the Church of Rome teacheth that Christ hath satisfied but in part for our debts to wit neither for all our sinne nor for all the punishment due vnto all our sinne and so that he is not our full and perfect Redeemer 60. This doctrine of the Gospell is so euidently propounded in holy Scripture that our aduersaries themselues acknowledge it in generall to bee true for Aquinas where the Apostle sayth I suffer all things for the Elects sake that they may also obtaine the saluation which is in Christ Iesus asketh this question What was not the passion of Christ sufficient and answereth to the same Yes as touching the working of saluation And Bayus sayth that there is but one satisfaction onely vnto God and that of Christ yea Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth asmuch in generall for hee affirmeth that the merit of Christ is sufficient to take away all sinne and punishment neither dare any of the rest for shame in plaine words deny the same because if they did many manifest texts of Scripture would conuince them of impiety and heresie 61. And that the other is the doctrine of the Church of Rome the Councill of Trent will witnesse which thus defineth When God forgiueth a sinner hee forgiueth not all the punishment but leaneth the party by his owne workes to satisfie till it bee washed away Yea they affirme not onely that wee our selues must satisfie for the temporall punishment but also for the relikes of sinne and for the fault it selfe yea for that punishment that should bee suffered in hell excepting the eternity yea so impious and shamelesse are some of them whose bookes are notwithstanding authorized by the Church of Rome that they affirme that Christ dyed onely for originall sinne and that the satisfaction of Christ deserueth not the name of a satisfaction for our sinnes Let the world iudge now whether these positions of the Church of Rome bee not flat contrary of the Gospell of Iesus Christ for the Gospell attributeth to Christ all sufficiencie of meriting and satisfaction but these fellowes make him a Satisfier party parpale for the sinne but not the punishment yet not for all our sinnes neither but for a part of them as for originall not actuall or iffor actuall yet for mortall onely and not for veniall And this is the Romish Religion though palliated with the name of Catholicke and hidden from the sight of the common people vnder the vaile of an implicite faith which if they should but see they could not chuse but abhorre 62. For the healing of this wound Bellarmine applyeth his wonted playster of a distinction Christs satisfaction saith he is in vertue sufficient but not in act efficient except it bee applyed by our satisfaction and therefore that there is but one onely actuall satisfaction which is ours which by the grace and efficacy of Christs satisfaction taketh away the punishment of our sinne and maketh a iust recompence to God for the same 63. But this distinction first vndermineth it selfe for if Christs bee a satisfaction then it is an actuall satisfaction if it bee not an actuall one then it is none at all Did not he actually dye and rise againe Did not hee actually by that death of his satisfy Gods iustice for all the Elect Doth not the strength and efficacy ofhis death stretch it selfe backward to Adam and forward to the last beleeuing child of Adam vpon earth If all this bee true then it must needs bee intolerable blasphemy to say that actually there is no satisfaction but our owne and that Christs satisfaction which hee made for our sinnes is indeed no satisfaction except it bee by the meanes of ours which must apply it and as it were giue efficacy vnto it 64. Againe the ground of his distinction is absurd for where doth the Scripture make our satisfaction a meanes to apply Christs satisfaction vnto vs It telleth vs of other meanes of application to wit outward the Word and Sacraments inward faith in respect of vs and the Spirit in respect of God but no where of this new-deuised meanes which they talke of and besides how can our satisfactions apply Christs vnto vs whereas they are both satisfaction and that to God and that for our sinnes Nay when as hee sayth that our satisfaction doth include the satisfaction of Christ in it and so both together make but one compound satisfaction if they be of one naturâ—â— how can one apply the other If they bee one in mixture and composition how is the one seuered from the other These bee absurd inconsequences and irreconciliable 65. Lastly if the strength power of satisfying which is in our sufferings is wholly from the grace of God the vertue of Christs satisfaction why doe some of them hold that a man by power of nature without grace may bee able to satify for Veniall sinnes and expell them nay why doth Bellarmine say that a righteous man hath right to Heauen by a twofold title one of the merits of Christ by grace communicated vnto him and another of his owne merits By which he plainely diuideth our merits from Christ and ascribeth a satisfactory power to them equall to the death of Christ it selfe and that without the helpe of grace Nay why do they not say plainly that Christ hath satisfied for vs without any intermixing of our owne but that their wisedome perceiued that then Purgatory Masses Penance Romish pardons yea and the Popes Kitchin it selfe and the very marrow of all their Pompe shall fall
to the ground And this indeed is the very ground of this blasphemous doctrine 66. Doctour Bishop misliking this distinction as it seemeth flyeth to another In sinne sayth hee there are two things the one is the turning away from God whom wee offend The other is the turning to the thing for the loue of which wee offend Now the turning away from GOD both the sinne and the eternall paine due vnto it are freely through Christ pardoned but for the pleasure we tooke in sinne wee our selues are to satisfie and according to the greatnesse thereof to doe penance Thus dreameth Doctor Bishop but let his owne fellow Doctor waken him and he of greater credit then himselfe Aquinas it is who reiecteth this distinction as nothing worth and giueth this reason of his reiecting because satisfaction answereth not to sinne but according as it is an offence to God which it hath not of conuerting to other things but of auerting and turning from God And surely his reason is passing good for to vâ—â— the Creatures and to loue the Creatures is not sinne but to vse them disorderly and to loue them immoderately which disordered vse immoderate loue is the very turning and auersion from God and therefore to say that wee satisfy not for our auersion from God but for our conuersion to the creatures is to say either that wee satisfy for that which is no sinne or els that some part of sinne is not an auersion from God both which are equally absurd and Doctor Bishop cannot giue a third and therefore his distinction is a meere foppish dreame without head or foote 67. The Gospell teacheth that there is giuen no other name vnder Heauen whereby wee must bee saued but the name Iesus But the Church of Rome propoundeth vnto vs other names to bee saued by as the Virgin Mary the Saints and Martyrs yea Francis and Dominick c. For they make them Mediatours of intercession to God for vs which office belongeth only vnto Christ as hath been shewed and they teach that we are saued by their merits aswell as by the merits of Christ and that as there are diuers mansions in Heauen so among the Saints there are diuers offices some haue power ouer one thing some ouer another as Saint Peter against infidelity Saint Agnes for Chastity Saint Leonard for Horses Saint Nicholas against ship-wracke Saint Iames for Spaine Saint Denis for France Saint Marke for Venice c. Yea they would make men beleeue if a man being otherwise a vyler sinner dye in the habit of Saint Francis or Saint Dominick c. must needes goe straight to heauen without any more adoe and that as it may seeme though he hath neyther faith nor repentance 68. Lastly they are not ashamed to say that the death and passion of Christ and of the holy Virgine together was for the redemption of mankinde and as Adam and Eue sold the world for one Apple so Mary and her Sonne redeemed the world with one heart and therefore as they called him Sauiour so her Sauiouresse as him Mediator so her Mediatresse as him the King of the Church so her the Queene If this be not to repose the confidence of our saluation vpon other names besides the Name of Iesus let the world be iudge 69. Yet for all this they thinke to couer this their filthinesse by a distinction for they say that they doe not flye to the Saints as authors and giuers of good things but as Impetrators and Intercessors To which I answere that to omit their doctrine which hath at large beene discouered before the very forme of their prayers doth extinguish this distinction for when they cry and say O Saint Peter haue mercy on me Saue mee Open mee the gate of heauen Giue mee patience Giue mee fortitude c. And to the blessed Virgine O Mediatrix of God and men ô Fountaine of mercy Mother of grace Hope of the desolate Comforter of the desperate c. receiue this my humble petition and giue me life euerlasting And to Saint Paul Vouchsafe to bring vs whom thou hast caused to know the light of truth after the end of this mortality thither where thou thy selfe art Doe they not make them authors and giuers of these things Yes in word saith Bellarmine but not in sense for the meaning of these petitions is that by their prayers and merites they would obtaine of God these good things But alas how should the common people vnderstand their meaning seeing the sound of their words are so playne to the contrary Againe why doe they not propound their sense in playner termes but leaue it thus inuolued vnder darke riddles to the great offence of thousands And lastly how harsh an interpretation must this needs be in the eares of all men Giue me euerlasting life that is Pray to God that he would giue mee it If a man should speake so in his common talke no man would vnderstand him otherwise then his words sound how much lesse can these spirituall matters be otherwise vnderstood then they are spoken Surely this shift is so filly that if it might stand good what might not a man speake and yet excuse it sufficiently after this manner And though the Councill of Trent seeme to graunt to the Saints the power onely of intercession as Bellarmine also doth yet the Romane Catechisme set foorth by the commandement of the Pope and decree of the same Councill doth cleerely and expressely attribute vnto the Saints the power of Mercy Grace and Donation of benefits Whereby it appeareth that this is not the opinion of some priuate men but the receiued and approoued doctrine of the Church And thus this distinction vanisheth before the truth as snow against the Sunne 70. The Gospell teacheth that euery soule bee subiect to the higher powers and that we submit our selues vnto all maner of ordinance for the Lords sake whether vnto King or vnto Gouernours c. And our Sauiour himselfe confesseth that Pilate had power euer him from God when he faith Thou couldest haue no power at all against me except it were giuen thee from aboue But the Church of Rome teacheth that neyther the Pope himselfe nor any of his Clergie are subiect to the temporall power of Princes eyther to be iudged of them or punished by them no not in cases of fact when they are guilty of haynous crimes as of Treason Murther Theft c. 71. This doctrine though it bee contradicted by many learned Doctors of their owne side as Occham Marsilius Pataninus Barclay a late French Lawyer and others yet is maintayned by their Popes and Cardinalls Iesuites and Canon Lawes which are the very synewes of Popery as not onely true but necessary to saluation and therefore we may well call it The doctrine of their Church For Popes Iohn the two and twentieth commaunded Augustinus Triumphus of Ancona to write a Booke wherein he maintaineth this position
of God A dead man cannot moue the members of the body nor vse the naturall saculties of the soule no more can the vnregenerate mooue one haire bredth to Heauen-ward nor vse any graces of the Spirit A dead man hath no sense nor feeling though hee bee neuer so sharply handled seeth not though the Sunne shineth neuer so bright heareth not though a trumpet be sounded in his eare no more can the vnregenerat feele the wounds of Gods Lawes heare the sound of the Gospell nor see the cleare light of truth that shinethround about him Lastly in a dead man there is a separation of the soule froÌ„ the body so in the vnregenerate there is a separation of Gods Spirit from the soule which is the soule of the soule For this cause S. Aug. likened the vnregenerate man to the Shunamites sonne beeing dead whom the Prophet Elizeus raised from death to life and others to Lazarus stinking in the graue or to the widowes sonne of Naiâ—â— lying dead vpon the beare or to Iairus daughter that was dead in the house noting three degrees of sinnes one more notorious then the other yet all in the state of death vntill Christ by his Spirit shall inspire life into them and this is the perfect analogy and proportion betwixt a dead man and a sinner and therefore Bellarmines exception is false that they doe not agree in all things for there is nothing wherein they doe agree not if the comparison bee rightly proportioned 82. Secondly if they did disagree in other things yet in this wherein lyeth the life of the similitude they must needs agree that as a dead man hath nothing whereby he can helpe himselfe for the recouery of his life so man spiritually dead hath nothing in him no faculty or power of the soule whereby he can any way further the obtaining of his coÌ„uersioÌ„ And this was Saint Augustines opinion agreeable to the Gospell for his words are plaine concerning Pauls conuersion that he was called from Heauen and by that mighty and effectuall calling conuerted Gratia Deisolaerat It was onely the grace of God And no otherwise did Iustine Martyr conceiue thereof when hee sayth That as to haue beeing at the first when wee are created was not of our selues so to choose and follow that which is pleasing to God is not by vs but by his perswading and mouing vs to the faith In this therefore which is the point of the question the similitude holds most strongly and so Bellarmines exception is nothing to the purpose 83. Thirdly and lastly it is most absurd of all which hee sayth that because a sinner liueth naturally therefore he moueth towards grace more then a dead carkas to nature which hath no life at all for in respect of grace it is all one to haue no life at all and to haue no life of the Spirit For nothing can worke aboue the compasse of it owne beeing Naturall life cannot tranicend the Spheare of nature nor any way moue to the Spheare of grace For as Plants that liue the vegetatiue life cannot arise to the sensitiue life which is in beasts nor they to the rationall which is in men So neither can these arise vp any whit to the life of the Spirit which is in Gods Saints till a new life bee inspired into them which new life as it is the conuersion of the soule to God so it is the foundation of all spirituall actions seeing life in euery kinde is the foundation of all the actions in that kind For vntill there bee life in a plant it doth not grow vntill it bee in a beast it doth not moue nor feele vntill in a man hee doth not thinke speake or remember and so vntill this life of the Spirit bee in the soule it cannot will nor worke any thing that is good Therefore I conclude that though a sinner liue naturally yet beeing dead to grace that that life doth no more helpe to his conuersion then the sensitiue life of a beast doth to the obtaining of reason or the vegetatiue life of a Plant to the obtaining of sense 84. The Gospell teacheth that all should read the Scriptures for so our Sauiour chargeth and his Apostles Paul and Peter and Iohn charge not Priests onely but all others And Abraham sendeth the rich Gluttons brethren to Moses and the Prophets And the Eunuch is not rebuked but approued by Philip for reading the Prophesie of Esay And the Bereans are commended for examining Pauls doctrine by the Scripture which should neuer haue beene if it had not beene lawfull for them to doe it This is the doctrine of the Gospell most plaine and euident But the Church of Rome teacheth that all men must not read the Scripture to wit Laymen except they bee permitted by their Ordinary because pearles are not to bee cast amongst swine nor a sword or a knife put into a childes hand nor occasion of errour offered to the ignorant nor matter of offence to the weake as also because they are more obscure then can bee vnderstood of the Laicks and common sort of people Thus they paint ouer the foule wrinkled face of Iezabel with false colours but yet the contrariety is plaine All ought to read the Scriptures and some ought not to read the Scriptures The one is the doctrine of Iesus Christ The other of the Pope and his Church 85. But Bellarmine distinguisheth two wayes First that there is a double way of knowing the Scriptures one by hearing and another by reading The first is commanded to all and therefore necessary to be vsed of all But this last is not commanded to any but to the Clergie and those whom they shall thinke fit to read them with profit and without danger But who seeth not that when our Sauiour willeth to search the Scriptures hee speaketh of reading And when the Bereans examined Pauls sermon by the Scriptures they did it by reading And when Abraham remitteth Diues brethren to Moses and the Prophets hee sendeth them to reading For Moses and the Prophets were dead in their persons and liued onely in their writings And lastly when the Apostles wrote their Epistles to the seuerall Churches they wrote them to this end that they might bee read of all For so Saint Paul chargeth the Colossians after they had read the Epistle that they themselues would cause it also to bee read in the Church of the Laodiceans Besides if it bee a dangerous thing for the ignorant to read the Scriptures for feare they should peruert the sense so fal into heresie or impiety then much more dangerous is the hearing of it seeing there is no preaching so pure as the word it selfe man euer mixing some dregs of his own corruption with the pure wine of the word nor any preacher so sincere but he doth often erre and so the hearer being debarred from trying his doctrine by the touchstone of the Scripture must needs irrecouerably fall into
vnto him And that wee may not thinke that this Master of theirs is without schollers the glosse of their decrees doth set down asmuch when it sayth Dimiâ—tantur id est dimissa ostendantur Let them bee forgiuen that is let them bee declared to bee forgiuen Which because it speakes too boldly therefore their iudicious Censurers haue caused it either to bee blotted out or compelled it to speake otherwise 92. Secondly I answere that this doctrine is crossed by it selfe For they do not professe any other absolution but such as may be hindered by the party to by absolued to wit if by want of faith or repentance he put an inuisible bar to stop the power thereof Now if the sinner may hinder his own absolutioÌ„ then the Priest hath no power to absolue him except he be fitly disposed for the receiuing of it this disposition is meerly from God and therefore in God is the onely power to absolue and in the Priest onely to declare who is absolued and that conditionally if hâ— be thus qualified and haue no barre to hinder For if the power of absoluing or not absoluing depend vpon the putting in or taking away the barre of impenitency then he onely can iudicially absolue a sinner that can giue him repentance but neyther the Pope nor any mortall man is able to doe this as the Scripture testifieth in many places and therefore neyther Pope nor Priest can absolue a sinner any further then by a declaratiue sentence 93. Lastly it crosseth their owne practice for they teach that dead mâ—n dying in excommunication may be absolued and they practise the same to wit as Bellarmine saith when it is discouered that the partie was erroniously excommunicate and as Tollet saith when he shewed manifest signes of contrition before his death in which case their absolution can bee no more then a declaration that hee did repent and that he is absolued before the tribunall â—â— at of God 94. And thus this first distinction wiâ—l hold no water Let vs heare the second Touching the Popes power to pardon out of the Sacrament this it is They say that the Pope doth not by his pardon take vpon him eyther to remit the guilt of sinne or the eternall punishment due vnto it but onely the temporall punishment which it ought to sustaine eyther here in this life òr in Purgatory But I answere that hâ—e which can remit any part of the punishment due vnto sinne can also remit the guilt it sâ—lâ—e for guilt and punishment are vnseparable companions insomuch as in the Hebrew tongue Sinne and Punishment are notified by one and the same word to shew that where the one is there the other is also and therefore he that can pardon the ore may also release the other Adde hereunto that to pardon a sinne is nothing else as our common phrase of speech together with reason teacheth vs but to remit the punishment thereof as when the King in the Court of Iustice pardoneth a Malefactor he releaseth him from the punishment which by the law he should suffer so in the Court of Conscience he that doth remit any part of the punishment due by Gods Law vnto a sinner as the Pope doth vndertake to doe by the same labour doth remit so much of the guilt it selfe And so this distinction filleth to the ground being as feeble and brittle as the former 95. Lastly the Gospell teacheth that when we haue done all that we can yet we may say that we are vnprofitable seruants Luke 17. 10. But the Church of Rome teacheth that a man may doe more then he ought and then the law requireth and so may say and thinke himselfe to be not onely a profitable but more then a profitable seruant for hee mâ—y say they supererogate now hee doeth supererogate who layeth out more then he receiued as he that to the precepts of Christ adioyneth the commaundements of the Church and to the precepts of the law the counsels of the Gospell 96. Bellarmine answereth first out of Saint Ambrose that it is to bee vnderstood of vs whilst wee are in the state of nature and not of grace as if by nature we are vnprofitable but by grace profitable but our Sauiour speaketh this to his Disciples who were now in the state of grace and not of nature And Saint Ambrose his meaning is nothing else but this that our naturall imbecillity though it be sanctified yet it is not abolished by grace and therefore that we in regard thereof are still bound to remember that when we doe all we can yet we are vnprofitable 97. Secondly he answereth that we are vnprofitable indeede but to God not to our selues which hee saith is Beda's interpretation but hee leaueth out that which followeth in Beda for so farre is hee from building hereupon the merite of works that he saith plainely that by whose mercy we are preuented that we may humbly serue him by his gift wee are crowned to raigne with him By which it is euident that if wee bâ— profitable to our selues it is because God accepteth our seruice and in mercy rewardeth the same not because we deserue any thing at his hands To omit that the word Seruants hath relation to Masters and not to themselues and therfore in saying they are vnprofitable seruants it must needs be vnderstood in respect of God and not of themselues 98. Thirdly hee answereth out of Saint Augustine that we are said to bee vnprofitable in respect of the couenant of the law but in respct of the free couenant of grace we may be profitable and more then profitable But this is Bellarmines fraudulent collection and not Saint Augustines intention for he saith onely that we can require no reward for our labour though we haue kept all the commandements vnlesse God of his free grace had couenanted with vs to reward vs. He saith not that wee are made profitable by grace eyther to God our Master or to our selues And therefore in another place he disclaimeth vtterly all profite and merite in our selues when he saith Lord for thy Names sake quicken me in thy righteousnes not in mine not because I haue deserued it but because thou art mercifull Thus this generation is not ashamed to wrest and wring the godly Fathers to make them speake to their purpose 99. Lastly hee answereth out of Saint Chrysostome that our Sauiour saith not Yee are vnprofitable seruants but bids them say so of themselues to teach them humility and to auoyd pride But how doe this follow that because Christ biddeth vs to say so to auoyd pride therefore we are not so yea rather therefore we are so for would he bid vs to lye Chrysostome himselfe in another place cleereth this doubt when he saith that all that euer wee doe we doe vpon dutie for which cause Christ sayd When yee haue done all say yee are vnprofitable seruants So that Chrysostome did not onely
thinke it fit for vs to say so for humility sake but also that wee were so in truth and indeede Let Saint Bernard for an vpshot wipe away this distinction Wilt thou saith he say that Christ hath taught thee to say so for humility sake true indeed it was for humility but what against truth And thus none of these shifts and distinctions can deliuer this doctrine from opposition to the Gospell for it followeth ineuitably if the best be no better then vnprofitable seruants then none can worke such works whereby hee may not onely merite for himselfe eternall life but hauing a surplusage of redundant merits bestow some of them for the supplying of others wants 100. And thus wee haue a short view of the cleere and manifest oppositions that are betwixt the doctrines of the Gospell and the doctrines of the Church of Rome And we see with what subtill and intricate distinctions they labour to reconcile them together but truth is naked and needeth no such shiftings Both the one and the other therefore namely their direct opposition to the Gospell on the one side and their elaborate diflinctions to make good their cause on the other doth euidently euince the conclusion of this ninth demonstration that that Religion which is built vpon such desperate and dangerous principles cannot be the truth of Christ but the doctrine and Religion of Antichrist The X. MOTIVE That Religion which nourisheth most barbarous and grosse ignorance amongst the people and forbiddeth the knowledge and vnderstanding of the grounds of the Christian faith cannot be the truth but this doth the Romish Religion ergo c. 1. IN the first proposition of this Argument the Romanists hold the Wolfe by the eares not knowing whether it be better to graunt or to deny it for if they graunt it to bee true it will flye in their faces because they are guilty of the contents thereof and if they deny it it will bite them by the fingers for all men will condemne them of shamelesse impudency for denying so apparant a truth Therefore as the beast which Pliny calleth Amphisbaena so it stingeth both wayes But of two euils the lesser they must of necessitie deny it or else they must condemne their owne practice of impietie which sure they will not doe though for their labour they gaine to themselues that name which so frequently and imperiously they impute vnto vs Shamelesse Heretikes they speake it of vs in the spirit of malice but it shall be prooued of them by sound reason and that in this demonstration ensuing by Gods assistance 2. For the confirmation therefore of the first proposition a word or two though whatsoeuer can be spoken thereof is but to adde light vnto the Sunne First therefore the Scripture standeth foorth and condemneth ignorance so plainely that nothing can be more euident Salomon telleth vs That they which hate knowledge loue death And the Prophet Esay That the people were carryed into captiuitie because they had no knowledge And the Prophet Hosca That they were destroyed for lacke of knowledge Our Sauiour affirmeth that the cause of erring in the Sadduces was the ignorance of the Scripture And Saint Paul coupleth these two together in the Gentiles Darkned cogitations through ignorance and strangers from the life of God where he plainely sheweth that ignorance and destruction are inseparable companions as sanctified knowledge and saluation are And to omit infinite other passages of holy writ our Sauiour directly concludeth that he which knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall bee beaten with many stripes and he which knoweth it not and therefore doth it not shall be beaten too but with fewer stripes By which he giueth vs to know that though some kinde of ignorance may extenuate and lessen the fault yet none especially if it bee of matters which we are bound to know and may be attayned vnto doth excuse from all fault but is blame-worthy and punishable by Gods iustice 3. Thus speakes the holy Ghost in the Scripture and doubtles in reason it must needs be so for wherin doth a man differ from a beast but in reason and vnderstanding and wherein doth one man differ from another but in the enlightning of reason by diuine knowledge which is the matter subiect of true Religion Religion being nothing else but the knowledge and profession of the diuine truth the want whereof must needs be a subuerter and destroyer thereof A Physicion that is ignorant of the grounds of his Arte we account a Mountebanke and Imposter And what I pray you can they be lesse that professe ignorance and that in the most difficult Art of all other the Art of Christianitie Besides all confesse that ignorance is a defect and blemish of the soule and that the more knowledge a man hath the neerer he is vnto perfection because hee is the more like vnto God but the chiefe end of Religion is to purge away the blemishes to make vp the breaches of the soule to renue Gods Image defaced therin that so we may be made like vnto him euen perfect as he is perfect How can then true Religion teach ignorance which is such an enemy vnto perfectiō or how can that be true religion which nourisheth ignorance inioyneth it vnto most of her professors followers 4. Let the fathers bee Iudges of this cause Saint Augustine sayth in one place that Ignorance as a naughty mother bringeth forth two wicked daughters falshood and doubting And in another that the knowledge of God is the engine by which the structure of charity is built vp Saint Bernard sayth that both the knowledge of God and of a mans selfe is necessary to saluation For as out of the knowledge of a mans selfe commeth the feare of God and out of the knowledge of God the loue of him so on the contrary from the ignorance of a mans selfe commeth pride and from the ignorance of God desperation Saint Chrysostome sayth that knowledge goeth before the imbracing of Vertue because no man can faithfully desire that which hee knoweth not and euill vnknowne is not feared The like song sing all the rest of the Fathers whose testimonies I thinke needlesse to accumulate being so wel knowne to all men 5. And that they may bee vtterly without excuse heare what their owne Doctours affirme Aquinas confesseth that omnis ignorantia vincibilis est peccatum si sit eorum quae aliquis seire tenetur All vincible ignorance that is which may bee auoided is sinne if it bee of those things which a man is bound to know But such is the ignorance maintained in the Church of Rome not onely vincible but affected wilfull and voluntary Bellarmine also acknowledgeth that ignorance is a disease and wound of the soule brought in as a punishment of originall sinne And confesseth out of Saint Augustine that it is the cause of errour For Two euils are
and ignorance must needs ouerflow the world as wofull experience hath taught to bee true in those places where the Romish Religion preuaileth 16. Thirdly they teach that Images and Pictures are Lay mens Bookes wherein they must read and with the which they must content themselues without searching at all into the Booke of God This doctrine taught Gulielmus Peraldus three hundred yeeres since saue that hee ioyned the Scripture and Images together for thus he writeth As the Scriptures be the Bookes of the Clergie so Images and the Scripture are the Bookes of Lay men where hee equalleth a dumbe and dead Picture to the speaking and liuely Scriptures the worke of man to the Word of God But Loelius Zechius a learned and famous Diuine of latter time goeth further and saith that Images are the onely Bookes for them that bee vnlearned to draw them to faith and knowledge and imitation of diuine matters Yea another Fryer that liueth in Paris at this day or at least was aliue very lately goeth yet a degree further and affirmeth that Lay men may more easily learne diuine mysteries by contemplation of Images then out of the Booke of God and all these are as they stile them most Catholike and holy Bookes But what should I search further into these petty Disciples whereas the grand Doctor himselfe hath this proposition in expresse words Meliùs interdum docet pictura quà m scriptura A Picture doth better instruct sometimes then the Scripture 16. This is their Doctrine Now what fruits doth it bring foorth Surely the best fruit is ignorance a worse then that error and the worst of all superstition and and idolatry for howsoeuer we deny not that there may be an historicall and ciuill vse of Pictures either to put vs in minde of our absent friends or to represent some obseruable history and notable deede done or to stirre vs vp to the imitation of the vertues of Godly men and women yet we constantly affirme that to make them the Bookes of Lay men either to be instructed by them alone without the Booke of God or to finde better and more perfect instruction in them then in it is to inwrap the people in a cloude of foggie and mistie ignorance and to hood-winke their eyes that they should not see the bright shining light of truth for where is all sound sauing knowledge to bee found but in the holy Scripture whither doth our Sauiour Christ send his Disciples but vnto them he doth not say vnto them Gaze vpon Pictures for they be they that testifie of me and In them yee shall finde eternall life but Search the Scriptures for c. And the Prophet Dauid that it is the Law of God that giueth wisedome vnto the simple and that conuerteth the soule and giueth light vnto the eyes and not the Pictures of Abraham Isaac and Iacob or of any of the Prophets And therefore though a man may be instructed by a Picture touching a thing done yet most certaine it is that more excellent and more perfect instruction is gotten by the Scripture for let an vnskilfull man returne neuer so often to the beholding of his Picture it will alwaies represent the same thing vnto him and if any scruple or doubt remaine in his minde it can answere nothing for the explication thereof whereas in holy Scripture that which is obscure in one place is explained in another and that which in one Chapter we cannot conceiue in the next following it may be is so cleerely set downe that a childe may discerne it without erring so that as a man may discouer his meaning by signes and becks yet it is not so effectuall as if he vtter it by word of mouth so Pictures may teach but yet Scripture teacheth more fully and effectually And therefore to tye the people to these dumbe Bookes and discharge them from searching into the Booke of God is to depriue them of the chiefest meanes of knowledge and so to foster them in ignorance 17. But yet this is not all For besides that it occasioneth ignorance an Image also is a teacher of lyes as the Prophet Habakuk calleth it and a mother and a nurse of superstition and Idolatry For first how many Pictures are there in their Churches of Monsters and miracles that neuer were As of Saint George killing the Dragon Saint Christopher carrying Christ vpon his shoulder ouer the Ford. Saint Catherine tormented vpon the wheele and disputing with the Philosopher Saint Dunstane holding the Diuell by the nose or lip with a paire of Pincers Saint Denis carrying his owne head in his hands being strooke off Saint Dominick burning the Deuils fingers with a Candle which hee made him to hold will he nill hee And an infinite number such like which either neuer were extant in the world or were not such neither euer did worke such feates as are represented by their Pictures Two Pictures I cannot passe ouer in silence which I haue seen and obserued with my owne eyes the one at the Church of Ramsey in Huntington-shire neere adioyning vnto that quondam a famous and rich Abbay In this Church in the lowest window in the right I le is a picture of a paire of Ballance in one skole whereof is the Deuill and in the other a woman and the woman is more sinfull then the Deuill ouerweighing him euen to the ground Behold a Lay mans book whereat wise men may wonder fooles may laugh and women may bee inraged and euery one may read the folly and prophanenes of those times Sure I am heere is little instruction for the soules health The other is in the Cloister window of the cathedrall Church of Peterborough where is painted out at large the history of Christs passion In one place whereof our Sauiour Christ sitteth with his twelue Apostles eating his last Passeouer which because it was vpon the Thursday night before Easter commonly called Maundey Thursday therefore they picture before him in a dish not a Lambe as the truth was but because it was Lent O miserable blindnesse three pickerels so that now the Paschall Lambe is turned into a Paschall pickerell and all forsooth to nourish in the people the superstition of the Lent fast For if they should see Christ eating flesh in Lent what an incouragement would this be thought they for the people to doe the like 18. And thus Images may wel be called Laymens bookes But what bookes you see euen such as teach lyes and superstition no sound and true instruction I could heere relate how that Saint Dunstane put life by a trunke forsooth into the Image of the Virgin Mary and made her speake against the marriage of Priests when that controuersie could no otherwise bee decided And how the Image of the Crucifixe vsed to speake to Saint Francis to the end to giue authority to the order of his fraternity and that vpon two Images in a Church at Venice the one of Saint
Dominick the other of Saint Paul were written these words On Pauls By this man you may come to Christ On Dominicks But by this man you may doe it easilier because Pauls doctrine led but to faith and the obseruation of the Commandements but Dominicks taught the obseruation of Councils which is the easier way All this and asmuch more might be produced to this purpose But I conclude the point with the censure and confession of their owne Cassander who out of the writings of William Bishop of Miniatum concludeth with him that as if officious lyes should bee added to the holy Scriptures there would remaine no authority nor weight in them So no errour nor falshood should be tolerated in Images and Pictures in the Church seeing that an errour not resisted is receiued for a trueth And in the same place the same Cassander doth bewaile the abuse of Images in the Church of Rome affirming that superstition was too much pampered thereby that Christians were nothing behind the Heathō in the extreme vanity of framing adorning and worshipping of Images Thus farre Cassander out of which we may perceiue the chiefe lessons that are learned out of these Lay bookes to wit ignorance superstition and Idolatry And therefore no maruaile if all these vices raigne in the midst of their Church as plentifully as amongst the Heathen themselues 19. Fourthly they deliuer for sound doctrine that whereas Saint Iohn sayth that they which haue the anointing of the holy Ghost know all things Hee meaneth not that euery one should haue all knowledge in himselfe personally but that euery one that is of that happy society to which Christ promised and gaue the holy Ghost is partaker of all other mens graces and gifts in the same holy Spirit to saluation And thus whereas Saint Iohn meaneth that euery true Christian both by the outward preaching of the word and by the inward vnction of the Spirit hath a distinct knowledge of all things necessary to saluation They say that it is sufficient if he be partaker of another mans knowledge though he be empty voyde himselfe Then which what can be a greater nourisher of ignorance and quencher of knowledge For if I may bee saued by anothers mans knowledge and faith And if it bee not required that I should know al things necessary to saluation in my owne person but may haue a share of another mans knowledge what need I greatly seeke for knowledge my selfe And why may I not repose the hope of my saluation vpon other men And heereby wee may obserue their grosse absurdity In the case of iustification they teach that wee are not made righteous by the righteousnesse of Christ imputed vnto vs though hee bee the head of the body of the Church and the Spirit that animateth it proceedeth from him and yet heere they say that a man may be made wise and knowing by the knowledge of other their fellow members in the same body abiding in the vnity of Christs Church What is this but to aduance the members aboue the head or at least to forget themselues not caring what they say so that they maintaine the cause they haue in hand 20. I but Saint Augustine sayth If thou loue vnity for thee also hath he whosoeuer hath any thing in it it is thine which I haue it is mine which thou hast And againe in another place hee sayth When Peter wrought miracles he wrought them for me because I am in that body in which Peter wrought them In which body though the eye seeth and not the eare and the eare heareth and not the eye yet the eye heareth in the eare and the eare seeth in the eye c. Therefore all the grace and knowledge that is in any other of Gods Saints either liuing or dead is ours by participation And so that which was sufficient in them for their saluation is also enough for vs for ours though wee haue little or none of our owne Thus reason our Rhemists in the place before quoted But I answere first with our reuerend learned countrey-man Doctor Fulk that Saint Augustine vnderstandeth that place of Saint Iohn of an actuall and personall knowledge inspired by the holy Ghost concurring with the outward ministery of the Church and not of any generall knowledge infused into the Church to bee transfused and dispersed among the members by an imputatiue participation Secondly if a man may know by another mans knowledge why may not a man bee righteous by anothers righteousnesse And if the knowledge of our fellow members may bee imputed to vs that wee thereby may bee saide to know why may not the iustice of our head bee so imputed vnto vs that thereby wee may bee made iust These things are so paralell that the one being granted the other needs must follow Thirdly and lastly that communion which is betwixt the members of a body either naturall or mysticall is not an actuall translation of gifts from one to another but either a participation in the fruit of those gifts or a generating of the like in others by doctrine example exhortation prayers and such like meanes And so wee may truely say that euery one that is in the body of Christ reapeth fruit and benefit by all the graces and gifts that euer haue or shall belong to any member thereof though not for merit yet for comfort instruction edification and increase of grace And againe as one candle lighteth another and one steele sharpeneth and whetteth another So wisedome and grace is deriued from one to another either by naturall commerce of speech or patterne of example Thus much did Saint Augustine intend and no more and therefore it neuer came into his minde to thinke as these idle braines would make him that the knowledge which resided in the Saints of God is actually in all Gods Children or that they are partakers of their gifts and graces to their saluation For he that will be saued must beleeue for himselfe and know for himselfe and liue godly for himselfe If hee doe all these things by a proxy hee must also goe to Heauen by a proxy and not by himselfe This doctrine therefore is a manifest breeder and maintainer of such grosse ignorance as both Saint Augustine and all other holy men haue alwayes condemned for a sinne 21. A fift doctrine from whence ignorance springeth and ariseth is their prohibiting of Lay men to dispute touching matters of faith and that vnder paine of excommunication This Nauarre propoundeth as the doctrine of their Church neither is it contradicted by any other Aquinas goeth further and sayth that it is vnlawfull to dispute of matters of faith in the presence of those that are ignorant and simple And Bellarmine taketh away from the people all power of iudging of their Pastours doctrine saying that they must beleeue whatsoeuer they teach except they broach some new doctrin which hath not beene heard of in the Church before And if they
euery man As the multitude of the Nineuites knew not their right hand from their left so this rabble know not the right hand of Religion from the left As for the maine points of the Catechisme how can they know them whereas they are ignorant of the grounds thereof For the Lords Prayer the ten Commandements and the Creede they rumble vp in the Latine tongue not vnderstanding one word what they speake They say Pater noster and Credo in Deum and yet they know not what Pater meaneth nor what Credo signifieth Yea for the most part they so mistearme the words thereof that their language is more like to the babling of Infants or rather the prattling of Parrats then the speech of men Neither is this ignorance onely to be found among the basest of the people which haue no teaching and education but euen amongst the better sort of them that are well borne and brought vp and after so strange and strong a fashion that by no meanes can they be withdrawne from this inueterate and continued custome of their Ancestors Hence springeth all that grosse superstition which is vsed of them as creeping to the Crosse falling downe before Images adoring and beautifying them with new-fashioned garments running a Pilgrimage to this Saint and that setting vp Tapers before their shrines wearing about their necks the beginning of the Gospell of Saint Iohn as a preseruatiue against the Diuell and the herbe Veruine being crossed and blessed against blasts the white Pater noster and the little Creede with an infinite number of such like superstitious vanities whereof there is neyther head nor foote Would any that are not plunged ouer head and eares in ignorance put any affiance in such trumperie and yet herein is all the Religion of the vulgar who repose euen the hope of their saluation in these things and thinke it a greater sinne to neglect or omit one of these Ceremonies then to breake any of the Commandements of God 28. Now let any man iudge whether this can be the true Religion which nourisheth this barbarous and monstrous ignorance and superstition amongst the people and whether that can be a good tree which bringeth forth such bitter and sowre fruits This is the conclusion which groweth out of the premises by necessary consequence The XI MOTIVE That Religion which was neuer knowne nor heard of in the Apostles time nor in the Primitiue Church cannot be the truth but such is the Romish Religion in most points thereof therefore that cannot be the truth 1. THe Romanists triumph in no one thing so much as in the antiquitie of their Church and Religion and therefore they cast euermore into our teeth that our Religion is but vp-start and our Church of yesterday euen since Luthers time being neuer extant in the world before But herein they play but the Sophisters for if they speake of true antiquitie we will ioyne issue with them in this point and doubt not but to prooue that theirs is the vp-start Church and their Religion the new Religion in those points wherein they differ from vs and that our faith and Religion was taught and professed by Christ himselfe and his Apostles and exercised and maintained in the pure and primitiue Age of the Church For the cleere manifestation of which point it is first to be obserued that there is a double antiquitie one primary another secundary Primary is that which was from the beginning though discontinued and interrupted by the corruption of times Secundary is that which indeede is aged and gray-headed but yet reacheth not to the spring head Thus our Sauiour Christ controlleth the law of Diuorce Mat. 19. 8. though it was aged and of long continuance euen two thousand yeeres old yet Nonsic fuit ab initio It was not so from the beginning where we see that Diuorce was old and full of yeeres and yet farre from true antiquitie for true antiquitie is that which is deriued ab initio from the beginning In regard of this it is truely said of Tertullian Verum quod primum falsum quod posterius That which is first is alwaies true and that which commeth later is false but in respect of the other it is also as truely spoken of Saint Augustine Estmos diabolicus vt per antiquitatis traducem commendetur fallacia It is a diuellish custome that error should be commended by the descent of antiquitie Secondly it is to be obserued that no antiquitie be it neuer so ancient and hoare-headed is to be reuerenced or regarded if it bee not grounded vpon the truth of the Scriptures and that which seemeth nouelty if it bring Scripture for it warrant is truely ancient and hath true certaine and vnresistable authoritie the reason is giuen by Aquinaâ— Because the Law of God proceedeth from the will of God and therefore may not be altered by custome proceeding from the will of man whence it is that no custome ought to preuaile against the Law of God To which purpose is that of Tertullian Heresies are to bee conuinced not so much by noueltis as by verity whatsoeuer sauours against the truth that shall bee heresie yea though neuer so ancient And of Cyprian If onely Christ is to bee heard wee ought not to regard what any before vs hath thought fit to bee done but what Christ who is before all hath first done for we must not follow the custome of man but the truth of God and in another place Custome without truth is nothing but antiquitie of error Vpon this ground also Clemens Alexandrinus in an Oration to the Gentiles who pretended antiquitie for their errors as the Romanists now doe saying that they and their Fathers before them were borne and bred in that Religion and therefore will not now giue it ouer saith Let vs flye custome as a rocke or the threates of Charybdis or the fabulous Syrenes for it choaketh a man it turneth from the truth it leadeth from life it is a snare a hellish gulfe an euill fanne c. And Saint Augustine Truth being knowne custome is not to be followed for our Sauiour did not say I am custome but I am truth Now vpon these grounds wee offer to ioyne issue with them First that they haue no true and primitiue antiquitie for their Religion and secondly though some of their opinions be of long continuance yet being not warrantable by Scriptures they ought not to preiudice by a conceit of nouelty that primitiue and Apostolicall truth which by corrupt time hath beene interrupted And this I hope to discourse so plainely in this Argument following that no indifferent reader that seemeth not forestalled with preiudice shall depart vnsatisfied 2. Concerning the first proposition I take it to bee of an vndeniable truth for without all question all truth was taught by the Apostles to the Primitiue Church and no part thereof was left vnreuealed for so Saint Paul saith in plaine tearmes to
brethren but the Cardinals Patriarkes and Archbishops Emperours and Kings are his children and not his brethren behold his pride neither did the rest of the Apostles challenge to themselues any such titles of dignity For they had learned of Christ their Lord and master not to Lord it ouer others but to humble themselues that they might bee exalted And let them name but one Bishop of the Primitiue Church that tooke vpon him any of these glorious titles yea of the Bishops of Rome themselues 11. Wee deny not but that some of the ancients haue yeelded vnto the Bishops of Rome great and honorable titles but first this was in respect of their vertue learning and integrity and not in respect of any preeminence of iurisdiction Secondly wee find none of these titles which I speake of attributed vnto them but onely the Apostles successours and Apostolicall Bishops not heads of the Church vniuersall Bishops high Priests of the world c. which the later Popes haue vsurped And thirdly if at any time they were yet the same titles of honour which were ascribed vnto them wee finde giuen to other Bishops aswell as to the Bishop of Rome as to Saint Ambrose by Saint Basill and to one Lupus a Bishop in France by Sidonius Apollinaris And to Fontellus another Bishop in France by the same man To Basill by Nazianzene To Athanasius who is saluted by the name of high Bishop and chiefe Priest And to Cyprian who was honoured with this stile The Bishop of the whole world Neither can it bee denyed but these titles grew by little and little to be attributed to the Bishops of Rome after the first three hundreth yeers of the Church though they came not to perfection till the perfect reuelatioÌ„ of Antichrist in the Apostolical sea but this can neuer bee proued that either in the Apostles times or in two hundreth yeeres next succeeding after euer any Bishop arrogated to himselfe or any other ascribed vnto him any of these arrogant titles 12. A sufficient argument whereof is this that Bellarmine propounding this as his last reason to proue the principality of the Pope draweth it from the great and famous titles which are attributed vnto him and spending a whole Chapter in that purpose alledgeth not one testimony older then Damasus the Bishop of Rome who was elected to that sea in the yeere 369. Surely if he could haue found out more ancient proofes he would haue after his manner stuffed the Chapter with them but in that hee produceth none it is euident that hee knew none indeed that there were none to be known Nay Gregory the great one of their owne Popes that liued sixe hundreth yeeres after Christ not onely execrated the name of vniuersall Bishop which Iohn the Bishop of Constantinople vsurped calling it a name of blasphemy and a proud and superstitious title and him that vsurped it a fore-runner of Antichrist but also plainely auoucheth that none of his predecessors vsed that prophane denomination by which the proud times of Antichrist were marked out Also Platina Nauclerus Cuspinian with many other Historiographers affirme that Boniface the third and Gregory the second obtained of the Emperour Phocas by great labour the name of Head of the Church A strange and tyrannical title neuer publikely vsurped before that time in the Church of God but now new created by Phocas who hauing killed his Lord Mauritius and his children exercised a tyranny in the kingdome of the world and begate this tyrannicall appellation in the kingdome of the Church But of all other records of antiquity most pregnant is the Canon of the Africane Council to condemne the nouelty of these ambitious nominations of which thus writeth our Roffensis These are the words of the Councill Let not any no not the Romane be called an vniuersall Bishop For that age sayth he which was neere to the Apostolicall times studied modesty and humility such a glorious title pleased not that Councill 13. Wherefore concerning these great titles of honour wee may conclude with our Sauiour Christ that It was not so from the beginning They are new and vpstart in respect of true antiquity ensignes of that pride and arrogancy which reigned in the Prelates of the Church in those latter times and badges of Antichrists kingdome where at Peter and Paul would blush for shame if they were aliue as it was merrily spoken by the Duke of Vrbanes Painter when he had drawne their Pictures of a ruddy and high colour 14. But leauing their titles let vs take a short suruey of their practice And first let it bee showne that Peter or Paul or any the rest of the Apostles or any Bishop of Rome or of any other place did euer take vpon them to depose Kings and dispose of their kingdomes and to translate them from one to another and to absolue subiects from their oath of alleageance and children from the bond of obedience to their parents to dispense with the Law of God to haue sole power of decision of controuersies to challenge the right of appeales from all countreyes of Christendome And lastly to exercise not onely spirituall but also temporall coactiue iurisdiction But all this power hath beene in former times and is at this day practised by the Bishop of Rome and that with that rigour and vehemency that it is a wonder that they doe not blush so much to degenerat from those whose successors they claime to be But no maruaile for els he should not shew himselfe to bee that Antichrist except hee did aduance himselfe aboue all that is called God on earth For this is a special marke of that man of sinne 15. But let History the light of time make cleare this point Pope Hadrian the fourth reprooued Frederick Barbarosse the Emperour of insolency and arrogancy in an Epistle written vnto him for setting his owne name before his and checked him also very bitterly for holding his stirrup on the wrong side and when hee came vnto him in the Church of Saint Marke in Venice to bee absolued from his excommunication commanded him to prostrate himselfe vpon the ground and then set his foote on his necke with these words Super aspidem c. Thou shalt walke vpon the Aspe and Cocatrice and shalt tread vpon the Lyon and Dragon Did Peter euer doe the like Gregory the seuenth caused Henry the â—ourth comming in all humility to submit himselfe vnto him with his wife and childe to dance attendance at his gate bare-footed and bare-headed for the space of three dayes ere hee would grant them any accesse vnto him Did Peter euer doe the like Celestine the third being about to crown Henry the sixt Emperour set the imperiall Diademe on his head as some say with his foote and kicked it off with his foote againe Did Peter euer doe the likeâ— Innocent the second caused his owne Picture with the Emperours to bee set vp in the Palace of
great antiquity And indeed why should it not bee obserued if the Pope cannot erre or if it be not fit to bee obserued how is it true that the Pope erreth not in defining matters of Religion The fourth was ordained by Paulus the second anno 1466. as they themselues will not deny 25. Besides these of the Virgin Mary they haue many other festiuall dayes of the same nature and stampe as the feast of Corpus Christi of the inuention of the Crosse of the dedication of Churches of All soules and a number such like all which are confessed nouelties for in the Apostles times and Primitiue Church during the space of foure hundred yeeres none of these were once heard of The feast of the Crosse was Gregory the fourths inuention anno 828. and Corpus Christi day was first ordained by Pope Vrbane the fourth about the yeere 1264. as confesseth Bellarmine himselfe who of his Apostolicall power gaue spirituall wages and special pardon to all that should personally obserue the houres of this holy solâ—mnity as at Mattens an hundred dayes pardon at Masse asmuch and so at first and second Euen-song at the houres of prime of tierce of sixth of noone of complete fourty dayes apiece and thus in like manner for the whole weeke following 26. The annuall seaâ—ts of dedication of Churches grew from a sinister imitation of Constantine the great who because hee kept a solemne day at the dedication of a certain Church which hee had built therefore it was receiued as a Law for Princes actions are the peoples directions to solemnize euery yeere a holy day vpon the day of the dedication of their Church And all Soules was the deuice of one Saint Odyll who as they write in Cicilia in the I le of Vulcane heard the voyces howlings of Deuils which complained with great griefe that the soules of them that were dead were taken away out of their hands by almes and prayers whereupon this feast was ordained wherein prayer should be made for al Soules And as for this so for the other they deuised strange miracles to win credit vnto them which plainely argueth their nouelty in that they stood in need of miracles to confirme them as for example touching the inuention of the holy Crosse they fable that it was first found in Paradise by Seth the son of Adam to whom Michael the Angell gaue a branch of the forbidden tree which hee planted vpon the graue of his Father Adam which tree beeing after found by Salomon in mount Libanus was translated vnto his house and there beeing worshipped by the Queene of Saba and foretold to bee the tree whereon the Sauiour of the world should bee hanged and by which Ierusalem should bee destroyed was therefore taken downe and buried deepe in the ground by Salomon in which place afterward the Iewes diging a pit for a poole to water their cattell found this tree from which such vertue arose to that poole that the Angels descended to mooue the water so that the first that bathed himselfe therein after the motion was healed of his disease whatsoeuer it was as wee read Iohn 5. Now vpon this tree was Christ crucified which being afterward buried againe in the earth was found out by Queene Helene the mother of Constantine through the discouery of one Iudas a Iew who was conuerted to the Christian faith by the sweet sauour that arose from the Crosse and the quaking of the earth and then that Crosse was discerned from the two other Crosses of the theeues by restoring life to a dead corps whereupon it was laide and the Deuill cryed in the aire that this Iudas had betrayed him as the other had done his Master Christ By these strange miracles they dignisy that holy feast and indeed shew it to bee nothing els but a meere fable and forsooth all this they fetch out of the Gospell of Nichodemus 27. So for the dedication of Churches they tell vs this miracle that when a Church of the Arrians was hal owed by Christian men and the reliks of Saint Fabian Saint Sebastian Saint Agathe brought into it the people being assembled heard suddenly the fearefull gronings gruntings of an hog running vp and downe inuisibly and seeking a passage out of the Church and for three nights together â—umbluâ—g in the roofe with an hideous noise which say they was nothing but the banishing of the Deuill out of that Church by the hallowing and dedicating of it Who would not then obserue deuoutly this feast seeing the benefit is so great that commeth by the thing it selfe whereof it is a memoriall But let vs leaue these tables to their golden or rather leaden Legend of lyes as their owne Canus termeth it and shut vp the point that both these heere named and a number such like festiuall dayes more precisely honoured and obserued in the Romish Church and with greater deuotion t 〈…〉 n Gods holy Sabbath it selfe are new inuentions as sprung vp from superstition so ordained to maintain the same and haue no ground either of true antiquity to countenance them or holy Scripture to vphold them but Iewish fables Apocrypha writings old wiues tales and forged miracles 28. Fourthly I requiâ—e satisfaction for their ceremonies vsed in both the Sacraments as first in the Eucharist their pompous circumgestation of it to bee seene viewed and adored which Cassander acknowledgeth to haue beene Praeter veterem morem mâ—ntem haud longo tempore inductaâ—â— Beside the custome and meaning of antiquity and brought in of late time And Bellarmine also to haue beene first ordained by Vrbanus the fourth their mixture of water with the wine and separation of leauen from the bread came both in from Pope Alexander the seuenth as witnesse both Polidore Virgill and Durantius Yea and Bonauenture doth confesse that this practice of mixing of water cannot bee read of in all the Scriptures nor found in the first institution of the Sacrament Their not breaking the bread out of a loafe but giuing it in small cakes Salmeron the Iesuite acknowledgeth to be contrary to the ancient practice of the Church Their dipping the consecrated hoste in the cup Suarez another Iesuite yeeldeth not to haue beene vsed by our Sauiour Christ and therefore must needs bee an Innouation Their putting the Sacrament not into the hands but into the mouths of the communicants the former Salmeron doth freely confesse to bee an action contrary to the first institution Lastly their various and ridiculous gestures murmuring dopping staring crossing c. with the strange garments vsed by the Priests in the time of their administration Six of Priests in signe of perfection because in sixe dayes God created Heauen and earth nine for Bishops in token that they are spirituall like the nine orders of Angels and fifteene for both in token of the fifteene degrees of Vertues No man can bee so simple but must needs see that they were neuer
vpon the same though they bee now both made dumbe by their expurging Index speake asmuch for in them we fiude this proposition Anciently Priests were permitted to marry 41. For history to omit the Priests and Prophets of the old Testament Peter whose successours they claime to bee carryed a wife about with him in his preaching which was put to death at Antioch for consessing lesus Christ as witnes both Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius which writers do also affirme that Paul had a wise also and left her at Philippos a City of Macedonia that hee might with lesse cumbrance preach the Gospell abroad That Philip the Euange list was marryed Saint Luke testifyeth in the Acts of the Apostles for it is said there that he had foure daughters which were Prophetisses thus was it in the first age of the Church then afterward we read that Hilary a French Bishop was marryed and of Saint Basils Father that hee was a Bishop and in the state of marriage held that function and the like of Synesius the Bishop of Pâ—olomais and Athanasius reports that Bishops and Monks liued marryed and had children and Eusebius that in the Easterne Churches it was counted a yoke too heauy to bee borne to binde Church-men from marriage yea Gratian boldly affirmeth that except they will brand some of the Popes with bastardy and adultery they must confesse that Bishops were and might then bee marryed for Gregory the first was grand-child to Pope Felix the third and Alexander the sixt had two sonnes begotten of his owne body and Boniface Felix Gelasius and Agapetus were all sonnes of Bishops yea their owne Vicelius reckoneth vp a number both of Bishops and Priests that in the Primitiue Church were marryed In briefe though in all ages the Deuill by his instruments laboured to bring disgrace vpon Gods holy ordinance of marriage and by that meanes to make way to adulteries fornications and vnlawfull lusts and some learned and godly fathers were too lauish in commending virginity before marriage yet they were alwayes gainsaide by other some as learned godly as themselues whoÌ„ God stirred vp for the desence of his own ordinance neither was it euer propounded as a Law vntill Pope Siricius time who was the first that forbad and interdicted Priests to marry and afterwards Pope Nicholas the first or as some thinke the second about the yeere 867 did the like against whose proceedings Haldericus the Bishop of Ausbrough wrote that learned and pithy Epistle where of mention is made before and yet it was not vniuersally receiued vntill the time of Pope Calixtus about the yeere 1108. History is so cleare for this matter that it admitteth no iust exception and thus both by their owne confessions and by the light of history this doctrine is conuinced of nouelty 42. Another article of the Popes Creede is concerning Images to wit that God himselfe may bee represented by and worshipped before an Image and that the Images of Christ and the Saints are to be adored with the same worship which is due vnto their pâ—tternes or at least wise that they are to be worshipped in or at the Image This is the generall doctrine of that Idolatrous Church which that it hath no true warrant from antiquity is so cleare that none that is but meanely seene in ancient writers can doubt thereof For first in the Church of the Iewes it was vnlawfull either to make any Image of God beeing an inuisible and incomprehensible essence or to worship the Image of any other thing whatsoeuer this was the prescript of the second Commandement which was no ceremoniall Law As Azorius and Vasques two Iesuites haue not ashamed to auerre but morall and naturall as the grand Iesuite Bellarmine confesseth and may be further confirmed by the sentence of Varro alledged by Saint Augustine in his fourth book de Ciuitate who sayth that the Iewish nation worshipped God without any Image that they had no Image in the Temple ordained for worship Also Iosephus doth write that when Caius the Emperour would haue caused his statue to haue been set vp by Petroniâ—s to be worshipped in the Temple of Ierusalem the Iewes had rather expose themselues to present death then to admit that which was forbidden by the Law 43 Secondly in the age of Iesus Christ and the Apostles there was no precept nor example for the worshipping of Images nei her did they commend vnto the Lay people Images and Pictures as fittest bookes for their capacities but the word preached and committed to writing by which they should bee brought to saluation And when as they abolished the worship of Idols and brought in the worship of the true God wee doe not read that either they translated those Idolatrous statues to the worship of the true God or substituted other Images of God himselfe for of holy men to succeed in their roome but taught that God who is a Spirit ought to bee worshipped in Spirit and truth Now surely if it had beene so necessary as the Church of Rome maketh it our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles would neuer haue concealed it from them 44. Thirdly the age also after the Apostles was free from Images for amongst those Ecclesiasticall rites which are recorded to haue been vsed in the first 300. yeeres after Christ there is not so much as any mention made of Image-worship except it bee amongst those that were condemned for Heretikes as the followers of Simon Magus who worshipped his Image and of his harlot Selene and the Disciples of Basilides whom Irenaeus affirmeth to haue vsed Images and Inuocations and the Carpocratians and Gnosticks who burned incense to the Images of Christ and Paul Homer and Pithagoras c. as testifyeth Saint Augustine but the true Church of God condemned these and abhorred all such kind of worship and therefore amongst the accusations which the Heathen obiected to Christians in that age this was one that they professed a Religion without Images as witnesse both Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen the one whereof liued 200. yeeres after Christ and the other 240. which trueth their Cassander confesseth in direct words that at the first preaching of the Gospell there was no publike vse of Images in the Church 45. Fourthly in the next age of the Church after the three hundreth yeere that Images were not approued wee haue the witnesse of the Councill of Eliberis which decreed that no Image should bee made in the Church lest that should be adored which is painted on walles and of Ierome who affirmed that it was condemned of all ancient Fathers and of Origen who called that worship a foolish and adulterous profanation and of Epiphanius who finding a painted Image in a Church rent it downe and said that it was against the authority of the Scripture that any Image should bee in the Church and of Augustine who condemned the vse of them in Churches as vnlawfull and lastly
of Gregory their owne Pope who allowing onely an historicall vse of them forbad them to bee worshipped as testifieth Agrippa Indeed wee confesse that there was in these Primitiue times of the Church an historicall vse of Images as may appeare by that statue of our Sauiour at Cesarea mentioned by Eusebius and the Pictures of Peter and Paul in the same author and of the good shepheard seeking the lost sheepe painted vpon their Chalices in Tertullian But wee shall neuer finde in any good author that either they were receiued into Churches or worshipped in any religious manner 46. Lastly it is a knowne and confessed truth that Images were neuer generally receiued inioyned vpon the Church vntill the second Nicene Council which was eight hundreth yeeres after Christ and also that the decree of that Councill was abrogated by another Councill held at Frankeford not long after so that it is manifest that the petigree of this bastard is of no great continuance not fetched from the Primitiue Church which is the thing we haue in hand to prooue but springing vp in the more corrupt times when superstition had darkned the light of true Religion and almost banished it out of the world 47. Another article of their Religion is that the Pope hath a supremacy of power ouer all euen Princes not onely in spirituall matters but euen in temporall which to bee a late deuice not warrantable by true antiquity may be easily demonstrated For vpon those words of Saint Paul Let euery soule bee subiect to the higher powers Chrysostome and Occumenius write thus That whether it bee a Priest or a Monke or an Apostle hee must bee subiect to the ciuill Magistrate for this subiection doth not ouerthrow piety and if an Apostle then the Pope as Aeneas Siluius who was after a Pope himselfe inferreth yea Espensaeus goeth further and sayth that not onely Chrysostome but Theodoret Theophilact and all the Greeke Doctours and in the Latine Church Saint Gregory and Saint Bernard did from that place teach that eueryl Apostle and Prophet and Priest was commanded to acknowledge subiection vnto Emperours Saint Ambrose sayth plainely that the Church lands and Church men themselues did pay tribute to the Emperour and if tribute then subiection Saint Augustine sayth that it is generale pactum societatis humanae abedire Regibus suis The generall couenant and bond of humane societie to obey Kings If the Pope then bee a man by Saint Augustines rule hee must bee subiect yea Gregory the first himselfe auoucheth plainely that power ouer all men is committed by GOD Dominorum meorum pietati to the piety of my Lords where hee not onely subiecteth all none excepted to the Imperiall power but also calleth the Emperour his Lord but now the Pope is the Emperours Lord and not the Emperour the Popes as Bellarmine speaketh without blushing when he sayth Non sunt ampliùs Reges Clericorum superiores c. Kings are not any longer superiours to Clerks and therefore Clerks are not bound to obey them by Gods Law and thus in generall the Pope had not this supremacy till Gregories time 48. For particulars one part of this supremacy is that the Pope is absolutely aboue a Councill which notwithstanding was condemned by the Councils of Constance and Basill And as Cardinall Cusanus confesseth was not acknowledged in the dayes of Saint Augustine Pope Gregory and other Fathers and Councils which liued before the first six hundreth yeere Another part is that appeales should bee made to the Pope from all places which the Councils of Chalcedon Africke Mileri and Constantinople vtterly withstood and interdicted A third is that peculiar cases of conscience should bee reserued to the Popes consistory which their owne Salmeran confesseth to haue not beene vsed in the time of Cyprian who liued two hundreth and fourty yeeres after Christ A fourth is the claime of Inuestitures which by consent of history was brought in first by Pope Hildebrand as witnesse Malmsbury Nauclerus Sigibert with others A fift authority to depose and molest Princes which no Orthodoxall Father for the space of 1000. yeeres taught or approoued as sayth their owne Barclay and the first Pope that practised this was Hildebrand surnamed Gregory the seuenth as witnesseth Espensaeus or at the highest Gregory the third who attempted this rebellious practice against Les the Emperour for defacing Images as Platina confesleth A sixt a supereminent prerogatiue in calling Councils and dissoluing the Acts thereof at his pleasure both which are notorious nouelties for the first eight generall Councils were called by Christian Emperours and the decrees of Councils were of so sacred authority that the better sort of Popes in the purer times put great Religiō in changing them or varying from them in any respect witnes Aeneas Siluius Victorine and Cardinall Cusanus Lastly a seuenth the fountaine of Episcopall Iurisdiction challenged to reside in the Pope alone and from him to bee imparted to other Bishops at his pleasure which was a doctrine not known in Saint Cyprians time nor in Saint Ieromes as hath beene shewed before In a word there is no colour of antiquity for any part of this transcendent Iurisdiction and yet the very soule and life of Popery consisteth therein 49. Of the same stampe is their doctrine of receiuing the Sacrament vnder one kinde and withholding the cup from the peoples this was first decreed by the Council of Constance and afterward established by the Trent conuenticle and hath euer since beene practised in the Church of Rome vnder paine of excommunication But that it is a grosse innouation wee need no further testimony then of the two foresaid Councils the one whereof sayth that in the Primitiue Church both kinds were receiued and that this custome of one kinde onely came afterward in and the other striketh with anathema all them that shall say that the Catholike Church hath not altered this custome vpon iust causes by which words it confesseth that there is an alteration of ancient custome now what the causes were of this alteration I will not here report let the Reader behold them in Bellarmine Gerson and Lyranus and wonder that Christs ordinance the generall custome of the primitiue Church should be altered annihiled vpō so sleight friuolous and foolish grounds adde vnto these Councils the wirnesse of their owne Cassander who directly affirmeth that this custome of communicating vnder one kinde inuaded not the Latin Church vntill the yeere of our Lord 1300. To the same purpose might bee alledged their owne ancient Lyturgies the decrees of their owne Popes and the generall doctrine of their schoole and lastly the consent of Fathers all which doe most clearly proue this doctrine to be a nouelty if not an heresie Their Lyturgies are plaine that the cup was ministred to the people and not appropriated to the Priests as may be seene in them Among their
Magdeburge released of his oath to his owne citizens by Pope Iohn the 23. And of Sigismund the Emperour who was constrained by the 〈◊〉 to falsifie his oath giuen to Iohn Husse and Ierome of Prage for their safe conduct to the Councill of Constance and of Pope Zacharie Boniface the sixt and Benedict de la Lune who vnbound the French men from their oath of obedience to their Kings and of Gregory the seuenth with other succeeding Popes who did the like to the Germanes in respect of diuers Emperours and lastly of Pius Quintus that excited the subiects of Queene Elizabeth to the breach of their faith and open rebellion all which doth show that they make no conscience of periury so that they may maintaine thereby their Hierarchie and Religion which to bee so this one testimony will sufficiently beare witnesse out of the French Chronicles when a league was made between Charles the ninth and the Prince of Condy the Iesuites sayth the author cryed out dayly in their sermons that peace was not to bee made with Heretikes and being made was not to bee kept that it was a godly thing to lay violent hands on those vnpure persons c. 6. Lastly their murthering cruelty exercised against all that stand in their way is so notorious that I need not to stand vpon it the examples of Henry the Emperour marked out by Pope Hildebrand to bee murthered by the tumbling down of a great stone vpon his head in Saint Maries Church though with euill successe for the Vâ—rlet himselfe that was suborned to doe this feat tumbled downe headlong together with the stone and so was crushed in pieces before the Emperour came into the place The poysoning of Frederick the second by the secret practice of Innocent the fourth and of Conrade by the meanes of the same Pope and of Lewes of Bauary by the appointment of Clement the sixt and of Henry of Lucemburgh by a Iacobine Fryer of Saint Dominicks order and that O horrible impiety in the bread of the Sacrament mixed with adamantine dust and of Iohn of England by a Monke of Swinestead Abbay of Henry the third of France stabbed by a Iacobine Fryar and of Henry the fourth murthered by Rauillac that Deuill in humane shape who beeing demaunded by the Iudges why he committed that horrible act answered without blushing Because the King went about to aide the Protestant Princes of Germany contrary to the Popes minde whom hee did beleeue to be a God vpon earth and of Parry Lopez Squire with many other which were suborned to murther our late Queene and of Faulx that was prepared with a match kindled at Rome and a the euish Lanthorne to blow vp the Parliament house These exanples I say with many other that might bee produced doe euidently euince them to make no conscience of shedding blood and murther for the maintenance and defence of their Religion 7. Which that it may yet further appeare to be true consider the infinite numbers of Hâ—gonets that is Protestants which haue been slaine in France alone for refusing the marke of the beast In the Low Countreyes 36000. at least are knowne to haue beene put to death by the Duke of Alba for not yeelding in all things to the Romish Religion The like persecution hath beene in other Countreyes and is still at this day where their bloody inquisition taketh place by the which in thirty yeeres as ir is recorded by Authors of sufficient credit a hundred and fifty thousand Christians were miserably murthered and that which is to be noted it rageth against none but Protestants so that euen in Rome a man may bee either Iew. Turke or Infidell or what els and bee neuer questioned but a Protestant hee cannot be but with danger of his life What should I speake of the multitude of poore innocents that were in this land of ours adiudged to the stake in the fiue yeeres raigne of Queene Mary Smithfield Colchester Couentrie and Norwich and almost all the other great townes beare witnesse of this their cruelty and the Innocent blood of these poore soules doth stil cry for vengeance against them 8. And yet all this is nothing to those horrible and outragious Massacres whereby whole multitudes haue beene but hered like sheepe in a slaughter house witnesse that miserable slaughter made of the Albigenses by Fryar Dominick and Simon Monfort which going astray from the truth if all be true which is written of them these butchers did not labor to reclaime by perswasions and gentle meanes but oppressed them by armes at the first and so sent them packing to hell without repentance witnesse also that fearefull Powder treason intended not executed which if it had taken effect such a massacre of men and those of highest place and worth had beene made as neuer yet the Sunne saw the like And lastly witnesse that dreadfull massacre in France vnder Charles the ninth when in one night were murthered at Paris many thousand Protestants with the illustrious Admirall of France and at Lions and other places within one month as some say 40000. as others aboue 30000. The greatest and most grieuous perfecution in the Primitiue Church is not to bee compared to this for it is recorded that vnder Dioclesian 17000. were martyred in one month but behold heere the number doubled that we might certainly know and beleeue that the Pope is that true and great Antichrist vnder whom and by whose meanes the greatest persecution that euer befell the Church of God should happen 9. Neither is there doctrine any whit dissonant from their practice for thus Bellarmine deliuereth it in plaine termes as in a Christian the Spirit is to rule ouer the flesh to chastise it and keepe it vnder yea sometimes to vndergoe death it selfe as in the Martyrs so the spirituall power residing in the Church that is in the Pope is to bridle and restraine the temporall by all meanes what soeuer if it rebell against it yea the Cardinall Como in his letters to Parry the Traitour animateth him to the murther of the good Queene by his damned position that it is meritorious to kill a King excommunicate and some of them goe yet deeper into hell and entitle it an heroicall act that is no ordinary meritorious worke but such an extraordinary exploit as none but men of a more then humane Spirit can performe and for which an higher place in Heauen is reserued then for common merits Can this Religion now bee of God that is thus maintained by treachery periury and blood-shed Is not this Church rather the purple coloured harlot spoken of in the Reuelation embrued and dyed red with the blood of the Saints then the true Catholike Church of Christ These things are so notorious that I need not further enlarge them 10. Leauing therefore these I come to the three last wicked meanes whereby they maintaine their Religion vpon which if I insist
Lady there you shall read of a certaine Knight who betaking himselfe into an Abbey was long learning the Aue Mary and whereas heâ— could not get any further then the two first words of the Angelicall salutation at last he dyed and was buried and vpon his graue sprung vp a right faire flowre deluce in euery leafe whereof was written in letters of gold Aue Marie and the root of this floure was found to issue out of the mouth of the sayd Knight because as he had those words alwayes in his mouth while he was aliue so they grew out of his mouth being dead Let all the Poets match this fable if they can and yet Ouid commeth somewhat neere it in his two tales of Hiacynthus and Aiaxboth which were fabled to be turned into two flowers with the two first letters of their names imprinted in them and thus by strange and incredible fictions they maintaine the superstitious inuocation of Saints the ordinary conclusion almost of their legends being this then let vs pray to this worthy Saint and glorious Martyr that he will pray to God for vs that by his merits wee may haue pardon and forgiuenesse of our sinnes 16. Againe to perswade to the worshipping of relicks they tell vs diuers such like tales As that a yong man falling off his horse and breaking his neck was brought to the graue of Saint Hyacinth the Polonian and presently reuiued And a Mayde who had a yong Heifer dead by some misfortune made supplication at the Tombe of this Saint and when she returned home a Butcher being fleying the Heifer it first began to stirre the fleyed foot and then to lift vp the head and at last to rise vp as sound as euer it was We reade in the french Chronicles taken out of Turpin a Popish Wrâ—ter that king Dagâ—bert robbed other Saints of their relicks to enrich the Temples of Saint Denis Saint Rustick and Saint Eleutherie whereupon it came to passe that there arose great debate betweene the Saints for those Saints which he had spoiled as Saint Hilary Saint Fremin and others ioyned themselues with the Deuils and craued ayd of them to carry away the soule of the good king to hell but he called to his help the other Saints which he had enriched who resisted so valiantly the Deuils and the Saints wronged that they tooke away from them his soule and carried it to Paradise Who which hath any spark of grace would not enrich the Temples and relicks of these three Saints seeing their power is so great to deliuer a man from the Deuill But this next of Saint Fremin is full as strange for the golden Legend reporteth that after the Sunne had miraculously sent his beames through a stone wall vpon Saint Fremins graue and thereupon they had digged to finde out his body there issued thence such a sweet smell as they weened they had been in a Paradise which odour spread it selfe not onely through the city of Aniens where the body lay but also vnto diuers other cities the sweetnes whereof as it mooued much people to bring their oblations to this glorious Saint so it cured some a far off as the Lord of Baâ—gency from their diseases but when this body was taken vp and carried in the city of Aniens strange wonders were wrought for then the Elements mooued sayth the story the Snow that was at that time great on the earth was turned into pouder and dust and the Ice that hung on the trees became flowers and leaues and the meadowes became greene and the Sunne which by his course should goe low that day ascended as high as it vseth to be on Saint Iohn Baptists day in Summer and as men bare the body of this Saint the trees enclined and worshipped it and all manner of sicke persons what malady soeuer they had receiued health at the Inuention of the blessed body of Saint Fremin 17. Another as strange a tale wee haue touching the relicks of Saint Stephen and Saint Lawrence for when as one of them was buried at Rome the other at Constantinople sayth the Legend the Emperours daughter which was possessed with an euill Spirit was brought to touch the relicks of Saint Stephen but the Diuell within her cryed that he could not be dispossessed except the body of Saint Stephen was translated to Rome whereupon meanes was made that Saint Stephens body should be carried to Rome and in liew thereof Saint Lawrence his body should bee brought to Constantinople Now in the way as they were making this conueyance the city of Capua gat the right arme of Stephen and builded their Metropolitane Church in honour thereof but when they were come to Rome they would haue borne the body of Saint Stephen to the Church of Saint Peter ad Vincula but they that bare it were not able to goe any further and then the Deuill in the mayd cryed out Ye trauaile for nought for he shall not be heere but with Lawrence his brother therefore they bare the body thither and then the mayd touching the body was presently made whole and Saint Lawrence as reioycing at the comming of his brother and smiling turned himselfe into the other side of the Sepulchre and made roome for him to lye in and when the Greekes would haue taken vp the body of Saint Lawrence to carry it to Constantinople they were stroken dead till the Pope and his Clearks by their prayers reuiued them againe who would not now worship the relicks of Saints if such great myracles be wrought by them 18. But to conclude this poynt and not to trouble the reader with too much of this pedling stuffe thus they labour to gaine worship to Images honour to the Crosse and Crucifix and credit to Purgatory and prayer for the dead and countenance to popish single life as of many hundred examples which might be produced let these few suffice Saint George being put into a frying pan full of boyling lead made but the signe of the crosse and he was therein refreshed as if he had bin in a bath Saint Margaret was swallowed vp of the Diuell in the figure of a Dragon but making the signe of the crosse in the Dragons belly the Dragon burst and out came Saint Margaret safe and sound It is sayd also that she took the Diuel by the haire of the head and beate him about the eares Saint Goodreck with the signe of the crosse tamed Wolues and Serpents in such sort that they lay with him by the fire side without offering any hurt Saint Christopher being a Giant of twelue cubits in height determined with himselfe to serue none but the greatest King in the world and therefore being in seruice to a great King he spied him crossing himselfe against the Diuell wherefore perceiuing that he was afraid of the Diuell he went to serue him as one greater then the former and perceiuing that the Diuell auoyded the sight of a crosse he asked
him why he did so to whom the Diuell answered that there was a man called Christ which was hanged on the Crosse in feare of whom as oft as he saw the signe of the Crosse he fled from it for which cause Saint Christopher perceiuing that Christ was a greater King renounced the Deuill and betooke himselfe to the seruice of Christ and was called Christopher whereas before his name was Reprobus He that would read a merry tale indeed let him read the Legend of Saint Christopher As for a fearefull tale let him goe to Saint Brandons Legend all the old wiues tales that euer were told in a chimney corner are not to be compared to these two 19. It is no newes amongst them for Images to speake nod the head shake the hand sweat and such like or at least for some crafty Priest to worke these feates to delude the people The Image of the blessed Virgin Mary is sayd to haue spoken diuers times to Saint Bernard when she bad him good morrow whereupon the good man should answere that she broke the Canons of the Church because it was forbidden that a woman should speake in the Church To Saint Hyacinth who flying from the Tartarians the Image thus cryed vpon him with a loud voyce O my sonne Hiacinthus doest thou escape the hands of the Tartarians and leauest me and my sonne to be cut in pieces and trampled vnder feet To whom Hiacinthus answering O glorious Virgin this thy Image is too heauy how shall I he able to carry it The Virgin replyed Take it for my sonne will lighten the burden And to Alexius who staying long in the Church-porch the Image of our Lady spoke and bade the Sexten let him in So the Crucifix is sayd to haue spoken to Thomas Aquinas when he was praying before it in great deuotion Thou hast written well of me Thomas what reward therefore wilt thou haue And to the Councill at Winchester gathered together about the question oâ— Priests mariages in these words Take Dunstans wayes vnto you for they are the best Polidore Virgill otherwise a strong Papist yet smelâ— out this to be Dunstanes legerdemayne and so may any other that hath not lost his senting and thus we haue two talking Images that the Heathen might not goe before them in this who by Bellarmines confession out of Valerius Maximus had two also that spoke the one of Iuuo Moneta at the taking of Veyes which being asked in iest by a Souldier whither she would goe to Rome answered that she would the other of Fortune who vttered these words Yee haue rightly seene mee O nation and rightly dedicated mee 20. But that Images vsed to beck and mooue their heads and stir their hands there are so many examples that it would be lost labour to stand vpon them onely the image of Saint Nicholas at Westchester may discouer the trick of all the rest for at the burning of it in the Market-place of the city there was discouered this trick of fast and loose the Image was made with such a deuice that if one standing behinde did pull a certaine string which was in the back part thereof it would mooue the hand as if it blessed the people The like may we thinke of that Roode of Poyters which when William Longshampe Bishop of Ely lay a dying did piteously weepe and lament so that the teares fell downe from his eyes as it had been a floud of water but no meruaile for as they say it was the accustomed vse of that Roode alwayes to mourne when a Bishop departed A pretty story there is in one of the Legends of the Virgin Mary of a woman who prayed deuoutly to that Image for the deliuering of her sonne out of prison and when shee saw that her prayers preuailed nothing shee tooke away from the Virgin her sonne out of her armes and carryed it home whereupon our Lady presently went to the prison and deliuered the womans sonne out of hold then the woman sayth the tale brought backe the Virgin Maries sonne and gaue it her againe saying O blessed Virgine now thou hast restored my sonne vnto mee behold againe thy sonne vnto thee and so both parties were well pleased 21. For Purgatory and prayer for the dead there be infinite tales deuised of all which we may giue the same censure which Saint Augustine doth of lying myracles that they are vel figmenta mendacium hominum vel portenta fallacium spirituum either fictions of lying men or wonders of deceitfull spirits of the first kind was that reported by diuers authors of certaine Priests that dwelling not far from the sea side tooke a number of sea-crabs and tyed vnto each of them light and so put them vpon dead mens graues in the Church-yards to make the poore country people beleeue that Spirits did walke but in one place the legerdemaine was deprehended for the Carpenters and Masons comming the next day after all Soules night to worke found among the timber and broken bricks some of the Crabs with their candles on their backs extinguished whereby the knauery of this miracle was discouered Of the second kind it may be was that recorded by Saint Gregory in his Dialogues if that booke be his as is iustly doubted for he telleth there a tale of a Beare which was commaunded to keepe the Hermite Florences sheepe a thing not sauouring of Saint Gregories spirit or if it did then it argueth him to haue been too credulous of lying reports as he is taxed by their own Canus of a soule appearing vnto a Priest that bathed himselfe often in a water officiously pulling off his shoes with an earnest desire to enioy his prayers and oblations for his deliuerance which being performed when he returned to the bath and found the soule no more there hee concluded that his prayers had deliuered him out of Purgatory 22. In one of these two ranks are all the strange stories published by these Dialogues Beda Brigitta Dionisius Carthusianus touching walking ghosts for eyther they were iugling tricks of imposters to deceiue the simple or deceits of deuils to delude the learned and this may in no poynt more playnely be proued then against Priests mariages for the disgracing whereof and aduancing single life aboue it an Idoll at Winchester must speake as before hath been shewed The Emperour Lewes the second must be tormented in Purgatory because he would not regard the admonitions of Gabriell the Archangell against Priests mariages Emma mother to Saint Edward King of this land must goe bare-foot vpon nine burning plowshares of yron to try her chastity and Alwynes the Bishop of Winchester with whom she was suspected to haue committed fleshly villany but she was borne ouer them betwixt two Bishops so that she needed not to hurt her feet A yong Nunne being got with child by a yong Monke two Midwiues must come from heauen being sent by Henry
Murdach then lately Bishop of Yorke and discharge her of her childe without paine and take it from her so that it was neuer seene more very likely for a priuy or a fishpond might meet with it by the way as it had done a number more in former later times A thousand such lies as these shall you find in their Legends and martyrologies and other bookes insomuch that Espensaens a learned Bishop of their owne doth freely confesse that no stable is so full of doung as the Legends are full of fables yea that very fictions are contained in their portesses and Canus another learned writer that the Pagan Histriographers did more truely write the liues of Emperours then the Christians did the liues of Saints and that in the golden Legend there are monsters for miracles rather then true miracles and that hee which wrote this booke was a man of a brasen face and a leaden heart 23. Thus it is euident by the confession of many learned of their owne side that these bee lying tales coyned as holy deceits as some of them terme them but more truely as deuilish deuices not to maintaine the truth but errour for how can that bee the truth which standeth in need of lying to maintaine it Caietane a Cardinall and a great learned diuine sayth that the credit of the Romish miracles dependeth vpon the report of men who may deceiue others and bee deceiued themselues and Antoninus the Archbishop of Florence calleth the visions of Bernard and Briget touching the conception of the Virgin Mary fantastick visions and mens dreams why should wee then beleeue them to bee true when as they themselues beleeue them not 24. If they obiect and say why may not these miracles be as true as those which are reported by many of the ancient Fathers and seeing famous miracles haue beene in all ages of the Church why should these last ages bee suspected for falsity more then the former I answere first that those Fathers themselues which were reporters of such miracles yet did repose no such confidence in them as to build their faith vpon them as the Romanists doe for Saint Augustine sayth Quisquis adhuc c. Whosoeuer yet seeketh aften wonders that hee may beleeue is himselfe a great wonder who when the world beleeueth doth not beleeue and in another place Contra istos mirabilirios c. Against these miracle-mongers my God hath made mee wary saying there shall arise in the last dayes false Prophets working signes and wonders that they might lead into errour if it were possible the very Elect. And Chrysostome or whosoeuer els was the author of those learned homilies on Mathew proueth that the true Church of Christ cannot bee discerned or knowen by signes or other meane but onely by the Scripture and that the working of miracles is more found among false Christians then true Tertullian sayth plainly that the Heretikes did raise the dead cure maladies foretell things to come the same is affirmed by Chrysostome Ierome Eutheâ—ius Theophilact as witnesseth Maldonate the Iesuite by which it appeareth that the Fathers thought miracles were not to bee regarded except they were wrought for the confirmation of the truth and that a miracle was to bee examined by the doctrine not the doctrine by a miracle and therefore that they are not any proper and true markes of the Church as the Romanists make them nay that they are rather markes of Antichrist and his Church as both our Sauiour and Saint Paul plainely auouch so that by this their great bragge of miracles they giue vs this strong aduantage against them that their Pope is Antichrist and their Church Antichristian which otherwise wee should want 25. And secondly I answere that they themselues reiect diuerse miracles of the fathers as fantastick visions and mens dreames so doth Antoninus call the vision of Bernard and Briget in the question of the Virgin Maries conception and Canus taxeth Gregory and Bede with this that they missed the marke now and then who wrote miracles talked of and beleeued among the vulgar that is which they receiued by heare-say and not by any eye-witnesse or sound proofe now why should wee be restrained from that liberty towards the rest which they take towards Gregory and Bede especially seeing many of their miracles are such as no reasonable man would euer beleeue and deserue rather the splene then the braine as for example Saint Ierome reporteth this to bee one of Saint Anthonies miracles how Anthonie trauailing in the wildernesse to seeke out Paul the Hermite met with a Centaure halfe a man and halfe a horse who spoke to him and shewed him the way and by and by when the Centaure was gone meeteth him another Monster like a Satyre with a hook nose and hornes on his head the lower part of his body like a goat offering him a branch of palme whom Anthony asking who he was he answered I am a mort all creature an inhabitant of the wildernes such an one as the Gentiles deluded with error called a Satyre and I am come as an Embassadour from my flocke to beseech yon to pray to God for vs whom wee know to bee come for the saluation of the world whose sound is gone through the earth if this bee true that there are such monsters or if they bee that they beleeue in Christ and so may bee saued let vs beleue then all that euer the Poets haue written of Ixion Polyphemus Pan Silenus other such like moÌ„sters Gregory Nissen writeth touching Thammaturgus that the Virgin Mary and Saint Iohn camedown from heaueÌ„ to him taught him his creed which is as likely to bee true as that which the Poets write of Apollo that taght Aesculâ—pius the rules of Physick or the Rabbines of the Angell Sanbasser that was Adams Schoolmaster 26. Saint Bernard in the life of Malachias if at least that booke bee Saint Bernards telleth vs of Malchus the teacher of Malachias how hee restored hearing to one that was deafe and how the patient confessed that when the holy man put his fingers into both his eares hee felt as it were two pigges issuing out of them Againe hee reporteth that a certaine Prior of the Regular Friers seing Malachie the Bishop to haue many seruants but few horses gaue vnto him the horse that hee rode on which beeing a restie iade and setting hard at the first the Bishop found him so but ere hee had ridden farre by a wonderfull change hee prooued a very excellent and precious palfrey ambling most sweetly the like tale wee reade in the Dialogues ascribed to Gregory of a horse which a Noble-man lent to Pope Iohn which beeing a very gentle sober nagge when as afterward the noble mans wife should bee set vpon him hee pust and pranced and stampt most strongly disdaining that a woman should sit vpon his backe which had carried the
high Priest of the world much like to King Alexanders Bucephalus which being bare would carry any groome quietly but when his trappings and furniture was on then hee would endure none but Alexander The writer of the life of Saint Bernard relateth a pretty wonder done by that holy man at the dedication of a Church when as the place was so filled with multitude of flies that the people could not enter into it without great annoyance Saint Bernard vsing no other meanes to destroy them said onely I excommunicate them and presently the next morning they were all found dead on the floore Doth this sauour of Saint Bernards holinesse or can any man bee so madde as to thinke that so holy a man would denounce excommunication ordained to separate from the Congregation open and sinfull men against poore silly flies sure hee hath no more wit then a flye that will beleeue this so that notwithstanding the ancient miracles recorded by the Fathers yet the Legendary Romish miracles are not freed from grosse and notorious falshood 27. Another practice of theirs to win credit to their Religion and disgrace to ours is slaundering and calumniating both our Religion and the professours thereof and that so grossely and falsely that their owne consciences could not chuse but say secretly vnto their tongues thou lyest when they were writing them in their bookes but they deale like theeues who to cleare themselues from suspition of robbery raise vp hue and cry against true men or like harlots that lay the imputation of dishonestie vpon sober matrones to the end that they themselues might bee thought chast and honest so beeing full of sores and blemishes themselues they seeke to couer their owne shame by discouering ours Which if it were in truth though their enuy was neuer the lesse yet their sinne was not so great but beeing notorious and outragious lyes they plainely show that they care not what they belch foorth so they staine vs with the filth thereof and that they haue learned that Maâ—chauillian rule audacter calumniari to slander boldly because though the wound bee healed yet a scarre remaineth 28. Their slanders are darted either against our persons or the gouernment of our Church or our doctrines let vs take a short view of all these and first for their personall slanders they slander all of vs in generall with the ignominious titles of solifidians nullifidians nudifidians Infidels worse then Turkes c. yea and say that wee haue no faith no Religion no Christ no God and what not that either malice can deuise or enuy and rage vtter These slanderous reproches are set abroach by rayling Parsons in his booke of the three conuersions and almost in all other of his discourses and by Mathew Kellison who was of a sudden start vp from spigget to the Pulpit a buttery diuine and by Wright another of the same stampe and by Reynolds and Bellarmine and Beran and Coster and all the brood of ranke mouthed Iesuites who as if they were all bitten with one madde dog raue alike against our Religion and the professours thereof but God bee praised with euill successe for their calumnies are so transparent that he that doth but meanly vnderstand the grounds of our Religion cannot but turne the lie vpon their heads 29. But let vs heare their reasons why we are all Infidels mary they propound two principall ones and those very strong as they thinke first they say that all learned Protestants are Infidels because they build their faith vpon their owne priuate exposition of Scripture and secondly that ignorant Protestants are Infidels because they rely their faith vpon their Ministers credit To the first I answere two things first that wee doe not interpret the Scripture by our own priuate iudgements but by the Scripture it selfe for some places are so plaine those principally that contain the grounds of Religion that they need no exposition as Saint Augustine witnesseth saying that quaedam in Scripturis c. There be some things in the Scripture so manifest that they require rather a hearer then an expounder and what those things are the same father declareth in another place where he sayth that in those things which are plainely set downe in Scripture are found all those points which containe faith and manners and those things which are obscure and hard in Scripture we do not expound by any forraine or priuate interpretation but by conferring them with other more plaine and perspicuous places and so except they say that the Scripture it selfe is of a priuate interpretation they cannot condemne vs of that crime Now that this is the best way of interpreting let the same Augustine informe vs who sayth That there is nothing contained in hard places of Scripture which is not to be found most plainely vttered in others and Chrysostome who affirmeth that the Scripture expoundeth it selfe and suffereth not the Reader to erre and Basill who telleth vs that those things which be doubtfull or seeme to be couertly spoken in some places of holy Scripture are expounded by other plaine places Of the same minde are the rest of the Fathers and so wee expound the Scripture no otherwise then all the ancient Fathers vsed to doe and then indeed it ought to be 30. I but wee follow not the iudgement of the Church say they which hath the onely key of interpretation committed vnto it if they meane by the Church the fathers we may iustify our selues by condemning them of the same fault they deale with them as the Iewes dealt with their wiues if they please their humors they hold vnto them but if they crosse or thwart them they sue out a bill of diuorce against them and put them away nothing is more common then this in all their writings and therefore it needs no instances to prooue it if they meane the Councils why by their owne teaching no Councill is of sufficient authority except it bee confirmed by the Pope nor any decree or interpretation to bee entertained without his approbation Therefore they must needs meane the Pope alone and if they doe so then we confesse that wee haue iust causes not to tye our faith to his girdle nor our vnderstanding to his braine seeing many of that ranke haue beene open Heretikes some notorious Atheists all men and therefore subiect to errour yea seeing the body of their Church is an Apostate harlot and the surmised head on earth that man of sinne the great Antichrist spoken of in the Scriptures If to vary from him then and his Babylon in our exposition of Scripture bee priuate interpretation wee confesse our selues guilty but in all other respects cleare and innocent 31. Secondly grant that wee doe in some points follow on our owne priuate exposition yet wee are not therefore Infidels for then most of the Fathers should bee infidels aswell as wee for there are few of them which haue not sometimes priuately vea and falsely
this to rely vpon for his saluation then the other Thomas Aquinas seeing this ascribeth an infinitie to humane satisfactions in respect that they are informed by grace but therein hee crosseth both all his fellowes and their doctrine it selfe for if they be infinite then they must needes answere aswell for the eternall punishment as for the temporall which they denie 13. Thirdly they themselues cannot agree about their satisfactions as whether they bee by precept and commandements or only by counsell and perfection and not commanded whether the vertue of satisfying bee in the outward or inward act or in both whether they serue to take away the temporall punishment onely or the gilt of the sinnes or the punishment of hell excepting the eternitie whether they be so necessarie that there can bee no absolution without them or that a sinner may be absolued by his contrition and confession without penal satisfaction and lastly whether the least satisfaction be sufficient for the greatest temporall punishment or that a due proportion is to be obserued All these intricate questions are exagitated in this doctrine some holding one thing some another without any iust and sure resolution what a dangerous thing is it then to relye vpon these vncertainties which they themselues are not able to bring into grounded principles how much safer is it to repose our selues wholly vpon that blessed satisfaction of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ in which neyther Romanist nor Protestant could euer find any ambiguitie or doubt but that it is of absolute necessitie for mans saluation of infinite efficacie to appease the wrath of God and of proportionable dignitie to the iustice of God 14. Lastly after they haue with one hand stretched the worthinesse of their satisfactions to the highest straine yet they pull them downe againe with the other and make them of no force for let the satisfaction bee what it will yet the Popes pardon can dissolue the bonds thereof for it is a ruled case in their Religion that all satisfactorie punishment may bee released by a pardon and this pardon may bee obtained by saying not onely ouer certaine prayers visiting certaine Churches worshipping certaine relickes and kneeling to certaine pictures c. but also by disbursing certaine monie out of their purses that may come to the Popes purse and coffers Behold now the greatest danger of this doctrine thy satisfaction is released and made no satisfaction and it is released by him of whom thou maist iustly doubt whether hee hath authoritie so to doe and whether he may erre in doing it hee doth it de facto not examining whether thou bee truly penitent or no but whether thou hast payd thy penitentiall tax or no and that which is worst of all hee so granteth it that it is alwayes reuocable at his secret pleasure so that satisfaction is made no satisfaction by the Popes pardon the Popes pardon is made no pardon because it is bought with monie thy monie perish with thee that thinkest this gift of the holy Ghost can bee obtained with monie and the mony is cast away because the Pope may both erre in his pardoning and also reuoke his pardon when he list without giuing any notice of the cause vnto the partie what securitie can a Christian conscience find in these vnsure principles How much safer a course is it to rely vpon Christs satisfaction onely which is a true satisfaction indeed not disanulled by any act eyther of God or man not pardoned but performed not purchased by monie but by faith which is more precious then gold and lastly not reuocable by any power in heauen or in earth but standing firme as an euerlasting foundation for the saluation of the elect 15. Touching Antichrist whether side doth more incline to take part with his Apostacie and is in most danger to bee inthralled to his dominion let any indifferent man iudge for wheras it is granted by all both Romanists and Protestants yea and Fathers also that Antichrist should bee a Monarch clayming an vniuersall iurisdiction throughout the whole World and should also challenge to himselfe an infallibilitie of iudgement Protestants abhorring all such manner of subiection and renouncing all such power in any creature cannot possibly fall into the Antichristian gulfe But Papists professing the Pope to be the sole Monarch of the Church and his iudgement to bee of infallible truth in the defining of matters of faith must needs bee in more danger to bee in Antichrists Kingdome we cannot be slaues to Antichrist because we admit no gouernment like vnto his in the Church nor any such peremptorie power of not erring in the gouernment But they professing a gouernment and a power in that gouernment so agreeable to the state of Antichrist may suspect themselues to bee fallen into that Apostacie as they are indeed ouer head and eares Our religion then is more secure in this respect whereas theirs by their owne principles hath some affinitie and correspondence therewith and Antichrist himselfe may be in their Church but cannot by any probable coniecture be in ours 16 Againe for the Article of Inuocation of Saints the Romanists that hold the affirmatiue are in many respects subiect to many more and greater dangers then the Protestants which hold the negatiue for first if their doctrine bee not true they manifestly detract from the glorie of the Creatour and giue the same vnto his creatures Whereas if our doctrine bee false wee onely detract from the glorie of the creatures and giue it vnto the Creatour Now by how much it is a greater sinne to doe iniurie to the Creatour then to the creature by so much the more dangerous is their doctrine then ours and as it is safer to ascribe that glory to God which is due to man then to man that that is due to God so is there more safetie in our doctrine then in theirs 17. Secondly in respect of charitie if they erre in this opinion then doe they turne the holy Saints of God into abominable Idols and so offer that wrong vnto them which they being iealous of Gods glorie of all things most detest as the examples of Paul and Barnabas and of Peter and the Angell declare but if wee erre wee onely being iealous that Gods glorie may not be communicated to any other depriue them of a little worship which wee thinke belongeth vnto God and in the meane while esteeme them as blessed Saints and honour them by praysing God for them imitating their godly examples and keeping an honourable remembrance of them in our Churches Now in charity whether is a greater wrong to the Saints to turne them into Idols that is into deuils or for zeale of Gods glorie to take from them a little of their due honour 18. Thirdly in respect of conscience if they doe sinne in this it is the horrible and fearefull sinne of Idolatrie which being spirituall adulterie causeth a diuorce
vncertaintie of vnwritten traditions for the Scripture was euer the same since it was Scripture and so shall continue to the end of the World no man daring to alter or change it to adde thereto or detract ought therfrom for feare of the curse denounced against such presumption But Traditions are and haue beene euer most variable and vnconstant some that haue beene held for Apostolical traditions being vtterly abrogated and abolished as threefold immersion or thrice dipping in baptisme for signification of the Trinitie giuing the Eucharist to infants which was vsed 600. yeeres in the Church standing in publike Prayers at Easter and Pentecost and such like and some altered and changed as deferring Baptisme vntill the feasts of Easter and Pentecost into baptizing vpon any occasion fasting vpon Wednesdayes and Saturdayes into Wednesdayes and Fridayes and so many ancient constitutions dispensed withall by the pretended Apostolicall authoritie of the Church of Rome as is confessed by them And that this is an vncontroulable truth that one famous example of the contention betwixt the East and West Churches touching the obseruation of Easter doth euince for the one side pretended a tradition from Saint Iohn and Saint Philip the other from Saint Peter and Saint Paul Now if some traditions bee thus vncertaine subiect to change abrogating dispensing and abolishing all must needs bee of the same nature and if all bee of that nature then there can be no securitie in conscience to suspend our faith vpon them the safest way therefore is to relye vpon Scripture alone the fulnesse whereof Tertullian adored and of the authoritie whereof whatsoeuer was destitute Ierome iudged to bee nothing but vaine babbling and besides the which whosoeuer teacheth any doctrine of faith Saint Augustine pronounceth anathema against him 27. Thirdly and lastly by the infallible truth which shineth in the Scriptures as the Sunne in the firmament wherein no errour euer was found no spots or blemishes as in the Moone of traditions no deceit nor misleading vnlesse in sence peruerted as by Heretikes to their owne destruction but many traditions haue beene as erronious and deceitfull in themselues so the causes of much errour in the Church witnesse Papius who as Eusebius testifieth broched many exorbitant doctrines vnder pretence of tradition from the Apostles and drew manie Ecclesiasticall Doctours moued by his antiquitie for he was Disciple to Iohn into the errour of the Chiliasts and all the ancient Heretikes almost who flying from the Scriptures did shelter themselues vnder the pretext eyther of philosophicall principles fained gospels or forged traditions and hereof many ancient traditions themselues giue pregnant euidence as those alleadged by Clemens Alexandrinus to wit Iustification by philosophie Repentance after death Preaching the Gospell to the wicked in hell which the Romanists themselues condemne or that of Cyprian touching anointing to bee vsed in Baptisme and mixing wine with water which Saint Augustine relected as erronious or that of Iraeneus who saith that it was a tradition that Christ suffered at fiftie yeeres of age which is disallowed by all sound authoritie and conuinced of errour by the Scripture it selfe Of this kind a number more might bee produced if need required but these are enough to inferre the conclusion that traditions are not of that infallible truth as the holy Scripture is but rather subiect to errour and falshood and therefore it can bee no part of Christian wisedome to repose our faith vpon them for it is to build vpon a sandie foundation which will deceiue the building in time of need 28. Auricular confession hath as little securitie in the practice of it as any of the former doctrines for first it implieth inpossibilitie of performance by requiring a perfect enumeration of all particular sinnes both secret and open and that vpon danger of damnation the absolution being frustrate if this condition bee not obserued Now because no man is able to performe this therefore no mans conscience can be assured of the remission of his sinnes by that sacramentall medicine whereas on the contrarie hee that confesseth his knowne sinnes to God and forsaketh them with a generall detestation of all other vnknowne though many escape his remembrance yet by Gods promise is sure to find mercie which is the doctrine of the Protestants This is possible and easie to be done The other impossible and improbable and that many learned of their side haue ingeniously confessed as Cassander Rhenanus with diuers others And albeit the Fathers of the Trent Councell in shew seemed to qualifie the matter with this limitation that other sinnes which do not come into the mind of the partie confessing diligently thinking vpon them are vnderstood as generally included in his confession yet the Iesuite Suarez confesseth that the Priest cannot remit any one sinne except the penitent confesse all that hee ought to confesse and Maldonate another Iesuite that because the Priest can remit no sinnes but such as he heareth confessed therefore hee that must remit all must heare all And it is plaine that whatsoeuer the Councell spake yet it meant no otherwise by the reason which they giue for necessitie of confession which is that the penitent may bee iudged whether he hath sinned or no and if hee haue in what kind and degree to the end that proportionable penance may be ioyned to his offence and therefore it is required that not onely the act of sinne but all the circumstances bee discouered Who what to what end how by what helpes where when which are the seuen circūstances attending vpon euery actiō Now how can the Priest iudge of the nature qualitie quantitie of the sin except he know it with all the circumstances if he know it not how can he enioyne a competent satisfaction And if no satisfaction be enioyned then no remission eyther of the sinne or at least releasement from the temporall punishment thereof can bee obtained What a snare are mens consciences brought into by this intricate doctrine How much freer and securer a course is it to confesse necessarily to God alone voluntarily to the Pastor in cases of distresse of conscience and want of instruction and penally to the Church in publike for satisfaction not of God but of men for some publike offence committed This is the doctrine of Protestants which as it is free from impossibilitie so it is full of safetie 29. Secondly their doctrine leaueth the conscience in doubt whether the sinne bee truly pardoned or no by the absolution of the Priest for the Priest being a man is vnable to search into the heart of a sinner and so consequently may erre in the vse of the key for if the Confessor bee an Hypocrite though he make a true relation of all his sinnes with all their circumstances and be therefore absolued by the Priest yet it is certaine that such an one is not absolued in Heauen but stands lyable to Gods
the child before it bee baptized is in some sort partaker of the Sacrament of Baptisme euen by the faith of the Church which hath vowed him thereunto And Bonauenture as hee is reported by Cassander sayth that infants are disposed vnto Baptisme not according to any act of their owne but according to the act of other because the mercie of God imputeth to them as their owne will the will of another Insants therefore stand still in as good case in euery respect as men of yeares if not in better both being vnbaptized and the one dedicated to God by their owne desire the other by the purpose desire of the Church and therefore either these may bee saued aswell as they or else God is not so mercifull to them as to these which is no lesse then impietie to thinke and blasphemie to pronounce 38. Another wicked consequence that followeth vpon this doctrine is that it maketh God the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost euen that blessed Trinitie that is the fountaine of all truth and goodnesse to be lyars and teachers of vntruth For God the Father sayth to Abraham I will bee thy God and the God of thy seed And that this is not to bee vnderstood of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh onely to wit the Iewes but much more of his seed according to the Spirit which are faithfull Christians may appeare both by that which is in the verie same place where it is called an euerlasting couenant and by Saint Pauls testimonie who affirmeth that the blessing of Abraham was to come on the Gentiles through Christ Iesus aswell as on the Iewes God the Sonne sayth Suffer little children to come vnto me for of such is the Kingdome of Heauen plainly affirming that the Kingdome of Heauen is pertaining to little children and not barred vp against any as our Romanists teach it is against such little ones as dye without baptisme Our Sauiour saith without exception that the Kingdome of Heauen belongeth vnto them they as it were to make him a lyar bring in an exception and say that except they bee baptized not Heauen but Lymbus belongeth vnto them And the holy Ghost by the mouth of Saint Paul sayth That the children of beleeuing Parents are holy the reason is because the root is holy and therefore the branch must needs be holy and if children may be holy before they be baptized then by the same rule they may goe to Heauen before they be baptized for as no man without holinesse can see God so with holinesse none can be banished out of the sight of God And thus this doctrine giueth the lye to euery person of the blessed Trinitie 39. If they say that it is our Sauiours doctrine that except a man be borne againe of water and the holy Ghost hee cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heauen and therefore all those generall promises are to bee restrained by this exception if they bee baptized I answere out of Bellarmine that God is not tyed to his Sacraments but can saue them by his especiall grace as also witnesse diuers others of their learned Doctours And therefore whereas our Sauiour saith Except a man be borne againe c. it must needs be vnderstood by another exception to wit of cases of necessitie where Baptisme cannot be obtained and is not contemned for not the want but the contempt of Baptisme is damnable 40. The third and last inconuenience that ariseth from this doctrine is that it is the mother of diuers strange paradoxes and grosse absurdities as not onely of Lay mens Baptisme yea of Pagans and that in scorne but also of changing the true element into lee or broth or puddle water and that which is most strange of baptizing the childe in the mothers wombe before it bee borne or ripping vp the mothers belly in case the child be in danger of death c. some of all which absurdities are held by them all and all by some Is it not then more safe to hold that opinion which is more respectiue to Gods glorie agreeable to Christian charitie and free from all these dangerous consequences 41. To conclude omitting many other of their doctrines which might easily bee shewne to stand in the same case of dangerous tenure and hath in part alreadie beene manifested as their doctrine of set fasts implicite faith veniall sins dispensations with others more I propound for the last instance that doctrine of doctrines the verie groundcell of their ruinous Religion touching the veritie authoritie and singularitie of their Church which they vaunt and bragge to be the onely true Catholike Church of Christ and to haue a preeminence ouer the Scriptures and without the which to be no possibilitie of saluation that there is no safetie in these positions many reasons will euince as first if it should bee true that out of the bounds of that Church none could bee saued then those famous Churches of Asia which were in Pope Victors time that opposed themselues against the predominance of the Church of Rome were all damned wherein flourished many holy Martyrs that gaue vp their liues for the testimonie of Iesus Then Saint Cyprian and all the Bishops of Carthage to the number of fourescore that in a Councell at Carthage set themselues against Pope Stephen and his Councell were damned and Saint Cyprian must bee no longer a Martyr but a Schismaticke and then S. Augustine with the whole Church of Africa and troupes of Martyrs and Confessors should not bee crowned with blisse but tormented in hell for they reiected the yoke of the Bishop of Romes authoritie and would not admit that any should make appeales from them to Rome This horrible and vncharitable inconuenience doth arise from that dismall doctrine The Church of Rome is the onely Catholike Church and out of it there is no hope of saluation now that these holy and heauenly Martyrs and Confessors of Iesus Christ were out of it appeareth by their most receiued definitions of a Catholike and a Schismaticke A Catholike faith Bellarmine is he that is subiect to the one Pastor the Pope whereby hee makâ—th the essentiall forme of a Catholike to be his vnion and coniunction with his head the Pope and a Schismatike sayth Tollet is hee that doth separate himselfe from the head of the Church and the Vicar of Christ I assume but Cyprian Augustine and those other famous Bishops did not acknowledge any subiection to the Pope but separated themselues from his dominion therefore they were by their doctrine no Catholickes but Schismatickes and consequently out of the Church and so out of saluation a damnable conclusion 42. Secondly they peremptorily auouch that none of vs being not members of their Church can bee saued we on the contrarie charitably beleeue that many of them that are ignorantly members of their Church if they hold the foundation of Iesus Christ and depend vpon his merits not their owne
so that their ignorance be simple and vnaffected may bee saued And hereupon they conclude that it is safer to bee of that Church wherein by our owne confession a man may be saued then of that to which they denie all hope of saluation but it is a conclusion made by confusion For who seeth not that that is more likely to be the true Church which is animated with charitie then that which is void of charitie and that it is safer to harbour vnder her wings that is charitably affected euen towards her enemies then vnder her that is so miscarried with enuie that she committeth all to the pit of Hell that are not of her fellowship and profession especially seeing Saint Paul chargeth the Thessalonians that If any man obey not the Gospell they should note him with a letter and haue no companie with him that hee may bee ashamed yet they should not accout him as an enemie but admonish him as a brother If then it be safer to thinke charitably of those that are without then vtterly to condemne them all then it must be also safer to bee a member of our Church then of theirs And to make the matter more cleare Saint Augustine is flat of our mind to thinke more Christianlike of Heretikes as they repute vs then they doe for writing against the Donatists thus he sayth They that defend their false doctrine without obstinate boldnesse especially if they be not such as haue beene authors of those errours but either receiued them from their Parents or were seduced by others and doe carefully seeke the truth being readie to be reformed assoone as they shall see their errours such men are not to be esteemed as Heretikes Thus writeth Saint Augustine whereby hee condemneth the practice of the Church of Rome and iustifieth ours as more agreeable to the rule of charitie and thus that reason whereby the Iesuites seduce many ignorant persons falleth to the ground and maketh more against them then for them 43. Thirdly if the Churches authoritie bee aboue the authoritie of the Scriptures then are men to bee preferred before God and that which is subiect to errour before that which can neither erre nor deceiue for the Church consists of men but the Scripture is immediately from God and the Church may erre though not in fundamentall points but the Scripture cannot erre no not in the least titte the truth of this allegation is grounded vpon those reasons First because euery particular Church may erre as is confessed and therefore the whole Chuchin generall may erre also for such as is the nature of the parts is the nature also of the whole Secondly Councels which are their Church representatiue haue erred as is notoriously knowne to all and confessed by Saint Augustine who sayth that the decrees of prouinciall Councels are subiect to reprehension Yea former generall Councels may be corrected by them that follow as the Councell of Arimine by the Councell of Constantinople the second of Ephesus by the Councell of Chalcedon the Councell of Carthage by the first of Nice and the second of Nice by the Councell of Franckeford Thirdly the Pope that is the Head of the Church hath erred this is also confessed therefore the bodie can claime no better priuiledge but sayth the same Augustine There is no doubt of the truth of any thing which is contained in the Scripture Therefore who can doubt to place the resolution of their faith as the safest course on the Scripture rather then on the Church especially seeing no particular writer of the holy Scripture can be taxed with the least errour but many particular parts of the Church whether we respect the imagined head which is vertually the whole Church in their estimation or the chiefe members in grosse as the Councels or the deuided ioynts as particular Congregations may iustly be challenged as tainted with diuers errours in doctrines of faith 44. Lastly the Church of Rome may be the whore of Babylon and so the See of Antichrist if not necessarily as wee auouch yet coniecturally as no man can denie because spirituall Babylon is said to bee a Citie situate vpon seuen hils and not onely so but that raigned ouer the Kings of the earth both which notes directly agree to the Citie of Rome but the Church of Protestants cannot by any likelihood bee that whore seeing neither of those markes doe in any respect belong vnto it Is it not safer then to rest our selues in her bosome which by al probabilitie is an honest Matrone then in her armes which is a suspected harlot If Caesar would haue his wife to bee without suspition then euerie Christian had need to looke to his faith whereunto he is as it were married by the Spirit of God wherby he is married vnto Christ that it be not onely sincere but also free from all suspition or likelihood of errour 45. Thus we see in these few maine points of the Romish Religion compared with our contrarie assertions that it is a farre safer course to bee a Protestant then a Papist let all indifferent persons iudge and discerne betwixt vs and I pray God direct them by his Spirit to choose the truth 46. There is one thing yet remaining whereby this may further appeare and so and end of this whole discourse and that is that there is no one point of doctrine wherein they differ from vs but is contradicted by some of their owne learned Writers shaking hands with vs and crossing their owne Pew-fellowes whence from ariseth not onely another strong argument of greater securitie in our Religion then in theirs which hath the suffrages of the greatest enemies to vphold it but also of vnresistable truth which worketh so vpon the consciences of the aduersaries thereof that it forceth them will they nill they to acknowledge it now and then as the Deuill himselfe was constrained to confesse Christ Iesus to be the Sonne of God I might write a whole Volume of this point alone but I will propound here onely some few instances and so shut vp this Treatise 47. Protestants teach that a man is iustified by faith alone whereby the righteousnesse of Christ is imputed vnto him and not by the inherent or adherent righteousnesse of his owne workes the same is confessed by Thomas Aquinas who sayth that no man is iustified with God by his workes but by the habit of faith infused and againe that there is in the workes of the Law no hope of iustification but by faith onely and by Pighius who holdeth that there is in vs no inherent righteousnesse whereby wee may bee iustified but that our iustification is by Christs righteousnesse imputed vnto vs and by the Diuines of Collen who affirme That the righteousnesse of Christ imputed vnto vs and apprehended by faith is the principall cause of our iustification and by Cassander who approueth of our doctrine of iustification by faith alone and imputed
Protestants condemne the worship of Images taught and practised in the Church of Rome but they are not alone therein but haue many Romanists for their abetters and companions Cassander concludeth out of Saint Augustine that there were no Images in all the Churches of his Diocesse And Polydore Virgil writeth that by the testimonie of Ierome it appeareth how in a manner all the ancient Fathers condemned the worship of Images for feare of Idolatrie thus speaketh he in his vncorrupted editions but in his later editions his tongue is tyed by the Belgicke Index others as Holcot Durand Alphonsus flatly affirme that no worship at all is due to an Image neither is it lawfull to worship it diuers Councels also decreed the same as the ancient Councell of Eliberis propounded this onely remedie against Idolatrie that no Images should bee painted in Churches but this Councell was not Romish for Poperie was then scarce in the Embrio therefore of later time a mere Romish Councell to wit that of Franckford consisting of many Romish Bishops and the Popes owne Legates condemned all worship of Images and a later yet to wit the Councell of Mentz held in the yeere 1549. decreed that the Image it selfe was not to bee worshipped but that by the Image of Christ men should bee stirred vp to adore Christ which is contrarie to the new professed doctrine of the Church of Rome 54. Many Romanists as well as Protestants reiect the intercession and inuocation of Saints as an Article not found eyther in the olde or new Testament In the olde Testament sayth Salmeron The Patriarchs vsed not to be inuocated both because they were not in perfect estate of blessednesse and also because there had beene then a danger of Idolatrie to offer that honour vnto them And for the new Testament the same Iesuite confesseth that this article is not expressed because the Iewes would haue thought it an hard matter to inuocate Saints departed and the Gentiles would haue taken occasion to haue thought that the worship of new Gods had beene prescribed vnto them Of the same opinion was Ecchius who peremptorily affirmeth that the inuocation of Saints departed is not commanded in the holy Scripture And Faber Stapulensis thus writeth I would to God that the forme of beleeuing might bee fetcht from the Primitiue Church which consecrated so many Martyrs to Christ and had no scope but Christ nor imployed any worship to any saue to the one Trinity alone 55. That a Christian may bee certaine of his owne standing in present grace and of his future saluation is the doctrine of Protestants denyed by the Church of Rome and yet approued by many of her deare children as for example Euery one that beleeueth seeth that he doth beleeue sayth Dominicus Bannes A Christian man by the infallible certaintie of faith which cannot bee deceiued certainly knoweth himselfe to haue a supernaturall faith sayth Medina Some spirituall men may be so certaine that they are in grace that this their assurance shall be free from all feare and staggering sayth Vega reported by Gregory de Valentia And touching assurance of eternall life the same Medina sayth that hee would haue euery beleeuer certainly to hope that he shall obtaine eternall life And of the same opinion are al the rest of them saue that they will haue this certainty to be of hope and not of faith and so the difference is in words and not in the thing for they make it to be without doubting or wauering firme and assured aswell as we 56. That concupiscence is a finne in the regenerate is affirmed by Protestants contrary to the receiued doctrine of the Church of Rome yet many Romanists themselues shake hands with the Protestants in this point as Ribera a Iesuite who writing vpon the twelfth of the Hebrewes sayth that by sinne hanging fast vpon is meant the concupiscence of the flesh against the holy Spirit which the Apostle vseth often to call by the name of sinne and Tanner another Iesuite acknowledgeing that concupiscence in the regenerate is called sinne by the Scripture sayth that it is a great wickednesse to traduce as blasphemous the manner of speech true in it selfe and imitating the Scriptures yea and Stapleton calleth it a certaine iniquitie and obliquity not onely against the dominion of the mind but also against the Law of God Now Bellarmine telleth vs that whatsoeuer is contrarie to the Law of God is mortall sinne Cassander playeth the Protestant in direct termes in this point for he sayth that if we respect sinne as an iniquitie or disease which must be resisted by the spirit lest it burst forth into vnlawfull acts concupiscence is not vnfitly called sinne but if we respect it as an offence to God and guiltinesse to which punishment and damnation is answering it is not thus sinne in the regenerate 57. Touching marriage of Priests which the Church of Rome condemneth as execrable filthie and abominable we allow as holy and lawfull we haue their owne Doctours on our side and against their owne mother Gratian sayth that marriage of Priests is not prohibited eyther by legall or Euangelicall or yet Apostolicall authoritie but by Ecclesiasticall onely Espenseus sayth that for many hundred yeeres after the Apostles time by reason of the want of others Priests were married Caietane affirmeth that if wee stand onely to the tradition of Christ and his Apostles it cannot appeare by any authoritie or reason that holy order can be any hinderance to marriage eyther as it is an order or as it is holy Pius the second one of their owne Popes affirmeth that it is better for a Priest to marry then to burne though hee haue vowed the contrary and that there be many reasons to forbid Priests marriage but more to allow it Panormitane Cassander Erasmus doe all agree that in regard of the monstrous and filthy effects that follow a vowed single life it were better both for Gods glory and the auoyding of scandall in the Church that libertie of marrying were granted to all men And Espenseus and Agrippa doe grieue and blush to behold rather Concubines and Stewes to bee permitted to their Clergy then lawfull wiues 58. The Popes Primacie or rather Supremacie in all affaires and ouer all persons challenging the iurisdiction of both swords and authoritie of supreme Iudicatures in cases of controuersie and interpretation of Scripture with an infallibilitie of Iudgement is the verie foundation of Poperie yet the same is razed not onely by Protestants but by many of their owne ranke that are both by name and profession Papists Concerning his temporall Iurisdiction so stiffely maintained by Bellarmine and the Iesuits our Wisbich Priests affirme that this power was neuer giuen vnto Peter Espensâ—us condemneth it in direct tearmes Tolosanus confesseth that for two hundred yeeres after Christ it was neuer read that Christians attempted any thing
is recorded how the Iewes of Hungarie tooke a Carpenters Son that was a Christian in despiâ—â—â—â— of Christ whom they esteemed no better then the Soone of a Carpenter and cut all the veines of his body and suckt out his bloud with quils and being apprehended and tortured they confessed that they could not bee without Christian bloud for therewithall they anoynted their Priests Yea they haue often poysoned the springs and by that meanes brought great plagues vpon Christian people and set on fire Cities and Townes to bring them to pouerty and misery Can there be greater enemies to Christ then these are for the poysoned arrowes of their malice are shut vp against him who is in heauen beyond their reach and therefore they fall downe vpon his members but the venome of them lighteth vpon their owne heads to their eternall confusion Who would now imitate these wretches in any thing especially in that wherein the cause of their enmity consisteth can they be of God that doe this or rather are they not the brood of that Serpent that hath beene euer a profest enemy to the seed of the woman This being so cleare and manifest I leaue the first proposition without any other guard or defence and come to the confirmation of the second wherein the pith of the argument confisteth 2. That the Religion of the Church of Rome is an apish imitation of Iudaisine and that in those things wherein it is most opposite to Christ may appeare if wee first consider wherin the opposition of the Iewish Religion consisteth and then secondly compare the Romish with the same The Iewes Religion is opposite to Christ in two respects principally first in retaining the old Ceremonies of Moses law which were shadowes of things to come and had their accomplishment in Christ for that which Paul saith concerning Circumcisiou is to be vnderstood of all other Ceremonies They which entangle themselues with that yoke of bondage vnder those impotent and beggerly rudiments are abolished from Christ and Christ doth profit them nothing And secondly in deuising a multitude of strange and new superstitions coyned in the mint of their Rabbinish conceits contrary not onely to the Gospell of Iesus Christ but euen to their owne law which Deutorologies of theirs our Sauiour condemneth Math. 15. 3. 6. when hee saith that they transgressed the Commaundement of God made it of no effect by their owne tradition Both these wayes shew they their enmity to Christ and Christian Religion and are thereby retained and encouraged in their errours 3. Now compare the Romish Religion with these Rabbinisticall conceits in both respects and it will appeare that one egge is not liker to another nor milke to milke then the Romish and Iewish superstition are to each other And touching the first to begin with the multitude of their ceremonies It is not vnknowne to any that know any thing in the booke of God that the Church of the Iewes was loaden with a heauie burden of ceremonies S. Paul saith that it was so heauie that neither they nor their fathers were able to beare it and therefore calleth the Ceremoniall law a yoke of bondage and those that were vnder that yoke children of the bondwoman and not of the free And the reasons why God did impose vpon them such a number of Ceremonies were iust and holy to wit first because the Church was then in the infancy and therefore needed to be vnder a Schoolemaster to instruct and as it were catechize it vnto Christ and therefore they were to be dealt withall as children vse to be with the guilded leaues and faire pictures of externall rites and to be fed with milke being not able to digest strong meates Secondly because by them they were as it were by visible representations informed both touching some great benesit past and receiued and touching the Messias to come and his Kingdome as also concerning godly conuersation required in their owne life for in the barke of euery legall ceremonie these three vitall spirits were contained And thirdly as it is well obserued by S. Chrysostome in regard of their infirmity and weakenesse who being lately come out of Egypt and there defiled themselues with idolatrie and superstition necessarily required sacrifices and ceremonies to be allowed vnto them lest they should fall backe againe to their Egyptian corruption wherefore Almighty God saith he so dealt with them as a Physician dealeth with his sicke patient who through the burning heat of his disease requireth a cup of cold water or else is ready to hang or kill himselfe there the Physician being constrained by necessity commands a viole of cold water prepared by himselfe to be brought vnto him but withall warnes him that he drinke not but out of that Viole So God granted sacrifices and ceremonies to the sickly Israelites but so that they should not vse any but those which hee appointed for them and that after the manner by him prescribed And this to be so hee proueth because the law of ceremonies was not giuen vntill the children of Israel had defiled themselues with the golden Calfe for the making whereof they were so madde bent as that they pulled off their Iewels eare-rings and rings from their bodies and gaue them for the framing of that Idoll and hee illustrateth the same in another place by another excellent similitude If a man saith hee haue a wife prone to incontinencie hee shutteth her vp in certaine places chambers setting about her a guard of seruants and attendants to keepe her from straying abroad and entertaining her louers So God dealt with the Church of the Iewes which he had married to himselfe in compassion and loue seeing it prone to Idolatry and superstition hee separated it from other Nations and shut it vp within the bounds of the land of Canaan and set about it a guard of Ceremonies and externall Rites which should be as it were Tutors vnto it vntill it were fully confirmed in faith and obedience Thus farre Chrysostome By all which wee see not onely that the Church of the Iewes was loaded with a bundle of ceremonies which were to endure till the comming of the Messias but also the reasons why the Lord imposed that burden vpon them 4. Now is the Church of Rome any whit behinde them in this No verily but farre before them for if we shall compare Moses Leuiticus with the Romish Missals wee shall finde that in number of ceremonies they farre exceede the Synagogue of the Iewes The Iewes had but two great Sacraments the Church of Rome haue seuen The Iewes but one ordinary Altar the Church of Rome tenne thousand euen as many as Churches and not onely so but often diuers Altars in one Church The Iewes offered many sacrifices but the Church of Rome exceede them in the number of their Masses tenne to one The Iewish Holy-dayes were few in comparison of the Romish for they had but their
Passeouer Pentecost feast of Tabernacles of Trumpets reconciliation new Moones Purim and dedication but these haue their Holy-dayes for euery Saint for the Crosse Corpus Christi All Saints All Soules and what not insomuch that their friend Erasmus complaineth that in Ieromes age there were few Holy-dayes besides the Lords day but now that there is neither end nor measure in the multitude of them The Iewes obserued a few fasting dayes by Gods appointment and others taken vp by their owne tradition as the second and fift day of the weeke but the Romish fasts exceede both in number and superstition for besides two dayes in euery weeke euery Saints Eue almost is a fasting day with them besides their Lent fast continued whole sixe weekes without intermission if to abstaine from flesh and glut themselues with other viands as nutritiue to the body be to be termed a fast The Iewes Priest-hood was distinguished but into two maine orders Priests and Leuites and these later assigned to some few distinct offices about the Temple but the Romish Priest-hood is pestered with a swarme of the seuerall orders of Friars Monkes Anchorites secular and regular Priests that almost serue for nothing but to consume the fruits of the earth The holy garments for the Leuiticall Priest-hood were but few in number in comparison of the Romish vestments for the high Priest of the Iewes had but sixe garments appointed to him the Ephod the brest-plate the Robe the linnen coate the girdle and the crowne and for the inferiour Priests but foure linnen coats bonnets linnen breeches and girdles but the Romish haue sixe garments in token of perfection and the Bishops nine because there are as they say nine orders of Angels in all fifteene answerable to the fifteene degrees of vertues What should I reckon vp their manifold crossings kissings kneelings whisperings washings anoyntings spittings breathings saltings with an infinite number besides of vaine and strange obseruations which are vsed in their Church which the Iewish Synagogue may not compare withall either for multitude or strangenesse And thus they are not onely equall to them but farre exceed them in the number of their Ceremonies And this is euen confessed by many of their fauourites for Cornelius Agrippa saith that Christians are now more oppressed with ceremonies then the Iewes were in former times And Polydore Virgsll that a very wood of Iewish and heathenisâ— ceremonies pestered the Lords field Yea Saint Augustine complaineth of the same superstition in his time when Antichristianisme was but in breeding when he saith that the Church was pressed contrary to Christs mercifull institution with such a seruile burden of Ceremonies that the state of the Iewes vnder the law was mâ—re tolerable then the condition of Christians seeing they were subiect onely to Gods ordinances and not to humane presumptions as Christians are But if he had liued at this time and seene the fruitfull multiplication of them in respect of his age how would hee haue complained And thus in respect of multitude of Ceremonies the Romish Church is by many degrees before the Church of the Iewes 5. To descend to particulars The Iewes had their sacrificing Priests whereof one was their chiefe Priest and the other of an inferiour ranke The Romanists in an apish imitation haue their sacrificing Priests too the Pope their chiefe and the vnder-shauelings his vassals as if Aaron was a type of the Pope and not of Christ or as if all Christians were not Priests vnder the Gospell both which are euident in the new Testament but we no where find that the high Priest of Ierusalem was a type of the high Priest of Rome or that the Ministers of the Gospell are sacrificing Priests This latter is confessed by Bellarmine who saith that the Christians of the Primitiue Church did purposely abstaine from the names of Temple and Priesthood vntill the dayes of Tertullian lest that they should seeme to haue retained some Iewish Ceremonies Why then doe they now entertaine those names whereof the purer times were ashamed do they not shew thereby that they are degenerated from that primer purity which they so much bragge of And yet we doe not dislike the name of Priest if it bee rightly taken for such an one as ministreth in holy things betwixt God and the people but that the Ministers of the Gospel should be sacrificing Priests is Iewish as also that the man of Rome should be the Arch-priest on earth whereas we haue but one high Priest euen Christ our Sauiour who hauing once offered himselfe a sacrifice for sinne sitteth for euer at the right hand of God And that we may plainely see that in their Hierarchie they imitate the Iewes Bellarmine is a sufficient witnesse who to proue that there ought to be a visible Monarch in the Church alleageth that Aaron was not onely a type of Christ but also of the Pope because the sacrifices of the law did not onely represent the bloudy sacrifice of the Crosse but also the vnbloudy sacrifice of the Masse Which if it be true then there can be but one high Priest in the Church of Christ as there was but one in the Church of the Iewes for the argument will stand thus in good moode and forme being built vpon their owne ground As the Church of the old Testament was gouerned so ought the Church of the new but the old was gouerned by one onely high Priest therefore the new ought also to haue but one onely for either he must shew that there were two high Priests in the Church of the Iewes one subordinate vnto the other or conuicted by his owne principle he must acknowledge that there ought not to bee two in the Church of Christ or at least confesse that this argument is lame drawne from the imitation of the Iewish Hierachy and then if it be not true which he affirmeth what will be the sequell therof but either ignorance in symbolizing those things which are no wise matches or impiety in dethroning Christ from his office and setting the Diademe vpon the Popes head and so that in their Romish Hierarchy they are the Iewes Apes in that thing which most tendeth to the dishonor of Christ 6. As they imitate the Iewish Priest-hood so do they also their Altar and sacrifices for they are not content with the name of the Lords Table which name was vsed both by the Apostles and primitiue Church For which cause as testifieth Arnobius Cyrill and Chrysostome they were challenged by the Pagans of impiety nor yet to take the name of Altar and Sacrifice in an improper signification as some of the later Fathers did calling the Lords Table an Altar because on it was represented the sacrifice of the Crosse and the action in the Eucharist a sacrifice because it was a commemoratiue representation of that sacrifice as their writings plentifully testifie but they will haue a very Altar in proper phrase of speach and
blindnesse of the Popish crue that they beleeue all to bee true and take all this trash for good ware 33. There is almost nothing that our Sauiour touched or that touched him or that hee had any thing to doe withall but is turned into a Relicke as the Manger wherein hee was laid at his birth is to be seene in Rome at Saint Mary Maior the Linnen cloth wherein he was swadled at Saint Paul and another piece at Saint Sauiour in Spaine his Cradle and the Shirt which his mother made for him at the same place the Pillar which he leaned vnto when hee disputed with the Doctours and the water-pot in which he turned water into wine which are to be seene at diuers sundry places to wit at Rauenna at Pisa at Andegauum and in Spaine at Saint Sauiours the Table which he eate his last Supper on at Saint Iohn Laterane a piece of the bread at Saint Sauiours in Spaine the Knife where with he killed the Passeouer at Treuers the Cup wherein he gaue the Sacrament of his bloud to bee drunke at Saint Maries neere Lyons which Cup also is to bee seene among the Heluians in a certaine Monasterie of the Augustine Friers so the dish wherein the Paschall Lambe was put is visible at Rome at Genua and at Arles so the to well wherwith he wiped his Apostles feet is to be seene in Rome at S. Iohn Laterane and yet the same is shewed at Aquae in Germanie and at Saint Cornelius with the marke of Iudas his foote imprinted in it a piece of one of those loaues wherewith Christ miraculously fed the multitude in the desart is yet extant at Rome at Saint Maria Noua and another piece at Saint Sauiours in Spaine 34. What should I speake of the Crosse found out by Helena whereof as Histories report she gaue one part to her Son Constantine which was placed on a porphyrie pillar in Constantinople and the other part enclosed in a siluer case shee sent to the Bishop of Hierusalem to be kept It is admirable to see into how many pieces and patches it is now subdiuided one man was able to beare it sixteene hundred yeares agoe and now sixteene men nay if I said a hundred it were not amisse are scarce able to carry the fragments of it yea they would load a whole ship and that of good burthen The nailes as I said before which were but three as all know haue spawned eleuen more and are become foureteene where of two are to be seene at Rome one at Saint Hellens another at Saint Crosses a third at Venice a fourth at Sene a fift at Colne in Germanie at the three Maries a sixt at Treuers a seuenth at S. Dennis in France an eight at S. Sacell a ninth with the Carmelites a tenth among the Biturigions an eleuenth in an Abby c. his crowne of thornes is diuided into so many portions that either it must needs be of huge bignesse or else some of those fragments which are taken for parts of it must needs be meere impostures his seamelesse Coat hath begot diuers others for one is to be seene at Argentolium another at Treuers a third the Turke hath with him I should bee too long in this friuolous argument if I should reckon vp all the reliques of our Sauiour Christ that are notoriously extant and to all which worship and adoration is performed 35. As for the Virgin Maries relicks they are also very many and notable her haire and her milke are reserued in so many places that neuer any woman gaue so much milke in all her time of bearing as she did in that time that shee gaue sucke her Smocke is had in great honour both at Carnutis and also at Aquae in Germany and is carried vpon the end of a pole to be worshipped it is of that bignesse that the blessed Virgin should seeme by it to haue been a woman of an incredible stature which is the more to be wondred at because Iosephs breeches which are carried with the smocke in the same pompe are so little that they would fit a little boy or adwarfe her Kerchiefes are to be seene one at Treuers another at Lisium in Italie a little Crosse-cloth of hers is at Bononia her girdle at Pratum and another at Monferrat her Slippers at Saint Saniacquery her Shoo at Sanfloridum her Combes one at Rome another at Vesontium her marriage Ring is at Perusium as if then mariage was made with Rings as it is at this day her Garments or at least pieces of them are to be seene at so many places that the Virgin Maries wardrobe might compare if all were hers with the greatest Princesse in the world foure pictures are to be seen of her which Saint Luke himselfe drew 36. What should I reckon vp the Relicks of other Saints which are all of the same nature though not number Saint Michaels Sword and Buckler wherewith he ouercame the diuell is a monument of great estimation they are kept at great Saint Michaels in France a place much frequented by Pilgrims And what kind of things are they thinke you mary the sword is like a Childes dagger that hee weareth at his back and his Buckler like a little cupping-glasse or like the bosse of a Bridle fit weapons without doubt for an Archangell and more fit for him to fight with the Diuell withall What should I speake of the Relicks of Saint Iohn Baptist breuity bids me passe them ouer and yet I cannot chuse but relate one or two which are most famous as that finger of his wherewith he poynted vnto Christ when he said Behold the Lambe of God this finger is multiplied for it is to be seene at Vesontium and at Tholosse and at Lyons and among the Bituriges and at Florence and neere Matiscone Behold a wonder sixe fingers on a hand or else one finger begetting fiue more and so turned into sixe both a like miraculous one of his shooes is in Paris among the Carthusians behold here another miracle it was stolne away vpon a time and another of a sodaine came in the roome thereof sure a shoo will neuer bee wanting as long as there be Shoo-makers in Paris 37. Such like are the relickes of the rest of the Saints as of Peter and Paul and Iohn and Iames with the other Apostles the Popish Churches are replenished with thē and some of them are in diuers places at once after a miraculous maner as the Altar whereon Peter said Masse is both to bee viewed at Rome and at Pisa his staffe is at Colne and at Treuers Andrew hath one bodie to be seene at Tholosse and another at Melphis Iames the lesser and Philip haue each of them two bodies one of them at Tholosse another at Rome so also haue Simon and Iude Bartholomew is to be seene at Naples and yet for all that his body is at Rome too in a Church dedicated vnto him Mathew hath three bodies one at Patauium another at Rome