in vaine it is for men or Councils to say they be undoubtedly guided by the holy Ghost the spirit of truth unlesse they have the Word of truth for their rule and direction and can so prove the spirit whereby they speake and decree to be Gods Spirit and not their owne But againe yee know that in Councills aswell Generall as Provinciall things be caryed and over-ruled by the most Voyces and where things be so caried and ruled by the greater number of voyces there it is experimentally found to be a thing verie easily possible for the most voyces or greater number sometimes to over-rule the better part being the lesser and consequently Councils whether generall or particular because they may sometime possibly erre can not be held for anie absolute and infallible Iudge or infallible rule of truth in these controversies Or would anie think the Bish. Pope of Rome to be an infallible Iudge Why in the glosse upon the Popes owne Law that opinion also is reiected saying thus Quaero de qua Ecclesia intelligas quod hic dicitur quod non possit errare Si de ipso Papa certum est quod Papa errare potest Respondeo Ipsa congregatio Fidelium hic dicitur Ecclesia I demand of what Church it is meant when it is said as here That the Church cannot erre If of the Pope himselfe it is certaine he may erre I therefore answer that the whole company of the Faithful is here meant by the Church Where beside that you see what Church it is that cannot erre you see it directly affirmed that certum est quod Papa errare potest it is a thing certaine that the Pope may erre Gerson also the Chancellor of Paris telleth us that tam Papa quam Episcopus deviabiles à fide aswell the Pope as anie other Bishop may go out of the way of Faith Alfonsus that wrote so earnestly against Luther yet touching this point said thus Non credo aliquem esse adeo impudentem Papae assentatorem ut ei tribuere hoc velit ut nec errare possit I doe not beleeve that any man is such an impudent flatterer of the Pope as to attribute this unto him that he cannot erre Which words were in his first edition but are not now in the last but yet even in his new copies although he qualifie his termes he holdeth the same opinion verie directly saying Omnis homo errare potest in fide etiamsi Papa sit Every man may erre in faith yea even the Pope himselfe And againe he saith that Papa in fide errare potest ut melius sentientes tenent etiam ex hijs qui Papatui plurimùm favent inter quos est Innocentius ejus nominis quartus in cap. 1. de Summa Trinitate The Pope may erre in matter of faith as the better opinion is even of them that favour the Papacie most of all amongst whom is Pope InnocentÃus the fourth of that name writing upon the first chapter De Summa Trinitate Well therefore doth Erasmus also confute this new conceit strange opinion For If it be true saith he which some say that the Bishop of Rome can never erre Iudicially vvhat neede is there then of Generall Councils Why are men skilfull in the Lawes and learned in Divinitie sent for to Councils if he in his speakings cannot erre To what purpose be so manie Vniversities troubled with handling Questions of faith when thc truth may be had from his mouth Yea how commeth it to passe that the Decrees of one Pope be repugnant to the Decrees of another What Wresters of Scripture then do some Papists in these later times here appeare to be that abuse it to give an infallibilitie of judgement and an immunitie or priviledge from error to the Pope of Rome Arboreus a Doctor of Paris and one not of the meanest Sorbonists confesseth likewise and teacheth this truth saying Papa in fide errare potest Et tota mihi aberrare via videtur qui aliter sentit Assentantur sanè Romano Pontifici qui faciunt eum immunem à lapsu haereseos schismatis The Pope may erre in faith And he seemeth to mee to be in an extreame error that thinketh otherwise Surely they doe but flatter the Bishop of Rome that make him free from falling into heresie and schisme And how can it in reason be otherwise For if Provinciall Councils wherein be manie Bishops may erre in matter of Faith which is a thing that the Popish Writers themselves do grant yea if Generall Councils may possibly erre in matter of Faith which is also a thing confessed by some of the Popish Divines and cannot iustly be denied by anie is there anie likelyhood that any one Bishop singly considered by himselfe should be so priviledged as that he could not possibly erre Yea even a general Councill namely the Councill of Basil saith Saepe experti sumus legimus Papam errasse Wee have often found it by experience and know it also by reading that the Pope hath erred And againe they say Cum certum sit Papam errare posse Forasmuch as it is a thing certaine that the Pope may erre Whereupon it must be concluded that therefore the Pope also cannot be held for an unerrable or infallible Iudge Shall then the ancient Fathers be this Iudge They are I grant in all respects to have that due reverence that belongeth to them but themselves will by no meanes assume that high honour to themselves to be infallible Iudges or such as cannot possibly erre Yea they acknowledge that they may erre and therefore would have no man further to beleeve them then there is warrant for what they write and speake in the Canonicall Scriptures I cannot denie saith S. Augustine but that there be many things in my Workes as there be also in the Writings of my predecessors vvhich justly and without anie rashnesse may be reproved And when S. Cyprian was obiected against him hee answered thus I am not bound by his Authoritie For I doe not account Cyprians Writings as Canonicall but weigh them by the Canonicall Scriptures and that in them which agreeth with the Canonicall Scriptures I allow to his praise but that which agreeth not by his favour I refuse Againe he saith If anie thing be proved by the manifest Authoritie of the divine Scriptures which in the Church be called canonicall it must be beleeved without any doubting but as for other testimonies thou mayst beleeve them or not beleeve them according as thou shalt see cause to trust them And therefore he giveth this prerogative to the sacred and canonicall Scriptures that amongst all the Writings in the world they onely cannot erre and that all other may erre For which cause he saith againe thus Solis eis Scripturarum libris qui jam canonici appellantur didici hunc timorem honoremque deferre ut nullum eorum Authorem scribendo
he changeth the good lawes and establisheth his owne he prophaneth he raveneth he spoyleth he defraudeth he massacreth even that man of perdition doth this vvhom they are wont to call Antichrist in vvhose forehead this name of blasphemy is written I am a God I cannot erre He sitteth in the Temple of God and Ruleth farre and wide c. Petrus Blessensis likewise verie earnestly adviseth all good men to depart from Rome as from the midst of Babylon And Sigebertus also witnesseth that for the most part all that were good just open hearted ingenuous and plaine-dealing men held That the kingdome of Antichrist vvas then and in those dayes About which time also the VValdenses and Albigenses in France did openly sequester themselves from the Romish Church holding and maintayning amongst other articles as the bookes of their adversaries themselves doe witnesse That Popish Rome is the Babylon mentioned in the Revelation and that the Pope is the very Antichrist foretold in the Scriptures And about the yeare 1230 one VVilliam Bishop of Paris likewise feared not to call Rome Babylon Egypt Sodome and her Prelates Profaners and spoylers of the True Spouse of Christ that established Lucifer againe in the heaven of Christs Church Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincolne Sebaldus Archbishop of Yorke and Probus Bishop of Thoul did in their times also mightily inveigh against the Pope One Haiabalus a Franciscan preached openly in Avinian That the Pope and his Cardinals were Antichrist and that the Popish Church was the VVhore of Babylon mentioned in the Revelation And being sent for by Pope Clement the sixt he affirmed that he was commanded from God to publish it and that hee could not otherwise doe Francis Petrarch Archdeacon of Parma and a Chanon of Padua who lived about the yeare 1350 and who for all kinde of learning might be called the light of his age not onely in his Sonnets but even in his Epistles also exclaimeth against the Pope his Court and Church saying That the Popes Chayre is the Chayre of lying that it is a Defection a Revolt an Apostasie of a people that under the Standard of Christ rebell against Christ and fight for Sathan That the Papacy and no other is the Babylon the mother of all the vvhoredomes of the earth c. Nicholaus Oresmus also who lived about the yeare 1364. feared not to say before Pope Vrban the fift That the Church of Rome vvas vvorse then vvhilom vvas the Iewish Synagogue That the Time of Antichrist spoken of in 2. Thess. 2 vvas come seeing the Romane Empire vvas desolated and that betweene the desolation thereof and the comming of Antichrist there vvas no middle time thereby signifying plainely enough that Antichrist then was in being and had his seate in Rome Which thing also Iohannes de Rupe scissa a Franciscan Frier was bold to affirme before Pope Vrban the sixt for which hee was prisoner a long time in Avinion These to pretermit sundrie other Authorities and Testimonies which might be further cited if need were sufficiently declare that manie hundreth yeares before King HENRY the Eight or LUTHER or CALVIN were borne the Pope of Rome was held published to be Antichrist and the Beast spoken of in the Revelation and that Popish Rome was the Whore of Babylon as also they shew where our Church was all that while untill they made an actuall separation from the Pope and Poperie And where it hath been ever since is a thing so well knowne and apparant that it needeth not to be shewed And thus much may suffice to have spoken generally Now let us proceede to other matters FINIS LIBRI PRIMI THE SECOND PART of the BOOKE CHAP. I. Wherein that point concerning the infallible Iudge of these controversies is amplified and further debated and declared And what Scriptures be Canonical and what not Of the perfection and sufficiencie of the Scriptures without Traditions That the Church is to be tryed and decided by the Scriptures And who be the right Catholikes That the Scriptures in their originals be incorrupt and to be preferred before that which is called S. Hieromes Translation and before all other Translations whatsoever That the publique Service should be in such a Tongue as the people may understand That Lay-people may and ought to reade the Scriptures And whence all right exposition of them is to be had AS wee are all under one God and under one King and the same a most worthie learned vertuous and Christian King so were it very consonant and convenient if by anie good meanes it might be brought to passe that we did all hold and professe one and the selfe same true faith Christian Religion For indeed not anie unitie or agreement in falshood or errors but an unitie or agreement in the truth and true Religion is the thing that ought of all to be sought after and desired But now which is that one true Christian Religion which all ought to embrace is that which is made the great Question namely whether it be Protestancy or Papistry inasmuch as both these lay claime unto it Wherein if God speaking in his owne sacred and Canonicall Scriptures may be as is most fit he should be allowed to bee the Iudge then is this which is made so great a question soone decided and at an end it being by him there cleerely resolved that not that which is called Papistry but that which is called Protestancy is the right and true Christian Religion For what be Protestants as they be in this Controversie distinguished against Papists but such as professe to build their Faith and Religion wholly and altogether upon that undoubted word of God the sacred and Canonical Scriptures And what is Papistry on the other side but a profession of such a Faith and Religion as is not so grounded but relieth partly upon unwritten Traditions partly upon the determination of the Popes partly upon the Decrees of their Councels and voice of their owne Church and Teachers and upon such like strengthes and staies as whereby they may easily be deceived Howbeit what cause is there why the pretended Catholicks should not allow God speaking in his divine and Canonical Scriptures to be the Iudge in these Controversies For is there or can there be anie higher better juster or surer Iudge to trust unto then hee or is there anie equall to him or comparable with him What meane they herein Would they have their owne Church Clergie Councels and Pope to be the Iudge That were not fit nor equall yee know that such as be parties should also be the Iudges in their owne cause Yea if their Councell of Constance and Councell of Trent or anie other of their Councels were much better then they be as they be indeed none of the best sort yet were they not to be held for sure or infallible Iudges in this case for anie to build his faith upon or to trust unto them
Relatum where it is said Non enim sensum extrinsecus alienum extraneum debetis quaerere Sed ex ipsis Scripturis sensum capere veritatis oportet For yee ought not to seeke for a strange and forraine sence from vvithout but out of the verie Scriptures themselves yee must take the sence of the truth So that although the Church of Christ and the Bishops Pastors and Ministers therein be to expound the Scriptures yet wee see by what rule they are to be directed namely by the Scriptures themselves and not to expound it at randome or as they list If they wil have their expositions to be right and sound and such as shall be deemed to come from the holy Ghost 3 Yea the verie Church it selfe is also thus to be tried and decided namely by the Scriptures For so S. Augustine holdeth directly saying thus Let us not heare I say and thou sayest but let us heare Thus saith the Lord. There are verily the Lords bookes to the authoritie vvhereof vvee both consent vvee both beleeve vvee both serve There let us search the Church there let us discusse our cause And againe he saith That all that should be remooved vvhatsoever is alleaged on eyther side against other saving that vvhich commeth out of the Canonicall Scriptures And againe he saith Let them shevv their Church if they can not in the sayings and fame of the Affricanes nor in the determinations of their Bishops nor in any mans reasonings nor in false signes and vvonders for against all these vvee be vvarned and armed by Gods VVord but in the things appointed in the Lavv spoken before by the Prophets in the Songs of the Psalmes in the voyce of the Shepheard himselfe and in the preachings and painefulnesse of the Evangelists that is in the authoritie of the bookes Canonicall And a little after he saith againe thus To that eternall salvation commeth no man but he that hath the head Christ and no man can have the head Christ vvhich is not in his bodie the Church vvhich Church as also the head it selfe vvee must knovv by the Canonicall Scriptures and not seeke it in divers rumors and opinions of men nor in facts reports and visions c. Let all this sort of them be chaffe and not give sentence before hand against the vvheat that they bee the Church But this point viz. vvhether they be the Church or no Let them shevv no other vvay but by the Cononicall boâ—kes of the holy Scriptures For neither doe vvee say that men ought to beleeve vs because vvee are in the Catholike Church of Christ or because Optatus Bishop of Millevet or Ambrose Bishop of Millain or innumerable other Bishops of our Communion doe allâ—w this doctrine that vvee hold or becaâ—se in Churches of our Companions it is preached or because that through the vvhole world in those holy places vvhere our Congregations resorted so manie wonders either of hearings or of healing be done vvhatsoever such things be done in the Catholicke Church the Church is not thâ—refore proved Catholicke because these things bee done in it The Lord Iesus himselfe vvhen he vvas risen from death and offered his ovvne bodie to be seene vvith the eies and handled vvith the hands of his Apostles least they should for all that thinke themselves to bee deceaved hee rather iudged that they ought to bee established by the testimonie of the lavv Prophets and Psalmes shevving those things to be fulfilled in him that were there spoken so long before of him And hereupon a little after he saith againe These are the doctrines these are the stayes of our cause vvee read in the Acts of the Apostles of some faithfull men that they searched the Scriptures vvhether the things vvere so or no vvhich they had heard preached vvhat scriptures I pray did they search but the Canonicall of the Lavv and of the Prophets To these are ioyned the Gospels the Epistles of the Apostles the Acts of the Apostles The Revelation of S. Iohn Search all these bring forth some plaine thing out of them vvhereby you may declare that the Church hath remained onely in Affricke So farre Augustine Chrysostome also speaketh to the same effect saying VVhen you shall see the abhominable desolation stand in the holy place that is as he expoundeth it VVhen you shall see vngodly Heresie vvhich is the army of Antichrist stand in the holy places of the Church in that time let them which are in Iurie flie vnto the hills that is saith hee Let them that are in Christendome resort vnto the Scriptures for like as the true Ievv is a Christian as the Apostle saith he is not a Ievv vvhich is one outvvard in like manner the verie Ievvrie is Christianitie the hills are the Scriptures of the Apostles and Prophets But why doth hee command all Christians at that time to resort to the Scriptures Because in this time sithence Heresie hath prevailed in the Church there can bee saith hee no proofe nor other refuge for Christian men desirous to knovv the truth of the right Faith but onely by the Scriptures And the reason hereof he further sheweth For saith he such things as pertaine to Christ the Heretickes also have in their schisme They have likevvise Churches likevvise the Scriptures of God Bishops also and other orders of Clerkes and likevvise Baptisme and the Sacrament of the Eucharist and to conclude Christ himselfe vvherefore he that vvill knovv vvhich is the true Church of Christ in this so great confusion of things being so like hovv shall he knovv it but onely by the Scriptures And afterward againe he saith thus For if they shall looke upon anie other thing but onely the Scriptures they shall stumble and perish not perceiving vvhich is the true Church and so fall into the abhominable desolation vvhich standeth in the holy places of the Church So farre he Now then these being times of Schisme and heresie and of much contention and variance betweene the Protestants and the Papists and the great question betweene them being VVhether of them is the true Church Yea these being the times wherein the verie grand Antichrist himselfe with his armie of Bishops Priests and Clerkes hath place in the world as before in some sort but afterwards is more fully declared It followeth necessarily by this rule of his as also by the former Rule and direction of S. Augustine likewise that all people that bee desirous to know the truth in these times and which is the true Church must resort and betake themselves for the true tryall discerning and deciding hereof vnto the holy Scriptures only for all other waies and courses be uncertaine and unsure and such as whereby a man may possibly and easily be deceived as those ancient Fathers do there expresly teach and affirme And to give you some little tast here also that these be the times of Antichrist and that Antichrist is long sithence come and that the Pope of Rome
the sacred and canonicall Scriptures this is not as Papists affirme to make a private spirit or anie private man but a Divine spirit even God himselfe speaking in those his sacred and canonicall Scriptures to be the Iudge in the matter To whose voice and judgement all Churches Men Angels and all creatures must stoope and obey And therefore as I said before all the insolencie and most intollerable pride and arrogancie that is in this case is not in those who for their owne safetie and securitie make search and examination but in such Bishops Pastors and Teachers as will not endure this triall and examination of their doctrines by those Scriptures Pure and uncounterfeit gold will endure the Touch-stone but no marvaile though the drossie corrupt and unsound doctrine of Poperie will not admit of such a course 2 But you say the Church cannot erre that therefore you may boldly and confidently relie and build thereupon without anie further search or examination Howbeit you should first find out and know which is the Church that cannot erre before you relie so confidently upon it For you will easily and readily grant that the false Church may erre And indeed the Text that you alledge where S. Paul calleth the Church Columnam firmamentum veritatis the Pillar and ground of Truth sheweth that he speaketh not of anie false but of the True Church namely as himselfe expresseth of that which is the Church of the living God His words put all together be thus These things I vvrite unto thee saith hee to Timothy trusting to come shortly unto thee But if I tarry long that thou mayest yet know how thou oughtest to behave thy selfe in the house of God vvhich is the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of Truth In these words thus rehearsed by mee that ye might the better observe them consider that Timothy who was the Teacher and overseer of this Church at Ephesus had his direction and instruction from the writings of S. Paul the Apostle for so he saith These things I vvrite unto thee c. The Church then which is the ground and Pillar of Truth appeareth even by this verie Text to be such a one as receiveth her instructions and directions from the sacred and canonicall Scriptures whereof those Apostolicall writings of S. Paul to Timothy be a part From whence therefore you may rightly conclude this which we hold namely that so long as anie Church followeth and is guided by these holy and canonicall Scriptures it is the pillar and ground of Truth and doth not erre or goe astray but if it decline from them and goe another way it doth and must then needs fall into error Howbeit if when you say The Church cannot erre you meane it of the whole universall Church of Christ that is of all and everie one of the faithfull members thereof it is true that cannot erre totally nor fundamentally that is to say All and everie one of those faithful members of Christ as Panormitan and the Glosse also upon the Canon Law have before told us cannot erre in such points as be necessarily required to salvation for Gods Church shall never utterly perish or be extinguished but that in some or other it shall continue to the worlds end and consequently so must the saving faith thereto belonging But if you meane it of anie visible particular Church such as is the church of Rome the Church of Ephesus the Church of Corinth or anie such like it is as cleere that may erre and goe astray yea and fall from God to Idolatry and false worship Were not the people of Israel in times past the true Church of God and yet did even that Church erre fal verie grievously even unto Idolatrie and false worship when they and Aaron also the high Priest with them made the Golden Calfe and did worship before it And manie sâ—ch declinings and falls from God to Idolatrie and false worship in that people are sundrie other times likewise to be found in the old Testament But besides what is now become of the seven Churches in Asia mentioned in the Revelation of S. Iohn which were once the true Churches of Christ Hath not Turcisme and Paganisme overflowed and drowned manie that in former times were famous Christian Churches Yea did not God himselfe also sometime complaine even of that Church and Citie of Ierusalem saying thus How is the faithfull Citie become an Harlot No marvaile then is it though Rome which was once a faithfull Citie and a true spouse of Christ be now long since fallen away and become an Harlot even the vvhore of Babylon as was long agon prophesied and foretold of her that she should be For neither was it anie more impossible for her to degenerate into Antichristianisme then it was for sundrie other Christian Churches and cities to degenerate and to be turned into Turcisme or Paganisme Yea S. Paul also hath long since prophesied and foretold of this great Apostasie or departure from the right faith and religion which hath now of a long time so amply prevailed in the world under the head of that Apostaticall and Antichristian kingdome the Pope of Rome and therefore this ought not now to seeme anie new or strange thing unto anie Christian. 3 Howbeit ye usually alledge these namely universalitie antiquitie perpetuitie unitie succession of Bishops and doing of Miracles or vvonders amongst you to bee markes of the true Church But first if by universalitie ye meane that faith doctrine and religion which was taught universally in the world by the Apostles of Christ and at his appointment Wee tell you that yee are farre from that universalitie For that faith doctrine and religion which was taught universally in the world by the Apostles is comprised in the sacred and canonicall Scriptures and is the same that wee hold and not you as appeareth by conferring and comparing both the religions with those Scriptures But moreover remember that the great Whore of Babilon as shee is called sate upon many waters that is ruled over manie people and multitudes and nations and tongues as the text it selfe expoundeth it And it is further said that with that VVhore the Kings of the earth have committed fornication that the Inhabitants of the earth were drunken with the wine of her fornication Yea it is again said That all Nations have drunke of the vvine of the vvrath of her fornication the Kings of the earth have committed fornication vvith her Behold here the universalitie belonging to your Church which being thus foretold the event being correspondent none should with such universality be any longer deluded As for Antiquitie unlesse truth and true religion be ioyned with it which is not in the Popish Church it is but Vetustas erroris Antiquitie of errors as S Cyprian rightly calleth it Yea Antiquity of the ancientest date our religion hath and not yours for
your selfe neither eate nor drinke Bee not such grosse impieties and palpable absurdities iustlie worthie for ever to be abhorred and detested FINIS SECVNDAE PARTIS THE THIRD PART of the BOOKE CHAP. I. That the Authoritie of the Church is not above the Authoritie of the Scriptures That Popish Rome is the Whore of Babylon and therein of some special spiritual Whoredomes or Idolatries of the Romish Church BVt yet when they further say that the Authoritie of the Church is above the authoritie of the holy Scriptures what is this but to exalt men their authoritie above the authoritie of God himselfe and to magnifie the creature above the creator and to advance the wife in authoritie above her husband and his will and commandement The Church is the spouse of Christ and therefore is to be in subiection to him as to her head and husband as the wife is to be in subiection to her head and husband for so S. Paul declareth If then the Church be as is evident in subiection to Christ it is cleere shee can claime no superioritie or authoritie over him or his will or word in the Scriptures conteined yea it is the note and marke of an harlot and dishonest woman to challenge and usurpe authoritie over her husband And therefore what doth this position else prove but that the Romish Church is and must needs be the proud insolent false and dishonest Church even the vvhore of Babylon as shee is called in the Revelation of S. Iohn For what may not that Church doe or dare to doe be it never so wicked or ungodly which holdeth her authoritie to be above the authoritie of the Scriptures Is not this a dore that openeth a way to all licentiousnesse and wickednesse and to devise decree and doe in matters concerning Religion whatsoever pleaseth her selfe The right and true Church is of another and a better disposition and is ever content and desirous to live in subiection and in obedience to Christ and to his word will and pleasure and accounteth that as indeed it is her greatest honour And so also Christ Iesus himselfe sheweth that this is her chaste and godly disposition for thus he saith My sheepe heare my voyce and I know them and they follow mee and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any plucke them out of my hands Marke that hee saith that his sheepe heare His voyce and follow Him and therefore they follow not others nor their owne unbridled humors lusts or pleasures but desire and endevour evermore to obey him and to doe as he hath willed and commanded them Againe the Church of Christ is expressely charged to observe all those things which Christ Iesus her Lord head and husband hâ—th commanded and therefore is to keepe her selfe within those her limits and bounds and not licentiously to wander or to goe beyond them Wherefore S. Paul also saith thus that the Lord Iesus shall shew himsâ—lfe from heaven vvith his mightie Angels in flaming fire rendring vengeance unto them that know not God and vvhich obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ vvhich shall be punished with everlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power vvhen hee shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be made marvailous in all them that beleeve Doe you not here likewise see how great subiection and obedience unto the Gospel of Iesus Christ and to his word and will is required of all men Yea what great peril and punishment they are to undergoe which will not subiect themselves unto it namely that such shall be punished with everlasting perdition Take heed therefore and with as much good hast as ye can declare your subiection and obedience to the Gospel and word of God in the sacred Scriptures conteyned without anie further neglect of it or opposition to it As for the reason that some make that because the Church telleth us that This is the Scripture therefore the Authoritie of the Church is above the Scripture it is but a verie weake and an idle reason and no better then if it should be said that you had not knowne that this were the King but that such a man told you and shewed him to you Ergo this man is above the King Were not this a verie ridiculous and a most absurd inference The Church is by her Ministerie bound and according to her duetie ought to tell testifie and declare the word of God and what Scriptures be canonical and what not to teach the truth in those Scriptures conteyned but this office sheweth rather service and subiection in the Church then anie Soveraigntie or Superioritie in her above the Scriptures Schollers in a Schoole can tell a stranger who is the Master of the Schoole yet is not their authoritie therefore above the authoritie of their Maister Whilest then the Popish Church holdeth that her authoritie is above the authoritie of the Scriptures it is manifest she is not guided as shee vanteth by the holy Ghost but contrariwise with a spirit of pride and licentiousnesse and of opposition against God and his authoritie word and will in those his Scriptures declared And what then can such a spirit be but the spirit in verie deed of Antichrist and consequently what can such a Church be but the erring and Antichristian Church 2 For further proofe whereof give mee leave now to shew unto you that The Popish Citie of Rome from whence as from their mother Church all Papists receive their bane is that very vvoman even that VVhore of Babylon as I said before which is mentioned in the Revelation of S. Iohn with vvhom the Kings of the earth have committed fornication and vvith the wine of vvhose fornication the Inhabitants of the earth have beene made drunken Which Woman is there further said to be arayed in purple and scarlet and gilded vvith gold and pretious stones and to have also outwardly a Cup of gold in her hand full neverthelesse within of abominations and filthinesse of her fornications and all this to entise and allure Lovers and friends unto her Now if wee would know certainely and assuredly who this woman was which S. Iohn thus saw in vision the Angel telleth us precisely saying The vvoman vvhich thou sawest is the great Citie that raigneth over the Kings of the earth But the great Citie that then raigned over the Kings of the earth in the daies of S. Iohn and had the Empire was not Constantinople nor anie other citie but only the citie of Rome as all men know and therefore only the citie of Rome and not anie other citie is and must needs be there meant under the name of the woman there otherwise called the VVhore of Babylon But for more explication who this woman was it is there further said that there were seven hills or Mountaines vvhereon the vvoman sate Now it is
wrought in anie sort by mans hand should be worshipped Adoratione latriae with that worship that is properlie belonging to God himselfe May not those men that be thus enamored with Images and that hold these opinions be therein supposed to be as senselesse as the verie Images themselves For what is this else but to worship stockes and stones and the worke of mens hands with divine honour And can there be a greater or a more grosse Idolatrie committed Yea S. Augustine noteth it as the heresie of the Carpocratians that they vvorshipped the Images of Iesus and of Paul Whereas some therefore say that the honor which is given to the signe or Image doth ever redound and is given to the Prototypon to that whose signe or Image it is and consequentlie that the honour given to the image of God and of Christ is honour done to God himselfe and to Christ himselfe this appeareth not to be true Yea even amongst men if the respect that is yeelded to the picture or Image of a friend or of anie great man shall be accepted as honour due to the man himselfe whose picture and Image it is intended to be it must be with these conditions viz. first that it be a right and true picture and image of the man for if it be nothing like him but more like some other man or some other creature hee hath no reason to take it for his picture or image much lesse to thinke himselfe thereby honored Secondlie it must have an allowance or at least no disallowance in respect of him to whose honour he intendeth to make it if he meane that the other shall accept and take it as an honour done unto him for if he to whose honor it is intended disallow it or signifie his minde that he will not have his picture drawne or his image made to be so honoured it can be no honour acceptable to him in that case but it will rather move offence and be ill taken if it be done How much more then will God be offended with these things For beside that no man can make a true and perfect picture or Image of him that is both God and Man God hath further directlie disallowed and forbidden these Images and all Images and Similitudes whatsoever to be vvorshipped In Gregories time Images were not allowed to be worshipped yea Pope Gregory himselfe well liked of Serenus Bishop of Massilia in this point viz. for that he forbad Images to be vvorshipped As for that second Councell of Nice therefore which was after Pope Gregories time gathered under Irene the Empresse inasmuch as it was assembled to overthrow the former godlie Councels of Constantinople and Ephesus which decreed against Images and the worshipping of them it ought to carrie no credite or esteeme and the rather because that second Councell of Nice was also afterward againe further condemned in the West by another Councell held at Frankford Which thing Carolus Magnus himselfe in his booke made against Images doth also testifie The same is likewise testified by sundrie other Authors Yea Epiphanius in his daies would not allow so much as an Image of Christ or of anie Saint to be at all in Churches for comming to a Church at Anablatha and there seeing in a Vaile an Image painted as it vvere of Christ or of some Saint he affirmed it to be contrary to the Authority of the Scriptures to have anie such Image in a Christian Church and therefore caused it to be taken down And the Councell of Eliberis also decreed the like against the having of Images in Churches How much more then would these men have condemned the Worship of the verie Images themselves 6 A sixt point of Idolatrie in the Popish Church is that they worship the Crosse also and pray unto it saying O Crux ave Spes unica hoc passionis tempore auge pijs iustitiam reisque dona veniam Hayle O Crosse our onely hope in this time of the passion Increase righâ—eousnesse to the godâ—y and give pardon to the guilty Yea Thomas Aquinas their Angelical Doctor as they call him saith the Crosse is to be worshipped with latria and giveth two reasons of this Adoration saying thus Crux Christi in qua Christus crucifixus est tum propter repraesentationem tum propter Membrorum Christi contactum latria adoranda est The Crosse of Christ vvhereon Christ vvas crucified both because of the representation and also for that it touched the members of Christ is to be vvorshiped with latria that is with that vvorship that is proper and due unto God But be these reasons sufficient in this case The Gospel was so cleerely preached to the Galathians as if there had beene a lively Image of Christ crucified set before their eies was therefore the verie Ministerie or Preaching of the Gospel whereby Christ crucified was thus depainted out to be adored or worshipped with that worship that is due and proper to God The breaking of the Bread in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper doth represent unto us the breaking crucifying of Christ his Body upon the Crosseâ— and the pouring out of the wine in the same Sacrament representeth also the shedding or effusion of his Bloud upon the same Crosse for us shall therefore the breaking of the Bread or the pouring out of the vvine be adored and worshipped with that worship that is due unto God And yet is the Preaching and Ministerie of the Gospel as likewise the administration of the Sacraments of Gods owne institution but no institution commandement or warrant from him can be shewed for making a wooden Crosse or anie kind of Crosse to be a representatioÌ„ of Christ crucified And yet if such an institution could be shewed for the Crosse it followeth not that therfore it is to be worshipped with that worship that is proper and due unto God no more then VVater in Baptisme or Bread and VVine in the other Sacrament of the Lords Supper are so to be worshipt although they be Gods institutions or no more then the Brazen Serpent which was also Gods institution in times past amongst the Iewes was therefore so to be worshipped What Is the vvooden Crosse or anie Crosse whatsoever become a God that it should thus be worshipped As for the other reason if because the Crosse touched Christ it be therefore to be worshipped why should not also the Nailes and the Crowne of Thornes and the Speare or Lance wherewith he was pierced be likewise so adored or worshipped or why should not Iudas Iscariot who likewise touched Christ betraying him with a Kisse and those wicked Iewes that apprehended and tooke him and that Woman also that vvashed Christs feet with her teares and wiped them with the haires of her head yea and the Pinnacle of the Temple whereon Christ was set and all those manie places of ground whereon Christ stood and all those sundrie persons which he touched and which
the people in the world may aptlie be divided The Vnchristian people be those that make no profession at all of Christ or Christianitie of which sort be Iewes Turkes and other Infidels of the world The Christian people revera and indeed of which in this distribution I speake be those that professe Christ and beleeve in him and addict themselves onelie to his religion and the rules and waies of it as it is described and set downe in the sacred and canonical Scriptures The Antichristian people be those that professe Christ in words in outward shewes and semblance but yet neverthelesse denie or oppugne him in deeds or in doctrine or in both Whence is concluded that neither the Turke nor Mahomet as I said before nor anie of the rest of the Infidells of the world can properly and according to the Scripture phrase and sense bee tearmed Antichrists or Antichristians fith they make no profession of Christ at all but such are properly to be termed Vnchristian and not Antichristian people and consequently it remaineth that Antichrist and Antichristian people bee onely to bee found within Christendome and amongst those that professe Christ. And who these be within Christendome is easily to be discerned for that the Pope of Rome and his followers be this kinde of covert masked and disguised adversaries and opposites to Christ and that under the name and profession of Christ his church and religion I thinke there is none but doth or may verie readilie perceive But would you know it further and in some particulars For you must indeed come to particulars with them inasmuch as otherwise in general termes and words they will make great profession of Christ and of the rights honors prerogatives to him his Church belonging and yet in the meane time in particulars and indirectlie and by consequent they will oppugne him Inasmuch therefore as he hath the name of Antichrist chiefelie by reason of his opposition unto Christ in this covert and disguised manner let us see how that is verified in the Pope and Papacie For which purpose let us consider our Lord Iesus Christ as he is to be considered namelie in respect of his person and in respect of his offices committed to him from his Father In respect of his person he is both God and Man in respect of his offices he is a Prophet a Priest a King unto us Now in everie of these respects doth the Pope and Papacie oppugne Christ. For first what a God doe they make Christ to be when they preferre the Virgin Mary above him and acknowledge authoritie in her to command him For thus they speake unto her Iube natum Iure Matris Impera redemptori monstra te esse Matrem That is Command thy Sonne and by thy motherly authority command the Redeemer and shew thy selfe to be a mother Is he God and the creator and supreame commander of all things that is thus made subiect to the authoritie and commandement of a creature But doe they not further oppugne his Godhead verie manifestlie when they hold that everie Priest of theirs after breathing of a few words out of his mouth can create and make Iesus Christ his maker for so they say as is before shewed that Sacerdos est Creator creatoris sui The Priest is the Creator or maker of his maker Now then is he a God that can be thus made by men And what doe they else but oppugne his Manhood also verie manifestlie whilest they make his bodie to be multi-present that is present in manie places at one time For they say it is both in heaven and in earth at once yea in so manie places as their Masse is celebrated or their Host reserved at one and the selfe same time which is contrarie to the nature and propertie of a true bodie which we are sure Christ Iesus hath Yea as they hold his Body to be carnallie eaten in the Sacrament with the bodily mouth so doe they hold it also to be void of dimensions and quantitie and to be uncircumscribed and invisible and no way sensible which is likewise as much as to make him to have no true bodie at all When againe they hold that his bodie is made out of the substance of a peece of bread for so much that their verie word of Transubstantiation importeth which was indeed not so made but of the substance of the Virgin Mary doe they not verie cleerelie oppugne his humanitie and the veritie of his bodie You see then how they doe oppugne the person of Christ both in respect of his Deitie and also of his humanitie verie apparantlie Let us now likewise briefelie consider how they oppugne Christ in his three offices namelie as he is a Prophet a Priest and a King unto us The Prophecie of Christ whose voice and instruction as of a Prophet and Teacher all-sufficient we are commanded to heare and obey they oppugne first by teaching that the sacred and Canonical Scriptures be imperfect and insufficient for a Christian mans instruction and salvation without their Traditions secondlie by adding not onlie their owne Traditions but the Apocryphal Bookes and Decretal Epistles also to the Canon of the Bible and stablishing them to be of equall authoritie reverence with the Canonical Scriptures themselves thirdlie by equaling also the determinations of their Popes and the Decrees of their Councels and Church which they say cannot erre unto the divine and canonical Scriptures they holding them to be as undoubtedlie the voice oracle of the Holie Ghost as anie thing is which is contained in those Scriptures fourthlie not onlie in equaling but which is more and much worse in preferring magnifying and advancing of their Pope and Church and their authoritie above the authoritie of the Scriptures and therefore doth Silvester Prierias Master of the Popes Palace affirme that Indulgences bee warranted unto us not by the authoritie of Scripture but by the authoritie of the Church and Pope of Rome which saith hee is a greater Authority Againe hee saith Whosoever resteth not on the doctrine of the Roman Church and Bishop of Rome as the infallible rule of God à qua sacra Scriptura robur trabit authoritatem from which the sacred Scripture draweth her strength and authoritie hee is an Heretick And so saith Eckius likewise that Scriptura nisi Ecclesiae authoritate non est authentica The Scripture is not authenticall but by the authoritie of the Church and sundry such waies doe they oppugne the all-sufficient written word doctrine and instruction of Christ our Prophet His Priesthood they also oppugne which consisteth chiefly in these two things viz. in sacrificing himselfe once for all his people upon the Crosse to take away their sinnes and in making intercession for them Now this his onely-propitiatory and only-bodily and all-sufficient Sacrifice they oppugne by erecting of another Sacrifice in their abominable Masse wherein they say their Priests
respect of his Episcopal or Spiritual And for this cause also the one is said to arise out of the Sea and the other out of the Earth Rev. 13.1.11 for in respect of his Episcopal supremacie and Pseudoprophetical demeanour hee arose from the Earth it receiving his original from below and from the Earth and not from Heaven and in respect of his Imperial dominion hee arose out of the Sea because the Ruines of the Empire by meanes whereof hee arose to that his Imperial Greatnesse were not otherwise wrought but by the wavering and disquiet turbulencies that were in the World in those daies So that howsoever it is called the first Beast and the second Beast in distinct considerations yet upon the matter they both make but one Antichrist And therefore in Rev. 17. is there mention made but of One Beast only which supported the Whore of Babylon Yea Fatentur omnes pertinere omnino ad Antichristum verba illa Iohannis c. All men confesse saith Bellarmine himselfe that those vvords of Iohn in Rev. 13.11 c. doe undoubtedly belong to Antichrist Now then let us examine and see if they be not all verified in the Pope and Papacy First it is said that this second Beast had two hornes like a Lamb but he spake like the Dragon Duo Cornua similia Agni scilicet Christi cuius duo Cornua sunt duo Testamenta He shal have two Hornes like to those of the Lambe that is like to those of Christ vvhose two Hornes be the two Testaments as Lyranus Primasius and Augustine also expound them Whereby appeareth that Antichrist shall outwardly pretend great sanctitie sinceritie humilitie and simplicitie and as if hee did all things by good authoritie and strength of the holy Scriptures the two Testaments the Old and the New and yet in verie deed his voice and speech that is his doctrines decrees lawes canons and constitutions should bewray and discover him to be but a Wolfe in Sheepes clothing and no lesse cruell and malignant against the true Church of God then the verie Dragon Doth not everie man perceive that these things doe rightly fit the Pope For who maketh a greater outward shew of sanctitie pietie and Christianitie then he and what doth he else but pretend the strength and authoritie of the two Testaments namely of the holy Scriptures for warrant and maintenance of the false doctrines errors heresies hee teacheth and holdeth Can anie man outwardly pretend greater humi litie then he when he entitleth himselfe Servus servorum Dei a servant of Gods servants and yet for all that he taketh upon him by his claimes and actions to be Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium the King of Kings and Lord of Lords So that howsoever hee pretendeth humilitie yet wee see hee is farre from it And howsoever hee pretendeth the authoritie of the holy Scriptures viz the two Testaments for the strengthning and confirmation of his religion doctrine and doings alledging them to be shadowed out and figured in the two Hornes of his Myter yet partly by reason of the unsound and false translations of those Scriptures which he defendeth and authorizeth against the truth of the Originals and partly whilest he perverteth and misinterpreteth the true Scriptures themselves and equalleth also his Traditions unto them and moreover dispenseth with them at his pleasure and preferreth his owne authoritie and the authoritie of his Church above them and so maketh them to speake in another sense and otherwise then ever they meant it is apparant that being thus used and abused they be at the most but like the two Hornes of the Lambe as this Text speaketh and be not the verie two hornes themselves that is they be not the pure incorrupt and undoubtedly true Scriptures themselves but corrupted differing from them Pope and Popery then appeareth to consist all in shewes semblances and likenesses of veritie sanctitie and pietie and have it not in verie deed and substance And therefore not without good cause did diverse Bishops make their complaint long sithence in their Epistle to Pope Nicholas recorded in Aventine saying in this sort unto him Thou bearest the person of a Bishop but thou playest the Tyrant under the habite and attyre of a Pastor vvee feele a VVolfe It is a lying Title that calleth thee Father thou in thy deeds shewest thy selfe to be another Iupiter being the servant of servants thou strivest to be the Lord of Lords c. But moreover doth not the Pope speake like the Dragon that is like the Divell for by the Dragon in the Revelation is the Divell understood when he saith that the Kingdomes of the world be his and that he hath power to dispose and give them to whomsoever hee will For did not the Divell speake the verie same to Christ in the Gospel Yea the Pope is as they write Totius orbis Dominus The Lord of the vvhole vvorld and hath Coelestis terrestris potestatis Monarchiam The Monarchy or soveraignetie both of the heavenly and earthly power and to him forsooth they apply that Prophecie Dominabitur à mari ad mare à flumine usque ad terminos orbis He shall rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the vvorld Yea they attribute that unto him which Iesus Christ spake of himselfe saying that All power is given unto him both in heaven and earth Matth. 28.18 Be not these most abominable blasphemous and divelish speeches being attributed to the Pope But yet further what doth hee else but speake like the Dragon that is like the Divell whilest he teacheth that doctrine of Divells mentioned in the Epistle to Timothy as shal afterward appeare and whilest he maintaineth a wrong worship of God a false faith and an Apostatical and Antichristian religion against the right most pure and onely true religion of Christ extant in the booke of God the holy and canonical Scriptures 3 Againe it is said that this second Beast did exercise all the power of the first Beast and that before him And who is so ignorant but hee knoweth that the Pope exerciseth all the power of the first Beast that is of the Latine or Romane State and that before him or before his face that is to say even at Rome and in the presence of the Romane State For hath not the Pope gotten that which was the seate of the Emperor namely Rome and made it his seate And is not the Emperor put downe from having anie Headship or Soveraigne Authoritie there Yea doth not the Pope there take upon him to exercise all the Imperial power authoritie tamen sine nomine Romani Imperatoris yet vvithout the name of the Emperor of Rome as Bellar. himself also saith that Antichrist must doe For this Imperial Authoritie aswell as his Ecclesiastical that is to say both his supremacies as before is shewed hee claimeth and holdeth under the name and title
an Ensigne of honour and as the Sword is before a King to waite and attend upon him So that he is also exalted above this Sebasma Yea what say yee to this that he is exalted even above their consecrated Host which they so devoutely worship accounting it their God and their Maker and affirme to be the verie Body of Christ is not this the greatest highest Sebasma or the most venerable thing in their Service and Religion and yet is even this their god and body of Christ as they call it as well as the Crosse made to waite and attend upon the Pope Ante Pontificem semper praefertur Crux post Crucem portatur corpus Christi super equum album cum campanella The Crosse is alwayes carried before the Pope saith the Booke of Ceremonies and after the Crosse is the Body of Christ carried upon an vvhite horse vvith a little Bell c. Yea the fact of Pope Gregory the seventh declareth how much the Pope when he listeth esteemeth this breaden God and consecrated Host and how farre when he pleaseth he exalteth and magnifieth himselfe above it for He consulting with that breaden god and demanding answers of it for that it gave him no answer he tooke it and threw it into the fire And therefore you perceive how the Pope is exalted advanced even above the greatest highest Sebasmata in the Romish church aswell as above those amongst the Gentiles if the text were of them to bee understood Yea if you would further force the words of the Text and make the meaning of them to bee that Antichrist should bee exalted even above the true God himselfe you may see how even that also is found verified in the Pope For doth not hee exalt himselfe even above the true God which holdeth his Authoritie and the Authoritie of his Church to be greater then the authority of the holie Scripture That without the Authoritie of the Church the Scripture is not authentical Yea that the Scripturs be of as much worth as Aesops fables if they be destitute of the authoritie of the church Doth not Pighius also teach Authoritatem Ecclesiae in ea pontificis maiorem esse quam Scripturae That the authoritie of the Church and therein of the Pope is greater then the authority of the Scripture Doth not Stapleton likewise teach and defend the same and sundry other Popish writers Againe when the Pope dispenceth with the Law Commandements and Precepts of God what doth he else but advance and exalt himselfe above God For In praecepto superioris non debet dispensare inferior VVith the precept of a superior an inferior ought not to dispense Now the Pope boasteth that by that fulness of power which he hath he may lawfully dispence above the Law And they say that the Pope may dispense against the Apostle and against the Canons of the Apostles and in matters of Oathes Vowes Marriages obedience of Subiects and such like and against the Old Testament and the New Yea they say Papam posse mutare Evangelium eique pro loco tempore alium sensum tribuere That the Pope may change the Gospell and give unto it another sence as time and place requireth And that the Scripture and sense of it is to bee fitted to the time and as the practise of the Church is so that it is sometimes to bee taken in one sense and sometimes in an orher and that the Scripture is not otherwise to be accounted the word of God then in that sense or interpretation which the Pope or Church of Rome approoveth and setteth upon it and that if it bee in anie other sense it is not the Word of God but the word rather of the Divell Observe then that they say first that the authority of the Church is above the authoritie of the Scriptures and secondly that the Popes authoritie is above the authoritie of the Church so by this rekoning they make the Pope to be two degrees above God speaking in his Word seeing hee is above the Church the Church above the Scriptures But yet further who knoweth not that an offence against the Pope and his constitutions and the commandements of his Church is amongst them more heedefully regarded and more severely censured and punished then an offence against God and his Commandements Wherby doth likewise appeare that the Pope beareth sway amongst his followers more then God and consequently that he is amongst them exalted even above God himselfe But now lastly consider how much you be here againe mistaken whilst you thinke that Antichrist shall bee exalted above God which the words of the Text doe not affirme Obiect 8. The whore of Babylon in the Revelation of S. Iohn may bee interpreted for the universal Corps or Company of all the wicked in the world Answ. It cannot bee so taken or interpreted For then upon the burning and destruction of that Whore of Babylon should all the ungodly wicked of the world come also to confusion and bee destroyed but it is evident that after her burning and destruction sundrie wicked and ungodly people of the world doe live lamenting that her ruine Rev. 18.9 10 11.15 16. c. Yea the very description of that Whore of Babylon in Rev. 17 and al the circumstances to her belonging doe shew that it is meant of a particular Cittie and even of that particular City which then raigned over the Kings of the earth and was situate upon seven hills namely Rome And therefore doth Bellarmine himselfe confesse that the better exposition even in his iudgement is Per Meretricem intelligi Romam That by the VVhore Rome is understood And againe Cap. 5 he saith Explicat Mulierem esse urbem magnum quae sedet super septem colleâ— id est Romam The Angell Explaineth that woman to be the great Citie which fitteth upon seven hills that is Rome Other Iesuits that have written Commentaries upon the Revelation as namely Ribera and Viegas doe also expresly affirme that it is to bee understood of a particular Citie and namely of Rome Yea whereas Bellarmine for an evasion would have it vnderstood onely of Heathen Rome Ribera against that conceit saith VVee are to understand it not onely of Rome as it was long sithence under the heathen Emperors but also as it shall bee in the end of the world And Viegas likewise speaketh after the same manner saying All that which is spoken in those Chapters doth most manifestly agree to Rome And againe he saith The name of Babylon is to bee applyed to Rome which served Idols before ever it received the faith of Christ and to Rome also as it shall bee in the time of Antichrist And thus you see that not onely the Adversaries themselves do confesse this VVhore of Babylon to be Rome but further also some of them against Bellarmine acknowledge and teach that it is to be understood not onely of
thereunto expressely said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is such as perish and are to goe with him to destruction Can anie thing then be more evident Now that the Pope of Rome is The man of sinne that is according to the Hebrew phrase a verie notorious sinner or a most sinfull man and consequently well deserveth to be called the sonne of perdition who can doubt of it inasmuch as he is in Christendome like Ieroboam in Israel who not onely was a great sinner in his owne person but caused also Israel to sinne or like Ahab with his Iezabel who did exceed Ieroboam in wickednesse or worse then these For must not hee needs be a verie notorious wicked man who being at first a Bishop equal with the rest of his fellow Bishops was not so content but with his wings of pride and ambition would mount above them all Yea who with that his unmeasurable pride hath exalted himselfe not onely above all those his fellowes but even above his superiors also namely above all Kings Princes and Emperors of the world nor yet so content proceeded further claiming authoritie also even over the Angels of heaven for so it appeareth by the Bull of Pope Clement the sixt before mentioned where hee saith Mandamus prorsus Angelis Paradisi c VVee straightly command the Angels of Paradise c. And in another place he forbiddeth Hell also from taking anie hold of those that should crosse themselves for the holy warres But hath hee here ceased No for he hath gone yet further clayming the power and authoritie of God himselfe and even the name of God also to be given him and which is yet a further degree beyond all degrees he hath exalted himselfe even above God himselfe amongst his followers as before appeareth But to shew this matter yet further by some other particulars And to begin with the word of God the sacred and canonical Scriptures doth not Hee and his Clergie extremely dishonour and vilipend them 1. In that they preferre their corrupt Latine translation before the originals of the Greeke and Hebrew 2. In that they make Apocryphal bookes to be of equall authoritie with the Canonicall 3. In that they equall their Traditions with the Canonicall Scriptures 4. In that they number their Decretall Epistles also amongst the canonical Scriptures 5. In that they accuse the holy Scriptures as not conteining sufficient matter of instruction for a mans salvation without their Traditions 6. In that they take upon them to expound those Scriptures according to their owne fancie sense and pleasure and as they list themselves 7. In that they preferre the authority of their Church before the authoritie of the scriptures and the Popes authoritie above both Concerning the Sacraments also how have they perverted those Two which be of Christ his institution and have added to the number of them making seven in all And this is one note of Antichrist as S. Hierome upon 2. Thess. 2. observeth that he should change attempt to increase the Sacraments of the Church The Sacraments they also strangely hold to give grace ex opere operato by vertue of the verie worke done and performed And touching Baptisme have they not horribly polluted and abused it And concerning the other Sacrament of the Lords Supper have they not also taken away the one halfe of it from the people and moreover turned it into such a fearefull and abominable Idolatrie viz. of adoring and worshipping a peece of bread for God as that amongst the verie Pagans and Heathens the like hath not beene seene The vertue also efficacie end fruit and benefit of Christ his comming into the world they have likewise cleane overturned debased or diminished 1. in that themselves take upon them either in the whole or in part to be their owne Saviours and Redeemers by their owne merites and workes of satisfaction as they call them to Gods Iustice as also by suffering satisfactorie punishments in their owne persons for their sinnes after this life ended in their supposed Purgatorie 2. for that in their detestable Masse their Priests take upon them to offer up Christ everie day or often in a bodily maner and that as a sacrifice propitiatory for the taking away of the sinnes of men when in verie deed that Bodily propitiatorie sacrifice was offered but Once and that by Christ himselfe onely and namely upon the Crosse. 3. In that they hold not Iustification in Gods sight to be by faith in Christ but by a righteousnesse inherent in their owne persons nor will allow a man to make a particular application of Christ to himself to be his Saviour Redeemer or anie way to be rest so assured which what is it else but to bereave a man of all sound comfort and benefit by Christ For what profite comfort or benefit is it to anie to know and beleeve that Christ is a Saviour and Redeemer indefinitely or to others if he know not or beleeve not that he is a Saviour and redeemer to himselfe in particular For so farre even the Divels themselves doe goe beleeving all to be true that God speaketh in his word and that Christ is a Saviour and Redeemer to others and hereat they tremble as S. Iames speaketh It is not enough therefore for men that desire to be saved to beleeve historically all the Articles of the Creed to be true or whatsoever God speaketh in his word to be true or that Christ is a Saviour and Redeemer to others for thus farre as is evident even Divels and Reprobates may goe but they must goe further by applying the truth of all the Articles of the Creede and of the promises of salvation made in Gods word and of Christ Iesus to bes a Saviour and Redeemer in particular to themselves by a speciall faith 4. In that they allow not Christ to bee the sole and onely Mediator and Intercessor betweene God and his People but will needs have other Mediators and Intercessors for them besides him namely the blessed Virgin Marie and other Saints and Angels The Ecclesiastical discipline likewise especiallie in the point of Excommunication they have extreamely perverted abusing it most grosly impiously and traiterously to the deposing of Kings and Princes from their Thrones and Kingdomes and to the disanulling of the subjection and loyaltie of Subiects and to the raysing of treasons and rebellions within their Kingdomes And as touching Prayer Almesdeeds Fasting and all the chiefe duties workes of Christianitie they have also utterly marred corrupted them For their usuall fasting is not an abstinence from all kinde of meates and drinkes ioyned with fervent and repentant Prayers unto God and other holy exercises divine meditations during that time or day of the fast as true Christians and rightly religious fasts ought to bee but consisteth in a difference of meates as namely in an abstinence from flesh and eating fish and whit-meates Yea all their Fastings Almes-deeds and
chiefly in respect of the world to come For it hath as you see Gods owne expresse commandement bidding all his people to depart from that mysticall Babylon Popish Rome When therefore God himselfe thus speaketh and would have none that bee his people to adhere to such a Mother as the Whore of Babylon is but cleane contrariwise would have them to depart from her and utterly to renounce abhorre and detest her as being indeed the Mother of VVhoredomes and abhominations of the Earth as she is intitled is it not good reason and your bounden dutie to give eare unto him and to obey his voyce herein as you tender your owne salvations and desire to be His People It appeareth that ye have been of a long time mistaken as touching the right Mother-Church For not Popish Rome but Hierusalem which is from above is the Mother of us all as S. Paul expressely witnesseth Yea what maner of Mother Popish Rome is I trust yee now sufficiently perceive Bee no longer therefore so much abused or so extreamely deluded as to take the wrong Mother for the right and him that is the grand Antichrist to bee Christs Vicar the head of his Church S. Peters successor and the Bishop that cannot erre in matter of Faith For what christian charitable and good minde doth not grieve to see so manie honourable and honest-hearted men to bee so farre carried away and misled to their owne perdition Howbeit if anie amongst you rest not satisfied herewith but thinketh that hee can answer this Booke and will take upon him so to doe I desire him first that hee will doe it not by parts or peece-meales but wholly and entirely from the beginning of it to the end Secondly I desire him to doe it not superficially or sophistically but substantially soundly and satisfactorilie if hee can Thirdly as I would haue him to doe it in love and charity and with an affection onely to follow Gods truth so doe I also desire him to set his name unto it as I have done here to this But if none amongst you can make anie solid sound sufficient and satisfactorie Answere unto it as I rest assured before hand none can or will bee able For who was or ever will be able to Answer or confute that Word of God whereupon the Protestants Doctrine Religion is apparantly grounded then is there so much the more reason for you all to yeeld to that which you see to bee evident unanswerable and irrefutable God Almightie if it bee his will open all your eies to see his splendent and invincible truth in his sacred Canonical Scriptures conteined and grant both to you and to us that wee may all acknowledge professe and observe it to his glorie the discharge of our duties and our owne everlasting comforts and salvation through Iesus Christ. Amen VVisdome is iustified of all her Children Luk. 7.35 Vnto the King everlasting Immortal Invisible unto GOD onely wise be honor and glorie for ever and ever AMEN 1. Tim. 1.17 FINIS AN EPISTLE VVRITTEN BY THE REVEREND FAther in God James Vssher Bishop of Meath concerning the religion anciently professed by the IRISH and SCOTTISH Shewing it to be for substance the same with that which at this day is by publick authoritie established in the Church of ENGLAND WORTHY SIR I Confesse I somewhat incline to be of your minde that if unto the authorities drawen out of Scriptures and Fathers which are common to us with others a true discoverie were added of that religion which anciently was professed in this kingdome it might prove a speciall motive to induce my poore countrey-men to consider a little better of the old and true way from whence they have hitherto beene misledd Yet on the one side that saying in the Gospell runneth much in my minde If they heare not Moses and the Prophets neyther will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead and on the other that heavie judgement mentioned by the Apostle because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeve lyes The wofull experience whereof wee may see daily before our eyes in this poore nation where such as are slow of heart to beleeve the saving truth of God delivered by the Prophets and Apostles doe with all greedinesse imbrace with a most strange kinde of credulitie intertaine those lying Legends wherwith their Monks Friars in these latter dayes have polluted the religion and lives of our ancient Saints I doe not denie but that in this countrey as well as in others corruptions did creepe in by little and little before the Divell was let loose to procure that seduction which prevayled so generally in these last times but as farre as I can collect by such records of the former ages as have come unto my hands eyther manuscript or printed the religion professed by the ancient Bishops Priests Monkes and other Christians in this land was for substance the verie same with that which now by publick authoritie is maintayned therein against the forraine doctrine brought in thither in later times by the Bishop of Romes followers I speake of the more substantiall points of doctrine that are in controversie betwixt the Church of Rome and us at this day by which only wee must judge whether of both sides hath departed from the religion of our ancestours not of matters of inferior note much lesse of ceremonies and such other things as appertaine to the discipline rather than to the doctrine of the Church And whereas it is knowne unto the learned that the name of Scoti in those elder times whereof we treate was common to the inhabitants of the greater and the lesser Scotland for so heretofore they have beene distinguished that is to say of Ireland and the famous colonie deduced from thence into Albania I will not follow the evill example of those that have of late laboured to make dissension betwixt the daughter and the mother but accompt of them both as of the same people Tros Rutulúsve fuat nullo discrimine habebo That wee may therefore fall upon the matter in hand without further preambles two excellent rules doth S. Paul prescribe unto Christians for their direction in the wayes of God the one that they be not unwise but understanding what the will of God is the other that they be not more wise then behoveth to be wise but be wise unto sobriety and that wee might know the limits within which this wisedome and sobrietie should be bounded hee elsewhere declareth that not to be more wise then is fitting is not to bee wise above that which is written Hereupon Sedulius one of the most ancient writers that remaineth of this countrey birth delivereth this for the meaning of the former rule Search the Law in which the will of God is contayned and this for the later He would be more wise then
aliquid errasse firmissimè credam I have learned to yeeld this reverence and honour to the canonicall Scriptures Onely that I most firmely beleeve no Author of them to have erred any thing in their Writing Yea the Writings of all others he saith are to be read non cum credendi necessitate sed cum judicandi libertate not with a necessitie to beleeve them but with a libertie to judge of them For The Authoritie of the sacred Scriptures cannot deceive And by those Bookes saith hee de caeteris literis fidelium vel Infidelium liberè judicemus We may freely judge of the Writings of all other men whether they be Christians or Infidels And this freedome or libertie S. Augustine againe challengeth to himselfe in quorumlibet hominum Scriptis in the Writings of all men vvhosoever and addeth this reason once more Quia solis canonicis debeo sine ulla recusatione consensum because I owe my consent without any refusall saith hee to the canonicall Scriptures onely Yea it is manifest that not onely singly or severally but iointly also with one consent manie ancient Fathers together have erred For example with S. Cyprian in his error of rebaptization manie of the ancient Fathers then living yea even great Councils also tooke part Againe did not all these Iustine Irenaeus Papias Tertullian Victorinus Lactantius Severus Apollinaris and others hold the Chiliastick error otherwise called the Error of the Millenarians In the Question also concerning Antichrist although verie manie ancient Fathers with one ioynt consent held he should come of the Tribe of Dan yet doth Bellarmine himselfe for all that hold this to be an opinion not certaine because it is not well and sufficiently proved by the Scriptures for the texts of Scripture which are wont to be alledged for maintenance of that opinion himselfe answereth and sheweth that they prove no such matter And therefore Turrecremata also saith thus The Writings of the Doctors are to be received vvith reverence yet they binde us not to beleeve them in all their opinions but wee may lawfully contradict them vvhere by good reason it appeareth that they speake against the Scripture or the truth And thus also speaketh Marsilius that he will receive whatsoever they bring consonant to the Scripture but what they bring dissonant from it hee will reject with reverence upon the Authoritie of Scripture vvhereunto he will leane Yea whereas some suppose that the ancient Fathers because they lived much neerer to the times of the Apostles then the late Writers did therefore see more and further into truth then the late Writers Andradius holdeth the contrarie saying God hath revealed manie things to us that they never saw Agreeably whereunto Dominicus Bannes another learned Popish Writer likewise saith thus It is not necessarie that by how much the more the Church is remote from the Apostles times by so much there should be the lesse perfect knowledge of the mysteries of faith therein because after the Apostles time there were not the most learned men in the Church which had dexteritie in understanding and expounding the matters of faith We are not therefore involved in the more darkenesse by how much the more in respect of time vve be distant from them but rather the Doctors of these later times being godly and insisting in the steps of the ancient Fathers have attained more expresse understanding in some things then they had for these be like children standing on the shoulders of Giants vvho being lifted up by the tallnesse of the Giants no marvaile though they see further then they Seeing then the ancient Fathers have erred and may erre even in the opinion of Papists as well as of Protestants it must be concluded that therefore they also cannot be this infallible Iudge What then May-Traditions not written or not specified in the sacred Scriptures alledged to be Apostolicall be held to be anie infallible Iudge or anie infallible rule of Faith I answer no. For first how can a man be assured that those Traditions be Apostolical which be alledged and affirmed so to be when he seeth no proofe or evidence for them in anie of the Writings of the Apostles or in anie of the sacred and canonicall Scriptures If you say that some of the ancient Fathers do testifie them to be Apostolicall That is no sufficient proofe that therefore they came originally and assuredly from the Apostles because even those ancient Fathers themselves taking them upon report of others might possibly be deceived And so pretious is mens faith and so deare unto them is and ought to be the salvation of their soules as that in those regards no Authoritie or testimonie of men without the Authoritie and testimonie of God therewith concurring can give them an undoubted or assured satisfaction For our Faith is not to be builded upon the credite Authoritie or testimonie of men but upon the testimonie and Authoritie of God himselfe Irenaeus in Eusebius declareth what maner of Traditions those were which Polycarpus delivered and said he had heard and received from the Apostles and testifieth of them that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all consonant to the Scriptures Traditions of this sort namely which be consonant and agreeable to the holy Scriptures we refuse not but willingly embrace but such Traditions as be dissonant and repugnant to those holy Scriptures there is ever iust reason to refuse or if they be not thereby warranted none is necessarily tyed or bound to beleeve them to be undoubtedly divine and Apostolicall It was not therefore without good cause that S. Paul himselfe gave caveats even touching Traditions and matters delivered as comming originally from the Apostles because sometimes some things were reported to come originally from them which indeed did not so come A cleere example wherof Eusebius sheweth in Papias who was himselfe so deceived under the name and supposition of Apostolicall Traditions and thereby also occasioned others to be deceived This Papias was schollar to Iohn the Apostle schoole-fellow to Polycarpus before mentioned and for the credit of his Traditions said thus I am not delighted with them that make mention of strange precepts and commandements but in them that teach those things that be true and bring such things as are delivered by the Lord to our fidelitie and came from the truth it selfe So vvhen anie came that was a Disciple of the Elders I enquired the vvords of the Elders What Andrew What Philip What Thomas or anie other of the Disciples of the Lord said and he saith moreover that hee laid up all those things well in his remembrance Howbeit notwithstanding all this his care diligence and vigilancie about Apostolicall Traditions he brought in as Eusebius saith sundry paradoxes and strange opinions and such as vvere full of fables amongst which was the Chiliastick opinion Yea this great liking and affection to unwritten Traditions deceived not onely Papias but as Eusebius witnesseth
it gave occasion of the Chiliastick error unto divers Ecclesiasticall persons also after him And he addeth the reason because saith he they pretended the antiquitie of that man Clemens Alexandrinus also was much addicted to unwritten Traditions and therewith likewise much deceived affirming and teaching by reason therof verie erroneous strange and untrue opinions as namely that Philosophy did in times past justifie or save the Greekes that Christ preached onely one yeare that the Apostles after their death preached unto the dead which with the Apostles descended into the vvater and being made alive ascended thence againe that Christians may not contendin judgment neither before the Gentiles nor yet before the Saints and sundry other errors Yea he there further mentioneth a certaine kinde of Gnostici of whom hee delivereth this description saying that the knowledge which maketh a true Gnostick is that which commeth by succession unto few from the Apostles and is delivered vvithout vvriting c. Where may appeare whence the heresie of the Gnosticks which was afterward condemned by the Church did spring and had his original namely out of unwritten Traditions supposed to be Apostolicall Yea sundry other Hereticks also boasted of their doctrines and opinions as if they had received them by tradition from the Apostles For Valentinus alledged himselfe to be schollar to Theodatus who was familiarly acquainted with S. Paul The Marcionites boasted that they had the Disciples of Matthias to their Master and taught the doctrine by them delivered Artemon likewise boasted of his doctrine as if it had come unto him undoubtedly by tradition Apostolicall But Eusebius for all that sheweth that it was not so Excellent therefore and ever memorable is that speech of Irenaeus touching this point where hee granteth that The Apostles did indeed at the first preach the Gospel by vvord of mouth but afterward saith hee by the vvill of God they delivered it in vvriting that so being committed to writing it might be for ever after that the foundation and pillar of our faith So that now and ever since that time wee must hold as S. Hierome also teacheth and holdeth saying thus That which hath no Authoritie of the holy Scriptures is as easily contemned as allowed And againe hee saith directly that such things as men invent and devise of themselves without the Authoritie and testimonie of the Scriptures as it vvere by Tradition Apostolicall the Sword of God striketh downe Yea some Traditions mentioned in ancient Fathers to be Apostolicall even the Papists themselves doe not observe as namely the temper of Milke and Hony given to them that be newly baptized abstayning from washing an whole vveeke after oblations for the Birth-day yearely not to fast nor kneele in prayer or worshipping of God on the Lords day nor betweene Easter and Whitsontide All which be mentioned in Tertullian S. Basil likewise mentioneth it as an Apostolicall tradition for Christians betweene Easter and Whitsontide to pray standing S. Hierome also mentioneth it as an Apostolicall Tradition the Temper of Milke and Hony as also on the Lords-day and throughout everie Pentecost neyther to pray on the knees nor to fast If then some Traditions affirmed by ancient Fathers to be Apostolicall be neverthelesse not observed in the Popish Church it selfe which is a thing very manifest why should anie Traditions be urged or obtruded upon the Protestants under the name of Apostolicall and by them necessarily to be held and beleeved which be not found specified in the undoubted Word of God the sacred and canonicall Scriptures but have onely the Authoritie of some men without the Authoritie of Gods word to testifie the same Yea as touching all points necessarie to salvation the holy Scriptures themselves be abundantly sufficient so that for that purpose there is no need of anie unwritten Traditions as even the ancient Fathers themselves doe also testifie The holy Scriptures inspired from heaven saith Athanasius be sufficient for all instruction of truth Whatsoever is requisite to salvation saith Chrysostome all that is fully laid downe in the Scriptures In the two Testaments saith Cyril everie vvord or thing that pertaineth to God may be required and discussed There vvere chosen to be vvritten saith Augustine such things as vvere thought sufficient for the salvation of the faithfull The Canon of the Scriptures saith Vincentius Lirinensis is sufficient and more then sufficient for all matters What need then is there of anie more speech in a matter so cleere and evident Concerning this point therefore Inasmuch as it is verie apparant that some errors heresies have arisen out of Traditions said and supposed to be Apostolical and that under that pretence and name sundry men in ancient and former times have beene deceived and may now much more by that meanes in these later times so farre remote from the times of the Apostles possibly be deceived it must be concluded that Traditions Apostolicall as they be called not warranted nor specified in the divine Scriptures cannot be held for anie infallible Iudge or infallible rule of truth in this case Seeing then the Church who is her selfe in question may not be the Iudge but must be iudged of and that by the Scriptures for in such a case where the Church it selfe is in question even by Bellarmines own acknowledgement the Scripture is better knowne then the Church and therefore must be the Iudge of it and seeing also that not Councils whether Generall or Provinciall nor Popes of Rome nor ancient Fathers nor unwritten Traditions said to be Apostolicall can be this infallible Iudge what remaineth but that God himselfe speaking unto us in his sacred and canonicall Scriptures is and must be held to be the only infallible Iudge in this case Or which commeth all to one effect if we will have visible and mortall men to be the Iudges The infallible Rule whereby they are to iudge and to be directed appeareth to be the verie same sacred and canonicall Scriptures wherein God speaketh And this also doe the ancient Fathers themselves yet further directly teach and affirme For S. Augustine saith The Scripture pitcheth downe the Rule of our Faith Tertullian likewise calleth the Scriptures the Rule of faith S. Chrysostome calleth them a most exquisite Rule and exact Square and Ballance to trie all things by And Gregory Nyssen also calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a straite and inflexible Rule By this Rule of the Scripture then it is that not only Bishops Pastors and Clergie-men but even everie man else that is able to make search and tryall is to trie and examine these differing and contradictorie doctrines and positions betweene the Protestants and the Papists For how otherwise shall we certainly know what is right what is wrong in them or how otherwise shall we be able to discerne the true Teachers which wee are to reverence honour and embrace from the false
assurance of salvation or in the doctrine of redemption or in any point of the religion of the Protestants but the cleane contrary pag. 99 100 c pag. 153 154. c. pag. 125 c pag. 404 c Lay persons may and ought to reade the Scriptures and thereby to examine and try the doctrines of men vvhether they be right or no pag. 73 74 75 76. c. See also the Preface It is impossible for meere men by and in their owne persons perfectly to fulfill the Law of the ten Commandements and so to be iustified yea the Law vvas given to other uses and ends pag. 108 c No such place as Limbus Patrum pag. 130 131 132 M MIracles signes or vvonders done in the antichristian Church pag. 98 99 pag 306 307 pag 280 281 Mens Merits deserve not salvation but damnation p. 110 111 112 113 c. pag 366 367 N THe Name of Christians the most ancient and the most honourable See the Preface toward the end The Name of Catholicks to vvhom it rightly and properly belongeth pag. 63 64 O THe Oath of Supremacie to the King explaned and declared to be iust and lawfull pag 1 2 3 4 c. to the end of that chapter P THe Pope got his supremacie over Emperors and Kings partly by fraude and partly by force pag. 27 28 The Ecclesiasticall supremacie vvhen it vvas first affected by a Bishop vvas oppugned even by some of the B. of Rome themselves p. 13 14 15. Divers generall Councils also against it p 16 17 The Popes Supremacie vvhat a vvicked founder it had and how vvickedly it is still maintayned and upheld pag. 12 Three Texts of Scripture usually alledged for maintenance of the Popes supremacie abused answered p. 11 12 p. 291 292 c Excommunication and the power of the Kâ—yes abused by the Pope for establishing maintenance of his supremacie p. 299 300 301 Divers vvritings forged under the names of Clemens Anacletus Evaristus and other ancients for the upholding of the Popes new Supremacie pag. 12 The Donation of Constantine also forged for that purpose ibid. Miracles signes or wonders also done for that end p. 341 342 c Poperie is a corruption of the most ancient and Christian Religion and is to the Church as an infection or disease is to the body of a man or as a plague or pestilence is to a Citie pag. 38 Pope and Poperie exclaymed against long before Luther or Calvin vvere borne pag. 42 43 44 45 46 c The Popes excommunications and curses to be contemned pag. 44 45 299 Popes of Rome have erred and may erre even in matter of faith and iudicially pag 51 52 53 54. See the Preface also No such place as Popish Purgatorie pag. 125 126 c. to the end of that chapter That there is a Predestination is confessed both by Protestants and Papists the doctrine vvhereof being rightly understood is verie sweet and comfortable and is so farre from introducing any inconvenience licentiousnesse or impiety as that it inferreth the cleane contrary pag. 153 154 155 156 157 158 Predestination dependeth not upon the vvill of men but upon the vvill of God pag. 178.179 180 c Vocation iustification sanctification and all saving graces be consequents and effects of Election or Predestination to life everlasting pag. 154 c pag. 198 c Predestination dependeth upon Gods foreknowledge and vvhat that foreknowledge is pag. 194 195 196 c Faith foreseene and good vvorkes foreseene be not the cause of Predestination but the effect and a consequent thereunto ibid. The doctrine of Predestination teacheth no dissolutenâ—sse or carelesnesse but the cleane contrary pag 154 155 c. p. 199 200 c Predestination teacheth no man utterly to despaire though he be exceedingly vvicked and impious for the present inasmuch as there is a possibilitie to be converted so long as life lasteth as likewise it teacheth no man rashly or unadvisedly to presume p. 157 158 198 200 c The Popish Masse and Popish Priesthood thereto belonging both abominable pag. 217 218 219 c VVhat maner of Primacie it vvas that Peter had amongst the Apostles pag. 295 296 c Popish Priests be not the Ministers of Christ but of Antichrist and therefore to resort to them as if they had commission or authoritie from Christ to give absolution or forgivenesse of sins is vvicked and in vaine pag. 302. c. Q ALl Questions and controversies concerning faith and religion to be decided and determined by the sacred and canonicall Scriptures pag. 49 50 c. See also the Preface throughout R THat there is a Reprobation aswell as an Election and vvhat it is pag. 165 c Reprobation and Election both at one time and the cause vvhy this man in particular vvus chosen and that man refused is Gods own meere will and pleasure pag. 196 197 198 None can certainly determine of himselfe before-hand that hee is a reprobate though he be for the present exceedingly vvicked and ungodly because God may possibly call and convert him before hee dye p. 157.158 p 199 200 Rome apparantly proved to be the vvhore of Babylon p. 246 o. Bellarmine himselfe other Papists confesse Rome to be the whore of Babylon pag. 247 The evasion they make that onely heathen Rome is there intended is shewed to be very vaine and false pag. 247 248 249 c Some special spiritual whoredomes that is Idolatries of the Romish Church pâ—g 258 259 260 c VVho is the Rock and foundation vvhereupon the Church is builded pag. 292 293. c. S THe Spirit that speaketh in the sacred Scriptures is not a private or humane spirit but a divine spirit even the Spirit of God And by this Spirit speaking in those Scriptures is every spiriâ— speaking in men to be tryed pag. 53 54 Exposition of one place of Scripture must be such as agreeth vvith the rest of the Scriptures pag. 58 59 A rule to kâ—ow vvhen a man speaketh by a private Spirit of his owne and vvhen not pag. 53.54 The true Church to be tried and knowne by the sacred and canonical Scriptures pag. 59 60 61 62 Some bookes held by the Papists to be canonicall Scriptures which the ancient Church held not to be so pag. 65 66 The publicke prayers and Service in the Church should be in such a tongue as the people might understand pag 67 The originals of the Scripture incorrupt and to be preferred before that vvhich is called S Hieromes Translation and all other Translations vvhatsoever pag. 67 68 69.70 The English Translation of the Scripture is rightly iustified against the uniust exceptions of Papists pag. 71 Not any humane learning or private spirit of any man but God only and his Spirit is the opener and unfolder of the true sense of the divine Scriptures pag. 73 74 Lay people may and ought to reade the Scriptures pag. 73 74 75 76 77. See also the Preface That there be
things forbid evill things not onely such things as belong to humane societie but such things also as belong to Gods Religion Can anie thing be more plainely or more directly spoken for this purpose 4 It is true that the Oath of Supremacy conteyneth in it not onely an affirmative clause that The King is the onely supreme Governor of this Realme and of all other his Highnesse Dominions and countreyes c. but a negative clause also viz. that No forraine Prince person Prelate State or Potentate hath or or ought to have anie Iurisdiction power superioritie preeminence or authoritie Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall within this Realme c. And why should wee not all frankely and freely acknowledge this For beside that the effect of this negative clause is included in the former affirmative what hath anie forraine Prince or Prelate to doe within anie the Kings Dominions without his leave and licence For as touching the Bishop of Rome otherwise called the Pope concerning whom all the scruple is made his authoritie is by Act of Parliament directly banished and abolished out of all his Maiesties Dominions So that by anie humane Law or constitution of force in this kingdome he neither hath nor can challenge anie authoritie at all much lesse a supremacy amongst us How then doth he claime it Or which way can he have it Is it by anie Divine Institution That hath been often pretended I know but could never yet be proved nor ever will be For as for those three Texts of Scripture which be usually alledged namely the one in Matth. 16 Tu es Petrus super hanc Petâ—â—â— c. and Luk. 22. Oraâ—i pro te Petre c. and Ioh. 21. Pasce oves meas c. They have beene often heretofore as they be againe afterward examined and cleerely shewed to make nothing for him in respect of anie supremacy eyther Civill or Ecclesiasticall In the meane time will you be pleased to heare what some great learned men even of former times when Poperie was not altogether so grosse and bad as it is in these daies have written of this matter Cusanus a Cardinall did himselfe dispute in his time against them that thought the Pope to have more power and authoritie then otger Bishops Oportet primum si hoc verum foret Petrum aliquid à Christâ— singularitatis recepisse Papam in hoc successorem esse sed scimus quod Petrus nihil plus potestatis à Christo accepit alijs Apostolis First if this were true then must Peter have received something singular from Christ and that the Pope be his successor therein but we know saith he that Peter received from Christ no more power or authoritie then the rest of the Apostles Aeneas Silviaâ— likewise who was afterward himselfe a Pope of Rome hath written a Booke of the Acts and proceedings of the Councell of Basil and first handling that Text Tu es Petrus super hanc petram c. he saith thus A quibus verbis ideo placuit eâ—ordiri quod aliqui verba haec ad extollendam Romani Pontificis authoritatem solen◠〈…〉 sed ut statim patebit alius est verborum Christi sensus Of which words it therefore pleased mee to begin for that some are wont to alledge these words for the extolling of the authoritie of the Pope of Rome but as shall by and by appeare there is saith he another sense or meaning of those words of Christ. Iohn Gerson also Chancellor of the Vniversitie of Paris inveighing against flatterie and flatterers of the Pope saith That this offence was given by such as would prove his Iurisdiction from certaine Texts of Scripture as Tu es Petrus super hanc Petram c. and Oravi pro te Petre c. and such like which Texts saith he bee taken by these flatterers grosse non secundum regulam Evangelicam grossely and not according to the rule of the Gospell Observe well these speeches for they tell you how much these Texts of Scripture both heretofore have beene and still be herein abused it being indeed a thing certaine that neither to the civill Supremacie nor yet to the ecclesiasticall the Pope can make anie good title In times past he claimed the one or at least a great part of the Empire by a pretended gift or donation of Constantine the Emperor But that supposed donation and conveyance hath beene long since shewed to be a forged and counterfeit thing and that not onely by Protestants but by Papists also as namely by Valla by Volateran by Antoninus Catalanus by Canus also loc Theol. lib. 1. cap. 5. and by Pope Pius the second as Balbus witnesseth and by sundrie others In like manner he claimed in ancient time an ecclesiasticall supremacie by a supposed Canon of the Councell of Nice but that was also upon examination found to be a forged and counterfeit Canon and so discovered and made evident to the world by the sundrie Bishops of those times assembled in Councels And divers other forged Authors they likewise alledge for this purpose as for example certaine Decretall Epistles under the nameâ— of Clemens Anacletus Evaristus Sixtus Teleâ—phorus Higiâ—s Pius Anicetus Victor c. of which Epistles Bellarmine himselfe speaking saith Nec indubitatas esse affirmare audeam that neither durst he affirme them to be undoubted or uncounterfeit Such forged suspicious and counterfeit writings therefore can make no good or sure title to the Pope but contrariwise doe make the matter the more evident and the more odious against him Yea even the title appellation of universall Bishop wherin consisteth the summe and substance of the ecclesiasticall Supremacie he claimeth did two Bishops of Rome themselves in ancient time oppugne stand against when it was first affected by Iohn the Bishop and Patriarch of Constantinople for first Pelagius and then Gregory the great both Bishops of Rome withstood it Let no Patriarch saith Pelagius use so prophane a Title Againe he saith God forbid that it should ever fall into the heart of a Christian to assume any thing unto himselfe vvhereby the honour of his brethren may be debased for this cause I in my Epistles never call any by that name for feare lest by giving him more then is his due I might seeme to take away even that which of right belongeth to him For saith he The Divell our adversary goeth about like a roaring Lyon exercising his rage upon the humble and meeke hearted and seeking to devoure not now the sheepe-coats but even the principall members of the Church And againe hee saith Consider my brethren vvhat is like to ensue c. For he commeth neere unto him of whom it is written This is he which is King over all the children of Pride which words I speake with griefe of mind in that I see our brother and fellow Bishop Iohn in despite of the commandement of our Saviour the precepts of the Apostles
herein giveth us an excellent rule saying Si quem videritis dicentem spiritum sanctum habeo non loquentem evangelica sed propria is à seipso loquitur non est spiritus sanctus in ipso If saith hee yee shall see anie man that saith I have the holy Ghost and doth not speake things agreeable to the Gospel but his owne that man speaketh of himselfe and the holy Ghost is not in him And againe he saith Si quis eorum qui dicuntur habere spiritum dicat aliquid de seipso non ex Evangelio ne credite If anie of them which are said to have the spirit speake anie thing of himselfe and not forth of the Gospel beleeve him not So that it still appeareth that the Gospel of Christ and divine Scriptures is the thing whereby men are to trie and examine all spirits and their doctrines and decrees and to determine who they be that speake and decree by the guidance and direction of the holy Ghost and who not And therefore doth S. Augustine also take it that no man is absolutely bound by the authoritie of Councels though they be generall for thus hee saith to one that obiected a generall Councell against him Neyther ought I to alledge the Councell of Nice nor thou the Councell of Arimine as thereby to preiudicate one another for neyther am I bound by the authoritie of this or thou of that but let matter vvith matter cause vvith cause and reason vvith reason make the Tryall by the authoritie of Scriptures not proper vvitnesses to any of us but indifferent to us both And concerning the Pope that he may erre as well as anie other Bishop in matter of Faith beside that which is before spoken it further appeareth even by Gratian himselfe dist 40. where it is taken for granted that the Pope may be à fide Devius a goer out of the way of faith Lyra affirmeth expresly that manie Popes have beene found Apostotasse à Fide To have been Apostotates or departers from the faith The Councell of Constance calleth Pope Benedict a Schismaticke and an Hereticke and a departer from the faith The like is said of Pope Iohn the 23. Catharinus saith directly Nihil prohibet Papam errare etiam in fide deficere etiamsi quidam novitij Scriptores ausi sint oppositum defendere praeter communem sensum Doctorum Nothing withstandeth but that the Pope may erre even in faith and faile albeit some late writers have dared to defend the contrarie against the common opinion of the Doctors And so likewise testifieth Alphonsus de Castro Papam posse in ijs quae ad fidem spectant errare immo aliquos Pontifices summos errasse in fide compertum est That the Pope may erre even in matters of faith yea it is found saith he that some Popes have erred in faith And againe he saith Omnis homo errare in fide potest etiamsi Papa sit Nam de Liberio Papa refert Platina eum sensâ—sse cum Arrianis Everie man may erre in point of faith though hee be a Pope For of Pope Liberius Platina reporteth that he held the Arrian heresie Yea Panormitan saith that a Councell may depose the Pope for Heresie ut in cap Si Papa dist 40. where it is likewise said That the Pope may be an Hereticke and iudged of Heresie Yea In concernentibus fidem etiam dictum unius privati esset praeferendum dicto Papae si ille moveretur melioribus Authoritatibus novi veteris Testamenti quam Papa In things concerning faith saith hee the saying even of one private man is to be preferred before the saying of the Pope if he be moved by better authoritie of the old and new Testament then the Pope It is therefore evident that neither the Pope by himselfe nor yet ioined in Councel with others is or can be held to be an unerrable or infallible Iudge in this case What then Would anie have the old Doctors and ancient Fathers to be this Iudge But they also may erre and doe sometimes taxe one another for errors Yea themselves as before is shewed doe humbly and reverently submit all their doctrines positions and opinions to the judgement of the Canonicall Scriptures not desiring to be further credited or beleeved then there is warrant for what they speake or write within those sacred writings Whereby they sufficiently give us to understand that God onely speaking in these his Scriptures is to be held for the only Infallible Iudge for the determining and deciding of every controversie in Religion Ista controversia Iudicem inquirit Iudicet ergo Christus This controversie enquireth after a Iudge Let Christ then be Iudge saith S. Augustine Iudicet cum illo Apostolus quia in Apostolo ipse loquitur Christus Let also saith hee the Apostle iudge with him because in the Apostle Christ himselfe speaketh And againe he saith Sedeat inter nos Iudex Apostolus Iohannes Let the Apostle Iohn sit Iudge betweene us In like sort speaketh Optatus Quaerendi sunt Iudices In terris de hac re nullum poterit reperiri Iudicium de coelo quaerendus est Iudex sed ut quid pulsamus ad coelum cum habeamus hic in Evangelio Testamentum c. Iudges are to be sought for In earth saith hee none can be found for this matter from heaven therefore is the Iudge to be sought but vvhy doe vve knocke at heaven vvhen we have here upon earth a Testament in the Gospel An earthly father vvhen he feeleth himselfe neere death fearing lest after his death the brethren breaking peace should fall at variance calling witnesses unto him out of his breast ready to dye putteth his vvill into a vvritten Testament that shall long continue And if variance grow amongst the brethren they goe not to the grave but the Testament or last vvill is demanded and hee which resteth in the grave speaketh out of that his speechlesse Testament vvith a lively voyce viz. that voice which he uttered whilst he lived He vvhose Testament it is is in heaven therefore as in a Testament so in the Gospel let his will be enquired To the same effect S. Augustine saith VVho is he that knoweth not that the Canonicall Scripture is so conteyned vvithin his certaine bounds of the old and new Testament and is so to be preferred before all other vvritings of Bishops that a man may not at all either doubt or dispute vvhether any thing be right or true that he is sure is vvritten in it but the vvritings of all other Bishops which eyther are or hereafter shall be vvritten beside the Canonicall Scriptures alreadie confirmed may be reproved eyther by more grave authority of other Bishops or learned men or by the vvords of any man that is better seene in the matter Again he saith thus Gather not my Brother against so many so cleere and so undoubted testimonies of
faith And thus himselfe being otherwise dead did live or had life in him namely by faith in the Sonne of God and not by the workes of the law Yea he further excludeth even the workes of righteousnes in expresse termes saying thus Not by the vvorkes of righteousnesse vvhich vve have done but according to his mercie he hath saved us Observe that he here directlie affirmeth of himselfe of all the rest that shall be saved that they are saved not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by vvorkes done by them in righteousnes but of Gods meere mercie and grace through Christ Iesus And againe observe that speaking not to unbeleevers but to beleevers Saints and sanctified people living in Ephesus he saith thus By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of vvorkes lest anie man should glorie for vvee are his vvorkemanship created in Christ Iesus unto good vvorkes vvhich God hath before ordained that vvee should vvalke in them Heere also you see infalliblie that workes though done by such as be sanctified and regenerate persons be neverthelesse excluded from being anie cause of their salvation yea by the verie words themselves of the text you perceive that he speaketh expresly and by name of good vvorkes vvhich God hath before ordained that vvee should vvalke in them denying them neverthelesse to be anie cause of salvation But here why doe they speake of anie good workes done by Infidels or before faith received For to speake properlie and truely none doe or can doe good workes so allowed to be in Gods censure but beleeving persons onely inasmuch as the best workes of Infidels and before a man hath received faith be not allowed for good in Gods sight but bee as S. Augustine affirmeth of them Splendida peccata Glittering sinnes Howbeit here remember that although those which be Saints upon earth that is which bee regenerate and sanctified people be thus expresly affirmed to be saved by their faith and not by their good workes yet have they neverthelesse these good workes appointed for them to walke in so long as they live in this world for so this text to the Ephesians directlie sheweth to the end their faith should not be idle but working through love as S. Paul speaketh in another place and that so it might appeare to bee not a vaine and a dead faith but a sound and a lively faith and such as will save a man as S. Iames and the rest of the Scriptures have also before declared Yea this point even Christ Iesus also himselfe by his last Iudgement in the end of the world doth declare namely that the iustifying and saving faith is not voide of good workes but furnished with them and yet that Gods people doe not relye upon them For thus will hee say to his faithfull and elect ones Come ye blessed of my father inherite yee the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the vvorld for I vvas hungrie and yee gave me meate I was thirstie and yee gave me drinke I was a stranger and yee tooke mee in naked and ye clothed mee I vvas sicke and yee visited mee I vvas in prison and yee came unto me But now observe that although these elect and righteous persons had these good workes yet doe not they so much as take notice of them much lesse stand upon the merite of them and therefore doe they answer and say Lord when savv vvee thee hungrie and fed thee or thirstie and gave thee drinke vvhen saw vvee thee a stranger and tooke thee in or naked and clothed thee sicke or in prison and came unto thee Reade further the rest of the Chapter to the end of it And by all of it considered together ye may verie easilie perceive first that they bee not the elect and righteous people but the reprobates that stand upon their workes obiect their workes to plead for them And secondlie that Christ their Lord taketh notice of the good works of the elect although themselves take no notice of them nor doe so much as once mention or alledge them Where Christ by alledging their good works would have the world also to take notice and to be advertised that it was not a vaine idle or dead faith but a iustifying and saving faith which these men had For their good workes be there mentioned as testimonies fruites and declarations of their faith and as being Via regni non causa regnandi The vvay vvherein they walked toward this kingdome but not as being the cause of their enioying of that kingdome as S. Bernard also himselfe hath before taught affirmed Yea in verie deede the primarie and original cause of their enioying of that most happie kingdome is there delivered in the former words where Christ calleth them the Blessed of his father and telleth them moreover directlie that they are to possesse this kingdom not by anie purchase or desert of their owne but by way of Inheritance for the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Inherite yee or possesse yee it by waie of Inheritance And further he there telleth them that this kingdom was prepared for them long before they were borne or had done anie good workes at all namelie even from the foundation of the world So that this glorious and heavenlie kingdome is given them of Gods meere bountie and grace and is unto them a Revvard according to their vvorkes as the Scripture speaketh but not for their workes as though their workes deserved it or were the meritorious cause of their salvation Yea it is a reward of grace and favour and not of debt or due desert as S. Paul hath also before testified and a revvard of Inheritance as the same S. Paul againe expresly affirmeth it In vaine therefore also is that your distinction of the first Iustification which you make to be by faith without vvorkes and of the second Iustification which you say is by workes and by living an holie and godlie life for the Scriptures speake but of one Iustification in Gods sight availeable to salvation As for that which you call the second Iustification consisting in doing good workes and in holinesse of life and conversation it is as I said before more properlie and rightly to be tearmed as the Scripture calleth it Sanctification it being an effect declaration fruite and consequent of that Iustification we have before by faith as S. Iames and S. Paul and the rest of the Scriptures doe manifestly teach CHAP. V. That Christ is our onely and all-sufficient Redeemer and hath fully satisfied Gods Iustice for our sinnes and the punishment thereto belonging against mens merits and satisfactions in that behalfe and against Popish Purgatorie And that there is no licentiousnesse in this doctrine but the cleane contrary BVt they further accuse our Religion to be licentious because relying wholly upon Christ our
as good right and reason say that hee by the vertue and merit of his death and passion hath enabled men to be The Saviour and Redeemer of the VVorld in their owne persons or to be the Mediator betwixt God and them or challenge anie other right or prerogative whatsoever that properly belongeth to Christ Iesus For what may not men frame fancie or devise out of this if they be so disposed and care not to imagine things at their owne pleasure without anie warrant from God or his word Is it not then a most intolerable boldnesse for anie meere mortal and sinfull men to be so presumptuous as to dare to stand in Christ his place or to challenge to themselves anie part of that high incomparable and peculiar honour that properly belongeth to him who is both God and man and our whole onely and perfect Redeemer I pray tell me what imperfection doe you finde in his satisfaction that it should not content you Are your selves better able to make satisfaction to Gods Iustice for sinnes then hee or is his most precious bloud passion and obedience able to satisfie for eternall paines and punishments and not for temporall Shall he be able to satisfie the greater and not be able to satisfie the lesse or if ye grant him to be able to die doe yee doubt of his willingnesse in that behalfe And if hee were both willing and able neither of which yee can denie what question then should be made in this matter It is true that as touching the ungodly reprobates that be without Christ all calamities afflictions miseries and punishments of this life and even the bodily death it selfe remaine to them in their owne nature and be to them tokens of Gods wrath and of his curse and unappeased displeasure and forerunners of their future certaine and undoubted damnation But to the godly Elect that be in Christ Iesus and that have peace with God and with whom hee is reconciled through Christ no afflictions of this life have in them anie token at all of his irefull and revengefull displeasure or of his unsatisfied Iustice but they are contrariwise tokens of his great love and fatherly affection toward them as is before shewed and are to them forerunners of their future certaine and undoubted salvation For toward Gods children the nature of these things is changed through Christ having no Curse at all but blessednesse in them Insomuch that even death it selfe also which to flesh and bloud seemeth most bitter to them neverthelesse is a most welcome and blessed thing as having the sting of it which is sinne taken away in Christ their Saviour and as being the doore that openeth an immediate passage and entrance to an everlasting life in eternall happinesse For vvee know saith S. Paul in the person of all Gods children that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be destroyed vvee have a building given of God that is an house not made vvith hands but eternall in the heavens for therefore vvee sigh desiring to be clothed vvith our house which is from heaven And Christ Iesus himselfe speaketh likewise thus Verily verily I say unto you Hee that heareth my vvord and beleeveth him that sent mee hath everlasting life and commeth not into Iudgement but is passed from death into life If then which is a thing here evident assoone as this earthly Tabernacle of their bodies is dissolved all Gods children goe to an eternall heavenly habitation and againe if the godly and faithfull man after the death of the bodie doth in his soule immediatly passe to an eternall life which you likewise here see to be verie manifest for the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the preterperfect tense what is then become of your supposed Purgatorie Doe you not by these Texts perceive that even that also is to bee utterly banished and abolished as a thing fabulous impious and untrue and not to be beleeved 2 But your Church for all that striveth and strugleth to uphold it as being indeed one of the best fires that ever the Pope and his Clergie have had for the heating of their Kitchins and which in respect of the people who are miserably abused with it is not unfitly called Purgatory-Pickepurse inasmuch as it robbeth them of their wealth and substance But let us see what texts of Scripture they chiefelie alledge and relie upon for this purpose First they alledge Mat. 5.25 26 where Christ saith thus Agree with thine adversarie quicklâ—e whilst thou art in the way vvith him lest at anie time thine adversarie deliver thee to the Iudge the Iudg deliver thee to the officer then thou be cast into prison verily I say unto thee thou shalt not come out from thence until thou hast paid the uttermost farthing Howbeit this text is an exhortation perswasion to peace reconciliation concord agreement betwixt man and man in this life least for not observing of this concord agreement it so fall out as often it doth in the world that the debtor be cast into Prison and depart not from thence untill he have paide the utmost farthing But if by this Prison be meant as they would have it a place of punishment after death yet then is there no necessitie for all that to expound it of their Purgatorie for well may it then bee taken for Hell the place of the damned yea then it must needs be so taken inasmuch as there be but two sorts of people namely Elect and Reprobate and answerably to them there bee but two places after death viz. Heaven and Hell for that the soules of Gods Elect goe immediately after their death not into anie such tormenting place as your supposed Purgatorie but into Heaven is beside the former texts evident even by the president of the good Theefe that was crucified with Christ to whom Christ said thus This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise that is in Heaven the place of blessednesse for all Gods Saints and people That this Theefes soule went that verie day into Paradise is a thing expreslie apparant in the Text and that Paradise is Heaven even the Third and higest Heaven the place of glory is also verie manifest because S. Paul himselfe so declareth and expoundeth it What doubt then can there bee in this matter But it is yet further evident by the example of the Rich man and Lazarus For when the Rich man died hee went to Hell the place of Torments for the Reprobate when poore Lazarus dyed he was carried by Angells into Abrahams Bosome that is into Heaven the place of comfort ioy and happinesse for all God elect For that Abrahams bosome must be taken for Heaven and not for that fained place of Limbus Patrum which Papists make to be a part of hell is manifest by this that beside the solace ioy and comfort that is shewed to be in it it is further mentioned and set
Law of the Realme bee put to death or was there a Law in former times when Poperie raigned to put Protestants to death under the 〈◊〉 of Heretickes which were in verie died no Heretickes but of the most ancient religion and the Orthodox and right beleeving Christians and is there not a Law now when Protestancie reigneth to put Papists to death for heresie who be Hereticks reveâ—â— and in verse deed For you must 〈…〉 it is not the Determination of a Councell without appâ—â—bation of Gods word that is sufficient to prove a man an Hereticke because then should that renowned famous godly Bishop Athanasius who was condemned in the Councels of Tire and Antioch bee held and concluded to bee an Hereticke Which God forbid Yea if as is evident the determination of Councells bee not sufficient to convince or proove Athanasius Iohn Chrysostome and other Orthodox Bishops in that time to bee Heretickes much lesse is the determination of the Bishop of Rome and of his Councells in these latter times when both hee and they bee so farre revolted and degenerate able to convince the Orthodox Protestants of Heresie The strength force and authoritie of the holy Canonical Scriptures must be produced to convince a man to be an Hereticke For an Hereticke is hee that stifly and obstinately holdeth maintaineth an error in matter of Faith against the manifest authoritie of the Canonical Scriptures So that not what men hold but what God holdeth to be error heresie is so to be reputed And by this rule namely by sufficient evidence and warrant of the Canonical Scriptures it was that the Bishops their Councels in ancient time convinced the Arrianâ— Nestorianâ— Eâ—tâ—chians the other Heretickes of their dayes Which rule of iudging and convincing Hereticks by the Canonical Scriptures if it had beene held as evermore it ought it is thereby evident that Protestants never were nor ever rightly could have beene concluded to bee Hereticks Yea by this rule Papists cleerely are to bee iudged the Hereticks as appeareth by examining and trying their severall and particular Doctrines and Opinions wherein they differ from us and wherein they bee so wilfull and pertinacious by the same Canonical Scriptures And how should it or can it be otherwise For must not the doctrin of the gâ—and Antichrist of his Concubine the Whore of Babylon bring adulterate erroneous and Antichristian needs be concluded if it be wilfullie and obstinately persisted in to be cleere Heresie If then our Bishops should as they might if they were so disposed and that His Maiestie would give â—â—ave thereunto censure some points of Poperie to be heresie being 〈…〉 and obstinately persisted in and thereupon should cyte some Papists to come before them to answer as for heresie and did upon hearing and examining of the cause by sentence defiâ—â—tive declare and pronounce them to bee Hereticks What should or can hinder but that the Kings Writ de Haereticâ— Comburendo after all due circumstances observed might issue and be awarded for the putting of them to death Doth not the Law of the Realme apparantly warrant this For the Lawyers of your owne Religion can tell you that even by course of Common Law those that bee convicted and condemned of heresie may bee put to death And this it further evident even by those verie Statutes themselves viz. of 2. H. 4. cap. 1.5 and 2. H. 5. cap. 7. and 25. H. 8 cap. 14. which although they were afterward repealed in England yet do they sufficiently shew declare both what was yet stil is the Common-law in that case namely that Bishops in their several Diocesses and Provinces aswell as in their Convocations might and therfore still may even by course of Common-law notwithstanding the repeale of those Statutes by their Iurisdiction ordinarie cite Heretickes censure and sentence them and so leave them to the Lay power to bee executed And this also is learned and judicious Writer in his Apologie of certaine proceedings by Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall doth tell you and testifieth against Fitzherberts opinion who seemeth to put a difference in this point betweene the Bishop of a Diocesse and the Convocation that hee hath heard the two Chiefe Iustices the Lord chiefe Bar◠〈◊〉 some other Iudges and the Queenes learned Councell resolve against that difference in a speciall consultation held about the matter of Heresie viz that Every Bishop within his owne Diocesseâ— as well as the Convocation might at the Common-law and still may â—â—â— demne an Hereticks Yea hee hath made a whole Chapter affirming this verie point viz. that Iudgement of Heresie still reâ—aineth at the Common-law in Iudges Ecclesiastical and that the Provise in the Statute of 1 Fliz. cap. 1 which is in Ireland 2 Eliz. cap. 1. touching Heresie is onely spoken of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and such as bee authorized by that Statute So that the authoritie and Iurisdiction of Bishops in their severall Diocesses Provinces as also in their Convocations notwithstanding that or anie other Stat. still remaineth such as it was at the Common-law namely of force sufficient for the citing censuring sentencing of Heretickes whereupon Execution of death by burning may ensue All which neverthelesse I speake not to anie such end as to incense or exasperate anie in authoritie so farre against papists but only to answer and disanull their untrue conceits and so to represse and remove the insolencie of some of them and to shew them that if our Protestant princes pleased and were so disposed they might have found as still also they may a way and meane and law sufficient to put Papists to death for Heresie Wherefore it is no defect of matter of Heresie in Poperie wherewith it doth abound nor anie defect of law which sufficiently warranteth the putting of Heretickes to death but it is the meere mercie and clemencie of His Maiesty and of other Protestant Princes his Predecessors that doth thus spare and forbeare them Whereby as they may all learne to be highly thankfull unto God for such mercifull gratious Princes to whom they are so much beholding for not executing the severitie of their lawes upon them in this case so is it their parts to give no occasion further to incense or anie way to provoke them thereunto Where also you may observe to put a difference betweene the two Religions viz. of Protestancie and Poperie considering how milde gentle and mercifull the one is namely Protestancie in comparison 〈◊〉 the other which is and ever hath beene where it is predominant and beareth rule against Protestants most terrible cruel inhumane and extreamely Bloodie and so bee mooved to affect and imbrace the one and to abhorre and detest the other as it deserveth But as touching these points I shall not neede to use manie words to men of understanding learning and iudgement especiallie when the thing desired of you tendeth to your owne good not onely in respect of this world but
is meet who searcheth those things that the Law doth not speake of Vnto whom wee will adjoyne Claudius another famous Divine counted one of the founders of the universitie of Paris who for the illustration of the former affirmeth that men therefore erre because they know not the Scriptures and because they are ignorant of the Scriptures they consequently know not Christ who is the power of God and the wisedome of God and for the clearing of the latter bringeth in that knowne Canon of S. Hierome This because it hath not authoritie from the Scriptures is with the same facilitie contemned wherewith it is avowed Neither was the practise of our ancestours herein different from their judgement For as Bede touching the latter recordeth of the successors of Colum-kille the great Saint of our countrey that they observed onely those workes of pietie and chastitie which they could learne in the Propheticall Evangelicall and Apostolicall vvritings so for the former he specially noteth of one of the principall of them to wit Bishop Aidan that all such as went in his companie whether they were shorne or laymen were tyed to exercise themselves eyther in the reading of Scriptures or in the learning of Psalmes For the continuall meditation of the Scriptures was held to give speciall vigour and vegetation to the soule as wee reade in the book attributed unto S. Patrick of the abuses of the world and the holy documents delivered therein were esteemed by Christians as their chiefe riches according to that of Columbanus Sint tibi divitiae divinae dogmata legis In which heavenly riches our ancient Scottish and Irish did thrive so well that manie worthie personages in forraine parts were content to undergoe a voluntarie exile from their owne countrey that they might more freely traffick here for so excellent a commoditie And by this meanes Altfrid king of Northumberland purchased the reputation of a man most learned in the Scriptures Scottorum qui tum versatus incola terris Coelestem intento spirabat corde sophiam Nam patriae fines dulcialiquerat arva Sedulus ut Domini mysteria disceret exul as Bede writeth of him in his Poëme of the life of our countreyman S. Cuthbert So when wee reade in the same Bede of Fursaeus and in another ancient author of Kilianus that from the time of their very childehood they had a care to learne the holy Scriptures it may easily be collected that in those dayes it was not thought a thing unfit that even children should give themselves unto the studie of the Bible Wherein how greatly some of them did profite in those tender yeares may appeare by that which Boniface the first archbishop of Mentz relateth of Livinus who was trained up in his youth by Benignus in the singing of Davids Psalmes and the reading of the holy Gospells and other divine exercises and Ionas of Columbanus in whose brest the threasures of the holy Scriptures were so layd up that within the compasse of his youthfull yeares he set forth an elegant exposition of the book of the Psalmes by whose industrie likewise afterward the studie of Gods word was so propagated that in the monasteries which were founded according to his rule beyond the Seas not the men onely but the religious women also did carefully attend the same that through patience and comfort of the Scriptures they might have hope See for this the practise of the virgin Bitihildis lying upon her death-bed reported by the same Ionas or whosoever else was the author of the life of Burgundofora As for the edition of the Scriptures used in these parts at those times th◠Latin translation was so received into common use among the learned that the principall authoritie was still reserved to the originall fountaines Therefore doth Sedulius in the Old Testament commend unto us the Hebrew veritie for so with S. Hierome doth hee style it and in the New correct oftentimes the vulgar Latin according to the truth of the Greeke copies For example in 1. Cor. 7.34 he readeth as we doe There is difference betweene a wife and a virgin and not as the Rhemists have translated it out of the Latin Rom. 12.19 hee readeth Non vosmetipsos vindicantes not avenging your selves where the vulgar Latin hath corruptly Non vosmetipsos defendentes not defending your selves Rom. 3.4 where the Rhemists translate according to the Latin God is true hee sheweth that in the Greek copies it is found Let God be true or let God be made true Rom. 15.17 he noteth that the Latin bookes have put glory for gloriation Galat. 1.16 where the Rhemists have according to the Latin I condescended not to flesh and blood he saith that in Graeco meliùs habet for so must his words be here corrected out of S. Hierome whom he followeth the Greeke hath it better I conferred not Rom. 8.3 where the Rhemists say of God according to the Latin translation that of sinne hee damned sinne in the flesh Sedulius affirmeth that veriùs habetur apud Graecos it is more truely expressed in the Greek bookes that for sinne he damned sinne in the flesh Lastly where the Rhemists translate after their Latin copie Gal. 5.9 A little leaven corrupteth the whole paste hee saith it should be leaveneth as we have it and not corrupteth as it is ill read in the Latin bookes So where they translate by the same authoritie Gal. 6.1 Instruct such an one in the spirit of lenitie Claudius following S. Hierome affirmeth that it is better in the Greeke Restore or perfect him and where they make S. Peter say Matth. 16.22 Lord be it farre from thee he noteth that it is better in the Greek Lord favour thy selfe The doctrine which these worthie men observed out of the Scriptures and the writings of the most approved Fathers was this that God by his immoveable counsaile as Gallus speaketh in his Sermon preached at Constance ordained some of his creatures to prayse him and to live blessedly from him and in him and by him namely by his eternall predestination his free calling and his grace which was due to none that hee hath mercie with great goodnesse and hardneth without any iniquitie so as neyther hee that is delivered can glory of his owne merits nor hee that is condemned complaine but of his owne merits forasmuch as grace onely maketh the distinction betwixt the redeemed and the lost who by a cause drawne from their common originall vvere framed together into one masse of perdition For all mankinde stood condemned in the apostaticall roote of Adam with so just and divine a judgement that although none should be freed from thence no man could rightly blame the justice of God and such as were freed must so have beene freed that by those many which were not freed but left in their most just condemnation it might be shewed what the whole lumpe
Collections are extant upon S. Paules Epistles although I have forborne hitherto to use anie of his testimonies because I have some reason to doubt whether he were the same with our Sedulius or no. But Coelius Sedulius whatsoever countreyman he was intimateth plainly that the things offered in the Christian sacrifice are the fruit of the corne and of the vine Denique Pontificum princeps summusque Sacerdos Quis nisi Christus adest gemini libaminis author Ordine Melchisedech cui dantur munera semper Quae sua sunt segetis fructus gaudia vitis or as he expresseth it in his prose the sweet meate of the seed of vvheat and the lovely drinke of the pleasant vine Of Melchisedek according to whose order Christ and he onely was Priest our owne Sedulius writeth thus Melchisedek offered wine and bread to Abraham for a figure of Christ offering his body and blood unto God his father upon the Crosse. Where note that first hee saith Melchisedek offered bread and wine to Abraham not to God and secondly that he was a figure of Christ offering his body and blood upon the crosse not in the Eucharist But we saith he doe offer daily for a commemoration of the Lords passion once performed and our own salvation and elsewhere expounding those words of our Saviour Do this in remembrance of me he bringeth in this similitude used before and after him by others He left a memory of himselfe unto us even as if one that were going a farre journey should leave some token with him whom he loved that as oft as he beheld it he might call to remembrance his benefites and friendshippe Claudius noteth that our Saviours pleasure was first to deliver unto his disciples the sacrament of his body and blood and afterwards to offer up the body it selfe upon the altar of the crosse thereby plainely distinguishing the sacrament from the body represented thereby and for the sacramentall relation betwixt the one and the other he yeeldeth this reason Because bread doth confirme the body and wine doth worke blood in the flesh therfore the one is mystically referred to the body of Christ the other to his blood Which doctrine of Claudius Scotus that the sacrament is in it owne nature bread and wine but the body and blood of Christ by mysticall relation was within fiftie or threescore yeares afterwards so fully maintayned by Iohannes Scotus in a booke that he purposely wrote of that argument that when it was alledged and extolled by Berengarius Pope Leo the ninth with his Bishops assembled in Synodo Vercellensi ano. Domi. 1050. which was 235. yeares after the time that Claudius wrote his commentaries upon S. Matthew had no other meanes to avoyde it but by flatt condemning of it Of what great esteeme this Iohn was with king Alfred may be seene in William of Malmesbury Roger Hoveden Matthew of Westminster and other writers of the English historie The King himselfe in the preface before his Saxon translation of S. Gregories Pastorall professeth that hee was holpen in that worke by Iohn his Masse-priest By whom if he did meane this Iohn of ours you may see how in those dayes a man might be held a Masse-priest who was farre enough from thinking that he offered up the very body and blood of Christ really present under the formes of bread and wine which is the onely Masse that our Romanists take knowledge of Of which wonderfull point how ignorant our elders were even this also may be one argument that the author of the book of the wonderful things of the holy Scripture who is accounted to have lived here about the yeare of our Lord DCLVII passeth this quite over which is now esteemed to be the wonder of all wonders And yet doth he professe that hee purposed to passe over nothing of the wonders of the Scripture wherein they might seeme notably to swerve from the ordinary administration in other things Only when he commeth to the apocryphall additions of Daniel he telleth us that what is reported touching the lake or denne and the carrying of Abackuk in the fable of Bel and the Dragon is not therefore placed in this ranke because these things have not the authoritie of divine Scripture as also when he commeth to the Maccabees In the books of the Maccabees saith he howsoever some wonderfull things be found which might conveniently be inserted into this ranke yet will vvee not weary our selves with any care thereof because we onely purposed to touch in some measure a short historicall exposition of the wonderfull things contayned in the divine Canon Which two last sentences I thought good not to pretermitt because thereby men may see that in the distinction of the apocryphall books from the Canonicall wee still retaine the tradition of our ancestours which the late Romanists have openly forsaken Who as they have increased the Canon of the divine Scriptures by addition of other books not received into that ranke by the ancient Church so have they augmented the number of the Sacraments by intruding into that reckoning five new ones to wit Confirmation Penance which carrieth sacramentall Confession and Absolution with it Matrimony Orders and Extreme Vnction Of the last of which I finde no mention at all of the next to that very frequent mention but no where as of a sacrament in anie of our writings that may appeare to have beene written before the Hildebrandine times Touching the rest Bernard reporteth that Malachias in his time which was after Hildebrands dayes did of the new institute the most wholsome use of Confession the sacrament of Confirmation and the contract of marriages all which he saith the Irish before were eyther ignoraÌ„t of or did neglect Which for the matter of Confession may receive som further confirmation froÌ„ the testimonie of Alcuinus who writing unto the Scottish or as other copies read the Gothish coÌ„mending the religious conversation of their laity who in the midst of their worldly employments were said to leade a most chaste life condemneth notwithstanding another custome which was said to have continued in that countrey For it is said quoth he that no man of the laâ—tie will make his confession to the Priests whom we beleeve to have received from the Lord Christ the power of binding and loosing together with the holy Apostles They had no reason indeed to hold as Alcuinus did that they ought to confesse unto a Priest all the sinnes they could remember but upon speciall occasions they did no doubt both publikely and privately make confession of their faults aswell that they might receive counsaile and direction for their recoverie as that they might be made partakers of the benefite of the keyes for the quieting of their troubled consciences Whatsoever the Gothish did herein sure we are that this was the practise of the ancient Scottish and Irish. So we reade of one Fiachna or Fechnauâ—
the Scriptures sentences misunderstood out of the vvritings of Bishops eyther of ours or of Hillary or of Cyprian Bishop and Martyr of the Church for vve must put a difference betwixt this kinde of vvriting and the Canonicall Scriptures for these are not so to be read as though a Testimony might be alledged out of them in such sort as that no man might thinke otherwise if they happen to iudge otherwise then the truth requireth And againe he saith VVe ought not to allow the reasonings of any men whatsoever they be be they never so Catholike and Prayse-worthy as the Canonicall Scriptures so that it shall not be lawfull for us saving the reverence that is due to those men to reprove and refuse any thing in their writings if it fall out that they have iudged otherwise then the truth is the same Truth being by Gods helpe understood either of other men or of us For I am even such a one in other mens vvritings as I vvould men should be in mine And againe he speaketh thus If any question be eyther concerning Christ or concerning his Church or concerning any other matter vvhatsoever which belongeth to our faith and life I will not say If vvee but that which the Apostle further addeth in Gal. 1. 8.9 If an Angel from heaven should preach unto you any other thing praeterquam quod in scripturis legalibus Evangelicis accepistis Anathema sit Beside that which ye have received in the scriptures of the Law and the Gospel let him be accursed Ambrose likewise upon that Text before mentioned of Gal. 1.8.9 giveth this observation The Apostle saith he doth not say If they preach contrary but if they preach any thing beside that which vve have preached that is if they adde any thing to it at all hold him accursed And therefore Si quid dicatur absque Scriptura Auditorum cogitaâ—io claudicat If any thing be spoken vvithout the Scripture the cogitation of the Hearer halteth saith Chrysostome Yea To leane to the Divine Scriptures which is the certaine and undoubted Truth is saith Irenaeus to build a mans house upon a sure and strong Rocke But to leave them and to leane to anie other Doctrines vvhatsoever they be is to build a ruinous house upon the shattering gravell vvhereof the overthrow is easie Here then you may prrceive that even those unwritten Traditions also which yee obtrude unto us under the name of Apostolicall that bee not specified nor found written in Gods booke the sacred and Canonicall Scriptures are iustly refusable as being unassured uncertaine and unwarranted stuffe For so also doth S. Ierome say All that ever vvee speake wee ought to prove it by the Scriptures And so also speaketh Chrysostome saying Therefore neither are they to be beleeved at all except they speake those things which be agreeable to the Scriptures To that which Faustus put forth upon the birth of Mary that shee had a certaine Priest to her father named Ioachim S. Augustine answereth Because it is not Canonicall saith he it doth not bind mee The like answer giveth Tertullian to Appelles which said that the Angels had a bodily substance which they tooke of the Stars There is no certaintie saith he in this matter because the Scripture declareth it not And indeed who can assure such Traditions to be undoubtedly Divine or to be originally and infalibly Apostolicall which have onely Men for the witnessing of them and whereof there is no testimonie in the Apostles writings or in Gods booke to be found For if they be not there specified who as S. Augustine speaketh can say That these and these they are Or if he dare be bould to say so hovv will he prove it But moreover we neede none of those Traditions as I said before inasmuch as the Scriptures themselves bee fully sufficient for us and for our direction and instruction in all things necessarie expedient for us For beside the Scriptures which declare so much Tertullian likewise saith Adoro scripturae plenitudinem I adore the compleatnes or the fulnes of the Scriptures And S. Basil also saith Manifestum est infidelitatis arrogantiae crimen vel reijcere aliquid quod scriptum est vel addere aliquid quod non est scriptum That it is a manifest fault of infidelitie and arrogancie either to reiect anie thing of that which is written or to bring in anie thing of that which is not written Yea such is the sufficiencie fulness perfection and compleatness of the Scriptures in all points and respects that as you heard before S. Augustine denounceth him accursed that shall preach or teach anie thing beside them or which is not therein conteined or thereby warranted And therefore also doth Scotus himselfe say Patet quod scriptura sufficienter continet doctrinam necessariam viatori It is evident the Scripture sufficiently conteineth all doctrine necessarie for a wayfaring man that is for a man whilst he liveth and travelleth in this world 2 But moreover even expositions also of Scripture are to be framed warranted by the Scriptures to be found consonant with them or otherwise they are likewise refusable For it is not any humane or private spirit as S Peter sheweth but it must be a divine spirit even the Spirit of God the holy Ghost from whence all true sence and right interpretation of the Scriptures is to be derived And this S. Paul also declareth saying that As no man knovveth the things of a man but the spirit of man vvhich is in him so no man knoweth the things of God but the Spirit of God If therefore wee would know who they be that have this onely right interpreting Spirit that is the holy Ghost for their guide in that behalfe wee may know it by this If their expositions be such as bee sutable and agreeable to the Canonicall Scriptures without repugnancie of anie one place to another Therefore also doth Origen speake thus VVee must needes saith he call the holy Scriptures to vvitnes because our sences and expositions vvâ—thout those vvitnesses have no credite And so saith Irenaeus Secundum scripturas expositio legitima et diligeus sine periculo sine blasphemia est That is the right and legitimate exposition and the diligent and vvithout danger and vvithout blasphemie vvhich is according to the Scriptures Chrysostome likewise saith Scriptura seipsam exponit auditorem errare non sinit The Scripture expoundeth it selfe and suffereth not the learner to erre And this rule namely to expound Scripture by Scripture and by conferring one place with another giveth also S. Augustine Darke places ' are to be expounded by plainer places This is saith he the sure vvay to expound one scripture by another The same doth S. Augustine againe teach in other places as namely De doctrina lib. 2. cap. 6. 26.27.28 c And Clemens Epist. 5. and Dist. 37.6